On Friday, September 27, the Boston University community leapt to its feet to celebrate the historic inauguration of Melissa L. Gilliam as the institution’s 11th president since its founding in 1839.

“Boston University has been a place for courage in the face of challenges,” Gilliam said in her speech at Agganis Arena to more than 2,000 students, faculty, staff, and dignitaries gathered on a beautiful fall afternoon. “A place of openness in a society that was often closed; a place of optimism during times of hopelessness; and a place that has been open to an increasingly global world, when many others could only see what was directly in front of them.

“To Boston University’s trustees, faculty, staff, students, alumni, and friends: now is our moment,” she said. “Let us use our traditions of intellectual courage, academic rigor, service, openness, art, and creativity to drive our next transformation.”

Her words were answered with a rousing ovation, in a ceremony that also featured remarks via video from Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey.

Access for all was a key theme of the speech by Gilliam. “As we look forward, we must continue to ensure that Boston University provides a singular and transformative educational experience, and that all qualified students, regardless of their background, can access opportunity,” Gilliam said in her address. “We must find ways to address the rising costs of higher education, while also ensuring that our students are prepared for life after graduation, so they can see a return on the significant investment of their time.”

She announced a new vision for student career advancement: to increase internship participation and improve career outcomes across all academic programs, while at the same time offsetting the cost of education. Funding for working in laboratories and workplaces will be widely available for students to complete career-building internships, she said, with details on the program to follow in the coming weeks and months.

Gilliam, a physician, will be BU’s first president to have a second office on the Medical Campus. She pledged to continue the University’s “fierce commitment” to Boston by reinvigorating its partnership with Boston Medical Center and better integrating the Charles River Campus and the Medical Campus, which are separated by two miles across the city’s Back Bay and South End neighborhoods.

Other initiatives that she will roll out include a commitment to fully embrace the power of interdisciplinary collaboration and a renewed commitment to the Boston University global community. Gilliam also pledged to strengthen the University’s commitment to free speech and academic freedom while working to promote civil discourse and find common ground. She announced a new initiative that will focus on campus values and building skills in discourse. The initiative will serve as a platform to deepen the University’s commitment to free expression and discourse.

Gilliam announced an “ambitious vision” to put the arts “front and center across our campuses” and named Harvey Young, dean of the College of Fine Arts, to lead a President’s Advisory Council on the Arts.

“Today, we continue our journey forward, taking BU to its next level of transformation and commitment to excellence—at this critical time in the world, both home and abroad, and also in higher education,” said Ahmass Fakahany (Questrom’79), chair of the BU Board of Trustees. “We could not be more pleased and excited to have Dr. Melissa Gilliam leading us on this journey as we continue to unravel our potential.”

During the ceremony, Gilliam was presented with the University’s colors, its charter, the Founder’s Chair, and the President’s Collar. She began her duties at BU on July 1. She is the first female president and the first Black president of Boston University. A graduate of Harvard Medical School, Gilliam is also a BU clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology, professor of sociology, and professor of epidemiology. She is a distinguished educator, scholar, research scientist, and physician. Her scholarship focuses on interventions to promote adolescent health and well-being. She spent the majority of her career at the University of Chicago, where she was vice provost before joining Ohio State University as executive vice president and provost.

The ceremony featured the singing of the BU anthem “Clarissima,” performances by the alumni group Sons of Serendip, the BU a cappella group the Treblemakers, and the BU Brass Choir, with singer Arielle Rogers-Wilkey (CFA’25). Robert Pinsky, a William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor, director of the Creative Writing Program, and former US poet laureate, read a poem, Robert Hayden’s “Those Winter Sundays.”