UMass Lowell Chancellor Julie Chen welcomes new and transfer students during Convocation at the Tsongas Center / Photo by Henry Marte

New and transfer students beginning their college careers at UMass Lowell Tuesday were encouraged to be “equally ready to be a leader or a teammate” during a Convocation ceremony at the Tsongas Center attended by the university’s executive team, faculty, alumni, staff and friends.

As students find their way, they will benefit from university initiatives that build on their academic studies by enhancing their extracurricular and career connected opportunities, according to Chancellor Julie Chen.

“You come to Lowell at a dynamic time for the university and the city,” she told the students, introducing them to the Lowell Innovation Network Corridor, a public-private partnership launched by UMass Lowell to bring new businesses, jobs and housing to the Mill City. The initiative will provide another avenue for UMass Lowell students to pursue career-connected opportunities for pay or course credit while enrolled, a university priority Chen announced last year.

UMass Lowell graduate and Convocation speaker Vala Afshar addresses new students. Photo by Henry Marte

“Leading companies – in the biosciences, robotics, AI and other technology fields – are putting labs and offices here. Some have already arrived. Why are they coming here? They’re coming because they want to be part of an exciting community of discovery. But mostly they want you. They haven’t met you yet, and yet, they already know your potential. You represent their future,” she said.

The event’s keynote speaker Vala Afshar – Salesforce’s chief digital evangelist and a UMass Lowell graduate from Burlington, Massachusetts – similarly encouraged students to look beyond the classroom.

Afshar, who earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering at the university, praised UMass Lowell’s internet technology, academic and student affairs teams for developing Mosaic, a digital platform specifically for students. The new web application allows them to chronicle their extracurricular, internship and cooperative education experiences to augment their resumes as they prepare for their professional lives.

That UMass Lowell had the ability to imagine and create such a web application did not surprise him.

“One of the greatest gifts of my life was my education here,” he said. “I Ieft UMass Lowell with zero doubt I would make a positive impact in my workplace and my community.”

Several student leaders also encouraged incoming students to embrace this new chapter in their lives. Speakers included Student Government Association President Casey McCauley, a criminal justice major from Melrose, Massachusetts; Franklin, Massachusetts native Collin Gallagher, a business administration major and president of the Association for Campus Events; pharmaceutical sciences major Daia Hansford of Bowie, Maryland, a co-president of the women’s lacrosse team who serves on UMass Lowell’s Student Athlete Advisory Council; and Stephanie Nicum, a public health major from Derry, New Hampshire. Nicum is the UMass Lowell student trustee on the UMass Board of Trustees, which oversees the five-campus system.

Members of the UMass Lowell Air Force ROTC Detachment 345 presented the colors and the UMass Lowell Marching Band performed the national anthem, along with a selection of songs by the band Rush, including “Tom Sawyer,” “Limelight” and “Subdivisions.”

More than 3,000 new students have enrolled at UMass Lowell this fall. An estimated 450 of them have elected to join the university’s River Hawk Scholars Academy, a nationally acclaimed academic and support services program for individuals who are the first in their families to attend college. Approximately 800 incoming students will join the university’s Honors College, bringing its membership to an estimated 1,900. And, some 4,200 students have elected to live on campus.

At the close of Convocation, students attended an Engagement Fair that introduced them to the more than 250 extracurricular clubs and intramural sports teams available to them as members of the campus community.