Strategic Plan Aligns, Gets Put Online

Less than a year after the process began, the university has developed a new strategic plan, according to a university-wide memo sent out by Provost Paul Fonteyn’s office.

The University Planning Council, made up of faculty, staff, students, and administration officials “will continue to meet and monitor the planning process and our progress toward achieving our outcomes and timelines,” Fonteyn wrote.

The plan centers on Gora’s three R’s: retention, research, and reputation.

The plan can be reviewed and commented upon in discussion forums on the UMass Boston website, under “Strategic Plan.” The forums are already hot with debate. Posted Anthropology Professor Tim Sieber, “From the way the strategic goals are articulated, one could hardly detect whether we were located in a village in western Massachusetts or in New England’s major metropolis.”

Globe: Wilson, Solomont Candidates For UMass Prez

Acting UMass President Jack Wilson and top Democratic fundraiser Alan D. Solomont are among the contenders looking to succeed former UMass President William M. Bulger, according to the Boston Globe.

Quoting several sources, the Globe reported that the search committee was quickly coming to the two as finalists. But one source told the Globe, “If Wilson emerges as the final viable candidate, some committee members will ask for the search to be extended.”

Also quoted was UMass and search spokesman Robert Connelly, who “declined to identify the front-runners, but said the search was on course.”

A meeting of the search committee is scheduled for March 30.

Quote of Note

“I think you have to assume that it would never get that far. You’d think the pressure on both sides to settle this would be too great,” said Dr. Edmund Beard, dean of the McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies, told the March 20 Washington Post on Boston Mayor (and UMB alum) Thomas Menino’s standoff with city unions. “But this could happen. It’s not at all given that they will reach an agreement, and if so it could be a huge embarrassment to the city, to the candidate and to the Democratic Party. This is the party that is supposed to be aligned with organized labor.”