A former UMass Boston Chancellor, Robert A. Corrigan, died in his home July 5, according to SF State News. He was 89.
Corrigan is profoundly responsible for shaping the university into its current form, alongside a few other universities in which he held high positions.
In a recent email regarding his passing, Chancellor Marcelo Suarez-Orozco described Corrigan as a “widely respected studies scholar, higher education leader, champion of social justice, and public university advocate.”
During his tenure at UMass Boston, Corrigan played a major role in UMass Boston’s athletic programs. According to the athletic department website, it was largely due to Corrigan’s efforts that the university became an NCAA varsity-level program in 1980-81.
Corrigan also encouraged the construction of the Clark Athletic Center. His work with the school’s athletic programs eventually earned him a spot in the UMass Boston Athletics Hall of Fame in 2008.
In 1982, Corrigan oversaw the merger of UMass Boston and Boston State College. The merger was a major milestone in the history of the university, as it opened the door for new degree programs — including the university’s first PhD program — and boosted enrollment in the university, according to documents from the Healey Library.
Corrigan also helped establish the John W. McCormack Institute of Public Affairs, the Healey Library and the William Monroe Trotter Institute for the Study of Black Culture.
Ethnic studies were Corrigan’s focus even before his time at UMass Boston. According to the University of Iowa African American Studies website, he helped establish the African-American World Studies Program at the University of Iowa during his time there.
After leaving UMass Boston in 1988, Corrigan served as president at San Francisco State University, where he would play out the rest of his career in education before his retirement in 2012. There, he championed faculty diversity and established programs for K-12 students to prepare for college.
These programs include the “America Reads” and “America Counts” initiatives that placed college tutors in K-12 classrooms to help with reading and math skills. He also oversaw San Francisco State University’s takeover of the city’s Head Start program, which helped more than 2,000 children from low-income families prepare for elementary school.
“Chancellor Corrigan’s loss will be keenly felt by many, and his extraordinary record of service and devotion to the public good will continue to inspire us,” Suárez-Orozco wrote at the end of his email. “With Beacon pride, we remember Robert A. Corrigan as one of our own.”
