BU brings dental school to United Arab Emirates

Email|Print| Text size – + By Peter Schworm
Globe Staff / March 9, 2008
Boston University might be outgrowing its name, at least in a geographic sense, as the Commonwealth Avenue campus is expanding overseas for the first time with a new dental school in the United Arab Emirates.

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nullJoining a growing number of American universities opening satellite campuses to far-flung reaches of the globe, BU recently held a ceremony in Dubai to commemorate the opening of the Boston University Institute of Dental Research and Education Dubai, and the Boston University Dental Health Center at Dubai Healthcare City.

BU administrators joined UAE dignitaries, including His Highness Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, ruler of Dubai, in marking the occasion late last month.

"The collaboration with such a renowned world-class American medical and academic institution will further consolidate our position as a regional health-care hub," said Muhadditha Al Hashimi, CEO of Dubai Healthcare City.

Dubai Healthcare City aims to become a world-class academic medical community built on the Harvard Medical School Dubai Center, a major university hospital, and the BU Institute.

The institute will seek to train dentists in specialties and advance dental research in the region. BU faculty will develop and oversee the training programs. The BU Dental Health Center has begun providing dental services to residents and visitors, and the first class of residents will begin their studies in July.

"We take our responsibility as educators and researchers in the global community very seriously," said Jeffrey Hutter, interim dean of the Goldman School of Dental Medicine.

FINANCE U: Stumped by even simple stock charts? Need a primer on the subprime scandal? Probably should steer clear of the I-Tower dormitory at Babson College, where investment strategies and economic theories are the conversational coin of the realm. The special dormitory at the business-focused college in Wellesley houses 21 students who live and breathe finance (the "I" stands for investment), and who want to be immersed 24-seven in the finer points of fixed income and foreign equities.

Now in its fourth year, the I-Tower is designed to foster a focused environment that will help students on the road to a career in finance. Starting tomorrow, they will begin rehearsing future wheelings and dealings with a six-week virtual stock competition in which entrants receive $1 million in pretend money to invest. The savviest investor receives an actual $1,000 prize, and given the students' financial focus, that virtual million might become real before they know it.

Gordon College is based in the North Shore suburb of Wenham. But the nondenominational Christian college is setting down more roots in Dorchester, leasing part of a 200-year-old church and a nearby Victorian mansion to give some of its students the experience of living in an urban setting.

The 1,700-student college leases part of the Second Church of Dorchester and some of the connecting parish house to accommodate Gordon in Boston, an off-campus urban studies program that allows students to live, work, and study in the city for a semester.

"By living, learning, and serving in an urban context, students have the opportunity to learn through the eyes of others," said Gordon President R. Judson Carlberg.

The college has renovated the building's interior into an apartment-style dormitory that houses the majority of students in the program. The second floor of the church annex has been transformed into classrooms, a student lounge and offices.

Other students are living at the Salvation Army Jubilee House, a 23-room Victorian mansion located a few blocks from the Second Church on Melville Avenue.

"It is the commitment of Gordon College to be truly involved in the community and not just be another resident," said Rev. Craig McMullen, director of the Gordon in Boston program. "We could have purchased our own buildings for housing and programs, but by partnering with the two urban churches we are able to leverage our resources to encourage their urban ministry among this community."

This is Gordon's second city campus. In 2006, it opened a $1 million dormitory in Lynn, where students tutor children after school, teach English to immigrants, and volunteer for a variety of youth and civic organizations.

Campus Insider runs on alternate Sundays with Ask the Teacher, an advice column. To submit tips to Campus Insider, e-mail Peter Schworm at schworm@globe.com.

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