Issue Archives
Bostonia is published in print three times a year and updated weekly on the web.
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Big Shot
Billie Weiss is living out a major-league dream as manager of photography for the World Champion Boston Red Sox
Opening Doors
Erica Mosca empowers first-gen college students
Bricks of Life
Biologist and Lego collector Cynthia Bradham finds inspiration in the tiny building blocks of life
Rahul Desikan's Story of Love, Science, and Facing Down Death
This pioneering neuroscientist was attacking ALS. Then ALS attacked him.
Taking His Time
Ian Schon (ENG’12) makes analog watches in a digital world
Exploring Endurance
Best-selling author David Grann (GRS’94) on one man’s obsessive quest to cross Antarctica
Know What’s Good for Your Health? Artificial Intelligence
Data and algorithms can spot medical concerns early and point to solutions
Crowdsourcing a Second Bill of Rights? ENG Professor Wants to Give It a Shot
Greg Blonder says our leaders often obstruct the public’s will
A Dead Humpback, a Team of Scientists, a Race for Answers
Did noise pollution in the ocean contribute to her death in the waters off Cape Cod? Her whale ears may hold important clues
Shari Davis (Sargent’10,’12) among 20 Obama Fellows Named Worldwide
“The Obamas represent…the reality that ceilings can and should be broken”
Natick’s World War II Museum Commemorates 75th Anniversary of D-Day
Founder Ken Rendell, who studied business at BU, has created special exhibition
Stan Sclaroff Named Dean of Arts & Sciences
After nationwide search, interim dean chosen for strong and consistent leadership
Congratulations on the development of BU’s HUB program as an extension of the University’s decades-long involvement in general education. I write now at age 80 and after a career of 51 years in secondary education but mostly college/university teaching. This is to say I’ve seen a lot of approaches to education, but none has rivaled my experience (’53-’55) at BU’s College of General Education in its vigorously presented integrated curriculum and its approachable faculty (or its success at introducing this mediocre high school to the wonder and beauty of higher learning).
As I look back, I can say I have always regarded my experience at CGE as the best education a young scholar could ever hope to attain, and I obviously write this long after completing my BA in history (CLA) and graduate degrees at 4 other prominent universities. No other schooling was as rich and compelling as those first 2 years at BU’s College of General education. It remained for me the essential model of how a well-organized, integrated program of undergraduate study could impact the lives of students forever as they sought to develop their personal and professional outlook on life. I tried to model myself after it during my career as an educator, and I express here how grateful I have always been for immersing myself in it. It was life changing, and so I am very pleased to see general education continue to thrive at BU!
My modest gift today to BU Hub comes with a strong wish for the success of the general education initiative. Susan Seligson’s Bostonia article about Marcia Deihl (DGE 69) reminded me how important its effect has been and made me want to contribute again. Joel Brown’s Bostonia article about the BU Hub initiative helped me direct this gift as an act of stewardship towards BU’s higher aspirations.
What a marvelous proposal in upcoming years. It would have been a god-send to have had something like this available as there were always courses I wanted to take outside my discipline. Bravo on this brave new step. SED63
As a graduate of the very first class of the College of General Education in 1948, it is with great interest I now read about this proposed addition to the Boston University curricula. An innovation in cohesiveness then!
The mentoring faculty will be so important for the students…I still recall with affection and respect those initial faculty members, such as G. Norman Eddy in Social Science and Donald Born and Wager in English, Tiffany in Science == all having a lasting impact on all of us privileged to be in that beginning class. ( Many just out of service were among those participating.) It was a life-changing experience for each classmate.
How would the new core BUHUB, affect an engineering student who enters BU IN 2016? Would she feel disadvantaged by being required to meet the engineering core while those coming the following year would have to meet different standards?
I graduated in 1971, but my niece was just accepted to engineering for 2016.
Bonnie Zimmerman
As a graduate, more than fifty years ago, of the old College of General Education my experiences then and later with the realities of life in several nations , I believe this to be of immense promise and importance. Putting the value of citizenship and public engagement at the center of this Hub is exactly the right emphasis. I offer my congratulations to those who have pointed the way forward, in this initiative.
Congratulations to associate provost Elizabeth Loizeaux, professor Bruce Schulman, and the task force for a thoughtful and actionable report.
The lives and careers of BU graduates will be materially enhanced through implementation of the roadmap they have given us.
Their recognition, for example, of the importance of quantitative reasoning as a gateway for understanding critical personal finance fundamentals is appreciated. So too is the incorporation of personal finance as a life skill within the Intellectual Toolkit.
Well done!
Prof. Cornelius Hurley
I applaud any cross-disciplinary and cross-college education as being more scientific than education that focuses on just one discipline. Toward this end, I suggest that students’ minors be in a different discipline than their majors. For example, if a major is in the biophysical sciences, then the minor should be in either the social sciences or the humanities.
A second recommendation is to make sure that all students have a fair amount of required tutoring/mentoring/coaching by both faculty and staff in areas of self-development and in writing/math/computer technology/subject area specialties.
Best of luck to BU and its students with this new program!
A terrific addition to the already excellent curricula at BU. Reminds me of my days in the late ’60s as a student in what was then the College of Basic Studies. We had a capstone project to complete as a team, and we each had to defend it in an oral exam. My husband and I both went through CBS And between us have 3 graduate degrees. We have touted our CBS experience as the best 2 years of our college experiences. We look forward to reading future issues of Bostonia as this program develops.