Meehan accepts post at UMass-Lowell

Meehan, a Lowell Democrat, will take the post of chancellor at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell as early as this summer. The school’s 22-member board unanimously voted on March 14 to appoint the congressman. The board has 19 voting members, which includes two students. The day before, UMass-Lowell President Jack Wilson announced his recommendation to choose Meehan.

Meehan, the U.S. representative for the Fifth Congressional District in the state, issued a press release on March 13 that confirmed he would resign as a member of the U.S. House to take the chancellorship.

“I plan to accept the position and leave Congress in July,” Meehan said. “I believe in the university and the vital mission it plays in the community and in the state and I want to be part of it.”

Meehan, a 1978 UMass-Lowell graduate, said his successes in life can be traced to his education at the school.

Meehan has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1993 and several top committees including the U.S. House Armed Services Committee.

State Rep. Jamie Eldridge, D-Acton, is one of about a dozen politicians hoping to replace Meehan in at the U.S. House. He established an exploratory committee last month. Other contenders for Meehan’s position include fellow Democrats Nikki Tsongas, the wife of the late Sen. Paul Tsongas of Lowell; Lowell City Councilor Eileen Donoghue. Republicans include former state Rep. Donna Cuomo, R-North Andover, and Meehan’s 2002 challenger Charles McCarthy, R-Dunstable.