Boston College

Boston College (BC) is a private university located in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, in the New England region of the United States. Its historic campus, one of the earliest examples of Collegiate Gothic architecture in North America, is set on a hilltop six miles (10 km) west of downtown Boston. Although chartered as a university by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1863, Boston College's name reflects its early history as a liberal arts college and preparatory school in Boston's South End. It was the first institution of higher education established in Boston, though it later outgrew its urban location and moved to Chestnut Hill on the city's western edge. Boston College is one of the oldest Jesuit, Catholic universities in the United States and is home to one of the largest Jesuit communities in the world.

Gasson Tower viewed from Linden Lane.

About Boston College

Founded by the Society of Jesus, Boston College opened its doors in 1863 to 22 students whose studies were concentrated within a liberal arts curriculum.[6] BC became the second Jesuit institution of higher learning in Massachusetts and the first located in the Boston area. Its charter was among the first documents to stipulate that the institution "from its inception shall be open to youths of any faith," a policy since expanded to include those "of no religious faith at all."[citation needed]

Boston College is called The Heights, a reference to both its lofty aspirations — the college motto is "Ever to Excel" — and its elevated location on Chestnut Hill, or "University Heights" as the area was initially designated. The name has lent itself to a number of campus organizations — including the principal student newspaper, The Heights — and to those affiliated with the university: BC students were universally called "Heightsmen" until 1925 when Mary C. Mellyn became the first "Heightswoman" to receive a BC degree. Today, the university's legacy includes over 143,000 alumni in over 120 countries around the world.[7]

Boston College was added to the "25 New Ivies" list in 2006 by Kaplan/Newsweek, which includes "colleges whose first-rate academic programs, combined with a population boom in top students, have fueled their rise in stature and favor among the nation's top students, administrators and faculty -- edging them to a competitive status rivaling the Ivy League."[8]

Boston College students have enjoyed success in winning prestigious post-graduate fellowships and awards, including recent Rhodes, Marshall, Mellon, Fulbright, Truman, Churchill, and Goldwater scholarships, among others. BC's yield rate for Fulbright awardees is the highest in the country.[9] In 2007, the German department was awarded a record 13 Fulbright scholarships, five more than the previous number from a single department. Though formal numbers are not kept, the number of awardees from one department to study in a specific country is thought by academic scholars to be the largest in the 60-year history of the Fulbright program.[10]

At US$1.75 billion, BC's endowment is among the largest in American higher education and the largest of any Jesuit university in the world. Its annual operating budget is approximately US$667 million.[1]

AHANA is a term coined (and trademarked) by BC students in 1979 to refer to students of African-American, Hispanic, Asian, or Native American descent.[11] In 2006-07, AHANA students comprised 24% of BC undergraduates.[12] International students make up an additional 5.3% of the student population.[13][14]

In September 2006, the administration of Boston College unveiled the long-awaited campus overhaul project. Details of the project were featured in the newspaper, The Heights. According to the paper, "BC's strategic vision will bring unprecedented structural development to campus."[15]

The paper also noted that the program would involve replacing the 800 beds in Edmond's Hall with 400-person residence halls on Commander Shea Field and near Moore Hall, overlooking Commonwealth Avenue. BC hopes to relocate the McMullen Museum of Art from Devlin Hall to a newly constructed building on the north side of Commonwealth Avenue, which will include additional open space in favor of a 1,000 to 1,200-person auditorium attached to it. Taking advantage of BC's location on Commonwealth Avenue, the designs will shift the MBTA station to the median in the center of the street. The school is also considering a sky bridge linking the new residence hall and museum. Baseball fields will be moved to the recently acquired St. John Seminary property in the Brighton section of Boston to free up additional open areas on the main campus. The Brighton property will also be home to new parking structures, tennis courts, an indoor track, and a conference center.

Its most dramatic features, however, are a set of academic buildings that anchor a center for the humanities alongside the Dustbowl; a recasting of the Lower Campus as a polished center of intellectual and community life, including a new recreation complex and a University center; a set of science buildings in a quad built on the memories of Cushing and portions of Campion halls; a reef of performing arts facilities on the near edge of the Brighton Campus and an “athletics and recreation district” at the far end; and a knitting together of the Lower and Brighton campuses by means of a footbridge and several blocks of mixed-use development.[15][16]

The Boston College Coat of Arms from a stained glass window in the Gasson honors library.