Rep. Marty Meehan (D-Mass.) has been selected to lead the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, The Boston Globe quoted a school spokesman as saying this morning.

Knowledgeable sources on Capitol Hill, who did not want to be named, confirmed the choice.

The university’s board of trustees must affirm the selection committee’s choice Wednesday.

Meehan, a Lowell native and graduate of the university, is expected to make a statement no later than Wednesday morning.

For now Meehan is declining to comment, according to his spokesman, though it is widely assumed that he will resign from Congress to take the job.

Meehan’s departure would shake things up in the seasoned, all-Democratic, all-male, all-white Massachusetts delegation.

In 2004, many of the state’s 10 House Members, including Meehan, began bolstering their war chests and raising their profiles in the hopes that Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) would become president — or leave his seat to run in 2008.

If Meehan leaves his Lowell-based 5th district seat, a special election would be called within 160 days.

The person who wins that race then would have to stand for re-election in the regular 2008 election.

Democrats began lining up to replace Meehan since speculation that he was being sought for private-sector positions began early this year.

— Nicole Duran