President's Message

President’s Council on
Boston University and the Global Future
Robert A. Brown, President

Boston University has a long history of engagement in the community and the world. Indeed, we pride ourselves on the outreach from our campus, on the inclusion of international students into our programs, and on the integration of real-world issues into
our curriculum, research, and scholarship. The commitment to a global awareness has been realized through our semester-abroad programs for undergraduate students with structured experiences in host countries around the world, through programs on our campuses designed specifically for international students, and through graduate and undergraduate educational programs launched to serve students abroad through remote facilities and using distance education technology.

Higher education is expanding to meet the needs of people around the world created by expanding economies. This growth has led to dramatically increased opportunities for those universities who desire to have an expanded global impact. It is appropriate for Boston University to consider the question of the degree of globalization that is appropriate for our university—and indeed, what “globalization” means in the context of Boston University—and set a course toward realizing the goals implied by this
commitment. This complex discussion needs to involve faculty from across the University who will think deeply about the implications of an expanded global presence for Boston University. The discussions also need to be informed by an understanding of the financial and operating implications of managing a truly global university.

I am establishing the President’s Council on Boston University and the Global Future to consider the following questions:

1. What should Boston University’s global strategy be as a leading private research university in the world?
2. How should we educate Boston University graduates on our Boston campus to prepare them better to engage in the world?
3. What would be entailed in a commitment to become a global university?
4. Given the global vision for Boston University developed by the Council, what should our strategy be for physical and virtual presence around the world?
5. What styles of collaborations and partnerships should be considered as part of the strategy? Are there types of programs and opportunities in which Boston University should not invest?
6. What changes are needed to organize the University to implement the strategy?

I am charging the Council to consider these questions and others that they feel must be answered to be responsive to the need for an appropriate global strategy. The Council should engage widely the Boston University community through meetings and seminars so that the recommendations of the Council offer a broadly discussed consensus. I would very much like a report from the Council by fall 2006.

Council Members

Jay Halfond, Professor and Dean of Metropolitan College and Extended Education, Council Co-Chair
Ronald Richardson, Professor and Director, CAS African American Studies, Council Co-Chair
Urbain DeWinter, Associate Provost, International Education
Andre de Quadros, Director, CFA, School of Music
Gerald Keusch, Director, School of Public Health, Global Health Initiative
Jay Kim, Director, School of Management, Graduate Education
Tom Kunz, Director, Center for Ecology and Conservation Biology
Christopher Maurer, Chairman, Modern Foreign Languages and Literatures
James Pritchett, Director, African Studies Center
M. Selim Unlu, Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Paul Greene, Assistant Dean, International Initiatives – Staff to the Council