J. KEITH MOTLEY will make history today as the first African-American to run a major research university in Greater Boston. But Motley, the new chancellor of UMass-Boston, has to dispense the champagne quickly, so he can get back to the work.
UMass-Boston's heart is sound, exemplified by its teeming, three-and-a-half-year-old campus center, a great white ship of a building that looks out over Dorchester Bay. Now Motley has to chart a course for growth.
One challenge is to protect the school's urban mission. Some fear this will be compromised if the school builds a talked-about dormitory. The campus should keep open its door wide to all students, including commuters and any future dorm dwellers, as well as students who know they'll achieve and those who aren't so sure.
But Motley is confident about the future.
"I think our urban mission is in all that we do," he said in an interview, offering a sweeping vision of what "urban" means, from battling ethnic and racially based health disparities to being "a friend of the Boston Public Schools" to "the world leader in green chemistry," work that includes protecting the environment and developing clean energy sources for Boston and the world.
Motley also has to advance UMass-Boston's research efforts. In the 2006-2007 academic year, the campus won $42 million in grants and awards, a 51 percent increase over five years. Motley wants to get to $50 million.
To do research and win grants, faculty need first-rate facilities. But all five UMass campuses are plagued with leaks, cracks, and decay. Governor Patrick has a bond proposal to invest $1 billion in capital repairs. And Motley has his eye on $125 million of this money: $100 million for a new academic center and $25 million to strengthen his school's compromised substructure, which supports buildings and a crumbling parking garage that was closed last year to facilitate repairs and protect public safety. The Legislature should invest wisely so that the university's urban mission isn't left to shabby quarters.
There's also a lesson in Motley's inauguration about perseverance. In 2004, after serving as a popular UMass-Boston administrator, Motley was named interim chancellor. But the permanent chancellor's job went to Dr. Michael Collins, a move that drew cries of protest from Motley's supporters and charges of racism. Motley gracefully stayed in the game, supporting Collins and becoming instead the university's vice president for business, marketing, and public affairs. It was "the best two years of my life," Motley says - a view from the top of the administrative ladder that he knows will make him a better chancellor.
Motley's personal rise is to be applauded. But it is the elevation of UMass itself that most concerns the public.
