Category: Campus
BU Excels in Latest Grad Rankings from U.S. News & World Report
Several BU schools and programs advanced in the latest U.S. News & World Report rankings of the country’s best graduate schools. The School of Law jumped 3 spots to number 20 among 198 law schools. Sargent College of Health & Rehabilitation’s Occupational Therapy program retained its first-place ranking. Sargent’s Speech-Language Pathology program jumped 2 spaces, to number 10. Questrom School of Business full-time MBA program rose 2 spaces to 48th, among 477 business schools ranked.
BU to Set Up COVID-19 Testing for Students, Faculty, and Staff
Boston University announced plans to set up its own COVID-19 testing program this fall for faculty, staff, and students—a critical step toward repopulating its residential campus. Samples will be tested for the coronavirus at a lab inside the Rajen Kilachand Center for Integrated Life Sciences & Engineering. Specialized robots will help speed the process, and results will be delivered electronically.
President Brown Outlines BU’s Path Forward
A system for rapid testing and contact tracing. Technology for remote and in-person teaching and learning. New and better hygiene and public health practices on campus. Keeping our campus community together while we’re apart. Our whole effort, President Brown says, is focused on restoring the residential campus for teaching and research. “We will bring back the residential environment of BU and it will be as strong as ever.”
BU Students Go Remote, Online Teaching and Learning Extend through Spring
March 16 marks the beginning of something no other students have experienced in the 181-year history of the University: a mostly empty campus, with teaching and learning being done remotely from offices, living rooms, kitchens, and bedrooms around the world because of the fast-spreading coronavirus. Boston University will extend remote teaching and learning through the spring semester for its 35,000 students and 4,000 faculty.
Expanded Thurman Center Gets a New Look on Campus
The relocated and expanded Howard Thurman Center for Common Ground (HTC) opens at 808 Commonwealth Ave., the latest addition to a culture and arts city block that includes CitySpace, the Joan & Edgar Booth Theatre, and CFA’s Production Center. With windows looking out on Comm Ave and the BU Bridge, HTC’s increased visibility - both literal and figurative – is wholly intentional, redoubling the University’s commitment to frank discussion and the cross-pollination of ideas. Balancing public spaces like a performance venue and open floor plans with private spaces like a tech-free meditation room, the new, larger HTC comforts and invigorates students in ways impossible in its former space.
BU’s Center for Computing & Data Sciences Breaks New Ground by Design
The energy-efficient Center for Computing & Data Sciences taps a geothermal well underground as a natural energy source. With state-of-the-art insulation and natural light, the 345,000-square-foot building will be warm in winter and cool in summer, all without using fossil fuels. It has also been designed to be resilient to coastal flooding.
Board of Trustees Green-Lights University’s Investments in Data Sciences
The board approved construction of the 19-story Center for Computing & Data Sciences, which will be the tallest building on campus and will bring the Hariri Institute for Computing and the mathematics and statistics and computer science departments under one roof. The trustees also approved formation of the Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences, which will serve as an interface between the traditional academic departments and faculty and students interested in computing and data sciences.
Comprehensive Campaign Final Tally: $1.85 Billion
Far surpassing its original goal of $1 billion, the campaign drew to a close in September, demonstrating the tremendous generosity and collective will of the BU community. More than 175,000 people donated to the campaign, which was launched to support financial aid, faculty and research, and facility improvements.
BU Establishes New Data Sciences Faculty Unit
The new Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences will bolster University efforts to hire and retain faculty across all disciplines that intersect with computing and data sciences. Another aim of the new unit is to facilitate educational and research programs that attract ambitious and accomplished undergraduate and graduate students and prepare them for careers of the future.
A New Venue in a New Hotbed for Culture
WBUR, Boston’s National Public Radio station, housed at Boston University, opens a new cultural events space. In an area that is fast becoming a hotbed for the arts, CitySpace—on Comm Ave near the College of Fine Arts and new Joan & Edgar Booth Theatre—will produce up to 200 programs a year, including debates, interviews, readings, theatrical performances, and family programming, with all events streamed live and archived for on-demand access.
