University Professors Program

745 Commonwealth Avenue

Boston, MA 02215


Administration


Sir Hans Kornberg, MA, DSc, ScD, FRS, Director


The University Professors Program (also known as UNI) is a separate college at Boston University that grants bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in fields that combine or bridge established disciplines. Consulting closely with faculty, students design their own cross-disciplinary programs of study. 


The distinguished group of professors who make up the faculty of the University Professors Program have built their own intellectual bridges between various disciplines of the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. This integrated approach to scholarship is reflected in the courses they teach and in the guidance they offer their students. The University Professors are some of the most distinguished scholars at Boston University, including Nobel Prize winners, and their counsel enables UNI students to get to know leading authorities in many disciplines. All faculty members have joint appointments in one or more school or college in addition to their rank in the University Professors Program.


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The University Professors Program is no longer accepting applications to its programs.


Based on the recommendations of a review committee, the University has developed a new University-wide honors program and will phase out the University Professors Program as a free-standing unit within the University. Students currently enrolled will continue in the program. Boston University is committed to meeting its obligations to currently enrolled UNI students.

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Program of Study

On admission to the University Professors Program as undergraduates, students are assigned to a faculty advisor who offer guidance and assistance in the preparation of schedules of academic work that are consistent both with their particular intellectual interests and aspirations and with the requirements of the program.


During the freshman and sophomore years, the student’s class schedule is built around core courses in the areas of literature; culture, history, and society; and science. The remainder of the schedule consists of a foreign language course and electives chosen from any school or college of the University. Freshmen are also required to participate in the ID 500 seminar, a year-long course (one credit per semester), as described in the “Freshman and Sophomore Years” section. The core courses, taught by the faculty of the University Professors Program, provide a comprehensive and solid foundation for the independent work of the junior and senior years.


During the junior and senior years, students design a program of study consisting entirely of courses offered in any school or college of the University which will reflect their intellectual interests. Course selection always takes place in close consultation with the student’s faculty advisor. In the senior year, students are required to write and orally defend a Senior Thesis.


Students interested in careers in medicine are encouraged to discuss their plans early in their freshman year with the Pre-Professional Advising Office of the College of Arts & Sciences to ensure the compatibility of their academic schedules.


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Policies


Academic Standards


To remain in the program, a student must maintain a 3.50 grade point average from semester to semester.


Incomplete Grades


In certain instances, an instructor may agree to grant an Incomplete (I) grade. In such a case, an Application for Incomplete Grade must be obtained from the instructor. The form must be filled out and signed by both the student and the instructor and stipulates that the course must be completed within one year following the semester in which it was taken. Failure to complete the course requirements within this period will automatically transform the grade into an F.


Honors


Graduation with honors is based on the student’s cumulative average and on the final Senior Thesis and oral examination.


The Freshman and Sophomore Years

All freshmen are required to take the following courses: 


UNI ID 201–202 Introduction to Literary Study

This year-long sequence centers on the critical study of major texts from the Western literary tradition. These texts invite students, in differing ways, to consider the relationship between language and belief, rhetoric and culture, intention and form. The syllabus includes readings from various periods, traditions, and genres. Students are asked to analyze closely, to write frequently, and to learn multiple ways of responding to W. H. Auden’s question: “Here is a verbal contraption; how does it work?”  Year-long course. Not offered 2008/09


UNI ID 500 The University Professors Seminar

All incoming students, from freshmen to doctoral candidates, are required to participate in The University Professors Seminar. The seminar meets every week throughout the academic year to consider papers presented by University Professors working across a full spectrum of disciplines. The seminar provides a practical opportunity for incoming students to learn about the academic interests, analytical methods, and current investigations conducted by faculty of the University Professors Program. Students are required to register both semesters. Not offered 2008/09


Four Semesters of a Foreign Language 


Students are required to continue the study of a foreign language beyond the level of minimal reading competence. For students interested primarily in the humanities, a command of two foreign languages, one ancient and one modern, is highly desirable.


Students are also required to take two additional courses in each semester, one of which is drawn from the “Culture, History, and Society” group, and the other from the “Science” section. Individual courses from these categories are taken either in the freshman or the sophomore years.


CULTURE, HISTORY, AND SOCIETY


UNI ID 203 Ethics and Politics

From ancient Greece to the modern world, the relationships of individuals to one another and to the societies in which they live have often been complex. This course examines some of the ways in which moralists and political philosophers have tried to address such issues as the nature of the just society, the relation of individual well-being to the public good, the ways in which notions of right and wrong can be justified, and the possible conflict between politics and other human activities. Among the authors read are Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Machiavelli, Hume, Kant, and Nietzsche. Schmidt. 4 cr, 1st sem.


UNI ID 204 Culture and Society

This seminar will make use of the works of nineteenth- and twentieth-century social thinkers (such as Marx, Weber, and Durkheim) to undertake a sociological and cultural analysis of some of the central aspects of modern experience and identity, including issues of religion and political culture. Lindholm. 4 cr, 2nd sem.


SCIENCE


UNI ID 205 Memory and the Brain

Prereq: open only to students enrolled in the University Professors Program. Our memories reflect the accumulation of a lifetime of experience and, in this sense, our memories are what we are. This course explores how modern methods of cognitive science and neuroscience have led to new insights about memory and, more generally, to a greater understanding about the mind and brain functions that mediate cognition, emotion, behavior, and consciousness. Eichenbaum. 4 cr, On Demand

UNI ID 207 The Language of Heredity

The Junior and Senior Years


In the junior and senior years, in close consultation with the advisor, students continue to select courses offered both in UNI and in other schools and colleges of Boston University. At the start of the junior year, students begin to consider the topic of their Senior Thesis, which will be written over the course of their last year in the program.


During the senior year, the coursework continues to be selected in consultation with the advisor. At this time, an advisory committee is formed to work with the student on the Senior Thesis (UNI DW 401–402, 4 cr, each sem.). This committee consists of the advisor and one or two other relevant faculty members from Boston University, depending on the area of inquiry. The student will meet often throughout the year with the advisory committee and the committee will be present at the oral defense of the Senior Thesis.


In the event that a student chooses or is advised to transfer into another degree program at Boston University or another institution, the student is expected to fulfill the entrance requirements of that program.


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Courses Taught by The University Professors


The faculty of the University Professors Program offer courses designed to provide discussion incorporating themes and ideas from various disciplines. Courses are open to students from all departments and schools of Boston University.


Professor Anthony Barrand


UNI HU 200 English Ritual Dance and Drama

A movement-oriented course on the performance styles, history, and folklore of the seasonal Morris dances and Mummers plays, which thrive traditionally in England. Also offered as CAS AN 280. 4 cr, 2nd sem.

UNI HU 311 Stalking the Wild Mind: The Psychology and Folklore of Psychic Phenomena and Extrasensory Perception

A research seminar exploring the implications of and methodologies for investigating phenomena at the threshold of human ability. Topics include extrasensory perception, constraints on the development of human potential, prophetic divination, dowsing, and artistic insight. 4 cr, 1st sem.


UNI HU 340 Folk Songs as Social History

Anglo-American folk songs and singing styles as expressions of personal, social, and cultural history. Topics include finding and using regional and thematic song collections, performance of traditional music, and preparation and presentation of song materials in selected projects. Also offered as CAS AN 340. 4 cr, 1st sem.


CAS AN 250 Understanding Folklore and Folklife

The ways individuals, families, and communities express themselves, their beliefs, and their values within their own culture. Emphasis on meaning carried by oral literature, folk arts and crafts, social customs and festivals, and family folklore. 4 cr, 2nd sem.


Professor David Fromkin


UNI SS 591 Great Powers in the Middle East

The seminar focuses on the rivalry between the great powers of Europe in the Middle East, commencing in 1798, and on the resolution of these conflicts arising from the peace settlement of 1922, with a special reference to the Suez episode of 1956. Also offered as CAS HI/IR 591. 4 cr, 2nd sem.


Professor Sheldon Glashow


UNI NS 100 Physics of the Twentieth Century and Beyond

An historical survey of modern physics, focusing on quantum mechanics and relativity as applied to the microworld (subatomic physics) and the macroworld (the early universe). Covers exotic phenomena from quarks to quasars, from neutrinos to neutron stars. For non-science majors. Also offered as CAS PY 100. 4 cr, 1st sem.


Professor Charles Glenn


UNI ID 562 Educational Policy

Issues of race, ethnicity, social class, gender, and other characteristics related to educational opportunities and outcomes; history of educational policy in U.S. and other countries; higher education policy issues. Meets with SED AP 753. Glenn. 4 cr, 1st sem.


Professor Sir Hans Kornberg


UNI ID 207 The Language of Heredity

Prereq: must be enrolled in the University Professors Program. Recent developments in our understanding of the nature of the genetic material, and how it selectively controls a multitude of biological processes, have profound implications not only on the present and future practice of medicine, agriculture, and biotechnology, but also on legal, ethical, and moral aspects of society. This course will examine the scientific basis of molecular genetics and will attempt to discuss the societal consequences of that information. 4 cr, 1st sem. 


CAS BI/CH 422 Biochemistry II

Cell metabolism, with special emphasis on the uptake of food materials; the integration and regulation of catabolic, anabolic, and anaplerotic routes; and the generation and utilization of energy. Lectures include consideration of events in prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms. 4 cr, 2nd sem.


Professor Charles Lindholm


UNI ID 204 Culture and Society

Prereq: open only to students enrolled in the University Professors Program. This seminar will make use of the works of nineteenth- and twentieth-century social thinkers (such as Marx, Weber, and Durkheim) to undertake a sociological and cultural analysis of some of the central aspects of modern experience and identity, including issues of religion and political culture. 4 cr, 2nd sem.


UNI SS 515 Authenticity and Identity

This course will explore the idea of the authentic self in Western culture, reading authors such as Montesquieu, Hegel, Rousseau, Diderot, Molière, and Nietzsche. Historical and cross-cultural perspective will be provided through examples from Medieval Europe, Pakistan, America, Bali, and China. Also offered as CAS AN 515. 4 cr, 2nd sem.


UNI SS 570 Lovers and Leaders: The Anthropology of Romance and Charisma

Why do people sometimes believe that an individual is god-like or uniquely lovable and desirable? This class will use theory from anthropology, sociology, and psychology to discuss this question, dealing with the dyadic idealization (romantic love and “friendship to the death”) and idealization of a leader (charisma). Also offered as CAS AN 570. 4 cr, 1st sem.


CAS AN 290 Children and Culture

Explores the way various cultures shape the lives and social development of children. Topics include cultural concepts of childhood; the acquisition of culture; socialization and moral development; cognition, emotion, and behavior in childhood; children’s language and play; and the cultural shaping of personality. 4 cr, 1st sem.


Professor Igor Lukes


UNI SS 341 Central Europe

The course focuses on the intellectual, cultural, political, diplomatic, and military history of the region between Germany and Russia known as Central Europe from the end of the Middle Ages to the present. Also offered as CAS HI/IR 341. 4 cr, 2nd sem.


UNI SS 542 The Reemergence of Russia

The course will focus on the disintegration of the old Soviet system and the emergence of new political structures in Russia. It will analyze the careers of Boris Yeltsin and Mikhail Gorbachev, their rivalries, and their attack on the Stalinist and Brezhnevite political, security, and military elites. We will follow the appearance of new political platforms and parties in various parts of Russia. The end of the Cold War will be examined primarily from the perspective of U.S.-Soviet relations. Also offered as CAS IR 542 and CAS PO 556. 4 cr, 1st sem.


UNI SS 543 The Changing Face of Eastern Europe

Since 1989, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Eastern Europe has become the most interesting component of the international political scene and it is unlikely that it will easily slide into obscurity again. This course studies the domestic and foreign policies of Poland, Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary, and it analyzes the painful disintegration of Yugoslavia. Also offered as CAS IR 543 and CAS PO 557. 4 cr, 1st sem.


UNI SS 546 Power and Legitimacy

This course studies political theories and their role in forging the world of today. Primary sources from Machiavelli to Havel provide the framework for an inquiry into the relationship between power and legitimacy. The course is based on the assumption that the central question of political theory is: “Who is going to rule, and why?” Also offered as CAS IR 546. 4 cr, 2nd sem.


Professor Uri Ra’anan


UNI SS 541 Directed Study in Russia's International Policies I

Prereq: consent of instructor. Russian (Soviet and post-Soviet) approaches to international policy (including relations with other former Soviet republics); ideological and practical aspects. The policy-formation process and its machinery; domestic (factional) impact upon that process. Strategic and tactical concepts from Lenin to Putin. The history of interstate (and interparty) relations. Also offered as CAS IR 541. 4 cr, 1st sem.


UNI SS 544 Comparative Political Systems and Foreign Policies

Prereq: consent of instructor. Conflicting concepts of state and nation and the persistence of ethnic conflict. Raison d’état and ideology in international relations. National and territorial aspirations; alliance systems and spheres of influence. Policy formation and decision in closed societies. The democratic approach to decision making: party and electoral systems in the parliamentary form of democracy. Also offered as CAS IR 544. 4 cr, 2nd sem.


UNI SS 545 European Diplomatic History

Prereq: juniors, seniors, and graduate students only. The evolution, function, and interaction of modern East and Central European states. Nationalism as a major factor in European history. National unification and multinational empires. The perception and utilization of options in European diplomacy. The impact of technology and the arts upon policy formation. The emergence of the post-1871 alliance systems and the path to World War I. Also offered as CAS IR 545. 4 cr, 1st sem.


Professor Bruce Redford


UNI HU 539 The Baroque

Prereq: juniors, seniors, and graduate students only and consent of instructor. This interdisciplinary seminar concentrates on seventeenth-century architecture, painting, music, poetry, and drama. The syllabus is organized both topically and topographically: issues of space, light, ornamentation, and theatricality will be explored in relation to the cultural capitals of Rome, Paris, and London. Must submit to instructor 5–7 page sample of writing. Also offered as CAS AH 597 and CAS EN 597. 4 cr, 2nd sem.


UNI HU 595 English Country House

For almost three centuries, the country house played a central role in English literary culture. We will be exploring a variety of poetic and fictional texts, as well as attending to related issues of architecture and landscape design. Also offered as CAS AH 583 and CAS EN 594. Redford. 4 cr, 1st sem.


Professor James Schmidt


UNI ID 203 Readings in Ethics and Politics

Prereq: open only to students enrolled in the University Professors Program. From ancient Greece to the modern world, the relationships of individuals to one another and to the societies in which they live have often been complex. This course examines some of the ways in which moralists and political philosophers have tried to address such issues as the nature of the just society, the relation of individual well-being to the public good, the ways in which notions of right and wrong can be justified, and the possible conflict between politics and other human activities. Among the authors read are Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Machiavelli, Hume, Kant, and Nietzsche. 4 cr, 1st sem.


CAS HI 248 Catastrophe and Cultural Memory

Examines the ways in which catastrophes—both natural and social—enter into cultural memory. Goal is to understand how events that seem to defy comprehension are represented in works of art and given a place in the memory of a culture. 4 cr, 2nd sem.


CAS HI 314 The European Enlightenment

Survey of the intellectual and social transformation of Europe from the 1680s to the French Revolution. Readings draw on both eighteenth-century sources (including  Voltaire, Diderot, Condorcet, Lessing, Smith, and Hume) and recent work by historians. Also offered as CAS PO 395. 4 cr, 1st sem. 


CAS HI 440 Refugee Intellectuals (1933–1950)

Examination of the flight of intellectuals (including Mann, Adorno, Schoenberg) from Europe to the United States in the wake of Hitler’s rise to power, drawing on accounts by the exiles themselves, their works, and subsequent studies by historians of the period. 4 cr, 2nd sem.


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Faculty


Asterisk (*) denotes on leave for one semester. Two asterisks (**) denote on leave for one year. 


Anthony G. Barrand University Professor; Professor of Anthropology. BA, Keele University (England); PhD, Cornell University


Alicia Borinsky Fellow of  The University Professors; Professor of Spanish, Romance Studies. MA, PhD, University of Pittsburgh


Aram V. Chobanian President Emeritus of the University; University Professor; John I. Sandson Distinguished Professor of Health Sciences, and Dean Emeritus, School of Medicine; former Provost, Boston University Medical Campus. AB, Brown University; MD, Harvard Medical School


James J. Collins University Professor; Professor of Biomedical Engineering; Co-Director, Center for BioDynamics, College of Engineering. AB, College of the Holy Cross; PhD, University of Oxford (England)


Richard H. Egdahl University Professor; Alexander Graham Bell Professor of Health Care Entrepreneurship; Professor of Management; Professor of Surgery & Public Health. BA, Dartmouth College; MD, Harvard Medical School; PhD, University of Minnesota


Howard Eichenbaum University Professor; Professor of Psychology; Director, Center for Memory & the Brain. BS, PhD, University of Michigan


David Fromkin University Professor; Professor of International Relations, History, and Law. BA, JD, University of Chicago; Postgraduate Diploma in Law, University of London (England)


Sheldon Glashow University Professor; Arthur G. B. Metcalf Professor of Mathematics and Science in the Department of Physics. AB, Cornell University; AM, PhD, Harvard University


Charles Glenn Fellow of  The University Professors; Professor of Education in Administration, Training, and Policy Studies. AB, Harvard College; PhD, Boston University


Liah Greenfeld University Professor; Professor of Political Science and Sociology; Director, Institute for the Advancement of the Social Sciences. BA, MA, PhD,  The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel)


James Johnson Fellow of  The University Professors; Associate Professor of History, College of Arts & Sciences. BA, University of Oklahoma; MA, PhD, University of Chicago


Sir Hans L. Kornberg University Professor; Director, University Professors Program; Professor of Biology. BSc, PhD, University of Sheffield (England); MA, DSc, University of Oxford (England); ScD, University of Cambridge (England)


Charles Lindholm University Professor; Professor of Anthropology. BA, MA, PhD, Columbia University


Igor Lukes University Professor; Professor of History and International Relations. BA/MA, PhD, Universita Karlova (Czech Republic); MALD, PhD, Tufts University, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy


Jeffrey Mehlman University Professor; Professor of French, Romance Studies. BA, Harvard College; PhD, Yale University


Uri Ra’anan University Professor; Professor of International Relations; Director, Institute for the Study of Conflict, Ideology, and Policy. MA, MLitt, University of Oxford (England)


Bruce Redford University Professor; Professor of Art History and English. BA, Brown University; BA, King’s College, University of Cambridge (England); PhD, Princeton University


Joshua Rifkin Fellow of  The University Professors; Professor of Music. BS, The Juilliard School; MFA, Princeton University


Stanley H. Rosen University Professor; Borden Parker Bowne Professor of Philosophy. BA, PhD, University of Chicago


James W. Schmidt University Professor; Professor of History and Political Science. BA, Rutgers University; PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology


John Silber President Emeritus, Boston University; University Professor; Professor of Law, School of Law; Professor of Philosophy and International Relations. BA, Trinity University; MA, PhD, Yale University; LLD (hon.); LHD (hon.)


H. Eugene Stanley University Professor; Professor of Physics and Physiology; Director, Center for Polymer Studies. BA, Wesleyan University; PhD, Harvard University


Lawrence Sulak Fellow of  The University Professors; Professor of Physics. BS, Carnegie Mellon University; AM, PhD, Princeton University


**Rosanna Warren University Professor; Emma Ann MacLachlan Metcalf Professor in Humanities; Professor of English; Professor of French, Romance Studies. BA, Yale University; MA, Johns Hopkins University


**Elie Wiesel University Professor; Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities; Professor of Philosophy and Religion. Hon.KBE, LittD (hon.), Jewish Theological Seminary; LHD (hon.), Hebrew Union College, Boston University, Brandeis University, University of Notre Dame


University Professors Emeriti

Peter L. Berger University Professor Emeritus; Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Theology; Director, Institute on Culture, Religion, and World Affairs. BA, Wagner College; MA, PhD, New School for Social Research


Rodolfo Cardona University Professor Emeritus; Professor Emeritus of Modern Foreign Languages and Literatures. BA, MA, Louisiana State University; PhD, University of Washington


D. S. Carne-Ross University Professor Emeritus; Professor Emeritus of Classics and Modern Languages. BA, MA, University of Oxford (England); MA, Cornell University


Gerald Fitzgerald University Professor Emeritus; Professor Emeritus of English and Modern Foreign Languages and Literatures. AB, AM, PhD, Harvard University


Geoffrey Hill University Professor Emeritus; Professor Emeritus of Literature and Religion; Co-Founder, Editorial Institute. MA, University of Oxford (England); DLitt (hon.), University of Leeds (England)


Norman Lichtin University Professor Emeritus; Professor Emeritus of Chemistry. BS, Antioch College; MS, Purdue University; PhD, Harvard University


Herbert Mason University Professor Emeritus; William Goodwin Aurelio Professor Emeritus of History and Religious Thought; Professor of History and Religion; AB, AM, PhD, Harvard University 


Claudio Véliz University Professor Emeritus; Professor Emeritus of History. BSc, University of Florida; PhD, London School of Economics, University of London (England)


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Published by Trustees of Boston University
One Silber Way
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16 October 2009
Boston University
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