Connection, Fellowship, and Community: Dr. Beverly Brown
Voice of Dr. Beverly Brown, BUWG Honorary President, Office of the President, Boston University, and Director of Development, BU School of Public Health
Boston University’s founding mission was built upon inclusion, regardless of gender, race, or religion. The University has lived up to its mission by admitting the first women to medical school and expanding admission for women to all academic divisions by 1867. Despite the inclusive policies, women were few in number at BU. What women needed was a connection with other women for them to build fellowship and a sense of community. In 1912 the first women’s organization was founded to help provide community and support the advancement of women at BU. This group, along with Louisa Holman Fisk, lobbied for and attained the first Dean of Women, Lucy Jenkins Franklin. In 1928, Dean Franklin established the first undergraduate women’s collegiate cooperative house in the nation called the HER House.
The recognition of the importance of communities of women grew and under the leadership of Ms. Fisk and Dean Franklin, the BU Women’s Council was established in 1924 as a community of women from the community supportive of BU’s mission. They worked to raise funds to create an affordable graduate women’s dormitory in the heart of the BU campus when it was in Back Bay. The Fisk House opened in 1933 and has operated continuously to provide housing at nominal cost for 16 graduate women (as a) subsidized graduate student residence at BU.
The growing awareness of the value of communities of women motivated President Harold Case and Dean of Women, Elsbeth Melville to gather a new group of wives of faculty and administration as well as female BU employees to support BU’s mission of inclusion, in 1956. This year the BU Women’s Guild will celebrate its 66 anniversary. We have stayed true to our mission of uniting women in fellowship, acquainting them with the broader BU activities, and building community at BU. In 1981, the focus sharpened on our mission under the leadership of Kathryn Silber and Ruth Batchelder to establish scholarships for graduate women over the age of 30. In celebration of the Guild’s 60th anniversary in 2016, an endowment was established to expand the support that is given each year.
“We have stayed true to our mission of uniting women in fellowship, acquainting them with the broader BU activities, and building community at BU.”
The Women’s Guild continues to grow and evolve as the Women’s Council merged with the Guild and the Fisk House was moved from Back Bay to Bay State Road, right next to the HER House in 2020. As it did in 1933, the Fisk House continues to support and house 16 female graduate students at a discounted rate. The sale of the original Fisk House has created an endowment to support the house and the Women’s Guild in perpetuity.
The Women’s Guild continues to create a community of women who find fellowship and build connections with each other and while celebrating graduate students through scholarships and residency in the Fisk House.
We encourage all women employees and friends of BU to join us in advancing this critical mission. There are many ways that you can engage with the Women’s Guild and the annual dues are nominal. As the Wife of the President, I have served as the Honorary President of the Women’s Guild for almost 18 years. It is my honor to serve this organization through my time, talents, and gifts. My rewards are forming relationships with Guild members and meeting our scholarship awardees as well as those who live in the Fisk House each year. The awardees’ stories quickly convince you that this support is critical for most of them to finish their education. Please join me in helping the next generation of women be all that they can be.
About the author: Dr. Beverly Brown is the BU Women’s Guild Honorary President and serves on the BUWG Awards, Fisk House, Governance, and Task Force committees. She works with the Office of the President and is the Director of Development in the Boston University School of Public Health.
About Her Voice. Her Message. Expertise, diversity, philanthropy, and fellowship are woven throughout the Boston University Women’s Guild, Women of Color Circle, and the greater BU community. This series taps into the University’s professional, academic, and philanthropic network, and proudly welcomes a variety of voices, experiences, and expertise.
Explore our website and learn more about membership opportunities.