Category: Firsts
Questrom School of Business Appoints New Dean
Susan Fournier, a marketing and management professor at BU for 13 years and leading international expert on brand marketing, becomes the next dean of the Questrom School of Business. Dean Fournier is the first woman to lead the school. As dean, she says, she will work to increase interdisciplinary programming, ensure Questrom’s financial security, and offer coursework aligned with both students’ and employers’ needs.
NEIDL Receives First BSL-4 Pathogens
Boston University’s National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL) has begun work with its first Level-4 pathogens, the Ebola and Marburg viruses. Ebola has become a global public health threat, infecting and killing thousands during the 2014 outbreak. There is no available FDA-approved vaccine or therapy for Ebola, or the related Marburg virus. NEIDL researchers are excited to begin work with these pathogens, which could speed the development of remedies.
BU Hub Starts in Fall 2018
Boston University’s incoming freshman class in 2018 will be the first class to register for the new BU Hub. This new University-wide general education program “ensures that all undergraduates, no matter their major, develop intellectual capacities that will teach them to thrive throughout their lives,” says Hub managing director Amanda Urias.
BU-Wheelock Merge to Create New College
BU and Wheelock College join to become the Wheelock College of Education & Human Development. BU’s newest college combines the doctoral programs and research capabilities of BU’s School of Education with the early childhood expertise of Wheelock’s School of Education, Child Life and Family Studies.
BU Opens New Global Development Policy Center
Former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon speaks at the opening of BU’s new Global Development Policy Center, housed at the Pardee School of Global Studies. The center’s mission is “to advance policy-oriented research on financial stability, human well-being, and environmental sustainability across the globe,” says center director Kevin P. Gallagher, a Pardee School professor of global development policy.
NEIDL BSL-4 Lab Gets Green Light
The University receives final approval from the Boston Public Health Commission to conduct research at Biosafety Level 4 at BU’s National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories. This authorization paves the way for BU researchers to study Ebola, Marburg, and other BSL-4 pathogens at the Medical Campus facility.
BU Announces First Associate Provost for Diversity & Inclusion
BU names award-winning poet Crystal Ann Williams to the newly created position of associate provost for diversity & inclusion. Charged with promoting diversity among the University’s ranks, Williams’ goals include helping Provost Jean Morrison develop practices and programs to further diversify BU’s faculty.
STH Appoints New, First Female Dean
Mary Elizabeth Moore is appointed the first female dean of BU’s oldest school, the School of Theology. Moore’s research focuses on eco-feminist theology and spirituality, sacramental teaching, and reconciliation theory and practice, and she is an ordained deacon in the United Methodist Church.
First Cancer Research and Teaching Lab Created
Boston University is the first university to combine a cancer research and teaching laboratory.
First Black Dean Named
Howard Thurman is named Dean of Marsh Chapel, becoming the first black dean in a predominantly white University.
