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Executive VP Joseph Mercurio Leaves University

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Executive VP Joseph Mercurio Leaves University Kenneth Elmore (SED’87), BU dean of students, jumps into the Charles River in honor of the Class MED PROF TO LEAD his title as a MED professor of brims with editorial experi- of 2011. Watch a video of JOURNAL pediatrics. ence. He is currently the first Elmore taking the plunge at HOWARD BAUCHNER “It’s truly an honor and a U.S.-based editor in chief of bu.edu/bostonia. TO EDIT AMA’S INFLUENTIAL privilege to direct JAMA,” the British Archives of Disease PUBLICATION Bauchner says. in Childhood, pub- From the Gilded lished by the Royal Age to the Inter- College of Paedi- HOWARD BAUCHNER, a 25- net Age, JAMA atrics and Child year veteran of the School of has been the Health. He is a His work in complexity science Medicine, has been named scholarly flagship member of the edi- has spurred new devices to the new editor in chief of the of one of the most torial boards of sev- treat stroke-induced brain 128-year-old Journal of the influential pro- eral publications, failure, enhanced doctors’ American Medical Association fessional groups and author of more understanding of how human (JAMA). in the country. than 125 papers. posture is warped by aging Bauchner (MED’79) suc- Published continuously since Bauchner plans “intelli gent and Parkinson’s disease, and ceeds friend and fellow pedia- 1883, the magazine bills itself innovation” at JAMA, he says, helped invent synthetic gene trician Catherine DeAngelis, as “the most widely circulated by updating its website and networks, whose many uses the journal’s first woman medical journal in the world.” print presentations and bring- include fighting bacterial editor. JAMA is based in Chi- In selecting Bauchner as ing in new columnists to pro- infections. cago, so Bauchner is taking editor, JAMA has chosen vide “provocative content.” Winner in 2000 of the a leave of absence, retaining a physician whose résumé RICH BARLOW University’s highest teaching honor, the Metcalf Cup and Prize, he is famous among engineering students for his Executive VP Joseph Mercurio Leaves University ability to make extremely com- plex concepts understandable, AFTER 38 YEARS, his ability to grasp the fairs, senior vice presi- and often funny. MASTER OF MAJOR complexity of Boston dent, and since 1995, EXPANSION University and guide executive vice presi- MOVES ON effective decisions in dent. In that role, he so many facets of what has led the University’s New York City last March with It all started with we do,” Brown wrote. senior management other finalists for the awards tuition remission. In “No individual has team and directed all announcements. “I learned when August 1973, Joseph played a larger role in nonacademic pro- my name was called,” she says. Mercurio was a deter- world. Only this time, creating a collegial en- grams and service and “It’s a tremendous honor and an mined undergraduate he’s done it. vironment for all of us support activities, as august moment.” business student at Joseph P. Mercurio, who have the privilege well as business func- The award is another national Suffolk University, executive vice presi- of working at BU.” tions and commercial honor for the former New York struggling to come up dent of the University In the years since activities. Times reporter, who won the with the next semes- for the past 16 years, his first job as an asso- He has overseen Pulitzer Prize for feature re- ter’s tuition. left his post on July 1 ciate budget director the expansion of the porting in 1994, the first time “Someone told me if to launch what he calls allowed him to take Charles River Campus a black journalist received an I could get a job at BU, his “third chapter” and classes at no cost, and the Medical Cam- individual reporting award. I could get free tuition,” “form a new business Mercurio has seen the pus and has guided ef- The 37-year-old National he recalls. “So I did. enterprise.” annual budget at BU forts that pushed BU’s Book Critics Circle, made up of I took the job to get In a letter sent to grow from $89 million endowment above $1 more than 600 book reviewers, tuition remission to get University leadership, to $2 billion, and he billion for the first time. calls The Warmth of Other Suns my degree and get out President Robert A. has directed over nine He leaves behind a “a magisterial work.” Wilkerson’s into the commercial Brown described Mer- million square feet of reputation as an extra- book made the New York Times world.” curio (MET’81) as “an development, valued at ordinarily fair-minded best-seller list, with Times re- Now, almost 38 icon for the effective more than $2 billion. and supportive leader viewer Janet Maslin referring to years later, the man management of Boston After serving for in the BU community it as a “landmark” work. who planned and University” and urged four years as an associ- and as someone whose The book also won an Out- directed the largest the BU community to ate budget director, sense of purpose unit- standing Literary Work award expansion of the Bos- thank him for “his in- Mercurio was assistant ed the business and from the National Association ton University campus credible role” and wish vice president and educa tional missions for the Advancement of Colored is still eager to get out him well. comptroller, vice presi- of the University. People. into the commercial “Joe is legendary for dent for business af- ART JAHNKE p nes discussing the art of conducting. | Watch a video of CAS’ David Ferry reading his poem “The Birds.” | Visit bu.edu/bostonia. 004-15_BostoniaSummer11_03r1.indd4-15_BostoniaSummer11_03r1.indd 1515 66/10/11/10/11 33:11:11 PMPM.
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