Attracting and Nurturing the Best Students

Class of 2016 Profile

Profile of the Class of 2016, Registered and Settled Through Fall 2012 Final (Official Mid-Semester)

Total Number of Entering Students, Fall 2012: 1,827

Male 36.8% (673)
Female 63.2% (1,154)

Top 10 Programs/Majors

Undeclared 456
Premedicine 192
Economics 133
Psychology 105
International Relations 105
Biology 93
Mathematics 52
English 50
Political Science 46
Neuroscience 42

Academic Accomplishment

The class entering in fall 2012 was the most accomplished academically in the College’s history.

Credentials Average Middle 50%
SAT Critical Reading 624 570-690
SAT Math 677 620–730
SAT Writing 649 610–700
SAT Composite 1950 1850–2050
ACT Composite 29 27-31
High School Rank in Class 89.8 --
High School GPA 3.62 --

 

Rank in Class
Top 5% 40.3%
Top 10% 66.9%
Top 15% 82.1%
Top 20% 89.7%
Top 25% 96.0%
Top 30% 99.5%
Top 50% 100%

 

The Class of 2016 demonstrates a wide range of ethnic diversity; 22% of the class identifies as international.

Ethnicity Number % of Class % of Domestic Known
African American 80 4.4% 6.2%
Hispanic 147 8.0% 11.3%
Native American 14 0.8% 1.1%
Hawaiian/Pacific Islander 3 0.2% 0.2%
Asian 312 17.1% 24.0%
Caucasian 744 40.7% 57.2%
International 404 22.1% --
Unspecified 123 6.7% --
Total: 1,827 100.0% 100.0%

Geography

Most domestic (US) students who entered in fall 2012 are from the Northeast and California, with Massachusetts leading the way. The largest contingent of international students is from the People’s Republic of China (249 freshmen).

Geography
# of states 45
% from out of state 82.3%

 

Top States
Massachusetts 324
New York 209
California 151
New Jersey 124
Connecticut 103
Pennsylvania 76
Florida 47
Illinois 39
Texas 35
Maryland 32
Other states, D.C. 264
Territories, APO 10
Foreign address 413
Territories represented: GU, PR
State(s) not represented: IA, ID, MT, NE, SD, WY

 

Region
New England 26.9%
Mid-Atlantic 24.4%
Midwest 5.0%
South 7.1%
Southwest 2.6%
West 1.4%
Pacific 9.9%
Other 22.8%

Not included: KS, MS, ND, SD, UT. Territories: GU, PR, AF Pac.

The majority of entering international students in Fall 2011 came from Asia, with the greatest number coming from China.

Top Countries by Citizenship
China (Incl. Hong Kong) 249
Republic of Korea 30
India 19
Taiwan, R.O.C. 9
Canada 9
Greece 8
Indonesia 5
Spain 5
United Kingdom 5
Republic of Singapore 4
Kazakhstan 4
Italy 4

First-Year Student Enrollment

The table below lists the number of applications and admits to CAS programs and majors, comparing fall 2011 with fall 2012

Applications Admits
Program/Major 2012 2011 2012 2011
Total CAS 25,056 24,246 10,844 10,896
American Studies (43) 23 21 10 11
Ancient Greek (78) 3 5 1 2
Ancient Greek & Latin (79) 27 28 17 14
Anthropology (01) 257 227 115 105
Anthropology & Religion (89) 17 16 7 10
Archaeology (27) 136 139 55 63
Art History (10) 125 167 45 73
Astronomy (02) 28 34 10 11
Astronomy & Physics (44) 108 108 44 65
Biochemistry (73) 2 2 0 1
Biochemistry & Molecular 376 333 206 188
Biology (71) 1,718 1,736 742 795
Biology—Ecology & Conserv. Biology (84) 106 81 61 41
Biology—Cell/Molecular/Genetic (31) 561 442 298 253
Biology—Quantitative (33) 9 6 6 4
Biology—Behavioral 98 91 56 48
Biology—Neurobiology 274 201 161 117
Chemistry (04) 450 406 214 207
Chemistry—Biochemistry 209 217 97 108
Chemistry—Teaching 7 9 5 7
Chinese Language & Literature (62) 41 40 19 16
Classical Civilization (05) 28 26 19 13
Classics & Philosophy (86) 16 19 9 8
Classics & Religion (49) 3 3 1 1
Comparative Literature (93) 34 30 17 12
Computer Science (28) 524 444 205 149
Earth Sciences (12) 17 22 7 8
East Asian Studies (68) 77 73 32 33
Economics (08) 1,249 1,200 452 444
Economics & Mathematics (59) 224 209 86 98
English (09) 755 781 352 344
Environmental Analysis & Policy (67) 96 102 48 49
Environmental Earth Sciences (45) 0 0 0 0
Environmental Sciences (63) 285 274 107 103
French & Continental Euro. Lit. (51) 0 0 0 0
French Language & Literature (39) 57 71 23 33
Geography (11) 0 0 0 0
Geography—Human Geography (87) 21 15 11 10
Geography—Physical 1 4 0 2
Geophysics & Planetary Sciences (36) 8 5 7 1
German Language & Literature (38) 11 16 5 5
Hispanic Language & Literature (41) 41 49 24 28
History (14) 491 430 185 181
International Relations (29) 1,640 1,711 743 754
Italian Studies (40) 18 18 10 9
Japanese Language & Literature 23 48 9 15
Latin (81) 13 13 9 7
Latin American Studies (70) 19 20 11 10
Linguistics (69) 124 124 70 55
Marine Science (95) 164 167 62 60
Mathematics (15) 489 441 185 207
Mathematics & Computer Science (80) 73 66 29 21
Mathematics & Philosophy (82) 27 34 16 21
Music (17) 56 66 14 18
Neuroscience (96) 417 383 247 238
Philosophy (18) 76 95 26 39
Philosophy & Anthropology (72) 0 0 0 0
Philosophy & Physics (74) 30 25 18 11
Philosophy & Political Science (75) 130 115 58 47
Philosophy & Psychology (76) 90 77 29 28
Philosophy & Religion (77) 10 11 3 6
Physics (19) 297 245 145 138
Political Science (13) 847 809 322 308
Predentistry (64) 210 203 98 120
Prelaw (25) 694 682 182 209
Premedicine (07) 2,685 2,745 1,655 1,641
Preveterinary Medicine (85) 112 110 39 39
Psychology (20) 1,542 1,498 508 537
Religion (21) 26 31 7 13
Russian & Eastern European Studies (32) 0 6 0 2
Russian Language & Literature (42) 16 18 7 9
Sociology (22) 256 204 106 77
Undeclared (23) 5,366 5,359 2,361 2,533
Accel. Program in Liberal Arts & Medicine (06) 806 731 53 52
New Jersey Medical Program (66) 0 0 0 0
Arts & Dentistry (24) 79 92 6 3

 

New Courses

The College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences introduced the courses listed below during AY 2012/2013. (Courses designated with the letter E were offered through BU Study Abroad and affiliated programs.)

Humanities

African Languages
CAS LA 411 Hausa 7
CAS LA 412 Hausa 8
CAS LD 219 Igbo 3
CAS LD 220 Igbo 4
Chinese
CAS LC 316 Topics in Classical Chinese (in English or Chinese)
Classical Studies
CAS CL 306 Entheogens, Myth, and Human Consciousness
English
GRS EN 794 Professional Seminar
French
CAS LF 369 E Topics in Francophone Literature and Film
Hebrew
CAS LH 340 Israeli Culture through Media
Hindi
CAS LN 225 Tradition and Modernity in Indian Film and Literature (in English translation)
History of Art & Architecture
CAS AH 503 Art Historical Methods
CAS AH 587 Green Design
Italian
CAS LI 354 E Contemporary Italian Literature [in Padua]
CAS LI 355 E Italian Migrant Literature [in Padua]
Japanese
CAS LI 485 Intensive Kanji 2
Korean
CAS LK 470 Topics in Korean Literature and Culture
Linguistics
CAS LX 320 Language, Race, and Gender
CAS LX 420 Spanish in the United States (also LS 420)
CAS LX 507 The Sounds of Spanish (also LS 507)
CAS LX 508 The Structure of Spanish (also LS 508)
CAS LX 406 The Linguistics of Contemporary English
Persian
CAS LZ 311 Advanced Persian 1
Philosophy
CAS PH 439 Philosophy of Emotion (also GRS PH 639)
Religion
CAS RN 208 Sacred and Secular Power in Christianity and Islam
CAS RN 209 Religion, Health, and Medicine
CAS RN 327 E Jews and Christians in Italy: A Historical Perspective [in Padua]
CAS RN 368 American Evangelicalism (also GRS RN 668)
CAS RN 390 Archaeology in the Holy Land (also GRS RN 690 and AR 342/742)
Spanish
CAS LS 306 Translation
CAS LS 307 Literature and the Arts
CAS LS 308 Spanish Film and Media
CAS LS 310 Spanish for the Professions

Natural & Computational Sciences

Anthropology
CAS AN 556 The Evolution of the Human Diet
Astronomy
CAS AS 107 Life Beyond Earth
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
CAS BB 497/498 Honors Research in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Seminar
Biology
CAS BI 403 Cell Physiology and Structure
CAS BI 497/498 Honors in Biology Seminar
CAS BI 560 Systems Biology
CAS BI 697 A Bridge to Knowledge: A Practical Seminar for First-Year Graduate
Students in Biology (also GRS MB 697)
Chemistry
CAS CH 303 Instrumental Analysis Laboratory
Earth & Environment
CAS GE 475 Urban Ecology (also GRS GE 675)
CAS GE 585 Ecological Forecasting and Informatics
GRS ES 772 Trace Element Geochemistry
Marine Science
CAS MR 533 Scientific Diving and Underwater Research Methods
Mathematics
CAS MA 267 S The Mathematics of Sustainability
Neuroscience
CAS NE 444 Neuroethology
Physics
GRS PY 745 Experimental Surface Physics and Chemistry
Psychology
GRS PS 843 Life Span Development

Social Sciences

Anthropology
CAS AN 532 Literacy and Islam in Africa
CAS AN 549 Savagery–Fact, Fiction, and Factual Fiction
Archaeology
CAS AR 200 Heritage Matters: Introduction to Heritage Management
CAS AR 201 Americas Before Columbus
CAS AR 507 Lay of the Land: Surface and Subsurface Mapping in Archaeology
CAS AR 510 Proposal Writing for Social Science Research (also AN 510)
Earth & Environment
CAS GE 330 E Sustainable Sydney–Sustainable Australia [in Sydney]
CAS GE 560 Energy Transitions
Economics
CAS EC 203 Empirical Economics 1
CAS EC 204 Empirical Economics 2
CAS EC 372 E The Irish Economy [in Dublin]
CAS EC 733 Empirical Industrial Organization
History
CAS HI 213 Sacred and Secular Power in Christianity and Islam
CAS HI 214 History of Piracy
CAS HI 282 The Modern American Consumer
CAS HI 294 American Evangelicalism
CAS HI 303 Sex, Love, Family: Relationships in Recent American History and Pop Culture
CAS HI 312 Modernism and Modernity: History and Literature of the United States Between the World Wars
CAS HI 346 History of International Human Rights (also IR 348 and GRS HI 746)
CAS HI 377 The Sword, the Cross, and the Crescent: Byzantium and the Near East (also GRS HI 777)
International Relations
CAS IR 415 E The European Union in the 21st Century: Challenges and Prospects (also GRS IR 709 E) [in Brussels]
CAS IR 505 Arms Control and Proliferation of Weapons
Marine Science
CAS MR 510 Marine Science Policy, Resource Management, and Public Debate
Political Science
CAS PO 204 E Zanzibar: Religion, Politics, and Identity in East Africa [in Zanzibar]
CAS PO 313 The Politics and Policy of HBO’s The Wire
CAS PO 331 The Policymaking Process
CAS PO 356 Nuclear Security (also IR 356)
CAS PO 357 Causes of War and Peace (also IR 347)
CAS PO 516 Gender and Politics
CAS PO 542 Immigration: Politics and Policy
CAS PO 557 The Political Economy of National Security (also GRS IR 610)
CAS PO 558 War and Society in the Modern Age
Psychology
CAS PS 550 Childhood Adversity: Risk and Resilience
CAS PS 561 The Psychology of Poverty, Wealth, and Economic Inequality
Sociology
CAS SO 243 Immigrant Communities
CAS SO 340 E Historical and Social Dynamics of Migration
CAS SO 439 Seminar: State Building and Failure in the Developing World (also PO 425 and GRS SO 839)
CAS SO 452 Contemporary Debates in Sexualities Research (also GRS SO 852)
Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies
CAS WS 241 Sociology of Gender (also SO 241)
Interdisciplinary
CAS AA 306 E Experiencing Cuba: History, Culture, and Politics (also HI 395 E and IR 246 E) [in Havana]
CAS ME 101 Issues in Middle East Studies
GRS WS 801 Theories and Methods in Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies

 

 

Strengthening the Graduate Education

GRS Registered MA/MFA/MS Students (by Department)

The following table lists fall 2012 admissions statistics for MA/MFA/MS programs. The three most popular master’s degree programs (by applications) were economics (652), international relations (458), and creative writing (347).

Program Applications % International Admits Admit % Accept
African American Studies 9 22% 8 89% 5
Applied Linguistics 61 33% 11 18% 5
Bioinformatics (MS) 36 61% 19 53% 7
Biostatistics 49 55% 32 65% 8
Computer Science (MS) 179 91% 29 16% 3
Creative Writing (MFA) 347 9% 23 7% 19
Economics programs 652 82% 550 84% 140
Editorial Studies 7 14% 3 43% 3
English 80 10% 46 58% 10
Energy, Environment, and Geography Programs 115 52% 57 50% 12
History of Art & Architecture 127 13% 38 30% 7
International Relations programs 458 37% 289 63% 37
Mathematics 167 89% 13 8% 4
Philosophy 20 15% 14 70% 3
Psychology 274 24% 93 20% 29
Romance Studies 22 14% 9 41% 4
Total (all programs) 2,923 46% 1,303 45% 305

GRS Registered PhD Students (by Department)

The three most popular PhD programs (by applications) in fall 2012 were psychology (953), economics (646), and physics (301).

Program Applications % International Admits Admit % Accept
Astronomy 95 35% 16 17% 5
Bioinformatics 102 43% 29 28% 11
Biology 267 30% 31 12% 14
Biostatistics 155 63% 17 11% 5
Chemistry 277 48% 61 22% 23
Classical Studies 21 5% 15 71% 2
Computer Science 219 86% 27 12% 11
Earth Sciences 45 29% 9 20% 3
Economics 646 70% 167 26% 27
Editorial Studies 3 33% 2 67% 2
English 242 8% 12 5% 6
Geography & Environment 71 68% 4 6% 2
History 159 10% 11 7% 2
History of Art & Architecture 91 13% 20 22% 8
Mathematics 301 43% 25 8% 7
Musicology 26 4% 6 23% 2
Philosophy 214 28% 16 7% 7
Physics 307 46% 69 22% 19
Political Science 115 48% 27 23% 4
Psychology 953 10% 24 3% 15
Religious & Theological Studies 95 13% 15 16% 8
Romance Studies 32 31% 20 63% 4
Sociology 118 39% 17 14% 3
Sociology & Social Work 32 50% 5 16% 4
Total (all programs) 4,955 37% 689 14% 208

 

Strengthening the Quality of the Faculty

New CAS Faculty, AY 2012/2013

Each year, the College of Arts & Sciences recruits leading scholars and researchers from around the world to grow the ranks of its faculty. Listed below, by department, are faculty members, including researchers, lecturers, instructors, and visiting professors, who will be new on campus for the 2013/2014 academic year.

Archaeology

  • Catherine West, PhD (University of Washington), research assistant professor

Astronomy

  • Catherine Espaillat, assistant professor of astronomy Catherine Espaillat is an expert in observational astronomy over a wide range of the electromagnetic spectrum, including radio, optical, and near-infrared observations. Her research focuses on understanding planet formation around young stars, particularly by characterizing the footprints that baby planets leave behind as they form. She has a BA in astronomy from Columbia University and a PhD in astronomy & astrophysics from the University of Michigan.

Biology

  • Nathan Stewart, PhD (University of Alaska, Fairbanks), lecturer
  • Kathryn Spilios, PhD (Cornell University), lecturer

Chemistry

  • Ksenia Bravaya, assistant professor of chemistry Ksenia Bravaya has already established a reputation as a leader in the area of quantum mechanical calculation of complex materials. She is a coauthor on 19 peer-reviewed publications and has been a contributor or principal presenter on more than 30 conference presentations or departmental colloquia. Her primary research interests focus on quantum chemistry problems in biology and materials science, ranging from understanding how birds orient with respect to the weak magnetic field of the earth, to helping design new molecular electronics materials with a special emphasis on magnetic effects. She also is interested in continuing her efforts in computational methodology development. Bravaya holds BS and MS degrees in chemistry and a PhD in theoretical and computational quantum chemistry from Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia.
  • Daniele Ramella, PhD (Boston University), instructor
  • Jennifer Steele, instructor

Classical Studies

  • Alexander Nikolaev, assistant professor of classical studies Alexander Nikolaev is both a classicist and a linguist whose research has centered on where language and literature meet. As a historian of literature, he works on archaic Greek poetry (Homer, Hesiod, Archilochus, Sappho), focusing on the origins of different traditions of poetry and the specific poetic languages they employ. As a linguist, he is primarily interested in Greek historical linguistics and etymology; he is currently working on a lexicon to early Greek poetry in which the standard philological methods are augmented by etymology. Nikolaev also has done work on the reconstruction of Proto-Indo-European languages and on the history of other Indo-European languages and language families, including Hittite, Sanskrit, Old Persian and Avestan, Old Irish, Tocharian, and Balto-Slavic. He has published a book and more than two dozen peer-reviewed articles. He earned his PhD at Harvard University in 2012 with the dissertation “Historical Poetics and Language History: Studies in Archaic Greek Poetry.”

Computer Science

  • Andrei Lapets, PhD (Boston University), lecturer

Core

  • Catherine Klancer, PhD (Boston University), lecturer
  • Gabrielle Sims, PhD (New York University), lecturer
  • Robin Stevens, lecturer

Earth & Environment

  • Anthony Janetos, professor of earth & environment and director of the Frederick S. Pardee Center Anthony Janetos joined BU in May 2013 as director of the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future and professor of earth & environment. Before coming to BU, Janetos was director of the Joint Global Change Research Institute at the University of Maryland, where he managed an interdisciplinary team of natural scientists, engineers, and social scientists committed to understanding the problems of global climate change and their potential solutions. Janetos has written and lectured widely on the need to understand the scientific, environmental, economic, and policy linkages among the major global environmental issues. He has testified before Congress on a range of environmental issues and has published extensively in both natural science and social science venues. Janetos received an AB degree in biology from Harvard University and MS and PhD degrees in biology from Princeton University.

Economics

  • Samuel Bazzi, assistant professor of economics Samuel Bazzi is an empirical development economist with secondary interests in international trade, labor economics, and applied econometrics. His dissertation contains an empirical analysis of the effect of financial constraints on labor migration flows in a developing country. Bazzi received his BA in economics and international relations from the University of Southern California in 2005 and his PhD in economics from University of California, San Diego, in June 2013. Bazzi’s paper in Economic Journal received the Royal Economic Society Prize for the best non-solicited paper published in the journal in 2012.

English

  • Minou Arjomand, assistant professor of English Minou Arjomand has published articles in Theatre Survey and Perspectives on Europe and is a contributing author and translator for The Routledge Introduction to Theatre and Performance Studies. She is cofounder of Morningside Opera, an artists’ collective, and has extensive credits as dramaturge and director for opera performances. Arjomand is currently writing Theatre on Trial: Staging Justice in the United States and Germany, a book about how post-World War II trials inspired and shaped modern drama. Arjomand has a BA magna cum laude in German & comparative literature and a PhD in English & comparative literature, both from Columbia University.

History of Art & Architecture

  • Ana Maria Reyes, assistant professor of art history Ana Maria Reyes is a seasoned educator with a decade of experience teaching courses on Latin American art at Northwestern University. Her dissertation was recently accepted by Los Andes University Press in Bogotá for publication in Spanish. She also has published several essays and conference papers and has contributed to an interdisciplinary, coedited volume, Simón Bolívar: National Myth and Cultural Sign, which is under advance contract with the University Press of Florida. Reyes earned her BA degree in psychology from Boston College, with minors in art history and studio art, and her MA and PhD, both in art history, from the University of Chicago.

International Relations

  • Robert G. Loftis, professor of the practice of international relations Robert G. Loftis is a retired Foreign Service officer who served in Africa, Latin America, Europe, and Oceania. Over the course of his 32-year career, his work involved political military affairs, the United Nations, human rights and democracy promotion, international health, flood and other emergency relief, and conflict resolution and stabilization efforts. His last overseas posting was as ambassador to the Kingdom of Lesotho. Other recent assignments included senior advisor for security negotiations and agreements (where he negotiated the Status of Forces Agreement with Iraq), senior advisor for avian and pandemic influenza, deputy commandant of the Industrial College of the Armed Forces (National Defense University), and acting coordinator for reconstruction and stabilization. Loftis has a BA in political science from Colorado State University.
  • Jeremy Menchik, assistant professor of international relations Jeremy Menchik is a specialist on comparative politics, religion, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and qualitative and multi-method research. His doctoral dissertation, Tolerance Without Liberalism: Islamic Institutions and Political Violence in Indonesia, recently received honorable mention from the Religion and Politics section of the American Political Science Association. Based on two years of field research in Indonesia, his dissertation examined the meaning and practices of tolerance in the world’s largest Muslim organizations. He is currently preparing his dissertation for publication as a book and developing related projects on the origins of intolerance, the relationship between religion and nationalism, and the deployment of identity symbols in democratic elections. Prior to arriving at BU, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University’s Asia-Pacific Research Center, a research associate at the American University of Beirut, and a fellow at Columbia University’s Center for the Study of Democracy, Toleration, and Religion. Menchik earned a BA in political science at the University of Michigan and a PhD in political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Mathematics & Statistics

  • John Bergdall, PhD (Brandeis University), instructor

Modern Languages & Comparative Literature

  • Yuri Corrigan, assistant professor of Russian & comparative literature Yuri Corrigan studies the intersections between literature, philosophy, and psychology in nineteenth century Russian and European culture, with particular focus on issues of personality and identity. His current book project, Imprisoned in the Other: Dostoevsky and the Riddle of the Self, examines the evolution of Dostoevsky’s conception of personality in the context of Russian and European cultural and intellectual history. More generally, Corrigan’s area of interest is the culture war that galvanized Russian society from the 1830s until the Bolshevik revolution, with particular attention to those authors who found themselves in mediational roles (Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Solovyov, and Chekhov, among others). Before coming to Boston, Corrigan was assistant professor and head of Russian studies at the College of Wooster; before that, he was a visiting lecturer at Wellesley College. He holds MA and PhD degrees in Russian literature from Princeton University.
  • Yiyun Ling, MA (Carnegie Mellon University), lecturer
  • Olga Livshin, PhD (Northwestern University), lecturer
  • Roberta Micallef, associate professor of the practice of comparative literature Roberta Micallef is the coeditor of On the Wonders of Land and Sea: Persianate Travel Writing, an anthology of nineteenth and twentieth century writing by Muslim travelers to and from the Persianate world, and has published numerous articles in Turkish studies and gender studies. She is finishing a book-length study of Muslim women’s autobiographies. An international leader in Turkish language education, Micallef serves as executive secretary of the American Association of Teachers of Turkic Languages and was a founder of the West Asia discussion group at the Modern Language Association. Micallef received her PhD in comparative literature from the University of Texas in Austin. She previously taught Turkish language and culture and women’s studies courses at Uppsala University and the University of Utah.
  • Amber Navarre, PhD (Pennsylvania State University), lecturer

Neuroscience

  • Lucia Pastorino, PhD (University of Milan), lecturer

Philosophy

  • John Grey, PhD (Boston University), lecturer
  • Alessandra Fussi, PhD (Pennsylvania State University), visiting professor
  • Irina Meketa, PhD (Boston University), lecturer

Physics

  • Kirill Korolev, assistant professor of physics and bioinformatics Kirill Korolev is a biophysicist who is interested in quantitative descriptions of biological evolution and their applications to important biomedical questions, such as the evolution of antibiotic resistance and the development of cancer tumors. He has made numerous presentations at scientific meetings and has already published thirteen papers in major refereed journals, including Nature, Science, PNAS, Physical Review Letters, and Reviews of Modern Physics. Before coming to Boston University, Korolev held a prestigious Pappalardo Fellowship at MIT. He has a BS in applied physics and applied mathematics from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and a PhD in theoretical condensed matter physics from Harvard University.

Political Science

  • Rosella Cappella, assistant professor of political science Rosella Cappella joins BU after earning a PhD at the University of Pennsylvania and spending a year on a postdoctoral fellowship at Dartmouth College. Cappella’s research addresses a central but under-studied question in international relations: how do states find the money to wage war? What mixture of borrowing, taxation, and printing of money do states use, and what are the economic and political consequences of these choices? Cappella’s thesis, The Political Economy of War Finance, will soon be published as a book. She will teach a range of courses in international relations theory and foreign policy.
  • Katherine Krimmel, assistant professor of political science Katherine Krimmel has a PhD from Columbia University and will teach in the public policy field. Krimmel uses a historical approach to explore how parties forge alliances with powerful interests in policymaking and also seeks to explain why in the United States (unlike, for example, Canada), states that receive disproportionate federal funds are often the most opposed to federal spending.

Psychology

  • Sam Ling, assistant professor of psychology Already considered a leader in the fields of vision science and cognitive neuroscience, Sam Ling investigates vision from neural, perceptual, and attentional perspectives using psychophysics, imaging, and computational modeling. Ling has published numerous influential studies in leading refereed journals on a range of questions, including how attention alters the visual appearance of items, how emotion affects early vision and potentiates the effects of attention on early vision, and how neural changes brought about by sustained attention lead to impairments in contrast sensitivity over time. Ling’s publications have appeared in such journals as Current Biology, Psychological Science, and Nature Neuroscience. He has a BS in psychology from Penn State and a PhD in psychology from New York University.
  • Yvonne Wakeford, PhD (Tufts University), lecturer

Romance Studies

  • Maria Datel, MA (Universidad de Buenos Aires), lecturer
  • Katherine Lakin-Schultz, MA (University of Virginia), lecturer
  • Rodrigo Lopes de Barros, assistant professor of romance studies Rodrigo Lopes de Barros’s research investigates questions of race and the role of Afro-Cubans and Afro-Brazilians in shaping the national imageries of their countries. He is interested in the relationship of literature to the other arts, the history of concepts such as race and ethnicity in Brazil and other Latin American countries, and the close connections between Brazil and Cuba. In addition, Lopes de Barros writes fiction, has directed an experimental film, and has translated into Portuguese articles by some of the foremost literary critics of our day. Lopes de Barros has a BA in law and an MA in literary theory, both from the Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil.
  • Mary Beth Raycraft, PhD (New York University), lecturer
  • Jennifer Row, assistant professor of romance studies Jennifer Row brings to BU a combination of skills rare for a young scholar in the field of romance studies—she has expertise in seventeenth century France and the ability to teach French authors in relation to British ones. Her dissertation, on concepts of time in seventeenth century French theater, and her special training (Ecole Normale Supérieure and Cornell’s School for Criticism and Theory) have given her a rich background in contemporary literary theory. She anticipates participating in the Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies program at Boston University. She is an experienced writing teacher and was assistant director of Cornell’s Knight Writing Program. Row has PhD from Cornell University in comparative literature.

Sociology

  • Sanghera Balihar, PhD (University of Lancaster), visiting associate professor
  • Joseph Harris, assistant professor of sociology Joseph Harris is an expert on the comparative political analysis of health care and health policy. He has consulted widely for international development organizations, including the World Bank and the UNDP. His dissertation explored the role of professional networks, medical expertise, and AIDS activism in the development of universal health care in Thailand, Brazil, and South Africa. His publications include an article that won the 2012 Best Graduate Student Paper Award from the Association of Asian Studies. Published in the Journal of Contemporary Asia, the paper is titled “Who Governs? Autonomous Political Networks as a Challenge to Power in Thailand.” Harris earned his undergraduate degree from Tulane University, his master’s at the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University, and his PhD in sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
  • Michaela Pfadenhauer, PhD (TU Dortmund University), visiting professor
  • Itai Vardi, PhD (Boston University), lecturer

Writing Program

  • Kevin Barents, MFA (University of Florida), lecturer
  • Somy Kim, PhD (University of Texas at Austin), lecturer
  • Holly Schaaf, PhD (Boston University), lecturer

 

Faculty Tenure and Promotion, AY 2012/2013

Tenure

Boston University granted tenure and promotion to the rank of associate professor to the following CAS faculty members.

  • Elizabeth Blanton, astronomy A cosmologist with a special interest in the evolution of galaxies, Blanton studies the X-ray emissions from the superheated plasma known as the intracluster medium, at the heart of a cluster of galaxies. NASA is a major source of funds for her X-ray telescope observations of galaxy clusters. In addition to teaching astronomy at all levels at BU, she is active in public science outreach through the Boston Museum of Science, serving as an advisor on the science of black holes.
  • Brooke Blower, history Author of the award-winning Becoming Americans in Paris: Transatlantic Politics and Culture between the World Wars (2011), Blower studies the cultural history of the twentieth century United States, with an emphasis on transnational contexts, actors, and approaches to US history. She has a book forthcoming that traces Americans’ engagement with international politics from 1900 to 1950.
  • Arianne Chernock, history Chernock’s research focuses on modern British and European history, with an emphasis on gender, culture, and politics. Her first book, Men and the Making of Modern British Feminism (Stanford University Press, 2010), called fresh attention to the forgotten but foundational contributions of men to the creation of the rights of women in late-eighteenth-century Britain.
  • Irit Ruth Kleiman, French Specializing in literature of the late Middle Ages and the birth of autobiography in France, Kleiman is the author of the award-winning book Philippe de Commynes: Memory, Betrayal, Text, recently published by the University of Toronto Press.
  • Cheryl Knott, anthropology Knott is a world expert on orangutan behavior and biology. She established the Gunung Palung Orangutan Project research station in Indonesia in 1994 and received the 2011 Templeton Prize for Excellence in Student Advising for her work with undergraduates. She already held the rank of associate professor and has been granted tenure.
  • Sigrun Olafsdottir, sociology A core member of the Global Stigma Study team, Olafsdottir is concerned with medical sociology and the sociology of mental health, concentrating on how institutional arrangements, including cultural and political factors, can affect individual patient outcomes. She has written widely on the subject of mental health and health disparities.
  • Merav Opher, astronomy Opher, an NSF CAREER award recipient, studies how plasma and magnetic effects reveal themselves in astrophysical and space physics environments, in particular how stars interact with the surrounding media and how the solar system interacts with the local interstellar medium.
  • Zhongjun Qu (GRS’03,’05), economics A researcher of the science of econometrics, tracking patterns and correlations among a range of economic information over time, Qu has published numerous scholarly articles and papers on topics from structural changes in equations to inference and identification in macroeconomic models.
  • Corey J. Stephenson, chemistry Stephenson is considered a pioneer in the field of photocatalysis. He specializes in synthetic organic chemistry, focusing on the use of simple, environmentally friendly light sources to initiate chemical reactions, and is a recipient of an NSF CAREER Award, a Sloan Research Fellowship, and a Novartis Early Career Award in Organic Chemistry.
  • J. Keith Vincent, Japanese & comparative literature Striving to start a dialogue between Japanese queer scholarship and US queer theory, Vincent is an expert on East Asian languages and cultures and a leading scholar on Japanese culture’s shifting views of sexuality throughout history. His English translations of major Japanese works have won him two top awards, including a 2011 Japan/United States Friendship Commission Prize for the Translation of Japanese Literature.

Promotion to Professor

This year, University Provost Jean Morrison announced the promotion of the following twelve CAS faculty members to the rank of professor.

  • Robert Carey, physics
  • Jodi Cranston, history of art & architecture
  • James Johnson, history
  • Jonathan Klawans, religion
  • Kimberly McCall, biology
  • Meers Oppenheim, astronomy
  • M. Daniele Paserman, economics
  • Anita Patterson, English
  • Nathan Phillips, earth & environment
  • Kimberly Saudino, psychology
  • David Somers, psychology
  • Jenny White, anthropology

Retirements (Emeritus)

At the end of the year, thirteen CAS faculty members retired from active service with the College and were named professors emeritus. The emeritus title is bestowed by the University on candidates recommended by a vote of the faculty and is a demonstration of respect for colleagues who exemplify the highest values of the academic profession.

  • Ian Callard, professor of biology, emeritus
  • Clemency Coggins, professor of archaeology, emerita
  • Peter Doeringer, professor of economics, emeritus
  • Anna Geifman, professor of history, emerita
  • Irene Gendzier, professor of political science, emerita
  • Thomas Glick, professor of history, emeritus
  • Stjepko Golubic, professor of biology, emeritus
  • Elizabeth Godrick, professor of biology, Emerita
  • Elizabeth Goldsmith, professor of romance studies, emerita
  • Thomas Kunz, professor of biology, emeritus
  • H. Joachim Maître, professor of international relations, emeritus
  • Gail Patt, associate professor of biology, emerita
  • Sidney Tamm, professor of biology, emeritus

Managing Our Financial Resources

CAS/GRS Budget

The College achieved a balanced, unrestricted expense budget of $106,951,372 at the close of the 2012/2013 fiscal year, compared with $103,158,556 the previous year.

This budget covered faculty salaries ($72,787,317), staff salaries ($13,977,480), student salaries ($11,732,562 for fellowships, internships, etc.), and operating expenses ($8,454,013).

The balance of the budget ($2,279,574) came in the form of indirect cost recovery from the University, of which $1,879,799 was returned directly to departments, and $399,775 was disbursed by the College to underwrite cost-share commitments, laboratory renovations, and shared core-facility equipment to support the research mission.

Our Impact, Your Impact: The Campaign for CAS

The Campaign for CAS: 2013 Status Report

Thanks to the generosity of our many alumni and friends, the Campaign for CAS is off to a great start. As of the end of June, we’re already ahead of our target for the year, but much work remains for us to reach our final goal of $100 million for the College.

FY13 Goal vs. FY13 Total YTD
FY13 Goal $9,000,000
FY13 Total YTD $10,864,177
CAS Campaign Status
Campaign Goal $100,000,000
Campaign total as of June 30, 2013 $46,049,367
Percentage toward campaign goal 46%
Campaign Goals for FY 2013/2014
Secure $15,000,000 in cash and pledges in order to move past $60,000,000 in campaign commitments.
Cash Goal $11,000,000
Pledge Goal $4,000,000
Annual Fund Goal $800,000 (7% increase over FY 2012/2013)

Annual Report 2012/2013

  • From the DeanFrom the Dean
    From recruiting ever-better faculty and students to engaging in path-breaking research, academic year 2012/2013 was a year of great accomplishments.
  • New Structures for Organizing Discovery and EducationRecruiting Excellent Undergraduates
    CAS again attracted excellent students who bring with them a wealth of interesting experiences and who are eager to pursue their education in a large and exciting university in one of the major cities of the world.
  • Strengthening the Quality of the FacultyStrengthening Graduate Education
    BU and the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences laid the groundwork for a tremendous strengthening of the quality of doctoral programs by developing a new budget model.
  • Strengthening the Quality of Undergraduate EducationStrengthening the Quality of the Faculty
    In 2012/2013, CAS recruited an exemplary cohort of 16 new assistant professors in fields across the humanities and social and natural sciences.
  • Strengthening the Quality of Graduate EducationEnhancing the Research Mission
    This year, Boston University was welcomed into the Association of American Universities (AAU), an organization of leading North American research universities—an accomplishment to which CAS, with its portfolio of research in the natural and social sciences and the humanities, was a key contributor.
  • Strengthening Our Research and ScholarshipStrengthening Connections to the Community and the World
    The College’s commitment to make the world a better—and better-understood—place contributes to BU’s growing reputation as a leading, global university.
  • Finances and DevelopmentManaging Our Financial Resources
    Despite the challenges facing all of higher education in recent years, careful fiscal management has allowed the College to again make progress toward achieving its long-term goals.
  • The Class of 2012Nurturing Connections with Alumni and Friends
    The College continues to develop new opportunities for continuing education, networking, and socializing to help alumni and friends stay connected.
  • AppendixA Community in Mourning
    The BU community and CAS came together in many ways in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings.
  • AppendixOur Impact, Your Impact: The Campaign for CAS
    In 2012/2013, BU entered the public phase of its first capital campaign, inspiring many alumni, parents and other friends of CAS to step up support for our annual fund and critical projects.
  • AppendixAppendix