Collins works on UMass game plan for stem cells
He had gone to the fast-growing Asian nation to lead a delegation of four faculty members and four administrators from the University of Massachusetts Boston, where he served as chancellor.
But before Collins left for Asia, he had accepted UMass President Jack Wilson's offer to serve as interim chancellor of the UMass Medical School. However, an official announcement on the change wasn't supposed to be released until he returned from overseas. Despite assurances that the news would be kept quiet, Collins got antsy, and flew back a day early.
He wasn't early enough.
"During the time I was flying from Shanghai to Chicago is when it got out," Collins told the Worcester Business Journal during a recent interview. "When I landed I had about 100 e-mails about the news."
Bumpy start
And so the 52-year-old Collins' transition from chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Boston campus, to his new role at the medical school in Worcester got off to a bumpy start. But since the initial splash of controversy - which included outraged faculty members voting no confidence in Wilson because of a system-wide management shakeup - Collins has laid relatively low, deferring media attention. Instead, he's been working steadily over the summer to get established at the medical school during this critical period for the UMass system, due in large part to Gov. Deval Patrick's proposed $1 billion state investment in stem cell research.
While Collins' post as interim chancellor of the medical school caught the most attention after news broke in May, it's his role as senior vice president for health sciences for the UMass system that carries a lot of significance as funding for stem cell research is allocated by the state.
"We've been quietly working very hard on proposals..." he said. "I've been working with all the other (UMass) campuses to understand their health and life sciences initiatives and counseled them about what opportunities there may be for funding."
Collins said the plan is to bring all that information together for a meeting at the end of the month with the UMass chancellors to "develop a university game plan."
Aside from preparing for the governor's stem cell initiative, Collins said he has spent a lot of time working with Dr. Terence R. Flotte, the newly appointed dean of the medical school, on parsing out the responsibilities of the chancellor versus the dean. Prior to Collins and Flotte joining the school, the two titles resided with one man - Aaron Lazare. He resigned from his post early this year citing health concerns, and is in the midst of a sabbatical.
Collins said he hasn't experienced any culture shock moving from UMass Boston to the medical school in Worcester. That's partly because of his education and health care background, which included a stint as president and CEO of Caritas Christi Health Care System, as well as his relationship to Worcester. He graduated from The College of the Holy Cross and is currently the school's board president.
Collins isn't showing his cards when it comes to his future as permanent chancellor. The search process is in its beginning stages, and Collins said he's staying quiet as to whether he'll throw his name into the ring.
"I don't think it's fair for me to say (at this point in the search)," he said. "If I was a candidate some people might not get in the mix."
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