University President, Ron Liebowitz, sent an email to students and staff on Thursday, Feb. 3 detailing the matters discussed during the Board of Trustees meetings held on Jan. 24 and Jan. 25. The meetings consisted of a general session attended by all trustees, as well as a number of committee-specific meetings.
In the former, one significant topic of discussion was the donations that the university received “in recent months,” allowing the community to be “well on its way” to meeting several fundraising goals. These would allow for new ways to expand upon the learning environment at Brandeis and create new opportunities for students to make meaningful contributions to the Brandeis community and beyond, according to Liebowitz’s email.
One particularly notable gift was provided by Brandeis alumna Bobbi Samuels ’63 and her family—an extraordinary amount of $10 million according to Liebowitz. The gift will allow for the creation of the Vic and Bobbi ’63 Samuels Center for Community Partnerships and Civic Transformation, which, according to the Brandeis Alumni website, will “bring together students, faculty, staff, practitioners and researchers in an innovative, interdisciplinary environment to address community needs and advance civic transformation.”
Liebowitz also dedicated part of the plenary session to various aspects of campus safety. The Jan. 15 incident in a synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, in which four individuals were held hostage, prompted the discussion of the importance of further collaboration with law enforcement as well as safety training for the community.
Moreover, as the coronavirus continues to remain a risk, Liebowitz praised the safety measures that were taken for the spring semester move-in process, which allowed for Brandeis to maintain a “relatively low” rate of infection.
Among a multitude of other topics, Liebowitz discussed the many new recent promotions for faculty. Namely, these were provided to Karen Donelan, the Stuart H. Altman Chair in U.S. Health Policy, in the Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Monika Mitra, the Nancy Lurie Marks Associate Professor of Disability Policy and Director of the Lurie Institute for Disability Policy, in the Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Pamina Firchow, associate professor in the Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Omer Offen of the mathematics department and Olga Papaemmanouil of the computer science department.
The meetings held by the various committees include those of the Academy Committee, the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, the Institutional Advancement Committee, the Nominating and Governance Committee, the Resources Committee, the Risk Management and Audit Committee and the Student Life Committee.
One highlight was present in the meeting of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, during which trustees discussed Brandeis University’s expected implementation of its Anti-Racism Plans. These plans were revealed in December of last year, and, according to the Office of the President, they include hiring and admitting “diverse students, faculty and staff,” providing training on equity and inclusion, increasing financial support and creating new teaching materials that allows for informing the community of “multicultural responsiveness and inclusivity.”
The Resources Committee forecasted a “modest budget surplus” for the 2022 fiscal year. This is in large part due to a high level of student enrollment as well as a large number of research sponsorships, allowing for ease in conducting such research.
The Student Life Committee brought up the increasing mental health-related issues that students have been presenting to Brandeis’s Care Team, a group that supports students in significant need of said support, particularly those exhibiting concerning behavior. Trustees also heard a presentation on the Office of Graduate Affairs, which “supports graduate students at Brandeis through coordinated social programs, off-campus housing assistance and peer mentoring networks.”
Liebowitz ended the email expressing his appreciation for the Board’s commitment to improving the many components of the Brandeis community and indicated that the next Board of Trustees meetings would be held in April 2022.
