“This unique new opportunity will allow me to continue to work on the economic and community development initiative and ideas that I have worked on for over 15 years in elected office,” Murray said in a televised press conference at the State House via CBS Boston.

Murray, former mayor of Worcester, is the first lieutenant governor to resign midterm since John Kerry left the same post to join the U.S. Senate in 1985. The Massachusetts Constitution prevents Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick from appointing a new lieutenant governor. He will have to operate without one until his term expires in Jan. 2015.

In January, Murray said he would not run for political office in 2014.

“I said at that time the next chapter of my life needed to be focused primarily on family,” he said. “We have two active beautiful daughters who recently turned eight and seven years old, and I wanted to take advantage of this moment in our lives, as childhood passes quickly and as this is an important time for our family.”

He said he did not actively seek the position with the Chamber of Commerce.

“I was approached by the leadership at the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce with an intriguing idea,” he said. “The chamber’s long-time capable president, Dick Kennedy, is retiring, and the executive committee asked if I was interested in leading the Chamber and growing its mission and its economic impact.”

He said he initially dismissed the idea due to timing, but after discussing the decision with his wife, Tammy, he became interested in opportunities the company presented.

“In my new role as president and CEO of Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce, I will work for the same goals [as during my term as lieutenant governor] except on the private sector side of the equation,” he said. “I look forward to helping the Chamber, its membership and the entire region build a brighter future.”

Murray said his departure is not the result of an ongoing investigation into whether his campaign committee illegally accepted contributions raised by Michael McLaughlin, former Chelsea Housing Authority director.

“It had nothing to do with this decision,” he said. “This is a unique opportunity, a special opportunity.”

Bradley H. Jones, Mass. House Minority Leader, said in a statement on Wednesday that he wishes Murray the best in his endeavors, but that the timing of his departure is questionable.

“On a political level, Lieutenant Governor Murray departs the public sector with a number of unanswered questions regarding his involvement in numerous scandals,” he said. “[He] leaves far more questions upon his departure than answers.”

John Walsh, chair of the Massachusetts Democratic Party, said in a statement on Wednesday that Murray will continue to advocate for economic growth and job creation as president and CEO.

“Lieutenant Governor Murray has been a powerful voice for the people of the Commonwealth and has taken the lead on a large portfolio of issues,” he said. “He has been a valuable member of the Patrick administration. We wish him the best of luck as the CEO of the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce.”

Patrick said at the press conference Murray did excellent work during his term as lieutenant governor.

“I want to add my congratulations and thanks to Tim for the extraordinary role he has played,” he said. “Tim Murray is a trusted partner and just a great friend. He was here everyday for the right reasons.”

Murray acknowledged he did not make his decision lightly and is grateful to all his staff during his term.

“This has been a very difficult, yet empowering decision,” he said. “It has been an honor to serve as lieutenant governor.”

BU joined edX along with Berklee College of Music, Cornell University, Davidson College, the University of Washington and many other universities abroad, the release stated.

“I am excited about the opportunity to help develop and use these enhanced learning tools for our residential students, and to invent new hybrid educational platforms as the next step in our ongoing, significant commitment to online learning, especially for our students in graduate professional programs,” said BU President Robert Brown in the release.

By joining the platform, BU is obligated to offer five massive online open courses, referred to as MOOCs, through edX, according to the release. The MOOCs will be available in one year, while hybrid courses that blend elements of online learning and classroom learning will be available in several years.

“Although MOOCs typically enable people around the world to take a university class for free, without credit, BU and edX have adopted blended or hybrid courses which promote the face-to-face nature of classroom interactions, both students-to-teacher and between students,” the release stated.

Additionally, edX will complement BU’s current online learning system, Blackboard Learn, without replacing it, according to the release

“With more than 200 universities worldwide hoping for admission to edX and with several elite institutions already in, we are extraordinarily excited to be joining edX,” said University Provost Jean Morrison in the release.

EdX was founded by officials at Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the release stated.  The organization now collects data from more than 900,000 students and more than 20 institutions globally.

“It gives us the opportunity to collaborate with the consortium members on using their experience to better understand online learning,” Morrison said. “We can learn from each other and develop best practices around higher education.”

EdX will also make BU professors and courses more accessible to a global audience and will create greater connections for students, the release stated. Online courses or modules through edX may supplement study abroad programs or provide an avenue for BU students to communicate with other students across the world.

BU joins edX as a major step toward establishing digital learning strategy, the release stated. In October, Brown created the Council on Educational Technology and Learning Innovation, a group consisting mostly of BU faculty, to explore online technologies. Joining edX marks BU officials’ latest efforts in this process.

The extension comes after Durocher led BU to a program-best 28-6-3 record during the 2012-13 season and its second national title game appearance in three years, where the Terriers ultimately fell to the undefeated University of Minnesota.

Durocher gathered national attention for his record-setting efforts in the 2012-13 campaign, and was named a finalist for the American Hockey Coaches Association Division I Women’s Ice Hockey Coach of the Year award.

Durocher has led the women’s hockey team since it was formed in 2005. During that time, he has accumulated a record of 159-93-37, three Hockey East championships and four straight NCAA tournament appearances, including two championship game appearances in 2011 and 2013. BU is the only Hockey East team to have played in a national championship final.

In 2013-14, the Terriers will return 18 varsity members, including reigning Hockey East Tournament MVP, junior goaltender Kerrin Sperry, and four players who scored at least 20 points. Forward Louise Warren will serve as captain and defenseman Kaleigh Fratkin will be an assistant captain in their senior seasons for BU.

Boston Police Department Officer James Kenneally said a car hit the pedestrian near Beacon Street and Charlesgate West at about 3:30 p.m.

The pedestrian, a female bicyclist in her early twenties, was pronounced dead at the scene, according to a Sunday BPD press release.

Bay State Road is currently shut down from Charlesgate West to Silber Way, with caution tape blocking off the street as officers investigate at the scene. The road’s sidewalks remain open, but no vehicular or pedestrian traffic is permitted on the street.

BPD officials with the Accident Reconstruction Team are currently investigating the incident, according to the release. The cause of the accident has yet to be identified.

BU graduates cheer during Boston University’s Commencement ceremony Sunday afternoon at Nickerson Field. PHOTO BY KENSHIN OKUBO/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Before a teeming crowd of Boston University’s newest alumni, Teach for America founder Wendy Kopp urged graduates of the Class of 2013 to use their educations to change the world for the better.

“Today, you become the stewards of BU’s long legacy of promoting social justice,” Kopp said. “So, as you continue your journey as BU graduates, the question you face is: What will you do to confront the root causes of violence and injustice in our world? When there is so much injustice to fight, where do you even begin?”

Kopp, in her address at BU’s 140th commencement, said becoming an agent of change does not require sweeping ideas.

“When I started Teach For America, I wasn’t trying to come up with an idea that was going to change the world,” she said. “I was trying to solve a problem that was much closer to home. I was a senior in college and I had no idea what I was going to do with my life.”

When she was unable to find a job that satisfied her after graduation, she combined her passion for education with her sense of what her generation was searching for, Kopp said.

“I felt the whole world was open to me because of the privilege of my own education, but I knew that this wasn’t true for everyone — that despite our aspiration to be a land of equal opportunity, where children are born in this country still determines the educational opportunities they receive and, as a result, their prospects in life,” she said.

Kopp said the world needs individuals who are committed to public service and to helping others.

“In ways good and bad, our world is more interconnected than ever before,” she said. “… We cannot ignore violence, deprivation or repression wherever it exists.”

Kopp received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree before giving her speech. Academy Award-winning actor Morgan Freeman, Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor and chemical engineer Robert Langer and United Methodist Church Bishop Peter Weaver also received honorary degrees at the ceremony.

BU students Lingzi Lu, who was killed in the April 15 Boston Marathon bombings, and Binland Lee, who died in an April 28 house fire in Allston, were awarded posthumous honorary degrees.

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino was awarded the BU Medallion, and a scholarship program for Boston Public School graduates who choose to attend BU was named in his honor.

In his opening remarks, BU President Robert Brown said the tragedy of the Boston Marathon attacks continues to resonate at BU.

“We celebrate a scant four weeks and six days after the finish line bombings at the Boston Marathon, attacks which transformed the marathon from a celebration of striving for excellence, whether a personal best or a world record, into tragedy,” he said. “We have felt the effects of these attacks acutely. Our graduate student Lingzi Lu lost her life.”

He said while April 15 was a day filled with sadness, it demonstrated the selflessness of BU community members.

“As they do every year, members of our community … and student volunteers staffed the medical tents at the finish line,” he said. “This year, instead of treating blisters and dehydration, members of our medical team hastened bravely to save the lives of grievously wounded spectators. These individuals represent Boston University at its best.”

The Class of 2013 presented a record-breaking $44,864 monetary gift to which approximately 2,300 students donated.

Adolfo Gatti, a College of Arts and Sciences senior and the student speaker at commencement, said graduates should take what they have learned at BU with them as they enter the real world.

“When you step out of here, you realize how having known or simply talked to this multitude of personalities [at BU] has given you the most valuable tool to face life: The ability of opening your minds to others,” he said.

He said he is proud to have met his friends at BU and hopes others feel the same.

“I hope that here, you met those people with whom you are going to build a life together, on whom you are ready to lean in your future moments of need and for whom you are willing to give everything you’ve got,” he said. “… I love you, Terriers. I love you, BU.”

Bavis’ resignation comes approximately two months after Jack Parker announced his retirement and BU named David Quinn as the new head coach of the Terriers.

Following Parker’s announcement on March 11, Bavis said he felt he was very qualified for the head coaching position.

“Over the years I’ve had to handle the team on Coach’s behalf [while Parker was out for medical reasons],” Bavis said. “I feel pretty confident the players have responded to me. In some ways I think I’m a little more uniquely positioned to deal with this. As the last couple of years have shown, this is more than just a hockey job.”

When BU announced Quinn as the new head coach on March 26, Quinn was asked if he was concerned about how Bavis’ would react to not getting the job.

“I don’t think there will be anything to smooth over,” Quinn said. “Mike and I have been in a long, long relationship before either one of us got into coaching, so it’s something that Mike and I will certainly handle in the way we normally handle all of our life situations, and I’m looking forward to talking with him.”

Bavis became the associate head coach four seasons ago. Prior to that, he worked as an assistant coach for a decade and played for the Terriers from 1989-93. During his time playing, BU won three Beanpots, won one Hockey East title and participated in four NCAA tournaments.

In the beginning of the 2012-13 season, Bavis filled in as head coach during a home-and-home sweep of the University of Massachusetts while Parker dealt with a sore back.

Leonardo DiCaprio as Jay Gatsby in “The Great Gatsby.”
Photo Courtesy of Warner Bros. Studios

Baz Luhrmann’s new film adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s acclaimed classic, The Great Gatsby, is exactly what the title implies: great. Gatsby follows Nick Carraway (Toby Maguire) as he recounts the tale of his first summer on Long Island Sound. The mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby lives next-door, and hosts lavish parties almost every night in the hopes that his lost love, Daisy, who lives across the sound, might wander in one night.

Luhrmann’s directorial vision takes every single aspect of the novel and turns it into a decadent vision of the nineteen twenties, just as Fitzgerald intended. From the overly vibrant waters that separate the forlorn lovers to the synchronized movements of the hired help, Gatsby’s world is akin to a crystalline Neverland where the bottles of booze are bottomless and every curtain is made of the finest lace. The art direction perfectly highlights the materialism of the American dream, from the mysterious mist that surrounds the green light of Gatsby’s hopes and desires to the simple sheen of the yellow car the film includes as an homage to the 1974 Robert Redford version; every aspect of the film conveys the boozy haze that Carraway describes.

Leonardo DiCaprio’s fantastic portrayal of Jay Gatsby is possibly the most noteworthy aspect of the film apart from its magnificent art direction. DiCaprio’s Gatsby is both incredibly shallow and heartbreakingly idealistic in a way that endears him to the soul of every member of the audience. His likability, however, becomes deeply troubling when one realizes the materialistic vision of his dream to create a decadent world of things for Daisy to exist in. Both DiCaprio and Mulligan’s portrayal of their characters conveys the inability of Gatsby and Daisy to understand or to properly convey the feelings that they possess for one another.

Luhrmann makes interesting choices in molding the characters of Nick and Gatsby. While the film underscores the unreliability of Nick as a narrator by making the audience of his reverie a psychologist. The film also makes the shady source of Gatsby’s mysterious fortune much more prominent than it is in the novel, raising some interesting questions. If Nick has gone through a break down, how much of this story is actually believable? Is this a defense of Gatsby’s character altered by his friend, or the true story of Gatsby’s tragedy? Does the source of Gatsby’s fortune corrupt the dream world that he has created for his long lost love?

While the film creates an amazing artistic vision of the drunken debauchery of the 1920’s and the materialistic aspect of the American dream, Luhrmann draws from a more modern pool for the soundtrack. During the magnificent party scenes at Gatsby’s house, Luhrmann uses music from rap artists such as Jay Z to draw an interesting parallel between the party culture of the roaring 20’s and the party scene of today’s rap culture.

While The Great Gatsby will undoubtedly disappoint those who wanted Luhrmann to stay completely true to the text, those who were looking for a decadent, overly extravagant Gatsby with interesting changes made to highlight the broken vision of the American dream that exists today will consider the film a classic for years to come.

On May 12, 2012, Boston University students completing a semester in New Zealand were involved in a tragic car accident. They had been traveling at the end of a semester abroad.

College of Engineering junior Austin Brashears, School of Management junior Daniela Lekhno and College of Arts and Sciences sophomore Roch Jauberty lost their lives, and five others were injured.

The tragedy rattled the BU community. One year later, those lost live on in our memories and in our actions. The recovery process has been long and difficult, but people have come together with resilience and love.

This video is dedicated to all those affected and to those who lost their lives, a memory we will never forget.

The center, which will open in the fall 2013 semester as part of the College of Engineering, will serve as an educational tool related to engineering and manufacturing, said BU spokesman Colin Riley.

“The College of Engineering and [ENG] Dean [Kenneth] Lutchen have received an $18 million in-kind gift in software from PTC,” Riley said. “That software is the latest and greatest in manufacturing.”

The donation is the largest ENG has ever received, Lutchen said.

“It really validates the exciting ways in which we’re going to try to educate the engineers of the future of the United States and the world and continue to innovate technologies and products,” he said.

Riley said the EPIC will be located at 750 Commonwealth Ave. in the former Guitar Center space.

“The purpose of it is to encompass the entire cycle of manufacturing, from concept through creation … where people who have interest in engineering will actually get to see how the whole process works, not just their segment of it,” he said.

PTC donated two types of software, Lutchen said. The first allows students to create a virtual three-dimensional design of potential products, while the second allows students to manage the development and eventual manufacturing and marketing of the product.

The software will help students become more prepared for the workplace by exposing them to different components of the manufacturing process as well as to innovative technology, Riley said.

“With these software programs, the key is that students will be working using tools that are in the workplace,” he said. “So they will be making a seamless transition from the college experience into the workplace.”

Lutchen said the center will be important to providing students with a thorough understanding of technologies that are used to create products.

“The center will have a very major impact on the holistic way that engineering students at BU understand technologies, from the computer-aided design of a potential product to prototyping that kind of design to eventually creating it in a way that can be deployed for profit in large numbers,” he said.

The center reflects ENG officials’ goal to have engineering students of different disciplines working together, Lutchen said.

“Almost all kinds of projects are at the intersections of many kinds of technologies in engineering,” he said. “So, we’re going to try and create courses in which engineers of different disciplines get to work with engineers of other disciplines and understand how to create a product that has integrated technologies.”