Merrimack College Statement of Interest to the Northeast Conference Fall 2017
Founded in 1947 by the Order of St. Augustine to educate returning World War II veterans, Merrimack has a total student body of approximately 4,200, from 34 states and 36 countries, who form an engaged community of thinkers and doers in an academic culture of care that emphasizes hands-on learning, global citizenship and a quest for enduring relevance in an ever-changing world. Located just north of Boston, in Andover and North Andover, Massachusetts, Merrimack is enrolling over 950 new undergraduates and 650 graduate students in fall 2017. We proudly take our place as the fifth largest Catholic college in New England.
This is a time of expansion and growth for Merrimack College, due to our unique educational model and disciplined business practices. We believe our institutional momentum, market position, long-term growth trend and commitment to athletics will make Merrimack a vibrant, competitive partner in the Northeast Conference.
Merrimack has been consistently noted for its success by external media. We were ranked in the top 10 among peer institutions by U.S. News & World Report (Bachelor s Comprehensive 2012-16), as well as earning the only "up and coming" designation among Regional Colleges North in 2015. In fall 2016, U.S. News moved the College into the Regional Universities, North category, where we debuted at 57 out of 187 (and 40 th for Best Value), and in 2017, the college s ranking moved up to 56. The college was named 21st in the country for Colleges that Add Value by Money Magazine in 2014.
In the first year of President Hopey s administration, Merrimack s community came together in a collaborative, strategic planning effort and developed its Agenda for Distinction. This vision for the college s future established five guiding principles: 1. Create a Modern, Academic Enterprise Grounded in Innovative Teaching, Learning and Scholarship 2. Develop a Contemporary Catholic Mission 3. Create an Intellectually Vibrant, Socially Engaged, Entrepreneurial Student Experience 4. Inspire and Engage our People, Culture and Community 5. Strengthen our Value Proposition and Competitive Position As part of the Agenda for Distinction, the college community shares our goal of becoming an NCAA Division I institution. In the pursuit of this goal, we have sought to align Merrimack with an athletic conference whose membership shares our values and aspirations, and one where Merrimack College would not simply be another member, but help to enhance the standing and stature of the league we believe this partnership exists with the Northeast Conference.
Academically a Master s: Medium Programs institution in the Carnegie classification, the college offers more than 100 undergraduate programs in liberal arts, science and engineering, health sciences, business and education, and 17 graduate programs in business, criminology, education, engineering, health sciences and public affairs, as well as part-time degree completion and certificate programs. Merrimack has 205 full-time faculty at the start of academic year 2017-2018, an increase of nearly 50% since 2011.
Known for a distinctive and personal approach to learning, Merrimack offers our students hands-on opportunities including cooperative education and internships, research with faculty, study abroad and service learning. In addition to traditional majors and minors, students can choose programs tailored for high-demand fields including environmental studies, digital media arts and sports medicine.
Unrestricted Operating Revenue $140,000,000 $120,000,000 $100,000,000 $80,000,000 $60,000,000 $40,000,000 $20,000,000 $- FY11 FY12 FY13 FY14 FY15 FY16 FY17 4500 4000 3500 3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 FY09 FY10 FY11 FY12 FY13 FY14 FY15 FY16 FY17 Graduate Full Time Enrollment Undergraduate Full Time Enrollment The Boston Globe s front-page story on July 18, 2017, proclaimed Small private schools are struggling, but Merrimack has found its footing, highlighting our shift to more professional education as well as strong institutional business practices. The story included praise from Moody s Investors Services for our financial modeling and planning, following closely upon Moody s upgrade of Merrimack s bond outlook to positive. Moody s also announced that Merrimack College was the top small college in the country in terms of percentage increase in operating revenue from FY12 to FY16. Stories in the Boston Business Journal noted that Merrimack s education model is paying off (November 2015) and the college has got its groove back (March 2014).
2011: Lawler Rink Enhancements 2012-13: Merrimack Athletic Center Expansion Gallant Rink Construction Bookstore & Dunkin Donuts Nine New Field Sport Locker Rooms New Strength & Conditioning Center New Athletic Training Room Expanded Coaches Offices 2015: Hammel Court Floor Replacement 2016: Locker Room Expansions 2017: Stadium/Field Project New Stadium with Expansive Plans Beyond 8-lane 400m Track New Synthetic Field Turf Replacement at Martone-Mejail Field Relocation of Softball Field Baseball Field Reconstruction Merrimack s strong momentum is fueled by the reinvestment in itself our people, our programs and our facilities. Of the $87.5 million invested in capital projects since 2011, athletics represents over $20 million, which is a nearly one-quarter of total capital investments. In addition, our investment in athletic facilities in recent years has produced a renovated Merrimack Athletic Complex, with a second full ice rink; an upgraded strength and conditioning center, new athletic training space and additional locker rooms. The Athletic District opens this fall, with a new multi-sport stadium along with an eight-lane track, updated baseball field and repurposed turf field for softball and soccer. Over the past seven years, the college has added over 50% new faculty, 940,000 square feet of new or renovated space, including over 500 beds, Crowe Hall, and an expanded Athletic District, in addition to the creation of the School of Health Science. The college has completed further renovations to classrooms, dormitories, and common space all to enhance our value proposition and overall student experience. Our progress has stewarded a renewed institutional pride on our campus, across our alumni and throughout our community.
This fall the college launches its new School of Health Sciences, taking its place beside schools of business, liberal arts, science and engineering, and education and social policy. We will also open our first new academic building in three decades, Crowe Hall, home to the Girard School of Business. The ongoing public success of the college s capital campaign, Together for Good, is sharing our excitement and optimism both within the Merrimack community and beyond.
Together for Good is designed to continue to build a philanthropic foundation, and fund critical projects and programs that will make a lasting impact on current and future generations of Merrimack scholars. Strategic investments in infrastructure, academic programs, support services, athletics, student experiences, and scholarships will pay dividends for decades to come both for our students who go on to become ethical leaders and for society as a whole. In less than a year, Merrimack has raised over 75% of its planned $50 million campaign.
To compete at the highest level, we are investing in a state-of-the-art Athletic District that will include new fields for varsity programs, a new stadium and track, and facilities for our expanding intramural and club sports programs. These new athletic spaces will support our goal of becoming a Division I institution, help us meet demand from our expanding enrollment, and serve as a resource for the campus, our fans, and the surrounding community. Designed to engage students, develop teamwork and leadership skills, and build confidence, our new Athletic District will also provide space for large-scale on-campus events like Homecoming and Commencement.
In addition to Merrimack s Division I men s and women s ice hockey teams, which play in the Hockey East Conference, the college offers 22 other varsity sports. Success has become a way of life for Merrimack Athletics. Men s Soccer and Field Hockey enter the 2017 season nationally ranked after three consecutive trips to the NCAA Division II Tournament, and our field hockey team is routinely a postseason competitor, making it to the National Championship in 2015. Runner Carly Muscaro was named the 2017 Division II Honda Athlete of the Year and graduated as a six-time National Champion. The men s lacrosse team advanced to the National Championship game in 2017, while six teams, including men s basketball, advanced to the NCAA Tournament. The Boston Globe and Boston Herald routinely cover Merrimack Athletics, and our teams have been televised on NESN, CBS Sports Network and ESPN3, among others. Beyond our growing presence in traditional media outlets, our digital and social media investments continue to add value to the institution s overall brand.
Located less than 80 miles from the northern-most point of the Northeast Conference, Merrimack s Greater Boston location provides enhanced exposure for all NEC members in a media market that is not just the nation s ninth-largest, but also one that is heavily engaged in athletics. Spanning 2.4 million households through Massachusetts and New Hampshire, the Boston market features four Championship franchises in the Red Sox, Patriots, Celtics and Bruins, as well as over 100 institutions attracting over 500,000 students from all over the world. Further, a partnership with Merrimack would create greater exposure for all NEC member schools amongst the deep pool of prospective college students and families in our region. Our hockey teams membership in Hockey East will provide further conference exposure as we compete against high-visibility opponents.
Athletics Budget by Year $18,000,000 $16,000,000 $14,000,000 $12,000,000 $10,000,000 $8,000,000 $6,000,000 $4,000,000 $2,000,000 $- FY12 FY13 FY14 FY15 FY16 FY17 Operating/ Salaries Athletic Aid Student-Athlete Participation Opportunities 450 400 350 300 250 200 150 FY11 FY12 FY13 FY14 FY15 FY16 FY17 Male Participants Female Participants The growth and success of our athletic programs have been an essential component of our momentum. With the addition of 18 new full-time coaching and administrative positions, more than four million in increased athletic aid and a commitment to equitable opportunities, we are able to attract, support and develop truly outstanding student-athletes.
Women s Sports Total Each School 11 10 10 10 10 10 7 12 9 11 10 11 Basketball X X X X X X X X X X X 11 Bowling X X X X X (5) 7^ Cross Country X X X X X X X X X 9 Golf X X X X X X X X 8 Lacrosse X X X X X X X X X 9 Soccer X X X X X X X X X X 10 Softball X X X X X X X X X X 10 Swimming X X X X X X X X 7 Tennis X X X X X X X X X 9 Indoor Track & Field X X X X X X X X X X X 11 Outdoor Track & Field X X X X X X X X X X X 11 Volleyball X X X X X X X X X 9 ^Includes affiliate members: bowling Caldwell, Duquesne Merrimack has invested significant resources towards providing equitable opportunities across its programs. Recently added teams in Golf, Swimming, Track & Field, Rowing and Ice Hockey have all thrived competitively in their respective opening years and are poised for even greater success in the years ahead. Currently, Merrimack sponsors all NEC Championship sports for women with the exception of Bowling.
Men s Sports Total Each School 11 10 10 10 10 10 7 12 9 11 10 11 Baseball X X X X X X X X 8 Basketball X X X X X X X X X X X 11 Cross Country X X X X X X X X X 9 Football X X X X X X X (7) 8^ Golf X X X X X X X X X 9 Lacrosse X X X X X X (6) 8^ Soccer X X X X X X X X X 9 Tennis X X X X X X X X 8 Indoor Track & Field X X X X X X X X X X 10 Outdoor Track & Field X X X X X X X X X X 10 ^Includes affiliate members: football Duquesne; men s lacrosse Hobart, St. Joseph s Merrimack College currently sponsors all but one (Golf) of the Northeast Conference s men s championship sports. Specifically in the sports of Football and Lacrosse, Merrimack s long-term commitment to these programs would help bolster the number of sponsoring institutions and further ensure an Automatic Qualifier bid.
With national recognition for return on investment and service learning, Merrimack is poised for its next stage as an innovative leader in Catholic education. Three-quarters of our undergraduates live in college housing and contribute to a strong sense of community that is more collaborative than competitive. Appropriately sized classes, an active campus ministry, varied housing choices, a broad array of student life programs and continuously improved facilities also support the close-knit atmosphere. In the classroom, Merrimack received a score of 92 for its student-athlete Academic Success Rate (ASR), which ranks tied-for-16 th in the country among Division II programs. Five programs earned perfect scores of 100. In the community, 11 of Merrimack s athletic programs have partnered with Team Impact, tied for the most matches of any institution in the country. Merrimack College is ready to become a collaborative and competitive member of the Northeast Conference.
Dr. Christopher E. Hopey was named the eighth president of Merrimack College in 2010, and has presided over an era of unprecedented success at the college, marked by record applications and enrollments at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, significant growth in faculty ranks, the launch of a major capital campaign and investment in the college s first new residence halls and academic building in decades. Reflecting the college s new spirit and identity, Merrimack is now in the top third of U.S. News regional universities in the north, after years of consistently ranking as a top-10 northern college and identification as a college that adds the most value and is up and coming. Early in his presidency, Dr. Hopey engaged the college community in a collaborative strategic planning process to help Merrimack develop a clear vision for the future. The outcome has been Merrimack s strategic plan, The Agenda for Distinction, which set five overarching goals for advancing Merrimack to prominence and has focused the college s planning and priorities. Reflective of that vision is a renewed focus on faculty, students and enrollment. As a result, in both fall 2016 and 2017 the college incoming new student class has been more than 950, and more than 575 total graduate students. The ranks of full-time faculty has grown to over 200, with approximately 70 new positions under Dr. Hopey s administration and 29 hired in fall 2016, and 28 hired in 2017. Under Dr. Hopey, Merrimack has opened seven new residence hall buildings, created the Innovation Center and Writers House, and recently opened Crowe Hall, a 50,000 square-foot academic facility with state-of-the-art flexible classrooms and is the new home for the Girard School of Business and the Mucci Markets Lab. Funded research has expanded across the institution, with national foundations such as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and federal agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation and NASA supporting faculty-student collaborations in health sciences, engineering and other fields. Likewise, the college has developed innovative partnerships to build key facilities and programs as well as reinvigorate connections with the community. For example, in concert with the regional Middlesex Islanders hockey program, Merrimack has expanded the Merrimack Athletics Complex; side by side with the Augustinian parish St. Mary s, the college launched the Hands to Help neighborhood resource center, focusing much of the college s community service through that parish in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Under his leadership, Merrimack has expanded academic programs at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, including the recent launching of the School of Health Sciences, the College s fifth academic school. Dr. Hopey serves on a variety of different boards and commissions, most notably is currently serving as Chairman of the Board of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts. The capital campaign Together for Good, launched publicly in fall 2016, will raise an unprecedented $50 million to support Merrimack students, academic initiatives, athletics and community-service programs. Prior to leading Merrimack, Dr. Hopey was vice president and dean for the College of Professional Studies at Northeastern University. Previously, he was vice dean at the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Hopey is the author of numerous journal articles and a frequent speaker at national conferences. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania and bachelor s and master s degrees from Northeastern University. He is married to Cheryl Lucas, and they have a son, Christopher.
Jeremy Gibson is entering his fifth year as the Director of Athletics at Merrimack College in 2017-18. A member of the College s Senior Leadership team, he is charged with leadership and oversight for Merrimack s varsity, club, intramural and recreational athletic programs. Under Gibson s leadership and guidance, Merrimack s Division I men s and women s ice hockey teams continue to succeed at their respective levels, as the latter became the most recent addition to Merrimack's burgeoning lineup of varsity sports in the fall of 2015 and qualified for the Hockey East Playoffs in just its second season. Meanwhile, Merrimack continues to operate as one of the top Division II programs in the region, now offering 22 Division II varsity sports and an emerging club sport program. The Athletic Department has added eight varsity teams in a five-year span, and has nearly tripled its number of club sports offered over that same period. Merrimack's athletic programs are enjoying their most successful run in school history. While an accomplishment standpoint, Carly Muscaro became the first student-athlete ever to win an individual national championship at the College in 2015-16 and followed up with 4 individual national championships in 2016-17. In the past two years Merrimack student-athletes have garnered 23 All- American awards, and the college has finished ranked 37th in the Learfield Directors' Cup Standings each of the past 2 years, its highest-ever finish since the award's inception in the early 1990s. The previous best finish for the department was a 73rd-place finish in 2014-15. The 2016-17 season was highlighted by a NCAA Championship game appearance by the men s lacrosse team at Gillette Stadium in front of thousands of boisterous Merrimack fans. The prior year, the field hockey team also made a run to the NCAA Tournament Championship and was an overtime goal away from becoming the first Merrimack College team to win a national title since the 1994 national championship-winning softball. Additionally, women's golf, men s basketball, softball and men s soccer have all qualified for the NCAA Championships in the past 2 years. From an academic standpoint, 18 varsity programs recorded GPAs over 3.0, including six that cracked the 3.50 threshold. The women's basketball team and the women's indoor and outdoor track & field teams were named NE-10 Team Excellence Award winners, while both the men's and women's ice hockey teams led Hockey East with a combined eight Top Scholar-Athletes; the former led Hockey East with 19 all-academic selections, as well. In conjunction with the College s Augustinian mission for service, Merrimack s partnership with Team IMPACT continues to thrive as the Warriors boast more matches (11) than any other university/college in the country. The former Senior Associate Athletic Director at Harvard University and a member of the Harvard athletic department since 1997, Gibson began his duties at Merrimack on July 1, 2013. Working in the Harvard athletic department since 1997, Gibson was formerly a senior manager for the largest and oldest Division I athletic program in the country. At Harvard, Gibson s responsibilities spanned oversight of the department s alumni relations and stewardship efforts, club sport, intramural and recreation programs, event management and facility operations and oversight of many varsity programs. Gibson served on numerous committees including the NCAA Lacrosse Championship Local Organizing Committee, ECAC Hockey Executive Committee (Chair) and has served as the Ivy League administrator for a variety of sports. A Bowdoin College graduate with a bachelor s in psychology, Gibson resides in Andover with his wife, Julee, and sons, Brian and Teddy.