State Sen. Pat Jehlen

State Sen. Pat Jehlen, a Somerville Democrat, was appointed assistant majority leader Wednesday by Massachusetts Senate President Stan Rosenberg.

“Sen. Jehlen has been a progressive champion in the Senate for the last 12 years and before that in the House. She will bring important perspectives to the leadership table,” Rosenberg said. Jehlen played a key role this year as Senate chairwoman of the Joint Committee on Marijuana Policy and serves as vice chairwoman of the Joint Committees on Education, Labor and Workforce Development.

The Second Middlesex District she’s held since 2005 includes Somerville and Medford and parts of Cambridge and Winchester.

Jehlen, who has a master’s from Harvard in teaching, served from 1976 to 1991 on Somerville’s school committee, including two terms as chairwoman, and moved to the Massachusetts House of Representatives, serving from 1991 to 2005. In September she survived handily a primary challenge from Cambridge city councillor Leland Cheung, winning about 80 percent of the votes.

She said she was grateful for the opportunity to be assistant majority leader and “inspired by my predecessor, Sen. Ken Donnelly, and will attempt to emulate his progressive leadership.”

This post took significant amounts of material from a press release.