President’sNote

Dear Alumni and Friends of the University,

What an exciting time to be a student-athlete at Worcester State University! During the 2022-2023 seasons, women’s ice hockey, men’s basketball, and men’s soccer won conference titles; men’s ice hockey made it to the conference championship game for the first time in school history; and both women’s basketball and field hockey made it to their conference’s semi-final games. As this magazine goes to print, we’re seeing strong performances from our spring teams as well.

This competitive success represents the culmination of a decade of financial investments in facilities and field improvements that benefitted not only student-athletes but also student wellness in general. From 2011, when the university and the Worcester State Foundation partnered with the city to renovate Rockwood Field, to the multi-year Wellness Center project that culminated with its opening in 2016, to the “icing” of a deal for Lancer hockey at the Worcester Ice Center in 2017, to the 2019 refurbishing of the track and new turf, scoreboard, lighting, and sound system at Coughlin Field, these investments are now paying off.

More important than any building, however, has been the human capital invested in our 20 varsity sports programs and in recreation and wellness. The Athletics Department’s dedicated administrators, led by Athletic Director Michael Mudd since 2014, and their hard-working and award-winning coaches have had an outsized impact on our students’ success. With the sad closure of Becker College in 2021, Mudd and the university saw an opportunity to continue support for a strong program for women’s ice hockey. We enrolled members of the women’s ice hockey team and hired their coach, Eliza Kelley. I was proud we were able to provide a new home for the Becker students, and they have excelled on the ice and in the classroom.

Women’s sports have a great tradition here at Worcester State, in no small part due to three-sport Worcester State Hall of Famer Ann Ash Zelesky ’73. In the wake of 50th anniversary celebrations of the passage of Title IX, which requires parity in school athletics programs, we were pleased to grant Zelesky an honorary doctorate at the 2023 commencement ceremony (see inside cover).

Creating the environment students need to succeed at Worcester State is our number one goal as an institution. From the terms I served on the NCAA’s women’s basketball committee and on the Division III President’s Advisory Group, I learned that varsity sports can help universities attain a more diverse student body and that, in Division III especially, those who play succeed in the classroom and persist to graduation at higher rates than their non-varsity peers. And, as anyone who has attended a Midnight Madness basketball season kickoff can tell you, the school spirit that teams generate helps build Lancer pride among the entire Worcester State community.

Sincerely,

Barry M. Maloney PRESIDENT

Worcester State Magazine, which debuted in 1980 as The Worcester Statement, is published by University Advancement and the Office of Communications and Marketing twice a year for alumni and friends of the university.

Alumni Relations and Engagement

486 Chandler Street Worcester, MA 01602 508-929-8141

Vice President for University Advancement

Thomas McNamara ’94

Assistant Vice President for Communications and Marketing

Maureen O. Stokes

Executive Director of Alumni Relations & Engagement

Tara Hancock, MS ’06

Editor and Director of Editorial Communications

Deborah Alvarez O’Neil

Assistant Editor, Alumni Relations

Andrea Dever

Writers

Allison Coppinger ’23

Rebecca Cross

Nancy Sheehan

Photography

Matt Wright ’10

Nancy Sheehan

Jullian Valadares

Art Direction and Design Complex Stories

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