Joseph E. Aoun, a leader in higher education policy and a renowned scholar in linguistics, is the seventh President of Northeastern University.
President Aoun has strategically aligned the University’s research enterprise with three global imperatives—health, security, and sustainability. Northeastern’s faculty focus on interdisciplinary research, entrepreneurship, and transforming academic research into commercial solutions for the world’s most pressing problems. During President Aoun’s tenure, the University has realized a 189 percent growth in external research funding, along with approximately 1,500 patent applications filed by faculty and students.
In the cultural world, museums were bound to reopen first. A model built on solitary contemplation in big, roomy buildings means they're somewhat suited to our new socially distanced order. By all accounts, museums have an enormous impact on the Massachusetts economy, contributing more than a billion dollars annually while boosting Boston's bona fides as an intellectual hub. But as museums reopen, these nonprofits will also serve as microcosms of how much life has changed over the past three months. Murray Whyte speaks with four of Boston’s museum leaders on the road ahead as their organizations emerge from pandemic-imposed limbo.