$5,000
For Student Fellowships To Work in City Government In Boston and Around the World
Just as Boston is inextricably linked to our name, so too is city life an integral part of our curriculum. Last year, we launched an exciting new venture—the Initiative on Cities (IOC), which is squarely focused on cultivating and advancing urban leadership. Founded by CAS political science professor Graham Wilson and iconic Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, the IOC is making sure our public-service minded undergrads and grad students get a chance to bend the ears of influential city leaders from around the globe, as well as roll up their political shirtsleeves and work in municipal government. With half the world’s population living in cities, the demand for dynamic, visionary urban leaders is greater than ever. And we intend to meet it.
$5k
Boston
Portland
Santo Domingo
This past summer, the first three BU graduate students—each bolstered by $5,000—made their way into municipal politics, clocking in for jobs in urban mechanics, environment, and health in county and city offices in Boston, Portland, Oregon, and Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic.
Visions of Leadership
Other IOC events included a visit from Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who spoke on NIH research funding and the student loan crisis, and Mayor Ignazio Marino of Rome, Italy, who talked about the challenges facing his world-renowned city.
Thinking It Forward
BU’s Initiative on Cities is engaging researchers, policymakers, and urban leaders to discuss and develop the sustainable infrastructure required for cities to flourish in the years ahead.
Putting a price tag on tragedy
Hear One Fund Boston administrator Kenneth Feinberg dissect the success of the compensation fund in the wake of the Boston Marathon attacks.
50+ Mayors
Straight from the mayor’s mouth This summer, IOC began the flagship research project, the 21st-Century Mayors Leadership Survey. Through one-on-one interviews, phone conversations, and online outreach with more than 50 American mayors, IOC is identifying the biggest obstacles facing them, which issues they plan on expending the most political capital on, and the methods by which they develop policy strategies.
Cortney Tunis (GSM’15)
While still a grad student, Cortney Tunis helped energize the economy of the city where she is earning her MBA, focused on nonprofit and public management. Thanks to a fellowship from the Initiative on Cities, Tunis landed a stint in City Hall with the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics. There, she oversaw a commerce project that showed Main Street businesses how to use the latest location technology, which alerts shoppers to relevant bargains and specials at nearby stores. Tunis also got involved in the city’s “Women on Main” project, which caters to the needs and issues of the city’s female business owners, aspiring and established, from helping them create an engaging online presence to analyzing web-traffic patterns to fostering face-to-face roundtable discussions.