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.
First Woman Named BU’s Innovator of the Year
ENG’s Xin Zhang won the faculty award for “world-class research into inventions and innovations that benefit humankind”—for her work with metamaterials: small-scale structures that react to electromagnetic or acoustic stimulation. From improving the resolution of MRI scans to building better pressure sensors for oil wells to developing noise-filtering technology, Zhang’s discoveries offer real-world applications.
University Develops Strategy for Coming Decade
Students, faculty, staff, and the community help draft a new 10-year strategic plan, which outlines how the University spends its money and which activities it undertakes. Informed by current concerns such as federal funding for research, diversity on campus, rising operational costs, and building on academic excellence, the plan articulates goals and outlines steps for achieving them.
BU to Build New Data Sciences Center
Aiming to become a leader in a booming field, BU plans to build an iconic new 17-floor tower that will bring math, statistics, computer science, and the multidisciplinary Hariri Institute under one roof. BU’s evolving computational science curriculum, renowned faculty and staff, and proposed Charles River Campus building at the corner of Comm Ave and Granby Street (where a parking lot now sits) will assure BU’s place in the vanguard of the field.
Dahod Family Alumni Center Opens in BU Castle
The center’s grand opening during Alumni Weekend showcases the facilities and gathering places for alumni, along with new Alumni Association offices. With a newly renovated pub, now called Fuller’s BU Pub, the iconic Castle provides a draw for alums to come home to BU. More than 800 donors supported the enhancement, including BU Trustee Shamim Dahod’s (CGS’76, CAS’78, MED’87) $2 million gift, along with other remarkably generous contributions.
University Announces Massive Wind Power Purchase
Boston University will buy nonpolluting power from a South Dakota wind farm for 15 years beginning in 2020, a major step to advance our Climate Action Plan. Increasing energy efficiency, using renewable sources, and the greening of our campuses are essential to our goal of reducing BU’s carbon emissions to zero by 2040.
BU’s Rise in Rankings Powered by Innovation, Collaboration
Boston University was named one of the most innovative national universities for the first time in the 2019 U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges rankings. BU also climbed to 36th in Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education rankings. New models for education and research “are paying off in terms of novel experiences for our students and faculty, and hopefully will lead to some groundbreaking discoveries that will have an impact on society,” says Vice President and Associate Provost for Research Gloria Waters.
Modernizing Myles Standish
BU’s oldest dorm has become its newest dorm. Myles Standish Hall, housing 730 students, has undergone a $133 million, LEED-registered renovation, which increased the number of single bedrooms. The redo also includes modern amenities, study rooms, a game room, music practice rooms, a community kitchen, and a new public park with maple and elm trees and benches that invite students and the community.
Questrom School of Business Appoints New Dean
Susan Fournier, a marketing and management professor at BU for 13 years and leading international expert on brand marketing, becomes the next dean of the Questrom School of Business. Dean Fournier is the first woman to lead the school. As dean, she says, she will work to increase interdisciplinary programming, ensure Questrom’s financial security, and offer coursework aligned with both students’ and employers’ needs.
NEIDL Receives First BSL-4 Pathogens
Boston University’s National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL) has begun work with its first Level-4 pathogens, the Ebola and Marburg viruses. Ebola has become a global public health threat, infecting and killing thousands during the 2014 outbreak. There is no available FDA-approved vaccine or therapy for Ebola, or the related Marburg virus. NEIDL researchers are excited to begin work with these pathogens, which could speed the development of remedies.
