Category: Leaders
Eric Kolaczyk Named New Director of Hariri Institute
College of Arts & Sciences Professor of Mathematics and Statistics Eric Kolaczyk will replace the Hariri Institute for Computing and Computational Science & Engineering’s founding director, Azer Bestavros, who was recently appointed associate provost of the new Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences. Kolaczyk’s work across bioinformatics, computational neuroscience, and even social work has earned him an international reputation. His appointment further strengthens BU’s position in the burgeoning fields of computing and data sciences.
Azer Bestavros to Lead BU’s Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences
A William Fairfield Warren Professor who gained international prominence as the founding director of BU’s Rafik B. Hariri Institute for Computing and Computational Science & Engineering, Azer Bestavros has been named associate provost for computing and data sciences.
Margaret Low Named General Manager and CEO of WBUR
With the completion of the CitySpace venue, BU builds on its reputation as a cultural destination with live-events programming. Low brings expertise as a leader of live-events strategy at The Atlantic, senior vice president for news at NPR, and senior producer for All Things Considered.
Board of Trustees Welcomes New Members
Cynthia Cohen (MET’77), Michael D. Fricklas (LAW’84), and Jane Moncreiff join the board, along with Nathaniel Dalton (LAW’91), who becomes a regular member after serving ex officio while chair of the Board of Overseers. “New members bring new insights and perspectives from their professional lives and their interest in higher education,” says President Robert A. Brown.
LAW’s Danielle Citron Named a MacArthur Fellow
Danielle Citron, whose pioneering and policy-shaping work in countering hate crimes, revenge porn, and other cyberspace abuses has made her one of the nation’s leading privacy and constitutional law scholars, has been named a 2019 MacArthur Fellow, an award often referred to as a “genius grant.”
Karen Engelbourg Named Senior Vice President for Development & Alumni Relations
As vice president for development, Karen Engelbourg managed individual giving during the wildly successful $1.85 billion comprehensive campaign (the fundraising target was reset after gifts surpassed the initial $1 billion goal), overseeing a 90-person team. She was chosen as the next senior vice president for development & alumni relations as a result of a national search conducted by a six-member committee of trustees and senior leaders.
New College of Communication Dean Mariette DiChristina
The first woman to lead Scientific American, a globally respected publication since its founding in 1845, Mariette DiChristina (COM’86) was also the executive vice president of its parent company, Springer Nature, overseeing Nature and related journals. As editor in chief and senior vice president of Scientific American, she increased digital traffic by more than 500 percent and won a National Magazine Award.
Stan Sclaroff Named Dean of Arts & Sciences
Stan Sclaroff has distinguished himself in a number of leadership roles since joining the CAS faculty in 1995. An internationally respected scholar, he founded the computer science department’s Image & Video Computing group, studying machine learning, human-computer interaction, and computer vision (which seeks to automate functions performed by the human visual system). He served as dean ad interim of CAS—the largest of BU’s 17 schools and colleges—since 2018.
Kenneth Elmore Named a Pillar of Higher Education
Associate Provost and Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore (Wheelock’87) is among 17 professors and administrators nationwide who have been named Pillars of the Profession by the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators, a Washington, D.C., student affairs organization. The award honors educators of “sustained professional distinction” and “significant lifetime contributions,” as recognized by colleagues, students, or friends.
Creative Writing Program Instructor Sigrid Nunez Wins National Book Award
Writer-in-Residence Sigrid Nunez has won the National Book Award for Fiction for The Friend, a New York Times best seller. Nunez has taught MFA students in the Creative Writing Program since 2011. The Friend is her eighth book. Along with the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award is considered the highest literary honor a published work can receive in a given year.
