<p>Even Governor Patrick prefers an academic to head the university. And some wonder why UMass gets little respect in the academic world. </p>
<p>Meehan</a> doesn’t rule out taking UMass presidency - The Boston Globe</p>
<p>[Is</a> Meehan the right pick for UMass? - The Boston Globe](<a href=“http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2010/11/25/is_meehan_the_right_pick_for_umass/]Is”>http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2010/11/25/is_meehan_the_right_pick_for_umass/)</p>
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<p>I’ve always felt that the state’s top students do not look at UMass as a viable option, but what does the school do to attract these kids? NOTHING</p>
<p>D was in top 3 of her HS class, and they offered her $4K in merit–that’s it. Private universities offered so much more that private schools became cheaper to attend than UMass!</p>
<p>You want top students to stay home, then make it worth their while.</p>
<p>I know the argument is that ‘the school can’t afford it’. Well they give $ to athletes, feeling that successful teams bring in dollars.</p>
<p>If you want to be a world class university, then don’t you need top flight students? Wouldn’t raising the schools reputation as a first class institution bring in dollars as well?</p>
<p>^ The state of Georgia did just that. The HOPE scholarship means that UGA and Georgia Tech are top choices for Georgia residents since most of them don’t pay tuition. The means of funding the scholarship are more questionable.</p>
<p>But for most students, UMass is more affordable than private colleges and that in itself is quite a big service to residents of Massachusetts (perhaps not necessarily all the types of students who would want to attend UMich or UC Berkeley but still) looking for a relatively affordable yet high-quality education.</p>
<p>I don’t think UMass has to necessarily be “elite”. Certainly, it would be nice if they had more money and resources but I feel that admitting the above-average “B” student and giving him/her opportunities certainly doesn’t prevent them from giving a great education and many opportunities to “A” students.</p>
<p>At a given time, only so many entities can be “elite”. If they are all “just as good”, then none of them are elite. I think UMass is currently “very good” if not “excellent” but considering the shadows of MIT, Harvard, the Ivies, and private LAC’s with billion-dollar endnowments I don’t know whether it will ever become “elite”, at least by the standards of general lay perception. Same with my university, WPI. Though a lot of non-elite institutions offer great educations.</p>
<p>Now this is how a serious university chooses a president:</p>
<p>[Noted</a> geneticist to lead Tufts - The Boston Globe](<a href=“http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2010/11/30/noted_geneticist_to_lead_tufts/?p1=News_links]Noted”>http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2010/11/30/noted_geneticist_to_lead_tufts/?p1=News_links)</p>
<p>Just because Marty Meehan was once a politician doesn’t mean that he can’t be a decent president for the UMass system. From what I’ve read he has done a decent job at UMass-Lowell. And with the money getting tighter all the time, maybe someone who has worked the system and has a knowledge of how to extract the most available dollars might not be a bad thing. To just dismiss him as a “hack” is unfair. That being said, I’m not sure why it became public knowledge that he is at the top of the list. Someone(s) thought it would be better to float this first and see the reaction.</p>
<p>They said the same thing about Billy Bulger and how he would bring more money into UMass. That didn’t work out too well. </p>
<p>Good old UMass, think small and local.</p>
<p>The culture back here is to look at public institutions as second class and to regard private colleges as preferable. Coupled with the great number of high quality private colleges close by, there is little motivation from the political class to make the public investments needed to raise the UMass system to the same level, as, say, UVA or UT or UC.</p>
<p>Given that, the consideration of Marty Meehan makes perfect sense: he is an accomplished public leader who is fully capable of making incremental improvements to the UMass system and will help to make it one of the best second tier public college systems. That is not a bad thing; most states do not have world class public higher education systems, and providing adequate education for the masses is a virtue.</p>
<p>Disparaging Marty Meehan for what he is not blames an innocent.</p>
<p>P.S. to MADad - it surely would have been nice to offer your excellent DD more money; but if seems odd to complain that uyour DD’s net cost for UMass of 16k per year somehow disparages education</p>
<p>it ain’t the award, it’s the net cost that matters</p>
<p>It is a huge eye opener when you go and visit other state flagship universities. It goes to show you what UMass could have been…If we had thought about college more when my kids were little, I think we would have considered moving out-of-state for a better public school system.</p>
<p>If you are Machiavellian, you might think that Meehan’s selection is being championed by the private college lobby in Massachusetts. His selection will ensure that UMass will not get too ambitious and seek to climb out of the “second tier” of public flagship colleges.</p>
<p>^^^^^^^^^</p>
<p>that’s exactly right </p>
<p>our political class thinks it’s OK that MA has a very good second tier system</p>
<p>in re: post #8, it ain’t UMass that’s thinking small</p>
<p>they do a great job with their resources, and are significantly expanding the UMass Honors College</p>
<p>But the question is where is the money? UMass does not have a large endowment and the state is billions in debt. It is easy to say throw more money at the state system but the money isn’t there to throw. Look what is happening in California right now. Their state system has been great and affordable for many years and now is facing serious enough money problems that the COA is climbing. I’m not saying Marty Meehan is the answer but if he is hired I will be vevy interested to see what his priorities will be and if he can accomplish them. And we won’t know that until it happens or doesn’t. </p>
<p>And as to the professor and scientist Tufts hired? I hope he works out for the school. There is nothing on his resume that shows he would have been a great choice for UMass, and we will never find out. But if I were studying anything but science and pre-med at Tufts, I wonder how I would feel right now.</p>
<p>If you consider UC Berkeley, UCLA, Michigan, UVa etc. to be first tier state flagships, then second tier schools would be Indiana, Purdue, Ohio State, Wisconsin, U Washington etc. That would put UMass Amherst in a third tier at best.</p>
<p>he’s out - [Meehan</a> withdraws from consideration to become UMass president](<a href=“http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2010/11/meehan_withdraw.html?p1=News_links]Meehan”>http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2010/11/meehan_withdraw.html?p1=News_links)</p>
<p>Kei-o-lei:</p>
<p>My point was that UMass was less attractive to my D than the privates because, among other factors, UMass was more expensive (due to more merit from the privates).</p>
<p>What if an in-state validectorian could attend UMass at no cost? UMass would have to be considered, esp. if the family is not loaded.</p>
<p>They floated Marty Meehan’s name , saw much negative reaction, and Marty took his name out of the running. So who else is being considered?</p>
<p>
The Times Higher Education World University Rankings ([Top</a> Universities in North America 2010-2011](<a href=“http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2010-2011/north-america.html]Top”>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2010-2011/north-america.html)) ranks UMass as the 4th best school in the state, and the 14th best public school in the country - ahead of or in a dead heat with number of the schools you listed.</p>
<p>It has a Carnegie Foundation classification of “Research University - Very High Research Activity” - this is the highest level, which only 5 other MA schools have (MIT, Harvard, Tufts, BU, Brandeis). Not a bad neighborhood to be in.</p>
<p>3rd tier? No.</p>
<p>That whole tier thing is a USNWR creation. It is based only on there own criteria as to what is or isn’t valuable. To say there is a huge difference between a school ranked 50th and one ranked 125th is silly nonsense. As the post above points out, all schools have their strengths and UMass certainly has strengths.</p>
<p>“To say there is a huge difference between a school ranked 50th and one ranked 125th is silly nonsense.”</p>
<p>Your satisfaction with the status quo of UMass is part if the school’s problem. You seem to be saying that UMass is good enough for students who can’t afford to go somewhere else. And yes, there is a major difference between a school ranked 125th and a school ranked 50th: retention rates, graduation rates, class size and resources available to students do matter in the quality of education received and the likelihood that a freshman will still be around to graduate.</p>