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01/28/2026 | News release | Distributed by Public on 01/29/2026 12:12

President Melissa Gilliam Outlines Bold “North Star” Vision for Boston University’s Future

President Melissa Gilliam Outlines Bold "North Star" Vision for Boston University's Future

BU President Melissa Gilliam offered a "North Star vision" for BU's future at her inaugural Presidential Address, at the Tsai Performance Center January 28-the first in what is expected to become an annual tradition.

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President Melissa Gilliam Outlines Bold "North Star" Vision for Boston University's Future

During her first Presidential Address, Gilliam called for BU to become a "global destination of discovery, education, and human connection"

January 28, 2026
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In her first Presidential Address, Boston University President Melissa Gilliam laid out a bold vision for the future of BU-one that draws upon the institution's long history of innovation, collaboration, and openness and its strength in interdisciplinary, convergent research-to point the University in a direction that will enable it to meet the current moment and to excel for generations to come.

During her remarks, punctuated with a series of engaging videos and live student performances, at the Tsai Performance Center on Wednesday, January 28, Gilliam laid out what she described as a "North Star vision."

Addressing hundreds of BU community members, industry partners, government officials, social service providers, and peers in higher education, both in person and watching live online, University President Melissa Gilliam emphasized the critical importance of working together, in mutually beneficial ways.

Like the celestial North Star it takes its name from, this vision statement offers a fixed point "to guide our University to what we can become, through choppy waters and unfamiliar terrain," Gilliam said. It was developed in conversation with countless students, faculty, staff, alumni, parents, and elected officials, along with industry leaders and community partners across Boston and around the world, she added.

North Star vision

That vision: "Boston University will be the global destination of discovery, education, and human connection-an epicenter where disciplines, communities, and realities merge and visionary thinkers unite to create transformative experiences and solutions for the world's greatest challenges," Gilliam said, during the first of what will become an annual address to the University community. (Watch the video of her remarks here.)

Boston University will be the global destination of discovery, education, and human connection.
Melissa Gilliam

Gilliam addressed a full house at the Tsai Performance Center, at an event emceed by BU alum and radio host Jeremy Hobson (COM'04) that brought together a number of city and statewide elected officials and industry leaders, as well as BU students, faculty, alumni, and staff. Among those in attendance were Pam Beal, chair of the Charles River Task Force, State Rep. Aaron Michlewitz; Boston City Councilor Sharon Durkan, and other members of the Wu administration; members of the Massachusetts legislature; and representatives from the Healey-Driscoll administration. Everyone there-and everyone watching the event live online-was essential to ensuring that BU would flourish far into the future.

During her 18 months in office so far, Gilliam said, she's met people across the University who are breaking down barriers, combining expertise, and working together to solve the kinds of complex challenges that once seemed insurmountable-the kind of collaboration that is one of BU's greatest strengths.

During her address, she pointed to the work of Yakeel Quiroz, a College of Arts & Sciences professor of psychological and brain sciences, whose research aims to uncover mechanisms of cognitive resilience that can delay the onset of dementia. Quiroz's work "defies a single discipline, instead it requires converging expertise from basic scientists, clinicians, clinical investigators, and clinical trialists alike," Gilliam noted.

She also highlighted the work of Justin Moy, a fourth-year bioinformatics PhD student-someone she described as part of "the next generation of convergent researchers."

Moy (CDS'25,'27), who was born with muscular dystrophy, is blending elements of biology, chemistry, physics, computer science and programming, data science, information engineering, mathematics, and statistics to crack the genetic code on muscular dystrophy.

"Convergence is everywhere"

Indeed, Gilliam said, "the more I got to know this incredible place, I realized something surprising: at BU, convergence is everywhere." Beyond the sciences, there are examples of convergence encompassing arts, humanities, undergraduate education, graduate education, and more today-and stretching back almost 50 years.

Members of miXx, a BU K-pop cover dance group, performing during the Presidential Address.

"We are fully committed to our disciplines and we are fully committed to our departments, but as you can see, convergence is in our past, our present, and our future," Gilliam said. "Convergence is the key to who we are, and who we can be-it is our North Star."

To build upon this, the University assembled a group of faculty tasked with identifying critical areas "where we can excel at convergent research," the president said. This task force was helmed by Kenneth Lutchen, BU vice president and associate provost for research, and Darrell Kotton, a professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at BU's Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine and director of the Center for Regenerative Medicine of Boston University and Boston Medical Center (CReM). Members of the task force met with hundreds of stakeholders across the campuses and surveyed BU's research faculty, distilling it all into eight priority areas of convergent research. Gilliam announced those areas for the first time during her address:

  1. Health across the lifespan
  2. Global sustainability
  3. Urban development and resilience
  4. Arts, humanities, and the human condition
  5. Infection, inflammatory, and immune disorders
  6. Artificial intelligence, data science, and computing
  7. Childhood and adolescent well-being and K-12 education
  8. Social and economic opportunity

"There is so much more possibility if we apply convergence to all that we do," Gilliam told the audience. "We can propel science forward, of course, but we can also enhance experiences and career opportunities for students; we can provide greater fluidity for how people live, work, and learn over a lifetime; we can blur the boundaries between our campuses and local and global communities; and fundamentally transform how we operate, collaborate, and innovate together."

Halfway through her remarks, Gilliam paused to show a video highlighting a handful of the many examples of convergent research at BU.

A video shown during the Presidential Address highlights one of Boston University's greatest strengths: its long-standing and ongoing commitment to convergent research.

Boston University alumna Joy Huber (MET'18), a cancer survivor and motivational speaker, took the stage briefly to deliver a clear message: "Research saved my life." She emphasized, through personal experience, the critical importance of innovative, life-saving research and advocated for more of it, not less.

In a warm moment, Gilliam and Huber embraced, each thanking the other for their contributions to BU.

Joy Huber (MET'18) (right), a cancer survivor and motivational speaker, took the stage briefly to deliver a clear message: "Research saved my life."

Working together

And even as Huber's moving testimony drove home the clear and positive impact science can have, Gilliam acknowledged that the realities of today require deeper and broader collaboration than ever before.

"We find ourselves in a time in history when mistrust in science and research is reaching such a height that long-standing scientific knowledge is now being questioned, when public trust in higher education is not a given and our power to enhance the lives and careers of students is doubted, and when the research enterprise that has propelled the competitiveness and progress of our country for decades might be at risk," Gilliam said.

Addressing hundreds of BU community members, industry partners, government officials, social service providers, and peers in higher education, both in person and watching live online, Gilliam emphasized the critical importance of working together in mutually beneficial ways.

"The future of this country requires collaboration and mutual support," she said. "Together, we can pursue more research and positively impact more lives with partnerships that serve common purposes rather than traveling separate paths. We can bring new experiences to the next generation to expand their worldviews and better prepare them for the fast pace of these changing times. And we can foster relationships that offer new pathways to career success in whatever fields our students choose to pursue."

Strengthening existing partnerships and developing new ones between BU and industry leaders or BU and nonprofit organizations is key to the University's strength for generations to come-a theme featured in a video shown during the Presidential Address

Some of this is already underway at BU. The University has been fortifying its relationship with Boston Medical Center, reinvigorating educational and research pathways between the two institutions. Faculty within the Duan Family Center for Computing & Data Sciences routinely work alongside technology and pharmaceutical companies and other clinical partners.

Among these partnerships-and noting that there were many to choose from-Gilliam highlighted CReM, which is partnering with the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline, with the hope of identifying new drug targets to halt or slow the progression of cystic fibrosis.

Looking to the future, Gilliam said that "one of the most important things we can do is support our graduate students," the future doctors, scientists, and researchers who are key to "ensuring the country has a vibrant pipeline of talent."

To that end, she announced that the Boston University Board of Trustees has so far contributed $6.5 million to a matching fund to support endowed graduate fellowships.

"Boston University is wonderfully positioned to have an impact in the years to come," said Ahmass Fakahany (Questrom'79), chair of the Board of Trustees, during a video presentation. Fakahany was also in the audience on Wednesday.

Gilliam ended her remarks with a call to action to everyone listening, in Boston and beyond: "Let us know how we can work together. Boston University is of course a place where ideas are born, but we are also here to listen to your ideas and to think creatively about how we bring our talents, and our expertise, and our collaborative nature to the conversation. I hope by now, I have set the stage well enough to show we are ready to reinvent the university of the future together with you.

"Now let's begin our convergent journey together."

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Boston University published this content on January 28, 2026, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on January 29, 2026 at 18:12 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at [email protected]