Boston University

faculty handbook

History

Boston University traces its origin to a meeting at Bromfield Street Church in Boston on April 24, 1839, where it was resolved to establish an institution for the training of Methodist clergy. This led to the establishment of the Newbury Biblical Institute at Newbury, Vermont, which in 1847 moved to Concord, New Hampshire, and changed its name to the Methodist General Biblical Institute. In 1867 it moved to Boston and became Boston Theological Seminary. On May 26, 1869, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts granted a charter incorporating Isaac Rich, Lee Claflin, and Jacob Sleeper, three Trustees of the Seminary, as Trustees of Boston University, empowering them to provide instruction and confer degrees for the promotion of learning, virtue, and piety. The charter was unusual in banning all religious tests for faculty and students, apart from the theological school.

Boston Theological Seminary was formally transferred to Boston University in 1871 and has continued to this day as the School of Theology. Six other Schools were soon added. The School of Law and the College of Music (the latter the first institution of its kind in the country) were founded in 1872. The College of Liberal Arts and the School of Oratory, later absorbed by the College of Liberal Arts (now the College of Arts and Sciences), were established in 1873. In the same year the New England Female Medical College was adopted by Boston University and became its School of Medicine; Boston University thus became the first university in the world to open all its departments to women. The School of All Sciences, later renamed the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, was added in 1874. Except for the School of Medicine, which has always remained near Boston City Hospital in the South End, the original buildings were located on Beacon Hill. The administration, the College of Liberal Arts, and the Graduate School moved to Copley Square in 1907.

Several new Schools were added in the early twentieth century. The College of Business Administration (now the School of Management) was founded in 1913. The School of Education became independent of the College of Arts and Sciences in 1918, and in turn gave rise to the School of Religious Education and Social Service (now the School of Social Work) in 1919. In 1929 the Sargent School of Physical Education, then located in Cambridge, joined Boston University; it is now Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (formerly Sargent College of Allied Health Professions).

During the 1920s plans were developed to bring together the Schools and Colleges in one location, and land for a central campus was purchased along the Charles River. The Great Depression set back these plans, and construction was not resumed until the 1940s, when the University grew rapidly as a result of the G.I. Bill; its enrollment more than tripled between 1945 and 1950. By the 1960s the Charles River Campus had assumed essentially its present appearance.

New Schools were added during the postwar expansion. The School of Nursing (discontinued in 1988) became independent of the School of Education in 1946. Several existing programs were united in 1947 to form the School of Public Relations and Communications, which was renamed the School of Public Communications in the 1960's; it is now called the College of Communication. In 1950 the University adopted the New England Aircraft School (founded by faculty of the College of Business Administration), which became the College of Industrial Technology and is now the College of Engineering. The College of General Education grew out of the School of Education in 1946, and in 1952 gave rise to a separate Junior College; the College of General Education was eventually absorbed by the College of Arts and Sciences, but the Junior College has continued to the present as the College of General Studies. The College of Music in 1954 merged with the programs in art and theatre to become the School of Fine and Applied Arts; in 1974 it was renamed the School for the Arts and is now called the College of Fine Arts. The School of Medicine and the adjacent Massachusetts Memorial Hospital were in 1962 organized as the Boston University Medical Center, now the Boston Medical Center; and the School of Graduate Dentistry, later renamed the Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine, was added to this complex in 1963. The School of Public Health, a division of the School of Medicine, became an independent school in 1996. The former Division of Continuing Education was organized as Metropolitan College in 1965.First begun as a program within Metropolitan College, the School of Hospitality Administration was established as a separate school in 2001. Thus fourteen of the seventeen Schools and Colleges are now located on the Charles River Campus. The University Professors was added in 1971.

Boston University is an independent, nonsectarian university that maintains its historical relationship with the United Methodist Church. It is the fourth-largest independent university in the United States; in the fall of 2005 its enrollment reached a high of 31,697. In the fall of 2005 the average composite SAT score of the Boston University entering freshmen, excluding students Metropolitan College students other than those in the Science and Engineering Program, was 1278 compared with a national average of 1028 for college-bound seniors. The student body, once mostly of local origin, has become increasingly national and international.

Boston University has 3,812 faculty members (the Medical Center, in addition, employs approximately 1,300 volunteer part-time faculty). In each of the seventeen Colleges and Schools of the University, the faculty are actively engaged in research and development activities funded by public and private sponsors. In fiscal year 2006 grant and contract activity decreased 2.2% over fiscal year 2005 to a total of $299.2 million. The tuition for academic year 2006/07 is $33,330 and the base room and board rate is $10,480. The market value of the endowment has increased from $18.8 million as of June 30, 1970, to $946 million as of June 30, 2006. Since fiscal year 1970, the total revenue of the University has increased from $73 million to $1,672 million for fiscal year 2006.