FEBRUARY 13, 2020 VOL. 27 NO. 11
PUBLISHED BY THE BOSTON COLLEGE OFFICE OF UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS
INSIDE 3x Construction Headline Update
Frates Center, Schiller Institute xxxxx. building projects on schedule.
x Headline 4 MLK Winner xxx.
Shakalah Thompson earns 2020 xKing Headline Scholarship honor. xxxxx.
6 Burns Lecture
Historian Guy Beiner looks at different concepts of Irish nationalism— past and (maybe) future.
Steinberg to Head Schiller Institute to the vice chancellor for innovation and strategic initiatives. She is the former dean of the university’s College of Engineering and Computer Science, and is a professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. The Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society is the centerpiece of a new 150,000-square-foot science facility that will open in late 2021. Named in honor of BC Trustee Associate Phil Schiller ’82 and his wife Kim Gassett-Schiller through their multi-year lead gift, the institute will address critical issues in the areas of energy, health, and the environment. The Seidner Family executive directorship was made possible through a gift from BC Trustee Marc Seidner ’88, the managing director and chief investment officer at PIMCO, and his wife Mary Lou.
BY JACK DUNN ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT FOR UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS
Boston College has named Laura J. Steinberg, the interim executive director of the Syracuse Center of Excellence for Environmental and Energy Systems at Syracuse University, and founding director of the university’s Infrastructure Institute, as the inaugural Seidner Family Executive Director of the Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society. Steinberg will begin her new role in May. An internationally respected civil and environmental engineering scholar whose research has focused on infrastructure and sustainability, environmental modeling, and technological innovation, Steinberg holds three leadership roles at Syracuse, also serving as special assistant for strategy
Laura J. Steinberg
photo by marilyn hesler
Long Road
New Writing Ctr. Draws Praise from Undergrads
BC’s Campus School is an ideal match for one Boston Marathon runner BY PHIL GLOUDEMANS STAFF WRITER
BY ROSANNE PELLEGRINI STAFF WRITER
The Boston College Writing Center, a peer academic assistance resource launched by the English Department last semester, provides valuable support for undergraduates across the University, in all BC schools and disciplines—and it’s getting great reviews. According to center administrators, student users—who are asked to provide comment via online surveys—have been overwhelmingly positive: Every respondent affirmed that they would schedule another session and recommend the center to a friend. English Chair and Professor Amy Boesky said the department developed “a program to train talented majors to work with peers
Continued on page 5
Yitong Liu ’21 (left) received some assistance on a paper recently from writing specialist Weitao Liu ’20 at the Boston College Writing Center. photo by lee pellegrini
on their writing,” drawing on a one-credit course, The Art of Tutoring, taught by Associate Professor Paula Mathieu, who co-leads the center with English Language Learning (ELL) Director Lynne Anderson and Writing Fellows Program Director Marla DeRosa. “Still in a pilot phase, the center has tremendous value for the students training as specialists; they learn skills they can apply down the road as writers or educators,” said
Boesky. Equally important, they use their skills to work one-on-one with fellow students, administrators said. “We hope the Writing Center becomes an important resource across the University, and are grateful for the support of the Morrissey College,” said Boesky. Anderson emphasizes that “it is strictly a
Continued on page 5
Diagnosed with a likely cancerous brain tumor, 30-year-old Minnesotan John Murray underwent a biopsy on April 15, 2019— the same day as the 123rd running of the Boston Marathon. Two weeks later, the tumor was removed, leaving a long, circular scar on the right side of his shaved head. Murray’s doctors were skeptical when he told them he would run the 2020 Boston Marathon, but in June, barely two months after his surgery, he began training. Now, almost a year since this harrowing chapter in his life unfolded, Murray—the scar from his surgery healing but still visible—is on course to realize his dream of competing in the 124th Boston Marathon, Continued on page 6
The broader lesson is that if you try to do corporate social responsibility or do good things for the public, perhaps they benefit your bottom line. But perhaps they don’t. – carroll school of management assoc. prof. david solomon, page 8