College is a confusing place; to make it a little bit less so, here's a list of the most important people, the deans, of every school and college at Boston University. They're there to help students, so here's your first chance to get to know them!
College of Arts and Sciences Dean Virginia Sapiro
Sapiro said that although this is her fourth year at Boston University, ordinarily making her a senior, she doesn’t think she’ll be graduating this year.
At BU, Sapiro specializes in political psychology, political behavior and public opinion, gender politics, feminist and democratic theory and higher education, while acting as dean for both the undergraduate and graduate CAS.
She looks forward to enacting a new agenda shaping CAS’ future, and hopes students will voice their opinions on the matter.
“A lot of it will involve students, and when I hold open forums to talk over the issues, or invite students to my CAS Student Leadership Council meetings, I hope lots of members of the Class of 2014 will come and pitch in with good ideas and good energy,” she said.?
School of Law Dean Maureen O’Rourke
O’Rourke, the LAW dean since 2006, said that this year, the college is especially focusing on reaching out to alumni and employers of all types to find job opportunities for its students.
O’Rourke attended Yale Law School and has been LAW’s dean since 2006.
Her advice for freshman?
“For one day – or even just one hour – a week, take off the headphones, turn off the cell phones, and don’t access the Internet,” she said. “Talk to your colleagues in person. Take a walk along the Charles. Take some time to be out of touch and just relax!”
School of Theology Dean Mary Elizabeth Moore
Moore hopes to expand the college’s global outreach by extending its earlier relationships with Korea, China, Zimbabwe and South Africa.
“Almost a third of our students are international, and they teach us a great deal about their countries and ours,” she said.
The theory and education professor plans on expanding student internship opportunities and partnering with other organizations around the world as part of the school’s work in religion and conflict transformation.
She wishes the incoming freshman class “a season of learning, befriending, and growing that is more challenging and satisfying than anything you have ever known.”
Metropolitan College Dean Jay Halfond
Halfond looks forward to welcoming and working with three new deans and potentially a new provost, he said.
He encourages new freshmen “to be adventurous and curious, and always on the lookout for new experiences and opportunities, and not just pursue the familiar and the safe.”
“BU is a vast candy store to explore and exploit,” he said.
College of Communication Dean Tom Fiedler
Fiedler hails from BU itself, where he obtained his master’s degree in journalism along with a series of prestigious awards, including the COM Distinguished Alumni Award.
Before his tenure as dean, he worked at The Miami Herald for over 30 years, during which time he served as an investigative reporter, political columnist, editorial page editor and executive editor from 2001 to 2008.
Fiedler has been the COM dean since 2008.
College of Fine Arts Dean Benjamin Juarez
CFA Dean Juarez joins this year’s freshmen in beginning a new chapter of their lives at BU.
Juarez, 59, replaces Walt Meissner, the CFA dean ad interim who has held the position for eight years.
Prior to taking on his new position as dean, Juarez served as the director of culture, technology and development at the Dr. Jose Maria Luis Mora Research Institute in Mexico.
“Benjamin brings to BU an impressive spectrum of experience as an artist and leader in the performing and visual arts, a passion for creating a world-renowned conservatory, and a vision for the role of the arts in the fabric of a modern research university,” President Robert Brown said in a press release.
College of General Studies Dean Linda Wells
Wells reassures students that their quest for academic fulfillment is entirely realizable.
“You may feel you are on a treasure-hunt right now, trying to discover the answers to many of the important questions you have regarding your college search,” she said in her dean’s welcome on the CGS website.
She obtained her doctorate in English at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and specializes in law, ethics and 19th and 20th century literature, in particular African-American literature.
Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences Dean Gloria Waters
Waters encourages students to be “doers” in their fields of study.
“At a large research university known as a hub of scientific, intellectual, and cultural activity, it takes a remarkable group of students to stand out as the doers,” she said in her dean’s welcome on the SAR website.
Waters is a professor in the department of speech, language and hearing sciences, and obtained her doctorate in psychology from Concordia University.
School of Education Dean Hardin Coleman
Coleman’s interest in adolescent cultural diversity forms a pillar of his goals in promoting education, according to his biography on the SED website.
“Some of the greatest needs involve equity and diversity,” he said in his welcome address on SED’s website. “It is clear that, if we are to narrow the achievement gaps among socioeconomic groups, we need to help all students develop the skills they need to acquire good jobs. To do so, we need to develop educational practices that are consistently engaging and prepare students to enter a world filled with technology and social change.”
Coleman received his doctorate in counseling from Stanford University and investigates the effect of cultural factors on the counseling process along with his diversity research.
School of Hospitality Dean Christopher Muller
Before being appointed as former SHA Dean James Stamas’ successor, Muller taught at the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University, where he won Hospitality Teacher of the Year five times.
He also helped found the University of Central Florida’s Rosen College of Hospitality Management in 1999, where he was Teacher of the Year in 2001.
Aside from education, Muller founded Za Bistro!, a café in Maitland, Fla and ran a blog titled Starters for Restaurant and Institutions Magazine.
“Chris will bring to SHA enormous professional and creative energy,” Brown said in a June 11 press release.
School of Management Dean Kenneth Freeman
Freeman begins his first year as SMG dean with an impressive resume behind him.
The Harvard Business Review rated him the 67th best performing CEO in the world for his success in leading Quest Diagnostics from a problem-plagued upstart to the world’s leading medical testing company.
“As SMG approaches the beginning of its second century in 2013, I look forward to working with all of its constituencies &- the faculty, students, alumni, staff and corporate leaders – to define how the rigors of scholarship and the relevance of education can inform and influence key conversations shaping our economy and society,” Freeman said in a June 22 press release.?
College of Engineering Dean Kenneth Lutchen
ENG Dean Kenneth Lutchen said he looks forward to furthering the college’s dedication to creating the “societal engineer,” which he described as “an individual grounded in a known engineering discipline but with opportunities to experience cutting edge technologies and fields that engage how engineers can address society’s grand challenges.”
He advises freshmen to add “color and dimension” to their degrees and not settle with just “checking off the boxes of required courses,” he said.
“You will never be able to get these four years back so take advantage of all these wonderful additions as they best match your passion and interests.”
Suzanne Schiavone and Saba Hamedy contributed to the reporting of this story.
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