It happens every year. The ecstasy, and then . . . not the agony, but something far from ecstasy. The ecstasy happens on Friday morning at UMass Boston’s commencement. The opposite occurs the next day, Saturday around 5 p.m.   The transformation from one state to another [...]

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I love my son.  I love UMass Boston. Today, as summer session begins, my son is sitting in Mo Cunningham’s politics class and I couldn’t be happier. Studying with a guy who knows the underside, the over-side and the around-side of Massachusetts politics, will be, well . . . enlightening. For years I’ve worked at [...]

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Another one gone. In my nearly seven years at this public university, I’ve seen my share of advancement colleagues come and go, and this week’s bell weather of a cookies and soda farewell was no different than the six or so others I’ve witnessed. It’s more bitter than sweet. But the average tenure for development [...]

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How can we understand the unfathomable evil of yesterday’s Boston Marathon tragedy? Impossible. But, still, we try to pull bits of hope from the crevices of destruction. A few weeks ago, I experienced an occasion that strengthened my conviction that public universities inspire their students to be future leaders who will embrace similar roles that [...]

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I appreciated something new yesterday while reading the Globe’s Ideas section. “The ideals behind UMass Amherst’s stained concrete:  It looks nothing like the college of your dreams — and that’s exactly why we should learn to love the state’s flagship campus”  made me understand the import behind UMass Amherst’s “colossal concrete slabs, dark subterranean spaces, [...]

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School vacation week.  Why not take the family to the Big Apple? We did. “They” wanted to see the blinking brilliance of Times Square and to determine whether they really could “believe” at the Ripley’s Believe it or Not Museum. I was curious to see another institution, one of America’s most venerable, just blocks from [...]

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He is the same guy with the slightly scraggly beard, standing at the exit of the Waltham Costco. He’s one of those “checkers” who silently “ask” for the long receipt you have which quantifies the way too much  money you’ve just spent. No one really knows why these employees study your flimsy, curling receipt and [...]

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You know Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel painting of the Hands of God and Adam? Well I had the privilege of viewing what I thought was a “live” look in Rome about 25 years ago.  But I didn’t really see it “live” until yesterday. Right in the Campus Center terrace. That’s where we celebrated Philanthropy Week with [...]

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It is hard to get your arms around one million, be it as an amount of dollars, or days, or mouse clicks — but I wanted to try. A million dollars is a life time of paychecks for some; a million days ago, was September in the year 726 B.C. (thank you Dr. Bill Hagar [...]

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A few years ago, I visited my daughter’s fifth grade class to present on “What Do I Want to be When I Grow Up” day.  Oh god, I thought the night before. How am I going to make the job of professional fundraiser aka “asker for money” exciting? But I  found a way. After telling [...]

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