In Memoriam: John J. Neuhauser
and dean of the Carroll School of Management
John J. “Jack” Neuhauser, whose work as academic vice president and dean of faculties and faculty member, and as dean of BC’s Carroll School of Management, contributed significantly to Boston College’s late-20th century ascent among the nation’s top universities, died on September 30. He was 82.
Dr. Neuhauser photographed for Boston College Magazine at his farm in Vermont in 1999. (Lee Pellegrini)
A wake for Dr. Neuhauser will be held on Wednesday, October 8, from 2-4 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. in the Joyce Funeral Home, 245 Main Street (Rte. 20), Waltham. A funeral Mass will be celebrated on Thursday, October 9, at 10 a.m. in Saint Ignatius Church at Boston College. A private burial will be held at a later date in Guilford, Vt.
During Dr. Neuhauser's tenure as AVP, BC cemented its place among the top 40 national universities as ranked by U.S. News & World Report. The University saw dramatic increases in external funding for research and sponsored projects—including a record $42.2 million in fiscal year 2004. Undergraduate applications rose, and in 2004 BC received the fourth-highest number of applications of any private university in the United States (22,451). Over the same period, the average SAT score of incoming freshmen increased from 1275 to 1317.
His six years as chief academic officer also saw the University first-ever Rhodes Scholars and growing numbers of students earning Marshall, Fulbright, Truman, and other post-graduate fellowship awards.
“I don’t think the institution can stand still,” he said in an interview with the Boston College Chronicle at the outset of his stint as AVP. “Our choice is to continue down this path as a major American university, or to fall back to being a liberal arts college. The latter is just not tenable. The trick is to move forward while keeping those things that have made us unique: our Catholic and Jesuit character.”
Dr. Neuhauser—who joined the BC faculty in 1969—achieved similar success as dean of the Carroll School, where he served as founding chair of the Computer Science Department. The CSOM undergraduate program rose to top-40 status among U.S. business schools, as he recruited distinguished faculty members such as Wayne Ferson, Alicia Munnell, and Edward Kane (finance), Peter Wilson and Arnold Wright (accounting), and Larry Ritzman (operations and strategic management) to fill endowed chairs. He helped to redesign the M.B.A. program to promote ethical behavior and responsible management action, and to establish several joint degree programs within the University, including M.B.A.-M.S.W., M.B.A.-J.D. and M.B.A.-Ph.D. He was instrumental in creating the Boston College Chief Executives' Club, a speakers' club for business leaders that drew national acclaim.
When Dr. Neuhauser announced he would step down as AVP, University President William P. Leahy, S.J., praised his efforts "to enhance the faculty and academic program," calling him "a dedicated University citizen who has served this institution exceedingly well."
“His leadership was absolutely instrumental—as dean and then academic vice president—in lifting BC to its lofty height of academic excellence today. Jack will always be with me, will always be in the heart of many sons and daughters of Boston College, will forever live on this campus. Simply, Jack goes down in history as one of BC's great persons, professors, and leaders.”
In 2007, Dr. Neuhauser was named as president of Saint Michael’s College in Vermont. He told the BC Chronicle that leaving BC “will be the hardest thing I have ever done. My friends and my kids are largely in the area and this is an institution I have spent a lifetime coming to know. One just does not pick up stakes and head out of town. Most of what I have learned—and some would say not much—l’ve learned on these old stones from faculty, administrators, and staff, for all of whom I have great affection and respect.
“It has been a great blessing to be able to walk across campus and always know a person coming in the opposite direction, to find myself at an alumni event and have had a large number of the individuals in class, even to attend a budget committee meeting with old and wise friends in attendance. I’ve learned a lot here; I hope it is enough.”
Dr. Neuhauser stepped down as president of Saint Michael’s College in 2018. He was a graduate of Manhattan College and received master’s and doctoral degrees from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Former colleagues offered tributes to Dr. Neuhauser’s memory.
"Jack Neuhauser was appointed academic vice president at the end of my first year at BC, having been an important faculty member and dean for nearly 30 years before my arrival,” said Winston Provost and Dean of Faculties David Quigley. “During his tenure in Bourneuf House, he built a strong team of academic leaders and modeled a way of leading academic affairs that inspired me and many of my faculty colleagues. His work in the Carroll School helped set the foundation for the University's emergence as one of the nation's great institutions of higher education."
Professor of Economics Joseph Quinn, who as a new faculty member met Dr. Neuhauser nearly 50 years ago, recalled him as “an enthusiastic mentor who evolved into a lifetime friend. Jack was a kind, gentle, and wonderful administrator, always people-oriented, who loved talking to and interacting with all—students, faculty, administrators, and trustees. The light and warmth of his attention and support was felt within and beyond the BC community. As one long-time friend put it, ‘He was a man of such innate dignity and judgment that it made you proud when his high beams shone on you.’ The loss of his generosity of spirit leaves all of us so much poorer.”
CSOM Powers Family Dean Andy Boynton, who was a student of Dr. Neuhauser as a BC undergraduate in the 1970s, remembered him as a “tough professor” who was “demanding but always fair.” As Boynton’s career progressed, Dr. Neuhauser would always “take the time to listen, help, and direct me.
“I loved Jack, and I’m so sad about his passing, but the amazing thing is, lots of people Jack touched at BC, and then St. Michaels, are feeling just like I do right now. And they have similar stories to tell. I really think I'm speaking now not just from my heart, but from the heart of my then-School of Management friends and classmates, all of whom were touched in important, formative ways by Jack. His leadership was absolutely instrumental—as dean and then academic vice president—in lifting BC to its lofty height of academic excellence today.
“Jack will always be with me, will always be in the heart of many sons and daughters of Boston College, will forever live on this campus. Simply, Jack goes down in history as one of BC's great persons, professors, and leaders."
Information on next of kin was not immediately available.