In the four years since Dr. Julie Chen became chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Lowell (UMass Lowell), the school has seen increases in enrollment, retention, six-year graduation rates and philanthropy. A mechanical engineering professor and respected researcher, Chen has been affiliated with UMass Lowell for nearly three decades. Less than three years into Chen’s chancellorship, UMass Lowell received Carnegie Research 1 classification and its research franchise surpassed $120 million in annual research and development spending.
A trailblazer in research, Chen also has multiple firsts as an administrator. She is the first Asian American to lead UMass Lowell and the first openly LGBTQ+ person to be a chancellor in the UMass System. In June 2023, she and her spouse, Susu Wong, led creation of a new fund to support LGBTQ+ nonprofit organizations within the Greater Lowell Community Foundation.
“Sometimes people ask me, ‘What kind of leader are you?’” Chen says. “I’ve been captain of many of my sports teams throughout the years (she played softball and field hockey as an undergraduate at MIT), and I was never the cheerleader type. I’ve always been more of a show by doing, lead by example. Similarly, with being LGBTQ, with being Asian, with being a woman … leading by being visible is what’s important to me. I would love to get to the point where it’s not unusual and it’s not a big deal to see different looking leaders.”
While Chen loved being a professor and doing research with students, her move into administration was inevitable. “I actually went to the National Science Foundation (NSF) for two years as a rotator, to be a program manager, and that really opened up my perspective a lot in terms of learning how you write research proposals,” Chen says. “I had been successful myself, but seeing how the process worked for federal research and development funding and things like that, I realized that I could help the junior faculty be more successful.”
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In the four years since Dr. Julie Chen became chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Lowell (UMass Lowell), the school has seen increases in enrollment, retention, six-year graduation rates and philanthropy. A mechanical engineering professor and respected researcher, Chen has been affiliated with UMass Lowell for nearly three decades. Less than three years into Chen’s chancellorship, UMass Lowell received Carnegie Research 1 classification and its research franchise surpassed $120 million in annual research and development spending.
A trailblazer in research, Chen also has multiple firsts as an administrator. She is the first Asian American to lead UMass Lowell and the first openly LGBTQ+ person to be a chancellor in the UMass System. In June 2023, she and her spouse, Susu Wong, led creation of a new fund to support LGBTQ+ nonprofit organizations within the Greater Lowell Community Foundation.
“Sometimes people ask me, ‘What kind of leader are you?’” Chen says. “I’ve been captain of many of my sports teams throughout the years (she played softball and field hockey as an undergraduate at MIT), and I was never the cheerleader type. I’ve always been more of a show by doing, lead by example. Similarly, with being LGBTQ, with being Asian, with being a woman … leading by being visible is what’s important to me. I would love to get to the point where it’s not unusual and it’s not a big deal to see different looking leaders.”
While Chen loved being a professor and doing research with students, her move into administration was inevitable. “I actually went to the National Science Foundation (NSF) for two years as a rotator, to be a program manager, and that really opened up my perspective a lot in terms of learning how you write research proposals,” Chen says. “I had been successful myself, but seeing how the process worked for federal research and development funding and things like that, I realized that I could help the junior faculty be more successful.”
In 2009, the university introduced a vice provost for research position for which Chen applied and received. Her impact would grow exponentially. That position led to being named vice chancellor for research and economic development in 2016 and becoming chancellor in 2022.
Chen led the development of a five-year strategic plan with four priorities: 1) enrollment and student success, 2) a diverse, welcoming and inclusive campus, 3) research excellence and 4) partnering with the community for mutual benefit. All of those priorities are evident in the Lowell Innovation Network Corridor (LINC), a partnership with the City of Lowell that could reshape the city’s economic future.
“It’s one of our strategic priorities in terms of working with our community so that it raises both of us up together,” Chen explains. “It’s part of our mission to work with the city to help provide opportunities and it also helps the university because we want people to think Lowell is a great place to go to college. … We are bringing good companies and good jobs to the city because they’re interested in our students.”
UMass Lowell’s message to companies is the way to get the best and brightest young talent is to invest in these students throughout their undergraduate education. This coincides with Chen’s guarantee to incoming students that they will have at least one career-connected experience — either for pay or for credit — by the time they graduate. Those students who have engaged with companies will be primed to work for those companies after graduating.
“LINC’s focus is to bring these companies to Lowell,” Chen notes. “These companies are coming because they want the talent, so they are working with us to offer scholarships, paid internships and paid coop positions so that helps our students. … We want the students to try out and understand what career options they have when they’re freshmen, when they’re sophomores. We want them to be intentional.”
It will provide great career-connected experiences and an opportunity to get a job in Lowell after graduation. LINC helps the community by providing all levels of jobs. Three companies that have increased their presence through LINC are Draper Laboratory, Weston & Sampson and Science Applications International Corporation. Forty-two percent of UMass Lowell students are first-generation and projects such as LINC create long-term impact. “Something that inspires me every day is when I meet students; it gives you hope for the future,” says Chen. “We are a public research university. Faculty come here because they believe in the public mission.”
