Board of Trustees Appoints New Chair and New Member
Ahmass Fakahany (Questrom’79), founder and CEO of Manhattan-based Altamarea Group, will lead the Boston University Board of Trustees beginning in September 2022, succeeding Kenneth Feld (Questrom’70). The board also welcomed new trustee Kenneth Lin (CAS’98), founder and CEO of the personal finance website Credit Karma, who was elected in September.
BU Distributes Federal Rescue Plan Money to Students
The University is distributing almost $21 million in federal aid to students financially impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The money comes from the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund, included in the American Rescue Plan enacted by Congress and President Joe Biden in March 2021.
School of Public Health to Offer Online Master’s
Boston University’s School of Public Health will offer an online Master of Public Health starting in January 2023, building on the success of the Online MBA launched by Questrom School of Business in 2020. The MPH will be offered in partnership with the online education company edX. “The online master’s in public health…will allow us to reach students we might not otherwise be able to reach,” says Jean Morrison, University provost and chief academic officer.
New Coach for Women’s Basketball
New women’s basketball coach Melissa Graves inherits a group that reached its first-ever Patriot League championship game under head coach Marisa Moseley (CAS’04), who led the team to new heights after coaching at BU for only three years. The squad placed second in the 2021–2022 Patriot League preseason poll. Formerly an assistant coach and the recruiting coordinator at Wake Forest, Graves is eager to build on the team’s impressive foundation.
$8 Million Gift from Richard Shipley to Expand Technology’s Role in Education
An $8 million gift from Richard Shipley (Questrom’68,’72), a BU trustee emeritus, will help the University expand digital learning, a goal outlined in its 2030 Strategic Plan. Shipley’s gift will fund the Shipley Center for Digital Learning & Innovation, an all-University resource, which will be associated with the Center for Teaching & Learning and will be overseen by the associate provost for digital learning and innovation.
New Center for Innovation in Social Science
The new Center for Innovation in Social Science, according to Deborah Carr, founding director, is “a one-stop shopping point” for learning about social science research, events, education programs, internships, media coverage, and collaboration opportunities. The center is among the “cornerstone initiatives” of the CAS Strategic Plan for Arts & Sciences.
Class of 2020 Gets Long-Awaited Send-Off
The COVID-postponed 147th Commencement was held on Nickerson Field on October 3. “COVID robbed you of a traditional senior year,” Dr. Victor J. Dzau (Hon.’20), president of the National Academy of Medicine, said in his Commencement address to the 1,818 graduates who returned for the long-awaited ceremony. They traveled from 46 states and represented 61 countries. “You have already demonstrated incredible resilience and fortitude,” Dzau said. “You have prevailed and are here today with each other.”
Antiracism Center Director Ibram X. Kendi Wins “Genius” Grant
The National Book Award–winning historian and scholar, whose research and gift for communicating ideas with policymakers and everyday people alike have made him a leader of a national movement around antiracism, has been selected as a 2021 MacArthur fellow. Kendi joined BU in 2020 and is a College of Arts & Sciences professor of history and the University’s Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities. He, along with the other 24 fellows, receives a no-strings-attached $625,000 award spread over five years, in recognition of their exceptional creativity, achievements, and promise for future contributions.
School of Dental Medicine Celebrates Completion of Expansion and Renovation
The University celebrated the opening of the redesigned and expanded Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine. The three-year $115 million project incorporates state-of-the-art technologies in the education programs for future dentists and the treatment facilities they use to provide care for patients from nearby Boston neighborhoods. The updated and expanded patient treatment center is equipped with new dental chairs in 100 patient treatment spaces, digital radiography equipment, and a team of lab technicians to assist faculty and students.
New LGBTQIA+ Center for Faculty & Staff and New Director
The center is one of the University’s 2030 Strategic Plan components. University Provost Jean Morrison and Vice President and Associate Provost for Community and Inclusion Crystal Williams wrote that the center will “serve as a hubway for our workplace community, bringing together LGBTQIA+ colleagues from our Charles River, Medical, and Fenway Campuses through programming, events, and shared gathering space.” Debbie Bazarsky has been named the new director of the center. Bazarsky has spent two decades in the diversity and inclusion field, at Pennsylvania College of Art and Design, Princeton, and Ohio State University.
