Addressing students, faculty, and staff in the Campus Center Ballroom, officially marking the beginning of the new academic year, Suárez-Orozco underscored the urgent crises shaping our world right now.

“These are not ordinary times. The challenges before us are not distant—they are immediate, urgent, and profound,” he said. “As this year begins, let resilience guide your actions and ambitions. Resilience works. Resilience is good. But above all, resilience is necessary.”

The chancellor’s address centered on three intersecting crises: climate change, democratic fragility, and the pressures facing higher education. He described the climate emergency as an existential threat, pointing to rising temperatures, biodiversity loss, and sea-level rise destabilizing communities worldwide.

“We are perilously close to exceeding critical planetary boundaries—the fragile systems that sustain human and natural life could unravel within our lifetimes,” he warned.

Suárez-Orozco highlighted UMass Boston’s leadership in climate resilience. He pointed to projects like Living Seawalls restoring Boston Harbor’s coastlines, cutting-edge carbon cycling and renewable energy research, and international climate summits convened by the university.

“This is why our work matters—our city, our state, our planet needs us, needs you, now, not someday.”

He also spoke of rising threats to American democracy: attacks on science and truth, growing partisanship, and the erosion of civil rights. Citing philosopher John Dewey—“Democracy has to be born anew every generation, and education is its midwife”—the chancellor emphasized that universities must protect the critical thinking and civic engagement necessary for a healthy democracy.

“When education struggles,” he said, “democracy gasps for breath.”

Suárez-Orozco also addressed the pressures facing universities themselves—from political interference to funding cuts and restrictions on international students. He reaffirmed the university’s commitment to academic freedom and public service.

“Universities have always been citadels of intellectual freedom. … Therefore, we defend academic freedom and institutional independence, safeguarding who can teach, what can be taught, and who can learn,” he said.

Suárez-Orozco also welcomed the Honorable David Lowy, general counsel to the University of Massachusetts and a former associate justice on the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, to give the keynote address. Lowy encouraged the incoming class to be open to hearing new ideas, because they will be the ones to reinvent civil debate. 

“No good comes from shouting people down, or shouting down their ideas,” Lowy said.

Read more about Lowy’s address.

Earlier in the program, Provost Joseph Berger welcomed 37 new tenure-track faculty members recruited to campus this year through national searches, including two new permanent academic deans – Dean Pratima Prasad in the College of Liberal Arts and Dean Hazel Sive in the College of Science and Mathematics.

He also congratulated 58 faculty who have been recognized for being promoted to the rank of associate professor, full professor, and senior lecturer.

“Ensuring that the university builds intellectual strength every year is an important mission. There is no better way to reach that goal than to bring new voices onto the faculty,” Berger said.

Berger spoke of how UMass Boston continues to make progress – even amid global crises and significant challenges to institutions of higher education throughout our country.

Entering the fourth year of its For the Times strategic plan, the university is now recognized as an R1 research university by the Carnegie Foundation, which also recognized UMass Boston as one of the select few R1 universities that provides high access for current and future students.

“I am proud of the ways in which UMass Boston is proceeding to fulfill its mission, and it is more important than ever that we work together to fulfill our important value-driven roles and responsibilities here at Boston’s only public research university,” Berger said.

As the start of a new campus tradition, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Karen Ferrer-Muñiz welcomed Student Trustee Abigail Raymond and Undergraduate Student Government President Cristian Orellana to the stage to formally request investiture of our newest students as members of the Beacon community.

The students rang the Beacon Bell, to celebrate the newest Beacons joining the larger UMB family.

“We look forward to the knowledge you will gain, the friendships you will form, and the impact you will have on this campus and beyond,” Suárez-Orozco said.