As students were getting settled in around campus, UMass President Marty Meehan, arrived at UMass Dartmouth to address faculty and student leaders before the beginning of the fall semester.

Meehan, who now leads the five campuses in the Massachusetts public university system, visited UMass Dartmouth for the first time since assuming the role in May. During the convocation breakfast held at Lawrence Hall, Meehan discussed his vision moving forward.

He emphasized the importance of retaining incoming freshmen and the ways in which faculty can ease the transition for newcomers.

“Likelihood of being successful academically, particularly as a freshmen, increases dramatically when you have academic programming where you have cohorts of students that take the same course [and] assign faculty to students,” said Meehan.

He said that freshmen success rates increase when campuses can provide them with academic advising, student housing and residence halls designed to give students a place to study in groups. He warned that faculty can “lose a student in two weeks.”

Meehan said that if a student were to miss two weeks of a calculus or physics class, it would be nearly impossible for that person to catch up.

“I hope, with this convocation, you take the opportunity to tell those students they have to be on top of their game on day one,” said Meehan. “If they have a problem, they need to get to their adviser. This is where the rubber hits the road.”

Meehan is focused on UMass Law as well, saying that he would like to see enrollment increase. He also sees a gap in the legal community overall.

“Most states like Massachusetts have a number of public law schools,” he said. “I think, increasingly, we need competency in social justice and economic justice.”

Meehan said that income inequality has become a prominent issue in the United States, noting how it’s already factoring into the presidential race.

“We see it in the reactions of people of this generation not being able to get jobs or not being able to get high paying jobs,” he said. “I think issues of public service and social justice are critically important now more than ever. I think a law school that embraces social justice, social mobility is a good thing.”