Category: Presidents
Melissa L. Gilliam, Boston University’s Eleventh President
Dr. Melissa L. Gilliam, a distinguished educator, scholar, research scientist, and physician, took office on July 1, 2024, as Boston University’s eleventh president. A national leader in faculty recruitment and student success and a champion of diversity and inclusion, Dr. Gilliam is also a professor of obstetrics and gynecology and of pediatrics.
Kenneth W. Freeman, President Ad Interim
2023–Present Kenneth W. Freeman, dean emeritus and professor of the practice at Questrom School of Business, and University vice president and associate provost, has been appointed as interim president starting August 1, 2023. In his 13 years at Boston University, Freeman has filled a number of roles: respected professor, transformative dean, valued mentor, forward-thinking academic innovator, and a skilled and rock-steady vice president during a period of crisis. As BU’s acting leader, Freeman will hold all the powers of the president’s office, and be entrusted to provide leadership to deans, faculty, students, and all key stakeholders, while continuing the initiatives already in process that are core to BU’s 2030 Strategic Plan.
Robert A. Brown Reflects on 18 Years as BU President
“When I came to Boston University in 2005, I joined a university in turmoil caused by a failed presidential search that exposed weak leadership and broken governance. A university with a dedicated and talented faculty and staff, and an aspiring and engaged student body—but with little thought about, or unity around, the prospects for the future. From this beginning, we have developed a vision of Boston University as a wonderfully interconnected private research university committed to inclusive excellence, but grounded in a gritty pragmatism that faces head on what is needed to make this vision a reality,” says President Brown.
Robert A. Brown, Tenth President
from 2005–2023
Robert A. Brown, a distinguished chemical engineer and former provost at MIT, became president of Boston University in September 2005. During his tenure, Brown has strengthened the core missions of undergraduate, graduate, and professional education, interdisciplinary work, and research and scholarship across all 17 schools and colleges. He oversaw the implementation of the University’s strategic plan and first major fundraising campaign. Under Brown’s leadership, the University was invited in 2012 to join the Association of American Universities, an organization of leading research universities in the United States and Canada. His 18-year legacy includes dramatic growth in sponsored research, a more diverse student body and faculty, a robust endowment, an exciting new building for data science, and a clear path for the future.
Aram V. Chobanian, Ninth President
from 2003–2005
A world-renowned cardiologist, longtime faculty member, and onetime dean at Boston University School of Medicine, Aram V. Chobanian was appointed president in 2005 (after serving as president ad interim since 2003). Chobanian played a leading role in the merger of Boston City Hospital with Boston University Medical Center Hospital to create Boston Medical Center. His leadership was also instrumental in the development of the BioSquare Research Park and the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories. He assumed his new position at a time of crisis associated with a failed presidential search and problems in University governance. He strengthened the ties between the University and its various constituencies, including faculty, students, staff, and alumni, and kept the University moving forward to fulfill its academic mission.
Jon Westling, Eighth President
from 1996–2002
Jon Westling was raised in Yakima, Washington, and graduated from Reed College in Oregon. He received a Rhodes scholarship and studied history at St. John’s College, Oxford University. He served Boston University for more than two decades in a number of positions, including provost, before his appointment as president in 1996. During his tenure, he set six consecutive records for University fund-raising, opened a new complex of apartment-style dormitories, and initiated a dozen major building projects, including new science buildings and recreational and athletic facilities. He emphasized the importance of academic standards in admissions, streamlined bureaucracy in creating the University Service Center, and set a new tone of campus collegiality.
John Silber, Seventh President
from 1971–1996
Texas native John Silber graduated from Trinity University in San Antonio and earned a PhD in philosophy from Yale University. Appointed Boston University president in 1971, Silber took charge of an institution in financial and educational disarray. His first task was to balance the budget. He also hired distinguished new faculty, raised admissions standards, expanded the campus, built the endowment, reinstituted academic requirements, and had protesters who broke the law arrested. His actions during the 1970s provoked opposition and controversy but, by the 1980s, even Silber’s critics conceded that he had transformed Boston University. Among his other notable achievements were managing the school system of neighboring Chelsea for 10 years and establishing the Prison Education Program and Boston University Academy. In March 1994, he announced that he would step down on May 31, 1996, to become Chancellor.
Arland F. Christ-Janer, Sixth President
from 1967–1970
Arland Christ-Janer, a native of Nebraska, attended Yale Divinity School and the University of Chicago Law School. He served as president of Cornell College in Iowa until his appointment in 1967 to the presidency of Boston University. Christ-Janer took office at a time of social unrest. The week of his inauguration, the Students for a Democratic Society declared a Stop the Draft Week. Soon after, an African American student organization issued a list of demands and staged a nonviolent sit-in at the President’s office. Christ-Janer agreed to all their demands, but campus demonstrations and radical student actions continued. After serving for three years, Christ-Janer resigned in July 1970. Commencement that year was canceled because of the threat of violent protests.
Harold C. Case, Fifth President
from 1951–1967
A Kansas native, Harold Case pursued graduate study at Harvard University, Garrett Biblical Institute, Northwestern University, and Boston University School of Theology. He was a successful minister at several large Methodist churches across the nation before assuming the presidency of Boston University in 1951. Case continued the postwar expansion of the University, building new dormitories and establishing the School of Fine and Applied Arts (now the College of Fine Arts), the College of Engineering, and Metropolitan College. In 1953, he created the African Studies Program and the same year invited the distinguished African American theologian Howard Thurman to be dean of Marsh Chapel.
Daniel L. Marsh, Fourth President
from 1926–1951
Born in rural Pennsylvania, Daniel Marsh earned a degree from the Boston University School of Theology in 1908 and served as a Methodist minister and administrator with a strong record of creating social welfare programs for the urban poor. As Boston University president, Marsh declared that BU would instill in students the spirit of “Useful Service for the Sake of Others.” Marsh succeeded in building the new campus that President Murlin had envisioned. He also incorporated Sargent College into the University and founded the School of Social Work, the School of Nursing, the School of Public Relations (now the College of Communication), and the General College. He successfully guided the University through severe financial stringency in the Depression and during World War II.
