Q&A
Helping a ‘Lost Generation’ Find Themselves
Salem Professor in Global Practice Theresa Betancourt, director of the Research Program on Children and Adversity (RPCA) at the Boston College School of Social Work, recently published the book Shadows into Light: A Generation of Former Child Soldiers Comes of Age—a fresh perspective on her two-decade study of children who were pulled into Sierra Leone’s bloody 10-year civil war. Discussing her project as well as general issues related to violence-related trauma among youths, Betancourt also tells the stories of Sahr and Isatu, who were among an estimated 20,000 children forced into combat or servitude in Sierra Leone—and how they and other survivors have fared on their long, uncertain road back into society and everyday life.
She discussed Shadows into Light with Sean Smith of the Chronicle.
You’ve published your research in numerous outlets, and it’s also been covered extensively in the media. Why write a book?
Betancourt: After so many years of pub-
lishing my research in peer review journals, I felt there needed to be a place to tell the story in a more coherent and in a comprehensive way. Writing this book was my attempt to bring all the many papers over the years into a larger Gestalt: bringing the full story together of how the study came about, its core intentions, how we did it and what we learned into a clearer view.
Shadows into Light describes a study that has now been underway for more than 23 years—following the lives of male and female
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Researchers: Opioid Deaths Linked to Lack of Economic Upward Mobility
BY ED HAYWARD STAFF WRITER
The unprecedented increase in drug overdose deaths in the United States, long believed to be driven by access to legal and illegal opioids, is most closely tied to an equally dramatic decline in upward income mobility, according to a new analysis by Boston College researchers.
Reporting in the International Journal of Drug Policy, the researchers evaluated the possible influence of another major 21st century trend—growing income inequality, said Gene Heyman, a senior lecturer in BC’s Psychology and Neuroscience Department.
“According to received opinion, the primary driver of opioid overdose deaths was increased access to opioids, particularly legal opioids prescribed for pain,” said Heyman.
“But our analysis found the strongest predictor of overdose deaths was whether or not an individual was stuck in lower income brackets.”
The question the researchers set out to answer was, “What was making individuals increasingly susceptible to the lure of intoxicating drugs?,” according to the co-authors, who included Heyman’s departmental colleagues Associate Professor Ehri Ryu and retired Professor Hiram Brownell.
“This had not been as thoroughly investigated as had the role of opioid prescriptions,” said Heyman. “Our analyses synthesized recent research on county-level variation in overdoses, income, education, and family structure.”
Following the lead of economists, the team created an index of growing income
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New Course Includes Trip to Retrace Ignatian Journey
BY SEAN SMITH CHRONICLE EDITOR
Twenty-one Boston College seniors will travel to Spain and retrace the journey of Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus, as part of a course on leadership and Jesuit principles debuting this semester.
Titled The Discerning Pilgrim, the three-credit Capstone course is an outgrowth of the University’s Fourth Year Initiative program, which encourages faculty and administrators to develop classes and co-curricular experiences that help prospective graduates reflect on and evaluate their time at BC, and prepare them for postgraduate life.
Offered through the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences, the course is a collaboration between Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies (IAJS) Director Casey Beaumier, S.J., and Student Affairs Associate Vice President for Student Engagement and Formation Colleen Dallavalle, who co-created and co-teach the course, and will lead the trip to Spain accompanied by by Taiga Guterres from the Jesuit Educational Quarterly as well as the 21 seniors.
They will travel portions of the 120-mile “Camino Ignaciano,” the route Ignatius took in 1522 from his home in the Basque country to Manresa, near Barcelona, where he began composing his renowned Spiritual Exercises.
The pilgrimage to Spain during the University’s spring break (March 3-8 this year) is one of four components to the course, which “views reflection, spirituality,
Continued on page 5
2 Around Campus Overseeing BC’s parking and transportation; Hammond Pond Parkway project update.
3 Fair Warning Economist says text message programs can cut down overdrafts.
8 ‘Wonders of Creation’ New McMullen Museum exhibition opens February 9.
Theresa Betancourt
photo by lee pellegrini
The Black Faculty, Staff, and Administrators Association at Boston College held its annual Martin Luther King Jr. Unity Breakfast on January 23 in the Heights Room of Corcoran Commons. photo by seho lee ’27
Gathering in Unity
Around Campus
“Nobody is going to say, ‘Wow, that garage door opened so well!’ That’s okay. We want to make parking and transportation a seamless experience.”
—Gabriel Parker
Collaboration and Community Are Key for a Campus Constantly on the Move
BY ELLEN SEAWARD SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE
For most people, parking and transportation are services we only notice when something is slowing us down, like a stuck garage door or a malfunctioning card reader.
But in reality, Boston College Transportation and Parking Services is a constantly evolving department that runs 24/7 and is led by just two people: Director of Transportation, Parking, and Contracted Services Gabriel Parker and Assistant Director of Transportation and Parking Stephanie Castro. They’ll be the first to tell you that parking and transportation aren’t most people’s passion—and yet, they love the job anyway.
“It always seems like a cliche to say it’s about the people, but here, it really is. I just really love my coworkers,” said Parker.
After working externally for BC’s parking vendor for 15 years, an opportunity came up at BC, and Parker knew he wanted it. BC, after all, had been his favorite account while in commercial parking. It was just something about the people and the mission, and Castro felt the same way. She had been working in commercial parking with Parker and decided she was ready for something bigger that might help people.
“It’s the people that make the job,” said Castro, agreeing with Parker. “We work with BC Police, Office of Residential Life, Student Affairs, Dining Services, and Athletics—everyone. I love the sense of community at BC and collaborating with so many departments.”
That sense of collaboration and community is particularly important for the team of two because, as Parker explained, parking policy isn’t meant to be made in a vacuum.
“You want to talk to people,” said Parker. “We work to make sure people are heard and their opinions are valued, even if we can’t do what they want right away.”
On a campus of nearly 20,000 students, faculty, and staff, there are a lot of voices and opinions. Parker and Castro take them all in stride, finding different approaches to seeking and encouraging feedback. One of those approaches is a monthly parking
ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT FOR UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS
Jack Dunn
SENIOR DIRECTOR FOR UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS
Patricia Delaney
EDITOR Sean Smith
team of students. They’re the first in line for fielding concerns and answering questions,” said Bando.
And after concerns and questions come in?
“Gabe brings a keen sense of data processing,” Bando said. “Once he learns about an issue, he uses the specific concerns and questions and turns them into solutions. Together, Gabe and Steph make such an impact on the community and they do it in such a way that reflects BC values, with a smile.”
advisory council meeting, which offers a line of communication from the campus community to Transportation and Parking Services, which is administered through Auxiliary Services. On the council are representatives for different campuses and offices, students, graduate students, and faculty, ensuring that Parker and Castro can get feedback from across the University.
Castro also makes it a part of her routine to collect real-time feedback. She treks across campus every day to scope out possible issues, from picking up leftover parking cones to making sure bus stop heaters
are working. For her, it’s the best part of the day.
“There’s never a dull moment. I love that part of my job. I always like to have a visual of what we’re doing.”
Associate Vice President for Auxiliary Services Patricia Bando describes Castro as the service’s front line. As well as making rounds on campus daily, Castro also manages a team of BC students who answer calls from parents, faculty, staff, students, and visitors with parking and transit questions.
“Steph helps to guide and mentor this
Take the Messina College shuttle bus, for example: It’s a new, complex route that must maneuver through heavy traffic and streets with vehicle weight limits, and as Messina College grows, the bus’s ridership will grow, too. In collaboration with BC’s external bus service, Parker and Castro have updated the schedule to respond to students’ needs, making tweaks to the route, timing, and pick-up and drop-off locations all while balancing the ride to be as express as possible while still getting students to where they want to go.
For Parker and Castro, that’s the whole goal.
“Nobody is going to say, ‘Wow, that garage door opened so well!’” said Parker. “That’s okay. We want to make parking and transportation a seamless experience. We’re all here because of you—the students. We care about you very much and we are always listening.”
Ellen Seaward is a senior digital content writer in the Office of University Communications
Hammond Pond Parkway Construction Project Update
Construction on Hammond Pond Parkway, the two-mile roadway south of the Chestnut Hill Campus that connects to Beacon Street and serves as a link to many communities south and west of the University, is continuing this winter.
Decorative pendant street lighting, installed in late December, is anticipated to be operational in three to four weeks, reports the Commonwealth’s Department of Conservation and Recreation. Traffic signal work and fencing installation at the intersection of Beacon Street and the park-
CONTRIBUTING STAFF Phil Gloudemans Ed Hayward Audrey Loyack Rosanne Pellegrini Kathleen Sullivan
PHOTOGRAPHERS
Caitlin Cunningham Lee Pellegrini
way has continued this month.
Projected activities during the next four months include installation of fences and guardrails, concrete sidewalks, ramps, and bike lanes, as well as repairs to the bridge and road surface over the MBTA Green Line D branch. Final paving and pavement markings are scheduled for June and July, with anticipated project completion in September.
During the lengthy construction period, commuters to BC using the parkway should expect delays and periodic detours
and are encouraged to use alternate routes to the Main Campus.
The two-year, $11.3-million project began in December 2023. Undertaken with support from the Healey administration and the City of Newton, the design— characterized as a “complete streets” approach—aims to enhance safety and accessibility for pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles between Beacon Street and Route 9, particularly to the Hammond Pond Reservation and the Webster Conservation Area.
—Phil Gloudemans
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Director of Transportation, Parking, and Contracted Services Gabriel Parker and Assistant Director of Transportation and Parking Stephanie Castro
photo by lee pellegrini
Banking on a Timely Warning
Could text message alert programs help bank customers avoid overdrafts? ‘Yes,’ says a Boston College economist.
BY PHIL GLOUDEMANS STAFF WRITER
A United Kingdom-based study led by Associate Professor of Economics Michael D. Grubb found that automatically enrolling bank customers in a text message alert program significantly reduced overdrafts and resulted in massive potential consumer savings.
The field experiment, conducted by a multinational research team, examined transactions at the six largest retail banks in the UK during 2017. Grubb and his colleagues, who recently published the results in The Journal of Finance (“Sending Out an SMS: Automatic Enrollment Experiments for Overdraft Alerts”), say the results indicate that low-income customers, frequent overdrafters, and financially vulnerable consumers—all of whom policymakers most want to assist—can significantly benefit from text alerts.
Through the program, overdrafts and unpaid item charges declined by 4 to 19 percent, resulting in an annual, nationwide potential consumer savings range of nearly $213 million to approximately $300 million at today’s exchange rate (the researchers measured the savings in British pound sterling at £170 to £240 million at the time).
“Bank overdrafts are one of the most common but one of the most expensive forms of consumer borrowing,” Grubb
noted. “Automatic enrollment in just-intime alerts provides a large consumer benefit without offsetting consumer harm.”
An overdraft occurs when a consumer has an insufficient account balance to pay for a transaction, but the financial institution pays it. Typically, a UK bank pays an overdraft transaction by extending overdraft credit—using its own funds and then requiring the consumer to repay.
At the time the study took place, overdrafts in the UK incurred a mix of daily charges, ranging from $6 to $12, and interest rates of 11 to 67 percent, in addition to unpaid item charges of $6 to $31 per declined transaction.
In 2017, overdraft and unpaid item charges in the UK totaled an estimated $3.26 billion (£2.6 billion). In the nation’s poorest areas, the one percent heaviest us-
New Faculty/Staff Survey
BY JACK DUNN ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT FOR UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS
Boston College has launched its triennial Faculty & Staff Experience Survey to gain a better understanding of the work climate and overall professional experiences of BC employees.
The survey, co-sponsored by the provost and dean of faculties and vice president for human resources and administered by the vice president for institutional research and planning, will be distributed by email to all full-time faculty and staff during the week of January 27-31. Like the Faculty & Staff Experience surveys that were administered in 2015, 2018, and 2022, it will solicit feedback on a wide range of workplace topics, with the goal of enhancing overall employee satisfaction. All information submitted in the survey is anonymous and will remain confidential.
Vice President for Human Resources David Trainor said the survey is an extension of the University’s culture of research, assessment, and planning, and its commitment to assisting employees in their profes-
ers spent $468 on average on unarranged overdraft charges in 2016.
Adjusted for default risk, the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) estimated that the average overdraft markups—the amounts added to the cost to drive profit—are three times higher than those for credit card lending or unsecured personal loans. Additionally, previous studies demonstrated that consumers often have access to lower-cost sources of liquidity at the time of their overdraft borrowing, which they could use rather than incurring overpriced overdraft fees.
According to the researchers, inattention to account balances is the principal theory for overdrafts, so requiring banks to automatically enroll their customers in text message alert programs should reduce overdraft fees, a policy they note was implemented in 2018 by the Competition and Markets Authority—the UK’s principal competition regulator—and extended by the FCA, which expanded the mandate to cover more banks and more overdrafts.
They noted, however, that their examination does not reveal what the banks’ pricing response would be once the alerts were installed across the market.
“Since alert mandates represent a regulated cut in revenues from hidden charges, a natural concern is that banks will raise overdraft fees or other charges to offset the lost revenue,” Grubb said. “Nevertheless, we are optimistic that UK retail banks will respond to the regulated cut in hidden charges similarly to United States retail banks, which did not adjust prices to offset the 2009 CARD Act reductions in hidden credit card charges.” The CARD (Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure) Act is a U.S. federal law that
aims to protect consumers from unfair credit card practices.
The researchers emphasized, however, that text message alerts were not a panacea. “Bank customers had sufficient financial resources to avoid over 50 percent of the overdrafts by drawing on savings or lower interest credit card accounts,” they noted. “However, text message alerts reduced charges by much less than 50 percent, suggesting that banks can still profit off consumers’ mistakes. While text messages are beneficial, this shows that additional measures are necessary to fully protect consumers.”
In a directly related development, on December 12, 2024, the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced the finalization of its rule addressing overdraft fees. Effective this coming October 1, financial institutions with more than $10 billion in assets can choose to cap their overdraft fees at $5—a steep drop from the average fee of approximately $35 per transaction—or limit the fee to an amount that covers the lenders’ costs or charge any fee but disclosing the loan’s interest rate. [In the wake of the administration change, the rule’s fate is unclear.]
In addition to Grubb, the research team included Darragh Kelly, a senior apps growth manager at Google Ireland; Jeroen Nieboer, a London School of Economics fellow and a data science and machine learning manager at British online food delivery company Deliveroo; Matthew Osborne, an associate professor of marketing at University of Toronto; and Jonathan Shaw, a technical specialist at the FCA and a research associate at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, a London-based independent economic research institute.
sional development.
“This experience survey, which identifies areas of strength and areas that require greater support, is an important tool for determining priorities regarding the development of our employees,” said Trainor. “We hope for a high response rate from faculty and staff to assist us in our ongoing efforts.”
The survey is being offered to approximately 4,000 BC employees online and in paper form for those without access to computers. It is available in Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, and Haitian Creole, and should take 15-20 minutes to complete. The deadline for responses is March 13, and the results will be shared with the University community in the fall.
Trainor said that Boston College is committed to conducting a Faculty & Staff Experience Survey every three years to help members of the BC community to thrive professionally.
“Surveys help to shape professional outreach efforts and focus our attention on areas of concern,” he said. “We are fully committed to making the BC work experience as satisfying as possible for all of our employees.”
Michael Grubb
photo by peter julian
Undergraduates had a chance to check out Boston College student organizations—including the Chess Club—at the spring semester Student Involvement Fair on January 17 in the Connell Recreation Center.
BC Scenes Your Move
PHOTO BY SEHO LEE ’27
Study Links Economic Mobility, Opioid Deaths
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inequality centered on the degree to which individuals remained stuck in those lower income brackets, a measure referred to as “intergenerational income mobility.”
Overdose death rates and measures of income inequality vary markedly between states, counties, and even census tracts. An earlier report by the team looked at stateby-state differences. This time, the team examined overdose differences in the 1,056 counties of the 12 Midwest states.
The team used statistical techniques to quantify the contribution of seven predictors: opioid prescription rates, income mobility, family structure, educational attainment, school class size, employment, and social networks.
“From all those predictors, we found intergenerational income mobility was the strongest predictor of drug overdose deaths each year between 2006 and 2021,” said Heyman. “The less mobility in a county, the
more overdose deaths. Moreover, it was two to three times as powerful a predictor as the next strongest predictor, either opioid prescription rates or unemployment.”
A standard exponential equation accurate-
Gene Heyman: “The less mobility in a county, the more overdose deaths. Moreover, it was two to three times as powerful a predictor as the next strongest predictor, either opioid prescription rates or unemployment.”
photo by lee pellegrini
ly described the increasing trend in overdose rates from 2006 to 2021, he said. Remarkably, the same equation with virtually the same parameter values describes the increase in overdose rates for the entire U.S. from 1978 to the present, Heyman added.
Over this period, the drugs that were most toxic varied: cocaine, then prescription opioids, then fentanyl. In contrast, upward intergenerational income mobility steadily declined.
“We were surprised by the magnitude of county-by-county differences within states and that the sales of prescription opioids
steadily declined from 2013 to 2021, yet overdose rates continued to increase at the pre-2013 rate.”
While the findings don’t point to any simple solutions, said Heyman, “other data, at both the individual and population level, reveal that if heavy drug users make it through their 20s, the majority find meaningful alternatives to drug use—particularly if they take advantage of self-help groups, find an occupation, and start raising a family: well-established but not widely known results.”
Heyman said the researchers have expanded the scope of their study and are now analyzing overdose predictors for the 3,109 counties in the 48 continental states. The results are similar to those for Midwest counties.
“The next challenge is to identify policies that can reverse susceptibility to intoxicating drugs,” Heyman said.
BCSSW Professor Follows Lives of Former Child Soldiers
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former child soldiers in Sierra Leone from the end of its civil conflict in 2002 to the present. Having grown up in a remote part of Alaska, a region haunted by cultural loss and collective trauma that often manifested in high rates of suicide, family violence, and threats to human capital, I wanted to know more about what helped people fight their way back from trauma and begin to rebuild their lives. My core question was: What modifiable factors can help young people recover from their wartime experiences?
The book provides rare insights into the ways in which not just personal trauma, but also family and community relationships shape life outcomes and mental health over time. It has been common for many to assume that children who face such extreme war-related trauma are simply “lost generations.” But what if changing our ways of thinking and reconsidering our approach to bridging the humanitarian, peacebuilding, and development nexus might allow many of these young people to not just recover, but thrive? It takes all of us to help others get through extreme challenges; we all have a part to play to support children and ensure that they grow and thrive.
The book is meant to have appeal to a broad readership interested in risk and resilience in the lives of children as well as the fields of child development, global public health, psychiatry, social work, law, humanitarian response, and appeal to other human service professionals.
Your work points up some universal questions for the mental health/human services-related field: How to balance the need for professional detachment—observing and identifying problems, formulating interventions, checking progress— with empathy for the individuals you encounter? How to maintain one’s own personal equilibrium after witnessing such devastation?
Betancourt: It can be very hard to bear witness to the level of human suffering that
those in our study have experienced, but to see individuals who experienced violence and loss firsthand go on to rebuild their lives successfully is an incredible and inspiring phenomenon. In fact, resilient outcomes are more the norm than not in our study. In this same manner, our early observational research and findings provided the foundation for intervention development.
It is a truism of our work that the reason that we are engaging in such research is to understand potentially leverageable mechanisms that can be targeted by programs and policies.
The word “resilience” appears a lot in your descriptions of your work with child soldiers and similarly traumatized persons. It’s also used—sometimes in a critical way—to talk about young people in otherwise favorable circumstances who struggle with stress, anxiety, and disappointment in their lives. Is there a useful commonality in all this? Can we draw lessons about resilience from Sahr and Isatu?
Betancourt: Indeed, the global situation for youth mental health is increasingly concerning. The COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated these issues globally, which has led to significant increases in anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation among young people from all backgrounds. According to the World Health Organization 2020 Mental Health Atlas, one in seven adolescents experience mental disorders globally.
In this same manner, I do see lessons learned in our longitudinal research on individuals recovering from extreme trauma that are relevant to everyday mental health challenges faced by young people in higher resource settings. I have come to see resilience as a process, not a trait of individuals. Our study reflects how the long-term psychosocial adjustment and social reintegration of young people who have been through some of the worst trauma imaginable is shaped by both individual factors—age, gender, violence exposures and individual trauma
histories—but also by layers of risk and protection operating at the level of the family, peers, the community, and the broader environment. I think there are lessons to be learned here for young people from all backgrounds and our findings call on us to shift a bit how we think about mental health promotion to ensure that we consider how mental health promotion might be layered into every level of a university environment—not just individual mental health services, but also mental health promotion campaigns in student associations and at student events and in housing and classroom settings.
Just like the war-affected young people we have worked with globally, students in a high-resource setting can also be supported to build more skills in self-regulation, mindfulness, and coping. In both low- and high-income settings, we should be asking how we might ensure a more “saludogenic” or health-promoting ecosystem for young people’s mental health.
You’ve made a point of mentioning the valuable contributions to RPCA’s work from people who are from the affected communities you research. Are there replicable models here that could address mental health challenges in our communities?
Betancourt: My team and I are highly motivated and taking action to expand on our research and implementation science initiatives on a wider scale, including in the United States. Just as we hire locals and invest in local communities, in the U.S. we have also been able to engage in very exciting community-based participatory research with refugees and forced migrants, training individuals from the lived experience of resettlement to be researchers in their communities as well as co-developing family-based prevention models, carried out by peers who know the language and culture to support newly resettling families in the U.S.
We refer to such activities as “mutual learning” or “reciprocal innovation,” where-
by innovations from low-resource settings might help to address health disparities here in the U.S. Given long wait lists and challenges in meeting the language and cultural needs among a diverse array of groups in the U.S., I would love to see more opportunities to allow non-specialists like community health workers and peers trained and supervised to deliver evidence-based mental health promotion interventions. Such investments might help to better overcome mental health disparities and could be a real model of innovation.
Betancourt will discuss Shadows into Light on April 1 at 2 p.m. in the Boston College School of Social Work Library. Registration details will be available through BCSSW at a later date.
Total Compensation Statement to Be Mailed to BC Employees
In mid-February, full-time employees of Boston College will receive the Total Compensation Statement: a personalized document that details the total compensation, salary plus benefits, they receive from the University. The Total Compensation Statement, which represents information from calendar year 2024, will be mailed to employees’ home addresses.
The annual statement lists an employee’s base salary plus health and wellness benefits, retirement plans, and tuition remission. The non-salary section will be detailed further to show an employee’s contribution and BC’s contribution. Also included are descriptions of all the benefits the University offers, from life insurance and disability coverage to group auto and home insurance and adoption assistance.
(Note: New employees who started on or after July 2, 2024 should not expect a statement this year.)
Pilgrimage
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engagement with community, discernment, and mindfulness as essential elements to being true to oneself and developing as an authentic leader,” as noted in its description. Students have extensive reading and writing assignments, engage in weekly reflection, and lead class discussions, among other requirements.
Fr. Beaumier and Dallavalle say the development of The Discerning Pilgrim reflects key institutional and programmatic goals of the University, notably its signal objective: preparing men and women for others.
“So many words and phrases critical to Jesuits are part of the BC student experience and they contain depth and meaning beyond the confines of our campus,” said Fr. Beaumier, a BC vice president who also is University secretary. “Our hope is to facilitate encounters with these important and holy places to make them even more real and meaningful to our students so that they can serve as guideposts for their lives after Boston College.
“St. Ignatius provides the inspiration for us to seek an even deeper meaning to the BC experience. To literally walk where he walked gives his teachings an in-depth reality that we feel will be profound for students.”
“This course presents an opportunity for us to support the University’s academic and formational mission,” said Dallavalle. “It’s also meaningful to have an opportunity to have a spiritual and practical element to help senior students reflect on their time at
lar to St. Ignatius’ pilgrimage? Whom do we surround ourselves with, and why? How can we learn in and through interpersonal tensions and differences? How do we examine life’s journey to mine it for the great wisdom contained within it? And what contribution do companions, role models, conversation partners, and mentors make for accompanying us through these kinds of life reflections?
BC as well as identify how they can live a life of meaning and purpose after their commencement.”
Dallavalle had reached out to Fr. Beaumier last year after reflecting on the call for proposals from the Provost’s Office and mulling how to integrate spiritual, social and intellectual formation in addressing this need. “I see a number of students who demonstrate their leadership capacity in the context of their student organization(s) or by finding a calling through service or advocacy. And it made me consider, ‘How can we best leverage their BC experience to understand who they want to be as a leader, a community member, and how they want to live a life of meaning and purpose well
Severnini Joins Schiller Faculty
BY ED HAYWARD STAFF WRITER
Environmental economist Edson Severnini has joined the Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society as an Institute Professor and core faculty member and also been jointly appointed an associate professor in the Economics Department.
Severnini’s research explores the places where energy, environmental, and health economics intersect, with particular emphasis on climate change, energy transitions, and the historical impacts of pollution and electrification on local communities. He is also interested in how climate change influences air pollution, electricity generation, and infectious diseases.
“Every day, we benefit from pollutionproducing activities,” said Severnini, who comes to BC from Carnegie Mellon University, where he was a tenured associate professor of economics and public policy. “I want to know the real economic cost of exposure to pollution, particularly the effect on human health. With that knowledge, I want to try to understand the processes, policies, technology, and changes in human behavior that could minimize pollution, yet keep the benefits of the many activities that currently pollute.”
He said he was drawn to the position by work being done by the institute and its
three core faculty members, as well as researchers from other areas of the University. In particular, he was excited about advancing his research findings into action to benefit the common good.
“The fact that the Schiller Institute focuses on research and action on health, energy, and the environment, it could not be a better fit for me,” said Severnini, who joins fellow Schiller Institute core faculty Institute Professors Jier Huang, Hanqin Tian, and Yi Ming. “My research has been centered on those three areas. On my visit, everyone was so collegial and willing to work across disciplinary lines. That did it for me.”
Describing Severnini as a “world-class economist,” Schiller Institute Seidner Family Executive Director Laura J. Steinberg
beyond their undergraduate years?’
“The Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies has so many resources to help students learn about leadership through the Jesuit lens, so Fr. Casey and I discussed what things might work. The more we talked, the more we liked the idea of having students immerse themselves in a pilgrimage like that of St. Ignatius—but to focus on what happens after the journey, to make meaning of it in the fuller context of their lives.”
The Discerning Pilgrim directs students to consider questions such as: How can St. Ignatius’ journey provide us with leadership lessons that are relevant today? In what ways does the journey up until now, and moving forward, provide us with opportunities simi-
said he would be a valuable addition to the institute.
“Edson’s research on decarbonization pathways and the economic dimensions of climate-driven health risks advances the mission of the Schiller Institute to promote the scientific understanding of critical societal issues in energy, environment, and health. With his knack for engaging others and identifying areas of mutual interest, Edson is quickly showing himself to be the collaborative scholar-leader that characterizes the Schiller Institute and its core and affiliated faculty members.”
A native of Brazil, Severnini earned his doctorate at the University of CaliforniaBerkeley. His research has taken him back to his home country to examine the economic and social costs and benefits of hydroelectric dams on local communities. He has also studied how consumer power in local communities in Mozambique has been impacted by climatic shocks, such as severe flooding and parching drought.
In addition, Severnini is working with colleagues to determine the impact of efforts to reduce carbon emissions in South Africa’s iron and steel industry, which is nearing the end of a six-year transition to a tax on carbon emissions. With funding from the National Science Foundation, Severnini is in a collaboration with researchers from South Africa, China, and Germany to determine country-by-country options that hold the most promise to reduce emissions in the steel industry.
Readings for the course include Markings by Dag Hammarskjold; Praying the Truth: Deepening Your Friendship with God Through Honest Prayer by William Barry, S.J.; The Road to Character by David Brooks; Type Talk: The Sixteen Personality Types That Determine How We Live, Work and Love by Otto Kroeger; and selections from Annie Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. For their final project, students submit a “What’s Next?” presentation. Using the insights of St. Ignatius, class discussions, and the pilgrimage experience, they will explain how they will integrate what they have learned throughout their undergraduate years into their post-BC lives: “What do you think you can continue to do, how will this inform your personal and professional practice, and how do you plan to ‘set the world aflame’?”
The course was originally slated for 15 students, said Dallavalle and Fr. Beaumier, but the level of interest was so high they wound up accepting 21, with a lengthy waiting list.
“The students it attracted were just phenomenal, not just in terms of their academic ability but their passion to be leaders and agents of positive change,” said Dallavalle. “We’re very pleased at the buzz the course has created, and look forward to building on this encouraging first year.”
Severnini looks for ways to conduct quasi-experimental research into how humans are affected by environmental impacts by exploring existing data—be it consumer spending, weather events, or industrial policies—to determine if these can reveal causal relationships relative to public health and well-being.
For a recent project, he and Andrea La Nauze of Australia’s Deakin University were granted access to anonymous user data from brain-training games by Lumosity and paired that with air pollution measurements to reveal that exposure to airborne particulate matter impairs adult cognitive function, especially for individuals in prime working ages from 18 to 50. The findings, which the researchers reported in the Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, hold implications for productivity, potential dementia diagnoses, and income inequality.
Severnini holds research fellowships at the United Nations University-World Institute for Development Economics Research and the Institute of Labor Economics, and is a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research.
This spring, Severnini is teaching the Schiller Institute course Health and the Environment: People, Policy, and Technology, which is cross-listed with Economics, Environmental Studies, and Global Public Health and the Common Good.
photo by caitlin cunningham
A view of Genevilla, one of many sites along the Camino Ignaciano. “St. Ignatius provides the inspiration for us to seek an even deeper meaning to the BC experience,” says Casey Beaumier, S.J., co-creator of The Discerning Pilgrim course. “To literally walk where he walked gives his teachings an in-depth reality that we feel will be profound for students.”
photo by mentxu ramilo araujo from wikimedia commons
Edson Severnini
Harrington Steps Down from Center for Work & Family
BY PHIL GLOUDEMANS STAFF WRITER
Twenty-four years ago, Brad Harrington, then a successful, 20-year HewlettPackard executive working in the United States, United Kingdom, and Europe, exited the corporate world.
With a recent doctorate in human resource development in hand, a desire to leverage his experience and education in new and different ways and seeking a role that would allow him to spend significantly more time with his wife and three young children, Harrington traded his frequent 3,000-mile commutes to California and London for a position at Boston College— where he became executive director of the Center for Work & Family (CWF).
Last September, Harrington came to that road’s end, announcing his retirement.
“When I thought about the salary and perks I’d lose by leaving the corporate world, I took a deep breath, and then enthusiastically decided to join the University,” he said. “It’s been an interesting journey over the past two-plus decades. The new role, however, offered many of my career’s most satisfying experiences and it truly aligned well with my interests and values.
“In 2023, I decided that 2024 marked a good time for retirement after 47 years of work,” said Harrington, who was also a research professor in the Carroll School of Management, and a faculty member in the University’s Capstone Seminar program.
“That decision was solidified by a diagnosis of metastatic prostate cancer in February.
While I was initially shocked by that news, I’ve been grateful to be in treatment with a phenomenal team at Mass General Hospital’s Cancer Center, one of the world’s best health care institutions.
“What a blessing to live in a city where medicine is so advanced and to work for an employer with incredible health insurance.
I take none of this for granted.”
The CWF, founded in 1990 at Boston University and shifted to BC in 1997, is the country’s leading university-based center focused on improving the quality of employees’ lives. It works with many of the country’s most respected companies, and develops high-quality programming through its Workforce Roundtable, widely considered the premier learning and networking community for employers seeking to provide a superior employee experience.
Harrington focused on career management and work-life integration, contemporary workforce management practices, and the leadership of organizational change, but his major research area has been the changing role of working fathers. Since 2010, he and the CWF team have published The New Dad series, cited by hundreds of major media outlets including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, and Washington Post.
“My goal was to help fathers embrace their parenting role more fully and to help employers support this broader under-
During his 24 years as executive director of Boston College’s Center for Work & Family, Brad Harrington focused on career management and work-life integration, contemporary workforce management practices, the leadership of organizational change, and in particular the changing role of working fathers.
standing of their working dads,” said Harrington, who presented his research findings at the White House in 2014.
“Brad was ahead of his time seeing the importance of balancing work and family in the lives of busy professionals and in the strategies of top firms. His leadership has paved the way for the center to become a thought leader in this important area,” said Andy Boynton, the John and Linda Powers Family Dean of the Carroll School of Management.
Harrington found his faculty role to be one of his most rewarding opportunities at BC.
“After teaching for a decade in the M.B.A. program, I shifted to instructing seniors in the Capstone Seminar I developed, ‘Finding and Following Your Calling.’ The joy that came from working with fourth-year students to explore and understand their interests, values, and life goals as they were about to step into the ‘real world’ can’t be overstated.”
“With Brad’s executive consulting skills and the wise heart of a wonderful dad to
his three children, he made his Capstone Seminar a teachable moment for BC seniors struggling with what comes next,” said Fr. James M. Weiss, founder of the Capstone Seminar program, and an associate professor in the Theology Department. “He trained them in proven techniques for awareness of both personal identity and of the dramatic, incessant changes of contemporary life. He also offered faculty colleagues invaluable exercises and readings to integrate within their own capstones, leading us to new approaches, and making our whole capstone program more vibrant.”
Harrington also served on the advisory board of the International Centre of Work and Family at IESE Business School in Barcelona, Spain, and as a research fellow at BU’s Human Resource Policy Institute. In 2013, he received the Work-Life Legacy Award from the Families and Work Institute, and the Rev. John R. Trzaska, S.J. Award for Teaching Excellence that recognizes the BC faculty member who expanded the horizons, skills, and values of students by providing support and guidance outside the classroom.
“It’s difficult to end a 47-year career without regrets, but I feel I’ve come as close as anyone to that ideal,” said Harrington. “I’ve had the honor of working with great people throughout my career at Hewlett Packard, BC, our corporate roundtable members, hundreds of global academic colleagues, and an incredible group of talented students.
“I’m especially grateful to the teams I’ve worked with at the center for their professionalism, collegiality, and deep commitment to our work,” added Harrington, whose successor is 18-year colleague Jennifer Sabatini Fraone. “Jennifer is a consummate professional, and she’s given her best to the center and our members every single day. I leave CWF with much gratitude, and in Jennifer’s and the team’s great hands.”
After 27 Years, Fr. Enman Departs BC Law School
Frederick M. Enman, SJ, J.D. ’78, M.A. ’87, M.Div. ’88, retired last fall after having served as special assistant to the dean of students and chaplain for 27 years at Boston College Law School. Colleagues and friends gathered to celebrate Fr. Enman with a Mass and reception on October 15. His duties at BC Law included coordinating academic advising and working with student organizations, as well as celebrating noon Mass at Trinity Chapel three days a week. In 2007, he began taking BC Law students on an annual trip to New Orleans, where they provided free legal work for nonprofits and government agencies aiding those recovering from Hurricane Katrina.
Fr. Enman’s most well-known venture is Matthew 25, a non-profit organization he co-founded with 1987 BC alumni Tim
Healey and Jim MacGillivray that provides housing to people in need. Fr. Enman, who is executive director, chose the organization’s name from the New Testament’s Gospel of Matthew (“For I was hungry, and you gave me to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink…”).
Based in Worcester, Mass., Matthew 25 acquires run-down or abandoned properties, renovates existing structures or builds new construction on those properties, and rents the finished homes to lowincome families at a percentage of their income. Its properties provide safe and comfortable apartments to families that are under-served in the housing market.
Fr. Enman’s work on behalf of those in need earned him a Madonna Della Strada Award in 2013 from the Ignatian Volunteer Corps New England. He also
has received the John W. Spillane Award for Distinguished Christian Leadership from the Knights of Columbus, Crusader Council 2706 and the Isaac Hecker Award for Social Justice from the Paulist Center in Boston.
At Fr. Enman’s farewell, BC Law Marianne D. Short, Esq., Dean Odette Lienau expressed gratitude for his service. “We have been so fortunate to have him here at the Law School. We pride ourselves on the strength of our community, and our support of students and each other. And Father Fred embodies both of these ideals.” —University Communications
To read more about Fr. Enman’s retirement, and testimonials from his colleagues, see lawmagazine.bc.edu/2024/10/a-faith-thatshelters
Frederick Enman, S.J., spoke during his farewell event last fall.
OBITUARY
James Flagg; Aided Foreign Study Efforts
James F. “Jeff” Flagg, a mainstay in the Romance Languages and Literatures Department who made key contributions to the University’s international education programming during his 55 years at Boston College, died on January 21 at the age of 85.
A funeral Mass for Dr. Flagg will be celebrated at 10 a.m. today at St. Teresa of Avila Church, 2078 Centre St., in West Roxbury.
A Framingham, Mass., native, Dr. Flagg joined BC in 1964 as a French instructor in the Romance Languages and Literatures Department. He would go on to hold a number of important administrative roles in the department, including assistant chair, director of undergraduate studies, and study abroad advisor, eventually attaining the rank of associate professor.
Dr. Flagg’s interest in French stemmed from three years of study in high school. “From the very beginning I found this interest in structure, in how things fit together in language, and what the differences were between the French way of looking at things and expressing them and the English way of looking at things and expressing them,” he told Boston College Magazine in 2020.
In 1973, Dr. Flagg became director of what was then the Foreign Study Program (FSP), which oversaw Junior Year Abroad (JYA), an opportunity for BC undergraduates to study for all or part of junior year overseas. When it launched in 1959, there were only four participants whose choices were limited to two programs, one in Vienna and one in Louvain, Belgium. When Dr. Flagg assumed leadership of the FSP, about 40 students participated in JYA, all from the College of Arts and Sciences. By the mid-1980s, more than 200 students—representing all the undergraduate schools—were taking part in JYA, studying all over Europe, and soon, Africa, South America, China, Japan, and Australia. The number of JYA students and participating institutions continued to grow.
Dr. Flagg told The Heights in 1989 that the most valuable aspect of the program was simple but profound: the ability to learn about people within a different culture and to come back to BC “talking
about that value and respecting another culture’s viewpoints.” He said he encouraged students going abroad to “integrate their time abroad as part of their BC experience” rather than seeing it as a “time away from BC.”
In 1997, having identified foreign study as critical to the University’s success, BC consolidated the Foreign Study Program and Office of International Programs to create the Center for International Studies (now the Office of Global Education). By then, there was a new template for study abroad: In the past, students would apply directly to foreign universities or through independent programs, then transfer out of BC for a year; but over time, more students began utilizing the OIP, which forged direct relationships with institutions abroad.
Though Dr. Flagg returned to the Romance Languages faculty on a full-time basis, he also served on the new center’s advisory committee and worked to boost foreign language proficiency to improve the competitiveness of BC students and faculty for prestigious international fellowships.
His efforts to promote international study at BC earned high praise.
“Jeff Flagg has been thoughtful, concerned about the well-being of BC students and completely dedicated to the mission of the University,” said Academic Vice President and Dean of Faculties William B. Neenan, S.J., told Boston College Chronicle in 1997. “He has accumulated great experience, wisdom and understanding of external foreign study programs, and we are grateful to have his expertise.”
College of Arts and Sciences Dean J. Robert Barth, S.J., added, “He paved the way toward the new sense of international awareness we have on campus. Jeff has done an extraordinary job, over many years, in bringing us to an understanding of the need for international study. He has opened new doors for our students and increased significantly the number who study abroad.”
But Dr. Flagg’s career at BC was informed by far more than his work in international study.
In 1966, he first met graduate student Margaret Fermoyle—part of a family with
connections to the Heights—in a French poetry class at BC that he was taking towards his doctorate. Five years later, a mutual friend invited them to a St. Patrick’s Day party, where the two connected. As Dr. Flagg recalled in a 2019 Heights interview, earlier that day Margaret had tried making French bread, but the result was flat and hard—yet she brought it with her to the party anyway.
“There’s something special about a girl that knocks on a door with French bread,” he said.
The two were married in 1973.
Twelve years later, Margaret began teaching French at BC, and the two wound up team teaching, the first of their numerous collaborations. Another was the creation of the French Immersion Program, funded through the United States Department of Education and National Endowment for the Humanities. The program, of which Dr. Flagg was founding co-director, required qualifying students to take four core or elective classes in French, taught by well-known professors in various fields. Participating students also attended French-language dinners, lectures, and social functions to promote fluency and learn about French culture.
In addition, the Flaggs were unstinting supporters of the John J. Burns Library, especially its Irish holdings, and they attended numerous campus events—academic, celebratory, or social. Both were active in the Eire Society of Boston, an organization promoting Irish culture; Margaret served as president, and was instrumental in raising funds to acquire a rare facsimile
Jobs
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
of The Book of Kells, which the Eire Society donated to Burns Library.
The Flaggs both retired at the end of the 2018-2019 academic year. Speaking at the Provost’s Reception for Retiring Faculty, Romance Languages Chair Franco Mormando said, “Jeff’s influence on our department will be as long-lasting as will be the affection of those of us who have been fortunate enough to share this BC journey with him. We are and always will be the lucky beneficiaries of his wisdom, expertise, generosity, good humor, and great humanity.
“We, faculty and staff, will miss him— and Margaret!—enormously.”
Dr. Flagg was the only child of James F. and Frances I. (Motherway) Flagg, both of whom predeceased him.
—Sean Smith
Ferrante Family Assistant Professor of Engineering Bryan Ranger has received a $150,000 Gates Foundation Grant that will aid his project to develop a costeffective, portable, and automated ultrasound tool to monitor nutritional health of young pregnant women in Ethiopia. The tool will incorporate AI models that guide users in collecting high quality data, and can be used by frontline and community health care workers without extensive ultrasound training; the models will use this data to predict
metrics of nutritional status. In a pilot study conducted at the Jimma Medical Center, they will create a database of ultrasound scans, anthropometry, body composition, and the associated clinical data from a group of young pregnant women. Ultrasound measurements will incorporate data on user position to identify the most informative positions via machine learning. They will survey clinical users to guide the ultimate design of the ultrasound system.
Program Director, AMDG
Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner
Physician/Assistant Director, Sports Medicine
Temporary Office Pool
Associate Director, Fiscal & Grant Administration
Senior Budget Financial Applications
Analyst
Patrol Officer
Associate Director, Compliance &
eCommerce
Assistant Director, Programs, Corcoran Center
Assistant Dean, Student Conduct
Campus Minister
Registered Dietitian
Associate Director, Procurement Services
Transitions & Summer Operations Assistant, Residential Life
Associate Director, Companions Prospect Recruitment
James F. “Jeff” Flagg
photo by kelly davidson
BC Arts
Exhibition Explores Intersections of Islamic Art, Science
BY ROSANNE PELLEGRINI STAFF WRITER
An upcoming McMullen Museum of Art exhibition examines intersections of science and craft in Islamic material culture and contemporary art, through the framework of a 13th-century Islamic scholar’s text describing the wonders of the universe.
Organized in collaboration with the San Diego Museum of Art (SDMA), “Wonders of Creation: Art, Science, and Innovation in the Islamic World” will be on view—in its exclusive East Coast display—from February 9 through June 1 in the McMullen Museum’s Daley Family and Monan Galleries, the second and final venue for the exhibition, which debuted last fall at the SDMA.
“The McMullen is pleased to present, in collaboration with the San Diego Museum of Art, this landmark interdisciplinary exhibition that explores the complex, entwined relationship between art and science in the medieval Islamic world, and how that relationship has continued to enhance global innovation and culture to the present day,” said Inaugural Robert L. and Judith T. Winston Director of the McMullen Museum Nancy Netzer, a professor of art history.
“We hope that ‘Wonders of Creation’ will spark conversations and new research leading to future innovations among a receptive audience in New England, where the arts and sciences have flourished for centuries, especially in our colleges and universities.”
and professor Zakariyya ibn Muhammad al-Qazwini (1202-83), and its impact.
Written in Arabic and Persian, Qazwini’s revolutionary cosmography meticulously details the universe, blending scientific knowledge with popular anecdotes, portraying all phenomena as signs of divine creation. His richly illustrated work remains influential today, offering insights into Islamic culture and inspiring curiosity about natural phenomena. The author emphasized wonder as a path to knowledge, urging readers to contemplate natural marvels to deepen their understanding of God and the cosmos.
This trailblazing exhibition, organized by Ladan Akbarnia, curator of South Asian and Islamic art at SDMA, showcases more than 170 extraordinary works of art and objects—from 20 lenders—from the ninth century to the present, including some on display for the first time in the United States. [The museum recently sent an email invitation to University community members to attend a virtual lecture by Akbarnia on February 3 at 6 p.m.]
“Wonders of Creation” illuminates the global impact of science and artistic production from the Islamic world and its diverse geographies and multifaceted visual cultures. Treasures—including illustrated manuscripts and paintings, maps, scientific instruments, magic bowls, luster dishes, architectural elements, and contemporary art—evoke wonder through a visual journey. Integrating medieval and early modern art from the Islamic world with contemporary works, the exhibition allows visitors to gain a deeper appreciation of ingenuity and craftsmanship spanning 12 centuries.
The exhibition begins with an examination of The Wonders of Creation and the Rarities of Existence, a text by Islamic judge
Qazwini’s encyclopedic text serves as the framework accompanying exhibition visitors through the orbits of the cosmos from the heavens to the Earth.
Sections on the celestial realm, terrestrial sphere, and humankind examine topics such as astronomy, astrology, natural history, mineralogy, alchemy, medicine, geometry, and architecture through objects from Spain, North Africa, the Middle East to Central, South, and Southeast Asia as well modern diasporic regions.
“In the wake of the Mongol invasions, Qazwini’s The Wonders of Creation and the Rarities of Existence offered a portable description of the universe designed to inform as well as to entertain its readers, encouraging them to contemplate the marvels of divine creation,” said Akbarnia.
“Today, through this important exhibition, it reminds us of our inherent curiosity as human beings, offering a fresh perspective to interpreting art and material culture through Qazwini’s lens of wonder and showcasing the Islamic world through historic works, contemporary art, living traditions and preservation efforts, and a substantial presence from collections in Kuwait and Malaysia,” she added. “I am thrilled for ‘Wonders of Creation’ to open at the McMullen Museum of Art to audi-
ences at a university and city long known for embracing the pursuit of knowledge.”
“‘Wonders of Creation’ provides an incredible opportunity to bring renowned artworks from premier collections around the world to Boston College, and to think about how art and science have shaped the world in which we live,” said Norma Jean Calderwood University Professor of Islamic and Asian Art Emine Fetvaci. “I am delighted that the McMullen Museum will host this innovative exhibition that showcases important artworks, scientific instruments, and treatises from the Islamic world.
“Qazwini’s book offers a wonderful lens through which to explore the intersections of art and science in the past as well as today,” she added. “The overlap of art and science are examined through all the materials in the exhibition, whether luster painted bowls, paintings illustrating amusing stories, or astrolabes to chart the skies. It is fascinating to see the continuing exploration of these themes via artworks and examples of material culture through
the centuries, and even by contemporary artists.”
“Wonders of Creation” is complemented by a full-color catalogue with contributions from leading international scholars.
For more details on “Wonders of Creation,” including artists whose works are featured, exhibition lenders and support (including from the Getty through its PST Art: Art & Science Collide initiative, National Endowment for the Humanities, and National Endowment for the Arts), hours and tours, see mcmullenmuseum. bc.edu.
In-person and virtual public programming is planned for the general public and museum members. For more information, and to sign up for those events that require advance registration, see the McMullen Museum website’s Events Calendar [mcmullenmuseum.bc.edu/about/events. html]; more events will be added leading up to this exhibition. Go to mcmullenmuseum.bc.edu/contact.html to subscribe to the McMullen mailing list for updates.
The “Wonders of Creation” exhibition at the McMullen Museum of Art includes (left) an 18th-century star map from India depicting the northern and southern celestial hemispheres and (below) a 17th-century planispheric astrolabe from Pakistan.
photo by michael tropea
Kicking off the spring semester, the Thea Bowman AHANA and Intercultural Center held a reception to welcome students on January 24.
photo by lee pellegrini