Ken Schulman Awarded Honorary Membership to Scarlet Key Honor Society
The BU Alumni Association and Scarlet Key Society will award an honorary 2022 Scarlet Key membership to Ken Schulman for his exceptional leadership and accomplishments as BUSSW’s former associate dean for enrollment services and alumni relations.
The honorary membership is a rare distinction in the Society, which has served primarily as an honor society for graduating students since its inception in 1938. Honorary memberships are granted to BU community members outside of the student body who, like Schulman, have made an impact that significantly enriched the University.
Schulman initially joined the School of Social Work in 1979 as an adjunct professor leading “Study-Travel Tours” to Cuba and teaching courses on oppression, racism, and progressive social work practice. Several years later, he was hired full-time as director of admissions and financial aid at BUSSW, and in 1989, he became the head of the School’s enrollment services and alumni relations, departments he led and nurtured until his retirement in 2020.
As associate dean for enrollment services and alumni relations, Schulman followed a holistic approach that focused on the “prospective-student-to-alumni lifecycle.” Through strategic outreach and a propensity for bringing people together, Schulman’s alumni relations and admissions programming led to the creation of an active Alumni Association Board and engaged alumni networks across the U.S., Canada and Europe. His enrollment efforts also led to greater diversity in the student body, an increase in the percentage of students of color, and more students in advanced standing, dual degree program, and macro practice.
“I’m very honored to have been selected as a Scarlet Key recipient,” said Schulman. “I am indebted to the School of Social Work for supporting our important efforts to recruit students and engage alumni. I believe that continuing and building on these efforts will strengthen the institutional legacy of student and alumni-centered service to which I dedicated my 42 years of service at BUSSW.”
Schulman will join the select group of 2022 Scarlet Key award recipients at the annual tapping ceremony at BU Alumni Weekend, where he will be ceremonially “tapped” with a sword by a Scarlet Key alum, among other Society traditions. He will be formally inducted into the Scarlet Key Society on May 12, 2022, the week of BU’s Commencement.
Schulman was nominated for the honorary membership by alumna Sarah B. Lange (SSW’93) and Clinical Professor Emerita Betty J. Ruth (SSW’84, SPH’85), former director of BU’s dual degree program in social work and public health.