Meehan became the President of the
University of Massachusetts, a position he assumed in July 2015, after serving as Chancellor of the
University of Massachusetts Lowell since September 2007. On May 1, 2015, the University of Massachusetts Board of Trustees unanimously elected Meehan, citing his record of achievement while serving as the Chancellor at UMass Lowell, his record of public service throughout his career, and his ability to communicate and to inspire, as being among the reasons for selecting him as the 27th President of the Massachusetts University System. Meehan is the first former graduate of a UMass school to serve as President of the UMass System. Meehan was inaugurated at the
Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate on November 12, 2015, where he vowed to fight for the University of Massachusetts, calling it "the most important institution in Massachusetts in the critical areas of social mobility and economic growth." Meehan made raising money for scholarship funds the centerpiece of his inauguration. With an initial fundraising target of $1 million, the privately funded inauguration far exceeded its goals and generated a record $1.7 million for student scholarships. In his first year of presidency, the University's enrollment reached a record 73,744 students, and research expenditures had risen to a high of $629 million. UMass increased its own funding of financial aid by nearly $20 million during Meehan's first year, with spending rising from $236 million to a record $255 million, the highest ever. Additionally, the UMass Foundation, in part based on Meehan's recommendation, voted to divest direct investments in fossil fuels from the university's endowment, making it the first major public university in the nation to take such action. As Meehan began his second year as President of the UMass System, he announced the closing of his congressional campaign, directed that funds be transferred to an education foundation, and stipulated that a $1 million scholarship donation be made to his alma mater, UMass Lowell. During his tenure as chancellor, UMass Lowell for the first time was named a top-tier national university. It also was the top-ranked public research institution in New England for starting salary, mid-career salary and overall return on investment for graduates according to PayScale.com. Under Meehan's leadership, UMass Lowell opened 10 new buildings over a five-year period, was named to the President's Higher Education Honor Roll for community service and campus engagement for six years in a row and made a successful transition to NCAA Division I athletics. Meehan was presented with the
Association of College Unions International (ACUI) 2014 President of the Year Award at the organization's 100th anniversary celebration and conference. He was honored by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) at the annual District I program in 2012 with the Chief Executive Leadership Award.
UMass Boston On April 5, 2017,
University of Massachusetts Boston officials announced that Chancellor
J. Keith Motley would resign at the end of the academic calendar year on June 30, take a one-year sabbatical, and return as a tenured faculty member. Meehan stated that UMass Boston Deputy Chancellor
Barry Mills, appointed the previous month, would serve as interim chancellor "until [university] finances are stabilized and the university is positioned to attract a world-class chancellor through a global search", specifically to address the university's 2017 operating budget deficit of $30 million. In response to the appointment of Mills and Motley's resignation announcement, UMass Boston faculty publicly expressed concern that Motley was being
scapegoated for the university's budget deficit while
Boston City Councilors
Tito Jackson and
Ayanna Pressley,
Massachusetts State Senator Linda Dorcena Forry, and
Massachusetts State Representative Russell Holmes called upon Meehan to reject Motley's resignation. On April 8, 2017, at a UMass System Board of Trustees meeting, UMass Boston faculty and students protested decisions by university administration to cut offerings of courses (many required for graduation) in the upcoming summer semester, as well as other programs and to make expense adjustments which reduced the deficit to approximately $6 million or $7 million. On July 1, 2017, Barry Mills became interim chancellor. In November 2017, an
audit Meehan commissioned from
KPMG was presented to the System Board of Trustees that found that faulty
record keeping, a lack of discipline in its budgeting process, and a failure on the part of UMass Boston administration to appreciate the cost of the campus renewal construction projects on the university's
operating budget led to the university's $30 million budget deficit, and in the same month, the university
laid-off 36 employees after laying off about 100
non-tenure track faculty earlier in the year. In April 2018,
University of Massachusetts Amherst and
Mount Ida College administrators announced that the former school would acquire the latter's campus in
Newton after the latter college's closure. The acquisition was immediately opposed by UMass Boston faculty and students due to inadequate consultation with the Boston campus faculty, the Boston campus' budget deficit, and that because of the proximity of the Mount Ida campus to the Boston campus, the faculty contended that the new campus would compete with the Boston campus. In April 2018, the UMass Boston campus was the sole
majority-minority campus in the UMass System. In May 2018, following the approval of the sale by the office of
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, the UMass Boston Faculty Council passed a
motion of no confidence in Meehan and the System Board of Trustees. In the same month, 10 days after three finalists for the UMass Boston Chancellor position were named, on May 21, 2018, all three finalists withdrew from consideration after faculty members questioned the qualifications of the candidates. On June 20, 2018, UMass System Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
Katherine Newman was appointed as the university's interim Chancellor by the System Board of Trustees effective July 1, 2018. In May 2019, the
Pioneer Institute released a
white paper co-authored by former Massachusetts State Representative
Gregory W. Sullivan (who also served as the
Massachusetts Inspector General) that reviewed records obtained from the UMass System
Controller's Office (as well as other publicly available documents) that concluded that Chancellor Keith Motley and other UMass Boston administrators were scapegoated for the 2017
fiscal year $30 million budget deficit and that instead the approval by the System Board of Trustees of an accelerated 5-year capital spending plan in December 2014 without assuring that
capital reserves would be made available to pay for the plan, as well as an error to a 5-year campus reserve ratio estimate prepared by the UMass Central Budget Office and presented to the System Board of Trustees in April 2016, was the cause of the $26 million in budget reductions implemented by interim Chancellor Barry Mills and that the reductions made at the direction of the UMass Central Office. Additionally, the white paper states that KPMG's 2017 audit was not conducted in accordance with
Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards or reported in accordance with
auditing standards prescribed by the
American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and that the purchase of Mount Ida College in April 2018 was conducted by a
wire transfer from the UMass System for $75 million without being included on the previously approved university capital plan at the time the UMass Central Office ordered the budget reductions rather than UMass Amherst purchasing the Mount Ida campus with
loanable funds to be repaid with
interest (and in contrast to how the transaction was described in a
press statement issued by Meehan's office). The following month, interim Chancellor Katherine Newman issued a press statement disputing the findings of the white paper. In September 2019, the UMass Boston Faculty Staff Union President addressed the System Board of Trustees to protest the potential offering of equivalent programs at the Mount Ida campus that are already offered at the Boston campus. The following December, the UMass Boston Faculty Staff Union President presented the board with a petition from the Boston campus faculty reiterating their concerns about the Mount Ida campus and requesting more input into its planning. On February 10, 2020,
University of California, Los Angeles Dean
Marcelo Suárez-Orozco was unanimously appointed as the new permanent chancellor of the university succeeding Katharine Newman, and Suárez-Orozco assumed the position on August 1, 2020.
Board appointments Meehan is on the Board of Trustees at Natixis Global Asset Management and on the Board of Governors at Lowell General Hospital. Previously, he has served on the Board of Directors at Sage Bank (formerly Lowell Cooperative Bank), Qteros (formerly SunEthanol), D'Youville Foundation, and was a member of the Board of Trustees of Suffolk University. == Personal life ==