The University of Massachusetts selected Robert Caret, president of Towson University, to succeed Jack M. Wilson as head of the five-campus university.

A chemist with degrees from the University of New Hampshire and Suffolk University, Caret will need to concoct an effective potion for UMass, which the Boston Globe described as "struggling to climb into ...]]>

The University of Massachusetts selected Robert Caret, president of Towson University, to succeed Jack M. Wilson as head of the five-campus university.

A chemist with degrees from the University of New Hampshire and Suffolk University, Caret will need to concoct an effective potion for UMass, which the Boston Globe described as "struggling to climb into the elite ranks of public universities while contending with multiple rounds of cuts in state funding."

Other finalists for the UMass job were MIT Chancellor Phillip Clay and Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis Chancellor Charles Bantz.

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Bristol Community College hired former Massachusetts state Sen. Joan Menard to lead workforce development, lifelong learning, grant development and external affairs at the Fall River, Mass. community college. Menard chaired NEBHE from 2007 to 2010 and represented the area as a Democrat in the state Legislature for 30 years. She is a former teacher and special education director in Somerset, Mass.