By Gintautus Dumcius
Reporter Correspondent

Dr. Keith Motley last Friday formally assumed the helm at UMass-Boston, taking over as the school's eighth chancellor, and the third in six years.

In his inauguration speech, about thirty minutes shorter than the nearly hour-long one kicking off the semester two months ago, Motley said the university will maintain its diversity and increase financial aid as it attempts to reach an enrollment of 15,000 students by 2010. It will remain a "research university with a teaching soul," he said.

After enduring "many winters of budget cuts," Motley said the campus would focus on disparities in education, health care, income and environmental quality. "You better look out - we're poised on the brink of greatness," he told the crowd at the Clark Athletic Center last week.

Gov. Deval Patrick, who attended the inauguration, along with Mayor Thomas Menino and other city and state officials, added his own vision for the school, where he gave a speech last June introducing his education reform plan. "Not far from here there are young people caught up in achievement gaps and high dropout rates and violence who need to see this place as a reason to hope," Patrick said.

Motley was recruited from Northeastern University by then-Chancellor Jo Ann Gora as the campus's vice chancellor of student affairs in 2003. Gora later left for Ball State University in Indiana and Motley lost out on the chancellorship to Dr. Michael Collins in 2005, but was named the UMass vice president for business, marketing and public affairs, working in the UMass President's office. The UMass Board of Trustees picked Motley to take over for Collins earlier this year after Collins was moved over to head UMass Medical School in Worcester.

After his inauguration, Motley was feted at a reception with the O'Jays, a legendary soul group from Philadelphia. He held a separate, earlier reception for six members of the Tuskegee Airmen, the nation's first African-American military airmen from World War II. (Motley is an honorary member.)

Saturday night, students were treated to a free concert by hip-hop artist Common. At the Tuskegee reception, one of the airmen noted the heavy medallion hanging from Motley's neck, a symbol of his office. That's the next lecture to give the students, Motley quipped: "This is the original bling."