Gregory Wellenius Receives Beverly A. Brown Professorship
Gregory Wellenius has been named the Beverly A. Brown Professor for the Improvement of Urban Health. Endowed in 2012 through a $4 million donation from Boston University trustee emeritus Richard Shipley (SMG’68, GSM’72), the professorship honors and supports the work of a highly distinguished professor whose research, teaching, and service advance the condition of the more than half the world’s population who live in urban areas. The professorship is named for Beverly A. Brown, the long-time development director of the former Center for Global Health and Development and the wife of BU president emeritus Robert A. Brown.
Celebrating 2025 APSIA Awards
The APSIA Awards is an annual recognition program that celebrates the hard work and innovation in the APSIA community. Since 2021, nominations come from the institutions themselves, as well as the broader community.
Faculty, Staff, and Students to be Recognized with 2025 SPH Awards
Urmi Phanse, Chris Louis, Nicole Huberfeld, Mary Murphy-Phillips, David Jernigan, and Anita DeStefano are among those who will receive awards at convocation. Congratulations to the members of the School of Public Health community who will be honored with awards at the 2025 SPH Convocation!
25 Years of Innovate@BU’s New Venture Competition Showcases Decades of BU Innovation
The Social Impact Track’s second-place winner of $10,000 was Culinary Commons, founded by Andrea Catania (MET’24). Culinary Commons builds public kitchens to foster a sense of community in urban areas like Boston, focusing on food justice and social cohesion.
Prof. Williams Joins BU Initiative on Cities’ 2025 Public Impact Scholars Cohort
Dr. Darien Alexander Williams, assistant professor of macro practice at Boston University School of Social Work (BUSSW), was selected to join 20 other cutting-edge BU researchers as the 2025 cohort of BU Initiative on Cities’ Public Impact Scholars program. Hailing from six colleges and 13 departments across the university, Williams and his cohort will participate in programming that builds the skills and knowledge necessary to translate their research into critical policy work with consequential societal impact.
Loretta Lees to Receive the 2025 Contribution to the Field of Urban Affairs Award
We are pleased to recognize Dr. Loretta Lees with the 2025 Contribution to the Field of Urban Affairs award. Dr. Lees is an urban geographer and urbanist. She is the Director of the Initiative on Cities and a Professor of Sociology at Boston University. Before joining the faculty at Boston University, she was on the faculty at Leicester University and King’s College London in the UK. Dr. Lees is a fellow of Academia Europaea, the UK Higher Education Academy, the Academy of Social Science, and the Royal Society for the Arts. She is internationally known for her research on gentrification, urban regeneration, global urbanism, urban policy, urban public space, architecture, and urban social theory. Her contributions to urban affairs span scholarship, public engagement, and education. She is co-author or co-editor of more than seventeen books. She has also published more than sixty articles and more than forty chapters. Dr. Lees is the co-organizer of the Boston Urban Salon. She previously co-organized The Urban Salon and was Chair of the London Housing Panel. Dr. Lees has mentored over 25 doctoral students and supervised the work of several visiting scholars at universities where she was a faculty member.
Dean’s Faculty Leadership Fellows Begin Work
Two mechanical engineering faculty members are undertaking curriculum projects with the support of the new Dean’s Faculty Leadership Fellows program. Associate Professor Scott Bunch (ME, MSE) is leading a review of the course sequence for graduate student teachers, while Master Lecturer Caleb Farny (ME) is working to tie the engineering curriculum to public infrastructure challenges in the Boston area.
How Do You Run a City of 650,000 Residents? These Terriers Have Some Insights
Each year a few BU students get a chance to find out for themselves when they are selected as BU City Scholars Summer Fellows. This year, 10 students were selected to take part in the program. And they weren’t the only Terriers interning in Government Plaza. An additional three students spent the summer as BU Initiative on Cities Summer Interns and Fellows. We asked this year’s BU City Scholars Summer Fellows to share some reflections of what they learned this summer working at City Hall and how the experience may shape their future career plans.
City Planning & Urban Affairs Director Yeşim Sungu-Eryilmaz Wins Award for Article on State Control of Cannabis Industry
Last September, Dr. Yeşim Sungu-Eryilmaz, the director of BU MET’s City Planning & Urban Affairs programs and an assistant professor in the Department of Applied Social Sciences, published an article entitled, “Understanding Local Control in the Wake of State Adult-Use Cannabis Liberalization: A Content Analysis of State Statutes.” Now, Dr. Sungu-Eryilmaz’s work has come to some acclaim, as it has been named the winner of the 2023 Best Article Award from the organization Public Administration Quarterly (PAQ).
Assoc. Prof. Augsberger Takes on New Role as Associate Dean for Doctoral Education
Associate Professor Astraea Augsberger assumes leadership of the PhD in Social Work program at Boston University School of Social Work’s (BUSSW) this month. The role was previously held by Associate Professor Daniel P. Miller who fostered change and growth in the program since July 2019, including developing and teaching classes while mentoring students.