2022 INSTITUTIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Pride and support
Announcing our most ambitious campaign yet
This fall, the university launched Experience Powered by Northeastern, our most far-reaching, innovative campaign yet. In the coming five years, our university community will seek to raise $1.3 billion, elevating both fundraising and engagement. Supporters will connect with the university and each other in a multitude of ways, including mentorship, advocacy, and traditional philanthropy.
Celebrating experience
This year, gifts large and small supported high-impact experiences in learning, discovery, and innovation across the global university system, empowering Northeastern’s students, faculty, and partners.
$99.2M
in gifts and pledges, 2020-2021
High-impact giving
23,069
individual donors from 72 countries, including 10,288 first-time donors
634
corporations and foundations made gifts and pledges of $63M
The donor universe
Gifts that drive innovation
Powering women’s ingenuity and impact
This spring, the second annual Women Who Empower Innovator Awards event honored 22 women inventors and entrepreneurs. Philanthropic supporters of this program, including Cathy Papoulias-Sakellaris, and Richard and Michelle Shan Jeschelnig, made gifts to enable prizes totaling $220,000 to these innovators. More than 135 competitors were judged on the basis of innovation, leadership, entrepreneurship, authenticity, community and inclusion, and track record.
Fellows for pharmas
Across the U.S., pharmacists are in short supply. That’s why Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Ipsen Bioscience Inc., and Blueprint Medicines have each made gifts to fund two-year doctoral fellowships that will bring Northeastern students into these companies. Successful graduates will be prepared to step into permanent industry positions. In Boston, a hotbed for the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, Northeastern runs the country’s third-largest pharmacy doctoral fellowship program.
Helping private institutions solve public problems
The Burnes Center for Social Change, founded with a $20 million pledge from late trustee emerita Nonnie Burnes, L’78, H’07, and her husband, Rick Burnes, aims to advance society through education, research, and activism. The center’s advocates include Edward Meehan, MA’79, who launched the Burnes Corporate Accelerator for Solving Public Problems with a gift of $100,000. The accelerator promotes social change by engaging private-sector organizations in addressing public-sector problems.
Gifts that nurture future generations
Preparing next-gen material scientists
Breakthroughs in methods of growing and slicing crystals can propel revolutionary advances in products from cellphone screens and solar panels to windows in spaceships. That’s why Fred Schmid, ME’67, has established a second research fellowship at his company, Crystal Systems Innovations. His philanthropy will help Northeastern nurture a new generation of materials scientists.
Championing first-generation students
Thomas McDonough, DMSB’71, former chair of the D’Amore-McKim School of Business Dean’s Council, and his wife, Olivia, LA’71, are among the many Northeastern supporters who are opening doors to achievement for underrepresented students. Their gift of $100,000 established the Thomas and Olivia McDonough Opportunity Scholarship to ease financial constraints for talented business undergraduates who are the first in their families to attend college.
Empowering veterans and servicemembers
Created with a $3 million pledge, the new Ruby W. and LaVon P. Linn Foundation Veteran and Active-Duty Servicemember Scholarship will help defray tuition expenses for military-affiliated students to ensure their successful transition to civilian life. The Linn Foundation, which has long partnered with Northeastern to support veterans and active-duty servicemembers, has challenged the university to raise an additional $1.5 million to help these learners reach their educational and career goals.
Support for future journalists
Journalists uncover truth, shift public perceptions, and give voice to marginalized communities. By endowing the Brian C. Monahan Scholarship in Journalism at the College of Arts, Media and Design, Jean Whaley will expand their ranks. Her gift of $100,000 honors her late husband, Brian C. Monahan, LA’71, who studied journalism and made his career in public relations. The scholarship will help journalism majors master the new-media skills they need to become leaders in their profession.
Improving pathways into computer science for women
Northeastern’s Center for Inclusive Computing partners with community colleges and four-year institutions to enhance pathways to computing degrees for women and increase their representation in the field. The CIC does this through grantmaking, technical advising, and data services. In the past year, the Cognizant Foundation, Hopper-Dean Foundation, and the Public Interest Technology Infrastructure Fund, a hosted project of New Venture Fund, supported the CIC and its mission with investments totaling more than $3 million.
New access points for international students
Created with a $2.85 million commitment from Northeastern parents Talal Kamal Shair and Maha Shair, a university trustee (above), the Shair Family Scholarship helps ensure that exceptional students from Lebanon and Jordan are able to embrace a full range of opportunities available at Northeastern. Through this gift, Shair Scholars will gain the education and experience to make meaningful impact on communities around the globe.
Expanding our library’s legacy
For students and faculty, the Northeastern University Library is a space where state-of-the-art resources spark collaboration, creativity, and discovery. With an estate gift, Charles F. McGrath Jr., CJ’80, has pledged $2.5 million to the library, building on its legacy as a hub of learning for the Boston campus and now, the global university system. The gift will expand resources and facilities that foster intellectual and professional growth.
Support for community
Giving Day sets a record
On Northeastern’s fifth annual Giving Day, the university’s global community raised a record $3 million for students, faculty, research, and special programs. More than 7,500 donors from 29 countries contributed to the in-person and virtual 24-hour fundraising effort, supporting priorities from global co-op to women’s rowing. Potential donors were challenged to meet specific fundraising goals to benefit student groups, including the LGBTQA Resource Center, Disability Resource Center, and Hillel.
Honoring our volunteer leaders
Northeastern celebrated eight university advocates and philanthropists at Networked for Life, its annual volunteer leadership summit. The Presidential Medallion was bestowed posthumously upon trustee emerita Nonnie Burnes, L’78, H’07. Distinguished Service Awards went to Thomas McDonough, DMSB’71, and Ann, CJ’77, and Shelley Stewart Jr., CJ’75, MJ’78, while Emerging Leader Awards recognized Molly Beck, DMSB’09, Khoury’22, and Lamar Letts, DMSB’17. Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Richard Harris, E’89, MS’08, received the Impact Award, and University Distinguished Professor Richard Daynard garnered the Pioneer Award.
Strengthening ties with Africa
With support from a growing cadre of partners, Northeastern’s Africa Global Initiative is increasing student enrollment from African countries through the African Students Access Scholarship. The initiative, chaired by College of Science Dean Hazel Sive, is also boosting experiential learning, research, and employment opportunities for African students and alumni. In 2021, AGI hosted workshops and lectures—including Women Who Empower: Africa, a conversation with female entrepreneurs from Kenya and Tanzania—and held 20 student engagement activities in Africa. Above, students David Femi Lamptey and Nita Akoh partner with AGI as leaders of the Northeastern African Student Organization.
Our alumni and community network
300,000+
alumni live and work in 181 countries
49
Northeastern communities on 4 continents, Asia, Europe, North and South America
11,500+
participants from 149 countries engaged in 337 programs and events
Sharing inspiration and expertise
Executive coach tells grads to ‘keep your future open’
During her address in May to 2022 College of Professional Studies graduates, executive coach and author Priscilla Douglas, E’70, MEd’74, exhorted graduates and future business leaders to remain open to new experiences, opportunities, and relationships. Earlier, she talked with Huskies about putting equity and inclusiveness into action in the workplace, the focus of her latest book, Woke Leadership: Profits, Prophets & Purpose.
Leading crypto critic warns of pitfalls
Cryptocurrency is plagued by volatility and predatory traders. Molly White, KCS’16, is a prominent, prolific critic of this largely unregulated global industry, using her website, Web3 is Going Just Great, to expose scams, out unreliable actors, and help keep people from going broke. One U.S. senator recently sought White’s input on pending cryptocurrency legislation, and her work has been profiled in major media outlets, including The Washington Post and The Guardian.
Teaching the ABCs of angel investing
In 2022, alumni Marjorie Radlo-Zandi, DMSB’83 (left, at top), and Katya Porteymour, DMSB’22, hosted a conference on speaking to angel investors interested in supporting business founders. Radlo-Zandi drew from decades of experience, while Pourteymour is new to angel investing. Together, they and an audience of Northeastern alumni and friends explored the angel investor’s mindset.
Opening minds and driving change
Combatting racism in the legal profession
The confirmation of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court made a powerful impression on Simone Yhap, L’22 (left), chair of the National Black Law Students Association. Listening to senators aggressively question her fueled Yhap’s goal of maximizing opportunities for people of color in the legal profession. She’s now engaged in intellectual property litigation—a field, she says, with a legacy of racism she aims to combat.
Bringing diversity to skateboarding
Bringing more people “who aren’t white, straight, or male” into skateboarding is the stated mission of Claire Lee, E’21, MS’21 (left), and Rayven Tate, E’21 (right), and their LonelyBones Skate Collective. At Boston skate parks, the group welcomes beginners and experts alike. Looking to expand the group beyond the city, Lee and Tate won a grant to attend community-building workshops with Skate Like A Girl, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering young women and trans people to champion social equity.
Presenting Shakespeare through fresh eyes
In May, Saheem Ali, CAMD’03, welcomed Huskies to New York City’s Public Theater, where he is associate artistic director and the director of Fat Ham, a play by James Ijames. In this homage to Shakespeare’s Hamlet, a queer college student is exhorted to avenge his father’s death. The production was a New York Times “Critic’s Pick.”
Innovating to benefit society
Integrating community and hospital care teams
Northeastern PhD candidate Cynthia Orofo, BHS’19, is an entrepreneur who aims to bring better healthcare to underserved populations. Her startup, the Culture Care Collective, is a health support program and app that integrates community health workers and their cultural knowledge into care teams at hospitals. Orofo’s fledgling company won a 2022 Innovator Award from Northeastern’s Women Who Empower in the graduate student category.
Expanding access to healthcare
Cassie Choi, BHS’13, was a critical care nurse before co-founding Pair Team. The company and team she leads partners with health plans, providing automated systems designed to help patients in rural areas access care and services more efficiently. For her efforts to bring technological innovation in healthcare to underserved communities, she received a Women Who Empower Innovators Award.
Preserving medicine for all
Pharmaceuticals must be stored properly to retain their potency. With a startup called SaluTemp, Theodora Christopher, S’21, and Anastasia Mavridis, S’21, MS’22, are developing a low-cost temperature sensing device and app to help patients maintain, and learn about, their medication. The pair earned a Women Who Empower Innovators Award and Northeastern Honors Propel Grant this year.