Central Massachusetts colleges and universities face a variety of pressures in the coming year, with shifting enrollment trends to new leadership to the need to impress incoming students.
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Central Massachusetts colleges and universities face a variety of pressures in the coming year, with shifting enrollment trends to new leadership to the need to impress incoming students.
Falling community college enrollments
The Great Recession was a boon to few, but among them were community colleges, which saw enrollments rise when people lost their jobs and looked for a new degree or job training. With better economic times, community colleges have been hurt. At Worcester’s Quinsigamond Community College, full-time-equivalent enrollment fell 18% from 2012 to 2018, according to Massachusetts state data. At Gardner’s Mount Wachusett Community College, it was 22% over that time. With the state’s financial backing, community colleges aren’t soon to go insolvent – a concern among small, private liberal arts schools, in particular – but difficult financial choices may be on the horizon.
Change at the top for two Worcester schools
Two Worcester colleges will have new presidents in 2020: Clark University and MCPHS University. At Clark, David Angel will retire in June after a decade as president and 33 years at the school. He previously served as provost and vice president of academic affairs from 2003 to 2010, and first joined Clark as a professor of geography in 1987. At MCPHS, Charles Monahan, the Boston-based school’s fifth president, is retiring Jan. 15. Monahan, a Worcester native, has led the school since 1997 and will be succeeded on an interim basis by Richard Lessard, the school’s executive vice president, chief operating officer, and chief financial officer.
A small building boom
For colleges with the financial means and demand for space, a number of construction projects are now underway. College of the Holy Cross in Worcester leads the way, with both the $107-million Prior Performing Arts Center and the $30-million Joanne Chouinard-Luth Recreation and Wellness Center under construction. Both are being built thanks to eight-figure donations from their eponymous donors. At Worcester Polytechnic Institute, work began this fall on a new $80-million building for academic, research and student services space. It is slated to open in January 2022. Assumption College in Worcester is building a 41,000-square-foot health sciences building for its new nursing program and other health studies. It is slated to open for the fall 2020 semester and will be the second major addition to Assumption's campus in the past few years, joining the Tsotsis Family Academic Center, which opened in 2017.
