BU’s new gen ed program gets underway

Off and running!

This fall, we rolled out the BU Hub—our University-wide general education program. The 2018 freshmen were the first to dive in.

The BU Hub replaces individual general education programs in each of our 10 undergraduate schools and colleges, focusing on working across disciplines in an effort to prepare students for a dynamic, frenetic, and constantly shifting world. It gives every undergraduate the opportunity to develop the essential knowledge, skills, and habits of mind needed to think deeply, generate new ideas, and put those ideas into action.

The development of the BU Hub is the result of extensive preparation over the past four years to introduce the new program into the BU curriculum.

Built around a group of key capacities, the BU Hub ensures that all undergraduates develop proficiency in each of the following: philosophical, aesthetic, and historical interpretation; scientific and social inquiry; quantitative reasoning; diversity, civic engagement, and global citizenship; communication; and the intellectual toolkit. Students will further develop their intellectual toolkit with expertise in teamwork, research and information literacy, critical thinking, and life skills.

And it’s never too early to infuse the idea of hands-on interdisciplinary collaboration into young minds. That’s why we created the Cross-College Challenge, where students from different schools and majors work together on a semester-long project, developing team-building skills, research acumen, and conceptual and communication abilities—key ingredients for workplace success.

“The BU Hub,” says Amanda Urias, its managing director, “ensures that all undergraduates, no matter their major, develop intellectual capacities that will teach them to thrive throughout their lives.”

The BU HUB

In the fall of 2018, after four years of preparation, BU rolled out its first University-wide general education program, which seeks to prepare students for lifelong learning and leadership in a rapidly evolving global community.

The Hub's Six Capacities

1.

Philosophical, Aesthetic, and Historical Interpretation

2.

Scientific and Social Inquiry

3.

Quantitative Reasoning

4.

Diversity, Civic Engagement, and Global Citizenship

5.

Communication

6.

Intellectual Toolkit

Community service

Lifting voices, lifting spirits

This past February, the student-run Inner Strength Gospel Choir packed their finest singing clothes and a sense of adventure for a trip to rural South Carolina to perform in a variety of venues, from a church to a homeless shelter to a Ronald McDonald House to Claflin University, a historically black college.

Camille McDaniel: College of Communication, Class of 2019

On paper, it makes for a compelling community service experience. In reality, it was transformative, according to the students. “As someone involved in the African American studies department, this tour meant a lot to me, historically,” says Camille McDaniel (COM’19). “Driving past cotton fields, I could hear my ancestors singing spirituals while laboring. I saw the historic black churches that provided more than a place to worship for blacks during the Jim Crow era. I’m grateful to have experienced the perfect intersection of my studies, my culture, and my passion for singing during this tour.”

BU students brought a similar community spirit to other corners of the country, too. During Alternative Service Breaks last spring, our undergrads helped rebuild historic Civil War battlefield fences at Harpers Ferry, W.Va., volunteered at an LGBT nonprofit in Montreal, and aided staff at the Louisiana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Another student spent part of her summer break as a volunteer at Camp Ultimate Peace in southern Israel, using disc games to bring Israeli and Palestinian youth together.

Our student-athletes worked up quite a sweat, too:

Last fall, the Men’s Ice Hockey team continued its partnership with the nonprofit organization Ice Hockey in Harlem (IHIH), visiting Central Park and practicing with the program’s Pee Wee hockey players.
The BU Student-Athlete Advisory Committee this past spring hosted its annual Autism Field Day. More than 40 student-athletes and over 100 guests attended, many from Melmark New England, a school that serves children and young adults with autism spectrum disorders, acquired brain injury, neurological diseases, and severe challenging behaviors.