- Date:
- 1839 - present
- Areas Of Involvement:
- Coeducation
- Notable Alumni:
- Ha Jin
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
- James Lawson
- Keiko Fujimori
- Related People:
- Mercy Ruggles Bisbe Jackson
Boston University
News •
Boston University, private coeducational institution of higher learning in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. The university spans three campuses—one along the Charles River, another in Boston’s South End, and the Fenway Campus in the Longwood Medical Area—covering more than 140 acres. Boston University (BU) competes in the NCAA’s Division I athletics as the Terriers, with programs including hockey, rowing, and track and field. The university maintains a prominent national profile, both as a member of the Association of American Universities and as the alma mater of Nobel Prize winners, including civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., and other award-winning scientists, artists, and journalists.
History
Boston University’s origins can be traced back to 1839, when Methodist ministers and congregation members established the Newbury Biblical Institute in Newbury, Vermont. The institute relocated to Concord, New Hampshire, in 1847 and was chartered as Boston University by the Massachusetts legislature in 1869.
From its early years, the university was notable for its commitment to inclusion. It admitted women to all departments in 1867, at a time when most American universities remained closed to them. Helen Magill White became the first American woman to receive a Ph.D., earning the degree in Greek in 1877. The university also accepted students regardless of race or religion. Notably, John Wesley Edward Bowen, born enslaved, became the first African American to earn a Ph.D. at Boston University, receiving the degree from BU’s School of Theology in 1887.
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During the 20th century the university expanded rapidly. It established new colleges and research facilities and developed its central campus along the Charles River. In 2012 it was invited to join the Association of American Universities, a consortium of top research institutions in North America.
Did You Know?
Alexander Graham Bell conducted the experiments that led to the development of the telephone while working as a professor of vocal physiology at Boston University.
Academics
Boston University offers undergraduate, graduate, and professional degree programs through the following schools and colleges:
- Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
- College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences
- College of Communication
- College of Engineering
- College of Fine Arts
- College of General Studies
- Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies
- Graduate Medical Sciences
- Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine
- Metropolitan College & Extended Education
- Questrom School of Business
- Sargent College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences
- School of Hospitality Administration
- School of Law
- School of Public Health
- School of Social Work
- School of Theology
- Wheelock College of Education & Human Development
The university offers more than 300 programs of study and has a student-faculty ratio of 11 to 1, with more than 35,000 enrolled students. Its study abroad programs include opportunities in more than 20 countries. It also provides extensive online learning options through its Metropolitan College, with more than 80 undergraduate and graduate degree and certificate programs.
Research
Boston University is recognized for its research excellence and is classified as a “Research 1: very high research spending and doctorate production” university by the Carnegie Classification, a widely used framework for categorizing U.S. colleges and universities based on research output and doctoral education. Research at BU spans a wide variety of fields, with particular focus on computing and data science, engineering for health, infectious diseases, global sustainability, neuroscience, photonics, livable cities, and social equity.
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BU is home to several specialized research centers and institutes, including the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories, a high-security biocontainment facility for the study of infectious agents, and an Alzheimer disease research center, part of a network of medical institutions funded by the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. agency responsible for funding biomedical research.
Notable alumni
Among the university’s most notable alumni is civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., who earned his doctorate in systematic theology at BU in 1955. Graduates also include politicians such as U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and former senator Edward Brooke, the first African American elected to the U.S. Senate by popular vote.
Alumni also include journalists and authors such as National Public Radio’s longtime legal correspondent Nina Totenberg, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Jhumpa Lahiri, and nonfiction author David Grann.
In the sciences, BU counts among its alumni Nobel Prize recipient Drew Weissman. The performing arts are represented by Academy Award winners Geena Davis and Julianne Moore, and media and broadcasting alumni include radio host Howard Stern and television personality Andy Cohen.