Boston College Chronicle

The Boston College

Chronicle Published by the Boston College Office of News & Public Affairs november 12, 2015 VOL. 23 no. 6

expand outreach for 2 •Alumni Wreaths Across America •Elevator Pitch Competition •New digs for OISS

3

•Albright speaks at BC

•BC Athletics graduation rate fifth in country

4 •Shea Center dedication •Theology’s Gillihan co-leader for Maccabees Project theology 5 •Liberation expert, CRS director

Career Ctr. ‘Endeavor’ Program Debuts in January Initiative helps MCA&S sophomores link liberal arts, career explorations

By Jack Dunn Director of News & Public Affairs

The Boston College Career Center has announced a new career exploration program for sophomores in the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences to help students maximize the advantages of a liberal arts education in pursuing their career aspirations.

The two-day program called “Endeavor: The Liberal Arts Advan-

tage for Sophomores” is designed to help liberal arts students gain greater clarity about their career options by identifying potential career fields and learning to articulate how the skills they are developing translate to the workplace.

“Endeavor” will feature handson activities to identify students’ skill areas, career coaching, networking training and career treks into the city of Boston, as well as panel discussions with alumni professionals who will share how their BC liberal arts education prepared them for their careers.

The program, which will be offered to 200 sophomores on Jan. 14-15, was developed by Associate

Lee Pellegrini

INSIDE

hoops welcomes 6 •Men’s a special player •BC experts earn place on ‘Influencers in Aging’ list

takes school 7 •Alumnus banner along on his world travels

8 with Burns Scholar 9 •Q&A James Murphy Services’ 10 •Counseling Condon retires •Campus Arts briefs

11 •Welcome Additions;

closing/delay policies

12 •A time to dance

have greater clarity about their career goals earlier, and students have asked us to provide more career preparation earlier in their BC experience.We are excited to respond to that need.”

–Joseph Du Pont

Vice President of Student Affairs for Career Services Joseph Du Pont in concert with the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences, the BC Alumni Association, the Division of Student Affairs and staff at the

Career Center. Organizers hope that it will become a staple of the sophomore experience.

“In the past, it was sufficient for students to start thinking about how Continued on page 3

Searches for Lynch School, SSW Deans Underway

to visit C21

•Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies launching lecture series •Football at Fenway

“Employers expect students to

“Dan’s just a great resource,” says a student of Dan Bunch, director of the University’s Learning to Learn program. (Photo by Lee Pellegrini)

‘World of Difference’ BC’s Learning to Learn Program a national model for helping students adjust to challenge of college Erika Kiyono ’09 knows what a sense of community and a dose of self-confidence can do.

Her freshman year at Boston College, Kiyono was enrolled in a writing seminar taught by Dacia Gentilella, who also teaches the Applications of Learning Theory course through the University’s nationallyacclaimed Learning to Learn Program.

“I was really struggling through the curriculum and I shared some of those challenges with Dacia, who recommended that I take the

course,” recalled Kiyono, who has returned to campus as a Learning to Learn counselor. “Learning to Learn made a world of difference. It was my hub and had such a strong impact on me that I was an undergraduate teaching assistant for LTL, which is close to my heart.

“At the end of the day, it’s all about our students standing on their own two feet and then taking one step at a time. That’s what we hope for.”

Many of those steps lead to Continued on page 5

QUOTE:

The quest for new deans in the Lynch School of Education and the Boston College School of Social Work is now underway, as Provost and Dean of Faculties David Quigley announced recently that search committees of faculty, administrators and alumni have been formed and held their first meetings.

The University is seeking successors to Lynch School Dean Maureen Kenny and BCSSW Dean Alberto Godenzi, both of whom announced during the past several months their intention to step down from their leadership posts. Quigley is chairing both search committees.

Members of the Lynch School dean search committee are Vice President and University Secretary Terrence Devino, SJ; Brennan Professor of Education Andrew Hargreaves; Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences Dean Gregory Kalscheur, SJ; Vice Provost for Enrollment Management Nanci Tessier; Kearns Professor of Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology Mary Walsh; Lynch School Professors Ana Martinez-Aleman and Michael Russell; and Epiphany School Principal Michelle San-

chez, a 1993 alumna who holds master’s and doctoral degrees from the Lynch School.

Executive search firm Isaacson, Miller will aid the committee, Quigley added.

The BCSSW dean search committee members are Vice President for University Mission and Ministry Jack Butler, SJ; Law School Dean Vincent Rougeau; Vice Provost for Research and Academic Planning Thomas Chiles; BCSSW Associate Dean for Research David Takeuchi; BCSSW Associate Professor Stephanie Berzin and Associate Professor of Macro Practice Tiziana Dearing, co-directors of the Center for Social Innovation; BCSSW Doctoral Program Director Professor Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes; and Boston Medical Center clinical social worker Claire Madden, a BC and BCSSW alumna.

The committee will be assisted by executive search firm Witt/ Kieffer.

Quigley said the search for both deans will extend through the academic year, with the hope of completing the process in early 2016.

–Office of News & Public Affairs

“Women have made important gains in achieving legal recognition of our rights, but often, even if the laws on the books are changed, the reality in villages and communities is not.”

–Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, speaking in Robsham Theater, page 3

T he B oston C ollege

Chronicle november 12, 2015

2

A ROUND

C AMPUS

HONORING SACRIFICE

Over the past two years, members of Boston College’s Washington, DC, alumni chapter have teamed up with their counterparts from other Jesuit and Catholic colleges to honor alumni veterans buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

The alumni are participants in Wreaths Across America, an event held the second Saturday of December (Dec. 12 this year) and organized by a national non-profit of the same name to encourage people to take time during the holiday season to recognize the sacrifices of veterans and their families. Volunteers lay holiday wreaths at Arlington as well as veterans’ cemeteries and other locations in all 50 states and beyond.

The DC-area Eagle alumni were first recruited in 2009 by retired US Army Lt. Col. Brian Cummins ’82 to lay wreaths at the graves of BC alumni interred in Arlington during Wreaths Across America Day. In 2013, they partnered for the visit to Arlington with alumni from the College of the Holy Cross, and last year were joined by chapters from Fordham, Xavier and Gonzaga.

“The point of all this is our desire to remember our alumni, family, friends, who devoted their lives to the country, but mostly to its ideals of service to others: For veterans the ideal is service in defense of our republic, which dovetails with our Catholic faith and Jesuit call for service to others,” says Cummins. “We see this as all one in

the same and thus the alumni of the Jesuit schools are joining in fraternity of Catholic fellowship, citizenship, remembrance, and honor of the deceased.”

At each BC veteran’s grave, according to Cummins, he and the other visitors say the prayer of St. Ignatius, put a BC banner next to the wreath and take a photo, which they send to family members who are unable to attend.

In fact, says Cummins, it is deceased veterans’ families who aid the BC alumni’s Wreaths Across America tribute. “BC retains no records of burials and we only know of plot locations at Arlington when family and friends come forward.

We currently know of 15 alumni and another 10 family members buried at Arlington, but I’m sure the numbers are much larger.

“The last time we solicited for names, a number of alumni came forward with news about fathers, uncles, brothers or dear friends who died in World War II and Vietnam. With a name we can find the grave and ensure a wreath is placed,” notes Cummins, who encourages anyone with information on BC veterans buried at Arlington to share it via bcvets@bc.edu.

Cummins adds that the alumni chapter hopes to build a comprehensive database of BC veterans’ graves, with the assistance of Robert Sherwood, Alumni Association advisor for the BC veterans affinity group.

–Sean Smith

With Boston College’s observance of International Education Week (Nov. 9-22) under way, the University’s Office of International Students and Scholars (OISS) enjoyed a commemoration of its own on Monday, holding an open house to formally celebrate its relocation this past summer from Maloney Hall to the Sister Thea Bowman House at 72 College Road.

“We love our new location because it provides us with the space we need for our growing staff and population and provides a warm and welcoming environment,” says OISS Director Adrienne Nussbaum. “Being right behind Lyons and Gasson Halls allows our international students and scholars, who have to visit our office frequently, to have convenient access.”

Nussbaum adds that there is a symbolic as well as a strategic significance to the office’s new digs. “It validates the importance of BC’s international community by having a space for them right in the most visible, middle part of campus – we have BC campus tours pass the house everyday.”

Having the open house as a kick-off event for IEW – an occasion for US colleges and universities to recognize the merits of international education – “seemed like a very appropriate thing to do,” she says.

For more about the Office of International Students and Scholars, see www. bc.edu/oiss. Details on International Education Week at Boston College are available at www.bc.edu/offices/international/events/iew2015.

–Sean Smith

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 Photographers Gary Gilbert Lee Pellegrini

A recent Harvest Fair on the Plaza at O’Neill Library, organized by several BC organizations, included a visit by some baby farm animals, whose presence attracted no small amount of attention.

(Photos by Sean Smith)

AND HERE’S THE PITCH The entrepreneurial spirit among Boston College undergraduates was on full display recently at the fifth annual Elevator Pitch Competition, organized this year by the newly launched Shea Center for Entrepreneurship at the Carroll School of Management [see page 4]. Twenty-seven teams of students entered the competition, creating 60-second videos to promote their products and services; 15 finalists gathered in Gasson Hall on Oct. 27 to make their pitches to four professional venture capitalists who served as judges.

This year’s Overall Winner, as well as the Crowd Favorite honoree, was MusicSplitter, an iOS application that allows two or more users to listen to a song on individual media devices simultaneously. The company, which expects to launch its beta application shortly, says this first-of-its-kind technology will allow it to scale to millions of users.

“We function as a wireless headphone splitter but also have the ability to connect multiple Bluetooth and wired speakers, from any brand, to one another,” says Anders Bill ’17, a member of the MusicSplitter group [www.musicsplitter. com], which was founded last year by 2015 graduates Michael Gordon

The Boston College

Chronicle www.bc.edu/chronicle chronicle@bc.edu

and Christian Nicholson and also device featuring a posture control includes junior Ryan Moore. and back support unit that can “As a social media platform, we change based on the wearer’s posigive you the ability to listen along tion, thereby maximizing comfort live with your favorite artists, ath- and effectiveness. letes, celebrities, or best friends. You Winners received cash prizes can also stream your own music ranging from $500 to $2,000. live and have your “We were friends and followers thrilled with the collaborate on live success of the Elplaylists with you.” evator Pitch ComThe Social Impetition,” says pact award winner Shea Center Execwas Xperii [www. utive Director Jere xperii.com], a webDoyle, an entresite-based service Three of the 2015 Elevator preneur himself. that, its creators Pitch Competition winners.

“The enthusiasm hope, will revoluand energy in Gasson the night of tionize subject recruitment in aca- the finals was incredible. And most demic research as well as the medi- impressive was the quality of the cal device, pharmaceutical, and fo- students’ pitching: well-thoughtcus group industries. out business ideas that were presentWinning Best Service honors ed clearly and concisely. I was also was ModilMe [www.modilme. impressed with the student leaders com], a website that enables college from our Start@Shea group, who students to rent or buy clothing organized and ran the competition, from their friends across campus – the first major event sponsored by at prices they negotiate – and have the Shea Center.” delivered to their dorm room door.

This spring, Doyle noted, the Exo Wear, a venture dedicated Shea Center will organize the BC to developing smart medical devices Venture Competition, with a top while improving daily health hab- prize of $20,000. its and productivity, was chosen as –Sean Hennessey Best Product. The company’s prodRead an extended version of this uct is Exo Spine, a wearable smart story at http://bit.ly/1l9CDDa. 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 News & Public Affairs, 14 Mayflower Road, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467 (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 News & Public Affairs, 14 Mayflower Road, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467.

A flipbook edition of Chronicle is available via e-mail. Send requests to chronicle@bc.edu.

T he B oston C ollege

Chronicle november 12, 2015

By Kathleen Sullivan Staff Writer

“When I look around the world, I can see we need every available voice speaking out for democracy and tolerance, human rights and peace,” said former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to a nearcapacity crowd at Robsham Theater on Nov. 4. “We need every voice encouraging young women and girls to believe they can be anything they want to be as long as they are willing to work hard.”

Albright was the speaker for the inaugural Council for Women of Boston College Colloquium, an initiative that brings exceptional leaders to campus to discuss contemporary issues through the lens of women’s leadership. The CWBC Colloquium is administered through the Institute for the Liberal Arts, under the direction of Rattigan Professor of English Mary Crane. The colloquium is made possible by the support of CWBC members and other Boston College donors.

Albright’s talk touched on her trajectory from political science major to young wife and mother to the US permanent representative to the United Nations to US secretary of state. She also shared some of the experiences from her diplomatic career, such as meeting with a group of women in Argentina, the mothers of “the disappeared” — men and women who were kidnapped, tortured and killed during the reign of a military dictatorship.

“The women gathered each day in the capital to ask for answers, bear witness and expose the truth.

Years went by, and in the process of demanding facts, they learned how to organize, how best to tell their stories and how to apply pressure in the right places at the right time.

Today, their names are associated with inspiration and honor and the arrogant men who persecuted their children are dead, in prison or disgraced.

“Obviously, there’s a great distance between the streets of Buenos Aires and the tree-lined neighborhoods of Chestnut Hill,” she continued. “But there’s also a great similarity: the ability of women to work together in the service of the common good. This is an indispensable asset to cities and towns here at home, and is one of the major engines of social and political progress in every corner of the globe.”

The colloquium opened with remarks from University President William P. Leahy, SJ, who noted that since its establishment 12 years ago, the CWBC “has had a major impact on our campus.” He praised the CWBC for providing “encouragement and inspiration for female undergraduates and grads” and offering a forum for current students

University Advancement

Albright: ‘We Need Every Available Voice’ BC to Introduce ‘Endeavor’

Former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright chatted with students before giving the inaugural address of the Council for Women of Boston College Colloquium last Thursday in Robsham Theater.

to benefit from the experience and wisdom of graduates who have gone before them.

In her introduction, CWBC Chair Kathleen McGillycuddy NC’71 said that the CWBC Colloquium was established “to be a permanent voice at Boston College on women and leadership.

“I cannot think of a better person to launch our colloquium than the most extraordinary and accomplished woman who is our esteemed speaker this evening,” she continued. “We are truly honored to welcome former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to the Heights.

As a leader in international diplomacy, our guest has truly played an important role in determining the very course of history.”

Though she was the daughter of diplomat, Albright, an immigrant from Czechoslovakia, seemed an unlikely candidate to be the first woman to serve as US secretary of state. Married three days after graduating from college, she was the mother of twins at age 24, she told the audience. Albright stayed home with her children and did not have her first professional job until she was 39. She earned a doctorate and became involved in national politics as a volunteer in presidential campaigns.

“I never imagined I might one day become secretary of state,” she said. “It was not that I lacked ambition. It was that I had never seen a secretary of state in a skirt or with ruby red shoes.”

As secretary of state, Albright said, she was determined to make “efforts to lift the lives of women and girls as part of the mainstream of American foreign policy.” She recalled visiting with Afghan women refugees and hearing of their extreme mistreatment under Taliban rule.

“Gender discrimination is a global problem, demanding a global response,” said Albright. “Women have made important gains in achieving legal recognition of our rights, but often, even if the laws on the books are changed, the real-

ity in villages and communities is not. Appalling abuses are still being committed against women, and these include coerced abortions and sterilization, female genital mutilations, dowry murders, honor crimes and even the killing of infants simply because they are born female.

“Some say all this is cultural, and there’s nothing anybody can do about it. I say it’s criminal and we each have an obligation to stop it.”

Since leaving the State Department, Albright has taught at Georgetown University, chaired the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs and the Pew Global Attitudes Project and written five books. She also serves on the US Department of Defense’s Defense Policy Board. She was honored in 2012 with a Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country’s highest civilian honor.

During her talk, Albright noted that she worked with a number of distinguished Boston College alumni, including former US Ambassador Nicholas Burns ’78, Secretary of State John Kerry JD’76 – and Amy Poehler ’93 (Albright had a cameo on the last season of Poehler’s hit show “Parks and Recreation”).

Closing her address, Albright offered some advice for women, especially the students in the audience: “Don’t be afraid to interrupt.

It is better to risk being thought rude than to give the impression you have nothing to say. Don’t let anyone else tell you what you can do and where you belong. You have to decide whether to allow others to define the boundaries of your life or to chart your own course.

“Act out of hope, not fear, and take responsibility for whatever you decide.”

Albright’s speech was followed by a Q&A with White Family Sesquicentennial Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Studies Jennifer Erickson. Prior to her address, Albright met privately with a small group of undergraduates.

Contact Kathleen Sullivan at kathleen.sullivan@bc.edu

Continued from page 1 to position themselves for career success as late as their senior year,” said Du Pont. “In today’s marketplace, employers expect students to have greater clarity about their career goals earlier, and students, in turn, have asked us to provide more career preparation earlier in their BC experience. We are excited to respond to that need.”

Du Pont and fellow administrators says that BC sophomores are ideally suited to benefit from a program like “Endeavor” as they are now versed in the Jesuit practice of discernment and reflection.

“Sophomores are ready for meaningful conversations around important topics such as career discernment, selecting a major, and exploring internship possibilities – key elements to empowering students to pursue meaningful personal and professional lives,” said Du Pont. “This program is designed to do just that.”

Sophomore Elizabeth Burke, who is pursuing a double major in theology and applied psychology and human development, said she was immediately drawn to “Endeavor” as a way to jumpstart her career planning.

“I’ve never known exactly what I wanted to do with my life post-college,” said Burke. “This program will help by giving me the opportunity to learn about different career paths and to see which might be the best fit for me. It is also an opportunity to learn networking skills that I’ll use no matter what career path I choose.

I’m hoping it will give me the confidence I’m looking for in figuring out what path I want to pursue, while making some alumni connections as I begin seeking internships for next

3

summer.”

Du Pont said that his office has identified a number of alumni across an array of industries whose careers validate the success of a liberal arts education, many of whom have agreed to participate in “Endeavor” in January.

The alumni will host panel discussions with students who have interest in their fields, before serving as career coaches for groups of three to five students during lunchtime meetings. That evening, the alumni will provide insights on how to network during a reception with alumni, faculty and staff. Students will then learn how to work with Career Center staff to help move their career plans forward.

Tim Shanahan ’09, a communication major and history minor who works in marketing for the MLB Network, said he volunteered to participate in the program to provide a resource for students interested in his field.

“I signed up to participate because I think this program represents a unique way to give back to my school and to students who were in the same position that I was,” said Shanahan. “I hardly knew anybody in sports media that I could go to for advice, make connections with or gain insight from when I graduated. Not everyone is lucky enough to have those resources at the start, and I think ‘Endeavor’ gives students this chance by bringing alumni to campus.”

Additional information on the “Endeavor” program is available at www.bc.edu/endeavor.

Contact Jack Dunn at jack.dunn@bc.edu

BC Athletics 5th in Grad Rate Boston College ranks fifth in the nation in overall Graduation Success Rate (GSR) in all sports among FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) schools, according to the latest GSR information released by the NCAA. BC compiled a GSR of 95 for the class that entered in 2008, a rate topped only by Duke, Notre Dame and Stanford, which all attained a 98; Northwestern also had a GSR of 95. Only nine other FBS schools earned a GSR of 90 or more: Central Florida and Vanderbilt (93); Alabama, Charlotte, Rice, Wake Forest and Clemson (92); and Syracuse and Tulane (90).

The football team’s score of 89 is the eighth-best nationally as only eight programs earned a score of 88 or higher: Stanford (99), Northwestern (97), Rice (95), Duke (94), Notre Dame (93), Central Florida and Wake Forest (90) and BC. Fifteen Boston College teams earned a perfect GSR score of 100, an increase from 12 in last year’s report. Women’s basketball, field hockey, men’s golf, women’s hockey, lacrosse, rowing, men’s skiing, women’s skiing, women’s soccer, softball, women’s swimming, women’s tennis, volleyball and all student-athletes who played non-NCAA classified sports pulled perfect marks. Twenty-three of the Eagles’ 25 programs ranked earned scores of 85 or higher.

The GSR was developed by the NCAA as part of its academic reform initiatives, which were to more accurately assess the academic success of student-athletes. The GSR is calculated both overall for a university, as well as for each sport sponsored by a school.

More information about the GSR is available at ncaa.org. ­–Boston College Athletics

Due to the Thanksgiving holiday schedule, Chronicle will not publish again until Dec. 3. The final edition of the fall semester will be Dec. 10.

T he B oston C ollege

Chronicle november 12, 2015

4

BC Theologian Co-leading Project on the Legacy of Ancient Judaism

By Kathleen Sullivan Staff Writer

Lee Pellegrini

Bible and Second Temple Judaism scholar Yonder Gillihan – an associate professor of theology at Boston College – is a founding member of the Maccabees Project, a new multi-disciplinary collaboration of international and Boston-area scholars dedicated to research and public education on ancient Judaism and its legacy. Gillihan co-directs the Maccabees Project Dialogues, a series of public lectures and seminars that debuts later this month.

Headquartered at the Elie Wiesel Center for Jewish Studies at Boston University, the Maccabees Project (MP) was formed to improve access to all evidence and research on Judea and Judean culture in the “Maccabean century” (c. 170-63 B.C.E.), create opportunities for scholars from different disciplines to share knowledge and test ideas, and spread new knowledge to the public.

“Every discipline that handles this stuff has its own set of evidence and methods for interpreting it, and a lot of frustration about questions that seem impossible to answer,” said Gillihan. “One way to get new insight is through interdisciplinary collaboration, but it often seems easier to dig up a new city than to collaborate effectively.”

The Maccabees Project is “bringing together questions and answers in new ways [and] has huge potential to improve everyone’s field,” he continued. “It’s really fun to have long conversations with super smart people who care about the same historical issues.”

The impetus for the MP began during an excavation led by BU archaeologist Andrea Berlin at Tel Kedesh, a Maccabean-era administrative outpost in Israel. Berlin’s team discovered the skeleton of an infant missing its hands, feet and head. Berlin reached out to scholars in other disciplines to see if they could provide context for the findings. She found that most scholarship, whether in archaeology, biblical studies, classics or history, showed the same disciplinary myopia that frustrated her own understanding of Tel Kedesh, but that there was enthusiasm among scholars to talk across disciplines.

Joining Gillihan on the Maccabees Project are scholars from BU, University of Pennsylvania, Harvard University, Israel Antiquities Authority, Tel Aviv University, University of Aix-Marseille in France; and University of Bremen and Eberhard Karls University in Germany.

The Maccabees Project has been awarded major grants from the Institute for the Liberal Arts and BU’s Jewish Cultural Endowment, with additional support from the School of Theology and Ministry, Center for Christian-Jewish Learning and Classics Department, as well as BU’s

Archaeology Department and Center for the Humanities.

According to the MP scholars, the story of the Maccabees is a heroic account of Jewish rebels’ triumphant conquest of Judea, rise of the Hasmonean dynasty, and strengthening of national identity and traditions.

While the ancient authors presented their versions as narrations of actual events, a growing body of research casts significant doubt on numerous aspects of these accounts. The scholars behind the MP are working together across the fields of biblical studies, ancient history, archaeology and the history of religion to get at the realities behind the stories, and to study their effects from antiquity until the present day.

Yonder Gillihan

“The Maccabean history is the subject of vigorous debate because it raises perennial issues about what it means to make history, both in the sense of doing deeds and crafting accounts that explain their significance.

A really useful history might contain all kinds of fiction,” said Gillihan.

A significant component of the Maccabees Project is the promotion of this new knowledge to the interested public. “Many issues that appear first in the Maccabean era remain crucial to modern Judaism and Christianity, and to secular notions of national and ethnic identity, international relations, political sovereignty and legitimate authority,” explained Gillihan.

Scholars will share the results of their collaborative efforts via the Dialogues, being held Nov. 30 and Dec. 1. Led by Gillihan and historian Katell Berthelot of the National Center for Scientific Research at the University of Aix-en-Provence, the series will look into the ideology of land, specifically the Promised Land and Holy War in 1 and 2 Maccabees. Among other events, there will be a luncheon discussion with students with Assistant Professor of the Practice of Theology Natana Delong-Bas which will also make connections to contemporary issues, such as the Islamic State.

A spring Dialogues, supported by an ILA grant, will be held at Boston College in April.

For more information or to sign up for Dialogues events, visit http://sites. bu.edu/Maccabees.

Contact Kathleen Sullivan at kathleen.sullivan@bc.edu

“It is the best time in history to be an entrepreneur and clearly today is the perfect time to open up a center of entrepreneurship because the opportunities are boundless.”

–Apple Inc. executive Phil Schiller ’82

Shea Center Dedication Spotlights Entrepreneurship, Innovation

By Sean Hennessey Staff Writer

Lauded as a resource for Boston College’s growing entrepreneurial culture, the Edmund H. Shea, Jr. Center for Entrepreneurship was formally dedicated Nov. 5 before a packed audience at Robsham Theater.

The center, named for the late California entrepreneur and venture capitalist Edmund H. Shea Jr., supports the growing startup culture at BC by fostering collaborations between students, faculty and private sector experts that support ideas for new businesses and organizations. Created through a generous financial gift to the University’s Light the World campaign from Shea’s wife, Mary, and their six surviving children, the center opened its doors in Cushing Hall this fall and operates within the Carroll School of Management.

Last week’s dedication ceremony featured talks from University leaders and an alumnus working for one of the most entrepreneurial companies in the world, Phil Schiller ’82, senior vice president of worldwide marketing for Apple Inc. “The Shea Center for Entrepreneurship at Boston College is an amazing opportunity for students and faculty to do some things that have never been done before,” said Schiller in his keynote address. “It is the best time in history to be an entrepreneur and clearly today is the perfect time to open up a center of entrepreneurship because the opportunities are boundless.”

Shea Center Executive Director Jere Doyle said the session’s mission is “to build and expand on the ecosystem of the entrepreneurship activities that have been going on at BC for the last decade – venture competitions, guest speakers, conferences. We want to make this universitywide and get everybody involved in some way or another.”

Powers Family Dean of the Carroll School of Management Andy Boynton called the Shea Center a “game-changing moment” for Boston College. “The center will touch all of our students throughout BC with the attitude, the spirit, and the skills of entrepreneurship.”

Provost and Dean of Faculties David Quigley said BC, as one of the world’s great Jesuit universi-

Phil Schiller ’82, senior vice president of worldwide marketing for Apple Inc., was on hand for last week’s dedication of the Shea Center for Entrepreneurship in Robsham Theater. Schiller gave a keynote address and took part in a panel discussion with Spark Capital cofounder Bijan Sabet ’91 and Wayfair CEO and co-chairman Niraj Shah.

(Photos by Lee Pellegrini)

ties, is an appropriate setting for the Shea Center and its mission.

“It’s the Shea family’s gift to us to remind us of the entrepreneurial spirit that has characterized the Society of Jesus itself: Ignatius back in the early 16th century trying to figure out how to start up these various initiatives – schools, hospitals, almshouses; Francis Xavier and others traveling to other parts of the globe; more contemporary Jesuits who have carried that spirit into a whole range of settings with a certain genius for developing organizations and meeting the needs of constituencies.”

Schiller, who described former Apple chief Steve Jobs as one of the greatest entrepreneurs who ever lived, ticked off some of the company’s innovations: the Mac, iPod, iPad, iTunes, iPhone, and Apple’s retail stores. He also cited the company’s app store, which in addition to providing downloads for some 100 billion applications has created 627,000 new jobs and paid more than $33 billion to developers.

“That’s what we think about when we talk about entrepreneurial activities, the ability to change the world, change markets, change the way things are done with a unique, brilliant, creative idea and that’s open to everybody,” said Schiller.

Schiller also took part in a panel discussion, “Innovation Meets Entrepreneurship,” along with Bijan Sabet ’91, co-founder of Spark Capital, an early investor in Twitter and Tumblr,

among other companies; and Niraj Shah, co-chairman, CEO and co-founder of Wayfair, the largest retailer of online home furnishings with sales of $1.3 billion last year. Fittingly, one of the main topics was the role universities play in entrepreneurship.

“By and large most of these businesses get started where the entrepreneur really gets what they need out of the university,” said Sabet. “It’s a place to really explore your passions, collaborate with others. We see that time and time again – cofounders coming together, meeting in undergrad or graduate school, where they have a chance to work together, experiment together, try new things.”

Sabet reminded the audience, particularly the students, that learning comes with doing. “Life is about taking risks and trying new things. You’re going to make mistakes along the way and I think those are the best learning opportunities.”

For more on the Shea Center for Entrepreneurship, see www.bc.edu/ sheacenter.

Contact Sean Hennessey at sean.hennessey@bc.edu

T he B oston C ollege

Chronicle november 12, 2015

5

Learning to Learn Program Thriving Under Bunch’s Leadership Continued from page 1 Learning to Learn Director Dan Bunch’s second floor office at 50 College Road, LTL’s headquarters since 2001.

Open to all students, LTL’s mission is to assist individuals who may face adversity in a challenging academic setting, including firstgeneration students, those with high financial need or others who may be physically challenged or learningdisabled.

Buoyed by a recently announced five additional years of federal funding through a Student Support Services Grant and the Ronald E. McNair Post Baccalaureate Achievement Grant, LTL is thriving. Ninety-five percent of students who have taken the Learning to Learn course graduated BC in four years; nationally, the six-year graduation rate for Student Support Services students is only 38 percent.

The high graduation rate for Learning to Learn participants is even more impressive in light of the fact that, nationally, only 54 percent of college students graduate. And many of BC’s LTL-trained students have gone on to pursue graduate studies – five members of the Class of 2014 alone are in doctoral programs.

The story of Learning to Learn’s success is not confined to Boston College. It is a national model that has been adopted by more than 100 colleges in the United States and designated as an Exemplary Program by the US Department of Education. According to the DOE, Learning to Learn is the only college-level program found to result in significant, long-term improvements in both college students’ GPAs and graduation rates.

Viola Clark ’16 became an aca-

demic assistant after her fulfilling experience with LTL. As a sophomore, Clark was having problems with time management and her grades were slipping, so she was encouraged to participate in Learning to Learn. The skills she learned have helped her manage life in the classroom and beyond, she said.

“Dan’s just a great resource,” said Clark, an applied psychology major at the Lynch School of Education. “Dan goes out of the way for you and you know he cares right off the bat.”

LTL’s director since 1987, Bunch remembers the days when the program was run as a drop-in center just a few doors away on College Road.

“It was not that formal until we worked with the Psychology Department to make Applications of Learning Theory a three-credit elective course in 1983,” said Bunch, a basketball captain and three-sport athlete at Hayneville (Ala.) High School who was accepted into BC’s Black Talent Program, a precursor to his graduation in 1979 – the same year LTL was established on campus by former director Marcia Heiman.

Bunch’s path to BC took a significant turn shortly after he graduated high school. Bunch was interested in electrical engineering and enrolled in a vocational school in Kentucky, where two of his instructors offered some advice.

“They said they had observed me and my skills and that I was wasting my time and should go to college,” he said. “So I went home to Alabama, came to Boston to visit my sister who was at BC and got into the Black Talent Program.

“I might not be here today if

not for that conversation back in Kentucky.”

Bunch is grateful for the college’s “across-the-board support and commitment to LTL,” and his conversations with Heiman, who is a consultant to the program. “She’s an incredible researcher and a confidante,” said Bunch.

Bunch earned his masters’ degree in social work in 1981 and was a graduate assistant with the then-

“We want to be advocates, helping firstgeneration students with a multitude of needs ranging from housing and financial issues to something as basic as finding them a personal computer,” says Learning to Learn Director Dan Bunch ’79, MSW’81.

Lee Pellegrini

AHANA Student Programs Office and a counselor for LTL. He was working in New York City when Heiman asked him to return as assistant director.

“In addition to the course, we wanted to – and still want to – be advocates, helping first-generation students with a multitude of needs ranging from housing and financial issues to something as basic as finding them a personal computer,” said Bunch, who resides in Hyde Park with his wife, Maribel

C21 to Host Fr. Gutierrez, CRS’ Woo Talks by Gustavo Gutiérrez, OP – noted for his foundational work in liberation theology – and Carolyn Woo, president and CEO of Catholic Relief Services, highlight this month’s events sponsored by the Boston College Church in the 21st Century Center.

Fr. Gutiérrez will speak on Nov. 16 and also receive the President’s Medal for Excellence from University President William P. Leahy, SJ. The John Cardinal O’Hara Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame, Fr. Gutiérrez will present “My Faith Story within the Story of Liberation Theology” at 4:30 p.m. in the Heights Room of Corcoran Commons.

A native of Peru, Fr. Gutiérrez is the author of Teología de la Liberación (A Theology Liberation), considered the seminal text of libera-

tion theology, in which he espoused a spirituality rooted in solidarity with the poor and advocated for a change in social and economic institutions to promote social justice.

He has received numerous honorary degrees and awards from institutions around the world, and his honors also include induction into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Woo’s lecture, “Working for a Better World: The Story of Catholic Relief Services and Carolyn Woo,” will take place Nov. 30 at 6 p.m. in Gasson 100, co-sponsored with University Mission and Ministry. She will discuss the agency’s growth and development, and her own experiences and impressions as its head.

Established during the height of World War II to aid European refu-

Pomales-Bunch, a 1984 graduate who teaches high school in Boston.

One of LTL’s key facets is its College Transition Program, a two-week summer orientation for between 35 to 50 incoming freshmen that has been funded by BC since 2001.

“We work closely with the Office of Undergraduate Admission to identify students and we email them to tell them about CTP,” said

gees, Catholic Relief Services has become one of the world’s foremost organizations for the needy, building on a tradition of providing relief in emergency situations while seeking to help people in the developing world “break the cycle of poverty through community-based, sustainable development initiatives,” according to the agency website.

Woo, who became CRS director in 2012, was one of five presenters in Rome at the release of Pope Francis’ encyclical on the environment in June. Her faith journey and work at CRS are recounted in her recently published book, Working for a Better World.

To register for these lectures, and for information on C21 events, see www.bc.edu/church21/programs/ Current_Events.html.

–Office of News & Public Affairs

Bunch, noting the commitment of his seven professional staff, five graduate assistants, seven undergraduate peer counselors and three administrative staff.

“CTP created a community for me before I even started classes as a freshman and Dan Bunch was a mentor early-on,” said Philip McHarris ’14, who now is a McNair Scholar in his second year of doctoral studies at Yale. “Before meeting him I knew about him because some students at BC who went to my high school [St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark, NJ] talked about him. LTL was my home away from home freshman year,

and while I had faith in myself, Dan always raised the bar.”

McHarris said LTL “exposed me to a lot of learning tools like the best way to take notes or engaging with the text in an active way. I drew from the ones that applied to me, felt more organized and realized there’s no one way to learn.”

Students come to LTL in a variety of ways: referrals from other support or social groups on campus, from deans or faculty members, and according to Bunch, “word of mouth, a big factor.”

Two sections of no more than 25 students are offered each semester and are typically filled. The majority are freshmen, with a sprinkling of sophomores and juniors.

James Kale was a freshman when referred to Bunch through staff at Options to Education, a summertime academic enrichment experience under the direction of the Thea Bowman AHANA and Intercultural Center. Kale said LTL gave him a new perspective and taught him study habits that have carried over into his senior year.

“I never had classes with white students before and had no friends from the South Bronx who went to college,” he recalled. “But I felt comfortable in Dacia’s class. We shared the same demographics and backgrounds. To this day, I still see Dan at minimum once a week. His impact on me and on BC has been huge.”

Earlier this year, Bunch was honored with the Boston College Community Service Award for actions that exemplify the Jesuit spirit of service to others. He was also recognized by former students, who set up a Facebook page filled with comments thanking him for making a difference in their lives.

“The first time I saw it,” he said, “I had tears in my eyes.”

–Marvin Pave Gary Gilbert

Boston College Law School Dean Vincent Rougeau presented “Fighting Racism by Modeling Inclusion: Reflections of an African-American Dean” on Nov. 5, sponsored by the University’s Center for Human Rights and International Justice as part of its “Conversations on ‘Race’ and Racism” series. See http://www.bc.edu/centers/humanrights/events.html.

T he B oston C ollege

Chronicle november 12, 2015

6

Not Some Kid – He’s One of the Guys

Eagles basketball team takes special youngster under its collective wing

BC men’s basketball coach Jim Christian says the team has formed a special bond with nine-year-old Quinn Amsler, who is battling cancer. “This relationship is very special to all of these kids. It makes them really understand that the things they think are hard, the things that they go through on a daily basis that are uncomfortable for them, are nothing compared to what this young man goes through.”

By Reid Oslin Special to the Chronicle

The Boston College men’s basketball team has its share of near seven-foot centers, power forwards and speedy, sharp-shooting guards on this year’s squad, but the inclusion of special nine-year-old boy in team activities may just turn out to be one of the team’s most significant roster additions.

Quinn Amsler, a youngster from nearby Lexington, was diagnosed with sarcoma, a form of cancer, last April. In a matter of weeks, he found his life transformed from school, sports and family fun into one of long and painful chemotherapy, hospital beds and not knowing what the future would bring.

Recently, BC hoops coach Jim Christian and his players decided to “draft” Quinn onto the Boston College roster through a program called “Team IMPACT,” a national organization based in Boston, whose mission is to improve the quality of life for children facing life-threatening and chronic illnesses.

Quinn did not have to go far to find his favorite college team: His dad, Joseph Amsler, is a 1988 graduate of Boston College; both of his paternal grandparents are BC alumni; and so are three of his favorite cousins, including Jeffrey Jay ’15, a former BC football player.

When pre-season practice opened in October, Christian and his players arranged to make Quinn a Boston College Eagle, too, with a realistic “signing” ceremony adding him to the basket-

Photos by John Quackenbos

ball team roster.

“Quinn had always watched his brothers play basketball and he had started to play himself – but now, of course, he cannot play,” explains his mother, Shannon Amsler. The family was obviously delighted when Christian and his team asked the youngster to join them for practices and games when he feels up to it.

“It’s been fun for Quinn,” says Amsler. “He loves the boys as players, but they have actually been cheerleaders for him. They are so positive and so kind to him. We have had a few interactions with the team so far, and each one of them has been enormously positive.

“Quinn really looks forward to them.”

Amsler says that the team’s involvement with her son has already grown far beyond the typical on-court connection. “They treat him like a normal boy – they don’t talk about his illness,” she notes.

“He is looking forward to the day when he can play sports again. So

to have this experience and be a part of a team is really special.”

In addition to the usual basketball banter, Amsler says that several team members have told Quinn that they are praying for his complete recovery, and other players have volunteered to accompany him to Boston’s Farber Cancer Center for his chemo treatments.

“I’m the mother of three boys,” says Amsler. “You always want your children to be polite and everything, but every single young man on that team has taken the time to spend time with Quinn in the few weeks that he has been with them. Their parents must be so proud.”

Christian says that he is not surprised by his players’ support

Quinn and his family with BC men’s basketball coach Jim Christian and Eagles players earlier this fall, when they “drafted” the boy onto the team roster through a national organization that seeks to help improve the quality of life for children with serious illnesses.

in the boy’s struggle against the dreaded disease. “Every time Quinn comes around, I just see everyone smile,” Christian says.

“This relationship is very special to all of these kids. It makes them really understand that the things they think are hard, the things that they go through on a daily basis that are uncomfortable for them, are nothing compared to what this young man goes through.

“Quinn has an unbelievable impact on them and they certainly have a great respect for him and his family and for what they are going through,” Christian says.

“He’s an inspiration.”

As for Quinn, he is a little perplexed with all of those tall student-athletes circling around him but he clearly appreciates the chance to be a member of the BC team.

“I’m looking forward to the season,” the youngster says. “I hope it’s a good time.

“They all are really nice to me and they help me,” he adds softly.

“They help me a lot.”

BC Experts Earn National Recognition as ‘Influencers in Aging’ Three members of the Boston College community and a BC alumna have been named as 2015 Influencers in Aging by Next Avenue [www.nextavenue. org], a news, information and advice hub on aging-related issues produced by Twin Cities PBS. Next Avenue selected School of Social Work Professor Kevin Mahoney, Center for Retirement Research Director Alicia Munnell and Lauren Rikleen, visiting scholar at the Center for Work and Family, for its Influencers in Aging list, which honors 50 thought leaders, innovators, writers, advocates, experts and others who are changing how Ameri-

cans age and think about aging.

Also named was 1970 Connell School of Nursing alumna and 2008 honorary degree recipient Jennie Chin Hansen, former CEO of the American Geriatrics Society and former president of AARP. Mahoney, founding director of the National Resource Center for Participant-Directed Services (NRCPDS), says the University’s Institute on Aging – which in addition to the NRCPDS comprises the Center for Aging & Work, Center for Retirement Research, Hartford Center of Excellence in Geriatric Social Work and the Boston Roybal Center for Active

Lifestyle Interventions – reflects the wide scope of expertise BC has to offer on aging.

“Boston College, through its Strategic Plan, decided to emphasize the fine work being done here and create an Institute on Aging to show an ongoing commitment to studies that better the situation of the growing number of older people, and give them more choices and more control over their lives. Clearly this work flows from the social justice mission of this Jesuit university.”

Munnell, who is the Drucker Professor of Management Sciences, is a nationally acclaimed expert on retirement security who

is frequently quoted by national media outlets. The co-author of 23 books, including Falling Short: The Coming Retirement Crisis and What to Do About It, Munnell is an advocate for employer-provided retirement plan coverage to part-time workers and has suggested pre-retirees tap into their home equity and work longer.

Rikleen, president of the Rikleen Institute for Strategic Leadership, is a leading authority on the multi-generational workplace. She is the author of You Raised Us – Now Work With Us: Millennials, Career Success, and Building Strong Workplace Teams, which examines the con-

tradictions between boomers as parents to millennials and as their work managers and colleagues.

She says a multi-generational workforce will better enable millennials to step into leadership roles at a younger age.

“Just as baby boomers changed so much in our society, I am confident that our generation will pave a new way to meet the challenges of their later years,” she says. “My hope is that they will do this in a way that strengthens the bonds among all generations.”

To read more about the 2015 Influencers in Aging, see http:// bit.ly/1kkRJFE. –Sean Hennessey

T he B oston C ollege

Chronicle november 12, 2015

7

Photos courtesy of Carl Lanzilli

BC alumnus has shown his love of alma mater just about everywhere

Brazil

By Albert McKeon Special to the Chronicle

Boston College pride: Carl Lanzilli ’66 doesn’t leave home without it.

A world traveler for most of his life, Lanzilli has in recent years added a new routine to his journeys by displaying his love for his alma mater in photographs of some of the world’s most spectacular sights.

He’s unfurled a one-foot by six-inch Boston College flag into the view of his camera lens, not to just tell others around the globe about the school in Chestnut Hill, but to also pay tribute to the place that set him on a path to a 30-year career as an

Rome

(taken from the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica)

attorney.

Now retired, Lanzilli figures taking some snapshots with the flag is the least he can do.

“BC is a very good school,” he said. “The academic excellence there has skyrocketed.”

The Boston College flag has added local flavor to Lanzilli’s photos of several world treasures.

In one image, it is draped over a balcony railing overlooking St. Peter’s Square in Rome. In another, the school’s traditional maroon and gold colors stand in contrast to the snowcapped top of Mount Everest – just as it does to a rich blue Icelandic sky in another image.

When Lanzilli visited Brazil, he recruited a pair of children

Mt. Everest

native to an Amazon jungle to hold the flag. His most recent travels have taken him and the BC banner to Sweden, Finland and France – and, yes, Lanzilli can also now check off the Eiffel Tower as a place where Eagles have roamed, and displayed the BC colors.

Lanzilli has traveled for more than 40 years and slightly regrets he hadn’t sooner thought of the idea. About five years ago, he spotted a woman propping a University of Maryland flag into photos of Tanzania while they were separately traveling that country. He was inspired to do likewise, and it’s now a ritual for him.

“If I had started this a long

Iceland

(island of Grimsey, beginning of Arctic Circle)

time ago, I would have had it in Machu Picchu, the Arctic, the North Pole,” he said.

He has shared his photos with University President William P. Leahy, SJ, who has gotten a “kick” out of them, according to Lanzilli.

No one has refused to hold the flag while Lanzilli stands at a distance shooting. Recently admiring a Catholic Church in Helsinki, Lanzilli couldn’t find a soul to assist him until a man fi-

nally rode by on a bicycle. The local jumped off his bike and said, “No problem.” Curiously, notes Lanzilli, no one has asked about Boston College while serving as photography assistants.

No sooner does Lanzilli enjoy his most recent work of art than he’s off again on a plane. This winter, he hopes to see Easter Island, perhaps finding a way to angle the Boston College flag into shots of the famed stone figures.

Jesuit Studies Lecture Series to Debut The Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies will inaugurate its first lecture series on Nov. 19, when it hosts University of Notre Dame historian John T. McGreevy at 5 p.m. in Fulton 511.

McGreevy, who is the I.A. O’Shaughnessy Dean of the College of Arts and Letters at Notre Dame, will present “American Jesuits and the World: Toward a More Global Religious History,” taken from the title of his forthcoming book to be published this spring.

He also will be presented with the first George E. Ganss, SJ, Award in Jesuit Studies, which recognizes significant scholarly contributions in the field of Jesuit Studies and helps to fulfill the institute’s mission.

His other books are Parish Boundaries: The Catholic Encounter with Race in the Twentieth Century Urban North and Catholicism and American Freedom: A History. McGreevy has received major fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies, the Louisville Institute and the Erasmus Institute, and authored numerous articles and reviews in publications including the Journal of American History, New Republic, Chicago Tribune and Commonweal.

Launched in the summer of 2014, the Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies [www.bc.edu/iajs] serves as a resource on the history, spirituality, pedagogy and educational heritage of the Society of Jesus. Among its offerings is a Certificate in Jesuit Studies that includes a pilgrimage to Spain and Rome as well as coursework at BC, and a guide to selected Jesuit readings for high school and first-year college students.

The institute’s Lecture Series on Jesuit Studies will bring “the world’s preeminent scholars in the field of Jesuit Studies to Boston College for engagement with the University and the general public,” according to an announcement for the event.

–Office of News & Public Affairs

T he B oston C ollege

Chronicle november 12, 2015

8

Boston College’s football team was a Fenway Park fixture for more than four decades. Photos above and left show a 1916 BC-Holy Cross game, won by the Eagles, 17-14. Right, a program for the Kansas State-BC contest held at Fenway in 1939.

All images provided by University Archives

SHAMROCK SERIES: Boston College vs. Notre Dame at Fenway Park, Nov. 21

By Reid Oslin Special to the Chronicle

Nearly 60 years have passed since a Boston College football player last placed a cleated foot on the sacred turf of Fenway Park, so when the Eagles return to America’s oldest major league ballpark for a game against Notre Dame on the evening of Nov. 21, it’s going to be a big deal.

And it’s not even going to be BC’s home game. The contest will be part of Notre Dame’s “Shamrock Series” that has brought a Fighting Irish home game into major market sports facilities around the country each year since 2009.

That means that only 5,000 of

the 37,673 seats in Fenway will be allocated to BC fans, with the rest sold by the Golden Domers. As any economics student at either school knows, the old rule of supply and demand controls ticket availability.

“This is one of the highest [ticket] demand games that we have ever had,” notes Assistant Athletics Director for Ticket Sales Jim O’Neill.

“When you take in the fact that it’s Notre Dame and BC is playing them in our city; when you take in the fact that there are only 37,000 seats; and when you take in the fact that it’s at Fenway Park, which is a unique experience in itself, it’s been a highly-demanded ticket.

“Everything is gone.”

One of the most memorable Boston College-Notre Dame games was in 1993, when the Eagles defeated the first-ranked Fighting Irish on a last-second field goal by walk-on David Gordon.

O’Neill predicts that Fenway will provide “a great environment” for the game, which starts at 7:30 p.m.

“There will be a lot of excitement and with the great year that Notre Dame is having, this is the type of game that could really make a season for us.”

A look at some Fenway and Notre Dame-related lore in BC football history: The 102nd Game The Boston College football team once joined the Boston Red Sox as a prime tenant at Fenway. The Eagles played at the Olde Towne Ballpark for the first time in 1914 when Fenway was just two years old and team owners were seeking additional revenue. BC beat Norwich 28-6 and Catholic University 14-0 in the first

two college games at the park. Over the ensuing 42 years, BC played 101 games on Lansdowne Street – winning 75 of them, losing 21 and five ending in tie scores.

The Eagles’ last appearance at Fenway was a 7-0 loss to former arch-rival Holy Cross on Dec. 1, 1956. The late-game winning touchdown set off a small riot as celebrating Crusader fans tore down the steel goalposts, set fires to bales of hay surrounding the playing field and wreaked general havoc in the stadium.

Farewell to Fenway Midway through the 1956 season, Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey told Boston College officials that the football team was tearing up Fenway’s turf and college football would no longer be permitted. Then-BC Athletics Director John P. Curley cited “Tom Yawkey’s intentions to reseed the park after the 1957 baseball season. In that event there will no more football games at the park. It is evidently Mr. Yawkey’s intention to have one of the best-looking ballparks in the league.”

BC officials mulled dropping varsity football when Fenway was yanked away. The cost of enlarging the old Alumni Field (located at the current site of Stokes Hall on Middle Campus) was considered prohibitive.

Instead, BC alumni banded together to launch a lightning-like development drive to raise $350,000 to build a new, 26,000-seat football facility on the current site of Alumni Stadium – a campaign that saved the sport of football at Boston College.

The new Alumni Stadium was ready for the start of the 1957 football season on Sept. 21.

Lay of the Land When fans arrive at Fenway for the BC-Notre Dame game, they will see that the football field runs counter to the traditional north-to-south direction, stretching east to west from the home plate area to the right field wall.

Because of the low box seats on the first base side of the field, both teams will share a sideline in front of the left-field “Green Monster” wall.

Fashion Statement Both Boston College and Notre Dame will have special uniforms supplied by UnderArmour for the game: the Irish will wear green uniforms matching the famous paint hue of the old park; Boston College will dress in throwback uniforms from the 1984 Cotton Bowl championship season, when Eagle quarterback Doug Flutie won the Heisman Trophy as college football’s top player. (Flutie will be

at the game – as an NBC television analyst commenting on the game for viewers at home.)

Notre Dame has worn the green football uniforms (in lieu of their traditional blue and gold togs) only one previous time against Boston College: in 2002, when Notre Dame was 8-0 and was ranked No. 4 in the national polls when the Eagles visited South Bend for a Nov. 2 game. BC, bolstered by a massive defensive effort, upset the heavily-favored Irish by a 14-7 score, and Notre Dame officials wisely placed the green uniforms in mothballs until this year’s game.

On the Road Notre Dame’s “Shamrock Series” has brought the Irish team to such venues as New York’s Yankee Stadium (vs. Army), the HoosierDome in Indianapolis (vs. Purdue), and Soldier Field in Chicago (vs. Miami).

In addition to the game, the ND Alumni Association sets up educational seminars and social functions for alumni and friends of the school, as well as the brand-conscious “Notre Dame Bookstore Annex” that will sell everything from traditional t-shirts and hats to Christmas decorations and other specialty items as part of the university’s constant marketing effort.

To the Victor The winner of each Boston College–Notre Dame football game gets to keep the “Frank Leahy Award,” named in honor of the College Football Hall of Fame coach who directed the program at both schools (Boston College from 1939-40 and Notre Dame from 1941-53) and won multiple national championships and honors. The Leahy Award is a punchbowl size Waterford Crystal trophy that was originally sponsored by the Notre Dame Alumni Club of Boston when the teams met for the first time in 1975.

Since that first game that was played in Foxboro before a national television audience, Notre Dame has won 13 of 22 games against the Eagles.

T he B oston C ollege

Chronicle november 12, 2015

9

Q&A: Burns Visiting Scholar James H. Murphy

Taking a Long Look at Ireland’s ‘Long Century’

Q: What prompted you to take the Burns Visiting Scholar post?

Murphy: I love being at DePaul, and have had a wonderful and very productive time there. The attraction for me in coming to Boston College was that, unlike DePaul, which is primarily a teaching university – though it has many wonderful scholars on its faculty – BC is a research institution. I enjoy being able to talk with other researchers and compare experiences and observations.

And, of course, BC’s offerings in the area of Irish Studies are superb. This fall, I’ve attended the Irish Studies conference celebrating the 150th birthday of W.B. Yeats, I’ve been to [Associate

Professor of English] Jim Smith’s study group on the 1916 Easter Week Uprising, and gone to [Associate Professor of the Practice of English] Joe Nugent’s reading group for Finnegans Wake. Plenty to do here.

Q: Your research has centered on the so-called “Long Century” in Irish history [17911922], with particular focus on the Victorian period. What is it about that era which interests you?

the reign of James II to be Lord Mayor of Dublin – which meant he presided over the council – and he tried to turn the position into a platform for his political goals, notably Irish self-government.

So, if you examine how these various institutions functioned over a period of time, you see shifts in the power relationships and how this affected the stability of the state.

Murphy: When I was an undergraduate at Maynooth University, I had an English professor who was also a priest, named Peter Connolly – a brilliant lecturer. In the 1960s he was quite instrumental in opening up cultural debates that were going on at the time; he was an advocate for openness to new cultural perspectives.

For example, in 1960, Edna O’Brien had published her first novel, The Country Girls, which was considered scandalous at the

“I’d make the argument that Victorian Ireland has a lot of parallels to 21stcentury Ireland: Back then, Ireland was part of an empire, and her best novelists were living in London; now, Ireland is part of a globalized world – and, again, her best novelists are living abroad, like Colum McCann, who’s in New York.”

Gary Gilbert

Victorian Ireland – particularly the period of 1850-90 – has sometimes been viewed as a time of both “great importance politically and no importance culturally,” according to James H. Murphy, who is the Burns Library Visiting Scholar in Irish Studies this semester: “I have spent my scholarly career uncovering new ways of understanding its political importance and challenging the false assumptions about its cultural lack of importance.”

Murphy will discuss some of these characteristics of Victorian Ireland when he presents “Novelists and Politicians in 19th-Century Ireland” at the Burns Visiting Scholar in Irish Studies Lecture this coming Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. in the Burns Library’s Thompson Room.

A Vincentian priest and professor of English at DePaul University since 2001, Murphy has pursued a career as both an historian of fiction as well as a political historian.

Dublin-based for much of his life, he is the author or editor of 14 books, including, as author, Irish Novelists and the Victorian Age, Abject Loyalty: Nationalism and Monarchy in Ireland During the Reign of Queen Victoria, Ireland’s Czar: Gladstonian Government and the Lord Lieutenancies of the Red Earl Spencer, 1868-1886 and, as editor, the 19th-century volume of the Oxford History of the Irish Book.

He holds two doctorates from University College Dublin and is also a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, Maynooth University and the University of London. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

Murphy recently sat down with Chronicle to talk about his research interests, and why Victorian Ireland is now receiving more attention and respect than hitherto.

Murphy: I find those years interesting because you see certain trends, actions and behaviors emerging that, among other things, eventually change the relationship between Ireland and Britain, and Ireland’s view of itself. And I have always wanted to resist the perspective of the present shaping our understanding of the past. Such openness leads to new insight.

For instance, it is assumed that Irish Nationalists were always hostile to the British monarchy but the monarchy actually was quite popular in Ireland for most of the 19th century, even among Irish Nationalists. Thousands of Irish cheered Queen Victoria when she visited. But as British politicians increasingly used various governmental and political institutions against the Nationalists, the Nationalists had to demonize the monarchy, because it was a bonding institution.

One project I’m undertaking as Burns Scholar, and using the library’s resources, is looking at the Dublin City Council in the 19th century. Dublin Corporation, as it was officially known, was the most prominent bastion of Protestant control for years, but power suddenly shifted to Catholics. In 1841, Daniel O’Connell became the first Catholic since

Q: You also research Irish literature in a historical context – what stands out to you about Victorian Ireland in that respect?

Murphy: There’s been a tendency among critics to depict the Irish as having been “culturally assimilated” during the period. In fact, quite a lot was going on, and women writers in particular were attracting a lot of attention: One was M.E. Francis – the pen name of Francis Blundell – who wrote Miss Erin, a semi-allegorical novel about a young politically active woman who embodies Ireland.

I’d make the argument that Victorian Ireland has a lot of parallels to 21st-century Ireland: Back then, Ireland was part of an empire, and her best novelists were living in London; now, Ireland is part of a globalized world – and, again, her best novelists are living abroad, like Colum McCann, who’s in New York.

Actually, I’d say that’s a tendency in my work – I focus more on commonalities, not the extremes.

Q: How did you become open to the idea of working in academia? Are there experiences or mentors you see as having steered you in that direction?

time because of the candid way it dealt with sexual matters and other social issues. Connolly appeared at a public meeting where O’Brien was speaking and he got up to defend her work, quite a bold thing to do. So to have a teacher with that kind of background was very inspiring.

Unfortunately, today one sees a stereotyping and a polarization within debate in Ireland. Irish

history of the past 50 years or so is depicted in very black and white terms, and in contemporary Irish discourse, Catholicism is presented simply as a culturally and socially regressive force – which is not true in actual experience. Peter Connolly valued the richness of Irish cultural heritage, but also within a framework that was open to progressive change.

It saddens me to see how reductive the conversation has become.

Q: Next year will be a landmark in Irish history: the 100th anniversary of the 1916 Easter Week Rising. As a historian, what do you think is an underappreciated or overlooked aspect of Ireland’s fight for independence?

Murphy: After the revolutionary period, there were two states that essentially became their worst selves. Northern Ireland turned into an oppressive sectarian country; independent Ireland, to a degree, tended to look inward instead of developing a forward vision.

I believe they would’ve benefited by remaining in some kind of connection, and with a more gradual process of independence.

This scenario, however, would’ve asked quite a lot of both sides, which had great contempt for one another. But whatever its intentions the Irish revolution made such a possibility less likely.

Nationalism can be a unifying and empowering force but it can also be exclusionary. The experience of the Irish revolutionary period and its aftermath shows us both of these tendencies in operation.

–Sean Smith Duncan Johnson

The National Research Mentoring Network at Boston College hosted the forum “Diversity Toward Institutional Transformation” last month, featuring a keynote address by University of California-Berkeley biologist John Marsui and, above, a panel discussion moderated by Professor of Biology David Burgess (foreground), leader of the $19-million National Institutes of Health initiative to diversity the ranks of US biomedical researchers.

T he B oston C ollege

Chronicle november 12, 2015

10

Condon Retires After Nearly 50 Years

After a career that spanned nearly a half-century, University tant Fine Arts chair for studio art, the series of prints in “The Na- Counseling Services Administrature of Culture” reference images tive Assistant and 1976 alumna from Art Deco, Japanese ukiyo- Anne Marie Condon retired from e prints and medieval heraldry. the University on Oct. 30. ConThese approaches use bold, flat don, who was feted that day by design, crisp, fluid drawcolleagues at a farewell event in ing and strong color, and produce powerful images the Higgins Atrium, shared some concerned with idealized reflections and memories about beauty and are saturated her time on campus, and about her family’s long history with BC. with social politics.

How has BC changed during “I reference these works to explore the com- your time here? plex relationship between “My reflections as I think of nature and culture, the these 48 years at Boston College meeting of Eastern and are many and varied. I am parWestern ideals and above ticularly struck by the amount of all my own ideas of visual power changes that have taken place and and beauty.”

The exhibition is sponsored yet throughout all these years the by the Fine Arts Department and college’s long-standing mission remains intact.

Boston College Libraries.

“The obvious changes are seen –Office of News & Public Affairs every day in walking the cam* * * pus: the seemingly endless conThe Boston College Dramatics Society will present Christopher struction, new buildings and reDurang’s Tony award-winning comedy “Vanya and Sonia and Ma- newal of the original structures. sha and Spike” tonight through Sunday in the Robsham Theater Arts Change also in the growth and Center’s Bonn Studio Theater. The production is directed by senior​ the numbers and the diversity of Maisie Laud. ​ Set in Pennsylvania, the play revolves around the tension that results the student body, from a comwhen middle-aged siblings Vanya and Sonia, who share a home, find muter locally-centric campus to themselves hosting their movie-star sister Masha and her boyfriend a university that has a worldwide Spike. Masha and Spike’s arrival sparks old resentments and provokes reputation for higher learning. arguments, and the presence of an aspiring young actress and a precogni- Yet, with this change there has tive maid named Cassandra add to the tumult. Show times are 7:30 p.m. tonight, Friday and Saturday, and 2 p.m. on Sunday.

General admission tickets are $10 with fees for students, seniors, and BC faculty and staff. All tickets are available on- Continued from page 12 line through the RTAC Box Office [www.bc.edu/theater], or by callchased at the door. ing 617-552-4002. For more information, e-mail dramaticssocietybc@ The 28-member Irish Dance gmail.com.

Club will perform to both tradi–Office of News & Public Affairs tional and modern music when it * * * The Robsham Theater Arts Center will present Charles Mee’s award- takes the stage.

“BCID is thrilled to be a part of winning action-packed “Big Love” on Nov. 19-22, described by the production’s director, Professor of Theatre Scott T. Cummings, as “a Week of Dance. We love getting big, rambunctious play that takes a now-serious, now-playful look at the to work with other members of the differences between men and women.” Although based on an ancient dance community at BC, and look Greek tragedy by Aeschylus, “Big Love” is “utterly contemporary in spirit at it as a way to expand dance’s and includes pop tunes, romance, influence on and off campus,” said outbursts of extreme movement, ruco-president Betsy Hughes ’16. “It minations on gender and violence, a will be an amazing opportunity wedding ceremony, and a big fight,” for all of the dance community to says Cummings. show our shared passions and eclec“Big Love” centers on 50 brides tic styles to the wider BC commuwho flee to an Italian manor to avoid nity, providing us with an outlet for marrying their respective cousins, performance and BC with a chance and takes the original plot into modern times. The grooms ambush the to have fun and appreciate dance.” brides by helicopter, and while the During the week, student couples wait for their wedding day, dancers will lead workshops at the the characters raise issues of gender Brighton Dance Studio. On Dec. politics, love and domestic violence.

1 at 4 p.m., Masti will offer in“He is a playwright interested struction on cultural Indian and in big questions: What does it mean Bollywood-style dance; at 5 p.m., to be a human being? What makes a woman a woman and a man a man? But he addresses these questions the focus will switch to hip-hop in a manner that is boisterous and even chaotic at moments,” says Cum- with UpRising, and at 6 p.m., the mings of Mee, who won an Obie Award for “Big Love,” and whose work Dance Ensemble will demonstrate jazz, ballet and modern dance. On Cummings has studied for a number of years.

“It’s always a special pleasure when I can connect my scholarly re- Dec. 2, tap will literally be “On search with my practical theatre work with undergraduates. And students Tap” when the group leads a 5 tend to respond quite favorably to Mee’s work. It bristles with energy,” p.m. session followed by a 6 p.m. he added. presentation of jazz, modern and Admission is $15 for adults, $10 for students (with valid ID), seniors ballet styles by the Dance Organiand BC faculty/staff (one ticket per ID). For tickets, contact the RTAC zation. Hip-hop will be the theme Box Office at 617-552-4002, or see http://tiny.cc/a9fg4x. For full performance schedule and information on production teams, cast members and on Dec. 3, with workshops lead by the groups Phaymus (5 p.m.) and tickets, see http://tiny.cc/0agg4x.

–Rosanne Pellegrini Synergy (6 p.m.).

An exhibition of prints by Professor of the Practice in Fine Arts Andrew Tavarelli that investigate the relationship between nature and culture is on display in the O’Neill Library Level Three Gallery through December.

As a source of visual imagery and inspiration, travel “has long been a part of both the European and American painting traditions,” Tavarelli explains in the “Nature of Culture” exhibition statement. “Japan, Southeast Asia, and Indonesia occupy a special place in my heart and in my mind’s eye. The natural and cultural landscapes of these places are formidable sources for my work.”

According to Tavarelli, assis-

University Counseling Services Administrative Assistant Anne Marie Condon ’76 with well-wishers at her retirement party Oct. 30. (Photo by Lee Pellegrini)

been one constant, a Jesuit-driven culture.”

What will you miss the most about BC, and what memory will stand out?

“I leave Boston College with a flood of memories. My clearest reflection of my 48 years is that it was but a part of my family’s 90-year history with the University, which began with my father – a member of the class of 1928 – and continues through several generations including his great grandson, who is a student

at Boston College today. And I am proud to say that I am part of that tradition as a member of the class of 1976.

“My most cherished memories center around the large group of incredibly dedicated and kind individuals I have had the pleasure of working with all these years. My many years at Boston College have allowed me to form lifelong friendships, some for over 40 years, which I will treasure always.”

–Rosanne Pellegrini

First-Ever ‘Week of Dance’ Runs Nov. 30-Dec. 5

Boston College Irish Dance (above) also will be in performance during the Week of Dance. “It will be an amazing opportunity for all of the dance community to show our shared passions and eclectic styles to the wider BC community,” says BCID co-president Betsy Hughes ’16. (Photo by Lee Pellegrini)

“Teaching people about dance and how to dance are big parts of Full Swing’s mission, and we feel that Week of Dance will give BC students the unique chance not only to watch dance performances but also to participate in workshops and other events,” said Nista.

The Nov. 30 “Dance Movie Madness” event on the RTAC main stage will include screenings of “Dirty Dancing” (7 p.m.) and “Stomp the Yard” (9 p.m.).

Artist-in-Residence Robert VerEecke, SJ, an acclaimed dancer and choreographer who has been involved with dance at Boston College for almost 40 years, said the weeklong celebration illustrates

how integral dance has become to the BC community.

“When I first arrived there was one performing group. I am amazed and delighted by the growth of interest in dance of all kinds. I’m particularly grateful for the course offerings in the Theatre Department as well as the beautiful dance studio on the Brighton Campus.”

With the exception of the evening dance performances, which have an admission cost, all Week of Dance events are free and open to the public. For information, see www.bc.edu/offices/artscouncil.

Contact Rosanne Pellegrini at rosanne.pellegrini@bc.edu

T he B oston C ollege

Chronicle november 12, 2015

11

BOSTON COLLEGE IN THE MEDIA An introduction to new faculty members at Boston College

Vyacheslav Fos

Assistant Professor of Finance Carroll School of Management DEGREES: Columbia University (PhD and MA); Ben-Gurion University, Israel (MA and BA) WHAT HE STUDIES: Financial markets, corporate governance, empirical corporate finance WHAT HE’S TEACHING: Corporate Finance (Spring 2016) What is your big research focus? “I research the intersection of corporate governance and financial markets because modern activist shareholders, like Carl Icahn, actively trade shares of companies they target.”

Martin Scanlan

Associate Professor of Educational Leadership and Higher Education Lynch School of Education DEGREES: Catholic University of America (BA); Trinity College, Washington, DC (MA); University of Wisconsin (PhD) WHAT HE STUDIES: Leadership in Catholic education; supports for school improvement; educating culturally and linguistically diverse students; inclusive services for students with special needs WHAT HE’S TEACHING: Organizational Theory and Learning; Topics in Catholic Education; Law and Education Reform; Family and Community Engagement How do your experiences as a schoolteacher and administrator influence your scholarship? “My experience as a teacher and administrator grounds me in the nitty-gritty reality of daily life in schools. It keeps me focused on constantly trying to connect my work as a faculty member with the more important work that is done in our elementary and secondary schools.”

Samantha Teixeira

Assistant Professor School of Social Work DEGREES: University of New Hampshire (BA); University of Pittsburgh (MSW, PhD) WHAT SHE STUDIES: Environmental disparities and their impact on neighborhoods; how youth can help create solutions to environmental problems in their communities.

WHAT SHE’S TEACHING: Human Behavior and the Social Environment Why is it important for communities to give youth a role in addressing environmental issues? “Most of the time, when we want to understand what is going on in a community, we go to the adults in the community. Youth voices are left out of many research and urban planning processes and the plans that result often miss key components of the community environment due to the lack of youth voice. Youth are keenly tuned into neighborhood issues because they are out and about more than young children and have a unique viewpoint on what is going on day-to-day in their neighborhoods.

My research suggests that when we meaningfully engage youth in identifying and taking action to address neighborhood environmental issues, it has a positive impact on both the young people and their neighborhoods.”

Masayuki Wasa

Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Organic and Organometallic Chemistry Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences DEGREES: Brandeis University (BS); The Scripps Research Institute (PhD) WHAT HE STUDIES: Development of polyfunctional Lewis pair catalysis for practical synthetic transformations with applications in drug discovery and development, and alternative energy.

WHAT HE’S TEACHING: Graduate course in Mechanistic Organic Chemistry What’s happening in your research group? “We study the development of synthetic methods based on the Frustrated Lewis Pair catalysis. I aim to provide my students with opportunities to address the fundamental problems, just as my mentors did throughout my trainings. Specifically, our reactions could be used for the synthesis of drug precursors, late stage functionalization of preexisting drugs, and conversion of carbon dioxide into alcohols.”

–Ed Hayward, Sean Hennessey and Sean Smith Photos by Lee Pellegrini

The Wall Street Journal praised Madison’s Hand, by Lee Distinguished Scholar Prof. Mary Sarah Bilder (Law), as a “superb study” of James Madison and his role at the Constitutional Convention.

Improvisational comedy can provide lessons in how to perform better, how to collaborate and how to build ideas, wrote Carroll School of Management Powers Family Dean Andy Boynton in his latest post for Forbes.

from discussions about the future of work, according to Prof. Juliet Schor (Sociology), who highlighted the connection between working hours and carbon emissions in an essay for Pacific Standard magazine.

Assoc. Prof. of the Practice Richard McGowan, SJ (CSOM), addressed fantasy sports sites and a range of gaming-related issues and discussed the future of Massachusetts casinos in interviews with New England Cable News.

Consideration of climate change has been almost totally missing

Assoc. Prof. Dennis Hale (Political Science) spoke with the Boston Herald about how US Sen. Marco Rubio’s recent backing from a key billionaire donor, along with a surge in his popularity after the recent GOP debate, could signal a shift in the presidential race.

Murray and Monti Professor of Economics Peter Ireland was interviewed by Dow Jones MarketWatch about criticism aimed at the White House for failing to appoint – as required by law – a vice chair for supervision at the Federal Reserve.

EXPERT OPINION Professor of Political Science Robert Ross, on the announcement earlier this month that China would meet with Taiwan for the first time in more than six decades.

“This is a breakthrough in cross-strait diplomacy. Both the mainland and Taiwan leading parties are concerned about the implications of the January 2016 Taiwan presidential election for cross-strait relations and the potential for deteriorated relations.

This meeting is part of their effort to lock in stability before the Taiwan presidential succession.”

For more commentary from the BC community, go to the News & Public Affairs web site at www.bc.edu/news

BC Wins Preservation Award The recent renovation project for St. Mary’s Hall, one of Boston College’s oldest buildings, has earned the University a 2015 Preservation Award from Historic Newton and the Newton Historical Commission.

The awards recognize exemplary works of preservation, stewardship and restoration of historic architecture and landscapes in Newton. The St. Mary’s project received an Institutional Sustain-

ability and Preservation Award.

St. Mary’s, which is nearing its 100th birthday, underwent a two-year series of structural improvements and restorative projects before reopening in January.

The building is the principal residence for BC’s Jesuit community, and its new South Wing is the headquarters for the Woods College of Advancing Studies and the Communication and Computer Science departments.

–Office of News & Public Affairs

Reminder on Weather-Related Closings Executive Vice President Michael Lochhead and Provost and Dean of Faculties David Quigley recently issued a reminder to the Boston College community about University policies and procedures on weather-related delays, dismissals and cancellations.

While the University rarely closes, Lochhead and Quigley explained, and employees and students should generally presume class schedules and other operations are proceeding normally, several sources of information on the University’s status in the event of a heavy snowstorm or other emergency situation are recommended: the University’s RAVE emergency notification system (text and e-mail); TV stations WBZ-TV (channel 4) and WCVB-TV (channel 5) and WBZ News Radio (1030 AM); emergency hotlines 1-888-BOSCOLL or 617-552-INFO; and websites BCInfo [www.bc.edu/ bcinfo] and BC Emergency [www.bc.edu/emergency].

Lochhead and Quigley noted that the cancellation of classes does not mean a cancellation of work: The University will specifically announce that BC is “closed” when employees are not expected to report. An early dismissal of employees due to weather or other emergency will be announced by postings on the BC home page, BCInfo and BC Emergency, and via the emergency hotlines.

More details on emergency closings and early dismissal are available via the Emergency Plans & Publications link on the BC Emergency website [www.bc.edu/emergency].

–Office of News & Public Affairs

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: Assistant Director, Employer Engagement, Career Center Financial Vice President and Treasurer Director of Annual Capital Projects, Facilities Management Public Affairs Assistant, News & Public Affairs Office Assistant Director, PULSE Program Associate Director, Finance and Business Operations, Center for Centers Assistant/Associate Director, Alumni Chapters, Alumni Association Assistant Director, Core Curriculum, Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences Job Coach, Campus School, Lynch School of Education General Service Worker, Dining Services Facilities Supervisor, Residential Life Assistant/Associate Director, Strategic Marketing and Writing, Development Office Communications Specialist, Lynch School of Education

T he B oston C ollege

Chronicle november 12, 2015

12

TONIGHT:

Gaelic Roots concert featuring traditional Irish music by Paddy O’Brien and Nathan Gourley

6:30 p.m., Theology and Ministry Library, Brighton Campus

Calling it “an ambitious new endeavor,” Arts Council Chair and Associate Professor of Theatre Crystal Tiala said the upcoming “Week of Dance” – Nov. 30 through Dec. 5 – “is an opportunity to showcase the hard work of our student dancers, and is bound to be an enormous success.”

Sponsored by the Arts Council and the Robsham Theater Arts Center (RTAC), the initiative is an outgrowth of an effort to provide additional dance mentorship and performance opportunity.

“Participation in all styles of dance on campus has shown impressive growth over the past few years. Students seek to express their style, culture and personal aesthetic through this beautiful and physical art form,” according to Tiala, who is chair of the Theater Department.

The Week of Dance will feature related films, student-led workshops in various dance styles and an exhibition of photographs

by Cindy Chen ’16. It will culmi-

nate with two dance showcases of original pieces choreographed and performed by members of the dozen participating BC dance organization.

Those groups embody a range of aesthetic and cultural dance styles. They include the BC Dance Ensemble, Dance Organization, Golden Eagles Dance Team, FISTS, Fuego del Corazon, Full Swing, BC Irish Dance, Masti, On Tap, Sexual Chocolate, Synergy and VIP. “Full Swing is extremely excited to have the opportunity to perform with the Arts Council’s Week of Dance, since this week will bring dance to the entire BC community,” said president Danielle Nista ’16.

The swingdancing group Nicholai Go will perform a lindy hop piece to the song “Classic” by MKTO at the showcase, “blending the traditional with the modern,” noted Nista.

The 60-member troupe specializes in teaching the lindy hop, offering weekly lessons to the BC community as well as performing at various campus events.

Some 10-15 photographs of the dance organizations taken

“When I first arrived there was one performing group,” recalls University Artist-in-Residence Robert VerEecke, SJ, a dancer and choreographer at BC for almost 40 years. “I am amazed and delighted by the growth of interest in dance of all kinds.”

Cindy Chen

By Rosanne Pellegrini Staff Writer

by Chen – herself a Synergy member – will be on display in the RTAC lobby. An opening reception celebrating her body of work will be held there Nov. 30 from 6-7 p.m. Chen titled her week-long exhibit “Pique” because “it is a dance term [in classical ballet] and also a verb that is used to stimulate interest and conversation.”

On Dec. 4 and 5, at 7:30 p.m., dance in all genres will be presented, as the various dance organizations perform on the RTAC main stage. Tickets are $10 per person and may be purchased the week of the performances beginning Nov. 30 via the RTAC Box Office or online at www.bc.edu/robsham/tickets.

If the performances are not sold out, tickets also may be purContinued on page 10

BC Dance Ensemble in rehearsal for the upcoming Week of Dance, sponsored by the Arts Council and the Robsham Theater Arts Center. The schedule of events will include performances and workshops by BC student dance groups, as well as screenings of dance-related films and an exhibition of photos. (Photo by Christopher Huang)

MORE

BC SCENES

on page 10

VOICE OF EXPERIENCE Renowned Irish singer Ronan Tynan, a member of the Irish Tenors and a frequent performer of “God Bless America” at numerous high-profile events, gave two free master classes recently in Gasson 100. The classes were sponsored by the Music Department.

Photos by Lee Pellegrini