Professor of History and Humanities; President of Boston University Emeritus
History of medieval Europe, Tudor England, the Protestant and Catholic Reformations, early modern philosophy and political theory, the development of the European state system, the history and contemporary state of higher education
Jon Westling’s undergraduate studies were at Reed College in Portland, Oregon. Elected a Rhodes Scholar, he was a graduate student at Oxford University, where his supervisor was K. B. McFarlane, and subsequently at UCLA, where his supervisor was Eleanor Searle.
At Boston University, he has been Assistant to the President, Associate Provost, Provost, and Executive Vice President. He served as President of the University from 1996 to 2002.
Those with an interest in the University’s history can read a selection of President Westling’s speeches and essays:
- June 25, 1989: Chinese Memorial Service/Tiananmen Square
- October 25, 1996: Inaugural Address
- June 28, 1997: The Nation of the Educated, American College in Greece
- May 20, 2000: Love and Strife, President’s Breakfast