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UMass president-elect to tour Worcester campus on June 16

First official visit for Robert L. Caret

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    Robert L. Caret, PhD

UMass President-elect Robert L. Caret, PhD, will be on the Worcester campus on Thursday, June 16, meeting with groups of UMass Medical School administrators, faculty and students, and touring the campus. This is Dr. Caret’s first official visit to campus.

The UMass Board of Trustees unanimously elected Caret as president of the five-campus university system in January. The former president of Towson University in Towson, Md., Caret will succeed retiring UMass President Jack M. Wilson, who steps down on June 30.

Caret, 63, served as a faculty member, dean, executive vice president and provost of Towson University for 21 years before leaving to assume the presidency of San Jose State University in 1995. He returned to serve as president of Towson in 2003. Caret is credited with helping to reinvigorate the San Jose State University campus, and he championed a joint city/university effort to build the Martin Luther King Jr. Library there. 

Caret has authored many articles on chemistry, chemical education and higher education for business and professional publications. He is the co-author of four textbooks in the fields of organic chemistry and allied health chemistry. The Maryland Chapter of the American Chemical Society recognized Caret's achievements by honoring him with the George L. Braude Award in 2005.

A native of Maine, Caret received his PhD in organic chemistry from the University of New Hampshire in 1974 and his bachelor of science degree in chemistry and mathematics from Suffolk University in 1969.