Boston University

09/24/2024 | News release | Distributed by Public on 09/25/2024 05:16

Selfies, Smiles, and Chats with BU’s New President

Selfies, Smiles, and Chats with BU's New President

BU President Melissa L. Gilliam speaks with students at BU Night at Time Out Market on September 23

Inauguration Week

Selfies, Smiles, and Chats with BU's New President

Melissa L. Gilliam hears from students about their clubs, research, and career plans at event kicking off Inauguration Week

September 24, 2024
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BU students took over Time Out Market on Monday to nosh, sip, and get the chance to have some face time with BU President Melissa L. Gilliam. The event kicked off a week of celebratory events leading up to Gilliam's swearing-in as BU's 11th president at her official inauguration ceremony Friday at Agganis Arena.

"She's representative of us, as the first Black female president at BU, so we wanted to come out and show our support," said Emilie Milord (CAS'25), sitting at a table with two friends at Monday's event. Milford also said she plans to be in the crowd at Agganis on Friday to witness Gilliam's installation.

Held from 4 to 8 pm, the sold-out night at Time Out was set up like an indoor block party, with live music from a jazz combo of BU students, a T -shirt giveaway, and (the biggest draw of all) food gift cards. Each was preloaded with $35, which students could spend on food, nonalcoholic drinks, and desserts.

Gilliam mingled with the crowd, wearing a custom-made BU hockey jersey with the number 11 on the back, jeans, and sneakers. As she chatted with students, an informal line formed behind her, waiting for a turn to meet her. Many of them wanted a selfie with their new president when they were done, and she happily obliged.

@bostonu Students, faculty, and staff gave President Melissa Gilliam a warm welcome last night in Boston's vibrant Fenway neighborhood as part of our Inauguration Week festivities. The event featured student performers and free food and drinks for all BU students. #bostonuniversity#college#bostontiktok Upbeat Funk - FASSounds

View snippets of the night's happenings above. Video by Nick Rocca

"I'm so excited about this week," the president told BU Today at the event. The night was a chance for students "to share how excited they are, what they're working on, and why they like Boston University," she said.

Playing at the front of the cavernous room was a jazz combo consisting of percussionist Julian Saint Denis (CFA'25), saxophonists Alexander Chavira (CFA'25) and Logan Seaburg (CFA'25), trumpeter Karl Lackner (LAW'25), pianist Jackson Cross (CAS'26), and bassist Jack Osmond (CAS'26).

Time Out is located inside the historic Landmark Center, the Fenway arts deco building that was once a Sears Roebuck department store. Seven-foot-tall columns of scarlet and white balloons decorated the space, and a small army of scarlet-clad Dean of Students and Student Activities Office staff were on hand to check people in. The space was closed to the public, and only the 1,500 BU students who had registered before the event sold out were allowed in.

Many students told BU Today they'd either wrapped up classes for the day with the goal of grabbing dinner at the event or had planned to eat an early dinner there before heading back to campus for evening classes and club meetings. Many were stumped about what to try first: Time Out has 16 food stalls (some from James Beard Award-winning chefs) spread across 25,200 square feet. Students could order a pulled pork platter or burrito bowl from Blue Ribbon BBQ, crispy nori-sushi tacos from Gogo Ya, or Thai pad krapow from InChu. After ordering at the counter, students could take their food and drinks to a nearby table or out to the patio.

When Sam Rekulak (CAS'26) and Elijah Davis (CAS'25) finished their meals of karaage chicken and dumplings from Ms. Clucks Deluxe (the spot with the longest line all night), they opted for a sweeter treat-they spent their gift cards on two big boxes of Union Square Donuts, which uses brioche dough to whip up creations like sea salt whiskey caramel, Belgian dark chocolate, and maple bacon donuts.

One of the first students to chat with Gilliam was Chloe Wojtanik (COM'25), who later said she and two friends shared what colleges they are in and the clubs they are involved in. "She is new, so she was asking about BUTV, and it's cool she actually cared about what we're involved in," Woktanik said. "We're all seniors, so she asked what we want to do postgrad and what our plans are and what city we want to be in."

Gaelle Pierre (CGS'25, CAS'25), finishing her dinner of truffle mac and cheese, expressed her hope that the new president "makes her impact and it's very loud-there's only 3 percent of us [Black students] here, so I hope she helps change that." Pierre was referring to the recent news about the decline in enrolled undergraduate Black students at BU, from 9 percent to 3 percent, in the wake of the US Supreme Court ruling banning colleges from considering race as a factor in the admissions process, which has affected colleges across the country. Gilliam has described the decline as "concerning and disappointing," and said that addressing it "will be a priority" for the University.

Although it was a bit of an undertaking given the rush hour traffic, students from the Medical Campus were also on hand to meet BU's new president. Many of them described her as a role model. Among other achievements, Gilliam, a physician, was the chief of family planning and contraceptive research at the University of Chicago and founded its Center for Interdisciplinary Inquiry and Innovation in Sexual and Reproductive Health (Ci3).

Krista Idowu (SPH'25) knew a little about Gilliam's background before meeting her for the first time on Monday, including that the president is a graduate of Harvard Medical School. While there, Gilliam had collaborated with BU School of Public Health researchers on a project aimed at understanding the health of elderly people in Ecuador. "We talked about how studying public health helped Dr. Gilliam frame what she was learning in med school," Idowu said. "A lot of time when people have a background in medicine, but don't study public health, they miss viewing medicine within the framework of making a difference beyond clinical work. And she encouraged me to apply a public health framework to my background in filmmaking."

Sorochi Anyaibe (Sargent'25) agreed. "She's very interested in Black women's perinatal health, I'm also researching that for my current senior honors thesis," Anyaibe said. "I came to tell her about it, and she introduced me to BU's Black Women's Health Study. I'm going to go check it out." When BU Today shared some of these anecdotes with her at the event, Gilliam responded, with a big smile, "One good thing about having done a bunch of things is that people can identify with the things you have done."

Luwen Mai (COM'17, CAS'17, GRS'19,'26) has been a student at BU for just over a decade-she earned two bachelor's degrees and a master's and is now working towards her PhD. She chatted with the president about her background, she said, and shared a little about her economics research, which deals with unemployed spouses. "The first thing I told her was that I was so proud to have our first female president and woman of color-that's definitely something to be excited about," Mai said. "President Brown was a great leader. But at the same time, I'm also excited to have someone new bringing new opportunities and insights into the institution."

View more images from the event below

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