Joseph E. Aoun, a leader in higher education policy and a renowned scholar in linguistics, is the seventh President of Northeastern University.
President Aoun has strategically aligned the University’s research enterprise with three global imperatives—health, security, and sustainability. Northeastern’s faculty focus on interdisciplinary research, entrepreneurship, and transforming academic research into commercial solutions for the world’s most pressing problems. During President Aoun’s tenure, the University has realized a 189 percent growth in external research funding, along with approximately 1,500 patent applications filed by faculty and students.
Join us for our second Busing at 50 event, “Lens of Change: The Garrity Decision In Focus,” for a powerful exploration of the desegregation era through the eyes of those who experienced it firsthand and those who documented it.
As we reflect on this pivotal moment, we’ll examine how media coverage of anti-busing protests solidified Boston’s reputation as a city marked by racial strife. This event will offer a multifaceted perspective on desegregation, viewed through the lenses of photographers, journalists, and individuals who lived through these tumultuous years.
Panelists include Ulrike Welsch, former Globe photographer; Denise Garrow-Pruitt, one of the original plaintiffs; and Bill Greene, Globe photo editor with the discussion moderated by Melissa Taboada, Editor of the Great Divide Education Team.
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Notice of Filming and Photography: When you attend this event, you enter an area where photography, audio, and video recording may occur. By entering this space, you consent to such recording media and its release, publication, exhibition, or reproduction.
Ulrike Welsch was a photographer for The Boston Globe from 1971 to 1981. During this time Welsch was named “Press Photographer of the Year” by the New England Press Photographers Assoc. She and the Boston Globe Team received a Pulitzer Prize for their coverage of Boston Busing. Her Human Interest images changed the looks of Boston dailies.
Bill Greene, director of photography at the Boston Globe, leads a staff of 20 visual journalists for the Boston Globe and its website Bostonglobe.com. He started his career at the Patriot Ledger in Quincy before moving to the Globe where he was a staff photographer for 28 years before becoming director in 2014. Greene was awarded National Photographer of the Year honors twice in the Pictures of the Year competition, and thirteen times for the Boston Press Photographers Association. Other awards include the Robert F. Kennedy International Photojournalism Award for his story of the Lost Boys of Sudan, as well as first place in the World Press Photo competition for his coverage of the Mississippi River flooding of 1993. A Pulitzer Prize finalist, he is also a four-time Emmy award winner, and two-time Edward R. Murrow winner for multimedia work produced at the Globe.
Lyda Peters has worked for nearly five decades as an educator and community activist, focused on educational equity and civil rights. A former Boston Public School teacher and university professor, Peters is also the president of the Ruth M. Batson Educational Foundation, and fought alongside Batson for school integration in the 1960s and 70s.
Dr. Denise Pruitt is the chair of Health Studies at MassBay Community College, which includes medical assisting and phlebotomy, and teaches community health at Tufts Medical School. Also known as Chief Ladybug, she is an indigenous American with Croatan, Massachusetts Praying Indian, and Potawatomi tribal affiliations. One of the original plaintiffs in Morgan v. Hennigan, Dr. Pruitt was bused from Dorchester to Hyde Park High from 1975 to 1978.
Melissa Barragán Taboada is the editor of the Globe’s award-winning Great Divide team, which investigates educational inequities in Boston and throughout the state. The team and other key journalists in the newsroom recently examined the legacy of busing and desegregation in Boston, 50 years later in a series of 10 stories.
Robert Lewis Jr. is an East Boston native who attended East Boston High School during the busing crisis. He is now a Boston community leader, most recently as executive director of the Boys & Girls Club of Boston, where he has set a strategic focus on health, education, and workforce readiness for area youth.
Michelle Wu is the Mayor of Boston. She is a daughter of immigrants, Boston Public Schools mom to two boys, MBTA commuter, and fierce believer that we can solve our deepest challenges through building community. As Mayor, Michelle is working in coalition to deliver bold, systemic change and make Boston a city for everyone.
Lyda Peters has worked for nearly five decades as an educator and community activist, focused on educational equity and civil rights. A former Boston Public School teacher and university professor, Peters is also the president of the Ruth M. Batson Educational Foundation, and fought alongside Batson for school integration in the 1960s and 70s.
Dr. Denise Pruitt is the chair of Health Studies at MassBay Community College, which includes medical assisting and phlebotomy, and teaches community health at Tufts Medical School. Also known as Chief Ladybug, she is an indigenous American with Croatan, Massachusetts Praying Indian, and Potawatomi tribal affiliations. One of the original plaintiffs in Morgan v. Hennigan, Dr. Pruitt was bused from Dorchester to Hyde Park High from 1975 to 1978.
