The Boston College
Chronicle Published by the Boston College Office of University Communications JANUARY 18. 2018 VOL. 25 NO. 9
scholarship 2 •Bostonians’ fund a decade old
World of Possibilities Global engagement initiative looks at ways to increase Boston College’s international presence BY SEAN SMITH CHRONICLE EDITOR
•LSOE program helps Boston science teachers •Photo: CSON’s Sister Roy says farewell to BC employee chosen 3 •BCDS ‘Cashier of the Year’ •Luna appointed director of Pre-Health Programs •Career and Internship Fair faculty member has 4 •STM audience with Pope Francis
•Hamilton is new director of Woods HMA program •Shaw is first BCSSW faculty member to be awarded DOJ grant student 5 •International population at record level
6 •LSOE’s Hargreaves retires •Robsham spring schedule Additions; BC in 7 •Welcome the Media; Jobs •Obituary: Roberta Manning Humanities Series 8 •Lowell to kick off new semester
While Boston College has raised its profile abroad during the past few decades, a recently launched initiative envisions a significantly expanded, coordinated effort to increase the University’s international presence. At the center of this initiative is the Global Engagement (GE) Committee, appointed last fall by University President William P. Leahy, SJ, to assess the scope of BC’s current international activities, identify the best avenues for growth, and determine the resources and structures necessary to fulfill these opportunities. BC’s 10-year Strategic Plan, released last fall, inscribes a commitment to building on the University’s current international engagement by incorporating greater attention to global issues in the undergraduate curriculum and among graduate, professional and faculty programs, and educating leaders for the Catholic Church around the world, among other objectives. The 25-member committee has spent its first few months speaking with senior, academic and non-academic administrators from across
the University, and examining data related to peer institutions’ global engagement. This semester, the GE Committee will broaden its outreach to the University community by hosting two town hall-type events – Feb. 22 at 3 p.m. in Devlin 227 and April 24 at 3 p.m. in Devlin 221 – and unveiling a website dedicated to global engagement. When the committee completes its task this October, it expects to have in place a blueprint to guide the expansion of BC global engagement – an endeavor that will involve every constituent group of the University, and be organized around the core dimensions of internationalization selected by the American Council on Education: articulating global strategy; leading internationalization; global partnerships; internationalizing learning; faculty global engagement, and student mobility. Discussing the committee’s progress, co-chair Alberto Godenzi, former dean of the BC School of Social Work and special advisor to the president for global engagement, said he and his colleagues had been encouraged and enlightened by their conversations with members of the University comContinued on page 5
Austin Bryant ’09, an executive at Converse, spoke with students following a panel discussion at Endeavor, the Boston College career exploration program for sophomores studying the liberal arts. More photos from the Jan. 10-12 event are on page 8. (Photo by Lee Pellegrini)
C21 Center Director Will Step Down at Semester’s End BY JACK DUNN ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT FOR UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS
Tony Rinaldo
INSIDE
School of Theology and Ministry Professor Thomas Groome, who has directed the Church in the 21st Century Center (C21) since 2015, will finish out his threeyear term at the end of the spring semester before returning to the classroom in the fall, the University has announced. In a letter to colleagues, Groome said that when he accepted the in- Thomas Groome vitation from University President with the center’s many accomplishWilliam P. Leahy, SJ, to serve as ments throughout his term. “I am proud of the good work C21 director, he agreed to do it for Continued on page 5 three years, and that he was pleased
CSOM Students Mull Solutions for Aiding Puerto Rico BY ED HAYWARD STAFF WRITER
Students in a Carroll School of Management course that applies the principles of entrepreneurship to pressing social issues turned their problem-solving to the storm-ravaged island of Puerto Rico, searching for solutions to shortages of clean water and electricity. Two groups of students in the class Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship, taught by Adjunct Lecturer Laura Foote, looked for solutions to two leading problems in the US territory since two hur-
ricanes lashed the island in September, killing at least 55 people and causing damages estimated at up to $72 billion. Sabrina Sarmiento, a senior economics major and Managing for Social Impact and the Public Good minor, said her group focused on the estimated one million people left without clean drinking water. “We recognized the issue of clean drinking water in the aftermath of hurricanes Irma and Maria,” said Sarmiento. “When we Students (L-R) Wonsuk You ’19, Christopher Hwang ’18, Natalie Saul ’19 and started looking at what solutions Kelly Stone ’19 talk with Carroll School of Management faculty member Laura are already out there, we found a Foote (at left) about their projects to aid Puerto Rico. (Photo by Lee Pellegrini) Continued on page 6
QUOTE:
“I love working with the undergrads and the Law students. They are wonderful. They tell me stories and talk about their feelings. They are looking for someone to talk to them, to listen to them, give them a hug or smile.” –BC Dining Services cashier Dorita Angelats, page 3
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A ROUND NEW SCIENCE A program being offered through the Lynch School of Education is helping a group of science teachers from underserved Boston-area schools improve their craft and transform their students’ science education experience. Last year, the Lynch School was awarded a $27,000 grant by the Jhumki Basu Foundation (JBF) to host and support its 2017-18 Sci-Ed Innovators Fellowship, a nine-month-long teacher education program. Through the program, which began in August, 14 Greater Boston-area teachers examine their practice and adopt an innovative learning-community model to use in their classrooms. The foundation is named for the late Jhumki Basu, a New York University professor who advocated equity in science education, particularly in urban schools. Established by her parents Radha and Dipak Basu, the California-based JBF seeks to democratize the teaching of science to those students who attend under-resourced schools with significantly fewer opportunities to learn than their more advantaged peers. Science and mathematics achievement gaps along racial, ethnic, linguistic and socioeco-
nomic lines have widened substantially over the past 20 years, notes a recent National Science Foundation-funded report from the National Research Council of the National Academies. However, when students from nonmainstream backgrounds receive equitable learning opportunities, they are capable of attaining science outcomes comparable to their mainstream peers. The initial cycle of eight sixhour Sci-Ed Workshops takes place on Saturdays, and is conducted by three Boston-based lead teachers under the supervision of a teacher trained in Jhumki Basu’s “Democratic STEM Teaching Framework.” The fellows then present and publish a brief digital story – or WIC (Windows into the Classroom) – recounting their experience. The cycle is then repeated in the spring and concludes with a Sci-Ed Innovators Expo & Symposium staged in early summer. “We believe this is a very important mission, and a promising partnership with prospects for growth and expansion,” said Jim Slotta, LSOE associate dean for research. “In addition to hosting, we serve as an academic partner, with the aim of fostering research on the teacher-learning communities and democracy education.” –Phil Gloudemans
Sister Callista Roy, a highly respected nurse theorist, writer, lecturer, researcher and professor, retired last month after 30 years as a member of the Connell School of Nursing faculty. Colleagues and friends attended a farewell gathering for her in Gasson 100. Read more about Sister Roy at http://bit.ly/roy-adaptation-model. (Photo by Caitlin Cunningham) ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT FOR UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS Jack Dunn DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS Patricia Delaney EDITOR Sean Smith
CONTRIBUTING STAFF Phil Gloudemans Ed Hayward Rosanne Pellegrini Kathleen Sullivan PHOTOGRAPHERS Gary Gilbert Lee Pellegrini
C AMPUS OUT OF SORROW, SERVICE
Bostonians alumnus Tom Leyden ’94 with (L-R) Anna Stephan ‘20, Jolene Lozano ’21 and Savannah Freitas ‘20, winners of the Ronan Jack Donahue Scholarships, which support members’ service activities. Leyden had the idea for creating the scholarships 10 years ago in memory of the son of another Bostonians alum, John Donahue ’92. (Photo by Christopher Huang)
Student organizations are considered a hallmark of college life not only for the activities they offer, but as a source of camaraderie and fellowship – even after graduation. That’s certainly the case with the Bostonians of Boston College, an a cappella group more than three decades old that responded to a former member’s family tragedy with a compassion that extended outward. In 2006, the Bostonians were sorrowed to hear of the death of Ronan Jack Donahue, infant son of alumnus John Donahue ’92 and his wife Dominique Dallmayr. At its reunion that fall, another ex-Bostonian, Tom Leyden ’94, proposed setting up a service scholarship in Ronan’s memory to assist current Bostonian members seeking to improve their communities, whether through personal outreach programs or by working with national or international service organizations. “Because both John and Dominique had always dedicated so much of themselves to others, we felt it would be appropriate to honor Ronan’s memory with a service scholarship dedicated in his name and awarded to a current Bostonian who showed an interest in serving people,” said Leyden, who is sports director at
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Fox 25 News in Boston. Last month, at the group’s annual fall concert, the Bostonians marked the 10th anniversary of the Ronan Jack Donahue Scholarship by naming three recipients – the first time more than one RJD scholarship has been awarded: Anna Stephan ’20 will work with MEDLIFE in Peru, helping underprivileged people in need of basic healthcare; Savannah Freitas ’20 will travel to Puerto Rico and assist in ongoing recovery efforts following the devastating hurricanes of last year; and Jolene Lozano ’21 will volunteer in South Africa, working to empower women and young children through computer training. “I’m very proud of my friends for supporting this great cause and even prouder of the students who have stepped up to make such a huge difference in the world,” said Leyden, who noted that the group raised $5,150 during the fall to fund the RJD scholarships. “We couldn’t have asked for a better way to honor the Donahue family.” Donahue and Dallmayr, who live in Portland, Ore., with their two children, will never forget the generosity of spirit of the Bostonians, whom Donahue credits as having played “a critical role” in his BC years.
“Not only did it provide me with opportunities for travel, community service and incredible musical enjoyment, but also a priceless, closely knit circle of friends with whom I shared life, love and loss – like when my mother died during my sophomore year,” said Donahue, who has relished attending Bostonian reunions and keeping in touch with fellow alums. When they heard of Leyden’s idea to create the scholarship fund, “Dominique and I wept with gratitude,” Donahue recalled. “The RJD Scholarship Fund, created from the collective grief, compassion and love of many, is testimony that even a lost newborn child can incarnate and inspire incredibly courageous and merciful works, now felt around the world through the tender hands of our award recipients. “With each passing year, Dominique and I marvel at contributors’ incredible generosity and applicants’ intentions to serve the poor globally, revealing to all Bostonians, young and old, our responsibility toward living a compassionate and socially just life – ultimately for the glory of God.” –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)5523350. Distributed free to faculty and staff offices and other locations on campus. Periodicals postage paid at Boston, MA and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: send address changes to The Boston College Chronicle, Office of University Communications, 3 Lake Street, Brighton, MA 02135.
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Chronicle JANUARY 18. 2018
Dining Services’ Dorita Angelats earns MRA ‘Cashier of the Year’ honor in Massachusetts to have three Stars of the Industry finalists. “We are incredibly proud of them.” Angelats’ recognition builds on BCDS’s previous success in this competition. Other BCDS employees named Stars of the Industry winners are cooks Keze Whitlow (2015) and Marlon Mazier (2013), dishroom supervisor Manny Milfort (2010), and cashier Roisin Reilly (2009). Angelats learned the importance of good customer service at
It seems that anyone who interacts with Boston College Dining Services cashier Dorita Angelats can’t help but smile – and her ability to boost spirits is literally prize-winning. Angelats’ cheerfulness, friendliness, and superior customer service at the Newton Campus Mini Mart have earned her the honor of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association’s 2017 “Cashier of the Year.” “I couldn’t believe it,” said Angelats, who was presented with the award at the MRA Stars of the Industry Gala last fall. “I had a mix of feelings. I was happy, nervous, and overwhelmed.” The Stars of the Industry Awards recognize exceptional employees in the state’s food and beverage industry. BC competes with other university dining services as well as commercial restaurants. Among the various 2017 Stars of the Industry finalists were noteworthy destinations such as the Seaport Hotel and World Trade Center, South Shore Country Club, Wahlburgers, and Papa Razzi. “I am proud Dorita was recognized with this distinguished award,” said Angelats’ supervisor, Sharyl Thompson, general manager for BCDS operations on Newton Campus, who describes Angelats as a “ball of energy.” “Her enthusiasm exemplifies customer service at its best,” continued Thompson. “She is wellknown and respected by many students, staff, and colleagues.” Angelats wasn’t the only BCDS employee to impress the MRA judges in this most recent competition. Marco Meza (McElroy) and Claudia Trilleras (Café 129) were finalists for the People’s Choice Award and Cashier of the Year Award, respectively. “These three employees exemplify the dedication to the Boston College community that our team members exhibit every day,” said Dining Services Director Beth Emery, who noted that BCDS was the only restaurant operation
said Angelats. “They are wonderful. They tell me stories and talk about their feelings. “They are looking for someone to talk to them, to listen to them, give them a hug or smile,” added Angelats. Angelats can relate to the loneliness and uncertainty the freshmen and first-year Law students are experiencing. She emigrated from Peru along with her husband and three children to Massachusetts more than 13 years ago. At
Lee Pellegrini
BY KATHLEEN SULLIVAN STAFF WRITER
“I remember my dad saying, ‘Always, customers first,’” says Dorita Angelats. “‘You have to treat people well, like you would want them to treat you.’” a young age, helping her father at his pharmacy and her mother at her paper store. “I remember my dad saying, ‘Always, customers first. You have to treat people well, like you would want them to treat you.’” Angelats has been working at the Mini Mart on Newton Campus since it opened in 2012. She has forged deep ties with BC students, helping students with their Spanish assignments. She has been invited by BC Law students to attend their annual Black and White Ball and traveled to Minnesota to attend the wedding of a BC Law graduate. “Dorita is loved by both the Law students and the freshmen that live on Newton Campus,” said Emery. “We are so lucky to have her at the Mini Mart where she talks to students and staff as if they were family members.” “I love working with the undergrads and the Law students,”
the time, Angelats was the only one in her family who could speak English and they knew only one family in their new hometown of Acton. Angelats started working at BC Dining as a temp in 2006, making sandwiches at the Eagles Nest. She was hired part-time in 2007 and later began a four-year stint as a cashier at Lyons Hall. She became a full-time employee when she took a position as a cashier for Late Night dining on Newton Campus. Angelats’ three children are enrolled in the Woods College of Advancing Studies. Her youngest works for Dining Services in Lyons Hall. “I really love to work at Boston College,” said Angelats. “It’s a nice community. I really love it. I feel home.” Contact Kathleen Sullivan at kathleen.sullivan@bc.edu
Spring Career and Internship Fair Set for Jan. 24-25 More than 90 employers are expected on campus next week when the Boston College Career Center sponsors its annual Spring Career and Internship Fair Jan. 24 and 25 in the Heights Room of Corcoran Commons. The first day, held from 3-6 p.m., will feature organizations
from financial services, accounting, real estate business services, consulting, management consumer products, retail, manufacturing, technology, start-ups and entrepreneurship. On the second day, which takes place 10 a.m.-1 p.m., employers from the industries of
education, non-profit, social services, government, law, public policy, arts, sports, entertainment, communications, media, marketing, health care, life and physical sciences will be on hand. Go to the Career Center website at www.bc.edu/offices/careers.html for information. –University Communications
Luna to Direct University Pre-Health Programs BY ED HAYWARD STAFF WRITER
Rafael Luna, former executive director of the Boston Collegebased National Research Mentoring Network, has been named associate dean and director of PreHealth Programs, while Biology’s Danielle Taghian is chairwoman of the Faculty Pre-Health Advising Committee, Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences Dean Gregory Kalscheur, SJ, announced. This month, Luna, who came to BC following 11 years as a researcher, teacher and administrator at Harvard Medical School, started leading an advising team that serves approximately 2,000 students and 100 alumni as they navigate the admissions process for graduate programs in medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine and other health professions. Taghian, an associate professor of the practice who received the University’s 2016 Phi Beta Kappa Teaching Award, will play a lead role in working with faculty members responsible for advising prehealth students and writing their assigned students’ committee letter, a composite recommendation based on a range of undergraduate experiences and achievements. “I am delighted that Rafael Luna and Danielle Taghian have taken on their new, respective roles as director of the Pre-Health Program and chair of the Faculty PreHealth Advising Committee,” said Fr. Kalscheur. “It will be a privilege for me to work with them both in the years to come. I am grateful for their willingness to take on these challenging and important roles in the life of the University.” Luna, who earned his doctorate in biological sciences at Louisiana State University, said he is excited to work with students in pre-health studies, as well as the junior class, which is also part of his advising portfolio. “I am thrilled to take on this new position,” said Luna, who grew up in Washington, DC. “I’m excited to share from all parts of my experience and be a part of BC’s focus on advising and student formation. I feel I can discuss all aspects of education in the health professions and really help students find their own way.” For the past year, Luna led the National Institutes of Healthfunded NRMN, using data analytics to strategically grow NRMN and traveling extensively to universities and medical schools throughout the US to effectively reach all 50 states and Puerto Rico. Operating at universities across the country, NRMN is a multiyear mentoring initiative designed to advance underrepresented
Peter Julian
‘Ball of Energy’
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Rafael Luna
groups in the study of science, graduate study, careers and, ultimately, as candidates for NIH and other government research funding. The first in his family to attend college, Luna said his work as an instructor at Harvard Medical School instructor helped him realize his strengths in mentoring and advising. He initially entered the Biomedical Science Careers Program (BSCP) as a mentee. He was mentored by BSCP President and Harvard Medical School Professor Joan Reede, which led him to become a BSCP Advisor, and eventually a member of the BSCP executive board. Luna has been involved with BSCP for more than 10 years and has worked with thousands of BSCP mentees throughout the New England Area and the US. Luna advises mentees to not only work hard in school and set their sights on graduate or professional schools, but also instructs them on what he calls the “invisible college” – the primacy of relationships and networking in the development of careers in the sciences and other disciplines. The hope is that mentees eventually become mentors themselves, wherein they help someone else reach their career goals, hence contributing to a mentoring cycle that operates in perpetuity. In his Stokes Hall office, Luna penned a brief phrase on a white board: Eins nach dem Anderen, or “one after the other.” He learned the phrase from German colleagues at Harvard Medical School, who focused on incremental, methodical achievements to reach a scientific breakthrough. “That is a phrase that many researchers live by,” said Luna. “For me, I like to use it to help students through the many, sometimes complicated steps they need to take to accomplish a goal. It’s like climbing a mountain. You don’t take one huge step for academic success and career progression; you go through numerous small and intermedia steps before reaching your goal.”
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Alfred Hamilton, a former administrator and faculty member at George Washington University, joined the Woods College of Advancing Studies on Dec. 1 as director of its online Master of Healthcare Administration degree program. From 2011-15, Hamilton served as an assistant professor and senior advisor to the associate provost for military and veterans’ affairs at GWU. He taught master’sand doctorate-level programs on a diverse range of evolving technologies, with a primary research focus on health information technology and health informatics. Among his other accomplishments, he assisted in the development of programs for non-traditional students in the area of health information management. He joins a degree program designed to address the growing demand for high caliber, ethical leadership for the increasingly complex healthcare industry. “Our online MHA program provides an employer-aligned curriculum with a focus on innovative, patient-centered approaches to contemporary health care concerns,” said Woods College Dean James Burns, IVD. “Dr. Hamilton brings to the position demonstrated strengths in strategic planning and partnerships, as well as the implementation of information technology strategies in diverse environments, notably related to healthcare.” “The delivery of quality healthcare can be complex and a chal-
Christopher Soldt
Hamilton Appointed to Head Woods College MHA Program
Alfred Hamilton
lenge to some healthcare organizations,” said Hamilton, who holds a doctorate in information decision systems and decision science from the GWU University School of Business. “Our MHA program will provide our students with the competencies and tools to assess the delivery and quality of care. Our students are engaged in all facets of the healthcare industry. Their learning experience at Boston College will allow them to add value to their healthcare organization.” Hamilton, an active member of the Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education, spent more than two decades as a career military officer and serves on the board of the Catholic Health System in Buffalo. Emily Raviola, who served as the MHA program interim director during the search period, has assumed the role of assistant director. —University Communications
BCSSW’s Shaw Awarded Grant for Project to Aid Sexual Assault Victims Boston College School of Social Work Assistant Professor Jessica Shaw has been awarded a $313,558 grant by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) Office on Violence Against Women for her project “Evaluation of a Cross-System Cooperative Response to Adolescent Sexual Assault Victims.” Shaw, the first BCSSW faculty member to earn a DOJ grant, seeks to better understand mandated reporting procedures for adolescent victims of sexual assault in one jurisdiction in Massachusetts, and whether the process – which differs from other communities across the United States – leads to better support services for victims and more instances of prosecuted assaults. She hopes her findings can be used to inform the development of better-coordinated interventions across medical, legal, advocacy, and child protective systems that best address the needs of survivors, while improving upon
a criminal justice system that has dismally low rates of prosecution and conviction nationwide. Shaw is a member of a task force organized by the Massachusetts Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner program that is developing discipline-specific best practice guidelines for coordinated, crosssystem responses to adolescent sexual assault. Observing the need for more information on the impact of mandatory reporting procedures across the Commonwealth provided the impetus for Shaw to undertake the study. “I’m hopeful we can provide useful information to the practitioners addressing sexual assault in their everyday work, as well as to the policymakers and other critical decision-makers who are positioned to change and define system policies, practices, and coordination,” said Shaw. –BC School of Social Work Read more at http://bit.ly/jessica-shaw-grant
School of Theology and Ministry Associate Professor of the Practice Rafael Luciani greeting Pope Francis.
Faculty Member Relishes Audience with Pope BY KATHLEEN SULLIVAN STAFF WRITER
During a recent private audience with Pope Francis, School of Theology and Ministry Associate Professor of the Practice Rafael Luciani had the opportunity to present the pontiff with a couple of publications and talk about ways Boston College can help promote the pope’s message throughout the Church. Luciani gave the pope the new English translation of his book, Pope Francis and the Theology of the People, which focuses on the pastoral and theological vision of Pope Francis, particularly his embrace of a type of liberation theology called the theology of the people. He told the pope that the book was used in a course he taught at the STM. According to Luciani, Boston College was the first college or university in the US to offer a course on the Latin American roots and the theology of Pope Francis. The pope asked Luciani if STM could offer an online course on Amoris laetitia, his 2016 apostolic exhortation on the family. The pontiff was aware of the popularity of a previous STM Spanish Language Continuing Education online course on the social and political aspects of his papacy that attracted thousands of participants. Luciani said the pope told him that “all your academic work has to have an impact on people’s lives.” In response, Luciani reports, STM’s Formación Continua will present a six-week course on Amoris laetitia this spring in conjunction with the Pontifical Commission for Latin America at the Vatican, Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, Alberto Hurtado University in Chile,
Pontifical University Comillas in Spain, and other Jesuit universities. The course will be taught by world renowned experts on Amoris laetitia and coordinated by STM Associate Professor of the Practice Felix Palazzi. Luciani then discussd STM’s Latino/Latin American Initiatives, a multi-tiered project that seeks to make connections among the Latin America Church and Latin America theology, US latino/as, and Spain. The initiative — organized by Luciani, Palazzi and STM Associate Professor Hosffman Ospino — will conduct outreach globally, nationally, and locally. In April, STM and Javeriana University, a prestigious Jesuit university in Colombia, will cosponsor a conference to mark the 50th anniversary of Medellín, the historic 1968 Latin American Bishops Conference. “This is very important because it marked the birth of the Latin American Church and Latin American theology,” said Luciani, who, along with Palazzi, Ospino and other BC scholars, will travel to Bogotá for the event. “It is especially important because it’s the pope’s roots. It is also celebrating the way he has led the Church and is reforming the Church.” Luciani and the pope also discussed the possibility of BC organizing an international conference on Laudato si, hosted by the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences in the Vatican. Luciani said he found his conversation with Pope Francis very affirming. “He has a clear vision of what the Church should be and how it should be responding to problems in the world today,” said Luciani. “He has wisdom, a lot of energy, and optimism.”
During the private audience, Luciani also presented the pope a copy of the book of texts from the 2017 Ibero-American Conference of Theology organized by Boston College last February. Pope Francis was kept apprised of the conference by his representative and advisors who attended, but had not seen the final conference book, published just before Luciani departed for Rome. Luciani also gave a copy of the text, which was edited by Palazzi, to the Vatican Library. Another gift Luciani offered to the pope was the most recent issue of the journal, Medellín, for which 30 scholars, including Luciani, contributed essays on the teaching of Pope Francis. Medellín is the official journal of CELAM, the Latin American Bishops Council that represents all the local bishops’ conferences in Latin America. “[The journal] was an important effort to help promote the pope’s teachings,” said Luciani, a senior adviser to CELAM and a member of its Theological and Pastoral Commission. While most of Luciani’s private audience with Pope Francis centered on work, there was also a very meaningful and pastoral moment. Pope Francis called Luciani’s parents in Venezuela and left a voice message for them offering his greetings and a blessing. Luciani’s father, a Knight of the Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great, had a stroke five years ago and was very ill at the time; he died last month. “It was very kind of him,” recalled Luciani. “My mother was so happy to hear his voice. It gave a little bit of hope in such difficult times.” Contact Kathleen Sullivan at kathleen.sullivan@bc.edu
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BC International Student Population At New High
Global Engagement Continued from page 1 munity. “Clearly, BC is active internationally: This is evident in, for example, the numbers of our students who go abroad, and of international students and scholars we host, as well as the programs and collaborations around the world in which BC is involved,” said Godenzi, whose co-chair is Associate Professor of Political Science Jennifer Erickson. “But the committee found that there is often little coordination in what we do, and no overall strategy for creating and implementing initiatives. “As a result, people within – and beyond – the University community have a hard time finding out the extent and nature of our global engagement. Something like the creation of a database on faculty research and teaching activities would be helpful.” BC’s peer institutions tend to demonstrate a higher degree of organization, support and magnitude of international activities, the committee found. This should not be construed as a criticism of those in the University who administer, participate in or contribute to international programs, however, Godenzi said. “Success in global engagement is a matter of investing resources, but more than that, of being intentional and far-sighted in how you craft that engagement. It means, for example, integrating global education into curriculum, research and outreach programs for undergraduate, graduate, professional courses and programs. It also means making sure all stakeholders – staff, as well as administrators, faculty, students, alumni and friends of BC – understand the impact global engagement will have on the institution.” Another important facet of global engagement, Godenzi said, is emphasizing the academic, professional, faith and formational characteristics that distinguish BC, whether its programs in STEM or social innovation, for example, or its Jesuit, Catholic heritage. “Related to that is the necessity of choosing where BC should focus global partnerships and programs – what parts of the world offer the best prospects for success? Latin America comes to mind, given its strong Catholic faith tradition and our numerous existing ties with local universities and communities; or China, since a large part of our international student and alumni population are from there. What could BC bring to the table, and what would
BY PHIL GLOUDEMANS STAFF WRITER
“Success in global engagement is a matter of investing resources,” says Godenzi, “but more than that, of being intentional and far-sighted in how you craft that engagement.” Photo of Samuel Beckett Bridge, Dublin, by Aitor Muñoz provided through iStock
these associations mean for BC?” A University-wide committee charged with answering such questions offers BC the opportunity to devise a comprehensive plan for global engagement, said Godenzi, and “we look forward to working on this challenge in the months ahead.” In addition to Godenzi and Erickson, members of the Global Engagement Committee (and their University affiliations) are: Rui Albuquerque (CSOM/Finance), Ethan Baxter (MCA&S/ Earth and Environmental Sciences), Edward Choi (graduate student representative), Donna Cullinan (CSON/Community Health),Nick Gozik (Office of International Programs), Sr. Margaret Guider, OSF (STM/ Systematics), Régine Jean-Charles (MCA&S/Romance Languages, African and African Diaspora Studies), Dorothy Jones (CSON/
Adult Health), Praveen Kumar (BCSSW/Global Practice), Patricia Lowe (Office for Institutional Diversity), Rafael Luciani (STM/ Systematics), Lucia Madero Murillo (undergraduate student representative), Judith McMorrow (BC Law/Legal Ethics), Adrienne Nussbaum (Office of International Students and Scholars). Also, Erik Owens (MCA&S/ Theology, Boisi Center), Daniel Ponsetto (Mission and Ministry), Ginger Saariaho (Advancement), Dennis Shirley (LSOE/Teacher Education), Ethan Sullivan (CSOM/Undergraduate Curriculum), Hans de Wit (Educational Leadership and Higher Education), Hélène Bernot Ullerö (Office of Vice Provost for Research) and Denice Koljonen and Mike Pimental (Institutional Research, Planning and Assessment). Contact Sean Smith at sean.smith@bc.edu
Groome to Leave C21 Post Continued from page 1 we have done here at C21 over the past three years, maintaining its vitally important mission of being ‘a catalyst and resource for the renewal of the Catholic Church,’” said Groome. “I especially thank my valued colleagues, Associate Director Karen Kiefer and our C21 Fellow Elizabeth Campbell. It has been a pleasure to work with them.” Groome said he looked forward to returning full-time to his faculty position at the STM, and continuing to contribute to its teaching, research and service activities. Fr. Leahy thanked Groome for his service during his term as C21 director. “I am grateful to Tom for his leadership, insight, and unwavering commitment to dialogue and engagement of key issues in the Church. I have enjoyed working with him on C21.” The search for a new C21 director began earlier this month and is being chaired by Robert
Newton, special assistant to the president. The C21 Center serves as a catalyst and resource for the renewal of the Church, focusing on four main topics: handing on the faith; roles and relationships in the Church; sexuality in the Catholic tradition; and the Catholic intellectual tradition. The center has sponsored/cosponsored more than 600 events that have attracted approximately 70,000 participants, including 500 scholars or prominent Church figures. Its website [www.bc.edu/ church21], which has an international viewership, offers access to more than 400 webcasts of C21 programs, and its magazine, C21 Resources, has a circulation of more than 180,000. The C21 book series includes more than a dozen titles to date and the C21 Center Agape Latte events have attracted more than 10,000 students since its inception in 2006.
Boston College’s combined international undergraduate and graduate student population rose from 1,606 last year to 1,751 for this academic year, eclipsing the University’s previous record for most foreign enrollees. Students from Asia dominate both the undergrad and grad subtotals, contributing 65 percent cumulatively to the recordsetting figures. More than 790 Chinese students – a 24 percent increase over last year – and 160 Korean students attend BC today, representing more than half of the University’s international student population. Regionally, Europe, at 16 percent, placed second, with the largest contingent from Spain (51). “At the undergraduate level, we continue to experience steady growth,” said Adrienne Nussbaum, assistant dean and director of the Office of International Students and Scholars. “We saw a nearly nine percent increase, which is a cumulative effect of admitting more international freshmen over the past few years, as well as welcoming more exchange students in both the fall and spring semesters.” Within the graduate schools, the overall number of international students increased by more than nine percent, reports Nussbaum, largely due to higher enrollments in the Carroll Graduate School of Management, the Lynch Graduate School of Education, the School of Social Work, the School of Theology and Ministry and the Woods College of Advancing Studies. Among undergraduate international students, economics is the most popular field of study, followed by finance and mathematics. Accounting, theology/ ministry and finance are the most frequently selected fields of study among graduate international students. Nussbaum notes that on a national basis, there were fewer international students at US colleges during the 2016-17 academic year, attributable to an overall decrease in enrollees from Saudi Arabia and Brazil; BC does not typically attract students from those countries, however, so the negative impact was negligible. What brings international students to BC? “Our numbers have doubled over the past 10 years as a result of many factors, including efforts to welcome international
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students to the School of Theology and Ministry and the Law School’s Master of Laws (LLM) track, and the expansion of master’s programs,” says Nussbaum. “It’s also due to China now offering the SAT, opening the flood gates for undergraduate Chinese students to come to the US, which was not the case just a few years ago. The influx of Chinese students to American universities is a national phenomenon.” BC has, in fact, had some challenges attracting international students due to their misperceptions of “college” versus “university,” misunderstanding its close proximity to Boston, and underappreciating the meaning of a Jesuit institution, she adds.
Adrienne Nussbaum: “International students bring much needed different perspectives to the classroom, residential halls, and general campus life.” (Photo by Lee Pellegrini)
“Our admission offices do a much better job of explaining all of those assets,” said Nussbaum. While BC has enrolled foreign students for many years, their importance to the University has grown, says Nussbaum. “International students greatly contribute to the internationalization of the campus. They bring much needed different perspectives to the classroom, residential halls, and general campus life, while BC students, faculty and staff are exposed to people from around the world without leaving Chestnut Hill. Assumptions and stereotypes often break down when people of different cultures actually meet in person and have conversations,” she said. “Likewise, when our international students return to their home countries, they help eliminate negative or inaccurate American stereotypes. This type of mutual, cultural exchange is needed more than ever in a world grown increasingly divisive based on ‘fear of the other.’”
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Accomplished LSOE Researcher Retires Robsham Spring Schedule Begins Jan. 25 with ‘No Exit’
The dark, existentialist play “No Exit” by French philosopher, playwright, novelist, activist and literary critic Jean-Paul Sartre leads the spring semester Theatre Department productions at Robsham Theater Arts Center, Jan. 25-28 in the Bonn Studio Theater. Kylie Fletcher ’18 will direct the work, its premise summed up in Satre’s famous quote, “Hell is other people.” The play references his ideas about the struggle of being made to see oneself from the perspective of others. Its three main characters are locked together for eternity in a hideous room: bricked-up windows, lights that can never be turned off, no mirrors – and no exit. They grapple with their limited options to interact within their imprisonment, face each other as they really are, and in turn become reflections of each other. “No Exit” is presented by special arrangement with the Societe des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques, Paris. Two original works by undergraduate student playwrights will be staged in “New Voices 2018,” directed by Professor of Theatre Scott T. Cummings and presented Feb. 15-18 in the Bonn. In “The Things We Do,” an existential mystery by Taylor Badoyen ’19, three strangers arrive at an unusual gate and try to figure out what would make them worthy of passing through. Junior Michael Quinn’s “Get It Together” is set at a holiday house party, where Harold and Mary share an encounter that makes for a night they might forget but can never undo. Another student-directed play, Diana Son’s “Stop Kiss,” will be performed in the Bonn March 22-25. Directed by senior Taylor Tranfaglia, “Stop Kiss” – de-
scribed by Variety as “poignant and funny” – centers around Callie and Sara, who meet and unexpectedly fall in love. Their first kiss provokes a violent attack that transforms their lives in a way they could never anticipate. “Stop Kiss” is presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc., New York. From marauding pirates and jungle tyrants to unwilling comrades and unlikely heroes, “Peter and the Starcatcher” – which will run April 25-29 on the RTAC main stage – playfully explores the depths of greed and despair, as well as the bonds of friendship, duty and love. Associate Professor of the Practice of Theatre Luke Jorgensen directs the play, written by Rick Elice with music by Wayne Barker. A grownup prequel to “Peter Pan” based on the children’s novel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, the story concerns a young orphan and his mates who are shipped off from Victorian England to a distant island ruled by evil King Zarboff. The journey becomes a thrilling adventure when the ship is taken over by pirates whose leader is determined to claim a mysterious trunk and its treasure of a powerful celestial substance in the captain’s cabin. “Peter and the Starcatcher” is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International. Ticket prices (service fee included) for these productions are $17 for adults; $12 for BC students (with valid ID), faculty and staff (one ticket per ID), and seniors. Go to www.bc.edu/offices/ robsham/tickets for performance times, information on casts and production teams, and other details. –University Communications
BY PHIL GLOUDEMANS STAFF WRITER
Lynch School of Education Thomas More Brennan Professor Andrew Hargreaves, a renowned international expert on education reform and its impact, retired last month after 15 years at Boston College. “I’ve been at BC longer than any other place,” said the Britishborn, globe-trotting Hargreaves, who plans to move to Ottawa to be closer to his family but will continue as a LSOE research professor. “We’ve made some great friends here, folks from all walks of life.” LSOE colleague Dennis Shirley counts himself as one of those lucky comrades. “I’ve been fortunate to enjoy Andy’s friendship, not just as a collaborator on reports, articles and books, but also as a long-distance hiker on the Appalachian Trail, England’s Coast-to-Coast trail, in the Italian Dolomites and the Wild Coast Trail in South Africa,” said Shirley. “Among his many honors and well deserved awards during an illustrious career, I believe his most profound achievement is the simple fact that he has made us smarter by encouraging us to closely – and even obsessively – study texts and research data; by ensuring that we are thoroughly thinking through issues by entertaining perspectives we hadn’t thought of; and especially by acknowledging the deep cultural assumptions that always are brought to educational change. “He’s accomplished this in such a fun-loving and original way that he’s pushed even hardened skeptics to rethink their assumptions and to open up to new ways to uplift a rising generation. I will look forward to finding new ways to continue to work together and to forge new adventures for many years to come.” Hargreaves, ranked by the
American Enterprise Institute among the top 10 scholars with most influence on US education policy debate, is the founder of the Atlantic Rim Collaboratory – a group of leaders in two states, one Canadian province and five countries that promotes excellence, equity, inclusion, democracy and human rights in professionally run school systems. He serves as adviser in education to the premier of Ontario and the first minister of Scotland, and is president-elect
around the world,” said Stanton Wortham, the Charles F. Donovan, SJ, Dean of the Lynch School of Education. “He has extraordinary reach and name recognition internationally in educational leadership and policy circles, and he has been generous with the school, colleagues and students in using his networks to facilitate our work. I’m very grateful for his creative, insightful contributions to the field and within the school.” Caitlin Cunningham In 2016, Hargreaves was one of the two Americans on an international panel appointed to overhaul Scotland’s education system. He is the author of more than 30 books, several of which have received Outstanding Writing Awards, including the prestigious $100,000 Grawemeyer Award in Education for 2015 for Professional Capital, which he published with Michael Fullan. He has delivered invited addresses and provided staff development in more than 40 US states and 50 countries and is the founding editor of two scholLSOE Dean Stanton Wortham arly journals, the leading editor lauded Andrew Hargreaves of the First and Second Interna(above) for his “path-breaking tional Handbooks of Educational work around the world.” Change, and founding chair of of the International Congress for the Educational Change Special School Effectiveness and Improve- Interest Group at the American ment. Educational Research Association. Hargreaves noted that the misThe first in his extended family sion of the Thomas More Brennan to attend college, Hargreaves holds Chair is to promote social justice honorary doctorates from the Edand connect theory and practice ucation University of Hong King in education. “The chair embod- and the University of Uppsala in ies who I am, and what I stand Sweden, and is a Fellow of the for. I’m very grateful to BC for its Royal Society of Arts in the UK. enormous support and flexibility, In May 2015, he received Boston particularly in regard to the Uni- College’s award for Excellence in versity’s faith that my somewhat Teaching with Technology. ‘fuzzy’ initial project proposals Previously, he co-founded and would actually become something directed the International Centre significant. It’s time, however, to for Educational Change at the step aside for generational equity, Ontario Institute for Studies in to make space for others.” Education. “Andy brought substantial recognition to the Lynch School beContact Phil Gloudemans at cause of his path-breaking work philip.gloudemans@bc.edu
Using a ‘Social Entrepreneurship Mindset’ to Help Puerto Rico Continued from page 1 lot of solutions and technology for processing and purifying water. The issue was distributing the technology to the communities that need it.” Sarmiento and her teammates chose a $300 household water purification product, which can purify enough water to serve 100 people for a year, Sarmiento said. The team realized that distribution would be a formidable challenge. “Part of our initiative was creating a response team on the ground,” said Sarmiento. “Right now, most current efforts were just
bringing bottled water and bottled water donations. That’s not really sustainable and not great for the environment. Our proposal is to establish a distribution team, so you don’t have to rely on FEMA or the Red Cross. You can also better track distribution.” Trevor Lennox, a senior CSOM student studying finance and entrepreneurship with an Environmental Studies minor, was a member of a team that focused on providing people with power as the island struggles to rebuild its electrical grid.
“It’s been two months now,” Lennox said last month. “There are still a couple of million people without power. We were trying to figure out how to help people get power now and be more resilient in the future. This is not the only storm to hit them.” Rather than focus on islandwide infrastructure, the group tried to find a solar-powered solution for individual households. They settled on a solar-plus-storage solution with a six-panel solar array and a battery capable of storing enough energy to help power
household needs. They tried to keep the price close to $5,000, about the cost of buying and running a gas-powered generator. Given limited financial resources, the team studied potential microfinance solutions capable of helping residents purchase the technology without steep financial costs. In the end, such a solution is possible at a monthly price that’s slightly higher than the average electrical bill on the island, he said. Lennox, who works part-time for a solar energy company, said the project reinforced the need to
look at new ways to solve complex problems. “This definitely affirmed the idea that there are a lot of problems you can look at with the social entrepreneurship mindset and find sustainable solutions,” he said. “I think this project helped us look at problems in a new light and realize that there are so many different potential solutions that can be implemented.” Contact Ed Hayward at ed.hayward@bc.edu
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Chronicle JANUARY 18. 2018
BOSTON COLLEGE IN THE MEDIA An introduction to new faculty members at Boston College
Rawley Heimer
Assistant Professor of Finance Carroll School of Management DEGREES: University of Rochester (BA); Brandeis University (PhD) WHAT HE STUDIES: Financial decisions in risky asset markets and conventional debt markets; impact of social networks and low probability events in developing distorted beliefs, leading to trading mistakes and other costly financial errors; political and legal environment’s effect on households’ access to credit. WHAT HE’S TEACHING: Corporate Finance What led to your interest in behavioral finance? “I started working in the area of behavioral finance because I am interested in learning more about the financial mistakes that people make and why they make them.”
Kathryn Lindsey
Assistant Professor of Mathematics Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences DEGREES: Williams College (BA); Cornell University (PhD) WHAT SHE STUDIES: Dynamical systems, low-dimensional geometry, complex analysis. WHAT SHE’S TEACHING: Calculus I; Topics in Geometry and Topology For a decade, you spent your summers working at Sea Education Association, teaching nautical science and navigation – how do you see that experience in context of your development as a mathematician? “In my role as a mate on one of SEA’s tall ships, I and an oceanographer led a ‘watch’ consisting of approximately eight students; as a team, we were responsible for operating the vessel and conducting oceanographic research while the ship sails both day and night. The ship is a platform that forces students to learn an incredible amount and to push their limits, to take on and succeed at tasks that are sometimes scary or uncomfortable. Living and working alongside my students in this challenging environment has taught me a great deal about how to support and lead a group of learners, and I enjoy it immensely.”
Jia Niu
Assistant Professor of Chemistry Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences DEGREES: Tsinghua University, Beijing (BS and MS); Harvard University (PhD) WHAT HE STUDIES: Developing new tools for the investigation and regulation of key biochemical processes taking place on the surface of and within a cellular system. WHAT HE’S TEACHING: Principles of Chemical Biology What fostered your interest in cellular systems and what are some of the broader goals of your research initiatives? “I was captivated and in the same time inspired by nature’s ability to regulate the activities of cells — the basic building blocks of all lives — through intricate changes in their surrounding environment. As a chemist, I want to make small and big molecules that resemble the natural regulators of cells and thus are able to engineer their behaviors just like nature does. If successful, our effort will not only shed light on understanding how nature achieves regulation of complex cellular functions, but also gain useful tools to study and control cell-related challenges to human health, such as cancer, autoimmune diseases, and tissue regeneration.”
Liesl Yamaguchi
Assistant Professor of French Romance Languages and Literatures Department Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences DEGREES: Columbia College of Columbia University (BA); University of Oxford (M.St.) École normale supérieure; Princeton University (PhD) WHAT SHE STUDIES: 19th-century French poetics, linguistics, literary theory and translation. WHAT SHE’S TEACHING: Masterpieces of French Literature; Introduction to Drama and Poetry; Poetry and Freedom; Sanctuary, Asylum, and Sacred Space in 19th Century France. Your current book project is on colored hearing – a variety of synesthesia in which particular sounds prompt sensations of color (e.g., a harpsichord is heard as “silver”) – a phenomenon that may be traced back to antiquity in connection with musical sounds. Why was it not until the 19th century that language appeared as a color stimulus? “This is the driving question of my research. It’s extremely strange that accounts of colored language appear only in the 19th century – even stranger that many of these accounts are authored independently by prominent intellectuals, among them Prussian physicist Hermann von Helmholtz, French poet Stéphane Mallarmé, German composer Richard Wagner, and Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure. In all these accounts, the color stimulus is identified not as the sense of a word (meaning), but rather as the medium of language itself (the aural impression or graphic appearance of a letter). “This shift in attention from meaning to medium is considered a hallmark of 20thcentury European modernism, but my research would suggest that a widespread perceptual shift was underway well before the watershed decade of the 1910s.”
–Ed Hayward, Rosanne Pellegrini and Sean Smith Photos by Lee Pellegrini and Gary Wayne Gilbert
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The end of 2017 was marked by an outpouring of sexual harassment claims in the entertainment industry and beyond. Prof. of Macro Practice Tiziana Dearing (BCSSW) discussed the new “Time’s Up” movement by prominent women in Hollywood, and an agenda for 2018, on New England Cable News’ “The Take.”
the “rule of law” as it pertains to sanctuary cities in a piece for The Crime Report. Prof. Marilynn Johnson (History) provided insights into the rise of the nation’s urban police forces for a History.com article on how stereotypes of the Irish evolved “from “criminals’ to cops.”
After Boston experienced its highest recorded tide as a result of the Jan. 4 blizzard, Asst. Prof. Carling Hay (Earth and Environmental Sciences), who worked on the Climate Ready Boston report, discussed the impact of rising tides on the city’s future with NBC-Boston.
Fueled by widening divisions over social issues within the American electorate, the US regional realignment has left a greater imprint on the direction of federal economic policy than on the nation’s prevailing cultural zeitgeist, wrote Assoc. Prof. David Hopkins (Political Science) in an op-ed for The New York Times.
Prof. Robert Ross (Political Science) provided comments to the Boston Herald on the public olive branch North Korean leader Kim Jong Un extended to South Korea in a New Year’s Day speech.
Writing for The American Interest, Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences Honors Program Lect. Martha Bayles described the gradual, deadly constriction of freedom in Cambodia.
The late Roy Dotrice’s voice was “an instrument of sorcerous potency,” wrote Director of American Studies Prof. Carlo Rotella (English) in a “The Lives They Lived” remembrance for New York Times Magazine focused on the actor’s audiobook reading of George R.R. Martin’s A
Prof. Ray Madoff (Law), co-founder and director of the school’s Forum on Philanthropy and the Public Good, discussed with CNBC the likely effect of President Trump’s tax overhaul on charitable giving.
In an op-ed for WBUR “Cognoscenti,” Prof. Kari Hong (Law) weighed in on President Trump’s proposal to “trade” dreamers protection for a border wall, and discussed
OBITUARY
Historian Roberta T. Manning, 77 Retired Professor of History Roberta T. Manning, an expert on Soviet history and politics who helped spearhead a major international research project on the Stalin era, died on Jan. 3. She was 77. Dr. Manning joined the Boston College faculty in 1975, a period when the Cold War remained at full boil despite US-Soviet efforts at détente. The next two decades were a watershed for Soviet scholars like Manning, driven by a succession of events including the USSR’s perestroika-glasnost reforms, the collapse of the East Bloc in 1989 and the Soviet Union’s dissolution two years later. When Dr. Manning retired in 2013, few if any freshmen entering college that year had been alive during the Soviet Union’s existence. But the downfall of the USSR provided Dr. Manning with an opportunity to build on what had already been an extensive body of work that utilized rare Soviet archival material going back decades. During the 1990s, she co-led a group of 40 scholars from Russia, the US, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, and South Korea in collecting, arranging, translating and publishing a five-volume set of books, The Tragedy of the Soviet Village: Documents and Materials, drawn from five major Moscow archives, including that of the KGB. The project allowed these materials to be accessed and used by academics around the world. Publications like The Tragedy of the Soviet Village, as well as her 1983 book The Crisis of the Old Order in Russia: Gentry and Government and Stalinist Terror: New Perspectives, a 1993 collection of
essays she co-edited, underscored Dr. Manning’s belief that Stalinera research too often employed a “top-down” approach that inflated the dictator’s role in the infamous 1930s purges and overlooked more systematic patterns of oppression and persecution. In a 1989 article for Russian History, Dr. Manning described the various tensions, disputes and fissures in a Communist Party organization in a rural district northwest of Moscow to illustrate the scope and character of purges on a local level. Such episodes, she wrote, demonstrated the “social and political hatreds that spawned the revolution and continued to influence Soviet politics 20 years later,” and suggested a more complex picture than that which painted Stalin as the purges’ orchestrator. Dr. Manning’s work won her recognition from her peers and beyond academia. She was awarded the American Historical Association’s prestigious Herbert Baxter Adams Prize in 1983 and was granted a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1989. She is survived by her daughters, Innessa Anne Manning and Rebecca Emily Manning; her brothers, Robert and Charles Thompson; and three grandsons. The family is planning a memorial service for some time this spring, and seeks to create a scholarship fund as a tribute to her academic accomplishments. More information is available by request at memoryofroberta@gmail.com. –University Communications Read the full obituary at http:// bit.ly/roberta-manning-obituary
Song of Ice and Fire.
BC faculty members provided commentary regarding the death of Cardinal Bernard F. Law, the former influential Archbishop of Boston: Prof. Thomas Groome (STM) on NECN’s “The Take,” and to the Associated Press, among other interviews; Prof. of Macro Practice Tiziana Dearing (BCSSW) on WGBH News; Prof. James Bretzke, SJ (STM), to WHDH News and the Boston Globe – the latter piece included comments by Clough Millennium Professor of History James O’Toole, who also was quoted by the Washington Post and Associated Press.
JOBS The following are among the most recent positions posted by the Department of Human Resources. For more information on employment opportunities at Boston College, see www.bc.edu/offices/hr: Assistant Supervisor, Electrical Operations, Facilities Director, Church in the 21st Century Center Assistant Director, Marketing, Pastoral Programs Campus Minister, University Mission and Ministry Construction Project Manager, Facilities Director, Boston College Campus School Network Engineer, Information Technology Senior Philanthropic Advisor, University Advancement Assistant Treasurer, Financial/ Budget Broadcast Engineer, ACC Network Production Dining Management Intern, Dining and Catering/Auxiliary/ Public Safety
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Chronicle JANUARY 18. 2018
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ALSO IN CAMPUS ARTS:
Sartre’s “No Exit” kicks off Robsham Theater schedule
–See page 6
Lowell Humanities Series Spring Slate Begins Next Week Bestselling novelist and groundbreaking media entrepreneur Kurt Andersen – acclaimed for his analysis of historical and cultural trends – launches the spring semester Lowell Humanities Series on Jan. 24 at 7 p.m., in Gasson 100. His talk, “Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire” is based on his book of the same name – excerpted last year in The Atlantic – which maintains that the Kurt Andersen great cultural shifts of the 1960s accelerated America’s trajectory toward “alternative facts,” and “fake news” is not something new, but rather the ultimate expression of our national character. Andersen is the author of other books including Heyday and Turn of the Century, and frequently writes for New York and Vanity Fair. He is host and co-creator of the Peabody Award–winning public radio program “Studio 360,” broadcast on more than 200 stations and distributed by podcast to a weekly audience of nearly one million. Other Lowell Humanities Series events this semester (all at 7 p.m. in Gasson 100 unless otherwise indicated): Feb. 8, Willie Jennings (An-
BC SCENES
nual Candlemas Lecture)–Jennings, a Yale Divinity School associate professor of Systematic Theology and Africana Studies, will present “To Hear the World Again: Giving Christians an Actual Doctrine of Creation.” He writes in the areas of liberation theologies, cultural identities, and anthropology and his book The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race won the American Academy of Religion Award of Excellence in the Study of Religion, the Grawemeyer Award in Religion, and was called a “theological masterpiece” by Englewood Review. His appearance in Devlin 101 is co-sponsored with the Theology Department. Feb. 28, Kenneth Pomeranz– Pomeranz, a University of Chicago professor of modern Chinese history and a founding editor of the Journal of Global History, will give the talk, “How Did ‘China’ Get So Big? Redefining the Qing Realm and its Subjects ca. 17501900.” His publications include the American HistoriKenneth Pomeranz cal Association John K. Fairbank Prize-winning The Great Divergence: China, Europe, and the Making of the Modern World Economy, and The Making of a Hinterland:
State, Society and Economy in Inland North China, 1853–1937, which won the Fairbank Prize. He has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities, among others. His address will focus on his current research, which tries to explain how and why contemporary China’s huge land mass and population have formed a single political unit. March 14, Natasha Trethewey–A former Poet Laureate of the United States and author of four poetry collections – including the Pulitzer Prize-winning Native Guard – Trethewey will present “Beyond Katrina,” based on her 2010 non-fiction book. She has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation, among others, and is a North- Natasha Trethewey western University English professor. She was named Poet Laureate of the state of Mississippi in 2012. The event is co-sponsored by the Park Street Corporation Speaker Series. [Information on Park Street speaker events this semester is at www.bc.edu/offices/ park-street-series] March 21, Fiction Days Presents Viet Thanh Nguyen–
Nguyen, a bestselling Vietnamese American novelist, won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for The Sympathizer (the subject of his talk), which garnered other awards and was on more than 30 book-of-the-year lists. He also authored Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War, a National Book Award finalViet Thanh Nguyen ist. Nguyen is critic-at-large for the Los Angeles Times, and a professor of American studies and ethnicity at the University of Southern California, where he chairs the English Department. The event is cosponsored by the Asian American Studies Program, the English Department, and the Institute for the Liberal Arts. April 4, Sam Quinones– A journalist whose career has spanned nearly three decades, Quinones is the author of three acclaimed books of narrative nonfiction, including his most recent, Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic, which he will discuss at this event. Working for the Los Angeles Times, he covered immigration, drug trafficking, neighborhood stories, and gangs, and later freelanced for such publications as National Geographic and The New York Times. He received Columbia Journalism
School’s Maria Moors Cabot prize for a career of excellence in covering Latin America, and won the prestigious Alicia Patterson Fellowship. April 11, Anna Deavere Smith–Playwright, actor, and professor, Smith will present her singular brand of theater to highlight issues of community, character, and diversity in America in “Notes from the Field.” Renowned for crafting one-woman shows based on conversations with real people from all walks of life, Smith turns her interviews into scripts and transforms herself into a number of characters. She has been awarded the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize, one of the largest and Anna Deavere Smith most prestigious awards in the arts, the National Humanities Medal, and a Guggenheim Fellowship for theater arts. This event, rescheduled from last semester, will take place in Robsham Theater. For more details on the Lowell Humanities Series and speakers, see www.bc.edu/lowellhs. Events are free and open to the public. The series is sponsored by the Lowell Institute, BC’s Institute for the Liberal Arts and the Provost’s Office. –University Communications
WHERE THE PATH LEADS Boston College held its third annual Endeavor program, which aids career exploration for sophomores studying the liberal arts, on Jan. 10-12. The students took part in networking opportunities, skillbuilding activities, and career treks into Boston with alumni and prominent employers. The Career Center organized Endeavor in collaboration with Student Affairs, the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences, Office of Residential Life and Alumni Association. [For information on the program, see www.bc.edu/endeavor]
Photos by Lee Pellegrini and Peter Julian