Appointment of Kenneth Lutchen as Interim University Provost
May 31, 2023
Dear Colleagues:
I hope everyone had a restful Memorial Day weekend with family and friends.
I am pleased to announce that Kenneth Lutchen, the long-serving Dean of the College of Engineering, will become University Provost and Chief Academic Officer ad interim on July 1, 2023. He will work closely with me for the final month of my presidency and then work with Interim President Ken Freeman, who will assume his responsibilities on August 1. It is my hope that Ken Lutchen will serve as Interim Provost at least until a permanent president is named.
Ken Lutchen is well-suited by experience and stature to lead the University’s academic enterprise through the transition. Under his leadership, the College of Engineering has thrived, attracting ever more talented students, staff, and faculty. Ken has the knowledge and well-tested judgment to make the difficult decisions about personnel and resources that are essential to maintaining the momentum of the University. As dean, he has worked closely with the seasoned team in the Office of the Provost and with his fellow deans.
Ken understands and values the University’s distinctive identity as a private, urban research university and embraces the University’s Strategic Plan in its entirety. Within the college, he has worked to build a welcoming community for undergraduate and graduate students and to diversify the student body, staff, and faculty. Engineering was the first college to create a decanal-level position for diversity and outreach. He has also put in place an outstanding and diverse new generation of college leadership that we will rely upon as Ken transitions to the role of Interim University Provost.
The College of Engineering’s strategic plan stresses the importance of building an outstanding faculty with the capacities needed to address pressing societal challenges. Ken conceived and implemented a novel model for faculty organization within the college and implemented a faculty search process that brings together faculty from across disciplines, highlighting their interconnections, to give new faculty more flexibility in designing their affiliations with departments and research centers. This approach has shown great promise for attracting outstanding new colleagues.
Ken is a highly cited biomedical engineer best known for his application of computational and image-driven models for developing an integrated understanding of pulmonary structure and function, with emphasis on asthma and COPD. He earned his undergraduate degree in Engineering Science from the University of Virginia and his MS and PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University. Ken joined the Biomedical Engineering Department at Boston University in 1984 and was promoted to the rank of professor in 1998, the same year he was appointed chair of the department. He became dean of the College of Engineering in 2006.
Ken has been active in professional service. He was elected a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) in 1999 and served as president of the organization from 2010 to 2013. Ken also received the Pierre Galletti Award from the AIMBE in 2014 for lifetime achievement.
Please join me and Ken Freeman in welcoming Ken Lutchen to this important role for Boston University.
Sincerely,
Robert A. Brown
President