How a Methodist theological school became a global powerhouse of research and innovation

Cultures · Published 29 September 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Founded in 1839 as a small Vermont institute, Boston University evolved into a massive urban research hub. From Alexander Graham Bell inventing the telephone in its labs to pioneering early access for women and minorities, the university has spent nearly two centuries balancing radical inclusivity with aggressive academic expansion.

Boston University traces its origins to the 1839 establishment of the Newbury Biblical Institute in Vermont. After relocating to New Hampshire, the institution eventually moved to Boston, receiving its official university charter in 1869. The founders, Isaac Rich, Lee Claflin, and Jacob Sleeper, insisted on a charter that was remarkably progressive for the era, explicitly prohibiting religious tests for faculty or students. This commitment to openness extended to gender and race; by 1877, the university awarded the first American PhD to a woman, Helen Magill White, and in 1887, John Wesley Edward Bowen became the first African American to earn a PhD from the school.

The university’s physical footprint transformed significantly during the 20th century. President Lemuel Murlin initiated the move to the Charles River campus in the 1920s, a project later realized through the fundraising efforts of Daniel L. Marsh. By the mid-1960s, President Harold C. Case had tripled the campus size, introducing Brutalist architecture and shifting the institution toward national research prominence. This era was marked by intense student activism, including a 1968 sit-in where students successfully demanded the creation of a social ethics chair honoring Martin Luther King Jr., who had earned his own doctorate at the university in 1955.

Today, Boston University is classified as an R1 doctoral institution with very high research activity. It joined the prestigious Association of American Universities in 2012 and recently concluded a massive $1.85 billion fundraising campaign. The university continues to evolve, recently updating its financial aid policies to meet the full demonstrated need of all domestic students. With over 35,000 students and a diverse array of programs, the school remains a central fixture of Boston’s academic landscape, housing specialized facilities like the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories while maintaining its historical, though now nonsectarian, Methodist roots.

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