By Art Jahnke

IN HIS FIRST FIVE YEARS, BU PRESIDENT ROBERT A. BROWN HAS MADE THE FUTURE PART OF EVERYBODY’S JOB Did you hear the one about the engineer who rebuilt BU?

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222-512-51 BostoniaWinter11_03.inddBostoniaWinter11_03.indd 2727 22/4/11/4/11 22:36:36 PMPM “I MADE THE TRANSITION FROM COMPLICATED PHYSICAL SYSTEMS

Five and a half years into Brown’s tenure, BU At last year’s Matriculation, he urged students to learn has seen four years of record surpluses and has quantitative reasoning and how to write clearly. increased financial aid to students.

here were two to begin the job. By the time to pop up anytime, anywhere, have also set new records: things Robert Brown a new presidential search like targets in a Whack-A- prior to Brown’s presidency, promised himself he committee started talking to Mole game. the University had had only T would not get caught Brown in spring 2005, many “There were dead cats one gift of more than $10 mil- up in when he was consider- observers of higher educa- everywhere,” Brown recalls. lion. Since he took office, six ing taking the job of president tion were not looking at Bos- “And nobody wanted to bury large gifts account for more of University. “One ton University as a model of them.” than $60 million. was what the Globe had writ- executive leadership. Ultimately, he says, he In September, the many ten about the University and The second item on dealt with the complexity by positive changes that Brown John Silber,” says Brown. “The Brown’s short list of things following Albert Einstein’s has brought to BU were of- other was trying to under- to steer clear of presented a famous advice to physicists: ficially recognized when the stand the place before I had curious personal anomaly. “Things should be made as Board of Trustees expressed to commit. It was too compli- Because while most leaders simple as possible, but not the hope that he would con- cated for that.” of billion-dollar enterprises simpler.” tinue doing what he had been The first item, Brown want to avoid complexity, It worked. Today, five and doing for another five years. knew, was a requirement for Brown, a provost and former a half years into Brown’s ten- Brown said yes. anyone hoping to shepherd chemical engineer and applied ure, the University has seen BU into the 21st century. mathematician at MIT, is in four years of record surplus- FIRST MOVES Silber (Hon.’95), the Univer- love with it. An organization es, money that has made it As Einstein might have rec- sity’s president from 1971 to with 17 schools and colleges, possible to put $172 million ommended, Brown acted as 1996 and later chancellor, had 32,000 students, more than into building new dorms quickly as possible, but not been a walking lightning rod 8,600 employees, and a bud- and renovating old ones, and quicker. Just three months for the Globe, and seemed to get of $1.7 billion offered an $100 million into moderniz- after occupying the eighth- revel in the philosophical irresistible opportunity for ing classrooms and labs. The floor corner office that looks clashes with the press and analysis and synergies. University has increased across the Charles River at the political opponents, not to “I have always enjoyed financial aid to students by institute where he worked for mention his faculty. And dealing with the complex- $32.8 million, bringing the 25 years, he asked the heads when Silber stepped out of ity,” says Brown. “I made the total allocated to financial aid of all departments to create a firing range, the Board of transition from complicated to $277.4 million annually. 15-page document describing Trustees stepped in and gave physical systems to the com- And his commitment to re- the state of their department the press something else to plexity of the academic orga- search and his efforts to build and where they wanted to take potshots at: in 2003, the nization.” an infrastructure to support go. And when those reports board paid former NASA di- At BU, however, there was that research helped increase arrived, he told his deans to rector Daniel Goldin, whom more than physical complex- sponsored program awards boil them down to a single they had signed on as presi- ity to deal with. There were by 33 percent from the time 15-page document for each dent, $1.8 million to walk politics, and the shards of of his arrival, to $407.8 mil- school. The goal, a new one for away just before he was set unresolved issues were likely lion in 2010. Alumni gifts BU, was to create a democrati-

WEB EXTRA Highlights from President Robert A. Brown’s five years at BU are at bu.edu/bostonia.

222-512-51 BostoniaWinter11_03.inddBostoniaWinter11_03.indd 2828 22/6/11/6/11 111:301:30 AMAM TO THE COMPLEXITY OF THE ACADEMIC ORGANIZATION,” SAYS BROWN.

Brown meets with parents at a post-Matriculation reception. From his eighth-floor office, the president can look across the Charles River to his former home at MIT.

cally crafted roadmap to the the University community THE BROWN BIO: SHORT FORM future: a strategic plan. to comment on. Brown asked Julie Sandell, Faculty for feedback, and he got lots of Before he was appointed president of Council chair from 2006 to it, including several concerns in September 2005, 2008, says Brown’s first major about the speed at which he Robert A. Brown was provost and War- move accomplished two im- was pushing ahead. ren K. Lewis Professor of Chemical portant things. It yielded the “I knew it was going to Engineering at the Insti- outlines of a useful strategic be hard,” he says. “But I also tute of Technology. He joined the MIT plan, and “it showed that this knew that if you don’t start faculty in 1979. In 25 years at MIT, he was going to be a new era of moving forward, you spend was head of the department of chemi- cooperative efforts.” so much time wringing your cal engineering and dean of the School “Dr. Brown realized very hands over the past. You have of Engineering. He became provost in quickly that a plan that grows to tweak or manage the pro- 1998. He served as executive editor from the bottom up serves a cess as it goes. You had to fix of the Journal of Chemical Engineer- number of purposes,” says it as it moved.” ing Science from 1991 to 2004 and has publishedblished more Sandell, a School of Medicine In September 2007, Brown than 250 papers in areas related to mathematical modeling professor of anatomy and unveiled Forging Our Future of transport phenomena in materials. He is a member of the neurobiology and associate by Choosing To Be Great (bu National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engi- provost for faculty develop- .edu/strategicreport). The neering, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. ment. “It would engage the plan was unabashedly am- A Texan by birth, Brown earned a BS and an MS in chemical faculty in thinking in a for- bitious. It outlined ways to engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. He received a ward-looking way about how make it easier for students PhD in chemical engineering at the University of Minnesota. to take BU to the next step. enrolled in one college to He has been a director of the DuPont Company since April It was a novel idea, that the study in another; it called for 2007 and most recently, he was appointed a trustee of the faculty would have a collec- improvements to dorms and Universities Research Association. From 2006 through 2008 tive responsibility in deter- classrooms and for the re- he served on the President’s Council of Advisors on Science mining the direction of the cruitment of 100 new faculty and Technology, a panel established to provide a steady institution. It was more of for the College of Arts & Sci- stream of expert advice on a wide range of scientific and tech- a partnership than many fac- ences. Several of the profes- nical matters. He is chair of the Academic Research Council of ulty had experienced.” sional schools were targeted the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Singapore, and he In December 2006, 15 for growth. The School of is on the board of Singapore’s National Research Foundation. months after Brown came Management was slated to Brown lives in Brookline, Mass., with his wife, Beverly to BU, his strategic planning hire 20 new faculty, the School Brown, director of development—an unpaid position—for task force delivered a 33-page of Law would begin a capital BU’s Center for Global Health & Development. They have two framework for the plan. It was campaign for an expanded and grown sons. AJ posted on the BU website for fully renovated facility, with all to read and for anyone in a dollar-for-dollar match in

PHOTOGRAPHS BY BU PHOTOGRAPHY Winter–Spring 2011 BOSTONIA 29

222-512-51 BostoniaWinter11_03.inddBostoniaWinter11_03.indd 2929 22/5/11/5/11 22:45:45 PMPM “BROWN HAD CARTE BLANCHE FROM THE BOARD TO REPLACE ANYONE

In September, the trustees expressed the hope that Dropping the puck at the Terrier hockey Brown would stay on for another five years. He said yes. home opener, in 2005.

funding from the University, ing of our financial operat- residence for students at the from previous administra- and the College of Fine Arts ing model.” School of Medicine. tions and didn’t bring in any would expand and renovate. Most of the funding of the Mercurio says the major- of his own people.” The plan also established plan—60 percent, it was decid- ity of the University’s forward At least, he didn’t bring in that undergraduate student ed—would come from opera- motion has been guided by one any of his own people to fill top financial aid would keep tions and from debt financing. of two notions introduced by administrative posts. Brown Boston University accessible Mercurio says Brown’s modi- Brown. One is the strategic did and does very often seek to qualified students regard- fications to finances, which plan; the other is the virtuous advice from one of his oldest less of their economic status, include a greater reliance on circle concept, often applied and wisest friends: his wife, and it cited as a priority an data-driven financial analyt- to business: a closed system of Beverly. “She’s my best friend, effort to make faculty sala- ics, have allowed the Univer- events in which each benefits my confidant,” says Brown. ries and benefits competitive sity to double—to $100 million the next. In the practical case “We talk about work-related to attract the best teachers, a year—the money transferred of BU, says Mercurio, it means things all the time. She’s really scholars, and researchers. It to academic programs, stu- if the University does well, it come at this as a partner and included new opportunities dent services, and building. reinvests in itself, which leads immersed herself in BU.” for alumni, such as mentoring “Some of the money we to its doing better, and rein- Beverly Brown is the un- programs to connect students were able to transfer came vesting more. paid director of development to the professional world and from the elimination of units At the beginning of the for BU’s Center for Global a revamped career counseling that were not core to the Uni- 2008 fall semester, three Health & Development (see system to provide broader re- versity, like the Tyngsboro years into the new era of Bob sidebar, page 31). They have sources for BU graduates. campus,” says Mercurio, “and Brown, BU had completed two grown sons and live The price tag was as im- some of it came from fine-tun- the two best fiscal operating in the 160-year-old Gothic pressive as the plan: $1.8 ing things.” years in its history. University revival mansion known as billion over 10 years, with Savings from those ef- leadership seemed comfort- Sloane House. On summer annual commitments grow- forts, Mercurio says, will pay able with the new president, weekends, Brown says, the ing to $225 million per year. for projects such as a new who, to the relief of many, had two head to their house on the But during the many months $52 million business manage- made no substantial person- Cape, and as often as possible, that the faculty had been hon- ment system, making wireless nel changes. to the Ocean Edge golf course ing the plan, Brown and BU’s internet access available all “Brown had carte blanche in Brewster. “We’re blessed,” executive leadership had been across campus, creating a new from the board to replace any- he says. “Bev and I have a lot of exploring ways to pay for it. $65 million student services one he wanted,” says trustee things we like to do together.” “Bob was an instant expert center on East Campus, and David D’Alessandro, a former in financial matters,” says a renovation of the School Board of Trustees chair and TROUBLE AHEAD Joseph Mercurio, the Uni- of Law tower. Alumni giv- the chair of the search com- By mid-September 2008, the versity’s executive vice presi- ing also is playing important mittee that recruited Brown. University leadership was dent. “In a very short time he new roles, such as in the de- “But he didn’t do that. He rec- confronted with something had a thorough understand- velopment of the $38 million ognized the enormous talent that hadn’t been factored

WEB EXTRA Through March, Bob Brown will take your questions about changes at the University.

222-512-51 BostoniaWinter11_03.inddBostoniaWinter11_03.indd 3030 22/6/11/6/11 111:241:24 AMAM HE WANTED, BUT HE DIDN’T DO THAT,” SAYS DAVID D’ALESSANDRO.

Brown, along with Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, attends Boston Celtics star Larry Bird received an the Chelsea High School Honor Society induction in 2007. Boston honorary Doctor of Letters in 2009. University managed the Chelsea public schools for 20 years.

in to the strategic plan: the NEW HOMES FOR RESEARCH AND SCHOLARSHIP economy, threatened by an ocean of bad mortgages and President Robert A. advances into practical appli- called the University Honors dangerously leveraged banks, Brown’s commitment cations, including treatment College, which offers cross- was about to fall off a cliff. to boundary-pushing, of neurologic and psychiatric disciplinary classes, intensive Most university presidents interdisciplinary re- disorders and development of seminars, and independent watched nervously, unwilling search and academic new directions in educational study for seniors. It super- to make any move that might practice. sedes the University Profes- signal doubt about the fiscal excellence comes to life sors Program, being phased soundness of their institution. in these three, among CENTER FOR GLOBAL out when the last class gradu- Brown didn’t wait. On Octo- several, initiatives. HEALTH & DEVELOPMENT ates in 2011. The Honors Col- ber 1, he announced that the In September 2009, Brown lege curriculum encompasses University would put a freeze CENTER FOR NEUROSCIENCE committed $10 million in fund- all four years of an undergrad- on the hiring of new employ- In fall 2007, Brown estab- ing to the Center for Global uate program and features ees and on commitments to lished the Center for Neuro- Health & Development, a two semester-long freshman capital projects whose con- science, a University-wide School of Public Health–based seminars, two semester- struction contracts had not initiative to advance cutting- multidisciplinary applied long sophomore discussion been nailed down. edge interdisciplinary, col- research center that hopes classes, a one-semester junior Less than two weeks later, laborative research and edu- to solve the critical global year course, and a keystone the Dow Jones industrial av- cation on the neural basis of health and social development research project during se- erage tumbled 18 percent and behavior and cognition. Under challenges of our time. The nior year. Students will also the Standard & Poor’s 500 fell the directorship of Howard mission of the center is to con- complete an internship during more than 20 percent in five Eichenbaum, a College of duct high-quality policy- and the summer of sophomore days of trading. Arts & Sciences professor of program-relevant applied re- year. Freshman courses focus “That was a case where psychology and a University search and to advocate for the on research, creation, and Bob was a real visionary,” Professor, the center explores use of the research evidence discovery involving fine arts, says Robert Knox (CAS’74, experimental and theoretical to improve the health of low- philosophy, management, GSM’75), a 13-year veteran computational approaches income or marginalized popu- history, literature, and engi- and current chair of the Board that span molecular, cellular, lations around the world. neering. Sophomore courses of Trustees. “He managed the systems, behavioral, and cog- look at practices of inquiry crisis better than most, if not nitive levels of analysis. The UNIVERSITY HONORS across the arts, sciences, and all, peer institutions.” goal of the research is to COLLEGE professions. Juniors develop The recession of 2008 expand the understanding of In spring 2008, BU estab- a detailed proposal for their and 2009, the worst beating fundamental mechanisms of lished a University-wide keystone project, to be carried handed to the stock market brain function and translate undergraduate program, out senior year. AJ since the Great Depression, would cost most universities

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222-512-51 BostoniaWinter11_03.inddBostoniaWinter11_03.indd 3131 22/6/11/6/11 111:391:39 AMAM “EVERYONE SAYS, ‘IF I HAD X, I COULD DO BETTER.’ AND THEY’RE RIGHT.”

Hugo Shong (COM’87, GRS’92) and Brown Brown throws out the first pitch at a Red Sox exchange signed copies of the Boston University game at Fenway Park in 2010. Alumni Association of China’s $1 million pledge.

dearly, but unequally. Ironi- “When you look at Bob’s That matters, says Brown, be- the 41 members are new to cally, the schools with the tenure,” says Knox, “you see cause tuition and fees account the board,” says Brown. “We greatest endowments (and truly astute financial manage- for about 46.6 percent of the have a lot of people who have therefore the greatest de- ment. I think BU is the only University’s total revenue, had past associations with the pendence on endowments) major university that has while auxiliary services such school and some who were not were hardest hit. Harvard, for received a ratings upgrade in as dining and housing bring in involved at all. Commercial example, whose endowment that time by both major rating about 16.1 percent. Sponsored real estate developer Steve (reduced from nearly $37 bil- agencies, Moody’s and Stan- research contributes about Karp, one of the most suc- lion to $26 billion) supported dard & Poor’s.” 23.9 percent. cessful businessmen in New a third of its operating budget, That astute financial man- England, is now the chair of was forced to eliminate almost agement comes to Brown NEW PEOPLE, NEW IDEAS the budget and finance com- 300 jobs, freeze salaries, and painstakingly, and as he says, “I’m a great fan of private mittee. I can say I have the put on hold plans to expand painfully. “The most de- higher education,” Brown privilege of being a president its campus in Allston. At BU, pressed I get annually is the says. “I love the self-contain- with one of the best boards in where the far more meager time of year I see the budget ment of it. I love the idea of the country, because they put endowment (down from $1.2 proposals,” he says. “Every- working between the leader- the time and energy into it and billion to $916 million) pro- body comes in and says, ‘If I ship of the University and the they are aligned in trying to vided less than 4 percent of had this incremental amount faculty and the board. There’s making the University better.” the operating budget, Brown of resource, I could do X, and no governor, there’s no legis- Brown has put similar en- navigated the downturn deft- I could be better.’ And they’re lature, there’s nobody else. If ergy and discernment into his ly, with minimal pain and with all right. The question is how you can figure out a financial search for deans, appointing a mathematician’s precision. to prioritize things.” model that can get you where 14 of 19 deans, and bringing in He avoided across-the-board One of Brown’s most visi- you want to go within those such highly regarded leaders salary cuts, froze salaries of ble—to prospective students— constituencies, you go.” as Kenneth Freeman to the $150,000 or more, and capped priorities has been a limit on In fact, Brown has done School of Management and salary increases for those tuition increases. In the last more than figure out a fi- Benjamin Juarez to the Col- earning less than $150,000 at two years, he has kept the nancial model within those lege of Fine Arts. Last fall, 2 to 3 percent. Following the rise to 3.73 percent, the low- constituencies; he’s recon- he recruited Jean Morrison advice of seven task forces that est increase in three decades, stituted the most influential as provost, luring her away had been charged with cutting and a likely influence on the of them, the Board of Trust- from the University of South- $10 million from the $1.9 bil- increasing number of appli- ees, working closely with ern California, where she had lion budget, the University cants for slots in the fresh- longtime members, such as been executive vice provost pulled 125 job postings. It man class. During his tenure, Knox, D’Alessandro, and Alan for academic affairs and also closed the Sargent Cen- applications for undergradu- Leventhal (Hon.’09), another graduate programs, as well as ter for Outdoor Education in ate admission have jumped former board chair, to identify director of the USC Women New Hampshire, as well as 30 percent, from 31,851 to and recruit new trustees. in Science and Engineering University Computers. 41,509, an all-time record. “Today more than half of program (see page 14).

32 BOSTONIA Winter–Spring 2011

222-512-51 BostoniaWinter11_03.inddBostoniaWinter11_03.indd 3232 22/4/11/4/11 22:34:34 PMPM “Hiring Jean Morrison REENGAGING THE ALUMNI COMMUNITY says a lot about where the University has come under President Robert A. Brown’s 10-year, $1.8 “We also took a look at BU’s institutional Bob’s leadership,” says Knox. billion strategic plan will be financed largely history and realized our students, alumni, and “I don’t think there’s a chance from operations and debt financing, but much faculty have always been committed to service, in the world that someone of of the support for professorships, scholar- says Hall. “We knew we could leverage that her caliber would come here ships, and funding for schools and colleges commitment for engagement.” if she were not fully convinced will require a new level of commitment from Last year, the BU Alumni Association that we have an amazing or- alumni and friends. Toward that end, Brown has launched the annual Global Day of Service, ganization, and an ability to engineered a revitalization of Development & during which alumni around the world served become an even greater or- Alumni Relations (DAR) and of the University’s lunch to the homeless, helped build a home for ganization in a reasonable commitment to an alumni community of nearly the needy, cleared trails in state parks, volun- period of time.” 300,000. teered at local food banks, and even organized Working with deans and In 2006, he brought in Scott Nichols, for- a carnival for underprivileged children, in New the Faculty Council, Brown merly dean for development, alumni relations, Delhi. The event drew 3,700 participants, who has also made progress nar- and communications at Harvard Law School, as performed 15,000 hours of service at 60 sites rowing the historic gap be- DAR vice president. The next year, Nichols re- around the world. The second annual Global tween the salaries of men and cruited Steven Hall, from the Uni- Day of Service will take place on Satur- women. Faculty Council chair versity of Houston, as associate day, April 16, 2011. WEB EXTRA Adam Sweeting, a College of vice president for alumni relations. Read about In one of the most successful, and General Studies associate Armed with a recent survey of six large gifts emotional, events in recent memory, professor of humanities, says alumni—with 90,000 responses— accounting BU invited the Class of 1970 back for Brown’s willingness to share Hall and his team worked closely for more than the Commencement they never had. $60 million all data on salary ranks and with the leadership of the BU Concerns for safety during a period of at bu.edu/ gender has helped to reform Alumni Association to build an bostonia. national unrest persuaded officials to the relationship between the engagement program to meet the cancel graduation 41 years ago. The faculty and administration. needs of BU and its alums. gathering last May drew 220 alumni and their “There is a transparency “It became clear that BU alumni wanted two families and was covered by and a sharing of informa- things: connection and content,” says Hall. and . tion that is greatly appreci- “They want to connect to the University and At the same time, DAR is employing the pow- ated,” says Sweeting, lauding one another through affinities that are impor- er of social media. The BU Alumni Association’s Brown’s launch of joint ini- tant to them, and the content of those con- Facebook fan page (facebook.com/bualumni), tiatives between the Charles nections has to add value to their own lives.” launched in 2009, has more than 31,000 fans, River and Medical Campuses, The BU Alumni Association also replaced the second highest of any alumni association in such as the Center for Global class-based reunions with an inclusive Alumni the country, and its Twitter feed (twitter.com/ Health & Development, the Weekend, which invites all alumni back to bualumni) has more than 6,100 followers. Center for Neuroscience, campus, rather than specific graduating The bottom line: in the fiscal year ending and the University Honors classes. The change is paying off: while the old 2010, more than 37,000 BU alumni and their College (see sidebar, page 31). model brought back an average of 600 to 700 guests attended more than 700 alumni events. “He thinks very strategically alumni each year, last fall’s event attracted Just two years earlier, only 20,000 showed up about academic programs and more than 4,000. at some 200 events. AJ how to make the University an even better private research university.” Brown’s achievements in his Brown is more modest. He gether was really trivial.” Brown also recognized a first five years cover the wa- insists that the DNA needed In the wood-paneled office few governance holes that terfront: he’s worked in im- for much of the progress made where Brown will map out had never been filled. And so, pressively collaborative ways was here long before his arriv- BU’s journey for the next five for the first time in BU’s his- with the faculty, he’s diversi- al. “My sense of BU, and that years, a stuffed toy cat sprawls tory, the University hired a fied the Board of Trustees, hasn’t changed at all since I ar- on a windowsill, facing out vice president for research, a he’s expanded the University’s rived, is that the faculty have across the Charles River. The chief investment officer, and a footprint both physically and always had a great desire to cat, he says, was a gift from a chief information officer. academically, and he’s made have the institution be more colleague who heard Brown D’Alessandro, a longtime BU a more desirable destina- recognized than it is,” he says. remark shortly after his ar- observer of BU, former chair, tion for incoming freshmen. “They have always wanted to rival on the dead cats every- CEO, and president of John Most notably, he says, in eco- be recognized for the qual- where that no one wanted to Hancock Financial Services, nomically uncertain times, ity of this institution and the bury. Today, with this one and the author of three books Brown has set the University quality of what we do. My floppy exception, the dead on executive leadership, says on a sound financial course. bringing that alignment to- cats are buried. p

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