Last month, Boston University President Robert Brown announced a new 10-year, $1.8 billion strategic spending plan.
It supports improving the school's reputation, recruiting new faculty members and constructing new buildings. It also aims to increase cross-college education for undergraduate students.
The Choosing to be Great strategic plan is the culmination of over a year's worth of campus-wide collaboration.
According to Colin Riley, BU's Director of Media Relations, the money for the plan is coming primarily from fundraising efforts and the use of the university's annual operational surplus, which has been accumulating for the past 30 years.
He said the university would prefer to draw more from its endowment, but that financial realities make that impractical.
"Some schools have great luxuries, like the Ivies who, just by waking up, have millions more in their accounts," he said.
A key piece of the plan is an effort to attract talented new faculty through the creation of 100 tenure-track positions.
"We're trying to beef up the caliber of the faculty to increase the caliber of the school," Riley said.
Tufts President Lawrence Bacow said that Tufts shares this commitment, although the university does not allocate a specific amount of money to hire a preset number of faculty members.
"That was a conscious decision, in part, because universities evolve in different ways," he said. "Sometimes hiring priorities shift."
Still, he said that Tufts' commitment is evident through its ongoing capital campaign, Beyond Boundaries. One of the campaign's goals is to create new buildings, many of which have attractive repercussions for professors and potential hires.
"There are lots of moving parts that generate new office space," Bacow said. He cited the upcoming construction of the Steve Tisch Sports and Fitness Center, which would move some athletics offices out of Halligan Hall and make room for more academic space.
Director of Advancement, Communications and Donor Relations Christine Sanni agreed that the university prioritizes faculty recruitment.
"Tufts seeks to attract and retain the world's best teacher-scholars to remain competitive with peer institutions," she said in an e-mail. "Raising funds for start-up costs associated with attracting top faculty is one of these key priorities."
Another link between Tufts and BU is the desire to offer more financial aid.
"We're a very generous school but President Brown wants to do more," Riley said.
As such, he expressed enthusiasm about Tufts' recently unveiled plan that would offer debt reductions to students who pursue public service careers.
"We applaud Tufts and we'd like to do those types of things in the future," Riley said.
He said that another goal of BU's strategic plan is funding the long-term construction of buildings, such as a new law school and new dormitories.
Riley expressed excitement about the decade-long strategic plan, which should ultimately leave BU in a more favorable position financially and academically.
"It has come together well and it took a lot of coordination," he said.
Bacow is also optimistic about Tufts' future, noting that even if the university has been less vocal than BU about its faculty recruitment goals, the dedication is still present.
"We've been quieter about our plans, but I'd say no less ambitious," he said.
Rob Silverblatt contributed reporting to this article.
