Boston College Chronicle

PUBLISHED BY THE BOSTON COLLEGE OFFICE OF UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS

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Diversity Challenge

Schiller: What’s Ahead?

BC Arts

Institute for the Study and Promotion of Race and Culture Director Janet Helms discusses the organization’s signature event, marking its 20th year.

A conversation with Laura Steinberg, executive director of BC’s Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society.

Q&A with Theatre Chair Luke Jorgensen on how—and why— the show must go during the COVID-19 pandemic.

OCTOBER 15, 2020 VOL. 28 NO. 4

PUBLISHED BY THE BOSTON COLLEGE OFFICE OF UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS

Researchers: Politics Drove Public School Reopenings

BY SEAN SMITH CHRONICLE EDITOR

Heights of Contemplation

photo by lee pellegrini

Assoc. Prof. Brian Robinette (Theology), Asst. Prof. Daniel Callahan (Music), and their students took part in a yoga class on Bapst Lawn as part of an integration session for two linked Core Curriculum classes: Callahan’s Aesthetic Exercises: Engagement, Empathy, Ethics and Robinette’s Spiritual Exercises: Engagement, Empathy, Ethics. Participants wore masks and stayed 10 feet apart.

A study co-authored by a Boston College political scientist has found that local political conditions—not science or the severity of COVID-19—were the most important factor in determining whether K-12 public school districts chose to offer in-person classes this fall.

Assistant Professor of Political Science Michael Hartney and Leslie Finger, an assistant professor at the University of North Texas, scrutinized the decisions of nearly 10,000 school districts—about 75 percent of the nation’s total public school districts—on bringing back students to the classroom as the school year began. Accounting for the intensity of COVID-19 and the availability of private schooling alternatives in a given district, Hartney and

Finger discovered that political allegiances were the best indicator of how the district decided to proceed.

Specifically, the researchers looked at the share of the 2016 vote won by Donald Trump for the county in which a school district resides, as well as the strength of the local teachers union—measured mainly by district size, as studies show unions are strongest in larger districts. Even when Hartney and Finger compared schools in counties that experienced very similar pandemic conditions, political partisanship strongly predicted how schools chose to reopen.

For example, counties that voted 60 percent for Hillary Clinton were nearly 20 percentage points less likely to hold inperson classes than counties that backed Continued on page 5

Service Opens BC’s Forum on Racial Justice in America

BY PHIL GLOUDEMANS STAFF WRITER

The Forum on Racial Justice in America, a University-wide initiative to address structural racism in our nation and explore how Boston College can work to build an antiracist community, was publicly launched on October 7 with a Service of Hope and Reconciliation, the first of five events slated for this month.

“Our nation is at a critical juncture in our history,” said Boston College Law

School Dean Vincent Rougeau, the forum director, who opened the service at the School of Theology and Ministry Chapel in Simboli Hall. “The violent killing of George Floyd and other Black men and women during this past year—and sadly, countless years before—has resulted in protests, anguish, shock, and social division that has reminded us of the unfinished business of racial justice in the United States.

“As a Jesuit, Catholic university, and

Continued on page 9

The University launched its Forum on Racial Justice in America on October 7 at Simboli Hall with a Service of Hope and Reconciliation, which included a speaking program and music. (YouTube still)

We are trying to spread renewal to the Church community from Madrid to the Amazon.

– school of theology and ministry faculty member rafael luciani, on stm’s formación continua program, page 8

ADDRESS GOES HERE

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October 15, 2020

Around Campus OIP Takes a Different Direction with eNav The annual Study Abroad Fair organized by the Office of International Programs (OIP) has long been a resource for Boston College students interested in taking a semester or academic year at a college or university in another country, or participating in BC faculty-led summer programs and internships abroad. But to accommodate pandemicrelated safety restrictions, this fall the OIP has reimagined the fair, hosting a series of virtual sessions called “eNav”—and adding an important focus in the process.

These eNav sessions are aimed at helping Boston College students navigate their study-abroad journey within the context of the University’s Jesuit mission. Discussion topics in these sessions include how studying abroad fits into one’s academic vision, discerning the reasons for studying in another country, and the potential impact of the experience on one’s self-identity.

“Our aim has been to help students really interrogate why they want to go overseas,” said OIP Director Nick Gozik. “The Study Abroad Fair was really for students to look at individual programs, and we thought that these eNav sessions were a way to flip the sequence: Many of the sessions that we’re holding are not about specific locations or countries, but the whole experience of going abroad.”

Among the sessions have been “How Does My CSOM Major/Minor Fit into Studying Abroad?,” “Global Health Perspectives,” and “Exploring Identities: I Am an AHANA Student—Is Studying Abroad for Me?” During the “Exploring Identities” session, AHANA students who have returned to campus after studying abroad reflected on their experiences and shared advice with AHANA students interested in going over-

Forbes Names BC a Top Employer in Mass.

Forbes magazine has named Boston College as one of Massachusetts’s best employers, as part of its second annual national survey of businesses, institutions, and other organizations rated most favorably by employees.

BC ranked ninth of 95 Massachusetts employers. Boston Children’s Hospital was first, followed by Lawrence General Hospital, Partners HealthCare System, Raytheon Technology, and MIT; also in the top 10 were Cambridge Health Alliance (sixth), Procter & Gamble (seventh), U.S. Department of Defense (eighth), and Herb Chambers (10th). Others on the list included Northeastern University (16th), Massachusetts General Hospital (19th), Harvard University (22nd), Dell Technologies (26th), University of Massachusetts Medical School (31st), Boston University (42nd), Amazon (48th), Bank of America (58th), Tufts University (69th), Home Depot (75th), and Verizon Communications (86th).

To determine the list, Forbes—partnering with market research company Statista— surveyed 80,000 Americans working for businesses with at least 500 employees. Respondents, who filled out the surveys anonymously, rated their employers on a variety of criteria, including safety of work environment, competitiveness of compensation, opportunities for advancement and openness to telecommuting. Respondents also were asked how likely they would be to recommend their employer to others, and to nominate organizations in industries outside their own.

ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT FOR UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS

Jack Dunn SENIOR DIRECTOR FOR UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS

The final list ranks the 1,461 employers that received the greatest number of recommendations in each of the 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia.

The number of businesses ranked in each state was dependent on two factors—the number of qualifying employers and the size of the state’s workforce—and those with operations in more than one state had the opportunity to be listed multiple times.

The description for BC in the Forbes listing noted that, in addition to its emphasis in the liberal arts, “Boston College champions innovation—the Edmund H. Shea Center for Entrepreneurship aims to develop a generation of young entrepreneurs and has raised more than $100 million in venture backing for companies launched by students and alumni.” In addition, “BC has earned a reputation for having a heavily involved student body. Student organizations keep the campus thriving, hosting charity events and more than three concerts each year.”

The entry also pointed to the more than 182,000 BC alumni around the world, among them former Secretary of State John Kerry, NBA veteran Jared Dudley, and comedian Amy Poehler, constituting the largest alumni association among Jesuit universities.

To read the Forbes “America’s Best Employers” feature, go to www.forbes.com/bestemployers-by-state.

—University Communications

CONTRIBUTING STAFF

Sean Smith

seas.

“The students were really engaged and they had lots of great questions,” said Gozik of the event he co-led with Vice Provost for Undergraduate Academic Affairs Akua Sarr.

“I think that they were inspired as a result.”

The emphasis the OIP has placed on discernment and intentionality aligns with the Jesuit values of the Boston College, according to Gozik.

“This idea of taking stock of one’s life, thinking about where one has been, where one is, and where one is going, and understanding that we’re part of a larger world fits perfectly within the Jesuit mission and set of values.”

It’s been a busy and productive year for the award-winning Boston College Magazine, which has launched a vibrant new website, a bimonthly newsletter, and a podcast, and is in the process of expanding its social media presence.

The new website, at www.bc.edu/bcm, includes links to recent stories and features as well as the magazine’s podcast, which features conversations about the issues of the day with thinkers, leaders, and personalities from across the BC community. Complementing the web presence is BC Magazine Now, a digital newsletter that highlights the magazine’s content and University-related news.

“We’re thrilled to be able to make BC Magazine available to our audience members on whatever platforms they prefer,” said John Wolfson, who became the magazine’s editor in early 2019. “Many of our readers will always value the print experience—something we remain deeply committed to. Those readers will continue to receive the magazine they have loved for years. Those who have made the full-time transition to online reading, meanwhile, can now enjoy the magazine on a modern website that looks great and functions flawlessly on both computers and mobile devices.”

Chronicle

PHOTOGRAPHERS

www.bc.edu/bcnews chronicle@bc.edu

Lee Pellegrini Peter Julian

Despite the uncertainty about international travel this academic year, the OIP has still been doing the necessary work to get students to their international destinations if circumstances allow it, and to promote the discussions and contemplation required for students to decide why they should pursue international education. Gozik said 600 students have formally undertaken the process to study abroad, including those who have participated in eNav. eNav is a collaborative effort organized by a wide array of Boston College departments and offices under the direction of the OIP. To view upcoming events, see bc.edu/enav.

—Christine Balquist

New Ventures for BC Magazine

Christine Balquist Phil Gloudemans Ed Hayward Rosanne Pellegrini Kathleen Sullivan

Patricia Delaney EDITOR

Students participated in a recent discussion through the Office of International Programs’ “eNav” series on studying abroad.

Wolfson also pointed to the “storytelling opportunities” presented by BC Magazine’s new digital formats: “Print, web, video, social media, and podcasts are not in competition with each other. They work together to tell compelling stories that audiences can enjoy across many different platforms.”

Published three times a year by the Office of University Communications, Boston College Magazine is delivered to nearly 200,000 homes and has a readership that includes not only alumni but faculty, staff, and parents of current undergraduates. The magazine began publication in 1978 and has regularly been honored by professional organizations such as the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, which in 1996 recognized BC Magazine as one of the seven best university magazines in the country.

—University Communications With National Estate Planning Awareness Week coming up October 19-25, the Boston College Office of Estate Planning notes that, according to estimates, more than half of American adults lack an estate plan. To help organize your estate planning, go to bc.edu/ estateplanning to get a free Estate Planning Guide, compliments of the office. For general questions, feel free to contact the office at giftplanning@bc.edu or 877-304-SHAW.

The Boston College Chronicle (USPS 009491), the internal newspaper for faculty and staff, is published biweekly from September to May by Boston College, with editorial offices at the Office of University Communications, 3 Lake Street, Brighton, MA 02135 (617)552-3350.

Distributed free to faculty and staff offices and other locations on campus.

Periodicals postage paid at Boston, MA and additional mailing offices.

POSTMASTER: send address changes to The Boston College Chronicle, Office of University Communications, 3 Lake Street, Brighton, MA 02135.

A flipbook edition of Chronicle is available via e-mail.

Send requests to chronicle@bc.edu.

Chronicle

October 15, 2020

CORONAVIRUS UPDATE

Downward Trend in Positive Cases Continues Boston College continued to receive encouraging news in its COVID-19 testing, with a total of 12 positive cases reported for the week of October 5–11, including nine undergraduates, out of 7,187 tests performed, (5,352 undergrads), resulting in a weekly positivity rate of 0.16 percent.

The Massachusetts positivity rate stands at 1.1 percent.

Currently, there are 13 BC undergraduates in isolation—11 in University isolation housing and two recovering at home.

A total of 174 undergraduates have recovered and returned to normal activities.

Since testing began on August 16, the University has conducted 52,327 tests of BC community members, including 35,965 tests of undergraduates, with a total of 193 positive cases, including 187 undergrads for a positivity rate of 0.37 percent. By comparison, Boston University has reported 145 total positive cases, Providence College 241, Northeastern University 118, and the University of

Notre Dame 813.

“Last week’s testing results were very encouraging,” said Director of University Health Services Dr. Douglas Comeau.

“We have good momentum, and we will continue our strategy of quickly identifying and testing individuals who are deemed to be close contacts of anyone testing positive, and follow our quarantine and isolation protocols to prevent the spread of the virus.”

In addition to daily symptomatic testing conducted through University Health Services and The Broad Institute, asymptomatic testing is performed Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays throughout the semester in the MAC Courts in the Margot Connell Recreation Center. Testing results are posted upon receipt from The Broad Institute Tuesdays through Fridays on the Reopening BC website: bc.edu/reopen.

—University Communications

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Research/Scholarship Day Oct. 30 Boston College’s annual Advancing Research and Scholarship Day, which takes place on October 30, will be centered on the theme “Responding to COVID-19.”

The event will be held as a webinar via Zoom from 9 a.m.-1:30 p.m.

Begun in 2014, Advancing Research and Scholarship Day showcases the highquality academic activities of BC faculty and students in relation to compelling social, economic, technological, and other quality-of-life issues. Past events have focused on environmental research, global public health, and “big data,” among other topics.

This year’s edition will begin with a panel that includes teaching-related presentations by Biology Professor and Chair Welkin Johnson (“COVID-19 Assays”), Professor of History Conevery Bolton Valencius (“U.S. Health Histories”), and Lynch School of Education and Human Development Professor Hans de Wit, director of the Center for International Higher Education (“International Implications for Teaching”). Connell School of Nursing Assistant Professor Nadia Abuelezam and Professor of History Mar-

tin Summers will serve as moderators.

A panel discussion from 10:15-11:15 a.m. will feature Lilian Ferrer, vice-rector of international affairs at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile—which has been involved in several partnerships with BC— and World Federation of Public Health Associations President Walter Ricciardi.

The moderators will be Connell School Associate Professor Joyce Edmonds and BC School of Social Work Associate Professor Summer Sherburne Hawkins.

Three BC faculty will speak on COVID-related research during the final panel from 11:20 a.m.-12:20 p.m.: BCSSW Salem Professor of Global Practice Theresa Betancourt (“Family Strengthening”), Boston College Law School Associate Professor Dean Hashimoto (“Masks”), and Professor of Economics M. Utku Ünver (“Pandemic Rationing”). Walsh Professor of Bioethics Andrea Vicini, S.J., and Associate Professor of the Practice Tara Pisani Gareau, director of Environmental Studies, will moderate.

A poster session will conclude the event.

To register for the Zoom link, go to www.bc.edu/covid-researchday.

—University Communications

20 Years On, Diversity Challenge Continues Mission

BY PHIL GLOUDEMANS STAFF WRITER

The 20th annual Diversity Challenge, a national conference organized by Boston College’s Institute for the Study and Promotion of Race and Culture (ISPRC) that takes place online October 23-24, spells out the urgency of its task in this year’s brochure: “Racism, racialized ethnocentricity, and xenophobia have spread their tentacles of oppression in virtually every domain in U.S. society.

“Over the years, we have convened to share scholarship, mental health interventions, educational strategies, and social justice community advocacy to foster our shared efforts to move toward a mutual goal of ending racial and ethnic cultural oppression in whatever forms they occur.”

ISPRC, also celebrating its 20th anniversary, was launched with the Diversity Challenge as its centerpiece to promote the assets and address the societal conflicts associated with race and culture in theory and research, mental health practice, education, business, and society at large.

ISPRC Director Janet E. Helms explains that this year’s convening—“Goodbye ‘isms,’ Hello Future!”—will challenge participants “not to only imagine a future world without racial-cultural oppression, but also to share their work, thoughts, or presence to make a reality of that which we can imagine, toward the goal of ending racial-cultural domination in the future.

“It’s also a two-decade celebration of what all previous attendees have done over the years to keep racism and ethnocentrism—and the many social categories and domains with which they intersect—in the forefront of society’s consciousness,” said

Helms, the Augustus Long Professor at the Lynch School of Education and Human Development.

The Diversity Challenge will feature a deep and robust roster of invited panelists and speakers, including Robert Carter, retired chair of the Department of Counseling and Clinical Psychology and director of training at the Counseling Psychology Program at Teachers College, Columbia University, who is known worldwide for his work on assessing racial trauma; University of Maryland Assistant Dean for Diversity Kim Nickerson, the former director of the American Psychological Association’s Minority Fellowship Program; San Francisco State University Department of Counseling Professor Rebecca Toporek, co-author of Taking Action: Creating Social Change through Strength, Solidarity, Strategy & Sustainability; and Francie Latour, Broad Institute diversity initiative coordinator and author of Auntie Luce’s Talking Paintings, a bi-cultural, bi-geographic illustrated children’s book.

Additional speakers include neuropsychologist Hector Adames, co-director of the Immigration Critical Race and Cultural Equity Lab and editor of Latinx Psychology; Karen Suyemoto, a professor of psychology and Asian American Studies and director of the Transnational Cultural and Community Studies graduate program at the University of Massachusetts-Boston; and Alvin Alvarez, dean of the College of Health & Social Sciences, San Francisco State University.

The 2020 Diversity Challenge comes in the wake of the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, and the police shooting of Jacob Blake, Helms noted, each distressing reminders of the

photo by christopher soldt,

MTS

“The institute is unique in its emphasis on addressing psychological issues related to race and ethnic culture from an interdisciplinary perspective. In the social policy arena, race and culture are too often treated as human deficiencies rather than potential resources.”

—Janet Helms rationale for the development of ISRPC’s Racial Trauma Toolkit, a resource for communities of color trying to cope with these repeatedly devastating experiences.

Understanding that racial trauma is an urgent public health concern that has serious consequences for the well-being of people of color, the ISPRC Alumni Advisory Board launched the downloadable #racialtraumaisreal kit in 2015, a direct

response to the 2014-15 deaths of Michael Brown, John Crawford III, Eric Garner, Aiyana Stanley-Jones, Yvette Smith, Walter Scott, and Freddie Gray, as well as the lack of indictments of the police officers involved in several of these deaths.

“Regardless of a person’s previous understanding of racism, many people of color may find themselves struggling to process their reactions to these deaths,” said Helms.

“Anger, sadness, fear, feelings of helplessness, exhaustion, rage, and the desire to act may emerge at unpredictable times in an unpredictable manner.

“The Racial Trauma Toolkit offers the recommendations of mental health professionals and advocates of the study and promotion of racial and cultural understanding, and speaks to the broad mental health impact we as a community are experiencing as witnesses, participants, and mental health practitioners.”

The ISPRC has been engaged in a variety of team initiatives, including a mentoring and advocacy program at Dorchester’s Jeremiah E. Burke High School; the Race Culture Challengers, a team formed to empower people to create and navigate conversations and spaces that address aspects of race and culture; and a student-led advocacy program developed to support and empower international graduate students.

“The institute is unique in its emphasis on addressing psychological issues related to race and ethnic culture from an interdisciplinary perspective,” said Helms. “In the social policy arena, race and culture are too often treated as human deficiencies rather than potential resources.”

For more about the Institute for the Study and Promotion of Race and Culture, and the Diversity Challenge, go to www.bc.edu/isprc.

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October 15, 2020

Top Honor for BCSSW Latinx Leadership Initiative The Latinx Leadership Initiative in the Boston College School of Social Work won a national award at Excelencia! in Education’s Celebración De Excelencia, a virtual event held earlier this month in cooperation with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus to recognize programs in colleges and community-based organizations that have accelerated the educational success of Latinx students.

The LLI received the top award for graduate programs that prepare Latinx students to succeed in higher education; other finalists were from the University of Texas at San Antonio and the University of California, Irvine.

The goal of the LLI is to increase the number of Latinx social workers in the United States and develop social work practitioners who are equipped to work effectively with Latinx communities across the country. Students enrolled in the program develop a nuanced understanding of the barriers that prevent Latinx communities from accessing equitable education, social services, and health care. They take courses in Spanish, complete internships in schools, hospitals, and prisons, and conduct cutting-edge research that shapes the strategies social workers use to support Latinx clients.

“We give Latinx students the opportunity to belong and to be celebrated for who they are,” said BCSSW Associate Professor Rocío Calvo, founding director of the Latinx Leadership Initiative.

“We provide the space, but the students step into it with a passion and with a belief in the work that they do in the communities that they serve,” added Ximena Soto, LLI assistant director.

Excelencia! in Education, a nonprofit founded in 2004, conducts research to inform educational policies and promotes institutional practices that accelerate the success of Latinx students. Every year, Excelencia! identifies, reviews, and promotes programs at colleges and communitybased organizations that accelerate degree completion through intentional, culturally relevant, and effective practices tailored to Latinx students.

This year, Excelencia! received 112 applications from programs that hoped to be recognized as “Examples of Excelencia.” A national committee of Latinx experts and corporate partners picked the winners from 20 finalists in four categories—associate, baccalaureate, graduate, and communitybased organizations.

More than 150 students have graduated from the Latinx Leadership Initiative since Calvo created the program in 2013, all of

whom have gone on to secure full-time positions. Many graduates now work with Latinx clients in law clinics, public schools, hospitals, community health centers, and correctional facilities, using the skills and strategies they’ve honed in their evidencebased social work classes to respond to the unique needs of their clients.

Students enrolled in the Latinx Leadership Initiative enter the program together and remain together until they graduate.

They take classes together in Spanish, attend seminars together in which they reflect on their experiences in internships, and often stay in touch even after they have received their degrees. The program has established a network of 148 alumni in 23 states, many of whom support current students as agency supervisors and mentors.

“The students need to be surrounded by people who share their experiences, the way they see the world, and what they value,” said Calvo. She tells students: “You bring the language, the knowledge of the community, and the willingness to work with the community. You are perfect as you are, we will change the educational structure so you can thrive.”

Calvo said students take a holistic approach to working with Latinx clients,

Hernandez, who is scheduled to receive an MSW and MBA in 2021. “Being in a cohort of incredible thought leaders, organizers, and activists from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds has been really inspiring and has really broadened my perspective. It really elevated my consciousness on some of the issues and challenges that our Latino communities are facing here in the United States and how we might confront those issues and challenges to drive innovations and solutions that get to the core of what’s keeping us from realizing our collective power.”

Added Jessica Gutierrez, who gradu“We give Latinx students ated from the Latinx Leadership Initiative the opportunity to belong in 2016 and now mentors students in the program: “The LLI taught me to see my and to be celebrated for own culture from a different angle and to deconstruct systems that many times told who they are.”

—Rocio Calvo, LLI director me that I didn’t deserve to be at BC obtaining a higher education degree. The program was a support system that helped me reach my goal to become a social worker. photo by lee pellegrini Now I continue to be part of the LLI by helping prepare the next generation who want to work with the Latinx community in the United States.”

Calvo and Soto hope that other schools across the country will replicate the model that they have created at BC to train the next generation of Latinx social workers. considering spiritual beliefs, financial staLatinx students represent one of only two tus, family dynamics, and systemic issues demographic groups that have experienced that prevent Latinxs from accessing opan increase in college attendance over the portunities to advance. “Latinxs are facing past two decades, according to the Naissues of racism, colorism, anti-immigrant tional Center for Education Statistics, and sentiment, unsafe neighborhoods, and low- Calvo and Soto want to help ensure that quality educational settings. So if you train institutions of higher education capitalize social workers to only look at the indion the opportunity to invest in the future vidual, you’re going to have a skewed view of this growing group. that will never lead to interventions that “Latinos are the future of the United are effective and sustainable.”

States. Don’t get mistaken,” said Calvo.

LLI students and alumni say that the “They are the youngest population and program has shined a light on the rich his- they are the largest population. We need tory of the Latinx community, improved to invest in the education of Latinos. They their self-confidence, and prepared them have the right to have an excellent educato better serve Latinx clients in communition.” ties across the United States.

—This is an edited version of a story by “I came into this program without BCSSW Senior Editor/Writer Jason Kornmuch context about my history, my witz. For the full version, go to http://bit.ly/ background, and my roots,” said Dewin LLI-excelencia-award.

BC Law’s Wirth Chosen as Fulbright Alumni Ambassador Boston College Law School Professor David Wirth was selected as one of 13 new Fulbright U.S. Scholar Alumni Ambassadors, announced the Institute of International Education, which administers the Fulbright Scholar Program in collaboration with the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

The ambassadors, whose mission is to increase the program’s nationwide visibility and to expand the diversity of future participants, serve a two-year term as official representatives of the Fulbright Scholar Program at campus presentations and academic conferences across the nation.

Selected from the full spectrum of United States academic disciplines, higher educa-

tion, and geographic regions, the ambassadors share their Fulbright experience at multiple outreach events each year.

“It is an honor and a privilege to be asked to serve as a Fulbright Alumni Ambassador,” said Wirth, the only law professor selected. “Fulbright opportunities have greatly enriched my own life and career, and this is a wonderful opportunity to give back in the form of service to the program and to future candidates. So many scholars and researchers can benefit from the program in ways that are often not fully appreciated.”

In 2016-17, as a Fulbright Scholar in Russia, Wirth served as the first Fulbright Distinguished Chair in Sustainable Devel-

Prof. David Wirth (Law)

photo by suzanne

camarata

opment at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow. He also engaged with the Vienna-based Organization for Security and Cooperation (OSCE) Regional Research Program during 1996-97. His work with the OSCE, the world’s largest security-oriented intergovernmental organization, was focused on the environment as a safety issue, which brought him to Budapest, London, Paris, Geneva, Brussels, and other European cities, in addition to Vienna.

—Phil Gloudemans

Chronicle

October 15, 2020

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Study Finds Politics Influenced School Decisions Continued from page 1

Trump by the same margin. Districts with stronger teachers unions were also far less likely to bring students back to the classroom.

Additionally, the study showed the presence of Catholic schools was a factor in reopening plans: Public school districts surrounded by large numbers of Catholic schools were less likely to offer remote-only instruction.

In the volatile, hyper-charged atmosphere of American politics, a report that suggests the magnitude of political partisanship in everyday life might well become political partisan fodder itself, Hartney acknowledges. But he and Finger hope that “Politics, Markets, and Pandemics: Public Education’s Response to COVID-19” will inform discussions and understanding of education policy and the functioning of American local governments.

“The pandemic is an opportunity to see how local governments deal with a public health crisis in the midst of extreme political polarization, and at a time when local issues are becoming nationalized,” said Hartney, who is on a fellowship at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution this academic year. “This is not an ethnographic study, where we were taking notes at school board meetings. To be clear, we are not passing judgment on any particular school board’s decision or making any statement about the quality of discussions that took place leading up to them. Nor does the study reflect changes in school plans that might have occurred later on.

“The main takeaway here is that neither Republicans or Democrats have a monopoly on what form school reopenings have taken: Most school districts—53 percent—in our sample began the year with a hybrid plan, using both in-person and remote learning; among the rest, 24

photo by lee pellegrini

“It is revealing to see what was the first instinct schools followed in setting their policies, and the evidence strongly indicates politics, not COVID case rates, drove those early decisions.”

—Michael Hartney percent were remote-only, and the remaining 23 percent fully in-person. Still, we feel it is revealing to see what was the first instinct schools followed in setting their policies, and the evidence strongly indicates politics, not COVID case rates, drove those early decisions.”

The influence of partisanship on school reopening plans reflects an ongoing na-

tional politicization of local issues in recent years, Hartney said, as demonstrated

by Trump’s threat to withhold funding for schools failing to reopen, and his claim that Democrats want remote-only classes for their electoral benefit. This politicization has spread to other domains, notably science and public health, which while regarded as major considerations in school reopening discussions do not present as the ultimate determinant, according to the study.

Hartney puts it this way: “If that was the case, there are a large number of districts in coronavirus hot spots that shouldn’t be open for in-person classes— but they are. And there are a lot of districts in places where cases are low that should be open for in-person classes—but they aren’t.”

There has often been a misperception of public school governance as beyond “normal” politics, said Hartney. For decades, most states have relied on nonpartisan elections—where candidates do not identify as belonging to a political party—for school boards; typically, these local elections do not coincide with regular federal elections, theoretically reducing the possibility of partisanship. But ultimately, he noted, public schools are agencies of government that will be shaped by democratic political forces. Parents and students—and teachers and school administrators—are only among several constituencies with whom school boards must deal.

In this context, Hartney said, national political clashes on issues such as school reform and school choice filter down to the local level. This is suggested by the finding in “Politics, Markets, and Pandemics” of a correlation between the number of Catholic schools in a given market and the extent to which local public schools’ reopening plans included in-person classes. The study notes that

early in the fall, enrollment skyrocketed in greater Boston Catholic schools, most of which were offering fully in-person instruction while many public schools were online; a similar trend seems to have taken place in Nashville.

“Public schools are bound to become concerned when they stand to lose students to private schools or homeschooling, especially during a crisis like this,” explained Hartney. “During ordinary times, many families won’t give serious consideration to private schooling because of the added cost. But the calculus changes when the neighborhood public school announces that it will only be offering remote instruction. Families may now consider paying Catholic or parochial school tuition, if those schools are giving in-person instruction. This simple fact is likely to weigh on school boards as they contemplate their reopening plans.”

While it’s understandable that some may view with alarm the influence of political partisanship in school reopening decisions, he said, there is another interpretation: For better or worse, local school boards are responding to the priorities and concerns being voiced by their constituents, in the tradition of democratic accountability.

“Again, our study isn’t casting blame on school boards for their decisions; they are supposed to reflect the mood of the communities that they serve. There are all sorts of policy decisions made, on the local, state, and national level, that aren’t necessarily tied to scientific or expert opinion. There may not be a Democratic or Republican way to clean streets, but from what we’ve seen, there are definitely two distinctly partisan approaches to reopening schools.”

To read “Politics, Markets, and Pandemics: Public Education’s Response to COVID-19” go to www.edworkingpapers.com/ ai20-304.

CSON Assoc. Dean Recognized for Research Contributions

BY KATHLEEN SULLIVAN STAFF WRITER

Connell School of Nursing Professor and Associate Dean for Research Christopher Lee, a cardiovascular nurse scientist, was the recipient of two honors in recognition of his research contributions.

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar has appointed Lee to the National Advisory Council for Nursing Research, which makes recommendations to the HHS Secretary and to the director of the National Institute for Nursing Research regarding NINR-related activities and policy matters.

Part of the National Institutes of Health, the NINR is committed to promoting and improving the health of individuals, families, and communities by supporting and conducting clinical and basic research and research training on health and illness. The scope of the research spans and integrates

the behavioral and biological sciences, and develops the scientific basis for clinical practice.

As part of this service, Lee also will join the new NINR Strategic Plan Working Group which will help set the agenda for the next five years of science sponsored by the institute.

“I am humbled by this honor and thrilled to represent Boston College and the Connell School of Nursing as a member of this important council,” said Lee. In 2018, he was invited to speak at the NIH campus in Bethesda, Md., as part of the prestigious NINR Director’s Lecture Series, where the nation’s top nurse scientists present their work to an interdisciplinary audience of NIH intramural scientists, leaders of other NIH institutes, grant program officers, physicians, nurses, and other clinicians.

Lee also will receive the 2020 Mathy Mezey Excellence in Aging Award from the American Heart Association Council on

Connell School of Nursing Professor and Associate Dean Christopher Lee. photo by lee pellegrini

Cardiovascular and Stroke Nursing. The award, which will be presented in November, recognizes individuals who have distinguished themselves in promoting competence in caring for elderly cardiovascular or stroke patients through teaching, research, and/or practice.

Lee has previously been honored for his research by the American Heart Association Council on Cardiovascular and Stroke Nursing, having received the organization’s Martha N. Hill New Investigator Award, Marie Cowan Promising Young Investigator Award, and Heart Failure Translational Research Prize.

“What is most exciting for me about this award from the American Heart Association is that it signals an exciting new chapter in nursing research at Boston College,” said Lee, who is a fellow of the American Heart Association, the Heart Failure Society of America, and the American Academy of Nursing.

Chronicle

6

October 15, 2020

STM Certificate Program Will Train Latino Leaders

BY KATHLEEN SULLIVAN STAFF WRITER

The School of Theology and Ministry, in collaboration with the Boston College School of Social Work, has launched a new program to form leaders who will respond to the needs of Hispanic Catholics in the United States. Rooted in the Ignatian tradition, the Leadership Certificate is taught completely in Spanish and is designed to educate Latinos interested in serving as leaders in their parishes, training them not only in issues of theology and spiritualty, but also on how to address social issues arising in their communities.

“This Leadership Certificate program will empower people by offering them the tools they need to address real problems happening in their communities,” said STM Associate Professor of the Practice Félix Palazzi, who leads the initiative with BCSSW Associate Professor Rocío Calvo.

“With a strong foundation in theology and spirituality, we can train people to address needs in an Ignatian way, and put faith into action in a conscious way.”

There are more than 340 participants currently enrolled in the program. All are required to complete two compulsory courses and then two courses within each of the central program components: theol-

ogy, leadership, and spirituality. The final requirement is the creation of a community impact project the participants can put into action.

The partnership with the School of Social Work was a natural fit, said Palazzi, who noted that the Leadership Certificate has a theological and spiritual foundation, but a social orientation. The program is designed to train and empower participants to address issues related to economics, housing, immigration, food insecurity, as well as legal issues.

According to Palazzi, the Leadership Certificate is the only program of its kind in the United States that combines faith formation, spirituality, and community engagement for Spanish-speaking laity.

“We are approaching leadership from a cultural, Hispanic perspective and providing training that will make these Latino communities feel empowered and supported,” said Calvo, director of BCSSW’s Latinx Leadership Initiative [see related story on page 4].

Calvo noted that the program’s instructors are practitioners who work in Latino communities on a regular basis and know what the needs are in these communities.

They have expertise in areas such as Hispanic ministry, pastoral ministry, theology, philosophy, leadership training, Ignatian

Félix Palazzi, co-founder of the School of Theology and Ministry Leadership Certificate Program. photo by lee pellegrini

spirituality, behavioral health, and social work.

“We are responding to a national need,” she added. “And with our leadership program being fully online, we can reach a national audience.”

Calvo said it was exciting to “break down the silos” and develop a program

like the Leadership Certificate that reaches across two schools within the University to address needs of the Catholic Church on a local and national level.

“When theological education in the United States is limited to instructors and resources available only in English, it shuts out the millions of Spanish-speaking Catholics in the U.S.,” said STM Associate Professor Hosffman Ospino, an instructor in the program. “Because the Leadership Certificate is offered entirely in Spanish, we are meeting important linguistic and cultural needs while also forming theologically and ministerially the next generation of Catholics in the U.S.” Palazzi is also working on establishing a hybrid model of the program that brings the curriculum directly to parishes. To start, he is collaborating with the Boston Archdiocese on programming for Saint Benedict Parish in Somerville.

The Leadership Certificate dovetails with the Universal Apostolic Preferences of the Society of Jesus, a set of priorities guiding the Jesuits for the coming decade.

According to Palazzi, the Leadership Certificate will fulfill this by promoting Ignatian spirituality, caring for the specific needs of marginalized communities in the U.S., and offering young people faith formation and ways to improve their local communities.

DOE Grant Establishes PoliSci Ph.D. Fellowship Program coursework and especially in their dissertations, some facet of the theoretical foundations of democratic or republican government, the arguments originally adduced in support of it, and some of the challenges— both theoretical and practical—such a government and way of life face today.”

The department’s already competitive doctoral student program—which typically has 150 applicants for five slots a

BY SEAN SMITH CHRONICLE EDITOR

A new fellowship program in the Political Science Department will support doctoral students of outstanding promise as they study and teach foundational aspects of political theory and American government.

The department has welcomed four Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GAANN) Fellows this fall through a multi-year $600,972 Department of Education grant: Mary Jane Porzenheim, Rory Womack, Renu Mukherjee, and Michael Tang.

The GAANN grants, according to the Department of Education, assist students with excellent records and demonstrated financial need who plan to pursue graduate degrees in a field designated as an “area of national need.” These areas include foundations of Western Civilization, American political development, American history and institutions, the American founding, and constitutional law, all of which will be addressed through the Boston College GAANN Fellows project.

“We hope to produce well-informed, articulate scholars deeply versed in the history of democratic republicanism, ancient and modern,” said Behrakis Professor in Hellenic Political Studies Robert Bartlett, the program administrator, “and who through teaching and scholarship will do their part to foster a more informed, more thoughtful citizenry.”

The GAANN Fellows will focus on the foundations of republicanism, with

Behrakis Professor in Hellenic Political Studies Robert Bartlett, administrator of the newly established Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GAANN) Fellows program. photo by peter julian

particular attention to the debates that surrounded the writing of the American Constitution and the broader philosophical questions or controversies that inform the constitution, as regards both its historical origins and present-day interpretation. The project’s scope reflects BC’s strengths in the history of political philosophy—from Greek political thought to the early modern period to contemporary liberalism— American political thought, American political development, institutions, and constitutional law, said Bartlett.

“Our fellows will address, in their

year—will be enriched by the presence of the GAANN Fellows, who meet very high standards for admission, added Bartlett.

“In keeping with BC’s commitment to an outstanding and diverse student body, we are also particularly interested in encouraging students who, for financial or other reasons, might not have been able to attend graduate school or would not have considered doing so.”

An early autumn morning scene along College Road. (See more photos on the Boston College Instagram page, instagram. com/bostoncollege) photo by grace beinlich

‘22

Chronicle

October 15, 2020

7

Building Connections

The Schiller Insitute for Integrated Science and Society will be a hub of interdisciplinary activity when it opens in 2021. Executive Director Laura Steinberg gives an update on what’s been happening so far, and talks a little about her background in science and engineering.

BY ED HAYWARD STAFF WRITER

The Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society—a much-anticipated locus of interdisciplinary work at Boston College— is developing its first initiatives under the guidance of Seidner Family Executive Director Laura J. Steinberg.

Steinberg joined BC from Syracuse University in May to head up the institute, created with a $25 million gift from then-BC Trustee (now Trustee Associate) Phil Schiller ’82 and his wife, Kim Gassett-Schiller.

It will be the centerpiece of a new 150,000 square-foot science facility on Middle Campus that will open in late 2021. The Seidner executive directorship was made possible through a gift from BC Trustee Marc Seidner ’88, the managing director and chief investment officer at PIMCO, and his wife Mary Lou. Steinberg recently discussed her outreach efforts to faculty, similar work with students, and an upcoming “seed” grant program designed to encourage faculty and student collaborations across disciplines and spark future research and scholarship.

She also discussed her career path and her research and teaching on issues of environmental racism and justice.

She has been meeting with her fellow new faculty members and plans to continue virtual discussions with new and veteran faculty members on promoting integrative thinking across campus. These talks will determine what faculty need to further their interests in this kind of work, said Steinberg, who held a tenured professorship in civil and environmental engineering and also served as dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science at Syracuse.

“I want to understand how the institute can best support faculty,” said Steinberg.

“We are reaching out to faculty from across the campus. We are interested in the scientist, but also in the art historian. How does their scholarship intersect with questions of science and with human perspectives on energy, health, and the environment? The aim is to integrate the sciences with the tremendous strengths we have as a University in so many disciplines.”

Steinberg expects to draw on her strengths in strategic planning, forged at Syracuse. There, she led her college in taking grassroots faculty, staff, and student input to create a five-year strategic plan that ultimately identified five core areas of strength, better allocated resources, developed new undergraduate and new master’s degree programs, and outlined a hiring strategy that resulted in one-third of engineering faculty positions being filled by women.

Early next semester, Steinberg plans to roll out a request for proposals from faculty for a grant program that encourages interdisciplinary scholarship to explore the environment, energy, and health—the institute’s prime areas of focus. A total of

approximately $200,000 will be available to fund proposals from teams that draw members from different departments and colleges.

A second grant program under development will ask for proposals from teams of students for projects that promote cooperation across departments, engagement with community partners, or enable participation in conferences and virtual gatherings.

Proposals will address the institute’s three core areas, as well as focus on the common good and complex issues facing society.

of the world. That’s why I became a civil engineer: as a profession, it spoke most clearly to my deepest interests.”

As a scholar, Steinberg has also focused her attention on issues of environmental justice and environmental racism. Early on in her career, Steinberg worked in the private sector on a project that built the infrastructure that now supports the Nigerian capital of Abuja, as well as water projects on the Navajo Nation. As a post-doc, her work at the National Institute of Statistical Science examined the disproportionate

“We are reaching out to faculty from across the campus. We are interested in the scientist, but also in the art historian. How does their scholarship intersect with questions of science and with human perspectives on energy, health, and the environment?”

–Laura Steinberg photo by marilyn hesler

“We are already talking to students about what is important to them in terms of the Schiller Institute’s support of their interests,” Steinberg said. “We discovered that students want two things. They want to build a sense of community and they want to help drive the institute’s programming. If we do that, we get engagement and the students get the leadership experience from directing some of these efforts.

We want them to be part of the process.”

As the institute continues to develop, Steinberg plans to create programming that connects students with industry and with non-governmental agencies to foster internships, works with existing or new student clubs, brings speakers to campus, and coordinates experiential learning trips.

“We really want to facilitate real-world projects so students can help to build a company or be involved in important efforts in the real world aimed at helping people and organizations address some of the pressing societal problems that we have,” she said.

Steinberg attributes her career path to a childhood interest in the structures and systems that help people work and live.

“Growing up in New York and New Jersey, my family was always on bridges or in tunnels or passing by reservoirs. I became fascinated by how these things worked and realized that without infrastructure we would have very different lives,” she said.

“I became interested in improving the lived experiences of people through communitycentered infrastructure and curious about how infrastructure could help improve conditions for people in developing areas

effects of pollution on Black, Latino, and low-income communities. As a faculty member at Tulane University in New Orleans, her research and teaching touched on the same issues in a region with high levels of industrial pollution.

“Decades of study about environmental justice reveal that environmental insults are symptomatic of systemic racism,” said Steinberg. “They need to be viewed in a much broader context than statistically determining whether they exist or not, as I did in the 1990s. We want to get beyond a correlation between dirty industry and communities of color. In fact, in conjunc-

tion with the Forum on Racial Justice in America, the Schiller Institute is planning a program for later this year which will explore the many dimensions of environmental racism, recognizing its historical roots and the connections it has to sociological concerns, political power, racial segregation, health disparities, and patterns of environmental contamination.”

A specific passion of Steinberg’s is the mentoring and support of women in the sciences and engineering. She has worked to make sure no young woman experiences the absence of female role models and mentors as she did 35 years ago.

“I was passionate about my work as an engineer but spent my career without any women role models. That’s 35 years. Zero women role models in my field. None,” she said.

Today, she is proud of the work she has done with ELATES, a national program that supports women in academia seeking leadership roles in the STEM disciplines.

She also started a summer program at Syracuse that mentors middle school girls interested in engineering.

She plans to continue to serve as a mentor and role model to women from diverse backgrounds with a passion for science, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

“One of the objectives of Schiller is to promote the hiring of women faculty members, women post-docs, and faculty of color,” Steinberg said. “We want to set an example for universities across the country on how to do that and how to do that well. To be interdisciplinary, we will have to work hard to make sure the people we do hire find success as fully-integrated members of the University. We’ll carry that work through with student groups and organizations. We intend to attract a diverse student body to Schiller programs and work closely with AHANA students at BC.” For more on the Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society, see www.bc.edu/schiller.

Work continued this month on the interior of the science building on Middle Campus that will house the Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society. The 150,000 square-foot facility is slated to open late next year. photo by lee pellegrini

Chronicle

8

October 15, 2020

Courses, Webinars Part of STM Latinx Outreach The school’s Formación Continua program is drawing interest from Spanish speakers around the world

BY KATHLEEN SULLIVAN STAFF WRITER

A new course from the School of Theology and Ministry beginning this month is expected to draw more than 15,000 students—but social distancing will not be a concern.

The course, Synods and Synodality, will be presented virtually and the participants will be spread across the globe.

Synods and Synodality [www.bc.edu/ sinodalidad] is the latest in a series of STM virtual courses and webinars, offered free of charge and completely in Spanish, which have drawn in excess of 10,000 participants from more than 40 countries. The courses are part of STM’s Formación Continua, a continuing formation program developed by the leadership of the school’s Latinx and Latin America initiative.

Supported by Catholic educational institutions and organizations from around the world, the courses and webinars provide participants who want to deepen their human, spiritual, and theological development from a Christian perspective with unmatched access to renowned theologians, ordained and lay ministers, and scholars on a variety of topics.

“The beauty of this program is that it is bringing the knowledge and expertise offered by a university to places it doesn’t normally reach,” said School of Theology and Ministry Associate Professor of the Practice Rafael Luciani. He said students in the virtual courses include lay people, priests and bishops, religious communities participating together, as well as missionaries, representing nearly every Latin American country.

“We are trying to spread renewal to the Church community from Madrid to the Amazon,” said Luciani, noting that a course on Christology offered earlier this year had more than 14,000 registrants.

Organizers plan to offer three five-week

courses per year, with shorter, two-week webinars made available during course breaks. All are free and in Spanish. Students completing the virtual courses earn a certificate of participation from the STM.

their wisdom and experience.

“This initiative expands the horizons to the Spanish-speaking theological world, from which much of the energy renewing Catholicism comes these days.”

The School of Theology and Ministry

Website for the School of Theology and Ministry’s Formación Continua program. “The beauty of this program is that it is bringing the knowledge and expertise offered by a university to places it doesn’t normally reach,” said School of Theology and Ministry Associate Professor of the Practice Rafael Luciani.

Previous courses and webinars remain accessible on the STM website, including courses on Women in the Church and Pope Francis’s apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia, and a webinar on Christian spirituality.

“Besides the fact that these courses and webinars are offered entirely in Spanish, what makes them unique is the global outreach,” said STM Associate Professor Hosffman Ospino. “Any Spanish-speaking person from Latin America, the Caribbean, and Europe can join. The instructors are well-known scholars from different parts of the world who accepted the invitation to partner with the STM to share

is supported in this effort by an international network of Catholic institutions and organizations including the International Federation of Catholic Universities, Universidad Alberto Hurtado (Chile), Universidad Católica Andrés Bello (Venezuela), Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Cali (Colombia), Universidad of Deusto (Spain), Universidad Católica de Pernambuco (Brazil), Universidad Pontificia Comillas (Spain), Pontificia Universidad Catolica Argentina, Confederation of Latin American and Caribbean Religious (CLAR), Centro Bíblico Teológico Pastoral para América Latina y El Caribe (CEBITEPAL – CELAM), and the Pan-

Amazonian Ecclesial Network, among others.

The Synods and Synodality course, which is coordinated by STM Visiting Assistant Professor Maria del Pilar Silveira, features 22 instructors, including Cardinal Baltazar Porras, apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of Caracas and Archbishop of Mérida, who serves as a member of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America and was delegate president of the Synod for the Amazon; Mons. Héctor Miguel Cabrejos Vidarte, president of the Peruvian Episcopal Conference and president of the Latin American Episcopal Council (CELAM); Father Carlos María Gallí, dean of the Faculty of Theology of the Argentine Catholic University; Gloria Liliana Franco, ODN, president of the Confederation of Religious of Latin America and the Caribbean (CLAR), and STM student Nathalie Becquart XMCJ, who served as auditor of the Synod for Youth and is a consultant to the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops.

According to Luciani, the popularity of the courses is due to the outstanding instructors who are leaders in their field as well as the topics that are addressed.

“Synods and synodality are of current interest for the Church,” said Luciani, who is one of the instructors in the course.

“Supported by Pope Francis, synodality is a new way of being a Church that invites Catholics to review the structures and ways of proceeding so that our Church reflects Jesus of the Gospels. It literally means walking together, laity, pastors, and the Bishop of Rome. The course will offer elements of discernment that will help participants to understand the meaning and challenges of a Church called to undertake processes of synodal conversion.”

For more on Formación Continua, see www.bc.edu/bc-web/schools/stm/sites/formacion-continua.html.

Snapshot Agape Latte

PHOTOS BY LEE PELLEGRINI Boston College’s Agape Latte program hosted a talk recently by Patrick Nolan, S.J., assistant director of enrollment and chaplain for athletics at Boston College High School.

A graduate of Boston College, Fr. Nolan has worked as a hospital orderly for cancer patients, visited prison inmates, taught, coached, and served as a college counselor in the Pacific Islands of Micronesia.

Agape Latte is organized by Campus Ministry and the Church in the 21st Century Center. Information about the program is available via the C21 website, www.bc.edu/c21.

Chronicle

October 15, 2020

Athletics’ Gates Earns Top Honor Senior Associate Athletics Director and Senior Woman Administrator Jocelyn Gates was named NCAA Division I FBS Nike Administrator of the Year by Women Leaders in College Sports.

The award is presented to members of Women Leaders in College Sports—described as “the premier leadership organization that develops, connects, and advances women working in college sports and beyond”—for significant contributions made as senior-level administrators of intercollegiate athletics.

“It is truly a great honor to be recognized by such a tremendous organization,” said Gates. “So many of my role models in collegiate athletics are part of Women Leaders in College Sports and I can’t thank them enough for their guidance and support. But I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for the amazing student-athletes that we work with. I’m thankful to do this meaningful work each and every day.”

A member of the Boston College Athletics staff since July of 2017, Gates has administrative responsibilities for such areas as human resources, sports medicine, strength and conditioning, compliance, and student-athlete development. She also serves as the departmental Title IX liaison, and oversees the women’s basketball, women’s soccer, and men’s and women’s golf programs.

9

York to Be Enshrined in U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame

Senior Associate Athletics Director Jocelyn Gates

Prior to BC, Gates was senior associate athletics director/senior woman administrator at the University of South Florida and held positions at Duke University including special assistant to the vice president/ director of athletics. She also served as the diversity and inclusion post-graduate intern at the NCAA national headquarters in Indianapolis.

The Wilmington, Del., native is a graduate of Howard University, where she lettered four seasons as a member of the women’s soccer program, and earned a bachelor’s degree in biology. She also has a master’s degree in kinesiology-sport psychology from Georgia Southern University.

Gates was formally honored at the Women Leaders X virtual convention October 11 and 12. For more about Women Leaders in College Sports, see womenleadersincollegesports.org.

—Boston College Athletics

Schiller Family Head Hockey Coach Jerry York continues to burnish his reputation as one of the most accomplished figures in Boston College sports—and college hockey—history, winning election to the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame on September 14.

York, who was enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame last year—the first-ever inductee to coach exclusively at the NCAA level—will be formally inducted in December of 2021 along with Dean Blais, Tony Granato, and Jenny Potter.

The 1967 BC alum will become the 10th Eagle overall and third BC head coach to earn induction into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame, joining John “Snooks” Kelley and Len Ceglarski. The 2020-21 season will mark York’s 49th as a Division I head coach and his 27th at BC. He is college hockey’s all-time winningest coach with 1,091 career wins, spanning 26 years at his alma mater, 15 years at Bowling Green, and seven years at Clarkson.

During his time on the Heights, York has earned four NCAA Championships, nine Hockey East Tournament Titles, 11 Hockey East Regular Season Championships, and 12 Frozen Four berths. He has led 23 of his teams to 25 or more wins and is the all-time leader in NCAA Tournament wins with 41.

York scored 134 points (64 goals, 70 assists) in his 81-game Boston College career as a three-year letterman from 1964-67.

Schiller Family Head Hockey Coach Jerry York photo by peter julian

He still ranks in the top 30 among the school’s all-time leaders in career goals and top 40 in career points.

A native of Watertown, Mass., York is married to another BC graduate—his wife Bobbie was in the Class of 1969. They have two children, Laura and Brendan (MBA ’05), and two grandchildren.

—Boston College Athletics

BC Forum on Racial Justice Continues Today Continued from page 1

one of this country’s great institutions, BC must be a leader in the fight for racial justice, and must never waver in its commitment to the God-given dignity of all people, regardless of race, ethnicity, color, or creed. We will do this through respectful dialogue, honest conversations, contrition, forgiveness, and reconciliation, followed by a renewed, shared commitment to solidarity, mutual respect, and the common good.”

Forum events continue today at 4:30 p.m. with Rougeau moderating a panel discussion, “BLM at BC: Formation and Justice in Higher Education,” which features Associate Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures Régine Jean-Charles, Professor of History Martin Summers, and African and African Diaspora Studies Program Director Shawn McGuffey. The event is available via Zoom conferencing at bc.edu/forum.

At the Service of Hope and Reconciliation, University President William P. Leahy, S.J., welcomed those in attendance and watching via livestream, and noted that “it’s so appropriate that we begin this forum with a prayer service for hope and reconciliation, asking in particular that God grant us the strength to live lives marked by faith, trust, and conviction, so that in all we do, we may continue living out our mission….May we especially chal-

University President William P. Leahy, S.J., welcomed attendees to the Service of Hope and Reconciliation, expressing hope that “[we] challenge racism and always strive to build up those around us by living lives that are true to our values and beliefs.” (YouTube still)

lenge racism and always strive to build up those around us by living lives that are true to our values and beliefs.”

Rougeau then invited representatives of the BC community to express a commitment to action for the coming year, beginning with Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences Dean Gregory Kalscheur, S.J., who stated, “I will work to help our aca-

demic departments, programs, and faculty members make anti-racism and commitment to racial justice more integral parts of a BC formative education, oriented toward building up the common good.

“I will strive to make anti-racism a more regular theme in my homilies when presiding at Mass, and I will continue to pray for an ongoing conversion of hearts and minds so that the damage caused by the sin of racism might be healed.”

Another speaker was BC Dining Services Employee Relations Officer Marcela Norton, who offered a prayer that God would “keep me faithful and to continue treating everyone with respect and kindness each and every day throughout my career at Boston College and outside of BC; to open my heart; to have the courage to be vulnerable in my interactions with others; and to use humble inquiry to learn and grow from each conversation and exchange with members of my department and the BC community.”

School of Theology and Ministry Associate Professor of the Practice Félix Palazzi said, “As a faculty, we recognize that racism is a personal and structural evil and sin.

We want to be committed to creating and promoting a pedagogical environment that cultivates anti-racist actions, speech and thoughts.”

Final pledges were offered by AHANA Leadership Council Director Chinenye Ugocha ’21 and Christian Guma ’21, president of the Undergraduate Government of Boston College.

The forum’s third event of the month, sponsored by the Connell School of Nursing and titled “Tools for Becoming a Racial Justice Warrior: A Conversation with Dr. Camara Phyllis Jones,” takes place at 5:30 p.m. on October 20 via Zoom conferencing. A physician, epidemiologist, past president of the American Public Health Association, and fellow at Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Jones will address structural racism, health care, and how students can serve as anti-racism change agents. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Jones has drawn attention to why racism, not race, is a serious risk factor.

To close out the month, the forum will collaborate with the Courageous Conversations series to present “Racial Justice and Democratic Citizenship: A Pre-Election Conversation” on October 22 at 7 p.m. via Zoom conferencing. Simultaneously, the Division of Student Affairs will host a Vigil for Racial Justice.

Details for all events will be posted on the Forum for Racial Justice website, bc.edu/forum.

Chronicle

10

October 15, 2020

BC Arts

Gaelic Roots Series Unveils a New Format This Fall

BY SEAN SMITH CHRONICLE EDITOR

Boston College’s acclaimed Gaelic Roots Series will take on a different format this semester while continuing its mission of presenting accomplished performers and experts in Irish, Scottish, American, and related folk music traditions.

Instead of in-person events held in campus venues, Gaelic Roots will offer a virtual “Lunchtime Series” incorporating real-time presentations by noted musicians with pre-recorded performances. These will be livestreamed via the Gaelic Roots Facebook page and YouTube and then be made available through the BC Irish Studies Program page [www.bc.edu/irish].

Two Lunchtime Series events are scheduled thus far, involving two distinguished musician-scholars who are veterans of the Irish music scene: On October 22, Manus McGuire will speak on and illustrate the various regional styles found in Irish fiddling, such as those of Sligo, Donegal, and Clare; on November 5, Gerry O’Connor will discuss and showcase his research on the traditional dance music found in South Ulster, which he published in the book The Rose in the Gap: Dance Music from the Oriel Region. Both events will begin at noon.

Irish Studies faculty member and Gaelic Roots Director Sheila Falls Keohane said the Lunchtime Series format resulted from an extensive exploration of online-event options, after it became clear that in-person concerts and lectures would be impossible to stage because of the pandemic.

“I had to learn a lot on the fly,” she

Renowned traditional Irish musicians Manus McGuire, left, and Gerry O’Connor will be featured in the Gaelic Roots’ “Lunchtime Series” this fall.

said. “I found the sound quality uneven for some of the ‘live’ performances I watched online, where it was difficult to really hear what the instruments were doing. And some platforms had limitations I didn’t think would work very well for us.”

Keohane said she was most impressed by events that were a hybrid of a real-time presentation and pre-recorded segments.

For the latter, she explained, it was possible to establish a set of standards—for lighting, sound, picture, equipment—for performers to follow in producing the videos so each would have a professional quality.

“But I also wanted to have the feature of someone interacting with an audience, because that gives the event a more intimate, organic feel,” Keohane added. “So

the livestream will enable people to pose questions and make comments to which the performer can respond.”

Even without pandemic-related travel limitations, tightened visa restrictions of recent years have made it increasingly difficult for some musicians from Ireland, Scotland, and elsewhere to tour in the United States. The Lunchtime Series thus offers a means for Gaelic Roots to host, albeit virtually, eminent traditional music performers it might not otherwise—and in a format that approximates the small-hall setting for which it’s known, said Keohane.

“It’s a way for us to honor these artists by giving them this special opportunity to share their music in a very personal way,” she said. “At the same time, we’re also

continuing to give our Gaelic Roots community the chance to experience, and gain insights from, these outstanding performers.”

McGuire has long championed Irish music and its many historical and social links with the U.S. He won the prestigious Fiddler of Dooney national fiddle competition at age 14, and has recorded 14 albums, including three solo fiddle CDs. He’s also performed and recorded as part of the band Buttons and Bows; their recording of “Inisheer” was used in the film “The Good Mother.” In addition to performing, McGuire has taught in the U.S.—including at the annual Swannanoa Gathering, one of America’s largest folk and traditional music programs.

O’Connor comes from a family with a strong musical legacy, having been taught by his mother, Rose, a descendant of three generations of fiddle players. He cofounded the well-regarded bands Skylark, Lá Lugh, and Oirialla, and has made 14 recordings; he’s also collaborated with other leading Irish music performers including members of The Chieftains, Planxty, The Bothy Band, and other groups. In addition to The Rose in the Gap, O’Connor compiled and published I Have Travelled This Country, a collection of songs by Cathal McConnell, a much-loved traditional singer from County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland.

For links to Gaelic Roots and the Lunchtime Series, go to events.bc.edu/ group/gaelic_roots_series.

BC Scenes

Take it outside

PHOTOS BY LEE PELLEGRINI

Associate Professor of Art, Art History, and Film Sheila Gallagher (at center in photo at left) recently took her Issues and Approaches to Studio Art class outdoors for a special assignment, “Working with Nature.” Inspired by the artist Andy Goldsworthy, the project called for students to work in collaborative groups of four to make a temporary piece of art addressing the nature of change, using only the natural materials on site.

Chronicle

October 15, 2020

WELCOME ADDITIONS

BC in the Media

An Introduction to New Faculty at Boston College Gerardo L. Blanco

Associate Professor of Higher Education Associate Director, Center for International Higher Education Lynch School of Education and Human

Development DEGREES: Universidad de las Américas, Puebla, Mexico (B.A.); University of Maine (M.Ed.); University of Massachusetts-Amherst (Ed.D.) WHAT HE STUDIES: Educational leadership and policy; comparative and international education; quality assurance and higher education.

WHAT HE’S TEACHING: Internationalization of Higher Education; Global Perspective on Student Affairs in Higher Education.

How do universities evaluate, improve and communicate the quality of their undertakings?

“The question of quality is central to everything that happens within universities.

The idea of competition strongly influences the life of universities, and competition has increasingly become global. Rankings are an example of this trend. Research and internationalization are nearly universally presented as evidence of quality, making these concepts nearly synonymous with quality.”

Benedetta Flebus

Netherlands (Ph.D.)

Assistant Professor of Physics Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences DEGREES: University of Trieste, Italy (B.S.); University of Utrecht, The

WHAT SHE STUDIES: Condensed

matter theory; non-Hermitian topological classifications, twistronics and Floquet engineering in magnetic systems; quantumimpurity relaxometry and collective spin and heat transport as probes of magnetization dynamics.

Brooke Magnus

Assistant Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences DEGREES: Mount Holyoke College (B.A.); University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (M.A., Ph.D.) WHAT SHE STUDIES: Measurement of behavioral and health outcomes; item

response theory; approaches to modeling zero inflation in survey data; categorical data analysis; psychometrics.

WHAT SHE’S TEACHING: Experimental Design and Statistics

A lot of your research focuses on the use of psychometric and biostatistical methodology in studying behavioral and health outcomes. Do you see this work as having a significant application in the COVID-19 pandemic?

“With social distancing and the shift to remote work, online data collection has become a necessity. Researchers may find themselves relying more heavily on ad-hoc self-report measures of constructs (e.g., stress) as opposed to direct observation of behaviors. While self-report data can provide a wealth of information, care must be taken to ensure that online surveys are measuring the constructs that researchers believe they are measuring, especially during a pandemic. For example, standard measures of depression and anxiety may not be appropriate for capturing COVIDrelated mental health outcomes. As part of my research, I utilize and develop statistical techniques to help us better understand these constructs across a variety of contexts, with the ultimate goal of improving the measurement of health outcomes.”

Aimee Smith

Assistant Professor of the Practice, Finance Department Carroll School of Management DEGREES: Northwestern State University (B.S.); Florida State University (Ph.D.) WHAT SHE STUDIES: Corporate litigation and fraud; corporate governance; executive compensation.

WHAT SHE’S TEACHING: Corporate Finance (undergraduate and graduate)

You worked as a certified public accountant before coming to academia— what’s the transition been like?

“My former college professors are among the most inspiring individuals I’ve encountered over the years. Now, as an educator myself, I strive to pay it forward and have a meaningful impact on my students’ lives both in and out of the classroom. I derive great satisfaction from witnessing their improvement throughout the semester, especially when struggling students manage to overcome personal hurdles and rise to new levels of achievement.”

—Phil Gloudmans, Ed Hayward, Sean Smith photos by lee pellegrini and peter julian

OBITUARY

Joey Marano, BCPD A funeral Mass was said at St. Ignatius Church on October 7 for Joey L. Marano, a long-time Boston College Police officer who died on October 2 after a battle with cancer. He was 53.

Officer Marano, who served for 23 years, “was a well-known and beloved member of this community and our department,” said the BC Police Department in a Facebook post. “He was known to always put people and the community he served first.”

Even while working full time with BCPD, Officer Marano served simultaneously as a full-time firefighter/paramedic

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for the Somerville Fire Department and later became a reserve officer for the Foxboro Police Department. Earlier this year, before he began another round of chemotherapy, his fellow public safety colleagues staged a “rolling rally” past his home in Norfolk.

Officer Marano is survived by his wife, Lori; his children, Justin Marano and Amanda Berneburg; and his brother, Louis.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Officer Marano’s memory to the Somerville Firefighter’s Scholarship Fund, Federal Credit Union, 266 Broadway, Somerville, MA 02145.

–University Communications

In the wake of news that President Trump had contracted COVID-19—and the questions this raised about temporary transfer of power and various election-related scenarios—The Boston Globe sought comments from Prof. Philip Landrigan (Biology), director of BC’s Global Public Health and the Common Good program, and Prof. Kent Greenfield (Law), the latter of whom also spoke with WCVB-TV News.

There’s a complex relationship between fatigue and mental health. When is lethargy something more? The Huffington Post explored this issue using insights from Lynch School Buehler Family Sesquicentennial Assistant Professor Betty Lai, who studies how children and families respond to trauma.

Circumstances stemming from the pandemic are forcing many women, especially mothers, to leave the workforce. Jennifer Sabatini Fraone of the Boston College Center for Work and Family offered comments on this trend to The Boston Globe.

The coronavirus has dramatically worsened inequalities within the higher education and research sector—among students, fac-

ulty, and institutions, and between countries, wrote Center for International Higher Education Director Hans de Wit and founding director Philip Altbach in an article for University World News. Altbach also published a piece in the same publication on India’s efforts to build world-class research universities.

Writing in The National Interest, Prof.

Franck Salameh (Eastern, Slavic, and German Studies) contended that a millennium of French “emotional attachment” to Eastern Catholics, Lebanon’s Maronites in particular, has ended following Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Lebanon on September 1.

Upon completing the M.S. in Cybersecurity and Governance program at the Woods College of Advancing Studies, Boston College’s inaugural Fulbright Ireland-USA TechImpact Cybersecurity Scholar, Dublin native Conor Quinn, was featured in a Q&A with the Irish Times.

Prof. Ray Madoff (Law) was among the experts asked by The Boston Globe to respond to the New York Times report on President Trump’s tax returns.

Nota Bene

Jobs

Associate Professor of Music Ralf Y. Gawlick’s electro-acoustic work “Herzliche Grüße Bruno ~ Briefe aus Stalingrad (Best Regards, Bruno ~ Letters from Stalingrad)” was celebrated for excellence in the arts, receiving third place in the 2020 American Prize in Composition for Vocal Chamber Music.

Gawlick’s works—which traverse a wide range of styles—include solo, chamber, orchestral, and choral music which have been commissioned and championed by artists and organizations, and have attracted international acclaim from audiences and critics. Published by several firms, his music has been performed internationally and recorded on the Musica Omnia label.

The April 2020 planned European première of “Best Regards, Bruno ~ Letters from Stalingrad” in the Documentation Center in Nürnberg, the ideological heart of the Third Reich, was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Plans to reschedule the event in 2021 are being discussed.

The American Prize provides cash awards, professional adjudication, and regional, national, and international recognition for the best recorded performances by ensembles and individuals annually in the United States at the professional, college/university, church, community, and secondary school levels.

For more on Gawlick’s work, see www.ralfgawlick.com. Read a Chronicle article on “Best Regards, Bruno” at bit.ly/best-regards-bruno.

The following are among the recent positions posted by the Department of Human Resources. For more information on employment opportunities at Boston College, see www.bc.edu/jobs.

Quarantine & Isolation Assistant Member Services Associate, Center for Corporate Citizenship Public Safety Dispatcher Admissions Assistant, Carroll Graduate School of Management Post-doctoral Research Fellow (two positions) Post-doctoral Research Fellow, Chemistry Program Manager, RPCA Assistant Controller Director, Finance & Operations, Lynch Leadership Academy Director, Research & Program Development Associate Director, Instructional Media Fiscal & Grant Administrator Temporary Office Pool, Campus School Research Associate, Center for Retirement Research Research Specialist, Measurement and Data Analysis Research Scientist, RPCA Research Associate, RPCA Assistant Dean, Graduate Enrollment Manager Research Technician, Biology Temporary Custodial Workers

Chronicle

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October 15, 2020

BC Arts Q&A: Luke Jorgensen

‘Survive and Flourish’ How do you teach theater, and present theatrical productions, in the COVID-19 era? BC’s Theatre Department chair shares his thoughts on the lessons students are learning—about drama, life, and themselves.

When the coronavirus pandemic hit last spring, the Theatre Department/Robsham Theater Arts Center productions—then in full swing—came to an abrupt halt: A play, “The Wolves,” was set to open, and the musical “City of Angels,” had had only one rehearsal.

This semester, the shows will go on, amid strict safety protocols and in vastly different forms. These uncharted presentations will once again capture and portray the talents, energy, enthusiasm, dedication, and hard work of all involved—including students, faculty, and staff members.

Theatre Department Chair Luke Jorgensen, associate professor of the practice, recently discussed fall plans and provided insights into the creative efforts of the production teams. The preparations have not been easy, he noted, and would have been impossible without the full support of Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences Dean Gregory Kalscheur, S.J., Morrissey College Associate Dean Eugene McMahon, and Provost and Dean of Faculties David Quigley.

Your thoughts about the impact of the pandemic on the performing arts?

Jorgensen: The performing arts have been hit extremely hard by COVID-19. When the pandemic hit, we closed down immediately. It was a difficult and emotional time for all of our students. In approaching this this year, I wanted to find a way to make performances happen. As an academic theater department, our productions are vital laboratory experiences for students. We did not want to give up on performing, but wanted to make sure that whatever we did was done in the safest way possible. Once we created a plan for how we could accomplish goals using technology like Zoom, green screens and film editing, we needed some upgrades in technology. This semester has been a true experiment. We have all been challenged to learn new approaches to making performances and acquiring the skills needed to bring these plans to fruition. It has been the busiest semester we have ever had, as the faculty and staff have struggled to pivot into this new world. Our faculty, staff, and students have been fantastic, absolutely above and beyond.

Give us a glimpse of the two Theatre Department/RTAC productions this fall: “Sweat” and “Twelfth Night.”

Jorgensen: Our season starts off with “Sweat” [October 22-25], a 2017 Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Lynn Nottage.

“Sweat” tells the story of a group of factory workers in Reading, Pa. When layoffs begin, so do the issues of race, discrimination, and poverty that are plaguing our nation today. Faculty member Patricia Riggins is directing the hard-hitting modern

drama. After that our Monan Professor in Theatre Arts, Paula Plum, is directing “Twelfth Night” [November 19-22] by William Shakespeare. She is an extremely accomplished actor/director and is presenting this production of one of Shakespeare’s best comedies as a film. These shows are wildly different in tone, subject, and method of performance delivery.

In keeping with pandemic protocols, what are the plans for presenting these productions?

Jorgensen: We made the early decision that all auditions this year would be virtual. Students submitted audition videos,

classes and rehearsals make matters more difficult, certainly, but improvisation is at the core of people who work in the arts. So even though our students are not yet doing a rehearsal and performance in the usual way, I believe students are getting new, broader skill sets, both in technology and acting for film and screen.

What are the inherent challenges for all involved: directors, cast, crew members, etc.?

Jorgensen: COVID precautions have affected every level of production, from auditions to costuming, blocking, and who can see our shows and how. Present regulations

“This semester has been a true experiment,” says Jorgensen.

“We have all been challenged to learn new approaches to making performances and acquiring the skills needed to bring these plans to fruition.”

photo by lee pellegrini

and even callbacks have been conducted via Zoom. Both shows are using the normal time frames that we use to make our shows but they are anything but “normal” in production. “Sweat” is being produced via a Zoom webinar format, with an exciting twist: Students will be performing live in eight separate offices. A few of our BC actors involved in the production are at home, states away, and have attended all rehearsals virtually. Each office will be fitted with a green screen and lights and our students, with the help of the talented Production Manager Russ Swift and Technical Supervisor George Cooke, will manipulate the green screen with virtual backgrounds to look as if the actors are together and in a bar. We have truly been on the cutting edge of performance in this medium, experimenting with ways to use Zoom in a new way; at one point, students may even physically switch offices to make exits and entrances on screen appear more normal.

“Twelfth Night” is being presented as a film. With some help from the Film Department, we have begun filming in front of a huge green screen. The integration of musicians, fight choreography, and physically-intimate-feeling blocking are certainly more challenging from a proper physical distance. Performing with masks in acting

dictate that only 25 people can be part of a performance. That includes actors, technicians, stage managers, and the audience.

Plays at Boston College involve so many students that it has made more sense to not include any live audience. Our actors are used to reacting to the energy of the audience: They will not hear gasps or laughter at these shows, and that will be a new experience for them. Students will have their own individual props that won’t be shared with other actors. Makeup and costumes will need to be handled without assistance from others, and our costume shop has taken serious steps to ensure safety as laundry, fittings, and costume up-keep still have to be done. Next semester we will continue to make theater within COVID protocols and are looking at new options like outdoor presentations.

Why is it important to continue to present the Theatre Department/RTAC productions, despite these challenges?

Jorgensen: I recognize that many colleges have made the decision not to have performances this year. I believe that the arts are most needed when times are difficult. I think we owe it to our students, who have come to BC because of our great program, to do our best to adapt to the new rules and regulations without buckling under

them. Professional theaters are closed and artists are not making ends meet. We are fortunate that the University can allow us to function without the concern of box office gains, so our shows are being offered basically free. These are uncharted waters, but I hope that people choose to tune in; who knows, perhaps a larger audience of people who would not be able to be physically present at Robsham can see the talent and effort of our students. It has not been easy. Negotiating how staff and students can be safe and feel safe has been a daily task.

How do you think audience members will respond/react to these productions?

Jorgensen: That is the question; we are all wondering. I think we all miss the community of watching and making a play together. Nothing replaces the feeling of interplay as we all sit in the same place, breathing the same air and together witnessing a theatrical creation. However, we hope that we are using these mediums in a very creative way and I think the energy our students are putting forth is really going to come through the camera and shine.

What is the learning opportunity for student participants in these productions?

Jorgensen: Improvisation, resiliency, adaptability, creative problem-solving, and communication. Our theater students want to be live and in person at BC. They are following the rules and stretching to make the absolute best within the situation we have been dealt.

Have student-directed productions been suspended for the semester?

Jorgensen: Student productions have changed but are still happening. The difficulty has been the inability to do musicals.

Singing is problematic within pandemic prevention rules, so some shows have been changed. I think it has taken our students and our department some time to look at the situation and adapt to it, but studentdirected shows are coming. Two have just been cast and next semester audiences can look forward to more student-directed theater including “The History of Color” directed by Allison Lardner ’21, and “Proof” directed by Jacob Kelleher ’21.

Parting thoughts?

Jorgensen: I am proud of our season this year. We have worked hard not only to survive and flourish during the pandemic, but also to choose theater that creates a dialogue about anti-racism and diversity.

For more on the fall Theatre Department/ Robsham Theater Arts Center productions, and how to view them, see bc.edu/theatre.

—Rosanne Pellegrini