The Campaign for Arts & Sciences
Over the past eight years of the Campaign for Boston University, numerous alumni, friends, and parents have helped to raise $136.2 million for CAS—exceeding our ambitious goal of $100 million. In the most recent fiscal years new leadership gifts have helped advance a wide range of educational and research efforts. Described below are highlights from the year and the impact these gifts will have on BU and the CAS communities. (See Appendix, Status Report.)
Century Challenge
In fiscal year 2018, nine CAS alumni and friends responded to the Century Challenge initiative, creating scholarships that will provide resources to students with significant financial need. These scholarship donors include George Zac Zac, Jr. (CAS’95 [Par CAS’19, CGS’21]), August G. Olsen (Questrom’56) and Olga J. Olsen (CAS’49), Phillip H. Messing (CAS’59), Carol Ann Bischoff (COM’82), George O. Zimmerman, Julie P. Gordon (CAS’63), Esther A. H. Hopkins (CAS’47 [Par Questrom’82]), Raymond L. Baubles, Jr., and Blake K. Rohrbacher (GRS’98) and Mitzi Rohrbacher (CAS’98, BUTI’91, BUTI’92).
Boosting Ethical Research
Nicholas A. Cernese (CAS’99), a new member of the CAS Dean’s Advisory Board, created the Cernese Ethics and Emerging Sciences Fund. The fund will focus on the ethical and social dimensions of emerging biological and psychological sciences. It will also focus on BU researchers’ cutting-edge work on the biological and psychological underpinnings of morality itself. Cernese was eager to build better, clearer pathways for drug treatments and hoped that the ethics associated with such processes would be of high priority. Ernst & Young has committed to matching this fund dollar for dollar.
Supporting Undergraduate Neuroscience
Dr. Karen Shedlack and her sons, Alexander and Adam Eichenbaum, established the Professor Howard Eichenbaum Undergraduate Neuroscience Fund to support undergraduate summer research internships and continue the advancement of the Undergraduate Program in Neuroscience. Professor Eichenbaum was an internationally recognized figure in advancing the fundamental nature and mechanisms of memory and the founder of the graduate and undergraduate programs in neuroscience at BU.
Faculty and Staff Give to Create Susan K. Jackson Fund
Fifty-five CAS faculty members and staff gave generously to establish the Susan K. Jackson Memorial Awards Fund, named after their colleague who passed away last year. Susan Jackson served the BU community with distinction beginning in 1994, and most recently served as the CAS assistant provost for general education. She guided and mentored undergraduate and graduate students, faculty members, and administrators, and in doing so strengthened the college and left a lasting legacy. This fund will celebrate her memory by honoring those people who create and nurture community in CAS.
Giving Day Breaks New Record for Number of Gifts
Giving Day, held in April, was a tremendous success, raising $148,953 to support the CAS Annual Fund. CAS received 1,853 gifts (a record) from alumni, parents, friends, students, faculty, and staff members. Alumni made up the largest number of donors on Giving Day, accounting for 686 donors.
View the full Donor Roster for FY2017/18
Dean's Advisory Board
The CAS Dean’s Advisory Board has played a leading role in ensuring the success of the Campaign for CAS. The alumni, friends, and parents who comprise the board advise the dean on broad matters of policy and planning, and serve as ambassadors and philanthropic supporters of the college. In their roles, Dean’s Advisory Board members help foster relationships and connections with prospective students and their families, alumni, and potential employers, as well as with individuals, corporations, and other organizations that might be in a position to further the mission of CAS. In 2017, a Dean’s Advisory Board subcommittee was formed to engage and advise on the newly formed academic division of Computational Studies and new initiatives, such as BU in San Francisco and BU Spark!, within the college.
Stewarding Our Resources
The successful Campaign for CAS, robust demand for our graduate and undergraduate programs, and Boston University’s wise financial management have put the College of Arts & Sciences in a strong fiscal position. However, in order to achieve all of our many goals, we must remain careful stewards of our resources. This means monitoring closely and modifying as needed our long- and short-term goals, aligning resources at the college level according to these priorities, and being on the lookout for better ways to leverage our resources.
At the close of the 2018 fiscal year, the college (including the Pardee School) achieved a balanced, unrestricted expense budget of just under $155 million (for the first time, this included fringe benefits, which were charged directly to the college and amounted to $27.4 million). Faculty, staff, and student salaries accounted for the vast majority of expenditures, and regular operating expenses accounted for most of the rest. (See Appendix, Budget.)
Annual Report 2017/2018
From the Dean
Leading a dynamic college and graduate school of arts and sciences within a major research university is by definition a team effort. Interim Dean of Arts & Sciences Stan Sclaroff is determined to build on the accomplishments of former Dean Ann Cudd. The dean search that gets underway this fall is also an exciting opportunity for the school’s leadership, staff, and faculty to continue to imagine what is possible for our college.
A Year of Building
During the 2017/18 academic year, the college and graduate school continued their forward momentum from recent years, strengthening and growing existing programs and initiatives. We helped lead the creation and launch of BU’s new general education curriculum, the BU Hub; launched a new living-learning program, Global House; and continued a pattern of growth in the number of master’s students while maintaining and enhancing the strength and excellence of our PhD programs.
Strengthening Undergraduate Education
At CAS, we provide students with an education for the 21st century—one that is flexible, forward-looking, grounded, and rigorous. In 2017/18, we matriculated one of our most talented ever classes of first-year students. And we worked hard to expand the experiential learning opportunities available to them, most notably with the launch of Global House. We also took the lead in developing a new BU-wide general education curriculum, the BU Hub.
Enhancing Graduate Education
A year ago, the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences (GRS) welcomed a new associate dean: sociologist Emily Barman. Since taking the helm, Barman has focused on expanding support services for students, enhancing diversity and inclusion efforts for our graduate programs, and continuing a pattern of growth in the number of master’s students while maintaining and enhancing the strength and excellence of our PhD programs.
Maintaining a World-Class Faculty
In order for CAS to provide its students with a world-class undergraduate and graduate education and maintain its reputation as a leading research institution, the college must continually renew and enhance its faculty. In 2017/18, CAS hired an excellent and diverse group of new lecturers and junior and senior faculty members.
Conducting Pathbreaking Research
In 2017/18, our faculty continued pushing the boundaries of research in a vast array of fields. Discoveries both major and incremental will have a real, positive impact on people’s lives. One of the biggest leaps forward came with the opening in fall 2017 of the Rajen Kilachand Center for Integrated Life Sciences & Engineering.
Building Our Future Together
In 2017/18, the eighth year of the Campaign for Boston University, numerous alumni, friends, and parents have helped to raise $136.2 million for CAS—far exceeding our ambitious goal of $100 million.
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