"Provost and Chief Academic Officer"

THE ROLE

Boston University seeks a strategic, collaborative, values-driven, and creative leader to serve as its next Provost and Chief Academic Officer. A major urban research university, Boston University has a scope and scale of few other private universities, disciplinary breadth, and an enviable ability to cross disciplines. The University has created an ambitious vision leveraging its expertise in convergent research, investments in artificial intelligence, global footprint, and its strong relationship with the Boston community.

This role offers an opportunity to join a dynamic new administration led by President Melissa Gilliam, who began her presidency in 2024 at a transformational moment in the University’s history. Boston University is a comprehensive university with excellence in the sciences, professional programs, arts, and humanities. It boasts a singular culture, world-class faculty, and dynamic student body. Boston University is now poised to expand its impact even further through a new strategic framework guided by the principles of convergence and the crossing of boundaries—across disciplines, across communities, and across the world. Governed by a global Board of Trustees, the institution is now embarking on a new campus framework and a plan for administrative transformation. Over the coming decades, Boston University will be a destination for bold ideas and for those seeking to solve society’s greatest challenges, while keeping people and communities at the center of all its efforts.

Boston University holds a special place in the higher education landscape. Since its inception, it has been open to all people regardless of background or identity. Affiliated with Boston Medical Center Health System, which runs one of the country’s leading hospitals caring for vulnerable populations, the University also has a fundamental commitment to caring for underserved communities. Over the past year, the institution has collaboratively identified Shared Values reflecting this history and serving as a guide to the future.

The Provost must be highly skilled at managing institutional change at a challenging national moment for higher education. They must be committed to ensuring students successfully manage Boston University’s rigorous academics, recruiting and developing premier faculty, and furthering the University’s leadership in convergent research. The Provost must be a skilled champion of creating inclusive environments in which all individuals thrive regardless of their identity or viewpoints. This person must build deep and collaborative relationships with internal and external stakeholders, be committed to service, and external impact.

Boston University is a leading research university and a member of the AAU, with research expenditures of almost $580 million. It is a comprehensive institution with a strong commitment to all fields of academic study and a long tradition of excellence in the arts and humanities. Located in the heart of Boston, the world’s premier city for education and health care, Boston University is one of the country’s largest private research institutions with 37,000 students, the third largest employer in Boston, and an annual operating budget of approximately $2.8 billion. The institution has one of the largest alumni populations in higher education.

Boston University has three campuses in Boston, including its main campus on the Charles River, a smaller campus in the Fenway, and the Medical Campus in Boston’s South End. With additional locations in Los Angeles, D.C., London, Switzerland, and Australia, Boston University is currently launching a new global engagement strategy.

SEARCH PROCESS

The executive search firm Spencer Stuart has been retained to assist in this recruitment. Inquiries, nominations, and applications are invited and should be submitted to BUProvost@SpencerStuart.com. The review of applications will begin immediately and will continue until the position is filled.