Alum Meghan Maury ’04 honored for social justice activism
There was a time when Meghan Maury ’04 believed higher education was out of reach.
“I was a rough kid,” Maury admits, and just 14 when their mother died. “I didn’t know how to deal with it.”
That trauma led to substance use, including heroin addiction, homelessness, and, at 18, an arrest. Eventually, sobriety and the stability that provided led to Holyoke Community College.
“I realized maybe I could do it,” Maury said. “It was affordable and right down the street. I had a criminal record, and they didn’t care.”
Maury found success at HCC and after. Since 2021, Maury has served in various capacities as an adviser in the Biden Administration and is now chief of staff of the Office of the Under Secretary for Economic Affairs in the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Maury’s achievements have not gone unnoticed.
In April 2023, at the annual conference of the American Association of Community Colleges in Denver, Maury received the AACC 2023 Outstanding Alumni Award, which is presented annually to three alumni from among all of the nation’s community colleges.
“We are immensely proud of Meghan’s accomplishments,” said Amanda Sbriscia, vice president of Institutional Advancement, who was in Denver for the awards presentation. “Their achievements exemplify the mission of HCC and inspire us all to continue making a positive impact on the world.”
(Among other HCC accolades, Raúl Gutiérrez, HCC associate professor of Latinx Studies and Spanish, was a finalist for the AACC Faculty of the Year award, while Robert Gilbert, then chair of the HCC Board of Trustees, was a finalist for the AACC Trustee of the Year award.)
In accepting the alumni award, Maury recognized several members of the HCC faculty who made an impact on their development, notably professors Deb Fairman (English), Diane Beers (history), Mark Clinton (political science and history), and Kim Hicks, former English professor and now dean of Arts and Humanities.
They “took the time to teach me how to learn and how to study, how to ask important questions,” Maury said. “I want to thank leaders like President Royal, who continue to invest in the kind of creative education that makes students like me feel like even the hardest subjects are accessible.”
“But, most of all,” Maury continued, “I want to thank the staff at HCC who helped me figure out how to navigate financial aid, and how to make sure I could schedule my classes around my job and who encouraged me to continue my education, even after I received my associate degree. So, thanks to all of you who are doing the same work with hundreds of thousands of students across the country and making all of this feel like it’s in reach for all of us.”
In a 2021 HCC interview, Maury singled out a Learning Community course taught by professors Beers and Fairman that focused on the history of the LGBTQ movement, social justice, advocacy, and how social change movements work. “I had always thought I was terrible at history,” Maury said.
The experience proved to be an awakening.
“It just changed how I looked at the world,” said Maury. “It’s what made me pursue social justice activism.”
In the class, Maury learned about icons of the LBGTQ movement, such as Urvashi Vaid, an activist and former executive director of the National LGBTQ Task Force, founded in 1973 and said to be the oldest LGBTQ rights organization in the United States.
After graduating from HCC with an associate degree in accounting, Maury transferred to the University of Massachusetts for a bachelor’s degree, then the UMass Isenberg School of Management for a master’s, eventually earning a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 2013.
After law school, Maury landed a job as policy director for the National LGBTQ Task Force and met people they’d studied about at HCC, including Urvashi Vaid.
“One of the first meetings I went to she was running,” Maury said, chuckling at the memory. “Now I think of her as a friend and colleague.”
During their time at the task force, Maury led a campaign to “queer the census,” initiated to counter a deficit of data about the LGBTQ community.
Work like that captured the attention of the Biden transition team, which earned Maury a seat at the table as the administration consulted with advocates for various constituencies.
From 2014 to 2020, Maury served on the National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic, and Other Populations for the U.S. Census Bureau. In 2021, Maury became a senior adviser at the Census Bureau, where they served as a liaison to nonprofits, members of Congress, and other stakeholders, providing education about the work of the bureau, to make what is complex and technical accessible to people who are not necessarily data experts.
In 2022, Maury was named senior adviser for data policy for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and, since May 2023, has been chief of staff of the Office of the Under Secretary for Economic Affairs in the U.S. Department of Commerce. Their primary responsibility is seeing that the work of the OUSEA is functioning as effectively as possible, ensuring their team members are holding the right seats at the right tables, and working with constituents both inside and outside of government to brainstorm about new projects.
“Every day, the job is a little different,” Maury said, “but it is always fun, challenging, and rewarding, and makes great use of my eclectic mix of expertise.”
(Information and quotes from a 2021 HCC profile about Maury were used in this story.)
