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Boston University has a very strong strategic plan in place
to really make it one of the great educational institutions in the country.
I don't think it had that before.
When you think about where BU was just a short six or seven years ago,
before Bob Brown became president,
it was really a completely different place.
He has guided us in a direction, through the strategic plan, to be able to grow
Boston University not for now
but for the future.
We are at an exciting time at BU because we are getting ready to launch our first ever
comprehensive campaign.
It's the first major campaign ever. It's the first billion dollar campaign and it shows
you what's happened at Boston University over the past 7 years to make this possible,
but more importantly, what can happen in the future when this is realized.
Our endowment is only 1 billion dollars.
As the fourth largest private university, we feel that we have to grow
in order to give more financial aid to students.
In order to attract better professors.
In order to be a better university in the future.
The priorities of the campaign, I think first and foremost,
goes to one thing: it goes to the student body.
In today's world, financial aid is very important.
This will be able to help and touch each individual student in a very special way.
I think the university is going to grow in many respects.
First of all, it will obviously grow physically, with the ability to add more residential space,
more classrooms, better technology,
but that's the visual thing that you see.
The university will grow intellectually.
The quality of the students will get better.
The quality of the teaching will be better.
With a larger endowment, we will have a steady stream of resources to further enhance our faculty.
Even in Bob Brown's administration, we've hired 330 faculty members
and we have plans to keep up that pace.
Obviously money is one aspect but in many ways, more importantly,
is the engagement of the alums with BU today.
Keep in mind, BU has 300,000 alumni.
It's extraordinary when you think about it's reach.
We've made a huge effort under Bob Brown's administration to actually be in contact
with those people. That's something that decades ago
we really didn't do a good job of.
There have been over 5,000 alumni events around the world last year.
The attendance has been extraordinary.
And ultimately the reason they connect is not just because of all of the hard work,
it's because of the substance of what is happening at BU.
I think this is the absolute right time to launch this comprehensive campaign
because BU is at a stage where it is just breaking through.
The goal is to become one of the top research universities in the world.
And that's the direction.
People see the changes at Boston University
and they see the opportunity where every dollar they give can make a difference to make this
university even greater than what it is now.