Category: Campus
New CFA Dean Is Arts Historian and Advocate
BU names Harvey Young as the new dean of the College of Fine Arts. Young, a prominent theater historian and arts advocate and author of the award-winning book Embodying Black Experience, champions transformative experiences of the arts and plans to promote and expand BU’s reputation in the arts.
Jorge Delva Is New Dean of School of Social Work
A prolific author and researcher and a nationally recognized expert on the economically disadvantaged, Jorge Delva joins BU as the new dean of the School of Social Work. His goal is for SSW to become the school of choice for students pursuing a top-notch education in social work research and practice.
New Joan & Edgar Booth Theatre Opens
BU officially opens a new 75,000-square-foot theater complex, which houses the 250-seat Joan & Edgar Booth Theatre and the CFA Production Center. The new building is made possible with a $10 million gift from BU trustee Steve Zide (LAW’86), with the theater named to honor of his wife’s parents, Joan and Edgar Booth.
BU Ranks Sixth Internationally in Employability of Graduates
Times Higher Education says the employability of BU alumni ranks 6th internationally and 5th in the United States, up from 11th internationally and 7th nationally in 2016. In breaking the top 10 globally, the University joins Harvard (2nd), Columbia (3rd), MIT (4th), Stanford (7th), Yale (10th), and the list-topping California Institute of Technology.
University Launches $20 Million Innovate@BU
Funded by a partnership between the University and a group of alumni, BU creates Innovate@BU with support of $20 million for the first 10 years. The University-wide initiative gives all students opportunities to engage in solving real-world problems and hands-on innovation.
$10M Gift Names New CFA Theater
Global financier and BU Trustee Steve Zide (LAW'86) donates $10M to name a new BU theater, which is part of a 75,000-square-foot artistic complex under construction on the Charles River Campus. The gift is a tribute to his theater-loving wife, Janet Zide, and will be named after his in-laws, Joan and Edgar Booth, who brought the joy of stage performance into his family's life.
Trustees Adopt Broad Climate Change Strategy
Expanding the University’s efforts to curb the impact of climate change, locally and globally, the Board of Trustees approves a broad strategy, including the avoidance of investments in companies that extract coal and tar sands oil, the most carbon-intensive fuels. The board also authorized a Climate Action Plan that will map out goals and timetables for greater energy efficiency, green energy use, and climate research and education on campus. President Brown announces he intends to fold these efforts and goals into the University’s Strategic Plan.
BU Sells Kenmore Square Properties
Boston University reaches an agreement to enter into a long-term ground lease for nine Kenmore Square properties with Related Real Estate Fund II. Related Beal, a real estate developer with deep Boston roots, will redevelop the buildings. The deal, expected to close in the fall of 2016, includes the sale of 310,000 square feet of commercial space on the north side of the square.
Thurman Center Turns Up Volume on Cultural, Racial Conversations
After meeting with numerous students, including leaders of groups representing communities of color and LGBTIQ students, President Brown establishes a task force to raise the profile of the Howard Thurman Center for Common Ground and make it even more impactful when it comes to cultural and racial discussions. To kick off the initiative, a series of community listening sessions is launched.
University Commits $50 Million for CFA Renovations
The University is bringing the theater arts program back to Comm Ave after a 33-year residence at the Boston University Theatre on Huntington Avenue. To that end, a new studio theater and a production facility will be built on the 808 block and a makeover of 855 will replace its forbidding street-level concrete façade with arched windows.
