x Headline xxxxx.
2 Around Campus Honoring Finnegan Award winners; Gaelic Roots events.
x Headline xxx.
3 Under Construction BC gets approval to construct Catholic Religious Archives.
x Headline xxxxx.
8 Fond Farewell
David Twomey closes out 56 years at Boston College.
BY JACK DUNN
ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT FOR UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS
Boston College has named Patrick O’Hern, senior director of project management services at Dartmouth College, as its new vice president for facilities management, effective February 3. He succeeds Daniel Bourque, who is retiring at the end of January after 16 years of service to BC.
A highly respected manager with 26 years of experience across corporate, commercial, residential, and higher education sectors, O’Hern has spent the past 14 years at Dartmouth supervising internal and contractual staff to support new building construction and major renovation projects for academic, residential, and athletic facilities.
As senior director, he was responsible
Chemicals and chemical-based products should be allowed to enter markets and remain on markets, according to the authors, “only if their manufacturers can establish through rigorous, independent, premarket testing that they are not toxic at anticipated levels of exposure.”
BY ED HAYWARD STAFF WRITER
Nations must start testing and regulating chemicals and chemical products as closely as the current systems that safeguard prescription drugs or risk rising rates of chronic illnesses among children, according to a New England Journal of Medicine report by Boston College researchers and an international team of experts writing as the Consortium for Children’s Environmental Health.
Global chemical inventories contain an estimated 350,000 products—such as manufactured chemicals, chemical mixtures, and plastics. Despite the risks of environmental pollution and human exposure, the manufacture of synthetic chemicals and plastics is subject to few legal or policy constraints, conclude the co-authors.
That regulatory vacuum must be replaced by new laws that prioritize health protection over the rampant production of chemicals and plastics, according to the co-
authors, who include Professor of Biology
Philip Landrigan, M.D., BC Law Professor and Dean’s Distinguished Scholar David Wirth, Deluca Chair of Biology Thomas Chiles, and Research Professor of Biology Kurt Straif.
“Under new laws, chemicals should not be presumed harmless until they are proven to damage health,” the authors said. “Instead, chemicals and chemical-based products should be allowed to enter markets and remain on markets only if their manufacturers can establish through rigorous, independent, premarket testing that they are not toxic at anticipated levels of exposure.”
In addition, the authors say chemical manufacturers and brands that market chemical products should be required to monitor their products after they have been released to the market in the same way that prescription drugs are monitored in order to evaluate any long-term negative health effects.
for the development and execution of Dartmouth’s five-year capital program, leading a cross-functional team to review capital project requests and support the establishment of the college’s annual capital budget, while expanding and reorganizing project management staffing to align with Dartmouth’s institutional goals.
He also led a comprehensive renewal plan of undergraduate campus housing and established a team to address decarbonization across campus facilities. Most recently, he led the construction of two major campus buildings, the 160,000-square foot Class of 1982 Engineering and Computer Science Center and the Arthur L. Irving Institute for Energy and Society, as well as the renovation of historic Dartmouth Hall.
As vice president for facilities at Boston College, he will be responsible for all BC
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BY KATHLEEN SULLIVAN STAFF WRITER
Boston College has received a $10 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to support an Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies (IAJS) program that will promote the renewal and expansion of faith practices in high school students, college students, and parishioners through a yearlong immersion in faith exploration and service through Jesuit spirituality.
The grant, awarded through Lilly Endowment’s National Youth and Young Adult Initiative on Faith and Service, will enable the IAJS to conduct a two-year pilot of AMDG, a program intended to energize the personal and communal religious practices of youth and young adults between the ages of 16-29. AMDG is shorthand for Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam, the Latin version of the Jesuits’ motto “For the Greater Glory of God.”
“Boston College has had a strong relationship with Lilly Endowment over the years. This most recent grant builds upon that strong foundation and we are grateful for this newest support from Lilly Endowment,” said IAJS Director Casey Beaumier, S.J., a vice president and University secretary at Boston College who will oversee the program along with IAJS Associate Director Matt Schweitzer. “The AMDG
program will draw from the depths of the Jesuit tradition and its vast national and global apostolic networks so that the beauty of the Catholic faith can be instilled in young people in a lasting way.”
Launching in July, the program will involve 625 participants representing 15 high schools, five colleges and universities, and five parishes throughout the United
Boston College has created a wall of honor in Gasson Hall to pay tribute to the recipients of the Edward H. Finnegan, S.J., Award, the University’s highest student honor, which is presented each year at University Commencement.
The Finnegan Award Wall of Honor lists the names of the 73 recipients of the Finnegan Award to date—top students in their respective classes who best exemplify the spirit of Boston College and its motto, “Ever to Excel.” The award is named in honor of the popular BC history professor, senior class advisor, and faculty moderator of the Sub Turri who served the University from 1937 until 1950. His death in 1951 prompted students to seek a memorial in his name to honor him and the most outstanding senior of each graduating class.
The wall is located near the Gasson Rotunda directly across from the Academic Wall of Honor, which lists the names of BC students who have earned the most prestigious academic awards in higher education, including Rhodes, Marshall, Churchill, Goldwater, and Truman scholarships.
The walls were conceived by Associate Vice President of University Communications Jack Dunn as a way of recognizing the University’s most accomplished students for their academic achievement and commitment to the University. Designed by Christine Hunt, director of design and brand management in the Office of University Communications, and supported by Daniel
honor.”
Paul Taylor ’04, who received the Finnegan Award at the University’s 128th Commencement in 2004, said he was pleased to see Boston College recognize the Finnegan Award winners through this permanent addition to Gasson Hall.
“It is nice to see the University celebrate its student scholars and, by extension, the faculty who shaped us during our four years at BC,” said Taylor. “Students walking by might not have realized that these particular awards exist and may see them as something that they too want to pursue.”
As a recipient of a Goldwater Scholarship in 2002 and BC’s first Rhodes Scholarship in 2003, Taylor, the director of the scientific and statistical computing core at the National Institute of Mental Health, joins only four other BC graduates to have their names appear on both walls as Finnegan Award winners and recipients of prestigious academic scholarships.
Bourque, Christopher Curry, and Mark Lewis in Facilities Management, the projects were enthusiastically endorsed by University President William P. Leahy, S.J., and Provost and Dean of Faculties David Quigley.
“Creating space on the first floor of historic Gasson Hall to honor student excellence struck me as an appropriate tribute for a university that prizes the liberal arts
and formative education,” said Dunn. “In reviewing materials from Fr. Finnegan’s era, it is clear that he was beloved by BC students and that they wanted to recognize and thank him for his many contributions to the BC community. He is acknowledged each year at Commencement along with our top graduating senior, so it is fitting that their names will be joined in this wall of
“I had a wonderful experience at Boston College,” said Taylor. “The personal interest that faculty took in me from the very beginning was gratifying, and I have stayed in touch with many of them since I graduated 20 years ago. I appreciate being recognized on these walls with fellow honorees, and I hope they will help to plant a seed among current students and encourage them to seek opportunities wherever they exist.” —University Communications
The spring semester’s Gaelic Roots series at Boston College—which highlights music and dance from Irish, Scottish, and American folk traditions—will kick off on January 30 with a concert by esteemed Irish fiddle-piano duo Brian Conway and Brendan Dolan.
Sponsored through the BC Irish Studies Program, Gaelic Roots events are free and open to the public and take place at 6:30 p.m. in Connolly House (300 Hammond Street) unless noted otherwise.
A respected authority on the Sligo fiddle style, New York City native Conway has won numerous All-Ireland fiddling competitions and is a widely popular teacher and mentor. His recordings have included “First Through the Gate,” a former Irish Echo Album of the Year, and “Consider the Source,” which saw him team up with a bevy of distinguished Irish musicians.
ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT FOR UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS
Jack Dunn
SENIOR DIRECTOR FOR UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS
Patricia Delaney
EDITOR Sean Smith
He has also appeared in “Shore to Shore,” an acclaimed documentary on traditional Irish music in New York City. Dolan has, like his father Felix, become a mainstay in the New York Irish scene, performing
CONTRIBUTING STAFF Phil Gloudemans Ed Hayward
Audrey Loyack
Rosanne Pellegrini Kathleen Sullivan
PHOTOGRAPHERS
Caitlin Cunningham Lee Pellegrini
and teaching on piano and flute. He has frequently teamed with Conway as part of the band Pride of New York and with numerous other musicians on stage and on recordings.
Performing on February 27 will be The Murphy Beds, the duo of Irish native Eamon O’Leary and American Jefferson Hamer. With an often-mesmerizing sound built on the intricate interplay of guitars, bouzouki, and mandolin, and equally sterling vocal harmonies, Hamer and O’Leary have increasingly branched out from their renditions of Irish, American, Scottish, and English folk traditions to contemporary material, including their own songs.
The series will shift to Gasson 100 on March 28, with a traditional céili—a series of participatory social dances that are open to all, regardless of experience. Boston-area Irish dance performer and teacher Jackie
O’Riley will lead the dances, which will be accompanied by local musicians.
An April 10 lecture and concert will conclude the 2024-2025 series. Ethnomusicologist and musician Dan Neely, a columnist for the Irish Echo, will present a talk on accordionist Jerry O’Brien (18991968), a Cork native who emigrated to Boston and gained renown as a performer and teacher. Following the lecture will be a concert by Diarmuid Ó Meachair, also from Cork, and a highly regarded accordionist who was named TG4 Gradam Ceoil “Young Musician of the Year” in 2022 and nominated for two RTÉ Folk Awards last year.
For other details, see events.bc.edu/ group/gaelic_roots_series.
—Sean Smith
The Boston College Chronicle (USPS 009491), the internal newspaper for faculty and staff, is published biweekly from September to May by Boston College, with editorial offices at the Office of University Communications, 3 Lake Street, Brighton, MA 02135 (617)552-3350. Distributed free to faculty and staff offices and other locations on campus.
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BY JACK DUNN ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT FOR UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS
The Boston Planning and Development Agency has approved the University’s plan to construct a Catholic Religious Archives (CRA) facility that will connect to the Theology and Ministry Library on the Brighton Campus. Preliminary site work on the two-story, 44,000 square-foot building began in early January, with an anticipated construction completion date of June 2026.
The CRA will store archival records of Catholic congregations and religious orders of men and women that have ceased or are planning to cease operations, providing an invaluable resource for religious scholars, researchers, and students on the societal effects of the Catholic Church, particularly in the areas of education, health care, and social services. Consisting of 100,000 linear feet of storage space, the CRA will also house limited artwork from religious sources in both the United States and Canada.
“The Catholic Religious Archives will host material that is integral to American history and the history of the Catholic Church in North America,” said University Librarian Thomas Wall. “We are looking to honor the contributions of these religious orders and to preserve their legacies through professional archival operations and a state-of-the-art facility. Our archives and special collections have greatly benefitted teaching, research, and learning at Boston College. We know that the CRA will offer similar benefits for scholars and students at BC and beyond.”
The CRA will be directed by Thomas
facilities operations and maintenance, capital construction, renovations and planning, and energy sustainability efforts.
Executive Vice President Michael Lochhead described O’Hern as a collaborative professional who has clear strengths in project and facility management, facilities operations, budgeting, and staff development that will help to lead BC’s facilities operations into the future.
“Patrick was selected from a strong pool of candidates interested in the vice president for facilities services position,” said Lochhead. “I am confident that his broad experience, coupled with his commitment to higher education, will have a positive impact on Boston College for the foreseeable future. I am thrilled to have Patrick joining the BC community and look forward to working with him to advance the University’s mission.”
O’Hern said he was honored to have been chosen for the position and looked forward to adding to BC’s reputation as a leader in facilities management.
“After close to 15 years at Dartmouth, I
P. Lester, an experienced archivist who previously served as director of the Archdiocese of Boston Archive and Library. He will work closely with Michael Burns, the founding director of the Catholic Religious Archives and a special assistant to the University Librarian, who has played a key role in the project’s evolution.
The University launched a Catholic Religious Archives Repository in 2019, following a 2018 conference hosted at Boston College titled “Envisioning the Future of Catholic Religious Archives,” which brought together 160 archivists, historians, and leaders of religious communities to consider ways of ensuring that archival holdings of various religious orders and congregations would be maintained and available to future generations.
“We are looking to honor the contributions of these religious orders and to preserve their legacies through professional archival operations and a state-of-the-art facility.”
—Thomas Wall
The new facility, privately funded by donors, will be built on the north side of the Theology and Ministry Library. It will include an internal receiving area and a holding room for collected materials and will utilize the library’s research reading room and available space for processing collections. The buildings will be linked by a one-story connector.
The project was approved by the City
of Boston as an amendment to the University’s existing Institutional Master Plan through a small project review application. Designed by the architecture firm Shepley Bulfinch, the CRA will be built by Suffolk Construction.
Associate Vice President for Capital Projects Mary Nardone said that the construction impacts on the Brighton Campus will include trucking and material deliveries, which will occur throughout the duration of the project. Trucks will enter and exit from the Commonwealth Avenue entrance and travel down the main spine road as well as the roads surrounding the library parking lot. The initial site activities will include fencing and necessary tree removals. As the site is prepared for building
realized it was time for the next professional challenge,” said O’Hern. “When I had conversations outside of Dartmouth about potential career opportunities, everyone in the facilities world raved about Boston College. Adding in the extra dimension of BC’s mission and Jesuit, Catholic heritage, which is in line with how I grew up, I realized that this was where I wanted to be.”
An alumnus of Northwestern University with an undergraduate degree in civil en-
gineering and an M.B.A. from the Northwestern Kellogg School of Management, O’Hern held project manager positions in Pennsylvania, Chicago, and Boston before joining Dartmouth in 2010. Outside of work, he has been active in his Hanover, NH, community, serving as a member of the board of trustees of the Twin Pines Housing Trust, the region’s sole developer of affordable housing, and coaching youth basketball and soccer.
foundations, some hoe ramming will take place from January through March.
“The CRA itself will be constructed on an isolated knoll on the Brighton Campus that is outside of the mainstream of campus activity, though there will be limited impacts of construction noise and trucking to and from the site,” said Nardone. “It is being built by Suffolk Construction, which has a very good track record on campus. We have met and will continue to meet with the abutters on the Brighton Campus to keep them informed throughout the project. Both the offices of Capital Projects and Governmental and Community Affairs are available to community members if there are questions.”
As vice president for facilities management, Patrick O’Hern will be responsible for all BC facilities operations and maintenance, capital construction, renovations and planning, and energy sustainability efforts.
photo by caitlin cunningham
He and his wife, Karen, are the parents of two children, Meghan and Ryan.
“Karen and I always thought we would make it back to Boston, where we first met in the late ’90s,” said O’Hern. “It is gratifying that our hope is finally being realized. Dan Bourque and his team have done an outstanding job as evidenced by this beautiful campus. I look forward to continuing that level of success on behalf of the Boston College community.”
BY ED HAYWARD STAFF WRITER
A banana duct-taped to a wall says a lot about today’s art market, according to Carroll School of Management Associate Professor of Marketing Henrik Hagtvedt, author of the just-released Money and Marketing in the Art World
Sold at a Sotheby’s auction for an eyepopping sum of $6.5 million, the conceptual work “Comedian,” by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, encapsulates the central point Hagtvedt explores in his book: how buyers and those who cater to buyers shape the high-profile art world, relegating the actual artists to a secondary role.
“There is scant artistry or conceptual creativity involved in duct-taping a banana to the wall, but the price tag demands attention,” Hagtvedt said of the work, which sold in late November. “Masterfully executed artworks are no longer rare enough to create sensations, so creativity, skill, and quality have become largely irrelevant in parts of the art market, whereas the simplest way to make a splash is merely setting a high price for something of conspicuously questionable merit.”
Prior to entering academe, Hagtvedt studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence, Italy, worked full time as an artist, and had more than 25 major exhibitions in Europe and Asia. But given
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States. AMDG will draw on the success of IAJS’s Ever to Excel program, an initiative for high school students who spend a week at Boston College learning how to create a more meaningful life through the lens of Jesuit spirituality. More than 1,500 young people from around the world have participated in Ever to Excel since the program’s inception in 2016. [Information on Ever to Excel is available through the IAJS website, bit.ly/IAJS-Boston-College]
A new Ever to Excel session for young adults will be one of the faith formation elements of AMDG along with a four-day in-person retreat based on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, a digital guided retreat that features Catholic liturgical practices and devotions, and a virtual pilgrimage highlighting the locations and accompanying formational outcomes of the conversion journey of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus.
Another formational element will involve modules and facilitated group discussions based on The Conversational Word of God, a book from the Institute of Jesuit Sources that will help participants develop and deepen their capacity to engage in spiritual conversations.
Each year, the AMDG program will culminate with participants making a 10day pilgrimage on the Camino Ignaciano in Spain. Pilgrims will follow the path St. Ignatius took in 1522 from Loyola to Manresa.
Throughout the AMDG program, par-
what he knows about the art market, he ascribes most of his own past success to good luck.
The initial art-related experiences sparked his interest in marketing and consumer behavior, and today this background still informs his research and areas of expertise. Hagtvedt’s primary research interests are in aesthetics and visual marketing, including topics such as visual art and luxury branding.
A combination of marketplace observations, marketing insights, and research findings revealed the art world is primarily shaped by money and marketing, not by art and artists, said Hagtvedt, who serves as chairman of CSOM’s Marketing Department.
“Art is a central aspect of human societies, yet few people know how the art market functions. The most prominent aspects of the art world, including galleries, museums, media attention, and even critical acclaim, are actually shaped by buyers and those who cater to buyers, whereas artists tend to play a secondary role.
“This book illustrates how money and marketing, in combination with general trends, play decisive roles in propelling specific artists and artworks to positions of prominence, thereby also deciding what millions of visitors to galleries and museums will view, year after year.”
Looking at industry branding, promo-
tion, and conspicuous consumption, Hagtvedt focuses on artists, dealers, collectors, and other players in the art market to show how their behaviors shape the landscape of contemporary art.
The book examines the role of general trends, as well as some societal implications of the influence of money and marketing in the art world. Hagtvedt found it interesting that factors that influence most markets don’t hold the same sway in the art
market.
“When I began work on this topic, many years ago, I was aware that money and marketing played a larger role than people realized or would like to admit. However, it is arguably surprising that specific marketing influences are so pervasive, whereas other influences that are central in most markets are less relevant in this one.
“In most markets, for instance, product quality is a strong driver of success. In the art market, at least in the contemporary one, it is unclear whether product quality is a relevant concept at all.”
Hagtvedt thinks there’s something in the book for those with a general interest, as well as for artists and art professionals.
“For anyone interested in art, this book demystifies some seemingly esoteric parts of the art world,” Hagtvedt said. “For artists or art professionals, it draws back the curtains and says much about how this world really operates.”
The book also provides critique and guidance for public policy. For instance, he says, public art museums should presumably exhibit the best and most important works of art, but most of these institutions are strongly influenced by private business.
“As it is now, we use taxpayer money to subsidize the interests of influential market players,” Hagvedt argues in the book, “while maintaining the illusion of museums as independent strongholds of culture.”
ticipants will engage in service designed to provide a deep encounter with the teachings and example of Jesus, according to Fr. Beaumier.
“Service lies at the heart of the Christian faith and is deeply woven into the fabric of every Jesuit apostolate,” said Schweitzer. “What is often lacking, particularly among young people, is an intentional connection between service and religious practice. AMDG seeks to bridge this gap, fostering profound integration of faith and service.”
The AMDG program also will offer mentorship development for 25 adults each year, who will serve as the program’s ambassadors. The ambassadors will have the opportunity to complete IAJS’s five-course Certificate in Jesuit Studies program to deepen their knowledge of the heritage and vision of the Jesuits and their many works.
as forming these ambassadors to not only help AMDG participants but also to serve as future leaders for mission in the different networks of Jesuit schools and parishes.
“The AMDG will also offer a great formational opportunity for BC undergraduates to learn how to accompany a faith journey,” said Fr. Beaumier, who noted that each year 25 students will be selected to serve as beadles (assistants) for the program. As beadles, the BC students will mentor AMDG participants, attend the retreats, and accompany the group on the Camino pilgrimage.
“People turn to BC for all things Jesuit and for ways to deepen the understanding of what it means to be a Jesuit school, college, or parish. We’ve become a light for the global network of Jesuit works.”
—Casey Beaumier, S.J.
“In order to facilitate and nurture faith in young people, we recognize that we need to recruit and support adult guides and empower them with formational resources so they have the necessary skills to address the complex issues facing young people,” said Fr. Beaumier.
Fr. Beaumier sees the AMDG program
Boston College is one of 12 U.S. organizations awarded a grant from Lilly Endowment’s National Youth and Young Adult Initiative on Faith and Service.
“I’m pleased that Boston College is seen as a resource for the networks of Jesuit schools,” Fr. Beaumier said. “People turn to BC for all things Jesuit and for ways to deepen the understanding of what it means to be a Jesuit school, college, or parish. We’ve become a light for the global network of Jesuit works.”
“The projects being funded through the Faith and Service Initiative hold the prom-
ise of helping young people grow spiritually by drawing on Christian traditions to reflect on the meaning of service,” said Christopher L. Coble, Lilly Endowment’s vice president for religion. “They also will strengthen their ties to faith communities and help those faith communities understand more fully the needs and perspectives of young people.”
Lilly Endowment Inc. is a private philanthropic foundation created in 1937 by J.K. Lilly Sr. and his sons Eli and J.K. Jr. While those gifts remain the financial bedrock of the Endowment, it is a separate entity from the family pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly and Company, with a distinct governing board, staff and location. In keeping with the founders’ wishes, the Endowment supports community development, education, and religion and maintains a special commitment to its hometown, Indianapolis, and home state, Indiana.
The principal aim of the Endowment’s religion grantmaking is to deepen and enrich the lives of Christians in the U.S., primarily by seeking out and supporting efforts that enhance the vitality of congregations and strengthen the pastoral and lay leadership of Christian communities. The Endowment also seeks to improve public understanding of diverse religious traditions by supporting fair and accurate portrayals of the role religion plays in the U.S. and across the globe.
BY PHIL GLOUDEMANS STAFF WRITER
The Heising-Simons Foundation has awarded an 18-month, $500,000 research and development grant to the Mary E. Walsh Center for Thriving Children to advance early math learning for children and families in Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood.
The award will fund a partnership between the Walsh Center, based at the Lynch School of Education and Human Development, and Math Talk, a Cambridge, Mass., non-profit organization that specializes in bringing playful early math learning activities into communities. Founded in 2015, Math Talk bases its programs on 40 years of public school math instruction in economically distressed neighborhoods across the United States.
“We will work with families, pediatricians, recreation and enrichment centers, schools, and businesses to co-design and co-construct what we are calling ‘a family math community ecosystem’ in Roxbury,” said Eric Dearing, executive director of the Walsh Center. “This network will include real-world installations that integrate fun, primary math activities into the neighborhood’s landscape such as walking trails that encourage the search for shapes, measurement games, and counting. Another goal is the development of an app that families can use to locate and explore early math
concepts anywhere in their community, including at MBTA stations, the market, laundromat, barbershop, or library, while collecting prizes—such as discounts at neighborhood restaurants—that can be redeemed locally.”
Through this ecosystem, Dearing explained, they hope to improve community awareness of assets and resources that are available for supporting children’s early learning and growth; influence attitudes and beliefs about the importance of early
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The call to action is the result of a twoyear project by the group of the world’s most trusted independent scientists from 17 high-profile scientific institutions in the United States and Europe. The report was developed to enable a coordinated approach to reduce the ever-increasing levels of chronic disease being faced by children around the world.
Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are the principal causes of morbidity and mortality in children today, the authors note. Their incidence and prevalence are on the rise. Emerging research links multiple NCDs in children to manufactured synthetic chemicals.
In the past half-century, the report states, NCDs in children have risen sharply:
•Incidence of childhood cancer has increased by 35 percent
•Male reproductive birth defects have doubled in frequency
•Neurodevelopmental disorders now affect one child in six, and autism spectrum disorder is diagnosed in one child of 36
•Pediatric asthma has tripled in prevalence
•Prevalence of pediatric obesity has nearly quadrupled and driven a sharp increase in type 2 diabetes among children and adolescents
•Certain chemicals have led to a reduction in IQ and thus massive economic damage
Most synthetic chemicals and related
and family math, including the critical role of the community in young children’s math learning; and inspire community-wide engagement in supporting children and families around family math and children’s math learning progress.
“We are thrilled to see the ongoing support for Eric Dearing’s innovative project in early math learning,” said Stanton E.F. Wortham, the Charles F. Donovan, S.J., Dean of the Lynch School. “The current project represents pioneering communitywide work in Boston, further developing our relationships with local communities. This adds to the Walsh Center’s impressive portfolio of work.”
According to Math Talk, research indicates that when parents and young children take time to explore, enjoy, and talk about math together, it sets the stage for positive early math experiences and helps young children view themselves as capable math learners.
“By partnering with the community and following their lead on design and development of the project, we center the work around community strengths and aim to contribute to community well-being in holistic ways, supporting not only early math learning but also health, wellness, and community-wide relationships,” said Dearing, a professor in the Lynch School’s Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology Department. “While we’re still designing research strategies to understand
and document the structure and impact of this work, our goal is to capture lessons that inform not only how children learn math while in their communities but also how other neighborhoods can use lessons learned from our project to grow their own family math ecosystems.”
Dearing noted that additional community partners include a City Connects elementary school, Boston Medical Center, restaurants and a market in Roxbury’s Nubian Square, and Boston Public Schools’ Countdown to Kindergarten—a team that engages families, educators, and the community in a citywide effort to enhance early learning opportunities and to support students’ successful transition into kindergarten.
“Even if we often don’t realize it, all families and communities are making use of math in their daily lives and all have a rich cultural legacy of math,” added Dearing. “At the same time, many adults in the U.S. report having some level of math anxiety. So, while every parent might want to ensure that their child’s earliest math learning experiences are positive, many may appreciate some support in knowing where to start.”
This project’s funding is the second grant that Dearing and the Lynch School have obtained from the Heising-Simons Foundation, a private, Los Altos, Calif.based philanthropy established by Elizabeth Simons and Mark Heising in 2007.
products are produced from fossil fuels— gas, oil, and coal. Production has expanded 50-fold since 1950, and is projected to triple again by 2050. Environmental pollution and human exposure are widespread, the authors wrote, yet manufacture of synthetic chemicals and plastics is subject to few legal or policy constraints. Unlike pharmaceuticals, synthetic chemicals are brought to market with little prior assessment of their health impacts and almost no post-marketing surveillance for longer-term adverse health effects.
Fewer than 20 percent of these chemicals have been tested for toxicity, and fewer still for toxic effects in infants and children. Associations between widely used chemicals and disease in children continue to be discovered with distressing frequency, and it is likely that there are additional, still unknown links.
Protecting children from chemicals’ dangers will require fundamental revamping of current law and restructuring of the chemical industry, the co-authors write.
Safeguarding children’s health against manufactured synthetic chemicals necessitates a fundamental shift in chemical law that takes a more precautionary approach and prioritizes health protection over the unconstrained production of synthetic chemicals and plastics:
•New laws that require chemicals to be tested for safety and toxicity before they are allowed to enter markets
•Mandated chemical footprinting, which operates much like its better-known cousin carbon footprinting
•Safer chemicals; reducing reliance on fossil carbon feedstocks; developing a diverse set of safer, more sustainable molecules and manufacturing processes
•Policy reform; a new legal paradigm for chemical management at a national level; a new global chemicals treaty
“Pollution by synthetic chemicals and plastics is one of the great planetary challenges of our time,” said lead author Landrigan, the director of Boston College’s Global Observatory on Planetary Health. “It is worsening rapidly. Continued unchecked increases in the production of chemicals based on fossil carbon endangers the world’s children and threatens humanity’s capacity for reproduction.”
Pulitzer Prize-winning science journalist and best-selling author Ed Yong leads the roster of prominent thought leaders who will appear on campus this semester under the auspices of the Boston College Lowell Humanities Series.
Established in 1957, the series brings distinguished writers, artists, performers, and scholars to Boston College each semester. All events are free and open to the public.
“Our speakers promise rigor and inspiration in equal measure,” said Professor of History Sylvia Sellers-García, the series director. “We are delighted to be hosting several leading thinkers and writers who write compellingly across disciplines. Some, like Javier Zamora, an accomplished poet and memoirist, write in multiple genres. Others, like Anne Berest, bend genre conventions by writing ‘true’ fiction. And still others, like Ed Yong and John McNeill, incorporate the sciences into their humanistic writings.
“These speakers also offer powerful theoretical tools for thinking about our world. Graham Ward proposes that we think about loneliness from a theological perspective; Arthur Frank considers suffering through the lens of Shakespeare, and Katherine McKittrick demonstrates the possibilities for anti-colonialism.”
The following events—co-sponsored by a number of University departments, programs, and initiatives—begin at 7 p.m. and take place in Gasson 100, with the exception of the final event on April 23, which will be held in Devlin 110.
January 29: Ed Yong—Named “the most important and impactful journalist” of 2020 by The Poynter Institute for Media Studies, Yong was awarded the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting for his coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. An engaging speaker, he is the best-selling author of I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us, a groundbreaking examination of the relationship between animals and microbes. (Cosponsored by BC’s Park Street Corporation Speaker Series, the Asian American Studies Program, and Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society. Made possible by the Gerson Family Lecture Fund, established by John A. and Jean N. Gerson, P’14, and Jaclyn Gerson Rossiter ’14)
February 5: Annual Candlemas Lecture, with Graham Ward—Ward is the Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Oxford and Extraordinary Professor of Systematic Theology and Ecclesiology at the University of Stellenbosch. Among his books are Cities of God, Cultural Transformation and Religious Practice, True Religion, Christ and Culture, The Politics of Discipleship, Unbelievable, and Unimaginable For the last decade he has been working on Ethical Life, a major four-volume on systematic theology, including the upcoming Salus. (Cosponsored by the Theology Department)
February 26: Javier Zamora—Memoirist and poet Zamora’s Solito is an account of his near-impossible journey and unex-
University of Ghent. (Cosponsored by the Center for Psychological Humanities & Ethics. Seating is limited and must be reserved in advance via Eventbrite. For those seeking Continuing Education credits and/ or wanting to watch the lecture remotely, register at tinyurl.com/yjcr2r4d. Only register via Eventbrite to watch the lecture in person)
March 19: Katherine McKittrick Professor of Gender Studies and Canada Research Chair in Black Studies at Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada, McKittrick researches in areas of Black studies, anti-colonial studies, and critical-creative methodologies. She has authored multiple articles and is a former editor at Antipode: A Radical Journal of Geography. Her books include Dear Science and Other Stories and Demonic Grounds: Black Women and the Cartographies of Struggle. She also edited and contributed to Sylvia Wynter: On Being Human as Praxis. Recent and forthcoming projects include the limited-edition boxset Trick Not Telos, a collaboration with Liz Ikriko and Cristian Ordóñez, and the tryptic honoring NourbeSe Philip, On the Declension of Beauty. (Cosponsored by the African and African Diaspora Studies Program)
April 2: John McNeill—McNeill, who has taught history at Georgetown University since 1985, has received two Fulbright awards, a MacArthur grant, Guggenheim and Woodrow Wilson Center fellowships, and has held several international visiting appointments. He has authored or co-authored eight books including The Mountains of the Mediterranean World: An Environmental History and Something New Under the Sun: An Environmental History of the Twentieth-century World, the cowinner of prizes from the World History Association and the Forest History Society and runner-up for the BP Natural World Book Prize. (Cosponsored by the History Department and the University Core Curriculum)
pected moments of kindness, love, and joy scattered across perilous boat trips, desert treks, arrests, and betrayals. Longlisted for the PEN America 2023 Literary Awards, Solito was a New York Times bestseller and a 2023 American Book Award winner. His debut poetry collection, Unaccompanied, is rooted in the experiences of a nine-year-old boy navigating politics, racism, war, and the impact of a border crossing on his family. His honors include the 2017 Narrative Prize, the 2016 Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award, and the 2020 Pushcart Prize. (Cosponsored by the Park Street Corporation Speaker Series and Romance Languages and Literatures Department)
March 12: Arthur Frank—A professor emeritus at the University of Calgary,
Frank has written on illness experience, ethics, clinical care, and narrative, in books such as At the Will of the Body, The Wounded Storyteller, The Renewal of Generosity, Letting Stories Breathe, and King Lear: Shakespeare’s Dark Consolations. He has taught at VID Specialized University in Oslo, been a visiting professor in the Program in Narrative Medicine at Columbia University and Francqui Fellow at the
April 23: Fiction Days presents Anne Berest—French writer Berest’s first novel in English, The Postcard, was a national bestseller that garnered book of the year honors from NPR, TIME, Library Journal, and Vogue, and a finalist for the Goncourt Prize in France. Berest and her sister are coauthors of Gabriële, a critically acclaimed, best-selling “true novel” based on the life of her great-grandmother Gabriële BuffetPicabia, wife of Francis Picabia, Marcel Duchamp’s lover and muse, a leader of the French Resistance, and an art critic. (Cosponsored by BC’s Fiction Days Series)
While Lowell Humanities Series events are free, registration via Eventbrite is required for in-person attendance. To register, go to the BC Event Calendar [events. bc.edu] or the series website [www.bc.edu/ lowell], which features more information on the series and speakers. The Lowell Humanities Series is sponsored by the Lowell Institute, BC’s Institute for the Liberal Arts, and the Office of the Provost and Dean of Faculties.
—University Communications
BY PHIL GLOUDEMANS STAFF WRITER
Amanda M. Teo, a career public servant who managed and advised two of Massachusetts’ largest public law offices, was named the executive director of the acclaimed Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy at Boston College Law School, announced Marianne D. Short, Esq., Dean Odette Lienau.
Teo succeeds the retired Elisabeth “Lissy” J. Medvedow, the center’s inaugural executive director, who was named in 2015 following a $7.53 million endowment from the Phyllis & Jerome Lyle Rappaport Foundation [rappaportfoundation.org].
“The Rappaport Center has become a central part of both our Law School community and the Greater Boston legal community,” said Lienau. “I could not be more thrilled with the selection of Amanda Teo for this crucial role moving forward, as we look to build upon that success through the next decade of shaping public policy leaders who can ensure that law serves the greater good in the world.
“We are grateful to the Rappaport Foundation, to faculty directors [BC Law Professors] Michael Cassidy and Daniel Kanstroom, and to Lissy Medvedow, who was such a driving force in the center’s success over the past decade.”
“I am excited to work with the talented staff, faculty, and students at Boston College
A funeral Mass will be celebrated on January 21 at Campion Center in Weston for Robert Braunreuther, S.J., a mainstay in campus ministry at Boston College for 24 years, who died on January 6. He was 90.
The Mass will take place in the Chapel of the Holy Spirit following visitation, which begins at 9 a.m.
A 1958 alumnus, Fr. Braunreuther joined the University in 1972 as resident and staff life coordinator for the Housing Office, then becoming University chaplain and director of campus ministry.
Fr. Braunreuther resigned his post as director of campus ministry in January of 1978 but remained at BC as assistant chaplain. In the early 1980s he began coordinating and leading service trips to Haiti for BC students, and helped coordinate other such activities.
In 1988, Fr. Braunreuther became the University representative to athletics. In this new role, he was the University’s liaison to all athletes, acting as their spiritual advisor and confidant, and saying Mass when teams were away from campus.
After leaving Boston College in 1996, Fr. Braunreuther worked with homeless men in Baltimore. He later became campus minister at Loyola University Maryland and a minister for the Fairfield University Jesuit Community before joining the Campion Center in 2018.
Law School and the outstanding advisory board and alumni of the Rappaport Center to advance the mission of creating and mobilizing leaders in state and local public policy,” said Teo. “Policy is the bridge between our vision of a just world and our reality, and there is no more timely or urgent challenge than cultivating a community of doers who can talk and listen across differences, are committed to making a difference, and are empowered with the tools to build and strengthen that bridge.”
The Rappaport Center—which has been housed at BC Law since 2015—convenes the region’s policymakers and thought leaders in generative discussions on critical public policy issues through its Distinguished Public Policy Series. Each year, the center coordinates forums, conferences, and symposia to address pressing societal problems with leaders and innovators from government, business, academia, and the nonprofit world.
Its Rappaport Fellows Program provides funded summer internships for 12 publicservice focused students from eight Massachusetts law schools, providing opportunities for them to work in a state or local government agency and to help advance high-profile, important policy initiatives and key priorities. Through summer internships, students work with top policy makers; are mentored by the center’s staff, civic leaders, and respected attorneys; and have access to educational programming.
To read Fr. Braunreuther’s full obituary, go to bit.ly/father-robert-braunreuther-obituary
Retired Boston College Law School Professor Cynthia Lichtenstein, a renowned specialist in international banking and transactions, died in November at the age of 90.
An assessment of the program found that more than 55 percent of former participants had gone on to work or currently work in the nonprofit or public sectors, and over 90 percent agreed that the fellowship has positively impacted their careers. Among those former fellows praising the program was Michelle Wu, now mayor of the City of Boston: “As one of many young people who walked through doors opened by Jerry Rappaport’s commitment to public service, I know his legacy will continue to have a profound impact on our city.”
The center’s Jerome Lyle Rappaport Visiting Professors in Law and Public Policy program brings public sector luminaries to spend a semester at BC Law, where they teach a seminar on public policy, deliver a community address, and meet with students, faculty, and members of the BC and Rappaport Center communities. Visiting professors have included Jane Swift, onetime acting governor of Massachusetts; former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray; former Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Associate Justice Geraldine Hines; and Jeffery Robinson, CEO of The Who We Are Project.
Rights Unit. Previously, she was chief of staff in the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office and led efforts to shift the office toward a more public health-focused and data-informed model of prosecution. Prior to assuming her role on the executive team, she spent nearly 10 years as an assistant district attorney in the Appeals Unit.
Teo holds a master’s degree from Harvard University and a juris doctorate from Harvard Law School, where she served as executive editor of the Harvard Law Review She clerked for the judges Sandra Lynch and Kermit Lipez on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. She also taught for nearly a decade at Harvard University, where she conducted doctoral work in English and American Literature and was a fellow at the Bok Center for Teaching and Learning. Teo is a 1999 Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Princeton University.
The strength of today’s Rappaport Center for Law and Public policy is a testament to the work of Medvedow, who brought to the program an extensive background in law and public policy, noted Lienau. During her tenure, the center supported nearly 120 emerging public policy leaders and hosted over 140 panel discussions, debates, and convenings.
“Lissy has done incredible work at the Rappaport Center, which has deeply impacted the next generation of public leaders,” said Lienau. “It has contributed significantly to law and public policy in the commonwealth and beyond and also built a wonderful foundation for the transition to Amanda’s executive directorship going forward.”
A BC Law faculty member from 1971 to 2001, Professor Lichtenstein also served as a distinguished visiting professor at George Washington University Law School and a visiting professor at Brooklyn Law School, while occasionally teaching a seminar in international financial law at BC Law.
She lectured in numerous cities around the world including London, Paris, Buenos Aires, and Sydney. Among her many contributions to public and private international law, Professor Lichtenstein was president and vice chair of the International Law Association (American Branch) from 1986 to 1992, an officer of the American Society of International Law, and a member of the board of editors of the American Journal of International Law from 1982 to 1991.
To read the full obituary in Boston College Law Magazine, see lawmagazine. bc.edu/2024/12/cynthia-lichtenstein-made-adifference
Teo most recently served as counsel to the United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, where she advised the leadership team on strategic planning and cross-functional policy initiatives, and also served as assistant U.S. attorney in the Civil
The following are among the recent positions posted by the Department of Human Resources. For more information on employment opportunities at Boston College, see www.bc.edu/jobs or scan the QR code at right.
Engineering Projects Manager
Associate Director of Financial Systems, Reporting and Planning
Academic & Student Services Assistant Lead Medical Assistant
Associate Director, Pre-Award Administration
Development Assistant Program Director, AMDG
Coordinator, Member Services & Operations
Assistant Director, C21 Catholic Children’s Ministry
Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner
“I am very happy to welcome Amanda to BC Law,” said Kanstroom, the center’s current faculty director. “Her strong background in public service and her engaged intellect are a perfect fit with the mission of mentoring students and bringing in leading practitioners and academics for discussions of—and research about—major contemporary issues of law and public policy. I am personally excited to work with her to help the center move in new directions as we sustain the legacy of Lissy Medvedow’s excellent work over the past 10 years.”
Physician, University Health Services
Research Associate, Clough School of Theology and Ministry
Stewardship & Donor Engagement Specialist
Middleware Systems Administrator
Physician/Assistant Director, Sports Medicine
Temporary Office Pool
Associate Director, Fiscal & Grant Administration
BY PHIL GLOUDEMANS STAFF WRITER
Carroll School of Management Professor of Law and Society David P. Twomey ’62, J.D.’68, a nationally recognized labor law expert who was appointed by six different United States presidents to a remarkable 10 Presidential Emergency Boards (PEB)—expert panels convened to resolve major national rail and airline industry disputes—recently retired from Boston College after 56 years on the faculty.
A labor arbitrator since 1974, Twomey has been selected by employers and unions to arbitrate more than 2,000 labormanagement disputes in both the private and public sectors throughout the U.S. In July 2022, when President Biden named Twomey as one of three members of the PEB that helped secure a tentative agreement to avert a national railway strike, it marked his 10th presidential appointment—a span that began with President Ronald Reagan in 1986.
Under the Railway Labor Act, the president may exercise discretion to create a PEB when a labor dispute threatens to substantially interrupt interstate commerce to such a degree that it deprives a section of the country’s essential transportation service.
“David is a rare person in multiple respects: He is very accomplished at what he does, gives his all, cares deeply about the enormous responsibilities with which he is entrusted, and does it all with enormous grace and civility,” said Ira F. Jaffe, who chaired Twomey’s most recent PEB and served with him on another. “His arbitration work, his service on PEBs, and his teaching are all truly ‘callings.’ He commands the respect, admiration, and friendship of his colleagues and the parties whose disputes he helps to resolve.”
“David is a renowned labor relations author and a fine arbitrator,” said Elizabeth C. Wesman, who chaired Twomey’s ninth PEB in 2014. “Above all else, David is a generous scholar. When I asked to use his glossary of terms from the end of his book, Labor and Employment Law, to enhance the usefulness of the National Academy of Arbitrators’ website, he agreed without hesitation. I will miss him as a mentor and colleague.”
A member of the National Academy of Arbitrators, the American Arbitration Association, and the Academy of Legal Studies in Business, Twomey has arbitrated numerous labor-management contract disputes, including the CSX Transportation and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET); Norfolk Southern Railway and the BLET; CSX and the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers-Transportation Division (SMART-TD); the Union Pacific Railroad and SMART–TD; and the National Association of Government Employees and Department of the Air Force.
Born and raised in Boston, Twomey— the son of Irish immigrants—graduated from Boston College High School in 1956,
BC “was and is a wonderful and magnificent place” for David Twomey, shown above at his final class in December. “I couldn’t ask for a better life. How lucky can a person be to have had so many opportunities afforded to them?”
and then served in the U.S. Marine Corps until 1958. In addition to degrees from the Carroll School and BC Law, he holds an M.B.A. from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.
His interest in labor-management relations was grounded in his stint as a “jobber” at a Wonder Bread factory where he performed a variety of tasks to earn BC tuition money, and while working for the building contractor who built McElroy Commons in the early 1960s. Both experiences contributed to his understanding of the effectiveness of unions, particularly in terms of higher wages, safer workplaces, and benefits for their members.
“During an arbitration, it was more important to listen and to understand each of the party’s issues and arguments than for me to pose questions,” said Twomey. “Let them tell their story and make their case, and always be gracious.”
The author of some 35 editions of widely used textbooks on labor, employment, and business law topics, Twomey has published articles in the American Business Law Journal, Labor Law Journal, Business Law Review, Best’s Review, Massachusetts Law Quarterly, and Florida Bar Journal. He is a member of both the Massachusetts and Florida Bars.
But Twomey did not neglect his scholarly duties at BC.
“My personal goal was to serve the needs of [my] students to the best of my ability,” he said. “I wanted to show students how the law works, how to deal with an attorney, and how to be a good witness. I wanted them to enjoy my class, but I wanted them to understand the rigors and contested nature of law and the necessity for critical reading and thinking in all endeavors.”
He also served BC beyond the classroom. In the early 1970s, amid concerns about lagging undergraduate management enrollment at BC, Twomey chaired a Student Recruitment Task Force, which
invited Massachusetts high school guidance counselors to CSOM for a presentation on management education. It had a positive impact, and student interest in management education increased. Subsequently, he served for many years as a member of the University Undergraduate Admissions Enrollment Management Advisory Committee.
Twomey chaired the search committee that resulted in the appointment of John J. Neuhauser as Carroll School dean (19771999), and was a member of search committees for Law School Dean John Garvey (1999-2010) and current John and Linda Powers Family Dean of the Carroll School Andy Boynton.
Twomey served multiple terms over four decades as chair or a member of the Carroll School Education Policy Committee which, among many initiatives, launched
the M.S. in Finance program. He also chaired the Business Law Department for 11 years and was a member of the CSOM Promotion and Tenure Committee for almost 30 years.
“David Twomey’s teaching to legions of BC undergraduates over the decades embodies ‘Ever to Excel,’” said Boynton. “He was as impactful on the lives of our students today as he was on day one at the Heights.”
Twomey cherishes his memories of BC, both as a student and faculty member, noting that he met his wife, Veronica Lynch, at the Heights and their children Erin ’95, David ’99, and Kerry ’02 are graduates.
“I am a product of the BC system. It was and is a wonderful and magnificent place; I couldn’t ask for a better life. How lucky can a person be to have had so many opportunities afforded to them?”
