Category: Leaders
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.
Rankings Put BU Among Best Nationally, Globally
Boston University continues to climb in the U.S. News & World Report rankings of best graduate schools in the country. Among BU’s professional schools, the School of Education moved up 9 notches, to 36th. Other BU schools that fared well in the 2018 rankings: the College of Engineering placed 34 out of 198 peers, and the School of Law 23rd of 197. BU’s School of Medicine was named 30th best for research and 34th for primary care education out of 118 schools nationally.
University Lands 32nd in U.S. News Global Rankings
BU places 32nd in this year’s assessment of global universities by U.S. News & World Report. The University matched last year’s ranking despite increased competition from a pool of universities that was expanded by one-third. BU also earns high marks in several academic disciplines. In a field of 200 programs evaluated, BU ranked 38 in neuroscience and behavior, 43 in molecular biology and genetics, and 56 in immunology. In a field of 400 programs evaluated, BU ranked 26 in physics and 63 in biology and biochemistry.
Award–Winning Professor Takes Over at Kilachand Honors College
Carrie Preston, an associate professor of English and director of the Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies Program at CAS, takes the helm of Kilachand Honors College, succeeding founding director Charles Dellheim who led the school since 2011. Preston is the recipient of a Peter Paul Career Development Professorship, the CAS Wisneski Award for Excellence in Teaching, and the University’s United Methodist Scholar/Teacher of the Year Award. She also received the national De La Torre Bueno Prize, given to a dance studies book, for Modernism’s Mythic Pose: Gender, Genre, Solo Performance (Oxford University Press, 2011). “I hope to develop a curriculum that attends to issues of diversity and multiplicity, prejudice and power, in a global context,” Preston says.
Surgeon and Former US Health Official to Lead New Health Innovation Institute
Jonathan Woodson, a vascular surgeon and former Assistant Secretary for Health Affairs for the US Department of Defense, is tapped to lead the University’s new Institute for Health System Innovation & Policy, based in the Questrom School of Business. Woodson, who served with the DOD from 2010 to 2016, assumes the Larz Anderson Professorship in Management and Professor of the Practice. A collaborative endeavor, the new institute will focus on expanding health system research initiatives, deepening connections between scholars, policymakers, and corporations, and advancing curricular initiatives across the University.
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.
University Continues Climb in U.S. News & World Report Rankings
Boston University reaches an all-time high in the 2017 U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges rankings, moving up two notches to tie for number 39 among national universities and continuing a sustained rise in reputation across the board. The University’s overall jump echoes widespread gains in graduate program rankings for several BU schools and colleges, released by U.S. News the previous March.
Digital Education Leader to Move University Beyond MOOCs
Chrysanthos Dellarocas, the Richard C. Shipley Professor of Management at the Questrom School of Business, is named to the new position of Associate Provost for Digital Learning and Innovation. He had been leading the Digital Learning Initiative (DLI), the team that, in part, developed the massive open online courses (MOOCs), the popular computerized classes that can reach a global student audience. In his new post, Dellarocas will oversee the DLI and two other University groups: the Center for Teaching & Learning and the educational technology team in Information Services & Technology.
Prominent Energy Expert Tapped to Lead New Institute for Sustainable Energy
Peter Fox-Penner is taking the helm at the University’s new Institute for Sustainable Energy, where he will spearhead efforts to expand the school’s education programs in sustainability. Before arriving at BU, Fox-Penner was a principal and chairman of the Brattle Group, where he advised major US power companies and grid operators, government agencies, and international clients on electric power and environmental policy issues.
Board of Trustees Elects Kenneth Feld Its New Chair
Kenneth Feld (Questrom’70), who chairs the $1.5 billion Campaign for Boston University and is one of the University’s most generous benefactors, is elected by the Board on December 10, 2015, and will officially begin his term in September. Feld succeeds Robert A. Knox (CAS’74, Questrom’75), who has served as Board chair since 2008.
