Category: Leaders
Wheelock’s Melissa Holt to Lead Kilachand Honors College
Melissa Holt is associate professor of counseling psychology and associate dean for faculty affairs at Wheelock College of Education & Human Development. Her three-year term as Kilachand’s leader begins July 1, 2023. Holt, Kilachand’s third director, succeeds two-term director Carrie Preston, professor of English and women’s, gender, & sexuality studies at the College of Arts & Sciences and a professor at Kilachand.
Two BU Named Professorships, Last Awarded Decades Ago, Have New Appointees
The Metcalf Chair, recognizing an internationally known scholar in mathematics, science, or engineering, has been awarded to David Boas, a College of Engineering professor of biomedical, electrical, and computer engineering, and director of the Neurophotonics Center. Ran Canetti, a College of Arts & Sciences professor of computer science and director of the Center for Reliable Information Systems & Cyber Security, has been chosen for the Wang Professorship, awarded for distinguished scholarship and teaching in natural sciences, mathematics, computer science, or engineering. Both professorships are for five-year renewable terms and support the recipients’ research and scholarship.
Artist Gets Up Close and Personal for Annual University Lecture
Josephine Halvorson, a College of Fine Arts professor of art and chair of the School of Visual Arts graduate studies in painting program, will deliver the annual University Lecture, titled “Making Space for Wonder: In Person and Up Close.” Established in 1950, the University Lecture honors members of the Boston University faculty engaged in outstanding research. Faculty tapped to deliver the lecture over the years have represented the full spectrum of disciplines at BU and share a common commitment to excellence in scholarly inquiry and discovery.
BU Virtual Will Chart BU’s Online Learning Future
Wendy Colby is the University’s inaugural vice president and associate provost for BU Virtual. Colby oversees a new department dedicated to working with BU’s schools and colleges on identifying and implementing opportunities to expand online education. The new unit brings together under one umbrella the design, development, and delivery of a complete portfolio of online graduate and certificate offerings from across BU, ranging from online master’s programs in social work and computer science to criminal justice and others.
A New Era for BU Board of Trustees: New Chair and Vice Chairs
Trustees Cynthia Cohen (MET’77) and Malek Sukkar (ENG’92) were elected vice chairs at the board’s September meeting, joining Brown and board chair Ahmass Fakahany (Questrom’79) as trustee leaders. The board’s top priority at the moment is finding BU’s next president.
Associate Provost for Community and Inclusion to Focus on Accountability, Civil Discourse
Victoria Sahani is named the new associate provost for community and inclusion. Sahani’s appointment comes after a national, monthslong search for a new associate provost. The role is a component of the University’s 2030 Strategic Plan, a set of five priorities meant to guide the school through the rest of the decade. The position serves two of the University’s priorities: diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and a culture of community, or the idea that BU is “big yet small.”
For Initiative on Cities Leader, Urban Geography Is People
Loretta Lees is named the new faculty director of Boston University’s Initiative on Cities (IoC). IoC describes itself “as a hub for urban related research and teaching across the University, engaging urban leaders, policymakers, academics, and students from around the world to work toward sustainable, just, and inclusive urban transformation.” Its best-known efforts include the annual Menino Survey of Mayors and its City Leadership Summits.
Ebola Vaccine and Treatment Pioneer to Direct NEIDL
Nancy J. Sullivan, a nationally renowned infectious diseases expert and chief of the Biodefense Research Section at the federal government’s Vaccine Research Center, has been named the new director of Boston University’s National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL). Opened in 2009, NEIDL is a leading academic research center that allows scientists to study infectious diseases and pathogens, including SARS-CoV-2, Ebola, and Zika, in a protected environment.
Africa Scholar Named Dean of Pardee
Scott Taylor, a scholar of African politics and vice dean for diversity, equity, and inclusion at Georgetown’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, is the new dean of BU’s Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies. Taylor assumed his new role September 1, succeeding Pardee’s inaugural dean, Adil Najam. The school was founded in 2013 through a $25 million gift from the late Frederick S. Pardee (Questrom’54,’54, Hon.’06), who gave a second $25 million gift in 2018.
New Director for the Hariri Institute for Computing
On July 1, Ioannis Paschalidis became the new director of the Rafik B. Hariri Institute for Computing and Computational Science & Engineering. Paschalidis, a College of Engineering Distinguished Professor of Engineering and of computing and data sciences, will oversee the institute’s move into a new, eye-arresting building (the largest on the Charles River Campus), the Center for Computing & Data Sciences. Paschalidis replaces Eric Kolaczyk, who is leaving BU after almost a quarter of a century.
