Prison Education Program Continues
With the Crime Control and Prevention Act of 1994, Pell Grants for prisoners are eliminated, and as a result, universities withdraw their prison education programs. Only Boston University continues to operate in prisons, though since 1998 it has focused exclusively on undergraduate courses.
Reverend Dr. Johnny Ray Youngblood Keynote
The Reverend Dr. Johnny Ray Youngblood, a senior pastor at St. Paul Community Baptist Church in Brooklyn, New York, delivers the main Commencement address to more than 15,000 guests. Boston University confers 2,834 undergraduate and 2,440 graduate and professional degrees at the outdoor ceremonies.
The Scleroderma Center
Founded by the late Dr. Joseph Korn, former Chief of the Section and an internationally recognized researcher and clinical investigator in scleroderma research, the Scleroderma Center at Boston University School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center is a multidisciplinary program encompassing basic and clinical research and patient care. Dr. Korn’s vision of a comprehensive scleroderma center combining both excellent patient care and cutting-edge research continues in the BU Scleroderma Program today; thanks to research support, patients have many opportunities to participate in novel treatment approaches. The program’s efforts in patient care and research are mutually enhancing and sustaining.
University Joins Fraunhofer Society
Boston University enters into a cooperative agreement with a nonprofit consortium of 46 German research institutes known as the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft (Society).
Professor Saul Bellow
Saul Bellow, 1976 Nobel Prize winner for Literature, joins Boston University as a professor.
BU Academy Opens
Boston University Academy, a college preparatory school, opens under the guidance of President Silber.
Mario Vargas Llosa Keynote
Renowned Peruvian novelist and politician Mario Vargas Llosa delivered the Keynote Address at Commencement and urged more than 5,000 graduating Boston University students to go out into the world and make a difference by upholding liberty and fighting against discrimination and violence of all kinds.
"This great university, your alma mater, is an example of the best that our culture has to offer. It has equipped you to face great obstacles in many areas. Stand up to the occasion, and make the world a better place."—Mario Vargas Llosa
Center for Advanced Biotechnology
The College of Engineering establishes the Center for Advanced Biotechnology, which focuses on developing new methodologies and biological materials.
Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott
Derek Walcott, professor of English, wins the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Eduard A. Shevardnadze Keynote
Eduard A. Shevardnadze, the former Soviet Foreign Minister, told Boston University graduates during his Commencement Address that the Cold War had promoted a national psychosis in both the United States and the Soviet Union because "we were capable of destroying all life on Earth." As a result of having survived that War, "the Soviet and Americans are very close to each other spiritually in how they visualize common human horizons," he said, speaking through a translator.
