2017: An Unforgettable Year in Pictures
A look back at 365 days rife with protest, new buildings, day-to-day campus activities
CAS was represented at the Women’s March on Washington, January 21, 2017, by staff members Tiffani Lewis-Lockhart (left) and Nancy Geourntas (right) and Dean Ann Cudd. Photo by Cydney Scott
For better or worse, we will remember 2017 as the year that Donald Trump became the 45th president of the United States. From the outset, he and his administration generated controversy, with executive orders from rolling back Obamacare to building a border wall, and protests, starting with the Women’s March on Washington, followed by demonstrations across the country against his travel ban on refugees and immigrants from seven Muslim countries.
It was a year that saw revelations of widespread sexual harassment and assault by some of the nation’s most powerful men and the spread of the #MeToo movement on social media, resulting in Time magazine’s choice for 2017 Person of the Year.
On campus, the year brought the opening of BU’s Rajen Kilachand Center for Integrated Life Sciences & Engineering and the University’s new 75,000-square-foot theater complex, the Joan & Edgar Booth Theatre and College of Fine Arts Production Center, as well as the announcement that BU and Wheelock College had agreed to merge.
We’ve pulled together more than three dozen photos that ran on BU Today over the past year chronicling many of the highlights—so take a look as we say good-bye to a memorable year.
Dozens of BU Medical Campus pediatrics staff joined about 175,000 people on Boston Common January 21 for the Boston Women’s March for America, one of more than 600 held around the world. Photo by Nancy Zerbey
A crowd of about 350 gathered at Marsh Plaza January 30 for the No Ban No Wall: Rally against Xenophobia, protesting President Trump’s executive order banning people from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Photo by Cydney Scott
LAW lecturer Sarah Sherman-Stokes (center) and two LAW students met with international flight passengers arriving at Logan Airport January 30 to ensure compliance with a federal court order preventing those being detained in US airports from being deported. Photo by Sarah Miller
The BU swimming and diving teams celebrated Senior Day, January 28, in style: the men had 10 first-place finishes (BU-155, BC-144), and the women had 14 (BU-177, BC-118). Photo by Alexandra Wimley (COM’17)
February 7, 2017: No one ever claimed that the calendar’s second month was a walk in the park. Photo by Jackie Ricciardi
The BU Brazilian Association Carnaval, with music, a drumming group, and samba performers, was held February 10. Carnaval is a celebration held before Lent, the 40 days of fasting and penance leading to Easter. Photo by Alexandra Wimley (COM’17)
After the BU Resists Trump: Student and Worker Rally on Marsh Plaza March 1, members of several BU groups walked to the president’s office to urge that BU become a sanctuary school, stand up to Islamophobia, negotiate fairly with campus faculty unions, and divest from fossil fuels. Photo by Jackie Ricciardi
The BU Figure Skating Club took the national title at the US Intercollegiate Team Championships at Miami University of Ohio April 2, breaking the University of Delaware’s four-year title streak. Photo by Sarah Arnold
April: Kenzie Joyce (CAS’20) (left) and Victoria Russell (CAS’20) take advantage of a spring day by the Charles River. Photo by Cydney Scott
Alicia Wooten (MED’19), who is deaf, told the crowd at the April 22 March for Science on Boston Common in American Sign Language, “I didn’t need to hear a single thing to know that I could make a difference in science, despite others’ doubts.” Photo by Cydney Scott
The Dear Abbeys a cappella group during a rehearsal for its 25th anniversary concert April 29. Photo by Alexandra Wimley (COM’17)
Ann Cudd, dean of Arts & Sciences (left), and Christina Lucas (CAS’17) cut the ribbon for the CAS Think Tank Study Lounge May 1. Lucas, a former CAS Student Government president, suggested the idea for the study lounge. Photo by Alexandra Wimley (COM’17)
Former Red Sox slugger and 2017 honorary degree recipient David Ortiz (Hon.’17), waiting in the Case Center’s Eilberg Lounge VIP robing room before filing onto Nickerson Field for the University’s 144th Commencement May 21. Photo by Cydney Scott
The jubilant and joyful Boston University Class of 2017 joined the ranks of Terrier alumni May 21 as BU held its 144th Commencement. Photo by Jake Belcher
Pinhole cameras don’t have to be boring, as Ying Yao (CAS’18) demonstrates with one she made for an introductory film photography class in late May. Photo by Maddie Malhotra (COM’19)
Untrammeled joy—BU men’s basketball guard Cedric Hankerson (Questrom’16, MET’18) and his Coach Joe Jones Basketball Clinic team celebrate a win at Case Gym June 28. Photo by Cydney Scott
July: The views from the BU Bridge are stunning in any season. Photo by Cydney Scott
Karina Chaoul (left), of Houston, Tex., a student in CFA’s intensive four-week Visual Arts Summer Institute for high school students, in a sculpture class taught by Claire Roll (CFA’16) (right) in July. Photo by Cydney Scott
The Inglorious Batters: Ola Omotowa (SPH’18) and other members of the School of Public Health rookie softball team, who make up in enthusiasm what they may lack in skill, during a summer softball league game. Photo by Jackie Ricciardi
Aerial view of Comm Ave construction, August 4, 2017. Photo by Cydney Scott
The White Coat Ceremony is a medical tradition where first-year students receive their white coats and recite the Hippocratic Oath. MED Class of 2021 students, family, and friends, among them Vinson Cobb (MED’21), celebrate on Talbot Green August 2. Photo by Jackie Ricciardi
Advancing Justice Since Day One, a mural depicting 11 distinguished School of Law alums, was installed August 18 on LAW’s second floor. Photo by Cydney Scott
The first day of Move-In 2017: about 1,500 incoming BU students descended on campus August 28. Photo by Maddie Malhotra (COM’19)
A lone student wielding a pink cello case moves into a South Campus residence on September 1, 2017. Photo by Jackie Ricciardi
Korede Yoloye (CAS’19), winner of the first bingo of the evening during Rhettro Bingo night in the Metcalf Ballroom September 3. Photo by Maddie Malhotra (COM’19)
At a prayer vigil on Marsh Plaza September 5, Robert Allan Hill, dean of Marsh Chapel, led a moment of silent meditation for those affected by the Trump order ending President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which shielded young undocumented immigrants from deportation. Photo by Cydney Scott
The Rajen Kilachand Center for Integrated Life Sciences & Engineering, a state-of-the-art research facility, was officially opened September 14 by Gloria Waters, BU VP (from left), Robert A. Brown, BU president, trustee and benefactor Rajen Kilachand (Questrom’74, Hon.’14), Martin J. Walsh, Boston mayor, and Kenneth J. Feld (Questrom’70), Board of Trustees chair. Photo by Cydney Scott
Tipper Gore (CAS’70) (center), here with BU alum Connie Forbes, talked about her career and showed some of her photographs at an Alumni Weekend event September 17. Gore received a 2017 Distinguished Alumni Award earlier in the day. Photo by Jake Belcher
Cutting the ribbon for the Engineering Research Center in Cellular Metamaterials (CELL-MET) October 2: Jean Morrison, provost (from left), Robert A. Brown, president, Thomas Bifano, Photonics Center director, Alice White, ENG mechanical engineering chair, Chris Chen, an ENG biomedical engineering professor, David Bishop, CELL-MET director, and Kenneth Lutchen, ENG dean. Photo by Jackie Ricciardi
October 10: Boston University and Wheelock College agreed to merge, a move that combines BU’s School of Education with Wheelock’s School of Education, Child Life and Family Studies to create the Wheelock College of Education and Human Development. Photo by Cydney Scott
The BU Graduate Workers Union held a Speakout and Rally against Sexual Harassment in Higher Education at the Metcalf Science Center Plaza October 11. Photo by Maddie Malhotra (COM’19)
BU’s 35th Annual Joint Service Pass in Review: ROTC cadets and midshipmen participate in one of the country’s oldest military traditions, a ceremony of military pomp, precision, and pageantry, on Nickerson Field October 14. Photo by Derek Palmer
A bird’s-eye view lends an interesting perspective on a Sargent College physical therapy class, as Varshini Balasubramanian (Sargent’20) does a range-of-motion assessment on the elbow of her patient, Arnelle Kodjo (Sargent’20), October 24. Photo by Cydney Scott
The colors in a traditional Peking opera mask are symbolic of various character traits—for example, blue stands for staunch, astute, fierce, white for evil, sinister, hypocritical. Sixin Li (CAS’20) (left) and Zuan Zhang (CAS’19) created their own mask at a World Languages & Literatures event October 26. Photo by Sarah Silbiger (COM’18)
The BU Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2017 was inducted November 4: Frank Gilroy, accepting for his son, Matt Gilroy (MET’09), hockey (from left), Bob Danville (MET’82), track and field, April Setterlund (Questrom’11), softball, Robyn Kenney (CAS’02, GRS’07), field hockey, Dick Fecteau (SED’51), football, former assistant athletics director, and Elliot Lehane, accepting for his father, the late Bruce Lehane, assistant track and field director and 35-year head cross country coach. Photo by Scott Ellis
School of Theatre students, from freshmen to grad students, celebrating at the opening of the Joan & Edgar Booth Theatre December 6, 2017. Photo by Cydney Scott
Members of the BU community, among them Na Li (ENG’19) (from left), Beverly Brown, wife of BU’s president, and Marsh Chapel Dean Robert Allan Hill, helped trim the Marsh Chapel Christmas tree December 7. Photo by Cydney Scott
Dynnor Shebshaievitz (CGS’18) and other students marked the first night of Hanukkah at BU Hillel December 12. Photo by Maddie Malhotra (COM’19)
December 17: The Boston Globe chose Ann McKee as its annual Bostonian of the Year. The School of Medicine professor of neurology and pathology has been studying the brains of people with the degenerative brain disease CTE for several years, and her research underscores the long-term dangers of repetitive hits in sports, raising questions about safety. Photo by Dina Rudick/Boston Globe
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