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Tag: Julie Chen

  • President Marty Meehan, UMass Lowell invest in the future

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    LOWELL — Before he sat down with The Sun to talk about his new charitable commitment of $1.5 million to UMass Lowell, President Marty Meehan met with a half-dozen students to speak with them about their experience at the university, as well as their plans for their post-graduate future.

    Connecting with students has always been a lodestar for Meehan, the first undergraduate alumnus to lead the five-campus University of Massachusetts system.

    “I have a passion for the students themselves because it’s where I started,” he said after the students left what is currently called University Crossing. “In this day and age, if you want to be a college or a university president or chancellor, you’ve got to be interacting with students. You’ve got to love that part of the job.”

    On Friday, the university announced that the center will be rededicated on May 2 as the Martin T. Meehan Student Center.

    At Chancellor Julie Chen’s request, the UMass Board of Trustees this past fall approved the renaming of the building in Lowell’s Acre neighborhood.

    Meehan called the honor “a little embarrassing, if you really want to know the truth,” while recognizing the impact his UMass Lowell education has had on his entire life.

    The hub of student activity at the corner of Pawtucket Street between Salem and Merrimack streets didn’t exist when Meehan was a commuter student in the mid-1970s.

    But when he became the 27th president of the UMass system, Meehan recognized the need to create a space that would anchor the university to its Industrial Revolution roots and project its educational mission and reputation into the future.

    He spearheaded the acquisition of the old St. Joseph’s Hospital to build University Crossing, a 230,000-square foot complex overlooking the Merrimack River that provides students with easy access to state-of-the-art amenities and services. The complex connects the university’s three campuses and the city’s downtown business and cultural district.

    “The river is why this university is here,” Meehan said. “It’s on this river that the American Industrial Revolution took off. That’s why I wanted this student center to be here.”

    After attending Lowell Public Schools, Meehan earned his undergraduate degree in education and political science in 1978 from what was then the University of Lowell. His four sisters also graduated from the university. Meehan went on to earn a master’s degree in public administration and a juris doctor from Suffolk University.

    Meehan parlayed his higher education into a life focused on public service. He served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1993 to 2007, before accepting the role as chancellor of UML for eight years. Meehan left UMass Lowell to become president of the five-campus UMass system in 2015

    “From my vantage point, I’ve been able to accomplish whatever I wanted to in my career and my life — in terms of my career — it all starts here,” Meehan said. “I believe passionately in the institution.”

    The Lowell native grew up in a working-class family, and was a first-generation college graduate who has long championed the transformative power of public education, public service and giving back. Meehan credits his parents with instilling the value of education that still motivates him today to provide opportunities for all young people.

    In 2016, he closed his old campaign finance account and transferred the money to an educational foundation he set up in 2001 to benefit UMass scholarships, and made a $1 million donation to UMass Lowell. The foundation was named for his late parents, Alice Meehan and Martin “Buster” Meehan.

    “My parents never went to college,” Meehan said. “My father was self-educated, but he wanted all seven of us to go to college.”

    Over the years, Meehan has given more than $3.7 million across the UMass system. In addition, during his inauguration events as chancellor and president, more than $2.6 million was raised in his honor for the university, bringing the total gifts to the system to $6.3 million.

    Under Meehan’s leadership, UMass Lowell experienced record gains in enrollment, student retention, research and scholarship funding, and the campus underwent a dramatic physical transformation, opening 10 new buildings in a five-year period, including University Crossing.

    The nationally ranked public university has been a leader in research, learning and teaching for more than 130 years. UMass Lowell is a Research 1 university, which puts it in the top 4-5% in the country, and it earned a No. 1 ranking for a public university in the Wall Street Journal. The university’s enrollment is 17,500 students and it employs 2,400 faculty and staff in a $1.2 billion operation.

    Meehan said it was time for him to build a different legacy, one focused on giving back and reinvesting in the institution.

    His new charitable commitment of $1.5 million will support internships and career connected experiences for students in the College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, UMass Lowell. The funding grows on the commitment Chen made to a university program that guarantees students paid, career-connected experiences during their college career.

    “Starting with this fall’s incoming freshmen class, we will guarantee every undergraduate student the opportunity for at least one paid, career-connected experience by the time they graduate,” Chen said during her 2023 inauguration ceremony at the Tsongas Center. “And for those opportunities that don’t come with a paycheck, our student success fund will provide it. No student will be left out because they can’t afford to work for free.”

    It’s a philosophy of giving that Meehan endorses both professionally and personally.

    “We’re stewards of this place,” Meehan said. “I am, Julie [Chen] is. We’re only here for a temporary and short time, but our job is to leave it better than we found it.”

    A dedication ceremony for The Martin T. Meehan Student Center will be held Saturday, May 2, 2026, at UMass Lowell. For more information, visit uml.edu/UniversityCrossing/Meehan-Dedication.

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    Melanie Gilbert

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  • UMass Lowell ranked state’s top value school by U.S. News

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    LOWELL — U.S. News & World Report’s 2026 national rankings of top colleges and universities again this year give high marks to UMass Lowell for the education and economic value it provides to students.

    The media outlet, best known for consumer advice and news analysis, places UMass Lowell at No. 11 in Massachusetts for its “Best Colleges” ranking of higher-educational institutions defined as national universities. Such institutions offer a full range of undergraduate, master’s and doctoral programs and produce groundbreaking research.

    U.S. News also lists UMass Lowell as the No. 1 “best value school” in the Bay State and No. 92 in the country, up 105 spots from last year.

    “UMass Lowell delivers a world-class education that is accessible and affordable while helping students succeed today and throughout their careers. We’re proud to be No. 1 among ‘best value schools’ in Massachusetts and No. 92 in the U.S. — rankings that reflect our strong return on investment and emphasis on career-connected experience,” said UMass Lowell Chancellor Julie Chen.

    The rankings come just months after UMass Lowell was named a Carnegie Research 1 university, a prestigious designation used to identify the nation’s top research institutions.

    In acknowledging the university’s leadership in scholarship and economic value, the rankings also reflect UMass Lowell’s commitment to the region’s economic vitality through the Lowell Innovation Network Corridor. Now underway, the initiative envisions a 1.2-million square-foot mixed-use development on and beyond UMass Lowell’s campus that includes offices and research labs, housing, retail businesses and entertainment destinations. The ecosystem is providing UMass Lowell students with paid career experiences at LINC member organizations.

    For its 2026 assessments, U.S. News & World Report evaluated nearly 1,700 higher-education institutions. To determine UMass Lowell’s place on the Best Colleges list, the media outlet used 17 key measures of academic quality including student retention and graduation rates, financial resources provided per student, faculty to student ratio, number of full-time faculty and amount of published research.

    To determine the “best value” ranking, the outlet additionally examined the 2024-2025 net cost of attendance for an out-of-state student who received the average level of need-based scholarship or grant aid. The higher the quality of the program and the lower the cost, the better the deal. Only schools ranked in or near the top half of their categories are included, as U.S. News considers the most significant values to be among colleges that are above average academically, according to the media outlet.

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  • 96,700 gallons of diesel fuel on Lowell’s Council agenda

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    LOWELL — Almost 168,000 gallons of diesel fuel will be stored at the Markley Group’s data center in Lowell’s Sacred Heart neighborhood if the company’s most recent application for fuel storage is approved by the City Council Tuesday night.

    The fuel powers the facility’s backup generators that provide emergency power to the state-of-the-art data-storage and cloud-computing company in the case of a grid failure.

    “As part of this phase of construction they [Markley] are proposing to install additional emergency generators, each with an aboveground diesel fuel belly tank,” Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc. PE Senior Project Manager William Taber said in a letter dated Sept. 5. “This will increase the on-site diesel fuel storage from 71,100 gallons to 167,800 gallons.”

    The storage of greater than 10,000 gallons of combustibles in Massachusetts requires a license from the City Council, a permit to store combustibles from the Fire Department, and the fuel storage must also be registered with the City Clerk. All emergency generators have already gone through the appropriate Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection air quality permitting process before being presented to the council for consideration.

    Markley purchased the former Prince pasta plant parcel for $4 million in 2015 and embarked on a dramatic renovation of the foreclosed property that had been vacant since 1998.

    The company started its operations with four diesel generators, but as its mission-critical operations have expanded, the plant’s energy infrastructure has, too. Its systems power and provide routing to a wide variety of private companies, state and local governments, universities and internet companies.

    Drone footage shot by Lowell residents John McDonough and William Palermo show the scope of the work being done on the 14-acre site in what is zoned as light industrial.

    At its June 24 meeting, a majority of councilors approved Markley’s license for four diesel-powered generators holding 24,000 gallons of fuel, despite resident and community concerns around ongoing construction projects, equipment noise and air pollution.

    But several councilors stated approval of future fuel storage applications would be weighed against Markley meeting with the city’s Sustainability Director Katherine Moses to explore non-fossil fuel alternatives for backup power generation, as well as better communication with the neighbors living on its vast periphery.

    Moses presented a report to the Sustainability Council at its Aug. 28 meeting, where she said it was important for the city to have conversations with Markley to “make sure we’re all going in the same direction.”

    “I had an initial conversation with them,” Moses told the Sustainability Council members. “I felt a little better after that conversation. I think they do recognize that they can’t indefinitely bring diesel generators on site… .”

    The Sustainability Council’s function is to advocate for green design, construction and development practices in the city of Lowell that will increase sustainability and reduce the environmental impacts of building and other development activity.

    Moses told the Sustainability Council that the biggest emissions category in Lowell are buildings, “and it is split almost half and half between commercial industrial kinds of buildings and residential buildings.”

    Reducing carbon emissions has proved challenging as the city has also embarked on an economic development plan that embraces large-scale technology-driven companies like Draper Labs that relies on data centers like Markley to power its work. And UMass Lowell continues to build out its microelectronics program that also relies on Markley’s technology.

    Resident Mary Burns, who is chair of the UMass Building Authority, told the council in June that the university’s Lowell Innovation Network Corridor project depends on a data center presence in Lowell.

    “In order for LINC to happen, we need Markley,” she said. “They store the data that these companies looking at coming to our campus – it’s required. They can’t come here if we don’t have Markley.”

    That development is both in contrast to and aligned with the city’s selection as Frontrunner City by the Urban Economy Forum, an international organization that collaborates with the United Nations, municipal leaders, partners such as the World Urban Pavilion, and the private sector to reshape urban economies through the implementation of the U.N.’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

    UMass Lowell Chancellor Julie Chen met the UEF delegation when they visited Lowell in July and addressed the group via a remote link during an August signing ceremony at the United Nations Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. Academic partnerships are integral to UEF’s develoment goals in Lowell.

    Although the MassDEP greenlights Markley’s diesel generators based on compliance to its regulations, the city is working other angles to move toward a carbon-free emissions future.

    The City Council sent a letter to the state and federal delegation to encourage the availability of sustainable non-fossil fuel alternative to diesel for use in emergency backup power generation to help Lowell meet its climate goals.

    Moses said Markley has agreed to meet with her on a quarterly basis.

    “I also encouraged them to think about creating a plan to move away from all this onsite diesel storage and find other ways to provide the backup generation,” she said.

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    Melanie Gilbert

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  • Distinguished U.S. Navy admiral, Lowell native to keynote Parker Lecture Series event

    Distinguished U.S. Navy admiral, Lowell native to keynote Parker Lecture Series event

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    LOWELL — The fall schedule of the Moses Greeley Parker Lecture Series begins Wednesday evening with Lowell native and retired U.S. Navy Adm. Michael Gilday serving as the keynote speaker and roundtable participant at UMass Lowell’s Comley-Lane Theatre at 6:30 p.m.

    Gilday served as the 32nd chief of naval operations from 2019 to 2023. He has also served as naval aide to the president, and is a recipient of the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, Navy Distinguished Service Medal, four Defense Superior Service Medals, three Legion of Merit awards, a Bronze Star, the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal and the Combat Action Ribbon.

    “We are thrilled that Admiral Gilday has graciously accepted our invitation to be a part of the Parker Lecture Series,” said Parker Lectures Chair John Carson. “With his background as a native Lowellian and a distinguished career serving our country, he is exactly the type of speaker that Moses Greeley Parker had in mind when he started the trust in 1917. We are pleased to offer our audience the opportunity to interact with Admiral Gilday in a roundtable discussion.”

    Gilday will participate in a panel discussion with Carson, City Manager Tom Golden and Mayor Daniel Rourke. After the panel, Gilday will deliver his keynote address, during which he said he will talk about the U.S. military by drawing on his experience in the Navy.

    “I’ll talk about why I think it’s important for people to understand what we do, and why we do it,” Gilday said in a phone call Friday afternoon.

    Gilday grew up in Lowell’s Centralville neighborhood as the oldest of five children, and said the city provided all five siblings “a fantastic foundation for the rest of our lives.”

    “We all benefited from growing up in Lowell,” said Gilday.

    Gilday now lives in Alexandria, Virginia after retiring last year, but he said he comes back to visit the Mill City once or twice a year as his mother and two of his siblings live in the region.

    Following the keynote address, Gilday will engage in a Q&A session with the audience. Before the event on Wednesday, Gilday will also be bringing a younger sailor with him to the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Lowell and Lowell High School. He said it is “one thing for an old guy to talk about his experience in the Navy,” but he also wants the youth to be able to see and talk to someone about their experience much earlier in their naval career.

    “We are incredibly honored to welcome Admiral Gilday back to Lowell,” Golden said in a statement Friday. “His extraordinary service to our nation and his deep connection to our city make this a truly special event. It’s not every day we get to hear firsthand from a leader of such stature, and I know our community will benefit greatly from his insights.”

    Rourke said in a statement that Gilday “embodies the spirit of service that defines the city.”

    “He has made Lowell proud on the world stage, and we look forward to hosting him for this event,” said Rourke.

    UMass Lowell Chancellor Julie Chen said Gilday “has had a profound impact serving the U.S. Navy, our nation’s top leaders and the people of our country.”

    “I look forward to hearing his views on leadership and the lessons he learned during an impressive and distinguished career in uniform,” Chen said in a statement.

    Admission to the lecture is free for all, with a seating capacity of about 400.

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    Peter Currier

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  • Mill City miracle: Draper Labs expands to Lowell

    Mill City miracle: Draper Labs expands to Lowell

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    LOWELL — A company that operated the computer guidance system that helped land Apollo 11 on the moon is coming to Lowell, to be an anchor tenant in the Lowell Innovation Network Corridor project that was announced last week.

    UMass Lowell Chancellor Julie Chen, flanked by local, state and federal leadership, introduced Draper President and CEO Jerry Wohletz during a welcome ceremony held Thursday at UMass Lowell’s University Crossing, in a room that overlooked the Merrimack River.

    “Today is a milestone in the history of this city,” Chen said. “Because [LINC is] setting in motion a vision that will not only transform UMass Lowell, but will transform this whole region for our students, but also all of the residents of this great city.”

    LINC is an $800 million development plan that leverages the prestige and innovation of the university and the resources and history of the city of Lowell with the job creation capabilities of industry like Draper Labs to envision a vibrant urban village/main street model and economic engine for the city.

    Until ground is broken on Phase 1 of the project next year, which will construct two industry co-location and professional housing apartment buildings, Draper Labs will temporarily move a microelectronics division of about 50 people into university-owned space in Wannalancit Mills.

    According to its website, Draper Labs “is an innovation company that pursues scientific advancements to solve that nation’s toughest national security problems for the betterment of the nation and secure democracy around the globe.”

    Pulling together this transformative project with a $600 million investment is Wexford Science & Technology, a company known for its mixed-use, amenity-rich, innovation-focused communities blending industry/university community models. It responded to a request for proposal that UMass Lowell sent out 16-18 months ago.

    The project will bring new housing, economic development, technology jobs and workforce development to downtown Lowell.

    The planning for this campus-style industry initiative was more than 12 years in the making, said UMass President Marty Meehan.

    “Some of the parcels that are involved in this, we acquired in 2010, 2011,” he said. “This was a vision that was set out over a long period of time.”

    That vision moved from the planning stage to implementation with support from Gov. Maura Healey and U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan, both of whom were in attendance at the morning event. They were joined by Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll, state Sen. Ed Kennedy and state Reps. Vanna Howard, Rodney Elliott and Rady Mom. In the audience were several Lowell city councilors, former Congresswoman Niki Tsongas and Middlesex Community College President Phil Sisson, among others.

    Healey said her administration would draw on LINC as a “marquee” example of innovation in the commonwealth. The state was recently awarded $19.7 million to establish the Northeast Microelectronics Coalition Hub, a regional hub that will advance the microelectronics needs of the U.S. Department of Defense while spurring new jobs, workforce training opportunities and investment in the region’s advanced manufacturing and technology sectors.

    “This is a space in which we’ve done really, really well,” Healey said. “Microelectronics is an example of a sector that is growing and that is key to our future and it’s going to happen here. I’m really pumped about this. Lowell deserves this … it’s good for the country.”

    Trahan brought the federal government to the table with CHIPS Act and other funding.

    The $280 billion CHIPS Act, which stands for Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors, was passed in July 2022 to bring semiconductor manufacturing back to the United States.

    “We’ve secured investments that will position the Mill City for a multibillion economic and jobs boom the likes of which hasn’t happened here since the Industrial Revolution,” Trahan said.

    Wohletz said Draper needs talent, and lots of it. The company is doubling its staff of 2,400 in the coming years. It has campuses across the U.S., including Massachusetts with its headquarters in Cambridge and the U.S. Navy Integrated Repair Facility in Pittsfield.

    “Draper views UMass Lowell’s microelectronics program as one of the top programs in the region,” Wohletz said. “We view UMass Lowell as a strategic partner and a resource for state and federal engagement and a pipeline for engineering talent.”

    That pipeline includes Middlesex Community College, the Lowell Public Schools system, as well as Greater Lowell Technical High School.

    Several leaders spoke to a brain drain that happens in Lowell, in which promising talent leaves due to a lack of housing. LINC incorporates professional housing as part of the model. The project is expected to add almost 500 new units to the city’s housing stock.

    “LINC will retain and attract professionals to Lowell as well as ramp up economic development, entertainment and culture for Lowell residents,” City Manager Tom Golden said during his welcoming remarks.

    Golden added that the city and UMass Lowell are also planning infrastructure improvements as more people live and work in Lowell.

    The teamwork between the local government, the university and state and federal leadership is what brought Draper Labs to Lowell, Wohletz said.

    “The secret recipe has always been partnerships,” he said. “At the core of these great technology achievements has been a partnership between government, academia and industry. United in solving these tough problems while committed to educating the next generations of engineers and scientists.”

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    Melanie Gilbert

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