First Day Back for Fully Residential Campus
September 2 marks the first day back to a fully residential campus for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic struck the country and emptied the campus in March 2020. In-person classroom instruction returns, student clubs and organizations can meet in person, workouts at FitRec can resume, and gathering with friends in University dining halls and at BU Athletics events is again possible. In an effort to stop the spread of COVID, masks and weekly COVID tests are still a part of everyday life.
MassMutal Donates $1 Million to Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences
MassMutual’s donation is the first partnership for the fledgling academic unit. The money will be spread out over three years, with two primary purposes: to create the MassMutual Professor of the Practice Fund and to launch the MassMutual Fund for the Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences, which will aim to hire a program manager and software engineer to support experiential learning activities; organize diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in the center; and award approximately six $10,000 MassMutual Externship stipends to undergraduates.
BU to Require Faculty, Staff to Get Vaccinated against COVID-19
“We all share responsibility for the health of the Boston University community,” President Robert A. Brown wrote in a letter to employees. “We previously mandated that all our students be vaccinated for the fall 2021 semester. It is critically important that our faculty and staff are also vaccinated. We hoped to accomplish the goal of community-wide vaccination without a mandate but kept the option of requiring vaccination open if we did not reach our goal.”
BU Launches Data Science As an Undergraduate Major
Drawing on various topics in traditional STEM disciplines, the new Bachelor of Science in data science, available in fall 2022 and offered by the Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences (CDS), provides students with the foundational knowledge and practical training in algorithmic and statistical data analysis, machine learning, and software engineering—crucial competencies in a world increasingly defined by computation, big data, and artificial intelligence.
Return to Campus on June 14
Campus repopulation at 50 percent capacity begins June 14. During a recent webinar-style Town Hall to prepare for the gradual return, President Brown acknowledged faculty and staff anxiety and emphasized the importance of vaccinations. The findings from the Committee on the Future of Staff Work were sent out in late June.
Commencement 2021
Boston University’s 148th Commencement was unique but a great success. Because of the need for social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic, two separate ceremonies were held: one for advanced degree graduates in the morning, one for graduating seniors in the afternoon. There was no procession or family and friends allowed in the stands, but both ceremonies were livestreamed.
BU Launches Infectious Diseases Policy Center
Founding Director Nahid Bhadelia says the Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases Policy & Research will create important and accurate knowledge about emerging infectious diseases and share it with public health experts, lawmakers, and the general public—a crucial need at a time when misinformation has endangered human health globally.
BU Declares Juneteenth an Official University Holiday
BU’s decision to add Juneteenth as an official holiday is part of an ongoing effort to make BU “the diverse, equitable, and inclusive community that best embodies our values,” President Robert A. Brown announced in a letter to the University. Juneteenth, long celebrated in the African American community, is traditionally observed on June 19, marking the day in 1865 when the last enslaved people in America—in Texas, where the holiday began—were told they were free.
St. Elizabeth’s Joins List of MED Teaching Hospitals
As part of an agreement between the University and Steward Health Care, St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Brighton will become BU’s newest teaching hospital. The five-year partnership deepens and expands the existing relationship between BU and St. Elizabeth’s in a way that benefits students, faculty, and patients.
BU and Red Hat Extend Partnership for Cloud Research
BU and Red Hat, the world’s leader in open-source solutions, extend their partnership for five years. The renewal includes Red Hat donating software subscriptions valued at $551.9 million and committing $20 million to fund research and education in open source and emerging technologies. The Collaboratory, as the partnership is called, began in 2017 with $5 million in grants from Red Hat.
