Before we start looking ahead to 2024, we thought we’d take a final look back at 2023—through photos. 

The year, which began with opening day of classes at BU’s Center for Computing & Data Sciences, was notable for the retirement of BU President Robert A. Brown and the announcement of his successor, Melissa Gilliam (while the interim months are led by Kenneth Freeman). The University also welcomed a new head coach for women’s ice hockey and a new police chief, and saw both varsity and club sports teams play in championship games. The physics department’s popular pumpkin drop tradition made its return, and protests broke out on campus throughout the year—over the Commencement speaker in the spring and over the Israel-Hamas war in the fall.

BU Today photographers Janice Checchio, Cydney Scott, and Jackie Ricciardi, along with student and freelance photographers, traversed BU throughout 2023 to capture the images that left a mark. Take a look.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu (right) talks with former BU Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore (Wheelock’78) (left) and former Howard Thurman Center Director Katherine Kennedy before speaking at the annual observance of MLK Day honoring BU’s most famous alum, Nobel Peace Prize winner and civil rights icon Martin Luther King, Jr. (GRS’55, Hon.’59), January 16. Photo by Jake Belcher

A rare sight in Boston in 2023: snow falls on Nickerson Field on January 23, dropping nearly four inches. For the year, the city recorded less than a foot of snow, far below the yearly average of 49.2 inches. Photo by Danny Dolan (COM’26)

Students gather in the open spaces during the first week of classes at BU’s Center for Computing & Data Sciences on January 20. The building opened officially in December 2022 after more than a decade of planning and three years of construction. Photo by Jackie Ricciardi

Verge, a BU traditional Chinese dance group, performs at a Lunar New Year celebration held in the GSU ballroom February 3. Hosted by BU’s Chinese Student Association, the event was a collaboration with various other cultural clubs and performance groups from both BU and Northeastern. Photo by Danny Dolan (COM’26)

Vindhya Kotti (MET’23) gets a lift from Varunkumar Gandham Sathish (MET’23) as they celebrate Holi, the Hindu festival of colors that signals the arrival of spring, on Cummington Mall March 26. Photo by Jacob Chang-Rascle (COM’22)

The women’s tennis team celebrates their sixth Patriot League championship after sweeping Army West Point 5-0, April 30. The Terriers went on to face No. 14 national seed Miami in an NCAA first round matchup, but lost 4-0. It marked their 19th NCAA appearance. Photo courtesy of Army West Point

The women’s softball team celebrates after winning the Patriot League title May 13 following a 2-0 victory over Army West Point. It was the Terriers’ fourth championship in the last five years. The Terriers finished their historic 2023 campaign at 52-10 with a program and conference record in victories. Photo by Brian Foley

Seth Helman (COM’23) and Sydney Shore (MET’23) join a demonstration of Writers Guild of America (WGA) strikers who had gathered to protest the selection of David Zaslav, president and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, as the Commencement speaker, May 21. Photo by Janice Checchio

Ketanji Brown Jackson, associate justice of the US Supreme Court, addresses graduates during the 2023 School of Law convocation May 21. She received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree during the University’s 150th All-University Commencement exercises later that day. Photo by John Gillooly

Elana Harris (left), staff administrative coordinator for the BU Arts Initiative, and M.C. Damm, Newbury Center assistant director, have fun with some props at the annual BU Pride Soiree for Faculty & Staff, hosted by the LGBTQIA+ Center for Faculty & Staff and LGBTQIA+ Faculty & Staff Community Network June 6. Photo by Jake Belcher

Robert Lowe is appointed new chief of the Boston University Police Department, succeeding Kelly Nee, effective August 1. Lowe, who served 22 years with the Cambridge Police Department, most recently as superintendent of the Operations Division, earned a PhD in education from NYU. Photo by Cydney Scott

Lucy Hutyra, a CAS professor of Earth and environment, is named a 2023 MacArthur Fellow, one of the most prestigious awards for US scientists, researchers, writers, artists, scholars, and professionals in a broad range of fields, October 3. As one of 20 fellows, Hutyra received an $800,000 no-strings-attached “genius grant.” Photo courtesy of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

Melissa L. Gilliam, a distinguished educator, scholar, research scientist, and physician, is introduced as Boston University’s 11th president at a welcoming event at the Tsai Performance Center, October 4. Gilliam, who will officially start her tenure as BU president on July 1, 2024, comes to BU from The Ohio State University, where she served as executive vice president and provost. Photo by Janice Checchio

The new BU president, Melissa L. Gilliam, greets interim president Kenneth Freeman and his wife, Janice, during a reception on October 4. Photo by Jackie Ricciardi

Boston University’s 41st annual Joint Service Presidential Pass-in-Review is held on Nickerson Field October 21. Each year, cadets from BU’s Division of Military Education Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps ROTC programs participate in the ceremony, one of the Army’s long-standing traditions. The BU ROTC programs include cadets from several area schools. Photo by Jake Belcher

BU students join in a national walkout on October 23, after a call to action by several organizations nationally supporting Palestine. The group gathered for a rally on the George Sherman Union Plaza, calling for an end to Israel’s siege of Gaza and an immediate end to US military funding and arms to Israel. Photo by Jackie Ricciardi

After a three-year hiatus, the ever-popular annual CAS physics department pumpkin drop returns to the Metcalf Science Center October 27. Throngs of spectators watch from below as students pitch pumpkins from the center’s roof onto the plaza 70 feet below, to the crowd’s delight. But science is the point: the various-size vegetables are filled with different substances, from pudding to paint (the messier the better), affecting their rate and trajectory as they’re hurtled from above. Photo by Cydney Scott

BU Students for Israel, supported by BU Hillel, hold an event on Marsh Plaza December 1, called Bring Them Home Now!, asking the BU community to show solidarity with Israel and demand that all remaining hostages be returned home from Gaza. The rows of 137 chairs contained one or more photos of a hostage still held captive. The circle of chairs represented the 113 hostages released as of December 1. The same day, BU Students for Justice in Palestine held an Emergency Die-In in the GSU Link. Photo by Cydney Scott

Rabbi Shmuel Posner from the Chabad House in Kenmore Square lights the menorah in front of the George Sherman Union during the fifth night of Hanukkah, December 11. Photo by Danny Dolan (COM’25)

BU basketball‘s Matai Baptiste (CAS’27) (from left) reads a book about engineering to six-year-old kindergartners Mireya and Dayton at Boston’s Hurley K–8 School on December 14. Baptiste was among many BU athletes from basketball, lacrosse, softball, ice hockey, rowing, soccer, field hockey, and track and field volunteering for the University’s annual holiday tradition of visiting local elementary schools to read and talk to the students. Photo by Cydney Scott