By Brian Chan, Business & Science Editor • May 5, 2026

When Natalie McKnight first became a professor at Boston University’s College of General Studies in 1990, she was only intending to be an emergency replacement for one semester. 

“Thirty-six years later, I’m still here, and I’m the dean of the college,” McKnight said. “I turned that one-semester position into a whole career.” 

McKnight will step down as dean at the end of the academic year after serving in the role for 13 years. 

Throughout her tenure, she oversaw the program’s shift to a January start date, secured the college’s first million-dollar donation and expanded students’ access to experiential learning opportunities both inside and outside the classroom. 

CGS is a two-year program in which students take a gap semester in the fall, start on campus in the spring and study abroad in London over the summer. In addition to taking classes for their major, CGS students take liberal arts courses in rhetoric, social science, humanities and natural science, which are meant to encourage interdisciplinary learning. 

Matthew Bae, director of student services and academic advising for CGS, described McKnight as “accessible” and someone who “puts the fires out herself.” 

“She models what it means to be an effective leader and to be someone who really contributes to a community that cares about each other,” he said. “When other people look at a leader who carries herself like that, it has a real trickle effect to the rest of the organization.”

What makes her stand out, Bae said, is that even with her duties, she takes time to care for everyone — whether it’s playing the guitar with students or staying late to give out cookies to staff members. 

“She is just a really good human being,” he said. “She cares deeply, and she’s someone who shows that.”

McKnight said one of her main goals coming into the position was to introduce more experiential learning and community-building opportunities. 

In 2014, former BU President Robert Brown asked her to move CGS’s start date from September to January, partly due to housing concerns. This required the redesign of CGS’s curriculum to cram a semester’s worth of content into six weeks — but it opened the doors to experiment with a new, hands-on approach to teaching, McKnight said. 

“Right away, I thought, ‘Well, we absolutely can’t send all these students over there and then have them in the classroom all the time. What’s the point?’” McKnight said. 

So McKnight and her team split the London program into two components: students spend half their time in classrooms and the other half experiencing London, with activities such as museum visits and musical showings.

These experiences not only give CGS students an opportunity to immerse themselves in London’s culture but also help foster connection among themselves, McKnight said. 

“When you do these trips together, you really get to know each other really well, and I think it just builds a much stronger sense of community than we had back then,” she said. 

Davida Pines, associate professor of rhetoric and associate dean for faculty research and development at CGS, said McKnight has always been “extraordinarily generous.” 

“She has tried very hard to say yes when faculty have wanted or needed or had an idea about something, and that will be missed,” she said. 

McKnight said one of her major accomplishments as dean was facilitating CGS’s growth in professional opportunities, such as internships and undergraduate research projects. The program went from offering one or two paid internships a year to more than 80, she said. 

Pines, who also directs the Center for Interdisciplinary Teaching and Learning — where many of these internship opportunities are offered — said McKnight’s ability to advocate for the center and generate interest in it led many alumni to help support it. 

“I almost can’t quite imagine life in CGS without her. She is an extraordinary fountain of information and knowledge,” Pines said. “It’s hard to imagine her not being the one you’ll be able to ask something of.”

In total, McKnight said she raised around 9 million dollars for the college, which has helped fund these internship opportunities, as well as various renovations of CGS spaces. In 2017, the college received its first-ever million-dollar donation and a second one a month later. 

Even during “chaotic” times, Bae said McKnight always “made sure that people had a voice.”

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced CGS to cancel its London program and send its freshmen home after only 40 days, McKnight held town halls for the community to voice their frustrations.

“We’re having to be on the receiving end of a lot of unhappy people and students who were absolutely crushed,” Bae said. “Any other leader could have left it at that.” 

Instead, he said McKnight listened to people’s concerns and put together a one-week London experience for around 400 students once the pandemic ended. 

After retiring from her position as dean, McKnight said, she plans to take a yearlong sabbatical, then return to teach a course on global philosophical approaches to happiness. 

“I’m looking forward to ending my career going back to where I started — in a classroom, interacting with students and finding out together what are some of the best pathways to happiness,” she said. 

Bae said that in an era where people are looking cynically at college as an investment, it has been refreshing to have a staunch defender of the idea of college as a community and place for liberal arts at the helm. 

“It might not be for everybody, but for the people who are part of the community, it is beyond just beneficial,” he said. “It can be life-changing.”

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