As part of a five-year, $75 million Academic Investment Plan that ran from 2004 and 2009 the University concentrated on undergraduate education, core graduate professional programs, and centers of research excellence. Faculty was originally to be bolstered by 100 new tenured and tenure-track professors, later expanded 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 has created more academic partnerships with other institutions in the Boston area, including Tufts, Hebrew College and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts.