Chancellor Julie Chen Presides Over first Convocation

Students sitting in the stands at the Tsongas Center Image by Tory Wesnofske
UMass Lowell's 2022 Convocation is the official start of the academic year.

08/24/2022

Contacts for media: Emily Gowdey-Backus, Emily_GowdeyBackus@uml.edu and Nancy Cicco, Nancy_Cicco@uml.edu

Media Advisory

What: UMass Lowell Chancellor Julie Chen will preside over her first Convocation next week, Wednesday, Aug. 31, as the university welcomes the Class of 2026 and transfer students with a series of campus and community events.

More than 2,500 new freshmen and transfer students will enroll as River Hawks this fall. Some 780 of them will join UMass Lowell’s Honors College bringing its total head count to more than 2,000. In addition, 400 new, first-generation students, the first in their families to attend college, will join the UMass Lowell River Hawk Scholars Academy, a nationally acclaimed academic and support services program that enhances these students’ educational, campus and community experiences. 

Media opportunities include:

  • New student move-in: Saturday, Aug. 27, 9 to 10:30 a.m., Fox Hall, East Campus, 100 Pawtucket St., Lowell
    Freshmen and transfer students moving to UMass Lowell for the first time will be among the estimated 4,200 undergraduates who will live in university housing for the fall semester. Students, families and university representatives, including Chen and Joseph Hartman, provost and vice chancellor of academic and student affairs, will be available for photos and interviews. 
  • Convocation: Wednesday, Aug. 31, 11 a.m., Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell, 300 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Lowell 
    Chen, who in July became the university’s fourth leader, will preside over her first Convocation. She comes to the position after leading the university’s growing research franchise to a nearly $95 million annual enterprise.
  • Joining Chen at the podium will be UMass Lowell graduate and keynote speaker Evana Gizzi Conway, a Winchester native who earned her undergraduate and master’s degrees in mathematics from the university on her way to working for NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. There, she leads the agency’s Project RAISR (Research in Artificial Intelligence for Spacecraft Resilience), which uses artificial intelligence to diagnose and correct issues that arise in satellites. She credits her UMass Lowell education in helping her develop confidence and remains engaged with the campus community today.

Please contact UMass Lowell media relations for directions and parking information.

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