CPCS News Archive

June-July 2005

The Boston Sunday Globe featured an article by Jenna Russell on three of our CPCS graduates, Alice Ryan, Janet Benkert, and Camille Presti

Over 60, trio gains degrees, confidence

By Jenna Russell, Globe Staff  |  July 24, 2005

Standing on the plaza next to the Campus Center, poised to march onto the lawn and graduate from the University of Massachusetts at Boston, Janet Benkert felt a rare elation.

''To march down those steps and hear the music, to be this age and not feel it -- I thought it was the most thrilling and exciting thing," she said.

For Benkert, 65, and her friends and fellow graduates Alice Ryan, 71, and Camille Presti, 65, UMass degrees are something they can call their own, after decades spent caring for their families and helping their children earn college educations. ''This was ours," said Benkert. ''It belonged to us." more »

Awotona named Dean of the College of Public and Community Service

Dr. Adenrele Awotona has been named dean of the College of Public and Community Service (CPCS), effective July 3, 2005. Dr. Awotona has asked Connie Chan, interim dean of CPCS, to assist him with his transition, and she has graciously agreed to do so until early August. As you know, Dr. Chan has led CPCS for the past two years and has been instrumental in advancing the college and its mission. She has done so in a manner that has enhanced the already considerable respect she had earned as a faculty member, institute director, and successful advocate for direct and applied research and policy focusing on the needs of the Asian-American population in Massachusetts and the United States.

Dr. Awotona, a professor of architecture and urban studies, comes to us from Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where he served as dean of the School of Architecture from 1999 to 2005, associate dean in 1998-1999, and director of the Community Design and Research Center from 1999 to 2005. He also served as director of graduate studies in architecture and urban design at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne (one of the leading research universities in the United Kingdom); director of the University of Newcastle upon Tyne Center for Architectural Research and Development Overseas; and as director of the Architecture and International Development Program at the University of Huddersfield in the United Kingdom.

He earned his Ph.D. in land economy, urban studies and architecture from the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, and his master of philosophy in architecture, urban studies and housing from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. In the last four years he has earned a certificate from Harvard University's Institute of Management and Leadership in Education, as well as two certificates from Cornell University, one in managing performance in higher education and another from the Administrative Management Institute.

As dean of the School of Architecture, Dr. Awotona was involved with promoting assessment practices, coordinating and monitoring performance activities in the School, student learning outcomes, and other assessment activities taking place at Southern University. He possesses experience in college- and university-wide strategic planning and accreditation processes. He is a transformational leader who places considerable emphasis on team building, creating a supportive environment, facilitating and energizing faculty and student development, and motivating faculty, staff, and students.

Dr. Awotona brings to UMass Boston an outstanding record of achievement in both research and scholarship. His fields of expertise are sustainable community-based planning and architectural design methods, social and cultural factors in the building process, computer applications in planning and urban design, international development planning, and local and regional economic development.  He has published or copublished 13 book chapters, served as editor of 3 books and coeditor of a fourth, and published 59 academic and professional journal articles. He has served as the principal or co-principal investigator of 9 major research grants totaling nearly $4.5 million. In 2002, he was named an outstanding intellectual by the International Biographical Center (IBC), Cambridge, United Kingdom. His profile appeared in the IBC reference book 2000 Outstanding Intellectuals of the 21st Century .