Panels mission: Find the next Marty to lead UML – Lowell Sun

Members of a streamlined, 10-person panel tasked with assembling candidates to lead UMass Lowell were encouraged at their first meeting Tuesday to think outside the box and look at potential chancellors with nontraditional backgrounds.

Most committee members, charged with finding the right person to succeed outgoing Chancellor Jacqui Moloney,got an opportunity on Zoom to introduce themselves, hear a rundown of the Open Meeting Law and confidentiality requirements, and receive coaching on public-relations matters.

University of Massachusetts system President Marty Meehan, who served previously as UMass Lowells chancellor, said expectations are high for UMass Lowell, a campus of around 18,000 students and 1,700 full-time faculty and staff, though myriad challenges exist.

Like universities around the country, UMass Lowell is emerging from a global pandemic, Meehan said. It is also facing demographic headwinds that require new thinking about retention, about the enrollment of students, and all the disruption that is posed by technology.

UMass Board of Trustees Chairman Robert Manning urged the committee to consider people from outside traditional backgrounds for the post, as Meehan was when he took over in 2007 after serving 14 years in Congress.

Said Manning: The challenges in the future will be significant, but we need a very dynamic leader. And my only suggestion to all of you is, think outside the box. Marty was not a traditional candidate when we hired him, and look at what he was able to do.

Its no exaggeration to say that UMass Lowell underwent a remarkable transformation during Meehans tenure as chancellor.

As a May 2013 Boston Business Journal profile on Meehan pointed out: Since he joined UMass Lowell as its chancellor in mid-2007, hes presided over a massive expansion of the school, with nearly $600 million in capital projects that have been completed or set into motion representing more than a dozen new construction projects, acquisitions and renovations.

UMass Lowells operating budget rose by more than 50 percent, and its student enrollment grew 40 percent to roughly 16,000 undergraduate and graduate students, since Meehan took over.

The CEO of Boston-based MFS Investment Management, Manning said he believes the Lowell campus draws strength and singularity from its gritty surroundings.

Its a different place than some small, bucolic college, which is great that some of those exist.

But you get these kids, our students, that come there and they get toughened up. And they need that toughness when they go through life, said Manning.

He could have been reading from a page of Meehans life story.

The son of a Lowell Sun newspaper press foreman, the University of Lowell graduate parlayed outstanding careers in both politics and academia.

And what do you need to scale the heights of both pursuits? The ability to raise money.

Known as a prolific fundraiser during his seven terms in Congress, Meehan still had a campaign finance balance of $4 million when he closed the account in June 2016 and transferred those fundsto an education foundation hed formed in 2001.

Thats also the primary requisite for a university president. Leave the academics to the provost and deans. Attracting wealthy donors helps boost endowments and schools profiles.

Moloney, the first woman to lead UMass Lowell, did more than just follow in Meehans footsteps. Having served the previous eight years as executive vice chancellor, she paved her own way by building on that partnership.

But now that link will soon cease.

Search Committee co-Chair Mary Burns said negotiations are underway with a search firm, with the intention of inviting its members to the panels next meeting to discuss a work plan and a position profile.

Their chancellor mission is clear: Find the next Marty Meehan.

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Panels mission: Find the next Marty to lead UML - Lowell Sun