The Boston College
Chronicle Published by the Boston College Office of News & Public Affairs october 30, 2014 VOL. 23 no. 5
Biologist to Direct Major NIH Initiative on Diversity
LIGHTEN UP
•Another White House call to CSOM’s Twomey, page 2 •BC’s first-ever group of “Social Fellows,” page 2
By Ed Hayward Staff Writer
•Photo: Trucking along for charity, page 2
•English professor, class wear “Poetry Genius” label well, page 3 •Faculty proposals for pilot core courses, page 3 •BC Veterans Day schedule announced, page 3 •Tehranian, Clarke settle into leadership roles, page 4
Fireworks over Gasson Hall during the kick-off of Homecoming Weekend on Oct. 17. More photos on page 8. (Photo by Fred Field)
Following the Course Welles McDevitt has just started to learn about the life and legacy of his namesake By Sean Smith Chronicle Editor
•School of Social Work faculty member earns NIH grant, page 5 •Welcome Additions: profiles of new faculty, page 7 •Thanksgiving Host program sounds call, page 7 •Photo: BC student in Brian Honan 5K, page 7 •Campus Arts: Shrayer and father to mark publication of latest collaboration, page 8
This past Saturday’s Welles Remy Crowther Red Bandanna 5K was a memorable one in more than a few ways, especially given that it was the event’s 10th anniversary. On an archetypal New England autumn morning, thousands of runners and walkers flocked to the Boston College campus for the 5K, a tribute to the memory of the 1999 alumnus, investment trader and volunteer firefighter celebrated for his heroism during the 9/11 attacks at the World Trade Center. Among the participants was Welles McDevitt, born the same year as the 5K, and – for the first time – running the course on his own two feet. The oldest of 1997 alumni Colin and Tracey (Lapan) McDevitt’s four children, Welles is named for Crowther, who graduated two years after the McDevitts. “My Welles left us in the dust,” laughed Tracey, who accompanied Welles and his eight-year-old brother Greer from their home in Texas (the family moved there from New Hampshire two years ago) to Boston for the 5K. “The three of us started
Lee Pellegrini
INSIDE
Professor of Biology David Burgess will lead the development of the National Research Mentoring Network through a five-year, $19 million grant from the National Institutes of Health that is part of a sweeping initiative to diversify the ranks of biomedical researchers across the United States, the NIH announced last week. The network, administered by Burgess at BC, will also draw on the expertise of faculty at the University of Wisconsin, University of Minnesota, the University of North Texas Health Sciences Center, and Morehouse Medical School in Atlanta, in addition to a far-reaching consortium of academic institutions, professional scientific societies and community-based organizations. The National Research Mentoring Network is one of three initiatives within the NIH’s Enhancing Diversity of the NIH-Funded Workforce Program, unveiled by NIH Director Dr. Francis S. Collins.
David Burgess
“For those of us who have taken on this problem for years, this initiative has the potential to help current and future generations of scientists who might not otherwise fulfill their career goals,” said Burgess, who is of Cherokee descent and a past president of the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science. “This is a wonderful commitment by the National Institutes of Health Continued on page 6
Celebrating the Century Mark Nov. reunion will be recognition of Fulbright achievement by Resler and German Studies By Rosanne Pellegrini Staff Writer
Wunderbar. The German word for “wonWelles McDevitt at Saturday’s Red Bandanna 5K held in memory of his derful” is an appropriate adjective namesake, 9/11 hero Welles Crowther for a German Studies Department ’99. (Photo by Lee Pellegrini) out together, but in a short while he was well ahead. “It was just a beautiful day, and so exciting to see that many runners show up. The group was definitely smaller when we first started going, back when we lived in the area – we would push Welles in a stroller then. This was an important, and very worthwhile, visit.” Continued on page 6
QUOTE:
milestone: hitting the “100” mark for the number of undergraduates awarded prestigious Fulbright Fellowships. A two-day event will be held on campus to celebrate that achievement, which occurred in the spring of 2013, and recognize the numerous BC students for whom Department Chair and Professor Michael Resler has served as
mentor over the past three decades. It also will honor Resler’s contributions in establishing his small department as a Fulbright powerhouse. The German Fulbright Reunion on Nov. 14 and 15, hosted by Boston College and the German Consulate, is expected to draw some 30 alumni as well as members of the BC and Boston communities. The events, including a Friday evening reception and a daylong Saturday symposium in Gasson 100, are free and open to the BC community, but advance registration is required by Nov. 10. [To see the full schedule and to register, go to http://bit. ly/1nCfCIV.] “Though the statistics are a bit elusive, it’s highly likely that Boston College has sent more Continued on page 5
“Despite more public awareness of child sexual abuse, stigma still isolates men, and serves as a barrier to disclosure and seeking assistance. The hope is we can develop knowledge and improve practice, thereby helping survivors reach more of their human potential.” –School of Social Work Assistant Professor Scott Easton, page 5
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Caitlin Cunningham
A ROUND
Boston College hosted the third annual Humboldt Truck Pull this past Saturday to benefit Special Olympics Massachusetts. The event, held in the Edmonds Hall parking lot, offered a friendly competition between 12 teams – among them the BC Police Department (above) – who had to move different kinds of vehicles – including a Boston Duck Boat and an 18-wheeler – 25 feet in the fastest combined time. The truck pull raised more than $12,500.
ON BOARD (AGAIN) Another US president is turning to Carroll School of Management Professor David Twomey for help in solving an ongoing labor dispute. President Barack Obama recently appointed Twomey to a threemember Presidential Emergency Board to settle an issue between the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority and some of its employees. Presidential Emergency Boards provide mediation in railroad and airline union contract disputes. In the 60 days following its establishment, a board will obtain final offers for settlement of the dispute from each side, and then make a recommendation to the president as to which offer it finds to be the most reasonable. The board’s report is not binding, but the party whose offer is not selected would be prohibited by law from receiving certain benefits if a work stoppage subsequently occurs. Such appointments are nothing new for Twomey, who served on eight prior Presidential Emergency Boards under Presidents Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Clinton and George W. Bush. Few, if any, labor arbitrators in the country have been appointed to nine boards under five consecutive presidents. “It’s a very nice thing to get an appointment from your fifth president over your career,” says Twomey, a 46-year faculty member and author
of 34 editions of widely used textbooks on labor, employment and business law topics. Twomey’s first call to serve came in 1986. “The dispute involved 110,000 employees, six major unions and all of the nation’s railroads and we were able to get a contract that all of the parties agreed to. Not only that, both sides followed our language, so I had a good start. After that, the disputes I’ve worked on seem to have worked out. It’s fortuitous in many respects.” Lee Pellegrini Elected to the National Academy of Arbitrators in 1979, Twomey has been selected by employers and unions as arbitrator in more than 2,000 domestic labormanagement disputes. Getting a call from the White House carries a certain cachet, of course, not to mention a heightened vetting process. “The FBI investigates you, the IRS investigates you, and the White House personnel office is constantly calling for more information,” says Twomey. “They investigate your reputation with the parties, because they don’t want to appoint people that one side or the other thinks is unfair.“ Twomey is pleased to know another president believes in his ability to solve disputes. “It’s sort of nice to know you’re still in the game after all of these years.” –Sean Hennessey
Director of NEWS & Public Affairs Jack Dunn Deputy Director of NEWS & Public AFFAIRS Patricia Delaney Editor Sean Smith
Contributing Staff Melissa Beecher Ed Hayward Sean Hennessey Rosanne Pellegrini Kathleen Sullivan Michael Maloney Photographers Gary Gilbert Lee Pellegrini
C AMPUS
Boston College has been ranked seventh among the top 10 US programs for studying history by College Factual, a data-driven college choice resource that based its findings on a variety of outcomes-based factors including graduate earnings, percentage of students studying history at each institution, and the number of closely related majors offered at each college. BC ranked ahead of Pennsylvania, Brown and Cornell. Yale, Harvard and Princeton were the top three, followed by Columbia, the College of William and Mary and UCLA. College Factual described BC as “known for its selectivity and demanding curriculum” and whose faculty “ensure students have the skills to think critically, while writing concisely and persuasively.” The University’s undergraduate program, it noted, includes classes in Western history, European history, Latin American history and other specialized topics “to help students see the connection between the past and present so as to understand how cultures and traditions have been shaped. These skills lead students into careers in education, law, communications and management.” For more, see http://usat. ly/1w9HSFO.
Boston College will celebrate International Education Week (IEW) from Nov. 10-21 with more than 40 lectures, films, panels and discussions centering on this year’s theme, “Social Justice in the World: Is It Possible?” As part of IEW, BC faculty will explore the social justice theme from different academic disciplines such as economics, education, English, law, management, political science, sociology and social work, among others. Detailed information about all of the programs can be found at www.bc.edu/offices/ international/iew2014. IEW is co-sponsored by the Office of International Students and Scholars and the Office of International Programs as well as many other academic departments and administrative offices throughout the university. All IEW events are free of charge and open to the BC community.
The Boston College
Chronicle www.bc.edu/chronicle chronicle@bc.edu
JOLLY GOOD FELLOWS Everybody has a story, and this semester, nine Boston College students are sharing theirs through social media. Talented writers, photographers and videographers, the Boston College Social Fellows are sharing their BC experiences by documenting
brand and gain some real-world experience in digital content creation and social media strategy.” The Fellows’ work has already played a role: Boston College Snapchat, WeAreBC, was launched by the Office of News & Public Affairs after a positive student response.
Boston College Social Fellows
the sights and sounds around campus and throughout the city, from the extraordinary to the everyday. A new pilot program offered by the Office of News & Public Affairs, the BC Social Fellows offers students a chance to earn credit for creating outstanding digital content and learning about how brands use social media. This year’s fellows are Heeyoung Leem ’15, Jessica Barbaria ’16, Anthony Richardson ’17, Meagan Roecker ’17, Jenna Corcoran ’17, Erin Fitzpatrick ’17, Teddy Chapman ’17 and Elaine Bishop ’18. Established by NPA Deputy Director Patricia Delaney, Social Media Manager Melissa Beecher and senior Kathleen Fahy, the program aims to inform prospective students, help current students and serve social media practitioners across campus. “The question prospective students ask time and time again is ‘What is it like to go to school in Boston?’ We wanted current students to answer that question through social media,” said Beecher. “For our current students, social media literacy is rapidly becoming a job requirement, not just for communications professionals. The Social Fellows program offers an opportunity to represent a major
The students’ contributions will continue to infuse fresh, real-time content to established social media, say organizers. “The Fellows bring a fresh dimension to BC’s social channels, and enable us not only to share their unique perspectives of campus life, but also to benefit from their take on social media in general,” said Delaney. “We’re fortunate to have such an enthusiastic and talented pilot group; they’re already making a great contribution to our content.” Students share in the excitement of this new opportunity, said Fahy. “In creating a variety of content and monitoring its reception, BC Social Fellows are studying the fast-paced world of social media strategy. Students have the unique opportunity to contribute to a top social media brand in higher education, while also developing their personal social media presence.” To see a selection of the BC Social Fellows work, see http://bit. ly/1vR3Drb. Boston College Social Media Council members who are interested in having the students provide comment on school, departmental or organizational social channels can email social@ bc.edu with the subject line “BC Fellows Feedback.” –Office of News & Public Affairs
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Chronicle october 30, 2014
Core Initiative Seeking Pilot Course Proposals
classroom, he noted. Faculty would work with University Mission and Ministry and Student The first tangible results of Affairs to develop programming Boston College’s three-year ef- that deepen academic exploration fort to renew and strengthen its and provide opportunities for exundergraduate core curriculum ploration and growth. will emerge shortly, as the Core Courses constructed in this Foundations Task Force (CFTF) way, Fr. Kalscheur said, would prepares to evaluate faculty pro- “introduce first-year students to posals for pilot courses that char- a rigorous schedule of learning, acterize the renewed core. and help them develop habits of Proposals are due this Mon- the mind and heart” that make day, and the task force expects to their experience at BC more fulmake selections in mid-Novem- filling. ber, according to College of Arts “This first year of college is so and Sciences Interim Dean Greg- critical, and we want to get them ory Kalscheur, SJ, who chairs the started early,” he said. “We want CFTF. to help them learn to ask quesThe task force will work next tions in this conversational way spring and summer that is integral to with faculty partici- The Core Foundations Jesuit education.” pating in the pilot Fr. Kalscheur Task Force expects phase to fine-tune acknowledged that content, structure to make selections in the labor-intensive and other details nature of the Comto ensure the pro- mid-November of pi- plex Problems/Enposed courses meet lot courses to be intro- during Questions the criteria spelled models would have duced in 2015-16. implications for out by the CFTF in two foundational faculty time and documents, “Toward a Renewed resources, but emphasized that Core” and “The Vision Animat- the pilot phase offered a chance ing the Boston College Core to address such issues. “We know Curriculum.” The pilot courses there will be a number of queswould then be introduced begin- tions – about schedules, course ning in the 2015-16 academic loads, the potential role of existyear. ing interdisciplinary courses in Fr. Kalscheur and CFTF the renewed core – that will have members Rattigan Professor of to be explored as the piloting English Mary Crane, director of process goes forward.” the Institute for the Liberal Arts, Bourg added, “Each departand Associate Professor of Histo- ment will have to assess how ry Julian Bourg – who are project the core will affect them, and managers for the core renewal’s consider their needs. Starting the implementation phase – offered implementation slowly and on a an overview of the call for pro- relatively small scale will make it posals and other aspects of the easier to do that.” core renewal process at a town Underscoring the interdiscihall event Oct. 15 in Fulton 511. plinary accent of the core renewThe three also answered ques- al, Provost and Dean of Facultions from the audience. ties David Quigley said the pilot As Fr. Kalscheur explained, phase offered faculty the chance the envisioned course propos- to use their creativity in seekals would be built around two ing collaborations that produce models for interdisciplinary imaginative concepts for core collaboration outlined by the courses. CFTF: “Complex Problems,” “One of the markers for sucteam-taught, six-credit classes of cess for the core renewal will 75-100 students that address a be ‘interesting failures,’” he said. contemporary problem; “Endur- “Core programs are stronger than ing Questions,” linked pairs of before, but the general feeling is distinct three-credit classes of 25 that we’re missing opportunities students that meet separately – to work across disciplines. Some each taught by a faculty mem- of the pairings won’t work out, ber from a different department but they can still be instructive. – but connected by a common So this process should encourage topic and set of questions, and people to try new things.” with some shared readings and For more about the core reassignments. newal project, including the call Both Complex Problems and for proposals, see www.bc.edu/ Enduring Questions courses offices/avp/core-renewal.html. would involve structured reflecContact Sean Smith at tion and activities outside the sean.smith@bc.edu By Sean Smith Chronicle Editor
Asst. Prof. Eric Weiskott (English), fourth from left in back row, and his students model their “Poetry Genius” T-shirts, a gift from Genius.com for contributing to the site’s texts of The Canterbury Tales. (Photo by Caitlin Cunningham)
Displaying a ‘Genius’ for the Digital Humanities By Rosanne Pellegrini Staff Writer
The works of poet Geoffrey Chaucer, widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages, got a 21st-century spin by students recently in a class on the Father of English literature taught by Assistant Professor of English Eric Weiskott. Using the “Lit” category on the “Genius.com” website — which Weiskott describes as “a large digital collection of lyrics and texts that can be annotated with text, images, and video in real time” — his students were assigned to each contribute 10 annotations to the site’s texts of Chaucer’s masterpiece The Canterbury Tales, the central work in his Chaucer course. Weiskott brought the students’ work to the attention of Genius. com’s director of education, who was so impressed that he “generously offered to send us T-shirts,” Weiskott said, which were distributed in a recent class. Blending up-to-the-minute technology with centuries-old literary material is a hallmark of Weiskott, a new arrival at Boston College this year. Earlier in the semester, he
had his students use a Yale University manuscript viewer to compare images of medieval manuscripts of The Canterbury Tales. In another example of his work in digital humanities, he cites his experience as a graduate assistant at Yale — where he received his PhD in English last spring — on a research project “Digitally Enabled Scholarship with Medieval Manuscripts,” which uses digital imaging to uncover subtle differences in ink color in medieval manuscripts. “Digital technology can help students gain an understanding of medieval literary culture by drawing on modern cultural knowledge to illuminate medieval cultural practices,” said Weiskott. Rachel Aldrich ’16, an English major pursuing a concentration in creative writing and a minor in American Studies, endorses Weiskott’s form of technology-aided pedagogy. “This assignment really helped me understand how one of the oldest English language literary texts is still alive and vibrant in the literary community,” she said. Digital annotation on Genius. com “is not so different from some of the ways that books got used in
the Middle Ages, a time when professional scribes added handwritten annotations or ‘glosses’ to important texts,” Weiskott explained. It enables students “to put their new knowledge about medieval literature to use and publish it in a durable digital format.” He is proud of the students’ work: “Their annotations reflect the knowledge about Chaucer that they have developed thus far in the semester. They also had a good sense of humor about the anachronism of digitally annotating a medieval text. Genius.com encourages users to include images and videos in annotations, and my students took full advantage of that feature. I think they enjoyed the assignment.” Aldrich welcomed the opportunity to “add to the vast wealth of knowledge surrounding The Canterbury Tales with every annotation I posted, even if the points I brought up weren’t necessarily groundbreaking. It was exciting to go back to the classroom knowing that there are communities like the one on the Genius website where contemporary people are actively engaging with the text, rather than just dryly reading it in a scholarly setting.”
Expanded BC Veterans Day Program This Year This year’s observation of Veterans Day at Boston College on Nov. 11 will include an evening panel discussion with BC Vietnam War veterans, in addition to the traditional Mass and remembrance ceremony earlier in the day. The Mass will take place at 9:30 a.m. in St. Ignatius Church, with Paul McNellis, SJ, PhD ’93, a part-time Philosophy Department faculty member, as celebrant. The ceremony honoring BC graduates who died during the nation’s military conflicts and alumni who have served, or are currently serving, in the armed forces, will begin at 11 a.m. on the Burns Library lawn, featuring an address by Larry Rawson ’63, an Emmy Award-winning track and field commentator for ESPN. Rawson was among 13 Boston College graduates the Marine Corps commissioned in 1963 and served
for three years as an intelligence officer and an artillery forward observer, including six months as a forward observer in combat, rising to the rank of captain. At BC, he set the school record of 4:07 in the mile and was later inducted into the BC Athletic Hall of Fame. Rawson has been a prominent sports reporter and commentator for more than three decades and ESPN’s track and field and marathon commentator since the network’s inception in 1980. He has won national and regional Emmy awards for track and field and sports journalism commentary with ESPN and the Madison Square Garden networks. Rawson and Fr. McNellis – a decorated infantry officer in the Vietnam War and later a journalist – also will take part in the panel discussion, “Experiencing Vietnam,” at 7 p.m. in Gasson 100. They will be
joined by Paul Daley ’63, a naval officer who flew 212 combat missions and received the Distinguished Flying Cross, and James Huse Jr. ’65, who earned a Bronze Star and other honors during two tours in Vietnam. The four will talk about the Vietnam War and its impact on their lives. Professor of History Seth Jacobs, author of three books about the American experience in Southeast Asia, will moderate the discussion, which will be followed by a Q&A session and reception. Admission is free, but registration is required to assure seating; go to http://bit.ly/1nqQ7u8. The event is sponsored by Boston College Magazine, the Boston College Vietnam Veterans Network and the Office of the Dean of Arts and Sciences. –Office of News & Public Affairs
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Carroll, Connell Schools Enhance Leadership
Tehranian takes on new role in CSOM on faculty, alumni, academic affairs By Sean Hennessey Staff Writer
A Carroll School of Management faculty member for 35 years and chair of the school’s Finance Department since 2003, Hassan Tehranian is taking on a new role at the Carroll School as senior associate dean for faculty. In his new position, which he will assume this coming Jan. 1, Tehranian – the Griffith Millennium Professor in Finance and Carroll School of Management Asdirector of the Center for As- sociate Dean for Faculty Hassan set Management – will head up Tehranian. (Photo by Lee Pellegrini) faculty development efforts, lead ly our reputation and ranking strategic projects, engage with among peers. We want faculty alumni and fundraising activi- members who care about teachties, and work with recently ar- ing and also about research. Let’s rived Associate Dean for Gradu- provide them with enough data ate Programs Betsy Griffith on and support for that research and academic and curriculum issues. from there, everything takes care Tehranian, founder of the of itself. Then we’ll graduate the school’s graduate program in best students.” finance, expressed appreciation Boynton said that, as the Carto Carroll School Dean Andy roll School’s ambitions for the Boynton for providing him with future grow, establishing this this opportunity. new leadership role “Hassan already has a “It’s an honor, and for Tehranian will a statement of the profound and positive help increase motrust Andy has in mentum. influence throughout the me. Andy said, ‘We “Hassan already have the potential school. From this new has a profound to be better, and and positive influperch, he will expand his let’s work togethence throughout er to achieve that duties and help us acceler- the school,” he goal.’ And I found said. “From this ate our trajectory towards it hard to say no.” new perch, he will Tehranian’s apbeing the very best.” expand his duties pointment as seand help us accel–Andy Boynton nior associate dean erate our trajectory comes as the Cartowards being the roll School seeks to build on very best.” growing recognition of the qualTehranian – who will be sucity of its undergraduate program. ceeded as Finance Department One important bellwether of chair by Hillenbrand Family Felthe school’s rise has been the low Finance Professor Ronnie rankings compiled by Bloomberg Sadka – earned his bachelor of BusinessWeek, considered a major science degree from the Iranian source on business and manage- Institute of Advanced Accountment education. Ranked 32nd ing and his MBA and doctoral by the publication six years ago, degrees in finance from the Unithe Carroll School rose to fourth versity of Alabama. He pursues last year. teaching and research interests The school’s goal is to be in corporate finance, investat the top spot, said Tehranian, ments, the effect of deregulawhich is why he will be focus- tion on the structure and effiing not only on finding the best ciency of the banking industry, faculty but increasing resources and portfolio analysis. His work to strengthen their research and has appeared in such publicateaching. tions as the American Economic “We are excelling in every sin- Review, Journal of Finance, Jourgle department and we have the nal of Financial Economics, Jourpotential to be at a much higher nal of Financial and Quantitative level,” he said. “I will work with Analysis, Journal of Accounting department chairs to attract, hire Research and Accounting Review. and maintain the best qualified Contact Sean Hennessey at faculty in the nation, which will sean.hennessey@bc.edu ultimately increase significant-
Clarke brings expertise on academia-practice partnerships to CSON By Kathleen Sullivan Staff Writer
The Connell School of Nursing has welcomed its new associate dean for undergraduate programs, Sean Clarke, an internationally noted nurse researcher with extensive experience in teaching and leading academia-practice partnerships. Clarke, who is also a professor in the Connell School, assumed the position July 1, succeeding Associate Professor Catherine Read, who had served as associate dean since 2006. Prior to coming to Boston College, Clarke was the Susan E. French Chair in Nursing Research and Innovative Practice at McGill University’s Ingram School of Nursing. He also directed the McGill Nursing Collaborative, a series of projects between McGill and its affiliated clinical agencies. From 2008-12, he was an endowed clinical chair in cardiovascular nursing research at the University of Toronto and University Health Network. He previously served as associate director of the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research at the University of Pennsylvania. BC’s commitment to liberal arts education was one of the things Clarke found attractive about coming to CSON. “The liberal arts and science foundation here is really exceptional. That background is important in the long run.” Clarke said he has seen the benefits of such a foundation in his work training researchers at the doctoral level. “If you don’t lay down some of those habits of mind, that ability to look beyond a narrow nursing focus, it becomes very difficult to do much afterwards in terms of writing and bringing together knowledge from different areas.” BC nursing students enjoy the distinct advantage of having “one of the best liberal arts educations available in the country together with the unparalleled opportunities in health care that Boston provides,” he said. “We are delighted that Sean Clarke has joined our faculty,” said CSON Dean and Professor Susan Gennaro. “He is the exact right person to educate the nurse leaders of the future — our undergraduate students — because his research has helped us understand how nurses can best be used in the health care of tomorrow. Dr.
Connell School of Nursing Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs Sean Clarke. (Photo by Caitlin Cunningham)
Clarke is a consummate educator who has taught students across all levels of nursing education. He is a cardiovascular nurse by training and brings with him compassion, a great sense of humor, unending energy, and a true belief in leadership. “He is a nurse who is married to a nurse and has seen – whether from the bedside or via policy decisions, in this country and abroad – how nursing can make a difference in the health of an individual and a country. Dr. Clarke’s research has been carried out in the US, Canada and Switzerland, to name just a few countries, and he is truly nationally and internationally known,” she added. Born in Toronto and raised in Ottawa, Clarke earned bachelor degrees in biochemistry-nutrition at the University of Ottawa and psychology at Carleton University. After working alongside nurses in hospitals and nursing homes, Clarke decided to pursue a career in nursing. He enrolled in McGill, where he graduated with a master’s degree and doctorate in nursing. He was a coronary care unit nurse, completing specialized training as an adult acute care nurse practitio-
ner with a focus on cardiology. “I really liked what nurses did and I liked who they were as people,” he said. “I liked how they thought about their work and how, in these complicated systems, they found ways to put the patient first.” Clarke’s post-doctoral work at Penn focused on issues related to nurse management, patient outcomes and nurses’ workplace safety. His research group examined data for 70,000 nurses and millions of patients across multiple countries. A Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, he has published more than 100 articles, including an influential research paper on nurses’ educational level and surgical patient mortality that appeared in JAMA (the journal of the American Medical Association). In his four months at BC, Clarke says he has been impressed by the high energy level of the nursing faculty and their commitment to students. “The undergraduate program is excellent, but the Connell School is always thinking about ways to make the education better. We want to think about what the clinical world of the future will look and think ahead to the ways our education needs to prepare students for that. “We want to expand our leadership development for all students. We want to think more about interdisciplinary teaching, like that offered in the public health program.” Clarke is quick to point out that the undergraduate program is a team effort, involving course leaders, clinical instructors, and collaborators in the College of Arts and Sciences. “My job to help set the stage for the discussions to make sure we continue to be on the cutting edge.” Contact Kathleen Sullivan at kathleen.sullivan@bc.edu
(L-R) Juniors Christian Rougeau, Kamau Burton and Ben Stevens played music at “The Street,” an annual campus festival organized by the Boston College Residence Hall Association and held on the Plaza at O’Neill Library. (Photo by Sean Smith)
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Celebrating 100-plus Fulbrights (So Far) Continued from page 1 1946 inception. The panels are organized by Paul Runci ’88, a Fulbright recipient who is a senior policy advisor for the Fundamental & Computational Sciences Directorate and a senior research scientist at the Joint Global Change Research Institute at the University of Maryland. The Fulbright experience “completely changed my life and was the entire impetus for my career,” said Sam Shiroff ’98, vice president of business and social responsibility at the public relations firm Edelman, who traveled to Frankfurt as a Fulbright in German history at the Johann
who have received a special invitation to the reunion events, to be paired with returning alumni, he added. “We want to bring our undergraduate students into contact with the visiting Fulbrighters, who represent some of the brightest minds that have gone through this University in recent decades. We want to create some long-term mentoring relationships. “I think it’s important for our undergrads to see some of the terrific success stories that have emerged from the various Fulbright experiences over the years.
Caitlin Cunningham
Lee Pellegrini
Grant to Aid Study of LongTerm Impact of Sexual Abuse By Sean Smith Chronicle Editor
“It’s highly likely that Boston College has sent more Fulbright scholars to Germany and Austria over the years than any other American university to any other country in the world, during the entire history of the Fulbright program,” says Resler. “It’s important to showcase such a great achievement for the University.” Wolfgang Goethe-Universitat – and ended up staying in the country until 2012. “Professor Resler encouraged me to apply for a Fulbright, but he didn’t see his role merely as a fan cheering from the sidelines. He was an active coach who helped me think through my essays in a way that not only was instrumental in winning the scholarship, but also [at] a level of detail to a few hundred words that I have used as a reference point for the most important documents I have written throughout my career.” Resler said the reunion will be “a terrific opportunity for me and my colleagues to reconnect with former students, some of whom we haven’t seen for a number of years. A few go back 25 or more years, so there’s a very personal, nostalgic aspect to all of this. I’ve been absolutely delighted to see that at least a third of the former Fulbrighters will be in attendance.” It also will be a chance for BC German Studies undergraduates,
In many cases, they will already have read the successful essays written by these Fulbright scholars – I keep a file of those essays, and it’s now a pretty fat file – so the opportunity to actually meet the people behind those essays will be invaluable for our budding applicants.” The Saturday evening dinner at which Resler will receive his honor will feature a keynote speech by Association of Friends and Sponsors of the GermanAmerican Fulbright Program President Rolf-Dieter Schnelle, and former Consul General of Germany in Boston. Resler was nominated for the award by Professor of Fine Arts John Michalczyk and Friedrich Löhr, former German ambassador to Korea, a Suffolk University distinguished visiting scholar. Reunion event sponsors are the Institute for the Liberal Arts and the College of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Office. Contact Rosanne Pellegrini at rosanne.pellegrini@bc.edu
A National Institutes of Health grant will support research by School of Social Work Assistant Professor Scott Easton on middle-aged and older men who are coping with the effects of sexual abuse they endured in childhood. The one-year $156,500 R03 Small Research Grant from the NIH National Institute on Aging will illuminate the experiences of a population that, amidst the growing awareness of child sexual abuse, has been generally overlooked, said Easton. “Statistics have shown about 15 percent of adult men report a history of child sexual abuse,” said Easton, who in 2010 conducted one of the largest studies to date on this population. “These men – stigmatized, vulnerable and largely hidden – are at risk for depression, anxiety, PTSD, personality disorders, substance abuse and other psychiatric illnesses. “Yet we know little about them and how they have dealt with the trauma they suffered as children. Why have some men demonstrated resilience while others have had great difficulty? And based on the experiences of those who have coped well, can we design evidence-informed interventions and treatments for those in the vulnerable group?” Easton said his earlier work, which involved collecting data at one point in time from nearly 500 male survivors of child sexual abuse, was useful in identifying risk and protective factors for mental health issues. The new
Caitlin Cunningham
Fulbright scholars to Germany and Austria over the years than any other American university to any other country in the world, during the entire history of the Fulbright program,” according to Resler. “It’s important to showcase such a great achievement for the University.” Resler’s contribution to student exchange between the US and Germany will be formally recognized that weekend when he is presented with the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany by German Consul General Rolf Schütte. The award is the highest tribute the Federal Republic of Germany can pay to individuals for services to the nation. “This is a tremendous honor, and I feel nothing less than humbled by it,” Resler said. “However, I’m afraid that I get far too much of the credit for our Fulbright successes to Germany and Austria. The fact of the matter is, Boston College attracts some really, really gifted students — and fortunately for my department, lots of our top undergrads choose to study German. So we’re working with top-notch fellowship material. “There ought to be one of these medals for each of our 108 Fulbright scholars, and one each of my colleagues in German Studies,” he added. “We work together closely, happily and collegially in a shared mission, so in the end I can only accept this award on behalf of lots of other wonderful people.” His colleagues return the high praise for Resler: “[He] instills in his students a love of international learning and enthusiasm for the German language equaled only by his own,” said Associate Professor of German Studies Rachel Freudenberg. With his support and encouragement, the students who won Fulbright Fellowships to spend a post-graduate year studying and teaching abroad, she said, had “an experience they said profoundly deepened their understanding of the relationship” between the US and those countries.” The Nov. 15 symposium will feature panel discussions with BC Fulbright alumni, who will explore current issues in international careers and education, such as the value of Fulbrights and other international education programs. Another panel will highlight important events in German history, US-European relations, and global affairs witnessed by Fulbright scholars in Germany since the program’s
Student group Eco Pledge hosted Harvest Fest on the Plaza at O’Neill Library earlier this month, with free pumpkins available to paint, as well as local and imported apples provided for a taste test.
Scott Easton
grant, he said, will broaden the scope of that previous study by incorporating a life course perspective, using data collected at several points in time and capitalizing on population-based sampling. “Despite more public awareness of child sexual abuse, stigma still isolates men, and serves as a barrier to disclosure and seeking assistance,” said Easton. “The hope is we can develop knowledge and improve practice, thereby helping survivors reach more of their human potential.” Dean of Social Work Alberto Godenzi said Easton’s grant, along with the K01 Mentored Research Scientist Development Award given recently by the Centers for Disease Control to Assistant Professor Erika Sabbath [see http://bit.ly/1oqSWMt] – the first such grant awarded to a SSW faculty member – points to a promising trend for the school: “We are taking important steps towards our strategic goal of increasing the percentage of federally funded research projects.”
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Burgess Leads NIH Project Continued from page 1
that gives us the funding and the tools to address these disparities. As someone who has focused on these issues for 40 years, it is gratifying to participate in this initiative.” Under Burgess’ leadership, the NRMN administrative center at Boston College will coordinate the nation-wide initiative as well as serve as the regional hub for programs serving the Northeast and Puerto Rico. The University of Wisconsin will coordinate mentor training for program participants. The University of North Texas Health Sciences Center will lead programs connecting mentors and mentees. The University of Minnesota will offer professional development programs to help mentees at various career stages across a wide range of biomedical disciplines. The Morehouse School of Medicine will coordinate the network’s programs at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Recent studies, including those supported by the NIH and other government organizations, have confirmed striking disparities in degrees earned, research grant awards, job opportunities and career advancement for biomedical professionals based on race, ethnicity, socio-economic status, sexual orientation or disability. The NIH, which annually awards approximately $26 billion in biomedical research funding, commissioned the 2011 study “Race, Ethnicity, and NIH Research Awards,” which found that scientists of color were less likely to receive NIH funding than their white counterparts, in spite of holding equivalent credentials and positions. In 2011, the NIH established the Biomedical Research Workforce Working Group to further explore career disparities and develop strategies to boost the recruitment and career development of underrepresented individuals in biomedical research. The network was developed to serve as a consortium of leading providers of evidence-based strategies for
forming and maximizing mentoring relationships. In addition to the four lead universities, the initiative will draw on the expertise of more than 30 professional scientific societies, 20 historically black colleges and universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, American Indian tribal colleges, minority-serving organizations and NIH-funded centers. At BC, Burgess and his staff will support the three cores within NRMN and coordinate interactions with two other programs funded under this initiative, the Coordination and Evaluation Center and the Building Infrastructure Leading to Diversity Initiative. Burgess will serve as liaison with the NIH’s National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities and the Common Fund and administer a pilot grants program and an initiative to expand the network program. Burgess has served in an advisory capacity on underrepresented minorities in the sciences to the NIH, NSF and the President’s Council on Science and Technology, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science and received funding from NIH and NSF to address diversity in the sciences. He has also been awarded the E.E. Just Award by the American Society for Cell Biology for outstanding research by a minority scientist. He said the scope of the National Research Mentoring Network has the potential to help aspiring scientists realize careers in biomedical research. “Part of this project is the retention of undergraduate students of color, who tend to disproportionately drop out of scientific disciplines in spite of being qualified,” said Burgess. “We want to encourage and nurture those undergraduates. Then we want to help them succeed throughout their graduate studies and, ultimately, become independent scientists with fair access to jobs, research funding and career advancement.” Contact Ed Hayward at ed.hayward@bc.edu
Tuesday’s annual Boston College Health Fair in the Yawkey Center Murray Room offered various health-related resources to BC employees, including flu shots and information on exercise, smoking cessation, acupuncture and stress management, among other things. Above, Arts and Sciences Service Center Fiscal and Procurement Specialist Karen Ringheiser enjoyed a massage from Molly Preston, owner of Relax Elation LLC. (Photo by Lee Pellegrini)
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Welles McDevitt, left, with his mother Tracey and brother Greer at the Red Bandanna 5K.
One Welles Learns From Another
Continued from page 1 The McDevitts, who also hold MBAs from the Carroll School of Management, never knew Welles’ namesake personally, but the common threads in their lives – of the same generation, educated at BC – and the story of Crowther’s sacrifice resonated deeply with Colin and Tracey. While they felt that naming their son after Crowther would be an affirmation of strongly held values and ideals, they have sought to impart the lessons of Crowther’s life to Welles carefully and deliberately, allowing him to form his own impressions. Participating in this year’s Red Bandanna 5K, according to Tracey, represented another milestone for Welles, who is exhibiting that flowering of independence and maturity common to late childhood. “He likes hearing about who Welles was the other days of his life, besides on 9/11,” she explained. “He knows that Welles had siblings, just like he has siblings, and that Welles fought with them sometimes, just like he does – but that’s just how things are in families and it doesn’t mean you don’t love each other. “Our Welles is using the full story of Welles Crowther, not just the 9/11 part, to navigate his own life. It helps him to understand how ordinary people can do extraordinary things.” When the McDevitts knew their first child was on the way, they – like countless parents down through the ages – thought about the right name. Knowing they were to have a son, according to Tracey, the name “Welles” appealed to them for many reasons. “We hoped giving him that name would give him a special guardian angel; that he would be reminded of what his role in this world is, and how each and every day he should strive to do good for others,” she explained. “We wanted him to be reminded of a young man who didn’t get to see all of his hopes and dreams come true and we hoped that our son would appreciate every single day he had on this earth and live each day to the
fullest. We hoped he’d understand what a special honor it is to be named after a hero and hoped he’d take that responsibility seriously. “For me, personally, I hoped to give love, healing, and hope for the future to another mother who suffered the unthinkable – the death of a child. I wanted her to know that there was another Welles in this world, and hopefully he’d carry on some of the spirit and legacy of her Welles for the years to come.” But before the McDevitts made the decision, they reached out to the Crowther family to make sure it was all right.
“Our Welles is using the full story of Welles Crowther, not just the 9/11 part, to navigate his own life. It helps him to understand how ordinary people can do extraordinary things.” –Tracey McDevitt
“Alison [Crowther’s mother] said she was thrilled and honored. She and Jefferson [her husband] met our Welles when he was a baby, and we give them a huge hug just about every year, at the 5K.” It was during one of the early Red Bandanna 5Ks when Welles McDevitt heard for the first time that someone had the same first name as him. But Tracey and Colin took things slowly: Yes, they told him, there was another Welles, and many people feel he was very special – enough to have his name included in the Memorial Labyrinth on Burns Library Lawn; that other Welles was special, they said, because he cared about people and always tried to help them. As their Welles grew older, they gradually supplied other details, including the fact that Welles Crowther had died a hero, in one of the most horrific events in American history. But these pointed to other,
more complicated aspects of the story, and raised questions for which there were no easy answers. “When he was eight or nine, he asked if there had been any kids in the airplanes that crashed,” said Tracey. “That made it all the more real for him, because we fly a lot. We told him that good and evil exist in this world; we make a choice to be kind, loving people, but evil should not deter us from being good. “Fortunately, years ago, Alison had written a long letter to him about her son, focusing on the type of child her Welles was – a good brother, a good student, a good leader and so on. Welles has read the letter several times the past few years. “This year, he began to grasp everything. ” The beginning of this school year saw an epiphany, Tracey said: When his teacher asked each child in class to tell something about himself or herself, Welles said, “I’m named after a hero.” When she realized who Welles’ namesake was, the teacher organized a class project about 9/11 and Welles Crowther, and teachers and students throughout the school wore red bandannas. “I was amazed to hear that, because Welles had never told anyone before. He’s a sensitive and kind boy who would never try to draw attention to himself. But he felt this was something important for his class to know about.” This year’s Red Bandanna event resulted in yet another discovery for the fifth-grader: that one of Alison and Jefferson Crowther’s grandchildren shares not only his age but also his name. “They’d been around each other as little kids years ago but hadn’t really met until Saturday,” said Tracey. “So they were saying, ‘Your name is Welles, too?’ It’s the world opening up just a little bit more for him.” For more information about the Welles Remy Crowther Red Bandanna 5K, see www.bc.edu/redbandannarun. Contact Sean Smith at sean.smith@bc.edu
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Assistant Professor of Computer Science José Bento pursues research at the intersection of distributed algorithms and machine learning. Prior to joining Boston College, he was a postdoctoral researcher at Disney Research Boston for two years, and earlier this year received a Disney Inventor Award for his work on distributed optimization. Bento earned an engineering degree from Porto University in Portugal and his doctorate from Stanford University. In 2011, he was selected for the SIGWEB DocEng Best paper award. He has made invited presentations at the University of Illinois Coordinated Sciences Laboratory, Stanford University Information System Lab Colloquium and Microsoft Research New England Machine Learning Day in Cambridge, among others. He has six patents pending. Jeremy Evans is the primary instructor for Portico, the required business ethics course in the Carroll School of Management. Evans earned his doctorate in philosophy at the University of Texas-Austin, where he taught courses in philosophy, ancient philosophy and contemporary moral problems, and co-taught a class covering business, ethics, and public policy. Evans graduated from the University of Iowa and received his master’s degree from Duke University. His research areas are in moral philosophy, moral psychology, applied ethics and political philosophy. Lynch School of Education Assistant Professor of the Practice Nelson Portillo, a member of the Department of Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology, foacuses on youth violence prevention, youth mentoring and positive youth development, migration among children and youth, health and cultural competency, and community-based programs. A native of El Salvador, Portillo also studies liberation psychology and the history of psychology in Latin America. Portillo earned his doctorate in social psychology at Loyola University Chicago and did post-doctoral research in public health at the University of Illinois, Chicago. He has taught at universities in the US and Central America and was the founding editor of the Salvadoran Journal of Psychology launched in 2010. Assistant Professor Anjali Vats, who holds a dual appointment in the Communication Department and Law School, teaches courses in the areas of race, rhetoric, law, and media studies. Her research, which focuses on gender issues and on rhetoric of race in law and popular culture, has been supported by a Society of Scholars Fellowship from Simpson Center for Humanities and the Institute for Ethnic Studies in the United States at the University of Washington. Vats has published in the Quarterly Journal of Speech and Communication, Culture & Critique, and is working on a monograph, Created Differences: Intellectual Property and the Formation of Race and National Identity in “Post-Racial” America. She holds bachelor degrees from Michigan State University, a juris doctorate from Emory University School of Law, an LL.M. from the University of Washington School of Law and a doctorate from the University of Washington. She was an assistant professor at Indiana UniversityBloomington and clerked for A. William Maupin of the Nevada Supreme Court. –Sean Hennessey, Ed Hayward and Sean Smith Photos by Lee Pellegrini
Public educators shouldn’t take their lead from big business and bad business, or from big, bad educational bureaucracies, but from the best that leadership has to offer everywhere, wrote Brennan Professor of Education Andy Hargreaves in Education Week. Prof. Alfred Yen (Law) offered his views to the Boston Globe on the decision by Converse Inc. to sue Walmart, Kmart, Skechers and more than two dozen other retailers for selling what the company said were knock-offs of its iconic Chuck Taylor shoe. Libby Professor of Law and Theology Cathleen Kaveny published a perspective in Commonweal on the Catholic Church during the tumultuous 1970s. In a feature for the Boston Globe, Film Studies Program Co-director Prof. John Michalczyk (Fine Arts), whose own filmmaking career has sought to expose injustice, discussed four films by others that inspire his faith in documentaries as a means of social change. Center for Work and Family Executive-in-Residence Lauren Stiller Rickleen wrote pieces for Fortune magazine on the need for employers to close the gender pay gap and to take a more active role in curbing domestic abuse.
Publications Asst. Prof. Charles R. Gallagher, SJ (History), published “Anti-Semitism and Catholic Aesthetics: Jacques Maritain’s Role in the Religious Conversion of Emmanuel H. Chapman” in US Catholic Historian.
Honors/Appointments “The Effect of Childhood Abuse on Intergenerational Support to Aging Parents,” by School of Social Work doctoral student Jooyoung Kong, was selected as the Emerging Scholar and Professional Organization Interdisciplinary Paper Award for the Gerontological
Gary Gilbert
Newsmakers
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Jianing Wu ’17 finished third in the under-19 female division of this fall’s 11th Annual Brian Honan 5K Road Race in Brighton [brianhonan.org/ roadrace.html], a memorial event for the late 1985 alumnus that benefits the scholarship funds of the Allston and Brighton boards of trade and the charitable fund established by the Honan family. Wu recently received her medal from State Rep. Kevin Honan ’81, at left, brother of Brian. Also on hand were Boston College Assistant Director for Off Campus Housing Peter Kwiatek, left, and Off-Campus Student Community Liaison Stephen Montgomery.
Society of America Annual Scientific Meeting 2014. Professor of Fine Arts and McMullen Museum of Art Director Nancy Netzer was elected chair of the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities board of directors, succeeding Office of Marketing
BC BRIEFING Communication Executive Director Ben Birnbaum. Assoc. Prof. Jane Flanagan (CSON) has been elected president of the Society of Rogerian Scholars, a nursing society dedicated to advancing nursing science through the teachings of nurse theorist Martha E. Rogers. Asst. Prof. Jeremy Shakun (Earth and Environmental Sciences) has been named a recipient of the Outstanding Young Scientist Award from the European Geosciences Union. Shakun is one of eight young scientists who will be honored at the EGU general assembly in Vienna next April. Assoc. Prof. Pat Tabloski (CSON) was awarded the 2014 Distinguished Alumna Award from the University of Rochester School
THANKSGIVING HOSTS NEEDED The Office of International Students and Scholars invites Boston College employees to host international students and scholars for Thanksgiving on Nov. 27. Last year, 16 faculty and staff members hosted 49 international students and scholars, including some of their accompanying spouses and children. No overnight stay is involved. The deadline to take part in the Thanksgiving Day Host Program is this Monday, Nov. 3. The OISS will notify hosts of their guests by Nov. 11. For more information, or to register, go to www.bc.edu/offices/oiss/programs/thanksgiving.html.
of Nursing, where she delivered the annual Clare Dennison Lecture on the topic “Challenges and Opportunities for Gerontological Nurses.”
Time and a Half Assoc. Prof. Paula Mathieu (English) gave the opening keynote address at the 10th Biennial Thomas R. Watson Conference on Rhetoric and Writing at the University of Louisville. A longer version of her address, “Indoor Voices: Inner Rhetoric and the Mindful Writing Teacher,” has been published in The Journal of Advanced Composition.
JOBS The following are among the most recent positions posted by the Department of Human Resources. For more information on employment opportunities at Boston College, see www.bc.edu/offices/hr: Vice Provost for Enrollment Management Technology Manager, Career Center Systems Manager, Lynch School of Education Digital Scholarship Librarian, O’Neill Library Associate Athletic Director for Facilities and Operations Administrative Assistant, Dean of Students Office Project Manager, Strategic Services Manager, Network Operations Associate University Librarian Associate Director, Annual Giving, BC Law School Advancement Assistant (Women)
Volleyball
Coach
Counselor, Learning to Learn Programs
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On BC Bookmarks [bcbookmarks.com]: •New collection of essays on practical theology includes contributions from BC faculty. •Theology Department doctoral student Daniel Horan, OFM, publishes highly praised work on Thomas Merton.
Shrayer and his father celebrate new book with Nov. 11 symposium A Boston College symposium will mark the translation and publication of the new book Dinner with Stalin and Other Stories, edited and co-translated by Professor of Russian, English, and Jewish Studies Maxim D. Shrayer, and written by his father David Shrayer-Petrov, a prolific and celebrated author of contemporary RussianAmerican fiction. The free, public event will be held on Nov. 11 at 7 p.m. in Devlin 101. Set in the former USSR, Western Europe and America, Dinner with Stalin’s 14 stories feature Soviet Jews, most of them immigrants, grappling with issues of identity, acculturation and assimilation. The Nov. 11 event will feature selected readings, and offer attendees the opportunity to engage communally with the book’s cultural, religious and literary topics. “When an author’s son is also his translator and editor, he wants to represent more than his father’s voice,” said Shrayer, a critically acclaimed author and translator who has won numerous awards and honors, including a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship. “Before me on the page were not only my father’s words; in my
Maxim Shrayer and his father, David Shrayer-Petrov.
mind’s eye was my father’s life story. I wanted the translations to recapture his intonation, his breath and his silence, in the most fitting Anglo-American idiom. And I wished for these translations to stand as a memorial to our ancestors, carrying on Jewish thought and spirit,” Shrayer added. The symposium, Shrayer says, is “a celebration of the art of literary translation. I was fortunate to work with a remarkable team of translators, among them Margarit Ordykhanyan, Molly GodwinJones and Leon Kogan, former Boston College graduate students and graduates of my seminar on literary translation. All of them are gifted translators and great enthusiasts of literary translation, which has the power to bridge countries and identities, and gives hope for the survival of culture against all
odds.” Born in Leningrad in 1936, David Shrayer-Petrov emigrated to the US in 1987 and settled with his family in New England. He is the author of 23 books in his native Russian and of several books in English translation, and this most recent work appears in the renowned Library of Modern Jewish Literature, which has featured volumes by some of the greats of Jewish writing. Shrayer-Petrov explores aspects of anti-Semitism, persecution, problems of mixed marriages, dilemmas of conversion, and the survival of Jewish memory. Both an author and a physician, he examines his literary subjects through the lenses of medicine and literature. His fiction focuses on Russian Jews who, although having been
BC SCENES
persecuted in the former Soviet Union, continue to promote their sense of cultural Russianness, even as they and their children increasingly resemble American Jews. He considers immigrants’ complex understanding of their cultural identity: Americans at work, Russians at home, and Jews at worship. The title story, “Dinner with Stalin,” revolves around a group of émigré friends visited by Joseph Stalin, apparently returned from the dead; but this specter is only an actor playing Stalin, which adds an absurdist layer to this tale. Among the guests are representatives of a number of nationalities from the former USSR. At last, the Jews are equal at this table, allowing the émigré protagonist and his wife to ask Stalin blunt questions about Soviet and Jewish history. “Above all else, Dinner with Stalin is about Russian Jews who found themselves abroad, first emi-
grating and later grafting themselves onto American soil,” said Shrayer-Petrov in a recent interview. In addition to his son, Maxim, Shrayer-Petrov’s wife of more than 50 years — Emilia, a former refusenik activist — translated two stories in the collection. Beyond the BC graduate student contingent, other translators include University of New Hampshire professors Arna Bronstein and Aleksandra Fleszar. They will attend the symposium and participate in readings. The translation was made possible with the support of the Institute for the Liberal Arts, which is sponsoring the event in conjunction with BC’s Jewish Studies Program, English Department, and Department of Slavic and Eastern Languages and Literatures. Information on the symposium is available at http://bit.ly/1yqB8S1. –Office of News & Public Affairs
Julianne Malveaux Nov. 13, 3 p.m. Heights Room, Corcoran Commons
Julianne Malveaux ’74, MA ’76, economist, author, media commentator and Bennett College president emerita, will return to her alma mater on Nov. 13 to present a talk, “Economics and Race: Perspectives on Our Nation’s Future.” The event, sponsored by the division of Student Affairs, is free and open to the public. It also will be streamed live on Boston College Front Row, at frontrow.bc.edu/program/malveaux.
HOMECOMING SCENES Photos by Fred Field
The Boston College 2014 Homecoming Weekend (Oct. 17-19) included (clockwise from left) a Friday night performance at Shea Field by the student comedy troupe My Mother’s Fleabag, followed by fireworks; Saturday saw the Eagles football team take the field for an exciting game against Clemson, and a host of other events and activities around campus.