Twenty-one years at Bridgewater State University has equaled more than $400 million in new construction and expansive renovation projects to decades- and centuries-old buildings and grounds; annual budgets, now in excess of $130 million; and campus growth with 11 new buildings in the new millennium.
The numbers are impressive by any standard and they don’t lie. Taken together, they convey unprecedented progress and countless hours of dedicated service – even to the most casual observer.
But for Miguel “Mike” Gomes, who has spent the past decade as Bridgewater State University’s vice president for the Division of Administration and Finance, and was previously associate vice president for Facilities Management and Planning, the numbers alone fall short when tallying up his contributions to the university.
In a world of iron beams and concrete, as well as cold, hard numbers, missing in the equation of his successful Bridgewater career are the numerous relationships forged throughout his tenure, which is coming to an end this June.
While his devoted service to three presidents and his commitment to colleagues on every level is without peer, the focus of his service across the years has always been Bridgewater’s students. And the students clearly have not forgotten, as dozens of new alumni attended the Afro-American Alumni Association’s annual dinner celebration during which Mr. Gomes received the 2016 Afro-American Achievement Award.
Vanessa Semedo-Geller, ’07, considers Mr. Gomes one of her mentors during her time at Bridgewater. She credits him with motivating her to graduate with honors and said he paid for her books throughout her Bridgewater years as she struggled financially.
The communications major, who now lives and works in Boston, is of Cape Verdean descent like Mr. Gomes, and a highlight of her time at Bridgewater was a study tour of the Cape Verdean Islands for which Mr. Gomes was a sponsor.
Luis Rosa, ’05, a presenter of the award, recalled meeting Mr. Gomes in his sophomore year. As one of five children in a single-parent household, Mr. Rosa said he had no male role model in his life – prior to the fateful meeting.
“Really, I always looked up to Mike,” said Mr. Rosa. “I was part of that first group that went to the Cape Verde Islands. He took us students under his wing and created experiences for us that will last a lifetime. Mr. Gomes leads where you need leadership: behind the scenes, one-on-one.”
“A great thing about students is they never let you get old. That’s what the president of Morgan State University told me when I returned to higher education,” said Mr. Gomes of his near-30-year career in higher education.
With the type of DNA that doesn’t separate him from anybody and the love of being around people who are trying to do something positive, Mr. Gomes is a perfect fit for higher education.
“Students are young, they don’t have the experience, but that have the enthusiasm,” he said. “Our students have gratitude instead of privilege. I have had the opportunity to do a lot of things with them, but I wish it could have been more. Sitting with them in a dining hall, just being amongst them, celebrating their achievements, being with them in times of trouble. Honestly building those relationships without any expectation. Mentoring through hurdles. We are shaping their future in a positive way and that is at the heart of everyone here.”
On the ground floor
While the transformation of the campus over the past 16 years has been stunning, never lost along the way was the focus on the university’s programmatic needs in addition to its deficiencies and demands for on-campus housing.
“I had the opportunity to be on the ground floor of master planning of the institution – understanding it from the conceptual to the practical aspects of getting it done…with an eye toward what it would all mean 10 to 15 years out,” Mr. Gomes said.
Citing the Tinsley Center, which opened in 2002 as an example, the building was planned far beyond the gymnasium or field house being built on other campuses at the time. Tinsley was designed to serve several purposes: academic (the home and classroom space to the Department of Movement Arts, Health Promotion and Leisure Studies), athletic (featuring both competition and composition space and flooring) and regular student use (the Thornburg Fitness Center).
Has the work met or exceeded his expectations from the vision developed for the campus back in 1996-1997?
He found the answer in recalling a 10-minute walk from Boyden Hall to a meeting on East Campus during the spring of 2014 that became a 45-minute tour and retrospective of all of the work in which he played a role.
“It became a reminiscence walk,” Mr. Gomes recalled, as he moved between the rear of the Rondileau Campus Center and Scott Hall, where the athletic tennis courts were once located; past Maxwell Library where the university invested $10 million of its own money in a floor-by-floor renovation across four years; glanced to the left at the Dana Mohler-Faria Center for Science & Mathematics originally funded at $22 million less than the university ultimately received for the record-funded project; through University Park, where students once wove their way through a 448-car parking lot dodging moving vehicles along the way; past several new residence halls, up the hill to the Operations Center, which was also a struggle to build.
“‘Wow. This is unbelievable!’ I said to myself. What has been accomplished in the last 16 to 17 years here has been truly remarkable,” Mr. Gomes said. “What we were able to do collectively – and that’s important to me, collectively – I’d say we exceeded the vision. And University Park, the renovations to Pope and Scott Halls, The Welcome Center and the Swenson Athletic Complex projects were not included in the original plan!”
His 45-minute march through the years at Bridgewater drove home the realization that the journey had many components all leading toward positively impacting teaching and learning on campus.
“It has been an honor and a blessing to play a role in this growth,” he said. “The level of commitment and dedication to this institution surpasses anything I’ve ever seen.”
“He is such an amazing force on this campus,” said President Frederick W. Clark Jr. at the Afro-American celebration. “He is the glue that keeps us together. Hopefully, we won’t fall apart without him.”
Mr. Gomes, a native of Wareham, resides on Cape Cod with his wife of 42 years, Audrey. They have three sons and three granddaughters. He is a graduate of Bethany College, earned a master’s degree and ABD from the University of Massachusetts. His higher education career has included positions at Morgan State University, the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore, and the Harlem Preparatory School. He also has considerable experience in the private sector. (Story by Eva T. Gaffney, G’01, Marketing and Communications)
