To Build on Our Excellence
Nearly a year into his tenure as Northeastern president, Joseph E. Aoun discusses several of the university’s strengths, challenges, and opportunities
By Karen Feldscher
What has been your favorite thing so far about being president of Northeastern?
Meeting members of the community—the faculty, the staff, the trustees, city leaders, community leaders, and leaders of various institutions and organizations.
What’s been the most challenging thing about being president?
Northeastern is a great institution that is very complex. The challenge has been to get to know the institution. That’s what I’m doing, and I’m discovering new dimensions and new aspects on a daily basis. That’s why my job is exciting.
What new dimensions have struck you as particularly innovative?
One of the most innovative programs—a unique program that no other university in the nation has—is the Torch Scholars program.
It exists only at Northeastern, and only Northeastern could have done it. It’s the brainchild of an alumnus who challenged us to make bets on students who come from underprivileged backgrounds and who have faced hardships.
One of the things that excited me was that I recently learned that eight of the [first class of] eleven students were on the dean’s list. That’s a great thing.
What has been the biggest change at Northeastern since you’ve been here?
I’m trying to empower the schools—the faculty and the deans—to really take charge of their destiny. I want to establish a system that allows us to involve and muster the creativity of our community. Each school is now working on setting goals. Clearly this is also happening in terms of fundraising.
Why is it important for fundraising to happen at the college level as well as centrally?
When people invest in the school, they invest in the programs, and who can articulate the programs better, and the needs of the schools, than the faculty in the schools?
How is fundraising going?
As a result of this involvement at all levels, we have the best year ever by far.
What did you think of the inauguration celebration?
I loved it. It was a celebration of Northeastern—a celebration of the creativity, the distinctiveness, and the excellence of Northeastern.
We had plays, music, symposia, and lectures. We celebrated the sciences, the arts, our traditions. The students played a role; the faculty played a role; the staff, the alumni, the trustees—everybody came together. It was magnificent.
What connections have you made with community members and local organizations?
I spend a lot of time meeting with members of the community around us, elected officials, community leaders, the mayor, and those on various not-for-profit community-oriented boards.
And the purpose is to really learn about the needs. I strongly believe in our urban engagement. In a real partnership, you have to listen and learn from the community about its needs, its aspirations. Hopefully, we will always be open to that.
And we are also building strong partnerships with various groups and organizations in the community. We’ve launched the Stony Brook Initiative, with the goal of working with the community on its various needs, ranging from education, to workforce development, to health issues, to safety issues. There will be more partnerships to come. The idea is to have a group of students, faculty, and staff actively engage in community projects.
You’ve emphasized the need for more collaborative research. What gains have been made on this front?
There is a great culture of collaboration at Northeastern with other entities around us, like teaching hospitals and scientific companies. We’ve launched a faculty initiative to recruit thirty interdisciplinary faculty leaders over the next three years.
You’ve also emphasized the importance of Northeastern’s international dimension. What is new in this area?
By the fall, with the help of alumni and various co-op partners, we will have doubled the international co-op opportunities for students.
Is there anything in particular you’d like to see Northeastern achieve in the next five years?
We need to continue to build on our excellence, on our distinctiveness. What is striking about Northeastern is that we didn’t copy our way to greatness. And that’s what we are going to keep doing—forging ahead.