Inter-campus marine program gets approval
BOSTON -- A new marine science program that involves nearly every UMass campus can proceed now that it has received approval from the state Board of Higher Education.
Last week, the board approved the university's request to offer master's degrees and doctorates in marine science and technology through a partnership between the campuses.
The program, known as the Intercampus Graduate School of Marine Sciences and Technology, represents the first time UMass students will be able to receive a joint degree from all four of the main UMass campuses in Dartmouth, Lowell, Boston and Amherst.
Supporters say the program also will play a key supporting role for sectors of the state's economy that rely on marine science, such as commercial fishing.
The program's price tag will be relatively small because it will rely heavily on existing faculty and courses at all four campuses. Students in the new program will be able to study at the university's marine laboratory in New Bedford and field stations in Gloucester and Nantucket. University officials are also reviewing ways to get the UMass medical school in Worcester involved.
UMass Dartmouth Chancellor Jean F. MacCormack said each campus has a field of expertise to contribute. The Dartmouth campus, for example, has fishery management experts, while the Boston campus has a strong water quality analysis program, Ms. MacCormack said.
"What you're doing is you're trying to combine your brain power in a way that makes the structure of higher ed less relevant and makes each of the campuses less competitive with each other and more collaborative," Ms. MacCormack said.
UMass trustees approved the inter-campus program in February. But the program's future hinged on obtaining the right to grant degrees from the Board of Higher Education, according to the program's dean, Brian Rothschild.
"We would be dead in the water without the board approval," said Mr. Rothschild, who is also director of the university's School for Marine Science and Technology in New Bedford.
Mr. Rothschild said he hopes the new program can begin accepting students as soon as January. He said the program should accommodate about 50 doctoral candidates and 100 master's students once it's fully running within two years. About 70 faculty members are affiliated with the program so far, university officials said.
"We'll be a critical mass in the field of oceanography that is of the size of some of the major oceanographic institutions in the United States," Mr. Rothschild said.
The program is expected to cost about $272,000 in its first year and $247,000 by its fifth year, according to report prepared by the Board of Higher Education's staff. At first, the program will rely on the UMass president's reserve fund. But university officials expect the program will be self-sustaining by its fifth year.
"It holds a tremendous potential to attract philanthropic gifts, corporate sponsorship-type gifts and federal research dollars," said John Hoey, director of communications for UMass President William Bulger.
Sen. Mark C.W. Montigny, D-New Bedford, said the program's impact will particularly be felt in coastal cities like his hometown. Just as graduates of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have helped turn the Boston area into a high-tech hub, Sen. Montigny said he envisions the new graduate program benefiting the state's marine-oriented industries.
"These are the folks that go out and start companies that change economies," said Sen. Montigny, a UMass Dartmouth alumnus. "Because of our (coastal) location and the challenges and opportunities on the , I think we're enhanced tremendously by this."
Paul Diodati, director of the state's Division of Marine Fisheries, said the new graduate program should make it easier for state agencies like his to find new employees.
"It's an opportunity to certainly recruit future employees that are not only highly trained and well educated but also come with some experience in what we're doing here (in Massachusetts)," Mr. Diodati said.
