Over the past year, BU Arts & Sciences has continued to evolve. Both as individuals and as a whole community, we have adapted to new challenges while pursuing our mission to provide knowledge to the world and prepare the next generation of leaders and citizens. We have made important research advances in areas that address pressing global challenges: making cities more livable and sustainable, combating global warming and environmental destruction, unlocking the mysteries of the human brain, and harnessing the power of computation and data science to help the world. We have made strides in diversifying our faculty and providing greater access to higher education for people no matter their background or circumstances. And we have strengthened our undergraduate and graduate curriculums, student support services, and experiential learning opportunities. All while building our programs’ reputations, the quality of our incoming students, and our fundraising capacity.

Graduate School of Arts & Sciences (GRS) programs enjoyed continued enrollment growth, thanks to a concerted, multi-year effort to expand awareness of our programs.

While this report provides a much more complete picture, I want to share a few highlights with you from 2018/19:

  • With help from Arts & Sciences faculty members, BU launched MetroBridge, an experiential learning program that connects faculty members with local governments to understand their priorities and then translate each city’s unique needs into course projects. Students in undergraduate and graduate classes engage in a partner city’s projects as class assignments while working directly with local government leaders during the semester.
  • Graduate School of Arts & Sciences (GRS) programs enjoyed continued enrollment growth, thanks to a concerted, multi-year effort to expand awareness of our programs. Four hundred forty-three MA, MS, and MFA students accepted their offers of admission for fall 2018, a 21 percent increase over 2017 and a 72 percent increase over 2015. Two hundred fifty-six PhD students matriculated at GRS, a 6 percent increase over 2017 and a 35 percent increase over 2015.
  • The Class of 2022 in the College of Arts & Sciences (CAS) had an average SAT score of 1413 (out of 1600), continuing an upward trend as CAS and BU have become global magnets for talented students.
  • The world once again took notice of our excellent faculty, as Sigrid Nunez (creative writing) won a National Book Award, James Uden (classical studies) received a Mellon New Directions Fellowship, Emily Whiting (computer science) earned a Sloan Research Fellowship, Vivien Schmidt (political science) won a Guggenheim Fellowship, and Jerry Chen (biology) received $4.6 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health to study microscopy technologies and how the brain assembles memory.