University Professors Program

The University Professors Program (UNI) is a college within Boston University that grants degrees in fields that combine, bridge, or fall between established intellectual disciplines. Consulting closely with faculty, students design their own cross-disciplinary programs of study that often transcend those of any School or College at Boston University.

Effective May 2009, The University is phasing out the University Professors Program; the program will be phased out gradually and students currently enrolled will continue in the program, but the Program is no longer accepting applications.

Program Description

The distinguished group of faculty who make up the University Professors Program have built their own intellectual bridges between various disciplines of the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. This integrated approach to scholarship is reflected in the courses they teach and in the guidance they offer their students. The University Professors are some of the most distinguished scholars at Boston University, including Nobel Prize winners, MacArthur Fellows, and members of international academies, and their counsel enables all UNI students to get to know leading authorities in many disciplines.

In their first year in UNI, students are required to take core courses that emphasize the nature and methodology of scholarly inquiry in the humanities, the social sciences, and the physical and biological sciences. These courses are specially designed and open only to UNI students. Students will also be required to study a foreign language for four semesters and to attend a weekly seminar, at which the University Professors and occasional distinguished guests will present the fruits of their own scholarship for examination and discussion.

In the second year, students complete one further Core course and choose from a variety of elective courses given by University Professors. Under the guidance of their faculty advisors, students then select appropriate courses from throughout the University that reflect their growing academic interests. Students enrolled in the University Professors Program develop a program of study that is a synthesis of disciplines into a single, individually created concentration. The courses they choose also prepare students for the formulation and writing of a senior thesis. All students are required to complete and defend such a thesis during their senior year.

Although students enrolled in the University Professors Program do not normally have to specify a major, they can elect to do a double major by combining their UNI special degree program with a major in another School or College of the University, under the aegis of the Boston University Collaborative Degree Program (BUCOP).

Recent concentrations have included: International Affairs and Linguistics, Banach Manifolds on Harbater Theory, Literary and Cultural Studies, Public Theology and Social Criticism, Music Cognition, Sociology of Education and American Civilization, Business Administration and Media Studies, and Studies in Neurophysiology.

Current Faculty

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External links

The UNI website