THE HOGAN YEARS: - University of Massachusetts Lowell

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CoverStory run in partnership with the city—each of these, separately and together, created a symbiosis between the community and the University that could have been forged in no other way. As the Chancellor perceived it, there were two models for his mission. One was the old Textile School. The other—even more fundamentally—was the University of Massachusetts itself, created in 1867 as the Massachusetts Agricultural College, and charged at the time with the twin goals of training would-be farmers and advancing the limits of agricultural science. It was in that same role, adapted now to allow for modern technology, in which he saw the University. “What I had always wanted to do,” he would say years later in reprising his thinking, “was to provide the leadership to recast Lowell in that model, only dealing with the technology of the day. Land grants [in the 1860s] built an agricultural economy. My real hope was that we could mimic that, reach out to make a difference.” “He had a vision, and he kept a very close eye on it,” says UMass Lowell Interim Chancellor David MacKenzie, who took over the University’s leadership when William Hogan left in June and will remain until a permanent replacement is found. “There were people, over the years, who were ready to give up on this University, who saw it as mediocre and unable to rise to the task. And it had to be hard sometimes, to convince those people otherwise—it’s hard to herd all the cats in one direction…. “But he made it happen. With his vision, and the force of his personality, he marshaled the forces, he silenced the skeptics—he put us in a position to be a force for the region, to be prominent in technology and the sciences for a long, long time to come.” Others feel the same. “There is tremendous support for Chancellor Hogan from the local business community, from the The Chancellor, with Gov. William Weld, right, and Lt. Gov. Paul Cellucci, at the UMass Lowell inauguration in 1991 The Chancellor with UMass Lowell professor and economist Michael Best, center, and U.S. Rep. Marty Meehan 18 UMASS LOWELL MAGAZINE WINTER 2007
CoverStory 7. 8.. 7. Chancellor Hogan at a conference with alumni and business leaders Edson DeCastro, left, and Frank McKone 8. The Chancellor talking strategy with Gov. Michael Dukakis and Lowell City Manager James Campbell. Vice Chancellor Frederick Sperounis sits nearby City of Lowell, regional leaders and others in the Merrimack Valley,” UMass President Jack Wilson wrote two years ago in an evaluation of the Chancellor. “UMass Lowell is seen as a vital, stabilizing presence in its region, one that works actively toward improving the quality of life.” Hogan had been trained as an engineer. In the fall of 1963, with an MIT doctorate, fresh off a stint with the Army rocket development center— which followed two years with GE— he arrived at the Lowell Technological Institute, not yet 10 years old, as a professor of mechanical engineering. He moved up quickly: dean of the College of Engineering 10 years after his arrival, then, two years after that—when Lowell Tech merged with Lowell State College in ’75 to create the University of Lowell—vice president of academic affairs. Six years later he became ULowell president, which he remained through the next decade. In 1991, when the university joined the UMass system, he was named chancellor of the newly formed school. For ULowell and for the region, those were times of unparalleled growth. With the arrival of Wang Labs in 1978 and the re-industrialization of Massachusetts, there had come a demand for engineers—and computer scientists, office managers, nurses, clinicians and programmers—the likes of which had never been seen in the Merrimack Valley. Between 1975 and 1985—the first decade in the life of ULowell—enrollment increased close to 60 percent while the engineering school more than doubled. By the end of the 1980s, applications had grown to more than 7,000 a year. The Graduate School, all the while, was growing as never before—from 242 master’s degrees in the first year of the Hogan presidency to 720 12 years later. As the numbers rose, the quality of education more than kept pace. In “There is tremendous support for Chancellor Hogan from the local business community, from the city of Lowell, regional leaders and others in the Merrimack Valley.” — UMass President Jack Wilson June 1982, a year into Dr. Hogan’s presidency, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges awarded the University a 10-year accreditation, its maximum allowable. The College of Management was accredited five years later. A year or two later, with the accrediting of Industrial Technology, every program in the College of Engineering—for the first time ever—held national professional accreditation. And finally, in the fall of 1989, the attainment of among the dearest of William Hogan’s goals: the colleges of Liberal Arts and Pure and Applied Sciences—both designations left over from pre-merger times—were joined to form the College of Arts and Sciences, with a chemistry and a history professor as co-deans. Then came the recession. Jobs left the area; education funding was cut, enrollments plummeted. At the University, in 1990, there were layoffs in nearly every department— the most painful series of decisions, the Chancellor would say years later, he ever had to make. So painful he took steps to ensure he would never have to make them again. “It devastated him to do that, to let those people go,” remembers Superintendent of Grounds John Murphy. “He hated it—he told me so himself. But he had great foresight. Right then, he made arrangements to put money away to cover any [future] shortfall, so that when it happened again it wouldn’t cost anyone his job. And it never did… UMASS LOWELL MAGAZINE WINTER 2007 19
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Page 5 and 6: CampusNews companies in the state.
Page 7 and 8: Louise Griffin People Griffin Honor
Page 9 and 10: CampusNews amputees of previous con
Page 11 and 12: CampusNews Yan Luo with a network p
Page 13 and 14: CampusNews Can Masks Prevent a Pand
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Page 17 and 18: CampusNews nursing homes,” says P
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Page 25 and 26: Chancellor MacKenzie Sets Goals for
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Page 29 and 30: FeatureStory Doug Prime, left, and
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Page 33 and 34: Joe, second from right, with his so
Page 35 and 36: AlumniEvents 8. 9. 8. Class of 1956
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Page 39 and 40: CampusNews “You’re married; you
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Page 43 and 44: ClassNotes 1976 Jim McDonough was r
Page 45 and 46: ClassNotes Terri L. Pastori has bee
Page 47 and 48: Two Tournaments and a Road Race Com
Page 49 and 50: For additional merchandise, visit u
Page 51 and 52: Calendar of Events WINTER ’07 Feb

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