City, Country, World

Boston University has a strong commitment to community, on campus and around the world. Here you can find information about BU and our involvement in the community on a citywide, nationwide, and worldwide level.

BU in the City

BU is a university in the heart of a city, and our identity is shaped around this urban environment. The city of Boston has helped to make BU a great university, and we are dedicated to giving back to the city through a variety of outreach and community service programs.

Education

One of BU’s strongest commitments is to the education and intellectual development of city youth. We work closely with a number of elementary, middle and high schools in the city of Boston, and we actively work to promote their success. Among our most prominent local educational initiatives:

• The Boston Scholars Program, through which we give 20 to 25 four-year full-tuition scholarships to graduating seniors from Boston’s public high schools. Since the program was created in 1973, BU has awarded more than $129 million in scholarships to 1,739 graduates of Boston’s schools.
• The new Boston High Community Service Award program, through which the University guarantees to meet the full demonstrated financial need of all graduates of Boston’s public high schools who earn admission to BU without the need to resort to loans.
• The Cardinal Medeiros Scholarships, which provide four-year full-tuition scholarships to graduating seniors from area Catholic high schools.
• Step UP, a city-wide project that directs key resources from Boston University and four other major private universities and colleges in Boston to 10 local public schools. The goal is to give Boston students the best possible education and to help them reach their full potential.
• The Boston University/Chelsea Partnership, under which Boston University administered Chelsea’s public schools for two decades, beginning in 1989. During the partnership, BU brought substantial improvements to all aspects of the school system in a national model of what can be accomplished in a comprehensive school reform effort.

Boston University offers a variety of tutoring and educational development programs for Boston Public School students, including the Boston University Initiative for Literacy Development (BUILD), CityLab, the Early Learning Center, Upward Bound, and many others.

Health Care and Social Services

The Boston University Medical Center, in the South End neighborhood of Boston, includes the School of Medicine, the Goldman School of Dental Medicine, and the School of Public Health. Boston Medical Center, the largest safety-net hospital in New England, was formed by the 1996 merger of the BU Medical Center Hospital and Boston City Hospital; its clinical staff is composed exclusively of BU School of Medicine faculty and physicians-in-training. Along with the Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences and the School of Social Work on the Charles River campus, these schools and the hospital provide an extensive array of free and low-cost services and educational programs for the greater Boston community. Boston University Geriatric Services, founded in 1875, is the oldest continuously operating home medical program in the United States. Dozens of similar programs offer dental services, health education, and other services to residents of Boston.

Business and Professional Programs and Services

Students and faculty from all areas of the university provide professional services to residents of Boston. Law students, for example, provide advocacy services in civil litigation, and provide defense and prosecutorial services in criminal court. Students from the College of Communication provide professional advertising, public relations, and video production services to local non-profits at little or not cost. Faculty from the School of Management help aspiring local entrepreneurs to develop their own businesses. University faculty and staff play key roles in the creation and start-up of new businesses.

Nationwide

BU is a school of national reputation, consistently ranked among the top private universities in America. As such, the BU community extends nationwide as we draw students from all 50 states and beyond.

Our nationwide reputation and sense of community has grown as evidenced by President Brown’s involvement in the private and public sectors, including his service on the boards of the Universities Research Association and the DuPont Company and, from 2006 through 2008, on the President’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology.

Boston University also has a strong commitment to the American people and to the community of higher education institutions. Because of this dedication, we were among the universities that took in students from Tulane University in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, providing a temporary home and learning environment free of charge for students from the New Orleans school. Katrina highlighted, for us and for other schools, the interconnection and interdependence of all institutions of higher education nationwide, and reaffirmed our sense of community. Every year, hundreds of Boston University students travel around the country to perform a week of community service through our Alternative Spring Break program.

Global Community

President Brown is personally involved in partnerships around the world, serving as chairman of the Academic Research Council of the Ministry of Education in Singapore and as a trustee of the Aalto University Foundation in Finland. In recognition of his dedication, Singapore named President Brown an Honorary Citizen. He brings to Boston University an energetic commitment to expanding BU’s international reputation and making ours a truly global community. To this end, he convened the President’s Council on Boston University and the Global Future. The Council, co-chaired by Dean Jay Halfond and Professor Ronald Richardson, was charged with developing a fuller understanding of what globalization means to Boston University and with taking steps to implement a strategic plan in this direction.

BU has always had a number of vibrant study abroad programs throughout the world; since Dr. Brown assumed the presidency, he has begun a series of initiatives aimed at expanding BU’s influence, opening dialogue with academic and business leaders in a number of countries.

The Boston University Institute of Dental Research and Education in Dubai — one of two dental facilities BU is operating in a regional medical complex known as Dubai Healthcare City — welcomed its inaugural class of residents in July 2008. The institute, which was accredited by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research in the United Arab Emirates, is the first in the region to offer postgraduate dental education. In addition, the BU Dental Health Center in Dubai provides the highest level of dental care to residents of the region.

BU consistently is ranked among the leading schools in America for attracting international students and scholars, and for sending students and graduates abroad. The Times of London Education Supplement has ranked BU among the top 50 universities in the world for the breadth and quality of its programs.