Michael J. Weir ’76 & Dr. Mirian M. Graddick-Weir

Dr. Michael J. Weir ’76 and Dr. Mirian M. Graddick-Weir are an award-winning team. For their deep and abiding commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, they share this year’s Randolph W. “Bill” Bromery Legacy Award, named in honor of UMass Amherst’s first African American chancellor (1971–79) who was a formidable supporter of social justice.

Weir is the founder of the WeirGroup, LLC, and CEO of Samuel E. Massenberg Sr. Foundation Inc. Graddick-Weir is the daughter of the late Dr. Samuel E. Massenberg (1927-2014), who was the former Director of Education for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
 
Weir and Graddick-Weir created the Massenberg Foundation to “construct a sturdier ladder for more students of color and low-income students” studying science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, or STEM. The Foundation continues Chancellor Bromery’s work in the Department of Geography, where he was a former professor and department chair, and established scholarships to increase the participation of underrepresented students within geology and earth sciences.
 
The Foundation’s namesake was a man who thrived against all odds and understood the value of educational opportunity. Samuel Massenberg served as one of the first and few Black pilots in the U.S. military, became a professor of aerospace studies at North Carolina A&T, and worked for Langley National Aerospace and Space Administration in a program geared toward STEM students.
 
The Foundation recently launched the Massenberg Summer STEM Institute, a collaboration between the College of Information and Computer Sciences, the College of Engineering, the College of Natural Sciences, and the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. The program offers low-income students and students of color the chance to explore various areas in STEM with college students and professors who are also from backgrounds that are underrepresented in STEM—while living on campus and getting a feel for college life.
 
Outside of UMass, Weir has worked in health care, financial services, biotech, manufacturing, and software development, and currently serves on the board of directors of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Graddick-Weir was most recently the executive vice president of human resources for Merck & Co. and was the 2001 Human Resources Executive of the Year.