Worcester Business Journal

www.wbjournal.com May 11, 2015 • Worcester Business Journal 33 The big difference between Meehan and Bulger is that Meehan has had the experience of running an institution of higher learning, University of Massachusetts Lowell, and has done an effective job over his eight years in that role. During Meehan's tenure , the school's fundraising grew by 83 percent from 2007 to 2012, new buildings and new programs were brought on line, and the school moved the needle on its ranking among national universities — from 183rd to 156th — during that five-year period in U.S. News & World Report's annual rankings. That bodes well for the rest of the system, which, like much of the higher education industry, faces the challenge of continuously increasing costs. UMass, meanwhile, is also grappling with a debt load of about $3 billion following a decade-long building boom, which included the $400 billion Albert Sherman Center at UMass Medical School in Worcester. Last week, State House News Service reported, both Meehan and his predecessor, Robert Caret, cited a backlog of deferred maintenance on all the campuses, which are home to an aging network of buildings and dormitories. Caret explicitly said that the building boom could be coming to an end as the system approaches its debt limit, and that he doubts university leaders or the board of trustees would be willing to increase the system's current 8 percent debt cap. Moving that ratio higher carries with it the risk of a shift in the system's bond rating, which would add more costs to future projects. Indeed, earlier this year, Moody's Investor's Service gave a negative outlook on close to $500 million in building bonds, citing UMass's need for more cash and uncertainty over support from the state budget. Amid these constraints, enrollment across the five campuses grew 30 percent between 2004 and 2014 to just over 73,600 students. The demands on the system have increased, but its capacity to fund the infrastructure investments to match that growth is severely challenged. One additional hurdle Meehan will have to clear is maintaining the flow of federal research funding to UMass Medical School amid continuing calls for budget restraint in Washington. His 14 years of experience in the Congress should help in that effort as Central Massachusetts seeks to grab a bigger piece of the action in the growing life sciences industry. Last week, Meehan endorsed a system-wide expansion of online education, which has the potential to lower the costs of delivering education, thus helping UMass further strengthen its financial footing. Based on his experience and resume of success at Lowell, and his political savvy, contacts and skills, the selection of Meehan was the right call for the UMass board. We hope he can leverage his accomplishments in Lowell to bring both growth and further smart investments to the other campuses in Worcester, Amherst, Dartmouth and Boston. n UMass makes right call in selecting new president E D I T O R I A L The Worcester Business Journal welcomes letters to the editor and commentary submissions. Please send submissions to Rick Saia, editor, at rsaia@wbjournal.com. Letters can also be faxed to 508-755-8860. A recent Worcester Business Journal article (Teens urge Baker: Reverse cut to jobs program) pointed out that the rise in the state's minimum wage will have the unintended consequence of diminishing the number of youth we're able to subsidize in the state-funded YouthWorks summer jobs program. Youth advocates fear employers will refrain from hiring younger workers because they might not be able to afford them, or feel their output is not commensurate with the increased wage. This is a concern because a strong workforce is in everyone's best interest. It helps area businesses grow and thrive, allowing workers to have better job prospects, which, in turn, allows them to spend more, helping businesses continue to grow. In short, a strong workforce is part of what economists call "a virtuous circle." We also know from research that one of the best ways to ensure our emerging workforce has strong work skills is to get young people work experience. On-the- job training, internships, subsidized jobs, and good old part-time after-school jobs can help them gain the experience and skills they need for future career success. The Central Massachusetts Workforce Investment Board, which oversees the public workforce system and brings together business leaders, educators, labor and other stakeholders to help propel economic growth, coordinates numerous programs, including Connecting Activities, that help schools broker internships for young people and organizes other work readiness activities. With the state's $2.7 million investment, nearly 10,000 high school students have gained work experience, collectively earning more than $13.9 million in private-sector wages. Unfortunately, its funding has been declining since 2007, when it received $7.1 million. Regarding the effects of the increased minimum wage on youth employment, there should be more study to determine if there's a drop-off in teen hiring this summer and beyond, and if so, whether the benefits of a separate minimum wage for younger workers may be part of the solution. In the meantime, Governor Baker should use his bully pulpit to help educate the private sector at the need to hire youth or lead them to opportunities through programs such as ours — Connecting Activities and YouthWorks. While I hope the governor will work to restore funding for such programs to prior levels, I also urge the private sector to step up and work with such youth-hiring programs and hire youth who otherwise would not gain a foothold in the workplace. We recognize the need for the governor to stabilize and balance the state's budget, but we also hope that investing in our commonwealth's youth will remain a priority for his administration and others, since this is, ultimately, a battle for our economic future. n Rosalie Lawless, human resources director at Fairlawn Rehabilitation Hospital, in Worcester, is board chair at the Central Massachusetts Workforce Investment Board, also based in Worcester. Budget-challenged Mass. must still help put youths to work BY ROSALIE LAWLESS Special to the Worcester Business Journal V I E W P O I N T Rosalie Lawless 0 100 200 300 400 0 $50 $100 $150 $200 Number of awards Amount of awards (In millions of dollars) '08 '09 '10 '11 '12 '13 '14 '15* '08 '09 '10 '11 '12 '13 '14 '15* 111 $43.6M $122.8M $153.6M $135.4M $153.5M $140.1M $130.3M $131.5M 322 334 343 339 311 312 308 * - Fiscal year 2015 ends Sept. 30, 2015. Source: National Institutes of Health NIH funding for UMass Medical School Over the last six federal fiscal cycles, annual funding for the Worcester school has topped $153 million. Marty Meehan M artin Meehan will not be the first politician to head the five-campus University of Massachusetts. That honor belongs to William Bulger, the powerful South Boston politician and former president of the state Senate, who was appointed by Gov. William Weld in 1996, then resigned seven years later when Gov. Mitt Romney eventually forced him out.

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