Creating community across disciplines

Wonder. Discover. Reflect. Inspire.

Those are just a few of the words, etched in white, that dance across the floor-to-ceiling glass panels that form the inside wall and door of the College of Arts & Sciences’ new study space, the Think Tank.

It’s a place of light and learning, collaboration and cross-disciplinary investigation, creation, connection, and more. “The words on the glass describe all the ways in which people can use the room,” says Ann E. Cudd, dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, who with the architect Michael L. Soucy and input from the CAS Student Government helped design the 2,000-square-foot Think Tank. “It’s a makerspace for the mind.”

As president of the Student Government her sophomore year, Christina Lucas (CAS’17) approached Cudd, then in her first year as dean, with the idea for a common space to help establish a sense of community within CAS—home to students whose areas of study range from physics and math to anthropology and Romance languages. “Other schools and colleges at BU had their own dedicated place to study,” says Lucas. “We didn’t, and found ourselves fighting over tables in the basement bagel shop or crowded into small nooks, often sitting on the floor.”

The Think Tank opened on May 1, just in time for reading period, the week before exams. Immediately, the room, which accommodates 134 visitors, was packed. “We felt so much pride about having a study space we could call our own,” says Lucas, who made full use of the space in preparing for the last exams of her college career. “Now, rather than identifying ourselves only with our majors, each of us can feel, ‘I am a CAS student.’”

A place of myriad uses

Sleek and airy, the Think Tank offers a variety of seating options and arrangements, making it a welcoming place for solitary study as well as large-group interactions. Three partially enclosed huddle rooms invite small-group collaborations. Two larger conference rooms equipped with plasma screens and A/V equipment enable students to practice presentations, engage in group projects, and hold informal meetings. Numerous electrical outlets and a multiple-device charging station ensure that no one will run out of juice.

A sense of movement—both internal and external—permeates the space. Whiteboards roll on wheels, chairs can be easily shifted around, ideas bounce between students, and the comings and goings on Comm Ave silently spool past the large windows.

In the future, both Cudd and Lucas (pictured right at the Think Tank ribbon cutting) see the space being used for events, group presentations, receptions, and even pop-up courses and workshops. Cudd is delighted that it’s located across the hall from her office, on the main thoroughfare of 725 Commonwealth Avenue, CAS’ headquarters. “It gives me the opportunity to meet and talk with our students,” she says. “I’m also planning to have regular drop-in sessions, perhaps something like ‘Doughnuts with the Dean,’ where students can stop by for casual conversation.” The central location also makes it just as useful for a quick stop between classes as for hours-long stays.

Makerspace for the mind

The term “makerspace” has traditionally been associated with technology. But at CAS, says Cudd, while technology has its place, “we are fundamentally about ideas. We need a space where we can collaborate, share and debate ideas, and think critically. The ideas themselves, rather than a product, are what we are working on.”

Today’s students, she says, are not bound by individual disciplines. They talk across disciplines. “They are thinking, ‘What problems do I want to solve? What can I do to have an impact on the world?’ The Think Tank provides the opportunity to make those creative connections,” she says.

Your giving matters

Generous gifts to the Annual Fund helped CAS open the Think Tank. Since money given to the Annual Fund is unrestricted, it gives deans and other University leaders the freedom and flexibility to support their crucial needs—and for CAS, the need for the Think Tank was clear.

“When I pitched the idea, I didn’t know what would come of it,” says Lucas. “But I knew that my voice was being heard, that I was being understood. I want conversations like this to be the norm.” That the Think Tank moved forward, and that CAS students had input in the process, “showed that the administration is there for us,” she says.

Additional funds are required to maintain the Think Tank, invest in technology, and underwrite student activities.

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The Annual Fund provides the University with current use operating support, which can be deployed at a moment’s notice to pursue a research opportunity, provide financial aid and emergency student assistance, fund travel to academic conferences, and much more.