Overview
HISTORY, CONTEXT, AND KEY FINDINGS
Boston University is a leading private research university, with two primary campuses in the city of Boston and programs around the world. Its origins date to 1839, when the Newbury Biblical Institute—the first seminary of the United Methodist Church—was founded in Newbury, Vermont. The institute grew rapidly and in 1847 moved to a larger site in Concord, New Hampshire, where it was renamed the Methodist General Biblical Institute. Only two years later the institute’s Trustees suggested a move to Boston. After declining an offer from Harvard to relocate to Cambridge, they purchased 30 acres in Brookline and opened the Boston School of Theology, now the Boston University School of Theology, in 1867.
The idea for a university came from William Fairfield Warren, then acting president of the Boston School of Theology, who had studied abroad in Europe and wanted to combine the best elements of German and English models of higher education. Backing Warren were three prosperous and philanthropic Boston merchants who shared his vision: Lee Claflin, Jacob Sleeper, and Isaac Rich. In 1869, they successfully petitioned the Massachusetts legislature to charter Boston University.
William Fairfield Warren went on to become Boston University’s first president, a position he held until 1903. During his tenure, he articulated what may have been the first need-blind admissions policy in the United States; instituted an international exchange program enabling Boston University graduates to study at the National University in Athens and the Royal University of Rome; and declared that “the doctrine that a university should exist for the benefit of a single class or sex will soon belong to the realm of pedagogical paleontology.” From the day of its opening, Boston University has admitted students of both sexes and every race and religion, and provided scholarships to meet financial need.
The founders’ emphases on inclusion, and on engaging with and serving the community, have come to define Boston University. Boston University is proud to have graduated the first woman admitted to the bar in Massachusetts (Lelia Robinson, School of Law, 1882) and the first African American psychiatrist (Solomon Carter Fuller, School of Medicine, 1897), and to have appointed Howard Thurman as Dean of Marsh Chapel in 1953, making him the first black dean of chapel at a majority-white university. Our students and graduates have long served the community, both during and after their time at Boston University; perhaps most famously, a graduate of the School of Theology, Edgar Helms, founded Goodwill Industries in 1902. The institution as a whole has also taken a keen interest in the community, with numerous outreach efforts to the Boston Public Schools and an unprecedented agreement with the City of Chelsea, Massachusetts, and the Chelsea School Committee in 1989 in which Boston University accepted responsibility for the day-to-day management of the Chelsea Public Schools. The Boston University/Chelsea Partnership, initially meant to last a decade, ended in June 2008 with the transition of authority back to Chelsea, which is now in a position to operate its schools effectively and independently.
While preserving these enduring values, Boston University has dramatically expanded its program offerings and enhanced its reputation for excellence in teaching and research. A brief history of each school and college at Boston University—there are currently 17 in all—is given in STANDARD FOUR: THE ACADEMIC PROGRAM. Today, 32,485 undergraduate and graduate students are enrolled in more than 250 different degree programs, where they are receiving a superior education that combines the enduring value of a liberal arts education with the skills and experience offered by professional training. Boston University students are taught by an excellent, committed faculty whose scholarly and creative endeavors complement and inform their work in the classroom.
Since the last comprehensive evaluation by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges in 1999, Boston University has seen several changes in executive office. Jon Westling, who served as President from 1996 to 2002, resigned from the presidency in order to return to teaching and research in the Department of History. At that time, President Emeritus John Silber, whose tenure as president spanned 1971 through 1996, was serving as Chancellor; President Emeritus Silber agreed to resume presidential responsibilities while a search for a new leader was conducted. The search concluded unsuccessfully, with the withdrawal of an offer to a candidate shortly before he was to take office. In October 2003, the Board of Trustees asked Aram Chobanian, Provost of the Medical Campus, to serve as President ad interim. A new search was conducted and, in September 2005, Robert A. Brown, then Provost of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was named the tenth president of Boston University.
The unsuccessful presidential search of 2003 produced a number of positive outcomes. The Board of Trustees of Boston University conducted a thorough review of its governance structure and practices utilizing outside consultants, and consequently adopted a number of changes to increase transparency, improve fiduciary oversight, and restore confidence in the University’s management. These changes are described in STANDARD THREE: ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNANCE.
President Brown encouraged a sense of renewed purpose and possibility among the Boston University community by initiating a strategic planning process within months of his inauguration. Planning involved a variety of constituencies at all levels, engaging them in a meaningful conversation about the institution’s history and future. This process, which was designed to be as inclusive and transparent as possible, is discussed in STANDARD TWO: PLANNING AND EVALUATION. The resulting strategic plan, entitled “Choosing to be Great,” established a set of realistic, measurable goals for Boston University. By identifying specific priorities and benchmarks to gauge progress, the strategic plan provides a rationale for decision making at all levels. Already, the strategic plan has become an essential reference in departmental, unit-level, and University-wide planning and budgeting.
The strategic planning process also provided a useful point of departure for Boston University’s self-study because it was broad-based, reflected candid discussion of strengths and weaknesses, and resulted in a consensus about the University’s direction. A hallmark of the strategic planning process was President Brown’s use of “Strategic Indicators”—that is, strategic benchmarking against peer institutions. The emphasis on development of data has stimulated continuing conversations both University-wide and within schools and colleges about assessment, the quality of teaching and learning, and how the student experience can be improved.
Working with the University’s fiscal managers, President Brown has developed processes for long-term budgetary modeling and planning. And, on the academic side, he has—with the Provost and deans—introduced the practice of periodic reviews of academic units, using a variety of means including external peer panels. These are described in greater detail in the narrative of STANDARD TWO: PLANNING AND EVALUATION.
The self-study report shows Boston University to be a mature institution with a strong history and a promising future. Systems and processes for quality assurance and improvement are in place in both the academic and financial areas—the latter, of course, being essential to the former. Institutional reforms undertaken by the Board of Trustees have renewed the confidence of the academic community. The exercise that resulted in a strategic plan accepted and supported by the University community stimulated candid discussion and assessment of the University’s strengths and weaknesses.
The 2009 ten-year review of Boston University by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges comes at a historically interesting—and challenging—juncture for Boston University and higher education. The 2008 fiscal year was the University’s strongest ever and coincided with the first full year of implementation of the “Choosing to be Great” plan. The fiscal year ended with a positive balance of $109.5 million, from a total budget of $1.85 billion. Preparation of the University’s self-study for the NEASC review has proceeded against the backdrop of the collapse of financial institutions of September 2008 and the subsequent capital market decline and accompanying spikes in unemployment. While the University’s fundamental circumstances remained strong, the external economic events—particularly because of their impact on families—were sobering reminders of the University’s fiduciary and societal obligations. Among other actions, President Brown imposed a hiring freeze on open or non-essential positions and placed a hold on new construction projects in order to marshal the University’s resources in anticipation of a rise in the need for financial assistance among current and prospective students. A leadership retreat held in December of 2008 resulted in the launching of initiatives to seek and recommend long-term operational efficiencies that can be accomplished through consolidation and rationalization of programs and support functions.
The University community remains committed to the enduring work of an institution that engages in the city and the world. There is broad recognition that in economically challenging times, the University’s work in teaching, service, scholarship, and research is all the more important. As Boston University looks to its future, it can rely on traditions of outreach and engagement, academic integrity and rigor, and sound operational and fiscal management to ensure that it continues to serve future generations.
