Northeastern University

to include 300 additional tenure and tenure-track faculty in interdisciplinary fields. Aoun also placed more emphasis on improving community relations by reaching out to leaders of the neighborhoods surrounding the university. In addition, Aoun created more academic partnerships with other institutions in the Boston area, including Tufts University, Hebrew College and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts.
During this period, Northeastern rapidly advanced in national rankings. It placed 42nd in the 2014–15 edition of U.S. News & World Report's best colleges and universities rankings, a 7 position jump from 2013 to 2014 and a 27 place gain since 2010–11. Critics have argued that Northeastern's rise in the rankings shows that the university has "cracked the code" to academic rankings, while others suggested it figured out how to "game the system." The positive feedback effect of its placement, in turn, allowed the institution to significantly increase its endowment, admit a more-competitive student body, hire new …