01/27/2022
By Robert Manning, Chair, Board of Trustees

I am pleased to announce the launch of the search for a new UMass Lowell chancellor to succeed Chancellor Jacquie Moloney, who announced last July that she would be retiring as the university’s leader following this academic year.

The search will be conducted by a 10-member committee that will be chaired by UMass Trustee Mary Burns and Jerry Colella, Chairman MKS Instruments, both of whom are loyal and passionate alumni supporters of our university. As UMass Lowell alumni ourselves, UMass President Marty Meehan and I are thankful that Mary and Jerry have agreed to lead this effort and that the members of this Search Committee (listed below) have agreed to lend their experience and expertise to this critical task.

We are committed to conducting a comprehensive and inclusive process. As with all chancellor searches at the University of Massachusetts, the Committee will seek input from a wide range of stakeholders, including community leaders, students, faculty, staff, alumni and donors. A pool of candidates will be developed to submit to President Meehan, who will then make a recommendation to the Board of Trustees.

A national executive search firm will be hired to assist with the recruitment process, which will be conducted on a highly competitive national landscape. Identifying the right person to lead UMass Lowell – a highly complex organization serving 18,000 students, employing 1,700 faculty and staff, and driving a $92 million research enterprise – will be critical to continued ascendance of the region and the Commonwealth.

Updates on the search and opportunities for feedback will be available at https://www.umassp.edu/UML-chancellor-search.

The members of the Search Committee are:

  • Co-Chair: Mary Burns - UMass Trustee; Principal, Splash Media Group; UMass Lowell alumna (’84)
  • Co-Chair: Jerry Colella - Chairman, MKS Instruments; UMass Lowell alumnus (’78)
  • Michael Graves, PhD – UMass Lowell Associate Professor, Acting Chair, Department of Biological Sciences; President, Faculty Senate
  • Amy Hoey – Executive Vice President/Chief Operating Officer, Circle Health & Lowell General Hospital; UMass Lowell alumna (’88)
  • Derek Houle - UMass Lowell Student Trustee, UMass Lowell Class of 2022
  • James R. Julian, Jr., JD – Executive Vice President/Chief Operating Officer, UMass Office of the President
  • Carol McDonough, PhD – President, Massachusetts Society of Professors Lowell; UMass Lowell Professor of Economics
  • Noreen “Chioma” Okwara, MD - Internal Medicine Resident, Brigham & Women's Hospital; UMass Trustee; UMass Boston (’12) and UMass Chan Medical School (’17) alumna
  • Sandra Richtermeyer, PhD – Dean, Manning School of Business
  • Mark Saab – Founder, Advanced Polymers, UMass Lowell alumnus (’81)