Deferred Maintenance At Amherst, Boston Remains Priority

A recent Boston Globe article on the crumbling UMass Amherst campus (“Campus in decay”) was the talk of the April 5 Faculty Council meeting.

Vice Chancellor of Administration and Finance Ellen O’Connor playfully noted that it took Amherst two years to get the article, which reports Chancellor John Lombardi wanting $430 million in campus repairs and renovations. O’Connor said that in two years the Boston campus will get an article on the front page as well.

“Over my dead body,” quipped Chancellor Jo Ann Gora, later adding that deferred maintenance remains a priority. “We will never have a headline like that,” she said. “That is a headline that drives away students and parents.”

Retrofit Work Continues

Chancellor Gora reported to the Faculty Council that the retrofit-taking care of the space left after many departments moved to the new Campus Center-continues to move forward. Funding for Phase 2 will be a bond issue. There is $6 million to spend on Phase 1. In Phase 1, the university aims to produce two new high-tech classrooms, a new GIS facility, lab space for the nursing program, and performance places for the arts programs.

“There will be funding for everything,” said Gora.

Corrections: Search Committee Promoted to Trustees, New Faculty

Due to an editing error in last week’s story, “Trustees Pick Wilson for President,” the accompanying picture incorrectly captioned the search committee as the Board of Trustees.

Due to an editing error in last week’s story on new faculty, a list of the new hires was not included as a sidebar. The faculty, who all have PhDs in their respective fields, are: Nadia Nurhussien and Susan Tomlinson, both going to the English Dept.; Benyamin Lichtenstein and Maureen Scully going to Management and Marketing; Roxanne Donovan and John Perez going to Psychology; and Soyoung Lee and Cathy Qi joining the Graduate College of Education.

The Mass Media regrets the errors.

Any and all corrections are encouraged. Information can be sent to [email protected], or called in at 617-287-7990.