More than a hundred business leaders attended a reception for former UMass Building Authority (UMBA) boss David MacKenzie at the UMass Club in Boston. MacKenzie was praised for the many great building projects he oversaw as executive director for the past seven years by university president Robert Caret, chairman of the UMBA board and SBLI president Robert Sheridan and new UMBA director Katherine Craven. Other noteworthy guests who turned out to bid farewell to MacKenzie included UMass executive vice presdient Jim Julian, UMass Lowell chancellor Marty Meehan, UMass Dartmouth chancellor Jean McCormack and former state treasurer Shannon O'Brien. A David J. MacKenzie Scholarship Fund has been created by the UMass Foundation.
President Caret used the occasion to announce that UMass will undergo a $3 billion capital improvement program to further enhance the university's academic appeal.
Among the building projects currently underway on UMass campuses statewide, Craven will continue to manage construction on the Sherman Center at Worcester Medical School, a $432 million research facility that will be at the forefront of the nation's battle against cancer and the new laboratory for Nobel Prize winner Dr. Craig Mello.
The University of Massachusetts Building Authority (UMBA) is a major economic engine in the state, generating thousands of jobs and millions in revenue. Currently, more than 20 projects are underway on all five UMass campuses including the Edward M. Kennedy Institute and an academic building in Boston; a bio-processing manufacturing center in Dartmouth; the Emerging Technology and Innovation Center, student dormitory and two new parking garages in Lowell; and a police station, greenhouse complex and honors facility in Amherst.