UMass Boston

UMass Boston Athletics became a reality at the varsity levelagainst NCAA competition in 1980-81 and Robert A. Corrigan was adriving force behind the dream of so many at the Harbor Campus tosponsor athletics at UMB. Dr. Corrigan served as UMass Boston'sChancellor and Professor of English from 1979 to 1988, beforebecoming the 12th President of San Francisco State University inSeptember of 1988. He has been a champion of community service andcivic engagement throughout his career, having establisheduniversity-community partnerships at both UMass Boston and SFSU. In1996, Dr. Corrigan was tapped by former President Bill Clinton tochair both the Steering Committee of college and universitypresidents for the "America Reads Challenge" and the NationalSteering Committee for the "America Counts" initiative. Dr.Corrigan also serves on the Board of Directors of the San FranciscoChamber of Commerce and has sat on various Mayor's Councils for thecity of San Francisco. He is a member of the National CancerInstitute's Comprehensive Minority Biomedical Branch Task Force andthe National Advisory Council for Campus Contact. Dr. Corriganformerly served on the Board of Directors for the Jump Startprogram and is a founding member, past Chairman of the Board andDistinguished Fellow of the Association of Urban Universities. Abiographer of poet Ezra Pound, he was also involved in theemergence of Ethnic Studies in the late 1960s. Dr. Corrigan hasserved as a provost at the University of Maryland, dean of theCollege of Arts and Sciences at the University of Missouri andfaculty member Bryan Mawr College, the University of Pennsylvania,the University of Iowa and the University of Gothenburg in Sweden.He received his A.B. from Brown University and both his master'sand doctoral degrees in American Civilization from the Universityof Pennsylvania.