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.
BU Sells Kenmore Square Properties
Boston University reaches an agreement to enter into a long-term ground lease for nine Kenmore Square properties with Related Real Estate Fund II. Related Beal, a real estate developer with deep Boston roots, will redevelop the buildings. The deal, expected to close in the fall of 2016, includes the sale of 310,000 square feet of commercial space on the north side of the square.
$350M to Combat Antibiotic Resistance
As part of a sweeping effort to solve the critical problem of antibiotic resistance, the US Department of Health & Human Services announces that it has selected the Boston University School of Law (LAW)—and Kevin Outterson, a BU professor of law—to lead a novel $350 million trans-Atlantic public-private partnership to spur the preclinical development of new antibiotics and antimicrobial rapid diagnostics and vaccines.
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.
Former CBS Executive Tells Graduates How to Survive Career Anxiety
Former CBS Entertainment Chair and BU Trustee Nina Tassler (CFA’79, Hon.’16) addresses the Class of 2016, along with thousands of friends and family at this year’s Commencement ceremony. Tassler, the longest-serving woman leader in broadcast history, focuses her talk on her lifelong career anxiety, and credits BU with teaching her the skills to reinvent herself and survive in a tough business. Whether “taking a Holocaust class taught by Elie Wiesel (Hon.’74) or listening to lectures by Edward Albee (Hon.’10) or even attending a rally protesting tuition hikes . . . my goals were shifting, and the person I always felt I was, was evolving, too.”
Shipley Foundation Gives $10.5M to Redirect Fight against Prostate Cancer
Richard Shipley, a BU trustee, technology investor, and former CEO, gives the School of Medicine $10.5 million to create a prostate cancer research center on the Medical Campus, along with a website devoted to treatment options. The Shipley Prostate Cancer Research Center will focus on personalized medicine, seeking genomic approaches to determine which cancers are aggressive and need to be removed or radiated and which are not, eliminating unnecessary treatment with devastating side effects.
Innovative University-Wide General Education Program Proposed for 2018
The proposal calls for BU undergraduates to develop core skills, knowledge, and habits of mind through both coursework and cocurricular programs that will prepare them to succeed. Called the BU Hub, the proposal is the work of a 14-member faculty task force that solicited input from hundreds of members of the University community in dozens of meetings over 15 months.
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.
