Boston College Chronicle

JANUARY 16, 2020 VOL. 27 NO. 9

PUBLISHED BY THE BOSTON COLLEGE OFFICE OF UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS

INSIDE

BC Joins QuestBridge Program

2 Around Campus

Non-profit is resource for low-income students seeking admission to top colleges and universities

Theatre Dept./Robsham Robsham Theater springspring schedule; BC recognized schedule; BC recognized for sustainability for sus-initiatives andinitiatives tainability programs. and programs.

4 Major Conference conference

BC seminar on priesthood and ministry hosts ministry hosts national national leaders, leaders, issues statement. issues statement.

8 New McMullen Exhibition exhibition

“Indian Ocean Current” explores the impact the impact of climate of climate change. change.

The Fate of Mishel BC center helped missing migrant’s family get answers

BY PHIL GLOUDEMANS STAFF WRITER

It was a simple, matter-of-fact press release from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, but it offered an important, if sorrowful, clue to a mystery that had gripped an anxious family and the people—including a Boston College program staff member— trying to help them.

The CBP reported that on Dec. 8, 2017, its Alpine Air Unit had rescued 14 of 15 illegal aliens who were lost in the high desert near the U.S.-Mexico border and suffering from extreme hypothermia.

The announcement greatly interested Heather Friedman, supervising attorney at BC’s Center for Human Rights and International Justice (CHRIJ), who was as-

Continued on page 6

BY JACK DUNN ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT FOR UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS

Boston College has accepted an invitation to join QuestBridge, a highly respected non-profit program that helps high-achieving, low-income students gain admission and scholarships to the country’s topranked colleges and universities.

Colgate University and Boston College became the 41st and 42nd schools selected to join the Palo Alto-based national organization, whose college partners include Amherst, Williams, Duke, Stanford, Columbia, Yale, and Notre Dame.

Since its founding in 2004, QuestBridge has helped thousands of talented but needy high school students apply and gain admission to its partner schools, helping to reverse the longstanding pattern of low-income students not applying to the

most selective colleges and universities.

More than $2 billion in scholarships and financial aid has been awarded to students from QuestBridge’s college partners.

“It’s an honor to be invited to join QuestBridge, which for 25 years has been a gold standard for identifying talented, low-income students and setting them on a path to some of the nation’s best colleges,” said Vice Provost for Enrollment Management John Mahoney.

“This invitation validates BC’s commitment to need-blind admission and meeting the full demonstrated need of admitted students. It is also a recognition of our high retention and graduation rates for low-income students, as evidenced by our 91 percent graduation rate for Pell Grant recipients, which placed Boston College 18th among national universities in the most recent US News survey.”

Continued on page 5

The Year That Lies Ahead Barely two weeks on, 2020 already seems like an eventful year, what with tensions between the U.S. and Iran and the battle between the Democratic House and GOP Senate over the impeachment of President Trump. And a little less than 10 months away is the presidential election, preceded by a slew of primaries and the two major parties’ conventions.

There is more to life than politics and international relations, of course, so Chronicle reached out to Boston College faculty members to get their views on what 2020 may bring—not predictions, exactly, but thoughts on trends and developments that bear watching this year.

In the mid-1990s, a New Yorker cartoon famously featured a computer-savvy canine explaining that, “On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.” In the decades since, the truth of that adage has ebbed and flowed, but 2020 feels like a particu-

Continued on page 5

Director of Undergraduate Admission Grant Gosselin: “For many low-income students, access to highly selective institutions such as Boston College has often seemed unattainable. QuestBridge has changed that.” photo by peter julian

Employees to Receive Total Compensation Statement

BY KATHLEEN SULLIVAN STAFF WRITER

Next month, every full-time employee of Boston College will receive a personalized document that details the total compensation, salary plus benefits, they receive from the University. The Total Compensation Statement, which represents information for the calendar year 2019, will be mailed to employees’ home addresses.

The statement will list an employee’s base salary plus health and wellness benefits, retirement plans, and tuition remission. The non-salary section will be detailed further to show an employee’s

Continued on page 6

“Presenting the work of six artists with close ties to the region, ‘Indian Ocean Current’ explores pressing issues such as the legacy of the long movement of peoples, the impact of nations and borders on this plural world, and the future of that world as the ocean’s waters rise with global warming.”

– prof. prasannan parthasarathi (history), page 8

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January 16, 2020

Around Campus

Curtain Goes Up Next Week for Theatre Dept./Robsham Spring Schedule “Back the Night,” by award-winning playwright Melinda Lopez—the 2019-20 Rev. J. Donald Monan, S.J., Professor in Theatre Arts at Boston College—will be staged at Robsham Theater Arts Center next week, launching the Theatre Department/RTAC spring season.

Directed by Boston-based director and educator Pascale Florestal, the Bonn Studio production will run Jan. 23-26.

Focusing on college students and best friends Em and Cassie, “Back the Night” explores sexual violence on campuses. According to reviews when the play premiered in 2016, Lopez—a veteran actor, author of a large body of acclaimed work, and a theater educator who is teaching Playwriting I this spring —drew on memories of her student

days when she participated in early “Take Back the Night” marches, as well as on related news stories.

A Dartmouth College alumna, Lopez said at that time: “I’m looking at systemic abuse, and frat culture is at the center of that, so how do we look at the system? I hope the play brings up this question.”

Senior Christine Schmitt directs “The Shape of Things,” by celebrated filmmaker Neil LaBute, Feb. 13-16 in the Bonn Studio. The play centers on a young student who drifts into an ever-changing relationship with an art major while his best friends’ engagement crumbles, unleashing a drama that examines two modern-day rela-

BC Sustainability Efforts Cited Boston College’s sustainability practices have once again been recognized by an organization leading efforts to promote conservation and sound environmental practices in higher education.

The University was featured in the recently issued 2019 Sustainable Campus Index (SCI) report from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), which last year awarded BC a Silver rating through its STARS—Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System—program.

SCI recognizes top-performing colleges and universities overall by institution type and in 17 sustainability impact areas, as measured by STARS, a voluntary framework used by many institutions of higher education to measure, report, and strengthen their contributions to global sustainability. STARS participants submit data to earn the Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum ratings. More than 500 higher education institutions in 12 countries supplied STARS reports in 2019.

BC’s “Social Justice Through Hydroponics,” a project within the College Bound Social Justice Through STEM Program conducted by the Lynch School of Education and Human Development, was one of 30 exemplary, university-based initiatives highlighted in the SCI. The hydroponics program, characterized by SCI as “innovative and high-impact, and advancing sustainability,” instructs middle and high school students from several Boston public and charter schools in how to grow vegetables without soil, and then sell the produce ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT FOR UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS

Jack Dunn SENIOR DIRECTOR FOR UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS

Sean Smith

PHOTOS BY YITING CHEN

Boston College’s annual Week of Dance, which took place in early December, featured workshops in a variety of genres offered by student dance organization members and culminated in a two-night collaborative showcase at Robsham Theater.

Chronicle

PHOTOGRAPHERS

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

Lee Pellegrini Peter Julian

noir musical captures the gritty sights and sounds of Hollywood’s classic detective movies, and is set to a bluesy jazz score. It weaves together two plots: the world of writer Stine struggling to turn his crime novel into a screenplay, and the world of the protagonist in his fictional film, a hardboiled private eye named Stone.

Ticket prices (which include a service fee) for productions are $17 for adults; $12 for students with a valid ID; $12 for BC faculty and staff members (one ticket per ID); and $12 for senior citizens. Bonn Studio productions are general seating.

For more information, including performance times and production teams, see www.bc.edu/offices/robsham/tickets —University Communications

BC Week of Dance

Christine Balquist Phil Gloudemans Ed Hayward Rosanne Pellegrini Kathleen Sullivan

Patricia Delaney EDITOR

Snapshot

at farmer’s markets.

In addition to the hydroponics project, BC earned STARS credit for three other initiatives, according to Jennifer Foley, project manager at the University Institutional Research & Planning office: the Global Observatory on Pollution and Health, which tracks efforts to control pollution and prevent pollution-related diseases that account for an estimated nine million deaths worldwide each year; the Law School’s Environmental Law Teaching Seminar, which enables upper-year law students in the Greater Boston area to teach a university-level undergraduate Environmental Law and Policy course at BC; and University Libraries’ “Greener Lib,” a staffinitiated program that features an annual summer “green” film series, brown bag talks on environmental topics, an annual “green” book display during BC’s Green Month, and participation in campus “green” fairs.

A direct outcome of the 2019 STARS submission was an eight-point increase— from 76 to 84—in BC’s “Green Rating” from the Princeton Review, the influential college admissions guide. This rating, on a scale of 60-99, provides a comprehensive measure of a school’s performance as an environmentally aware and prepared institution, an important factor in a student’s decision to apply to or attend a college, according to the guide.

For more information about The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education and its programs, see www. aashe.org.

–Phil Gloudemans

CONTRIBUTING STAFF

tionships.

From March 19-22, Bonn will be the venue for Sarah DeLappe’s “The Wolves,” directed by Anabel Johnson ’20, which depicts the experiences of high school girls through their Saturday morning pre-game soccer warmups. Described as “a portrait of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for nine American girls,” the play was a finalist for the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Tony Award-winning “City of Angels” takes the main stage from April 22-26, directed and choreographed by David Connolly. Set in the late 1940s—with music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by David Zippel, and book by Larry Gelbart—the stylish film

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Chronicle

January 16, 2020

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A Trio of Honors for Two Boston College Venues Two Boston College properties—the Connors Center in Dover and 2101 Commonwealth Avenue on the Brighton campus—have won three coveted industry awards that recognize excellence in venues hosting weddings, meetings, and conferences.

The Connors Center was chosen as a winner of The Knot “Best of Weddings 2020,” an annual by-couples, for-couples award that recognizes the top wedding vendors across the country. The honor distinguishes vendors who are “trusted, dependable, and fun to work with,” and venues that have “dazzled and delighted their couples” according to The Knot, the nation’s leading website and multi-platform resource for wedding planning.

In addition, the Connors Center was named the best small-market venue by Unique Venues Magazine, which bestows its annual “Best Of” awards each December based on votes cast by a network of planners in the U.S. and Canada who honor “unique, non-traditional, special, and memorable venues that go above and beyond to provide unparalleled service and professionalism.”

Located on Glen Street in Dover, the

The Connors Center in Dover, Mass.

Connors Center is a 50,000-square foot conference and retreat center that specializes in weddings, business meetings, group outings, and other social functions. Formerly known as St. Stephen’s Priory and owned by the Dominican Order, the estate was purchased by Boston College in 2004 through a $10 million gift from University Trustee Associate John M. Connors ’63,

photo by darling photography

Hon.’07 and his wife Eileen ’66, MSW’95.

It is situated on 80 picturesque acres and includes formal gardens and fieldstone paths designed by Frederick Law Olmstead and Calvert Vaux, the famed designers of New York City’s Central Park. The Connors Center also features recreation facilities, walking trails that lead to the Charles River, a chapel, and beds for up to 90 guests.

“We are honored to win these two awards,” said Connors Center General Manager Susan Burton. “Recognition from these excellent organizations affirms the great work we do at the Connors Center as we strive to provide a comfortable and inviting environment for all our guests.”

In addition, 2101 Commonwealth Avenue at Boston College was named top pick for elegant venues in 2019 by Unique Venues Magazine. The magazine praised the venue as an ideal location for “elegant, exclusive Boston-area meetings, weddings, and celebrations.” 2101 Commonwealth shares it location with the McMullen Museum of Art and features light-filled galleries decorated with original works of art from the museum’s permanent collection.

“These awards are truly a testament to the dedication, hard work, and professional care demonstrated by the planning and production teams at the Connors Center and 2101 Commonwealth Avenue,” said Associate Vice President for Auxiliary Services Patricia Bando. “They reflect well on the entire division, which works tirelessly to promote excellence and practice our BC motto, ‘Ever to Excel.’”

—Jack Dunn

Von Davier Is New Monan Professor in Higher Education

BY PHIL GLOUDEMANS STAFF WRITER

Matthias von Davier, the Distinguished Research Scientist at the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME), has been appointed as the J. Donald Monan, S.J. University Professor in Higher Education effective this fall, announced Stanton E.F. Wortham, the Charles F. Donovan, S.J. Dean of the Lynch School of Education and Human Development.

Von Davier succeeds Lynch School Research Professor Philip G. Altbach, who served as the Monan Professor in Higher Education for nearly two decades. The professorship is named for the late 24th president of Boston College, who served from 1972 to 1996, thus far the longest tenure in the University’s history.

This spring, in advance of his faculty posting, von Davier will join the Lynch School-hosted TIMSS and PIRLS International Study Center, which conducts regular international comparative assessments of student achievement in mathematics and science (TIMSS), and reading (PIRLS), on behalf of the Netherlandsbased International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement.

TIMSS and PIRLS enable participating countries to make evidence-based decisions for improving educational policy.

Starting in the fall, von Davier will teach courses in psychometrics, statistics, and large scale assessment, according to Larry Ludlow, professor and chair of the Lynch School’s Measurement, Evaluation, Statistics, and Assessment Department.

“We are very pleased to have Professor von Davier join our faculty,” said Ludlow.

Matthias von Davier

photo by lee pellegrini

“He not only brings technical expertise in a broad range of measurement and statistical domains, but also great creativity in recognizing and generating important problems and strategies for how to attack them. His name has already been mentioned in our PhD admission applications, and we expect he will quickly attract additional highly talented masters and doctoral students to our department. We look forward to the new projects that he will add to our portfolio, and the many unique research opportunities that students will find available with him.”

Von Davier’s areas of expertise include item response theory (IRT), latent class analysis, diagnostic classification models,

and the analytical methodologies used in large-scale educational surveys. His current work is concerned with extending, implementing and applying multidimensional IRT, IRTree, and latent response models, as well as speed/accuracy models to process data research using log-file and timing data from large-scale assessments.

“I very much look forward to joining the BC faculty,” he said. “I had heard about BC while working at the Institute for Science Education. I was helping other research assistants as part of the German team of the 1995 TIMSS study, which was conducted by BC’s International Study Center. Since coming to the U.S. in 2000, I realized that there were so many scholars who either worked at BC, studied there, or had a supervisor who now worked at BC, or had some other form of association—all of whom had a strong connection to the educational measurement research I was conducting. Over the years, my connection to BC deepened as I got more involved in research on international comparative assessment and extended my collaboration with [TIMSS & PIRLS International Study Center Executive Directors] Ina Mullis and Michael Martin and later, with the Lynch School’s Henry Braun.

“One of the many strengths of BC is its ability to build and systematically support an area of leadership in an area of inquiry, and to attract students and faculty by fostering an environment that allows them to thrive and to develop globally recognized expertise. I am very excited to join this community and to work together with faculty and students on research that pushes the envelope of educational measurement and assessment in years to come.”

Prior to his appointment at NBME, an independent non-profit organization that conducts high-quality assessments of health care professionals, von Davier was a senior research director at the Educational Testing Service’s Research & Development Division, and co-director of ETS’s Center for Global Assessment, leading large-scale psychometric research and operational analysis for international comparative studies such as the Programme for International Student Assessment, and the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies. He also served as the psychometric advisor delegated by ETS to serve as a member of the project management team of TIMSS and PIRLS. Von Davier has authored and coauthored more than 130 research articles, chapters and research reports, and edited five books. A founding co-editor of Large-Scale Assessments in Education, a joint publication of the IEA and ETS, he was editor-in-chief of the British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology.

Additionally, he is co-editor of the series Methodology of Educational Measurement and Assessment, and serves as the executive editor of Psychometrika, the journal of the Psychometric Society.

His honors include the ETS Research Scientist award, the National Council of Measurement in Education Brad Hanson Award for Contributions to Educational Measurement, and the American Educational Research Association’s Division-D award for Significant Contributions to Measurement and Research Methodology.

Von Davier earned a doctorate in psychology with a specialty in psychometrics from Germany’s University of Kiel.

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January 16, 2020

Moving Forward BC-based initiative on priesthood and ministry holds conference, outlines 10 pastoral recommendations

BY KATHLEEN SULLIVAN STAFF WRITER

The Boston College Seminar on a Contemporary Theology of the Priesthood and Ministry, which a year ago issued a document, “To Serve the People of God,” calling for a renewed formation for and practice of lay and ordained ministries, held a conference earlier this month to move forward the implementation of the document.

The seminar invited select episcopal leaders, seminary rectors and board members, a U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops consultant, lay ecclesial ministers, and theologians to the conference, which was held Jan. 2-3 at the Connors Center in Dover. The conference began with a welcoming Mass with Boston Archbishop Cardinal Sean O’Malley, O.F.M, Cap., presiding.

After the conference, the group issued a formal communique stating its founding theological convictions and outlining 10 pastoral recommendations. “To meet the needs of the church for pastoral and sacramental ministry,” the group’s statement read in part, “we must creatively expand existing ecclesial ministries and explore new models for ordained ministry.”

Among the pastoral recommendations was that “seminarians be exposed regularly to the rich diversity of the people of God. Where possible, this broadening should occur in the classroom (where seminarians study alongside lay peers), among their instructors and formators (which should include lay women and men) and in multiple pastoral contexts where seminarians are called to collaborate with a range of other ecclesial ministers.”

The group also stated that “it is desirable that women be included at every stage

“Our conference was an amazing gathering with a profound level of honest and open conversation.”

–Thomas Groome (STM) photo by tony rinaldo

of the formation process—as peers in class, as teachers and formators, and as collaborators in ministry.”

The communique pointed out that “all consideration of priesthood and ministry must flow from the Second Vatican Council’s affirmation of the church’s living tradition as it has been received and developed

by Pope Francis.”

The episcopal leaders participating in the discussions were: Cardinal Reinhard

Marx, archbishop of Munich and Freising, Germany; Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, archbishop of Newark; Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, archbishop of Chicago; John C. Wester, archbishop of Santa Fe; Edward Weisenburger, bishop of Tucson; John Eric Stowe, O.F.M., Conv., bishop of Lexington (Ky.); Robert McElroy, bishop of San Diego; Bishop Timothy Senior, rector of St. Charles Borromeo, Philadelphia; and Mark O’Connell, auxiliary bishop of Boston.

School of Theology and Ministry Dean Thomas D. Stegman, S.J. also participated along with Mark R. Francis, C.S.V., president of Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, rectors of seminaries from Houston, Chicago, and Baltimore, and more than a dozen theologians and others involved with church ministry.

“Our conference was an amazing gathering with a profound level of honest and open conversation,” said seminar co-chair School of Theology and Ministry Professor Thomas Groome. “It assembled eminent cardinals and bishops as well as people from the trenches, along with theologians and seminary rectors. From a very broadranging conversation, the communique it issued captures only some of the high points; I’m hopeful that the conversation will continue to unfold.”

Three Boston College faculty members gave short presentations during the conference in their roles as session animators.

Rev. Richard Lennan, a professor at STM and seminar co-chair, spoke on the interconnectedness of three ecosystems—the Trinity, the church, and ecclesial ministry—to help situate the priesthood.

“Vatican II’s recovery of the primacy of baptism reshaped the landscape of ministry—indeed, it did so beyond anything that the bishops at the council could have anticipated. The primary expression of this

reshaping is the emergence of lay ecclesial ministers, who work alongside ordained priests to form disciples for mission,” he said.

Joseph Professor of Catholic Systematic Theology Richard Gaillardetz, another seminar co-chair, spoke on the theological presuppositions supporting “To Serve the People of God”’s profile of a wellformed priest. He cited a vision of a “more relational and ecclesial priesthood” and pointed to a future of priestly ministry that “manifests itself not as dominating power and privilege but now as a service to the people of God.” Monsignor Liam Bergin, a professor of the practice in the Theology Department and a seminar member, shared his perspective as someone who spent more than 35 years living in seminaries. He cited “To Serve the People of God”’s encouragement of shared learning between candidates for diocesan priesthood and lay and religious candidates for ministry.

“Not only would this benefit the intellectual and pastoral programs that the seminary offers, but it would also offer verification and challenge to the human and spiritual formation of the candidates.

A formation that is collaborative, inclusive, and open to the contemporary reality of cultural diversity is thereby facilitated.”

Other BC seminar members participating in the conference were: Boyd Taylor Coolman (Theology), Karen Kiefer (Church in 21st Century Center), Jacqueline Regan (School of Theology and Ministry) and graduate students Megan Hopkins, Emily Jendzejec, and Elyse Raby.

[See http://bit.ly/TSPG-statement for the full communique and list of all conference participants.]

Music’s Callahan Receives Pair of Professional Honors

BY ROSANNE PELLEGRINI STAFF WRITER

It was an occasion of professional accolades for Assistant Professor of Music Daniel Callahan, when the American Musicological Society (AMS) held its annual meeting in Boston late last year.

During the event, Callahan—who is on leave this academic year as a 2019-2020 fellow at Harvard University’s Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study—was awarded both the 2019 Alfred Einstein Award and the 2019 Philip Brett Award for his article, “The Gay Divorce of Music and Dance: Choreomusicality and the Early Works of Cage-Cunningham,” published in 2018 in the Journal of the American Musicological Society.

It marked the first time that a single work of scholarship (article or book) has won both honors from the AMS, whose mission is to advance scholarship in the various fields of music through research,

learning, and teaching.

“I am deeply grateful to be at an institution that supports me and my research materially, intellectually, and spiritually— support without which I would not have been able to complete my research and be so recognized,” Callahan said. “I hope that my work reflects well on the Music Department and Boston College.”

The Einstein award honors the best article written by a scholar in the “early” stages of their career—within 10 years of being awarded the PhD—in any language and in any country. The AMS citation praises his “landmark article” as “a genuinely original contribution to music studies, but also to modern dance studies and LGBTQ+ history.” [Callahan’s article is available at https:// jams.ucpress.edu/content/71/2/439] The Brett Award is presented by the AMS LGBTQ Study Group for the best work (book, article, edition, lecture, recording, syllabus) in the field of gay,

Daniel Callahan

photo by tony rinaldo

lesbian, bisexual, transgender/transsexual studies completed during the previous two calendar years in any country and in any language.

With a 3.7 percent acceptance rate, the highly competitive Radcliffe Fellowships

annually support the work of 50 fellows in the arts, humanities, sciences, and social sciences. As a Radcliffe fellow, Callahan is working on his second book, Conducting Oneself: Choreography, Bodies, and Identities On and Off the Podium, which examines how orchestra conductors choreograph, legitimate, and limit their movements on the podium and off, from conservatories to coveted positions.

“I am thrilled and humbled to be named the 2019–2020 Beatrice Shepherd Blane Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Study,” Callahan said. “I am excited to contribute to a diverse community of scholars and artists united by a passion to produce work that crosses disciplinary boundaries. Radcliffe will allow me precious time to devote to my research and writing while also challenging me to produce work that, without sacrificing rigor and depth of thought, can communicate to the widest possible audience.”

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January 16, 2020

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Yes, It’s an Election Year.

But What Else Should We Look for in 2020? Some Thoughts.

Continued from page 1

lar inflection point for the circulation of disinformation. The presidential election will obviously put this challenge at center stage, but it’s personal as well as political: Broadly, we’re grappling with issues of truth and inauthenticity online—from our own social media accounts to the president’s. The big tech companies will continue to face anxiety and scrutiny about their power, but the slow-motion decimation of the American news industry is arguably as consequential for the nefarious fate of “fake news” in 2020.

—Associate Professor of Communication Michael Serazio, Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences

“You want to know what awaits U.S. Catholicism in the near future? Gaze south!”

Every presidential election since 2000 has been very close (except one held in the midst of a serious recession), and it’s likely that this trend will continue in 2020.

Most citizens have strong partisan loyalties that have withstood even the dramatic political events of the last several years. But the two parties are so closely matched that any further development influencing the few remaining swing voters—from the Democrats’ choice of nominee to the state of the economy to an unexpected crisis or scandal—could easily tip the balance of power. photos by lee pellegrini and peter julian

So while individual Americans remain securely predictable in their preferences, it’s quite unclear what direction America as a whole will take.

—Associate Professor of Political Science David Hopkins, Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences

The world has never been a simple, binary place, and our culture is finally beginning to reflect this. People increasingly acknowledge, openly, that their identities don’t fit in with existing conceptions of gender, race, ethnicity, and other identities.

The language we use to describe ourselves has evolved to reflect the nuances and complexities of being human: for example, “He” and “she” are no longer the only acceptable pronouns. Generation Z is at the cusp of pushing for these changes, and they are just entering the workforce; workplaces will need to catch up, as a failure to do so can affect motivation, engagement, performance, and overall satisfaction of not just employees who don’t conform to traditional categories, but any employee: More and more people will expect their workplaces to be inclusive of self-fashioned identities.

I’ve been working with some colleagues to study how organizations can remedy this situation, like auditing existing systems and designing categorization systems from the bottom up. It bears watching whether 2020 will see progress in this area.

—Associate Professor of Management and Organization Judith Clair, Carroll School of Management

“The world has never been a simple, binary place, and our culture is finally beginning to reflect this.”

This year marks the beginning of another decade challenging U.S. Catholics to embrace new ways of being in church and society. The government will administer the census, and while it does not ask about religious affiliation, the data collected will confirm the massive geographical and demographic shifts redefining Catholicism in this country. You want to know what awaits U.S. Catholicism in the near future? Gaze south! The year also begins with the first Latino Catholic bishop in history as president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. He has a chance to steer important conversations to address the needs and hopes of a new and more diverse generation of Catholics. The U.S. has never had a Latino or black cardinal.

Long overdue. This could easily change in 2020, with the appointment of Latino, black, and Asian bishops to major posts in the country that are vacant or soon will be. Such changes may trigger an exciting decade for U.S. Catholicism, accompanied by fresher ways to exercise leadership, train leaders for a new church, and advance theological and ministerial scholarship that looks forward, not backwards.

—Associate Professor of Hispanic Ministry and Religious Education Hosffman Ospino, School of Theology and Ministry

“We’re grappling with issues of truth and inauthenticity online—from our own social media accounts to the president’s.”

Last year’s economic story was a “tale of two cities.” Consumer spending remained strong, but business investment was held back by uncertainties over trade policies and global growth.

I’m expecting the US economy to re-accelerate in 2020, with investment bouncing back as business headwinds subside.

But I’ll be watching carefully, too, for warning signs—like a significant slowdown in new hiring—that we’d see, instead, if weakness in manufacturing starts spreading to the economy as a whole. A lot is at stake here: Finally, wages are rising for many who were left behind during the financial crisis of 2008 and the slow recovery that followed. More than anything else, I want to keep seeing the kind of economic growth that benefits all Americans.

—Murray and Monti Professor of Economics Peter Ireland I see colleges and universities paying more attention to the slow decline in postsecondary enrollment that began in 2010.

With the total number of 18- to 24-yearolds in the U.S. projected to barely rise from now until 2030, institutions of higher education—including graduate schools— would be wise to look for ignored populations of potential students. One group to consider? People seeking new, “encore” careers at and beyond midlife. With increasing longevity and low levels of retirement savings, many want or need to work longer than they had ever anticipated. Savvy schools will learn how to engage them.

—Assistant Professor Cal Halvorsen, Boston College School of Social Work

Program Will Aid Recruitment of Low-Income, AHANA Students Continued from page 1

According to Director of Undergraduate Admission Grant Gosselin, the affiliation with QuestBridge will enable BC to find talented low-income and AHANA students in areas it would not likely have found on its own.

“This partnership will enhance BC’s ability to identify and enroll gifted students from a wide range of communities throughout the country, including rural areas that we do not have the capacity to visit,” said Gosselin. “For many lowincome students, access to highly selective institutions such as Boston College has often seemed unattainable. QuestBridge has changed that.”

To be eligible, QuestBridge applicants

must have SAT scores over 1310 and ACT scores over 28, and come from a family earning less than $65,000 a year.

The students complete a comprehensive QuestBridge application, and the college partners access those students who express interest in their respective schools. The students can apply through the Matching Program, a binding early-decision plan in which the partner schools agree to fund the entire four-year cost of the education for those students they accept, or through Early Decision II or Regular Decision channels, in which partner schools agree to meet the full demonstrated need of admitted students in accordance with their own institutional methodology. In 2019, more

than 2,000 students were admitted to elite colleges and universities through QuestBridge.

“Boston College’s values of educating the whole person, and creating a learning community that empowers its students to solve the world’s most urgent problems, resonate strongly with us here at QuestBridge,” said Ana McCullough, CEO and co-founder of QuestBridge. “We are honored to engage in this new partnership, giving our QuestBridge Scholars an opportunity to take part in the vibrant and exciting Boston College community.”

The invitation to join QuestBridge serves as yet another indication of the University’s rising stature as one of the nation’s

best academic institutions, according to senior BC administrators.

“The QuestBridge membership affirms both the University’s reputation for academic excellence and the work we have done in supporting low-income students to succeed,” said Provost and Dean of Faculties David Quigley. “This partnership will go a long way in enhancing the great work of our Admission staff in attracting the best and most diverse students at Boston College. We appreciate QuestBridge’s recognition of our longstanding commitment to having all our students thrive, and I look forward to building a strong and lasting partnership.”

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January 16, 2020

CHRIJ Helps Solve Mystery of Missing Woman Continued from page 1

sisting a complex and anguish-filled search for “Mishel,” a young Guatemalan woman seeking to reach the United States.

An expert in international human rights and U.S. immigration law—but not missing-person investigations—Friedman would make her own “journey of learning” through the myriad of government agencies, judicial jurisdictions, health and medical organizations, and biological and forensic data while pursuing Mishel (a pseudonym).

Mishel had left her parents’ village in Guatemala’s Pacific Lowlands to find work in Guatemala City, approximately 130 miles away. Months later, her parents heard rumors that Mishel had disappeared after attempting to cross into the U.S., and asked Ricardo Falla-Sanchez, S.J., a Guatemalan anthropologist and a CHRIJ fellow, to help in determining their daughter’s whereabouts, whether she was alive, or if she had perished in an attempted border crossing as had been alleged.

“I had never tracked a missing person before,” said Friedman. “Given my immigration work, I was well aware of how treacherous a border crossing can be, as well as the very sad statistics associated with irregular migration, but my effort to discover Mishel’s fate crystallized facts that I had known intellectually into something very human and personal. My investigation became a journey of learning during which I was constantly reminded that extraordinarily desperate conditions in so many places drive people like Mishel to risk extreme danger to come to this country.”

A November 2019 study from the Center for Public Integrity found more than 600 migrants had died in the Americas since January, with more than half of the deaths occurring on the U.S.-Mexico border. CPI reporter Kristian Hernandez noted in an NPR interview that “many of those bodies are likely to remain unidentified, leaving families without closure.”

“As sobering as it has been to come face to face with the high price paid by Mishel and others like her, I was also heartened to encounter many professionals who understand that their technical expertise needs to be better shared with the families of missing migrants.”

–Heather Friedman

photo by peter julian

In September 2018, Fr. Falla-Sanchez reached out to Lynch School of Education and Human Development Professor M. Brinton Lykes, co-director of CHRIJ, who in turn asked Friedman for her help. Friedman had “a confusing mix of information” to work with, she recalled, including the CBP press release and a claim made by “Alfonso”—a self-identified human smuggler—to Mishel’s father that a group of migrants had crossed the Mexican-U.S. border in early December, and then split, with half the group apprehended and the other half evading capture.

“Alfonso alleged that Mishel had not been arrested but had died, although her father was unaware that his daughter had planned a border crossing,” said Friedman, adding that individuals claiming to be from an investigation unit of the Guatemalan Foreign Relations Department had found Mishel’s father to report his daughter’s death, “but when he sought confirmation, the office insisted it had not sent anyone.”

If the victim was in fact Mishel, it meant she had traveled nearly 2,000 miles or more.

As Friedman discovered, the government resources and mechanisms that could help identify migrants who die during attempted crossings at the southern border are seldom mobilized for that purpose, and are inaccessible for the vast majority of people. But despite long delays, authorities on both sides of the border eventually took the proper steps to make identification possible for Mishel’s family.

Friedman began calling CBP stations along the Texas-Mexico border, hoping to clarify whether Mishel was among the 14 Guatemalan migrants rescued in December 2017, or had perished in the unexpected, early winter storm that had engulfed the region—or had experienced a completely different encounter with U.S. immigration officials. That tactic proved unsuccessful but resulted in a December 2018 conversation with a Department of Homeland Security attorney, who agreed to explore whether the agency could share information with her outside of the official Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) process—a channel that Freedman hoped to avoid due to agency backlogs as well as

privacy rules that she feared would prevent the release of information in a missingperson case.

But the U.S. government shutdown blocked Friedman from re-contacting the DHS attorney, so she submitted the FOIA requests.

Much to Friedman’s surprise, a FOIA officer contacted her a few weeks later with information: On February 18, 2018, the body of a female migrant had been found on the side of a highway in West Texas; the remains had been taken to the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification in Fort Worth; and the area coroner and county sheriff’s office were engaged in the case.

A medical examiner’s office in West Texas confirmed to Friedman that it had conducted an autopsy on the female migrant, estimated to be 18 years old, whose name matched the first and one of the last names of her client’s daughter. The cause and manner of death were unknown. Not all information matched exactly, but details were coming together.

One vital clue came from the judge assigned to the case, who reported that border patrol had been on the look-out for a female named Mishel, whose family had reported that she had attempted to cross the border but had gone missing.

The Guatemalan Consulate needed to be involved to conduct DNA testing on Mishel’s family, which eventually was completed, and the DNA was forwarded to a lab at the University of North Texas.

A backlog meant it would take from six to eight months to determine if there was a match.

Then this past summer came the final piece of evidence: The Guatemalan Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that the DNA had matched, proving that Mishel was deceased, and her body would be repatriated to the family. But Friedman’s work

wasn’t finished yet, because Mishel’s father had difficulty accepting the news.

“He was simultaneously grief-stricken and confused, because it was so unclear as to how DNA testing and matching occurs,” said Friedman. “He was in disbelief.

Ultimately, he wanted to know how and when his daughter died, why, and where, just as any father would want to know.”

Friedman asked the judge to share the DNA report on Mishel, which confirmed without doubt that the female remains were her client’s daughter. Conveying the reliability of science was one challenge, but the father’s life experience—as a descendent of the Quiche Mayan Indians and survivor of the Guatemalan genocide, during which thousands of unarmed Maya civilians were massacred by the military—had left him with a severe distrust of the authorities.

“I shared why I had faith in the data, and why I believed it was accurate,” said Friedman, who reinforced that the scientists involved had no ulterior motives.

“The forensic results ruled out foul play or disease; it was very clear that she died of exposure, the result of the unexpected intense cold and snow of the same early December storm that nearly caused the death of the 14 migrants rescued by the Alpine Air Unit.

“My role—a common one for an attorney—was to translate, to explain to my client what was happening and what had happened, to serve as the interface between the government and the client, and to make the process clear to him. But most importantly, I shared this information with compassion, and a human touch.

“As sobering as it has been to come face to face with the high price paid by Mishel and others like her, I was also heartened to encounter many professionals who understand that their technical expertise needs to be better shared with the families of missing migrants.”

Total Compensation Statement Continued from page 1

contribution and BC’s contribution.

“Boston College has very generous benefits,” said Vice President for Human Resources David Trainor. “This effort will raise awareness of the investment and commitment the University makes in its faculty and staff and their families.

“About half the University’s budget is devoted to salary and benefits,” Trainor continued. “Typically, the University spends an additional 40 percent on top of someone’s salary for their benefits. Our benefits package, such as a high-quality health plan and tuition remission for employees, their spouse, and dependent children, is a major commitment the University makes each year in order to live the values we have.”

According to Trainor, distribution of a total compensation statement is a practice done not only by other colleges and

universities, but by organizations across various industries. BC’s Total Compensation Statement will be produced annually going forward.

The statement also will include descriptions of all the benefits the University offers, from disability coverage to group auto and home insurance to adoption assistance.

Trainor said the document can educate employees about certain benefits that they may be eligible for but are not taking advantage of, such as the 401k, financial planning subsidy, or new vision care.

“We are thankful for the work of our faculty and staff and the value they bring to the University every single day,” he added.

Note: New employees who started on or after Oct. 1, 2019 should not expect a statement this year.

Chronicle

January 16, 2020

WELCOME ADDITIONS

OBITUARY

Sociologist Jeanne Guillemin, 76

An Introduction to New Faculty at Boston College Rebecca Franckle

Assistant Professor of the Practice of Biology, Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences DEGREES: Middlebury College (BA); Yale School of Public Health (MPH); Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (ScD).

WHAT SHE STUDIES: Public health implications of obesity and nutrition, particularly among vulnerable children and families.

WHAT SHE TEACHES: Epidemiology, Public Health.

How do you utilize your background in biology?

“The goal of my research is to identify and evaluate policy, systems, and environmental strategies to prevent obesity and improve diet quality among vulnerable children and families. Recent projects have focused on the implementation and evaluation of community-based obesity prevention programs; supermarket-based interventions to reduce sugar-sweetened beverage consumption and incentivize fruit and vegetable purchases; and mixed methods research related to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. In addition to my academic research, I have worked extensively in the field of public health at both the local and national levels.”

Daphne A. Henry

Assistant Professor of Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology, Lynch School of Education and Human Development DEGREES: University of Pittsburgh (BA, PhD) WHAT SHE STUDIES: Intersection of socioeconomic status and race/ethnicity and its impact on children’s academic development.

WHAT SHE’S TEACHING: Family, School, and Society; Quantitative Research Design/ Counseling and Developmental Psychology.

Hilary Palevsky

Assistant Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences DEGREES: Amherst College (BA); University of Washington (MS,

PhD).

WHAT SHE STUDIES: Marine

biogeochemistry and the mechanisms that enable the ocean to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

WHAT SHE TEACHES: Environmental Data Exploration and Analysis

What about the ocean interests you and influences your research?

“On human time scales of decades to centuries, the ocean is the ultimate carbon sink, having absorbed about 40 percent of anthropogenic carbon emissions to date.

However, the rates and mechanisms of ocean carbon uptake remain difficult to quantify or mechanistically predict, leading to uncertainty in how climate change will modify the ocean carbon sink and how those changes will feed back on future changes to global climate. My research combines field measurements at sea, biogeochemical sensor data from autonomous moorings and robots, satellite observations, and global climate model simulations to improve our understanding of the ocean carbon cycle.

These approaches enable us to determine the current rate at which the ocean exchanges carbon dioxide with the atmosphere due to biological, chemical, and physical processes, and to improve mechanistic understanding of the past, present, and future drivers of ocean carbon uptake.”

Lisa Wood

Professor, Connell School of Nursing DEGREES: University of Dundee, Scotland (BS); Johns Hopkins University (BS); University of Glasgow, Scotland (PhD)

WHAT SHE STUDIES: Mechanisms of fatigue and related systems in cancer; balance and cognition in patients with cancer and Lyme disease.

WHAT SHE’S TEACHING: Research Design and Methods I and II; Pharmacology and Nutrition Therapies.

Before coming to BC, you and a colleague did a study on cancer and fatigue. What was the outcome?

“We found chemotherapy drugs and radiation used to shrink malignant tumors trigger the release of inflammatory proteins, which in turn cause fatigue, malaise, and other ‘sickness behaviors.’ We pushed back on the usual clinical explanation, which was, ‘Well, of course you’re tired, you have cancer.’” [from the Connell School’s Voice magazine]

–Phil Gloudemans, Ed Hayward, Kathleen Sullivan photos by lee pellegrini and peter julian

BC Athletics Among Grad. Rate Leaders Boston College ranks eighth in the nation in overall Graduation Success Rate (GSR) in all sports among Football Bowl Subdivision schools, according to figures released by the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

BC boasted an overall GSR of 94 for the class of student-athletes that entered the University in 2012. That GSR was fourth best in the ACC and topped only

by Northwestern (98), Notre Dame (98),

7

Duke (97), Vanderbilt (97), Stanford (96), Tulane (95), and Wake Forest (95) among FBS institutions.

Since the GSR’s inception, Boston College has earned a mark of 94 or better in all 14 GSR reports, which first date back to the class of student-athletes that entered in 1998.

More information about the GSR is available at NCAA.org.

–Boston College Athletics

Jeanne Harley Guillemin, a former professor of sociology at Boston College who helped bring to light the untold story of a deadly anthrax outbreak in the Soviet Union, died on Nov. 15. She was 76.

A medical anthropologist, Dr. Guillemin was a member of the BC faculty from 1972 to 2005. Her research included an examination of how Native Americans adjusted to life in an urban environment while retaining much of their traditional culture—a project that was the basis of her doctoral dissertation at Brandeis University—and a study, with Sociology Department colleague Lynda Holmstrom, of the interactions and ethical dilemmas of parents, nurses, and physicians in caring for critically premature infants (subsequently published in their 1986 book, Mixed Blessings: Intensive Care for Newborns).

In the late 1990s, Dr. Guillemin was among a group of Sociology faculty involved in Health Quest, a project studying the use of the still-new World Wide Web and other technology in helping consumers make more informed choices on medical care.

But Dr. Guillemin’s most high-profile undertaking had the air of a Cold War espionage thriller. During the 1980s, she joined her husband, biologist Matthew Meselson, in a series of investigations related to allegations of biological warfare and the misuse of biomedical science by government biological weapons programs. This eventually led them to scrutinize a 1979 outbreak of anthrax in the Soviet city of Sverdlovsk (now Ekaterinburg) that infected as many as 100 people, at least 66 of whom died. Soviet authorities had claimed the epidemic was a natural occurrence, caused by eating contaminated meat.

Months after the Soviet Union had formally dissolved in 1991, Dr. Guillemin, Meselson, and other researchers went to Sverdlovsk and knocked on doors, looking for survivors of the outbreak and family members of victims, as well as Russian officials who had been in the area at the time. Residents offered tea and candy as, with heartbreaking detail, they told her and her colleagues what had happened 13 years ago—revelations kept quiet for so long because of the incident’s political sensitivity within the Soviet-era hierarchy.

Using testimony from survivors and next of kin, as well as evidence from official records, Dr. Guillemin and her team confirmed what had long been suspected: An infectious aerosol had escaped from a nearby military base, known as Compound 19, and caused the outbreak. Their study was published in 1994 in the journal Science and five years later, Dr. Guillemin provided an indepth account of the inquiry in her book Anthrax: The Investigation of a Deadly Outbreak.

Her research on Sverdlovsk and other incidents of biological warfare became the central focus of Dr. Guillemin’s work. She was frequently sought for her expertise, and in 1999 she became associated with the MIT Security Studies Program. Supported by a MacArthur Foundation award, she went on

to publish Biological Weapons: From Statesponsored Programs to Contemporary Bioterrorism in 2005—not long before she joined the MIT Center for International Studies as a research associate and senior advisor—which described how the U.S., Soviet Union, and other nations developed anthrax and other microbes as strategic weapons. In 2011, she released American Anthrax: Fear, Crime, and the Investigation of the Nation’s Deadliest Bioterror Attack, an examination of the 2001 anthrax letter attacks.

Her last book, published in 2017, Hidden Atrocities: Japanese Germ Warfare and American Obstruction of Justice at the Tokyo Trial, detailed Imperial Japan’s use of biological weapons against China in the 1940s and its experimentation on humans—evidence of which was concealed by the U.S. at the postWorld War II war crimes tribunal, Dr. Guillemin’s archival research found, to protect the emperor and to obtain information for possible use in a U.S. biological weapons program. The book was nominated for a 2019 Pulitzer Prize.

She is survived by her husband, Matthew; sons Robert and John Guillemin; stepdaughter Zoe Meselson Forbes; siblings Patricia, Eileen, and Russell Garrigan; and five grandchildren.

In 2019, Dr. Guillemin established an endowment at the MIT Center for International Studies to provide financial support for women pursuing a doctorate in international affairs. Donations may be made at giving.mit. edu/jeanne-guillemin or by sending a check made out to “Jeanne Guillemin Endowment” to Center for International Studies, MIT, 1 Amherst Street, E40-435, Cambridge, MA 02139.

–University Communications

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: Research Economist, Academic Affairs/ Provost Assistant Director, Financial Aid, Academic Affairs/Provost Recovery House Manager, Student Affairs/Residential Life Senior Research Statistician, Information Technology Associate Director, Technology Transfer, Academic Affairs/Provost Director, Center for Isotope Geometry, Academic Affairs/Provost Senior Associate Director, Corporate & Foundation Relations, University Advancement Housing Assignments Specialist, Student Affairs/Residential Life Associate Vice President, Principal Giving, University Advancement Emerging Technology Analyst, Information Technology

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January 16, 2020

BC Arts ‘Indian Ocean Current: Six Artistic Narratives’

New Exhibition Explores Climate Change’s Impact

BY ROSANNE PELLEGRINI STAFF WRITER

The complex, crucial issue of climate change—and in particular its effect on the Indian Ocean region, where temperature changes have led to extreme weather events—will be the focus of an exclusive exhibition opening this month at the McMullen Museum of Art at Boston College.

“Indian Ocean Current: Six Artistic Narratives,” which runs from Jan. 27 through May 31 in the museum’s Daley Family and Monan Galleries, features leading artists Shiraz Bayjoo, Shilpa Gupta, Nicholas Hlobo, Wangechi Mutu, Penny Siopis, and Hajra Waheed, whose works are defined by their deep ties to the lands surrounding the Indian Ocean.

Exhibition organizers say that “Indian Ocean Current”—which comprises videos, collages, paintings, sculptures, interactive installations, and photographs—explores the contemporary legacy of the long movement of people, things, and ideas across the Indian Ocean. The open and plural societies of the Indian Ocean world came under threat from the mid-20th century when decolonization created new nationstates that were divided, at times, by hastily erected borders. Today, these borders are losing their meanings as the Indian Ocean’s waters rise.

“The McMullen is pleased to present six leading contemporary artists from lands bordering the Indian Ocean,” said Inaugural Robert L. and Judith T. Winston Director of the McMullen Museum of Art Nancy Netzer, a BC professor of art history. “Each probes different aspects of the ocean’s rising waters due to global warming and their resulting consequences for the migration of peoples inhabiting the region.

The museum hopes that this exhibition will bring greater awareness to the complex problems facing the Indian Ocean world and, through accompanying programs with scientists, humanists, and social scientists,

Shiraz Bayjoo’s “Extraordinary Quarantines #40” (left) and “I’m Too Misty” by Wangechi Mutu are among the works to be featured in the upcoming McMullen Museum of Art exhibition “Indian Ocean Current: Six Artistic Narratives.”

invites its audience to engage in dialogue about one of the most pressing issues of our contemporary moment.”

“The Indian Ocean is one of the world’s great waterways and humans have crossed it for thousands of years,” said Professor of History Prasannan Parthasarathi, who is co-curator of the exhibition and editor of its accompanying catalogue. “Presenting the work of six artists with close ties to the region, ‘Indian Ocean Current’ explores pressing issues such as the legacy of the long movement of peoples, the impact of nations and borders on this plural world, and the future of that world as the ocean’s waters rise with global warming.”

Organized by the McMullen Museum, “Indian Ocean Current: Six Artistic Narratives” has been underwritten by Boston College with major support from the Patrons of the McMullen Museum and Liliane and Trustee Associate Christian Haub in honor of Marie-Liliane ’13, Maximilian ’14, and Constantin ’17 Haub.

Though the rich history of the Indian Ocean has been much explored, its present-day manifestations remain less studied.

“Indian Ocean Current” examines complex and vexing questions such as: How do we make sense of the great mixing of peoples

in the Indian Ocean world? How do we conceive of the water that links distant shores? How do we address the borders that now divide spaces that for so long were undivided? What do the rising waters resulting from global warming portend for the future of the Indian Ocean and the inhabitants of its bordering lands?

In the exhibition, artistic narratives are in conversation with the findings of scientists as animations, maps, films, and interviews illuminate the unusual geology of the

BC Scenes Endeavor

PHOTOS BY LEE PELLEGRINI AND PETER JULIAN

Endeavor, Boston College’s career exploration program for sophomores and juniors, took place last week. Among other activities, students practiced networking with alumni, faculty, and staff (left) and took a “career trek” to area businesses and organizations including WGBH (above) and Hill Holliday on State Street (right). For more about the program, see www.bc.edu/endeavor.

Indian Ocean and the myriad, catastrophic effects of climate change in that region and across the globe. Included are more than 80 works by Bayjoo, Gupta, Hlobo, Mutu, Siopis, and Waheed loaned by the artists, private collectors, Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar, and Ed Cross Fine Art, Galleria Continua, Lehmann Maupin, and Stevenson Cape Town.

Included in the exhibition’s climatological sections are: a film on the Mauritian fishing industry, “Vey nou Lagon”; an animation on the formation of the Indian Ocean basin; interviews with scientists from Massachusetts’s Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; climatological maps and animations featuring a background to understanding global warming in the Indian Ocean; and an interactive display for visitors to explore the effects of rising waters internationally.

The exhibition catalogue contains essays by experts in environmental studies, postcolonial studies, literature, and history, bringing multiple lenses to bear on the work of the six featured artists and the complicated histories of the Indian Ocean world.

Among the events accompanying the exhibition this semester will be two conferences: “Eco-Optics: Climate Change & Visual Culture,” promoting new scholarship by undergraduate students from Boston College and beyond, on March 27; and “Rethinking Twentieth-Century South Asia: From Colonialism to Global Giant,” organized by Parthasarathi, featuring scholarly discussion on the complex pasts and presents of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, April 3-4.

The exhibition is co-curated by Salim Currimjee, an architect and artist based in Mauritius who works in the Indian Ocean region and founded the Institute of Contemporary Art Indian Ocean.

Information on the “Indian Ocean Current” exhibition and related programming is available at www.bc.edu/artmuseum.