11/10/2026
By Jenifer Whitten-Woodring

Failure can be serendipitous! The Honors College will host UMass Lowell’s first Failure Showcase.

  • Date: Nov. 16
  • Time: 3 – 6 p.m.
  • Location: Moloney Hall, Meehan Student Center

Faculty, staff and university leaders will share their stories of failure and resilience. Although it seldom feels good at the time, failure can help us grow. In research, creative work and life, we usually learn more when we fail than when we succeed. But fear of failure often holds us back.

This event is open to all students, faculty and staff. Drop in when you can and stay as long as you want. Enjoy lemonade and cookies and learn how some in our community have survived failure and thrived because of it.

Speakers and their failures

  • Lynne Cossman, provost: “Flunking Out and Falling Forward”
  • Sue Kim, dean, College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences: “The Time I Bailed Out of College”
  • Ann Kronrod, associate professor, Manning School of Business: “When Nobody Believes in You”
  • Jimmy Boucher, lab manager, Francis College of Engineering: “Sometimes Quitting is Progress”
  • Zoey Mills, access services associate, Library: “From Libraries to Trader Joe’s and Back to Libraries”
  • Bertie Greer, dean, Manning School of Business: “When the Wrong Answer Led to the Right Place”
  • Jenifer Whitten-Woodring, dean, Honors College: “Getting Kicked Out Helped Me Kick Ass”
  • Bob Giles, professor emeritus, Kennedy College of Sciences: “The Year I Almost Left Physics: How Failure Helped Me Find My Way”
  • Julian Zabalbeascoa, associate director, Honors College: “Never Give In, Never, Never, Never”