Chancellor Marcelo Suárez-Orozco
Marcelo Suárez-Orozco is a globally recognized scholar of migration, transnationalism, and climate resilience, and the ninth chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Boston, serving since August 1, 2020. Under his leadership, UMass Boston has strengthened its standing as the region’s leading public research university, dedicated to holistic student success, deep community engagement, and impactful research that addresses complex urban challenges, health disparities, and the urgent issue of our time—building climate resilience.
Chancellor Suárez-Orozco’s bold strategic plan, For the Times, charts UMass Boston’s path for the decade ahead and establishes the university as a model for producing future leaders, skilled workers, and engaged citizens. A companion campus master plan aligns the physical campus with this mission, shaping a learning environment grounded in belonging, openness, sustainability, and collaboration. Guided by his vision of the essential role of a public research university, Suárez-Orozco has positioned UMass Boston as a key partner to elected officials, civic leaders, and global foundations in advancing shared priorities for Boston and the Commonwealth.
A hallmark of his tenure is a profound commitment to academic excellence and student success. UMass Boston and the Boston Public Schools have launched immersive Early College programs and a unique university-assisted community school in neighboring Dorchester, expanding opportunities for working-class, first-generation, and other historically underserved students. Suárez-Orozco has strengthened cross-campus collaboration to expand advising, career preparation, and wellness resources, including launching the UMass Boston Wellness Initiative to embed health promotion into the university’s culture. In recognition of its unwavering commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, UMass Boston received a 2023 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity Award.
Suárez-Orozco is a passionate climate leader whose scholarship and leadership connect global and local resilience efforts. In partnership with the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, he co-leads a worldwide climate resilience initiative that convenes regional summits across hemispheres to implement a Mitigation, Adaptation, and Somcietal Transformation (MAST) strategy. In 2025, the City of Boston awarded Suárez-Orozco a Resilient Boston Award for his leadership in advancing climate resilience and sustainability.
Under his leadership, UMass Boston was designated by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education as an R1 institution. UMass Boston was recognized not only for its “very high research activity” but also for its enrollment of local, diverse, and low-income students, and for its support in achieving competitive employment outcomes. Notably, UMass Boston received Carnegie’s highest accessibility classification in the nation.
During his tenure, external funding and philanthropic support for UMass Boston has reached historic levels. Suárez-Orozco has secured public/private support for research on quantum computing, infectious disease diagnostics, and other emerging fields; and he has garnered several major gifts for strategic priorities including a pioneering artificial intelligence institute, an institute for sports leadership, and efforts to strengthen climate resilience, nursing, and healthcare pipelines for Boston’s world-class hospitals.
Suárez-Orozco, an immigrant from Argentina, earned his BA in psychology and his MA and PhD in anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley. Before his appointment at UMass Boston, he served as the first Wasserman Dean of UCLA’s Graduate School of Education & Information Studies, the Victor S. Thomas Professor of Human Development at Harvard, and the first Courtney Sale Ross University Professor of Globalization and Education at New York University. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (formerly serving on the Trust Board), the National Academy of Education, former Trustee of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, member of the Board of Advisors of the Thomas Mann House, Member of the Board of Directors of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, Member of Sustainable Development Solutions Network USA Leadership Council, former member of the Board of Director of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate. Dr. Suárez-Orozco is on the Executive Committee of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, he is the author and co-author of numerous award-winning books and scholarly articles, including Transformations (Stanford University Press); Children of Immigration (Harvard University Press); the six-volume Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the New Immigration (Routledge); The COVID Generation (The Vatican Press); and Education: A Global Compact for a Time of Crisis (Columbia University Press), with a foreword by Pope Francis. Many of his most significant scholarly publications are co-authored with Carola Suárez-Orozco, the distinguished cultural developmental psychologist at Harvard University. He is the recipient of multiple awards and honors, including the Mexican Order of the Aztec Eagle and he suerved as a Special Advisor on Education and Peace to the Chief Prosecutor, The International Criminal Court, The Hague, The Netherlands.