Nationwide search for new UMass Amherst chancellor launched

Search Update

February 1, 2023

Following a comprehensive nationwide search that was launched on July 15, 2022, the UMass Amherst Chancellor Search Committee has selected the following finalists for the position: 

  • Javier Reyes, Interim Chancellor, University of Illinois Chicago
  • Paul Tikalsky, Dean, The College of Engineering, Architecture & Technology, Oklahoma State University

Meet the finalists

Each candidate will visit the UMass Amherst campus in the coming weeks to meet with students, faculty, staff, and community stakeholders.

Read the press release.

Past Meetings

Documents

  • Documents from the Search Committee will be posted here when available.

More about UMass Amherst 

UMass Amherst has experienced a decade of unprecedented momentum under Chancellor Subbaswamy’s leadership and is strongly positioned for future success. In the latest U.S. News & World Report Colleges Guide, UMass Amherst is ranked No. 26 among the 209 public universities included in the national survey. A rankings rise from No. 52 in 2010 marks an extraordinary 26-step ascent, principally during Chancellor Subbaswamy’s tenure. 

First-year undergraduate applications have increased by 30 percent over the past 10 years. The six-year graduation rate has increased steadily to 84 percent, and student diversity continues to grow, with 37 percent of this past year’s entering class being students of color, up from 21 percent a decade ago. 

UMass Amherst enrolls more first-year students from Massachusetts than the Commonwealth’s top eight private universities combined. In addition, UMass Amherst awards more undergraduate STEM degrees than any other college or university in Massachusetts, public or private. 

The UMass Amherst research enterprise is driving innovative solutions to the world’s greatest challenges and boosting the state’s economy. In FY 2021, UMass Amherst research expenditures totaled $214 million. The university was ranked first among public universities in New England in National Science Foundation grant awards. 

UMass Amherst recently secured major investments in computer science, fueling the Massachusetts tech economy. An $18 million naming gift will endow the Robert and Donna Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences. A state investment of $75 million—along with $30 million from the Amherst campus—will enhance and expand the college’s facilities, enabling accelerated enrollment growth. 

The university is also playing a lead role in addressing the Commonwealth’s pressing health care needs supported by the largest gift in UMass Amherst history to the Marieb College of Nursing. The $21.5 million naming gift from the Elaine Nicpon Marieb Charitable Foundation is advancing the university’s innovative nursing engineering center and providing support for student scholarships, an endowed professorship, and mentorship and research initiatives designed to further access, equity and excellence in nursing education.