Meehan: New chancellor will lead school into its next phase

On Friday morning, the University of Massachusetts will inaugurate a new chancellor at UMass Amherst, Dr. Javier Reyes.

Chancellor Reyes was born in Mexico and earned his bachelor’s degree in economics from Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico City. He came to the United States to earn his PhD at Texas A&M, entered academia, and has emerged over the past two decades as one of higher education’s rising stars.

By every measure, Dr. Reyes is the right person to lead UMass Amherst in its next phase, and I was proud to recommend him to the UMass Board of Trustees. He is a distinguished academic, an experienced administrator, and a proven leader who has earned the trust of his communities.

Chancellor Reyes’s background sets him apart from most of his peers in higher education leadership.  According to the American Council on Education’s most recent College President Survey, 73% of college presidents in the U.S. are white, and less than 6% are Hispanic or Latino.

Unlike that large majority, Chancellor Reyes’ lived experience allows him to relate authentically to UMass Amherst’s increasingly diverse student body, comprising international students from 70 countries and first-generation students hailing from families who immigrated to the U.S.

These are qualities that enhance the effectiveness of a chancellor and their ability to assess and address the needs of their students, faculty and staff. They are qualities we actively seek in leadership at UMass.

Chancellor Marcelo Suárez-Orozco of UMass Boston, the most ethnically diverse public university in New England, came to this country from Argentina not knowing English. He is now an internationally renowned scholar whose work focuses on education, globalization, and national public policy.

Chancellor Julie Chen of UMass Lowell is just the second woman to lead my alma mater, the first openly LGBTQ chancellor in the UMass system, and one of the only Asian Americans to lead a Massachusetts college or university.

Recruiting and appointing chancellors is one of the most consequential responsibilities of a system president. Over the course of my nine-year tenure, we have invested much time and effort into ensuring that our leadership searches were both comprehensive and included candidates with diverse experiences and backgrounds. I believe that we have delivered on these goals, and it has resulted in extraordinary leadership for our students, our university, and our state.

Since 2015, I have appointed six UMass chancellors, five of whom have been women or people of color. The sixth, Mark Fuller of UMass Dartmouth, was a first-generation college student raised by a single mother.

As UMass becomes more diverse, with 42% of our undergraduate students being students of color – compared with 29% a decade ago – we must ensure that our leadership reflects the diversity of our student body, the communities that we serve, and the commonwealth as a whole.

I believe that it is an imperative for the students who matriculate to a UMass campus to see leaders who reflect them and be taught by faculty they can relate to. That’s what they have in the leadership of UMass today.

In stark contrast to the assault on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) initiatives across the nation, here in Massachusetts we understand that our commitment to these values is one of our greatest strengths.

And I believe that commitment is one of the reasons we continue to attract the best and brightest from across the nation and the globe.

Marty Meehan is the president of the five-campus University of Massachusetts system, former chancellor of UMass Lowell, and former Massachusetts Congressman.