Chancellor Appointee Visits UMass Campus

Chancellor-to-be Kumble Subbaswamy made his first visit to the UMass Amherst campus today after being unanimously appointed to the position last week. Subbaswamy -- who is currently the provost at the University of Kentucky -- says he probably won't assume the chancellor's job until mid-July. But, he says, he will begin cultivating key relationships right away.

"These transitions at the upper level leadership have very little impact on what goes on in the classroom, what happens in terms of research laboratories and so-forth. It's really on the larger issues of building public support, building private fundraising infrastructure...that's where those kind of disruptions can affect."

In the coming weeks, he says he will be meeting with campus leaders, public officials, donors, alumni and others throughout the UMass system. Subbaswamy will be the fifth chancellor of the UMass Amherst campus in the past eleven years.