Hamid Karzai Keynote
Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan, delivers the Commencement Keynote Address.
“Dear graduates, I say again, that your values must continue to guide you, as you embark on your new journey and assume greater responsibility. Our world will remain stratified and divided by exclusively narrowly defined interests unless you seek to build bridges of understanding and cooperation." — Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan
New MED Provost and Dean
Dr. Karen Antman is recognized internationally as an expert on breast cancer and other malignancies. Best known among oncologists for developing a standard treatment regimen for sarcomas, as well as her team’s research on blood growth factors, Dr. Antman comes to BU from the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Women’s Health Interdisciplinary Research Center
The Women's Health Interdisciplinary Research Center (WHIRC) promotes interdisciplinary research on women's health at the Medical Campus by bringing bench scientists, clinical investigators, and public health researchers together to determine collaborative research directions and obtain funds.
The Institute for Athletic Coach Education
The Institute for Athletic Coach Education (IACE) in the School of Education at Boston University focuses on the need for education and training for youth sport coaches. The institute aims to provide present and future youth sport coaches with learning opportunities and resources to help them better understand their role and fulfill their responsibilities as leaders and educators in the community.
The Center for Reliable Information Systems & Cyber Security
The Center for Reliable Information Systems & Cyber Security (RISCS) promotes and coordinates research and education in system reliability and information security by emphasizing a multidisciplinary approach that includes fields as diverse as reliable and secure computations, engineering, economics, ethics, and law. Current research areas include cryptology, network and software security, software safety, economic and game-theoretic approaches to Internet computing, database security, robust monitoring, and fair and secure file sharing.
Third BioSquare Building Addition
Boston University, Boston Medical Center, and developer Spaulding & Slye Colliers celebrate the opening of a new building at BioSquare in Boston’s South End. The eight-story, 160,000-square-foot laboratory is the third component of the two-million-square-foot biomedical research park, which at 14 acres is Boston’s largest.
“BioSquare is a thriving development, as this latest addition to its state-of-the-art biomedical research facilities affirms. Boston University is proud to partner with the City of Boston and with Boston Medical Center in helping to grow this important sector of our local and regional economies.” — Robert Brown, Boston University President
Tulane University Students Enroll for the Fall Semester
Boston University opens its doors to Tulane University students when they are unable to go back to school in New Orleans due to Hurricane Katrina damage.
BU Opens New Buildings
Agganis Arena and the Fitness & Recreation Center open. The Florence & Chafetz Hillel House opens as the center for Jewish life on campus. The Life Science & Engineering Building opens. Graduate housing opens at 580 Commonwealth Avenue.
Online Degree Completion Program Established
The University initiates its online undergraduate degree completion program, allowing those with an AA or the equivalent credits to earn a Bachelor of Liberal Studies in Interdisciplinary Studies.
J. Craig Venter Keynote
J. Craig Venter, a visionary scientist and entrepreneur who was a principal leader in the effort to decode the human genome, delivers the Commencement address at Boston University’s 131st Commencement exercises at Nickerson Field. More than 20,000 guests watch 5,776 students receive their degrees in the largest graduation ceremony in New England.
“New areas of science and subsequent advances are fraught with ethical and social issues with which we must all grapple. Healthy debate is good for society, however it can only happen in a science-literate world." — J. Craig Venter
