A perfect fit for UMass

At 6-foot-8, J. Keith Motley is impossible to miss at the front of a room - anywhere in a room. The chancellor of the University of Massachusetts at Boston was in his element Monday morning, at an event touting new partnerships between local colleges and the Boston public schools.

In the wake of disappointing news about the college graduation rate of Boston public school students, he was at Northeastern pledging his support to the new initiative.

A couple of days later, he sat in his office, reflecting on the plan to make Boston students more competitive with the aid of local colleges.

"We welcome everyone else to the game," he said with a booming laugh. "We've been thinking these strategies out for years."

Motley just celebrated his first anniversary as chancellor. Although his appointment was controversial in some circles, his tenure has been anything but. The former college basketball star has fit in seamlessly on the campus.

Right now, he's especially excited about the plan to build an institute dedicated to the career of Senator Edward M. Kennedy on campus. It would be close to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library on Columbia Point, but the location was also selected because of Kennedy's affinity for UMass-Boston as a school that caters to working-class students.

"It could have gone anywhere, but it's coming here," Motley said. "It's bringing the campus together in a way that's almost scary."

"I save his messages when he calls me," Motley said. "That's because when I tell my friends I talked to Senator Kennedy they don't believe me."

UMass-Boston has often been overlooked among the city's colleges. The building of the place in the 1970s was accompanied by a construction scandal that rocked the state Senate. Its student body is nontraditional, including 1,000 students over 55. It has no dormitories, though some are on the drawing board.

Motley believes that one key to helping high school students do better in college is to expose them to campus life earlier. UMass-Boston participates in seven programs that bring local students to campus for various activities, getting them thinking about college.

He cites Boston College as a model for recruiting talented local students and exciting them about higher education.

Motley is matter of fact about his school's place in the local pecking order. "People believe if you pay more for something, it's worth more," he said. "But with this economy, they don't think that anymore. We just need to be what we are. I don't worry about other schools."

At 15,000 students, the commuter campus is beginning to burst at the seams. I asked Motley what the school's capacity is. "We're finding out right now," he said.

Motley's first post at UMass was as a provost, a job he approached as a one-man morale committee. He had come to the university from years as an administrator at his alma mater, Northeastern, and made a point of getting to know as many students as possible.

He accepted a post as a vice president of the UMass system when he was passed over for chancellor in 2005, then got the job he had coveted in a shake-up. "I never expected to be back here so quickly."

Like many transplanted Bostonians, Motley didn't plan to end up here. A Pittsburgh native, he was recruited to Northeastern 30 years ago by Basketball Hall of Fame coach Jim Calhoun, and has gone on to make a career at Northeastern and now UMass. Calhoun, a longtime coach at the University of Connecticut, was on hand last year for Motley's inauguration.

"I grew up like these students. I was an Upward Bound student at the University of Pittsburgh," Motley said, referring to the federally funded college preparatory program. "This campus needed someone who understands this place and wanted to be a part of it, not just someone who wants to be a college president someplace."

Adrian Walker is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at walker@globe.com.