BU welcomes Melissa Gilliam as president at the Tsai Performing Center

By Lindsay Shachnow and Sydney Topf

Melissa Gilliam, Boston University’s first female and first Black president, was announced Wednesday at a ceremony at the Tsai Performance Center and livestreamed for the larger BU community. 

Following interim President Kenneth Freeman’s introduction, BU Board of Trustees Chair Ahmass Fakahany announced Gilliam as BU’s 11th president. 

“We would need the whole day to cover all of her accomplishments,” Fakahany said. “She cares. She is curious, wants to understand our fabric and how to move us further to the next stage of excellence.”

Fakahany said Gilliam’s “heart and character” were important to the committee in the search. 

“Without heart and that extra level of personal conviction and inner moral compass on what’s right, everything else becomes merely transactional,” he said. 

Audience members filled the auditorium, among them were former BU president Robert Brown, BU Police Department Chief Robert Lowe and BU interim president Kenneth Freeman. A reception followed the ceremony.

Tonie Leatherberry, chair of the search committee and board of trustees members, gave a short speech thanking trustee members, search committee members and students for participating in the “monumental” search. 

Leatherberry recognized Dean of Students Jason Campbell-Foster and the “students who engaged in the process.”

“Their leadership and passion for this institution represents the best of us,” Leatherberry said at the event. 

Gilliam, who will assume the position July 1, is currently The Ohio State University’s executive vice president and provost. A standing ovation commenced after Gilliam took the stage.

“As President, I will be building on the achievements of talented leaders who came before me,” Gilliam said. “I’m working with you to shape a shared vision for the future of Boston University.”

Gilliam started her speech by acknowledging her privilege to take on various roles in higher education institutions as a student, faculty member, administrator and provost.

Gilliam previously served as vice provost at the University of Chicago, where she founded the Center for Interdisciplinary Inquiry and Innovation in Sexual and Reproductive Health and served as dean of diversity and inclusion for the Biological Sciences Division at University of Chicago Medicine.

Gilliam also previously taught obstetrics, gynecology and pediatrics, and researched adolescent health and education. 

“As a scholar, I use multivariable frameworks and multi-system frameworks to understand adolescent health outcomes,” Gilliam said. “I ask how policy systems and institutions support or do not support their well being.”

Gilliam said she admires BU for its “policy of inclusion” that has been fundamental “from its inception.”

“It has a global footprint in the research it conducts and the academic programs it offers around the world and in international students, faculty and staff that it attracts,” she said.

Gilliam also spoke about her parents’ influence inspiring her “unwavering confidence in human potential.” Her father was an accomplished artist and her mother was the first Black woman reporter at the Washington Post.

“Through him, I have an enduring commitment to the arts and humanities,” Gilliam said of her father. “Through both of them, I’ve watched them pave the way for others and I too share that commitment.”

Gilliam said her parents led her to one of her core beliefs that “talent is equally distributed, but opportunity is not.”

“A simple question guides my life’s work,” she said. “I asked, ‘why do some young people have adverse outcomes and how can that problem be rectified?’”

Gilliam also shared her “core commitments” as president which include providing students with a challenging education, nurturing the health of students and faculty and partnering with the City, State and higher education institutions to move BU forward. 

Gilliam concluded her speech saying she will spend the upcoming months as president-elect before she starts her role this summer “listening, learning and preparing to lead.”

“I am grateful to the BU global community for making me feel welcomed and for your partnership and the years to come,” she said. “There is boundless opportunity ahead.”