Northeastern's Edge

Northeastern offers an education that resonates.

Graduate Education at Northeastern integrates the highest level of scholarship across disciplinary boundaries with significant research and experiential learning opportunities. This multidimensional learning environment develops students’ critical thinking and creative problem-solving skills while introducing them to new perspectives in their fields. As a result, graduates of our doctoral, master’s, and professional degree programs are well prepared for the diverse demands of careers in academia, industry, and the professions.

What follows is a list or our institutional accomplishments during the time period between 2006 - 2008.

• Received nearly 8,500 graduate applications for fall 2008 admission, a record, and a two-year increase of 44 percent
• Enrolled 1,521 new graduate students in the fall 2007, a historic high, and a 30 percent increase over the fall 2005 class
• International Students enrolled from 85 countries
• Endowment exceeded $700 million this year, the highest ever
• Fundraising increased more than 50 percent over 2006-2007 and 186 percent over 2005-2006
• Major gifts raised the bar:
• $7.5 million, Manganaro family gift, to support the Torch Scholars Program
• $5 million, Galante Engineering and MBA Program, to establish a bachelor’s in engineering/master’s in business degree program
• $5 million, the Sternberg Family Distinguished University Chair and the Sy and Laurie Sternberg Interdisciplinary Endowed Professorship, for interdisciplinary faculty positions
• Increased resources enabled devoting nearly 75 percent of 2009 budget increase to the academic enterprise, the largest such allocation in the school’s history.
• Research expenditures topped a record $78 million for FY2007, a 12 percent increase over FY 2005
• Report on the research productivity of faculty in PhD programs nationwide placed five of Northeastern’s programs in the top 20: counseling psychology and criminal justice, tied at 10th; pharmaceutical sciences, 11th; mechanical engineering, 18th; and computer engineering, 19th
• One of two universities in the country with two major National Science Foundation-funded technology research centers
• Center for Homeland Security, focused on explosives detection, became Northeastern’s 34th interdisciplinary research center
• Northeastern recognized by the National Security Agency as a Center for Excellence in Information Assurance Research as well as Information Assurance Education
• Four engineering faculty members received NSF Early Career Awards, bringing our total of current holders to 15
• Hosted over 100 academic conferences and symposia in the last two years, including the Fifth International Symposium on Nanomedicine and Drug Delivery Systems and Biogenerics 2008, a conference on the future of the pharmaceutical, health care, and biotechnology industries worldwide.
• Offered lectures by renowned performing artists and authors, including Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Spike Lee, Academy Award nominee Mira Nair, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and journalist Geraldine Brook, and U.S. Poet Laureate Charles Simic.
• Fenway Center hosted nearly 400 performances, classes, rehearsals, and religious services in first year
• Research & Scholarship Expo drew 262 poster presentations, the largest number in its eight-year history
• Sponsored the thirtieth annual John Coltrane Memorial Concert, featuring mix of international and local musicians
• Department of Music, with support from the U.S. State Department and the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, gathered musicians from around the world for the Fusion Arts Exchange, with programs on campus and concerts in New York and Paris
• Hired the most diverse entering group of faculty in Northeastern’s history: half of 30 new tenured and tenure-track professors are women and 20 percent are African-American or Latino/a