State of the University, Fall 2015
October 2, 2015
Dear Colleagues,
The fall semester has started off at the usual hectic pace and already has been marked by several important announcements. Although it is difficult this time of year to find the time needed to reflect on the past year, I hope you will pause to read this letter and take note of what we are accomplishing at Boston University by setting our sights high and working together.
This fall we welcomed a remarkably talented freshman class of 3,629 students to Boston University, the smallest incoming class in over twenty years. The freshman class is the most diverse ever to enter Boston University. International students make up 24.3 percent of the class; the class includes 18.3 percent who are under-represented minorities and 14.9 percent Asian Americans.
As we have recruited stronger freshmen and worked to improve both academic quality and support services, students are staying and graduating from the University at high rates; our freshman to sophomore retention rate for this fall is projected to be 92.9 percent, down slightly from our high last year of 93.5 percent, and our six-year graduation rate is estimated at 84.9 percent, a new high.
Our students also are graduating from Boston University and launching amazing careers in all parts of our society. Six of our recent graduates were highlighted by Forbes magazine as members of the “30 under 30” young professionals to watch. Boston University alumnae in the entertainment industry were also featured in a lead article in Hollywood Reporter last spring. The article described Boston University as a training ground for the leaders in the industry. We are proud of the accomplishments of the women who were featured and that Boston University is their alma mater.
As we continue to focus on the academic strength of our incoming undergraduate students, it is equally important that we focus on improving the quality of a Boston University education. The Task Force on General Education was established last year to develop a vision and intellectual framework for a University-wide general education program for all Boston University undergraduates. As the basis for discussions with the University community this fall, the task force has released a working paper setting out its initial ideas about the knowledge, skills, and habits of mind Boston University graduates need to thrive in the 21st century. I hope that the ideas of the task force will be widely discussed during the fall, as the task force begins deliberation on its final recommendations.
Implementation of new University-wide general education requirements for our undergraduates will require a new oversight mechanism, as none currently exists. This year, the Faculty Council and University Council will consider a proposal to establish a Committee on Undergraduate General Education to oversee the implementation of these requirements. Establishment of a governance structure for this purpose is a logical evolutionary step from the revision of the University Council Constitution that elevated the faculty’s role in academic governance.
We also continue to renew our faculty by welcoming 97 new members to the University; 50 on the Charles River Campus and 47 on the Medical Campus. In addition, 66 faculty members have been promoted to associate professor or professor, with 23 earning tenure. Outstanding new academic leaders joined the University. Professor Sandro Galea became Dean of the School of Public Health in January and Professor Ann Cudd joined us as the Dean of the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences in August. Lynne Allen, Director of the School of Fine Arts, has assumed the role of Interim Dean of the College of Fine Arts as former Dean Benjamin Juarez returns to the faculty of the College.
Our faculty members continue to garner recognition for their accomplishments; many are listed in an Appendix to this letter. Notably, the University named two new William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professors—our highest internal recognition for a faculty member. These new awardees are Howard Eichenbaum, Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences, and Robert Pinsky, Professor of English and Creative Writing. Both are members of the College of Arts & Sciences faculty.
As we renew our faculty, it is important that we take every opportunity to increase its diversity. We have already taken two steps. First, we launched last fall a focused faculty hiring initiative designed to help schools and colleges increase diversity in those instances in which outstanding candidates are identified outside of normal search processes. Through our standard search processes, this hiring initiative, and the efforts of our deans, department chairs, and faculty search committees, we are achieving some success. We hired eight new faculty members last year who are under-represented minorities. Second, in early September University Provost Morrison and I announced the formation of the Task Force on Faculty Diversity, co-chaired by Professor Gene Jarrett, Associate Dean in the College of Arts & Sciences, and Professor Steve Brady of the School of Medicine and Chair of the Faculty Council. The task force has been charged with recommending best practices in improving the diversity and inclusiveness of our faculty. The work of the task force is already under way.
The University is making progress toward the goals outlined in our strategic plan, which we updated last year. Our initiatives on undergraduate education and faculty and student diversity are important steps. Our expanded emphasis on professional graduate education is translating into new master’s and certificate programs launched this year. For example, the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences has introduced new master’s degrees in Statistical Practice (in the Department of Mathematics & Statistics) and in Computer Science with a Specialization in Data Centric Computing (in the Department of Computer Science). Also, the Questrom School of Business has initiated a new MS in Management Studies as a one-year introduction to business for students with undergraduate majors in disciplines such as science, mathematics, engineering, communications, and economics. We welcomed the first class of 39 students to this program this September.
We continue to promote interdisciplinary research. For example, BU researchers are breaking ground in their fields by merging disciplines and discovering new answers through the application of data science. In 2014, the University Provost established the Faculty Hiring Initiative in Data Science, an interdepartmental search committee designed to add depth to our talented group of faculty conducting research in core data science fields. The committee is chaired by Azer Bestavros, Professor of Computer Science in the College of Arts & Sciences and Director of the Rafik B. Hariri Institute for Computing and Computational Science & Engineering. Faculty recruited through this initiative will hold tenured or tenure-track positions in computer science, electrical and computer engineering, mathematics and statistics (or possibly other departments) and be appointed as fellows of the Hariri Institute.
A visible sign of the growth of our research enterprise is the construction of the Center for Integrated Life Sciences & Engineering (CILSE), which is bringing all the inconveniences of a major construction project to Commonwealth Avenue. CILSE is scheduled for completion in spring 2017 and will house the Center for Systems Neuroscience, a neuroimaging facility, and the Center for Biological Design and other interdisciplinary research efforts. When finished, it will be a wonderful addition to our campus, worthy of the current disruptions.
I have reported in the past about progress bringing the NEIDL (the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories) into full operation. The mission of the NEIDL is to benefit public health by identifying mechanisms of transmission and infection for high-priority emerging infectious diseases and developing cures and therapies for these diseases. Over the past year we have made very good progress on the final steps needed to permit the NEIDL. In November we received permits from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention and the Boston Public Health Commission to carry out research with select agents in the Biosafety Level 3 labs. We are in the final stages of the commission’s review of the Biosafety Level 4 portion of the laboratory and expect to complete this process in the coming months. Once the NEIDL is fully operational, our researchers will be able to make use of the full range of unique capacities of this facility. Currently there are 10 faculty investigators affiliated with the NEIDL. When the facility is fully operational—at all biosafety levels—it will be able to host between 20 and 40 investigators and their research groups.
As our faculty becomes even more engaged in research that intersects with societal needs, there is demand for us to expand our interactions with industry. Closer collaboration with industry will, I believe, stimulate (and elicit support for) such research and promote more consistent and timely conversion of discoveries into goods and services. Vice President and Associate Provost for Research Gloria Waters and University Provost Morrison have formed a Task Force on Industry Interactions to recommend to us best practices for interaction between a major research university and industry, including defining the optimal mission for and organization of the Technology Development office. The Task Force is chaired by Tom Bifano, Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Director of the Photonics Center. We expect to have recommendations by next spring.
We continue to focus on the value proposition we make to our students and parents. The high cost of private higher education must be accompanied by our commitment to ensure high academic quality and cost-effective operation of the University. We continue our efforts to provide access to all qualified undergraduates. Undergraduate financial aid was $206 million in Fiscal Year 2015. As always we necessarily balance our commitment to student financial aid with funding for academic programs and for the physical and electronic infrastructure that a major research university must maintain.
As you will also see below in the Appendix, the University had an outstanding Fiscal Year 2015, due in large part to the commitment of the academic and administrative leadership to conservative budgeting and careful day-to-day management. It is critical that we continue this practice in the coming years, especially in the current economic climate in which growth of revenues from tuition increases and additional federal research funding will be difficult to realize. We have developed the budget for this year and already initiated planning for Fiscal Year 2017, consistent with our established prudent approach.
Finally, because of the heartening support of our alumni and friends, the Campaign for Boston University has raised (as of September 2015) $888 million with over two years remaining on our original timeline for raising $1 billion. Last year was our strongest fundraising year yet; we added $173 million to our total and received over $140 million in cash. The impact of the campaign on the quality of Boston University can be seen across the University in new or newly renovated facilities, new programs and expanded support for existing ones, endowed professorships, and increased student financial aid. In a year marked by many wonderful gifts, the magnificent $50 million gift from Allen and Kelli Questrom to name the Questrom School of Business set a new high water mark for charitable support to Boston University. Allen and Kelli’s gift is making it possible for us to realize very high aspirations for one of our most distinguished schools.
We have an opportunity to do much more. With the enthusiastic support of our Board of Trustees, we announced last month that we are increasing our goal to $1.5 billion and extending the campaign timeline. We are pushing ourselves harder as we work to improve Boston University, and we are asking our alumni and friends to stretch with us.
This is my tenth fall letter to the faculty and staff of Boston University. It does not seem like a decade ago that I composed my first letter to you. Today, Boston University is among the best private research universities in the country. Our rankings in U.S. News & World Report (41st among national universities and 37th in the ranking of global universities) are improving but don’t tell the full story of either the breadth or depth of the University or the progress we have made.
We are on a quest to strengthen teaching and research and through this effort to raise the stature of Boston University. Because of your committed and inspired efforts and the support of alumni and friends, we will continue to make progress this year and in the years ahead. Thank you for all you do to make this journey a success.
Sincerely,
Robert A. Brown
President
Appendix
Budget and Finance
The University closed Fiscal Year 2015 with reserves of $140.7 million compared to $132.5 million in FY2014. This level of reserves resulted primarily from tight control of budgets and expenditures and several one-time financially positive events. The record snowfall last winter also resulted in an almost $7.0 million additional expense for snow removal that adversely affected our results. Revenue growth for FY2015 was a modest 1.9 percent because of necessarily modest tuition increases and an approximately 5 percent decrease in externally sponsored research.
Of these reserves, $19.7 million was distributed back to the schools and colleges according to revenue sharing agreements, $15.0 million was used to support academic initiatives across the University, and the remaining $106.0 million was deployed for facility renovation and renewal. The role of our reserves in the funding for renovation and renewal was described in my letter last spring.
This fall marked the completion of the three-year project to expand and renew the facilities for the School of Law, which entailed the construction of the Sumner M. Redstone Building and the total renovation of the law tower. The result is remarkable, and the construction trailers are finally gone from the BU Beach. For the coming year, CILSE becomes the major construction project on the Charles River Campus. Also, before next summer we expect to begin the renovation of The Castle to serve as an alumni center and community space.
Planning also is under way for the renovation of the first floor of the College of Fine Arts at 855 Commonwealth Avenue, beginning the process of restoring this building and modernizing spaces for the College.
This summer the five-year project to remodel the apartments and suites on South Campus continued with 76 units for 152 students completed. We also completed the first phase of a multiyear project to fully remodel Myles Standish Hall in Kenmore Square. Please see the BU Today article for other renovation projects that were completed this summer.
Our fiscal year budget for this year is $2.16 billion, with our revenues split between 60 percent from tuition and fees, 18 percent from research, 14 percent auxiliary services such as dining and housing, and 5 percent from other non-gift and endowment revenue. Only 3 percent is forecast to come from gifts and income from our endowment. Our endowment stood at $1.64 billion on June 30, 2015, with a pooled endowment preliminary return of 2.4 percent in very volatile global capital markets. This compares to a 16.9 percent return on our pooled endowment investments in the preceding year.
Last year we announced a plan to reduce administrative costs by $10 million through a number of targeted initiatives that were listed in my fall letter. These initiatives have been only partially successful, and we are continuing to work to find these cost savings.
Campaign for Boston University
As described in the recent BU Today article and mentioned earlier in this letter, our campaign total is currently $888 million—up from $870 million at the end of the fiscal year.
We set new records for fundraising in a single year—adding $173 million in commitments to the campaign and receiving $140.4 million in cash.
We also achieved important milestones in participation. Over 10 percent of our 312,531 alumni contributed to the campaign last year and we received a gift from our 100,000th donor. On April 18, our Day of Giving, 5,006 donors stepped forward and we raised over $1.04 million.
Our alumni are engaging in record numbers. There were more than 43,000 attendees at 900 Boston University alumni meetings and events around the world last year. Alumni Weekend last month drew more than 7,000 registrants to more than 100 events on campus. The Campaign for Boston University has gained momentum each year and is helping all of us build a greater, stronger institution.
Leadership Appointments
During the year there were two promotions into senior leadership roles as Amy Hook was promoted to Vice President of Marketing and Creative Services. Karen Engelbourg was promoted to Vice President for Development.
Faculty: New Appointments, Honors, and Awards
A number of outstanding senior faculty have joined the University, including:
- Raymond Fisman — Department of Economics, College of Arts & Sciences
- Bernard Harlow — Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health
- Nimi Wariboko — Walter G. Muelder Professor of Social Ethics, School of Theology
- Risa Weisberg — Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine
- John White — Chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering
- Athanasios Zavras — Chair of the Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine
- Kathryn Zeiler — School of Law
Our faculty members continue to garner external recognition. Awards and honors bestowed on them over the past year include:
- Professor Howard Eichenbaum, College of Arts & Sciences, Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, was elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.
- Professor of International Relations and Sociology Susan Eckstein, College of Arts & Sciences and Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies, was awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship.
- Three faculty have received the 2015 National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award: Cara Stepp, Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering, and Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences: Sargent College; Douglas Holmes, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering in the College of Engineering; and Mark Kramer, Associate Professor of Mathematics and Statistics in the College of Arts & Sciences.
- Neil Ganem, Assistant Professor of Pharmacology and Medicine in the School of Medicine, was named a Searle Scholar by the Searle Foundation, the first Boston University faculty to win this prestigious award.
- Rachel Fearns, Associate Professor of Microbiology in the School of Medicine, received the Hartwell Individual Biomedical Research Award from the Hartwell Foundation.
- Nancy Kopell, William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor and Professor of Applied Mathematics and Dynamical Systems in the College of Arts & Sciences, received the Mathematical Neuroscience Prize by the nonprofit Israel Brain Technologies.
- Two faculty members in the College of Arts & Sciences received Frederick Burkhardt Residential Fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies: Margaret Litvin, Associate Professor of Modern Languages and Comparative Literature, and Brooke Blower, Associate Professor of History.
- Three professors, Clem Karl, Theodore Moustakas, and Ioannis Paschalidis, of the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering in the College of Engineering, were named fellows in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
- Jennifer Gottlieb, Senior Researcher in the Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation and Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy in Sargent College, received a Fulbright Scholar Award.
- Two College of General Studies faculty members, Meg Tyler, Associate Professor of Humanities, and Samuel Hammer, Associate Professor of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, received Fulbright Scholar Awards.
- Xin Zhang, Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering, College of Engineering, was named an American Society of Mechanical Engineers Fellow.
- Professor of Political Science Virginia Sapiro of the College of Arts & Sciences received the Harold Lasswell Award for lifetime achievement from the International Society for Political Psychology.
- College of Engineering Professors Muhammad Zaman and Elise Morgan were elected to the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering’s College of Fellows.
- Five faculty were elected Fellows by the American Association for the Advancement of Science: David Michael Center, Ronald Corley, Katya Ravid, and David Salant from the School of Medicine, and Josée Dupuis from the School of Public Health.
- Richard Primack, Professor of Biology, College of Arts & Sciences, received the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Award.
- President and Professor of Engineering Robert Brown was named a National Academy of Inventors Fellow.
Boston University honored the following faculty members: