Marty Meehan's Biography

Marty Meehan is the second chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Lowell and the fourteenth leader of the institution and its predecessor schools, founded in the 1890s.

“Higher education is the foundation of this region. It will determine the region’s future,” says Meehan. “What we do now, today, at this university, will decide who will leave and who will stay. Now—there has never been a more critical time than now.”

“This place gave me a chance when there weren’t a lot of other opportunities,” Meehan adds. “I feel passionately about this university. Fundamentally, I can tell you it gave me the basis to do whatever I’ve been able to do with my life.”

Commenting on the unanimous decision by the University of Massachusetts Trustees to appoint Meehan as chancellor, President Jack Wilson said, “Marty Meehan is a leader, an innovator, and has a demonstrated passion for higher education in general and UMass Lowell in particular.” He assumed the chancellorship on July 1, 2007.

A UMass Lowell alumnus, Meehan graduated cum laude in 1978, having studied education and political science. He received a master’s degree in public administration from Suffolk University in 1981 and a juris doctor from Suffolk University Law School in 1986. He holds honorary degrees from Suffolk and Green Mountain College in Vermont. Meehan served as an adjunct faculty member in political science at UMass Lowell in the late 1980s.

A resident of Lowell, Meehan represented the fifth congressional district of Massachusetts in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1993 to 2007. He served on the House Armed Services and Judiciary committees. Widely respected as a reformer, he established a national reputation for his legislative leadership in reforming campaign finance laws and protecting people against the health risks in tobacco use. Among his priorities were maintaining a balanced federal budget, preserving Medicare and Social Security, supporting and strengthening the military, and supporting economic growth that is worker- and environment-friendly.

Meehan served as Massachusetts deputy secretary of state for securities and corporations from 1986 to 1990. The Boston Globe reported, "During Meehan's four years as deputy secretary, the Securities Division [went] from being a frequent embarrassment to gaining a national reputation as hard-hitting and activist."  In the early 1990s, Meehan was the first assistant district attorney of Middlesex County, supervising more than 150 people, including 80 prosecutors, in an office admired for aggressive prosecution of child abuse, domestic violence and other violent crimes. 

Meehan is married to Ellen T. Murphy, a health-care consultant and former vice president at Lawrence General Hospital. Ellen received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1986 from Simmons College, where she majored in international relations and French. She received a master’s in business administration in 1992 from the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Virginia. Marty and Ellen are the parents of Robert Francis Meehan, born in 1999, and Daniel Martin Meehan, born in 2002.