The breadth and depth of knowledge possessed by our 700+ full-time teaching faculty at the College of Arts & Sciences, as well as our 100+ part-time faculty members, are what make a CAS education uniquely valuable. This knowledge base—in disciplines as varied as art history, statistics, and environmental science—fuels the discovery and learning that take place here, in the classroom and through original research and scholarship.

The breadth and depth of knowledge possessed by our 700+ full-time teaching faculty at the College of Arts & Sciences, as well as our 100+ part-time faculty members, are what make a CAS education uniquely valuable.

That is why we pay so much attention to nurturing and strengthening this knowledge base—recruiting the best and most engaging faculty members to join our ranks. This past year, we once again recruited an outstanding group of new professors and lecturers to CAS.

Of our 27 new hires, all of whom were recruited during 2019/20 and begin at CAS during the 2020/21 academic year, six are in the natural sciences, six are in the mathematical and computational sciences, five are in the humanities, five are in the social sciences, two are in the Writing Program, and three are in the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies.

For names and biographies of our new faculty members, as well as lists of promoted, retired and emeritus faculty, please visit the faculty section of the Appendix.

Professor of History Ibram X. Kendi Comes to CAS, Launches Center for Antiracist Research

The most significant faculty hire, in terms of impacting research and teaching at CAS and BU, was definitely Professor of History Ibram X. Kendi. A nationally renowned scholar of antiracism, he came to BU in July and became founding director of the new Center for Antiracist Research. The center, the mission of which is to transform the way racial research is done by bringing together experts from a wide range of disciplines—along with journalists, advocates, and others—got a big boost with two huge donations this summer.

You can read more about Professor Kendi and the Center for Antiracist Research in the fall edition of arts&sciences magazine.

Leaders in Their Fields

While all of our incoming new faculty members bring energy and experience to their roles, several stand out as either leaders in their fields or as young faculty who are forging new paths:

• Associate Professor of Economics David Lagakos employs creative data modeling and rigorous quantitative work to explain income differences across countries.
• Associate Professor of Economics Natalia Ramondo studies global trade, using cutting-edge quantitative methods to understand the welfare gains (and losses) from various forms of economic openness.
• Assistant Professor of English Ianna Hawkins Owen’s current book project, Ordinary Failures, offers new theorizations of the keyword “diaspora” through an examination of negative effects in Black literary and visual culture. She is also working on her first video game, titled write back soon, and her first graphic novel.
• Assistant Professor of Political Science Marcus Walton is an expert in Middle Eastern and African politics and social movements.

Getting Recognized: Faculty Awards

CAS faculty members in a wide range of fields earned prestigious honors this past year:

• Professors of History and African American Studies Linda Heywood and John Thornton earned membership in the American Academy of Arts & Sciences for their influential work both in academia and as consultants on historical projects in the public eye.
• Creative Writing Lecturer Sigrid Nunez won a 2020 Guggenheim Fellowship. Her recent best-selling novel, The Friend, won a National Book Award in 2018. The book explores grief through the narrator’s relationship with man’s best friend, a Great Dane named Apollo.
• CAS Writing Program Senior Lecturer Seth Blumenthal won BU’s Metcalf Award for Excellence in Teaching for his innovative course in which students undertake social activism and then write about it.
• Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Hariri Research Fellow Ksenia Bravaya received a 2020 Sloan Research Fellowship—a two-year, $75,000 award to help advance her research, which focuses on the movement and transfer of electrons.