{"id":324,"date":"2025-11-04T13:53:46","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T18:53:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ar.bu.edu\/2025\/?page_id=324"},"modified":"2025-11-14T10:28:51","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T15:28:51","slug":"donors","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ar.bu.edu\/2025\/generosity\/donors\/","title":{"rendered":"Donors Lift BU to New Heights"},"content":{"rendered":"

Above: President Melissa Gilliam<\/strong> joins student volunteers who drive the success of BU\u2019s Giving Day every year.<\/em><\/p>\n

Gifts boost clinical skills, Alzheimer\u2019s research, IDEA Con<\/strong><\/p>\n

The extraordinary generosity of BU\u2019s friends and alumni this year once again enabled the University to deliver groundbreaking research and life-changing scholarships, paving the way for new discoveries and new leaders to make an impact on the world.<\/p>\n

President Melissa Gilliam<\/a> received an enthusiastic reception from alumni, students, parents, and supporters at events in New York, Miami, Chicago, Boston, and Washington, D.C., as well as Los Angeles and Menlo Park, California. She answered audience questions about the state of higher education, the future of research, and campus discourse. International events are set for the coming year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t think of a better place to be when sharing with our nation and the world how universities like ours make meaningful contributions to society,\u201d says Michele Schiele<\/strong> (COM\u201989), who became senior vice president for Advancement in June. \u201cWe help students learn and grow, and we enable faculty to explore difficult questions and leverage their creativity. Those who support BU philanthropically and by volunteering power all of this, and more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rod Hochman (CAS\u201979, CAMED\u201979) and Nancy Hochman (Sargent\u201977,\u201983) gave $10 million<\/a> to build and operate a state-of-the-art center for clinical skills development at the Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine. The <\/strong>Rod Hochman Family Clinical Skills & Simulation Center<\/strong><\/a> opened in June 2025.<\/p>\n

\"\"
President Melissa Gilliam<\/strong> crisscrossed the country on a welcome tour this year, sharing her vision for the University and speaking with alumni like Ralph H. Groce III<\/strong> (CGS\u201980, Questrom\u201982, MET\u201984).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Chuan Ping (CAS\u201915) became BU\u2019s youngest William Fairfield Warren Society member through his gift of $1 million to establish a scholarship benefiting students enrolled at the College of Arts & Sciences. Aydin Senkut (Questrom\u201992) made a generous gift to the Senkut Family Scholarship, which provides financial assistance for undergraduates at the Questrom School of Business. Both gifts qualify for BU\u2019s Century Challenge<\/strong><\/a>, an initiative that matches the income paid out from the scholarships for a full century\u2014doubling their impact.<\/p>\n

Boston University Alzheimer\u2019s Disease Research Center<\/strong><\/a> will benefit from two generous gifts. Monita Lam honored her late mother, Kum Fung Lau, with a gift establishing a research fund in recognition of the best-in-class memory care her mother received from clinicians associated with the center. \u201cThe care my mother received in her native language and at home supported her with dignity,\u201d says Lam. Hugh and Cheryl Mensch also gave generously after the disease touched the lives of several friends.<\/p>\n

An entrepreneur and vice chair of BU\u2019s Board of Trustees, Cynthia Cohen (MET\u201977) was an early supporter of Innovate@BU<\/strong><\/a>, and she recently made an additional $1 million gift to sponsor its signature IDEA Con innovators conference<\/a> for five years.<\/p>\n

College of Fine Arts Dean\u2019s Advisory Board member Clare Hodgson Meeker (CFA\u201975) and her husband Dan Grausz gave $700,000 to expand the Clare Hodgson Meeker Endowed Fellowship<\/a> to a total of $1 million. The fellowship funds professional and academic development opportunities for School of Music undergraduates.<\/p>\n

More than 12,000 donors gave $4.5 million during Boston University\u2019s 11th Giving Day<\/strong><\/a><\/strong> in April, setting Giving Day records<\/a> for both number of donors and dollars raised (by more than $500,000). Donors from 53 countries and all 50 states contributed to 750 causes across the University.<\/p>\n\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t12,000<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t+<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\tDonors gave $4.5 million during Boston University\u2019s 11th annual Giving Day\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/article>\n\n\t\n<\/div>\n\n

More than 800 members of the BU community signed up to be Giving Day Advocates and encourage friends, families, and peers to make gifts.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur alumni, parents, and friends have a powerful role to play in BU\u2019s future excellence,\u201d says Schiele, \u201cand we\u2019ll work to build new and productive partnerships with foundations and industry, too. The wider our community of support, the bigger the difference we\u2019ll be able to make.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Above: President Melissa Gilliam joins student volunteers who drive the success of BU\u2019s Giving Day every year. Gifts boost clinical skills, Alzheimer\u2019s research, IDEA Con The extraordinary generosity of BU\u2019s friends and alumni this year once again enabled the University to deliver groundbreaking research and life-changing scholarships, paving the way for new discoveries and new […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1859,"featured_media":0,"parent":76,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-templates\/no-sidebars.php","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ar.bu.edu\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/324"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ar.bu.edu\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ar.bu.edu\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ar.bu.edu\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1859"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ar.bu.edu\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/ar.bu.edu\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":544,"href":"https:\/\/ar.bu.edu\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/324\/revisions\/544"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ar.bu.edu\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/76"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ar.bu.edu\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}