The Boston College
Chronicle Published by the Boston College Office of News & Public Affairs february 25, 2016 VOL. 23 no. 12
•Black History Month exhibitions •Time for “Sing It to the Heights” again
3 •University to hold Diver-
sity and Inclusion Summit
•Photos: Walsh, Neal speak on Easter Rising
4 •German consul will speak on refugees
Will enhance intercollegiate, intramural, club sports
Boston College Athletics Director Brad Bates announced plans Monday for three projects to enhance intercollegiate, intramural and club sports at Boston College: a recreational center, athletics playing fields, and an athletics field house. The initiatives, an investment of approximately $200 million, result from a multi-year assessment and planning effort regarding BC Athletics as well as focused fundraising with alumni and friends of Boston College.
The recreational center, a 240,000 square-foot facility that will replace the Flynn Recreation Complex and be located at the site of Edmonds Hall on Thomas More Drive, will benefit all BC students, faculty and staff. Approved by the City of Boston in 2009 as part of the University’s Institutional Master Plan (IMP), the project will begin this summer after permits have been obtained. The center, made possible by a lead gift from University Trustee Margot Connell and her family,
•Advancing Research and Scholarship Day
6 •Paul Mariani on poet Wallace Stevens
•Easter Rising conference, concert in March •Burns Lecture March 2 Additions; 7 •Welcome BC in the Media; Expert
Opinion; Nota Bene; Jobs
8 •Q&A with Fine Arts’ Mary Armstrong
•Photos: BC bOp! shares the love
Brighton Campus, which were also approved in the 2009 IMP. Bates said that fundraising for both projects will continue throughout the process. Continued on page 4
By Jack Dunn Director of News & Public Affairs
Asst. Prof. Jeremy Shakun (Earth and Environmental Sciences)
Long View on Climate Change •Maureen Orth is guest speaker at Laetare Sunday
will require two years for construction. The University will also seek permitting for new baseball, softball and intramural fields on the
Fr. Massa to Succeed Wolfe As Boisi Center Director
•Alumnae to reflect on women and athletics honor goes to 5 •MLK CSON student
An architectural rendering of the University’s proposed new recreational center, to be located at the current site of Edmonds Hall.
John Gillooly
win also a victory 2 •Beanpot for Dining Services
BC Athletics Announces Plans for New Facilities
Lee Pellegrini
INSIDE
BC researcher assists study that calls for new global energy policy to help curb effect of carbon emissions By Ed Hayward Staff Writer
The damaging climate consequences of carbon emissions will grow and persist for millennia without a dramatic new global energy strategy, according to a new set of research-based climate change scenarios developed by an international team of scientists that includes Boston College paleo-climatologist Jeremy Shakun. Rising global temperatures, ice field and glacial melting and rising sea levels are among the climatic changes that could ultimately lead to the submergence of coastal areas that are home to 1.3 billion people today, according to the report, published
online by the journal Nature Climate Change. The findings, Shakun and his co-authors write, hold implications for policy makers because the projections reveal the intractability of a climate change across millennia. This long view, they note, should add urgency to efforts to significantly curb carbon emissions within the next few decades, not gradually across the remainder of the 21st century. “This long-term view shows that the next few decades offer a brief window of opportunity to minimize large-scale and potentially catastrophic climate change that will extend longer than the entire history of human civilizaContinued on page 3
QUOTE:
Mark S. Massa, SJ, dean of the School of Theology and Ministry (STM) since 2010, will leave his current position to become the next director of the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life beginning the summer of 2017, the University announced last week. He will replace the center’s founding director, Alan Wolfe, who is retiring in early 2017. Fr. Massa, who served as the Karl Rahner Professor of Theology and director of the Curran Center for American Catholic Studies at Fordham University prior to assuming the deanship of STM, is an esteemed theologian and scholar whose research has focused on the Catholic experience in the United States since World War II. In announcing the appointment, Provost and Dean of Faculties David Quigley praised Fr. Massa as an ideal choice to lead the Boisi Center after having elevated STM to national prominence during the past six years. “A leading historian of Catholicism in the United States,
Mark S. Massa, SJ
Mark Massa has successfully led the School of Theology and Ministry since 2010. Under his watch, the school has attracted a community of very talented students and faculty, and Mark has helped sustain a serious-minded conversation about how STM can best serve the contemporary Catholic Church — in Boston, across the nation, and around the world.” Fr. Massa said he was proud of what he has accomplished as dean at STM, including building a superb faculty, one-third of whom he hired. “I came in 2010 with the Continued on page 3
“I thought ‘This is going to be a community of people who are going to be engaged in conversation and are going to set the world aflame.’ I wanted to be one of those people.” –Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship winner Chiamaka Okorie ’17, page 5
T he B oston C ollege
Chronicle february 25, 2016
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A ROUND
C AMPUS
TASTING VICTORY
A glance at exhibits on display through Black History Month, which ends Feb. 29, at O’Neill Library. •“Black Artists in the Boston Area: Cultural Enrichment in the 20th and 21st Centuries” This exhibit highlights the works of some 20th- and 21st-century black artists “who have lived, studied – and in many cases, taught – and created in the greater Boston area,” according to Lawrence Busenbark, O’Neill Library African & African Diaspora Librarian. On display are paintings, sculptures and other works which might be described as representational or abstract, as politically charged or personally spiritual, as somber or light-hearted, he notes. The tech-
the longstanding BC-BU rivalry. “We thought it’d be great to have our dining services teams compete against each other. We wanted to have fun and share some of what we’re known for.” Using social media for promotion, BU promised to bring Raising Cane’s chicken fingers to the Heights, while BC touted its popular bakery cupcakes. O’Neill says the positive response on social media was exciting for both schools. “BC Dining got a bunch of new followers, so it was fun for us.” An overtime Eagles’ win in the Beanpot Championship meant victory for BC Dining. “I immediately texted them and said ‘Hey, guess what, we won,’” said O’Neill.
Lee Pellegrini
Boston College Dining Services cooked up some friendly competition recently when they made a deal with their Boston University counterparts: Whichever hockey team won the Beanpot this year, the losing school’s dining services would present a banner and popular campus food item to the winner. BC Dining Services Associate Director of Restaurant Operations Megan O’Neill said the bet started when she was contacted by BU’s social media director. “They said, ‘It’s the Battle of Comm. Ave. – are you interested in a little challenge?’ I said ‘Absolutely.’” BU Dining Services Marketing Director Scott Rosario said the bet reflects the fun side of
niques, subjects and tone are as varied as the backgrounds of the artists. “What brings them together here is their association with Boston,” says Busenbark. “The black artists featured, together with countless others living and working in Boston, demonstrate the cultural enrichment we all enjoy thanks to that attraction [to the city].” [Exhibit details at http://tiny. cc/2gx98x] •“Gender Identities: Expressions in the Black Community” Boston College School of Social Work student Frank Garcia-Ornelas says his goal for this exhibit was “to create pieces that focus on the beauty that is being a Black man or a Black woman, while also breaking down
BC students sampled Raising Cane’s chicken fingers, courtesy of BU Dining.
Keeping their word, BU Dining visited the McElroy Lobby on Feb. 17 with a banner that read “Boston University Dining Services Congratulates Boston College Men’s Hockey Team, 2016 Beanpot Champs” – and a the ideologies surrounding gender identities.” While some are self-explanatory, others “invite the viewer to internally break down what they believe the piece means in their own words,” he says. “I hope to ignite some emotions which hopefully encourage the viewer to examine their own ideologies of this topic.” Garcia-Ornelas believes these works “will spark conversations around the topics of gender identities and expressions in the Black community. I am an advocate of equality, regardless of race, gender identity, socioeconomic status, and religious affiliation.” [Exhibit details at http://tiny. cc/gix98x]
–Office of News & Public Affairs The Boston College Theatre Department and Robsham Theater Arts Center presented a staging of “Learning How to Drown,” written by Patrcia Noonan ‘07, in Robsham’s Bonn Studio Theater Feb. 1721. (Photos by Lee Pellegrini)
big helping of Raising Cane’s for those in attendance to sample. Not wanting the BU representatives to leave emptyhanded, BCDS Executive Pastry Chef Tim Fonseca whipped up some cupcakes for the trip back.
“That’s a consolation prize,” Fonseca said with a smile, “so when they taste the cupcakes, they know how much they missed out on the real thing.” Rosario acknowledged the defeat good-naturedly. “We were hoping to get some cupcakes. It didn’t work out for us this time, but we’re really excited about the competition and fun around the BU-BC rivalry.” Fonseca credited his bakery staff for being ready to produce no matter the Beanpot outcome, but he’s happy that things worked out in favor of the Eagles. “On behalf of the bakery team,” he said, “we are very grateful that our BC hockey team kicked butt and brought home the chicken.” –Siobhan Sullivan
MUSIC TO OUR EARS One of Boston College’s most popular community events, the “Sing It to the Heights” music competition, will take place for the 12th year on March 3 in Robsham Theater at 7 p.m. Proceeds from the event – sponsored by the Emerging Leader Program, Office of Governmental and Community Affairs, Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs, and Robsham Theater Arts Center – support music programs at the St. Columbkille Partnership School, a Catholic elementary school in Brighton operated by St. Columbkille Parish, the Archdiocese of Boston and Boston College. Last year’s show raised $6,350. The “American Idol”-inspired competition will be judged by Campus Minister Donald Mac-
Millan, SJ, and Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences graduate students Ryan Duns, SJ, and Fidele Ingiyimbere, SJ. This year’s contestants are William Bolton ’16, Tyler Coyne ’17, Nickolas Diamondidis ’18, Lexi Kelly ’19, Khari King ’19, Sarah Rooney ’18, Ben Seo ’17, Maverick Lydon Shay ’19, Will Supple ’19 and Sarah Zhukovin ’18. Also performing at the event will be last year’s winner, Wynnm Murphy ’18, as well as students from St. Columbkille. Tickets are on sale at the Robsham box office or online [http:// bit.ly/1PWHG2a] for $10; doors open at 6:30 p.m. See the “Sing It to the Heights” Facebook page at http://on.fb.me/1KZm6gJ for updates and other details. –Office of News & Public Affairs
PUBLICATION SCHEDULE NOTE Because of spring break week (March 7-11), Chronicle will next publish on Thursday, March 17. See www. bc.edu/news for coverage of BC news and events. Director of NEWS & Public Affairs Jack Dunn Deputy Director of NEWS & Public AFFAIRS Patricia Delaney Editor Sean Smith
Contributing Staff Melissa Beecher Ed Hayward Sean Hennessey Rosanne Pellegrini Kathleen Sullivan Siobhan Sullivan Photographers Gary Gilbert Lee Pellegrini
The Boston College
Chronicle www.bc.edu/chronicle chronicle@bc.edu
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 News & Public Affairs, 14 Mayflower Road, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467 (617)552-3350. 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 News & Public Affairs, 14 Mayflower Road, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467.
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T he B oston C ollege
Chronicle february 25, 2016
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Diversity and Inclusion Summit June 1
“There is a lot of good work going on at Boston College in the area of diversity and inclusion, and this summit will give us an opportunity to come together as a community, share what we are doing with thought leaders across campus to build on and leverage our work.”
–Patricia Lowe, interim director, Office for Institutional Diversity
ard Jackson. Associate Vice President for Alumni Relations Joy Moore will moderate. “There is a lot of good work going on at Boston College in the area of diversity and inclusion, and this summit will give us an opportunity to come together as a community, share what we are doing with thought leaders across campus to build on and leverage our work,” said Senior Human Resources Officer Patricia Lowe, interim director of the Office for Institutional Diversity. Lowe says the summit’s program committee sought proposals from members of the University community on programs and workshops that highlight successful efforts within BC’s academic and administrative areas, and that offer practical guidance on enhancing diversity and inclusion. She hopes to have both faculty and staff representatives from across campus who are involved in academic affairs, as well as from Student Affairs, Human Resources, Mission and Ministry, Athletics, Admissions, and various administrative offices and centers involved in the summit, which will take place in Gasson Hall from 9 a.m.–4 p.m. To register for the summit, go to www.bc.edu/diversity. –Jack Dunn
Fr. Massa to Leave STM for Boisi Center Continued from page 1 goal of further incorporating the School of Theology and Ministry into the ethos and mission of a great national research university,” said Fr. Massa. “The faculty hires we made and the students we attracted have enabled us to compete directly with Harvard and Yale divinity schools and the University of Notre Dame. The faculty culture of STM is now the culture of Boston College – one that reflects a commitment to teaching and publishing and being national leaders in our academic fields, and our students are highly sought after because of the acknowledged strength of our program. I am very proud of all we have accomplished together.” Quigley said that Fr. Massa will remain as STM dean until the end of the academic year and then embark on a sabbatical before joining the Theology Department faculty and taking leadership of the Boisi Center in 2017. He noted that Erik Owens, associate director of the Boisi Center and associate pro-
fessor of the practice in theology and international studies, will direct the center during the coming academic year. The Boisi Center, founded in 1999 through an endowed gift from Trustee Associate Geoffrey T. Boisi ’69 and his wife Rene (Isacco) Boisi ’69, brings together scholars, policy makers, religious leaders and media for conversations and scholarly reflections around issues at the intersection of religion and American public life. Through Wolfe, one of the nation’s leading public intellectuals, the center has sponsored popular courses and seminars and hosted visiting scholars for discussions that examine religious issues within the context of America’s growing religious diversity. “Alan is a star who has made the Boisi Center a significant presence nationally in dealing with issues at the intersection of religion, culture and politics,” said Fr. Massa. “I look forward to working with Erik Owens and others at the center to con-
tinue that tradition, and to addressing other topics such as the role of religion in elections and how religion frames our understanding of ourselves.” Quigley and Owens said the University plans to honor Wolfe with a conference on April 14 titled “Religion and American Public Life: The Calling of a Public Intellectual.” In addition, Quigley said that he would work with University President William P. Leahy, SJ, and an interview committee to find a successor for Fr. Massa before the start of the 20162017 academic year. STM, which was founded in 2008 when the Weston Jesuit School of Theology re-affiliated with Boston College, is an international academic theological center dedicated to forming scholars, ministers and leaders for the Church. It attracts some 415 students annually from throughout the United States and more than 30 countries. Contact Jack Dunn at jack.dunn@bc.edu
Lee Pellegrini
The Office for Institutional Diversity will host a diversity and inclusion summit on June 1 titled “Building and Leveraging Partnerships Across Campus.” Open to Boston College faculty and staff, the summit will focus on how BC contributes to the social justice mission of the Society of Jesus through its efforts to create a diverse and inclusive community. It will include programs, initiatives, exhibits and relevant research related to diversity and inclusion, with the goal of creating a vibrant and continual learning experience for all BC employees. Damon A. Williams, senior vice president and chief educational and youth development officer at The Boys and Girls Clubs of America, will serve as keynote speaker. The summit will also feature a panel of thought leaders from Boston College who are nationally recognized in their fields to discuss best practices in the area of diversity and inclusion. The panelists include: Janet Helms from the Lynch School of Education’s Institute for the Study of Race and Culture; Brad Harrington, executive director of the Center for Work and Family; Assistant Professor of Sociology Gustavo Morello, SJ; and Lynch School Associate Professor Rich-
Frank Curran
Event to include discussion on building partnerships throughout University
US Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), left, and Boston Mayor Martin Walsh ’09 presented their thoughts on the centenary of Ireland’s 1916 Easter Rising on Feb. 22 in Gasson 100, an event sponsored by Boston College and BC’s Center for Irish Programs. For more on centenary events, see page 6.
Shakun Aids Global Climate Project Continued from page 1 tion thus far,” the team concluded in its report “Consequences of 21st Century Policy for MultiMillennial Climate and Sea-Level Change.” The new projections are based on leading research into contemporary and historical climate data, but also new scientific reconstructions of the only comparable period in human history: the last Ice Age. “This is the most comprehensive look at global climate in the past, present and future,” said Shakun, an assistant professor in the Earth and Environmental Sciences Department. “What our analysis shows is that this era of global warming will be as big as the end of the Ice Age. And what we are seeing is a massive departure from the environmental stability civilization has enjoyed during the last 10,000 years of its development.” The international team of co-authors, led by Peter Clark of Oregon State University, generated new scenarios for temperature rise, glacial melting, sea-level rise and coastal flooding based on state-of-the-art climate and ice sheet models. Under the most conservative scenario, the researchers used a projected global output of 1,280 billion tons of carbon across the next few centuries, far below estimated reserves of at least 9,500 billion tons. The projected consequences at this level of carbon emissions include: •Global average temperature increase will exceed the recognized “guardrail” limit of 2 degrees Celsius. •Melting of glaciers and the massive ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica will combine for a rise in sea levels of 25 meters, or about 80 feet. •Coastal submersion could displace as many as 1.3 billion people worldwide, a number that now accounts for approximately 19 percent of the world’s population. •As many as 25 “megacities” around the world could see rising
oceans force at least 50 percent of their populations from their homes and businesses. The consequences of the three other scenarios, which range as high as total carbon emissions of 5,120 billion tons, are substantially greater and should be considered “increasingly likely” given contemporary growth in carbon emissions, according to the report. The perspective on the futurelooking projections comes from looking back at the last Ice Age, which ended approximately 10,000 years ago. Shakun and other climate scientists have developed a clearer portrait of that era of glacial melting and how the climate responded to and recovered from an era of significant climate changes. The team notes scientists have reconstructed a record of natural carbon emission, temperature rise, glacial melting and sea-level rise stretching back 20,000 years to the peak of the Ice Age. That paleo-climatological portrait shows, for example, that the sea-level rise of 130 meters required roughly 10,000 years to retreat as a stabilized climate emerged in which human civilization has flourished. “This gives us the opportunity to provide the long view on global temperature and sea level rise, from the end of the Ice Age to today and then onward another 10,000 years into the future,” said Shakun. “This sort of side-by-side comparison of the long past and the long future has not been shown before, but is useful for seeing the geological scale to the consequences of carbon emissions since the dawn of industrialization until our actions today.” To view the full Nature Climate Change report, “Consequences of 21st Century Policy for MultiMillennial Climate and Sea-Level Change,” see dx.doi.org/10.1038/ nclimate2923. Contact Ed Hayward at ed.hayward@bc.edu
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Chronicle february 25, 2016
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German Consul General to Discuss Europe Refugee Crisis March 3 At a time when unprecedented numbers of refugees seek asylum in Europe, Ralf Horlemann, consul general of the Federal Republic of Germany in Boston, will come to campus on March 3 to present “The Refugee Crisis: Migration into Europe and its Political and Economic Implications.” The free, public event hosted by the German Studies Department will be held at 3:30 p.m. in Devlin 101 with a reception to follow. “Dr. Horlemann is in a position to offer the Boston College community an opportunity to engage in an educational conversation on this critical issue,” said Associate Professor Rachel Freudenburg, acting chair for German Studies. “Migration, and the flood of refugees escaping dangerous environments all over the world, is an issue of global concern. It is of special importance to the United States, which is proud of its immigrant heritage, but struggling with that identity.” In 2015 alone, she noted, Germany welcomed approximately one million refugees – the majority from Syria – fleeing life-threatening situations. “Chancellor [Angela] Merkel’s heroic initiative to bring refugees to Europe presents Germany with its greatest challenge since unification,” Freudenburg said. “While support for her policies
is great, radical opposition is simultaneously gaining momentum, and beyond Germany’s borders, growing tension is testing the cohesion of the European Union.” The issue, she added, “affects every aspect of life in Germany, from national and international politics to issues of security, economic policy, education, health care, infrastructure, culture and religion. I hope that the global citizens who are Boston College’s students deepen their awareness of the unique solutions implemented by Germany, yet also leave the lecture with fresh insights on the question of immigration in their own countries of origin.” Students like senior Alex Hawley are eager to hear Horlemann’s views. “The refugee crisis that is transpiring across Eurasia and Northern Africa represents one of the gravest problems to face the globe today,” said Hawley, an International Studies major with a political science concentration. The number of refugees who entered Germany’s borders last year “put Germany’s new ‘Wilkommenskultur (Welcoming Culture)’ to the test. “I believe this event marks a critical opportunity for the Boston College community to engage in dialogue with a diplomat from one of America’s strongest allies.” –Rosanne Pellegrini
Winston Center Hosts Alumnae for March 15 Event on Women Achievers in Athletics Two female graduates of Boston College who have achieved success in the field of athletics – Jen Welter, the first woman to hold a coaching position in the NFL, and Laura Gentile, founder and senior vice president of espnW, the pioneering website for women’s sports – will talk about their experiences on March 15 at 6 p.m. in Fulton 511. The event, “Leading Women: Breaking the Barriers in Athletics,” is sponsored by the Winston Center for Leadership and Ethics, in conjunction with the student group Boston College Women’s Summit: Own It. Welter, a 2000 graduate of the Carroll School of Management, served as an intern linebackers coach for the Arizona Cardinals in 2015. Prior to joining the Cardinals, she was linebacker and special teams coach for the Indoor Football League’s Texas Revolution – the first woman to coach in a men’s professional football league. She also became the first woman to play running back in a men’s professional football season when she signed with the Revolution in 2014. Welter is a veteran of several women’s professional and semiprofessional football teams and a member of the 2010 and 2013 gold medal-winning USA Team at the
International Federation of American Football’s Women’s World Championship. Gentile, who earned an MBA from the Carroll School in 1996, is a senior vice president of espnW – ESPN’s first dedicated business built to serve women who love sports — and Women’s Initiatives. Launched as a blog in 2010, espnW has evolved to become the premiere site for women’s sports, a multimedia business encompassing digital, social, television, films and events such as The espnW: Women + Sports Summit. A former All-American field hockey player at Duke University, Gentile was named to Street and Smith’s Sports Business Journal Forty Under 40 Class of 2012 and an SBJ Game-Changer. She was appointed to the US Department of State’s Council to Empower Women and Girls Through Sports. In 2013, she received the Advertising Women of NY Changing the Game Paradigm Shift Award and Women in Cable Telecommunications’ Signature Accolade for espnW’s Global Sports Mentoring Program. The event is open to the public. For information, e-mail winston. center@bc.edu or call ext.2-9296. –Kathleen Sullivan
Athletics Facilities Plan Announced Continued from page 1 In addition, Bates stated that the University will begin discussions with Boston city officials regarding construction of an athletics field house that would be located adjacent to Alumni Stadium. This indoor facility, to be funded through private gifts, would provide much-needed space for varsity football and other field sports, as well as campus recreation, club sports, and intramurals. Additional information about the new recreation complex, playing fields and athletics field house will be made available to the Boston College Allston-Brighton Community Task Force and local residents in a pre-filing meeting. “These new facilities will provide benefits for all BC students
Architectural rendering of the interior of the proposed athletics field house.
and student-athletes,” said Bates. “We need the financial support of all of our alumni who have benefitted from their BC education to provide opportunities for the next generation of BC students. The athletics field house sets an example of what we can
do when our alumni and friends offer their support for our athletics initiatives. “We are excited for the future of BC Athletics,” said Bates. –Jack Dunn and Chris Cameron (BC Athletics)
COMMENTS FROM THE BC COMMMUNITY: Mike Gambino Head Baseball Coach “At Boston College we talk about and believe in cura personalis – care for the whole person. The BC Athletics Department, and specifically the baseball program, strives to live up to that standard by making sure our studentathletes reach their full potential William V. Campbell Hon ’12 on the field, BC Athletics Donor in the class“Facilities are vital to inter- room and as people. These collegiate athletics today. I new facilities will play a huge applaud Fr. Leahy and Brad role in helping our players Bates for coming up with the develop on the diamond and, vision and ability to real- in turn, helping our program ize an athletics field house compete on the national – the most significant facil- stage and for a chance to go ity project for athletics since to the College World Series the Yawkey Athletics Center. in Omaha.” I am thrilled to lend my support as we strive to live up to Ashley Obrest our motto of ‘Ever to Excel.’” Head Softball Coach “The new softball field and athletics field house will abSteve Addazio solutely change the course of our player development Head Football Coach “This announcement repre- and recruiting. Here at Bossents a commitment from Bos- ton College, we aim to build ton College a positive experience for our to give our student-athletes and provide students the the necessary resources to best facili- compete for championships. ties possible. With the addition of an We are very indoor facility, we will be excited for able to train year-round in an indoor a permanent structure. We facility that couldn’t be more excited for will provide this news.” our studentathletes an opportunity to develop throughout the winter months.” Mikey Hoag ’86 and Jay Hoag BC Athletics Donors “Athletics plays an integral role within the Boston College community. We believe that an athletics field house, new recreation center and a baseball, softball and intramural field will significantly enhance not only the varsity student-athlete experience, but also act as a centerpiece for the entire University community.”
Photos courtesy of Boston College Athletics
Alison Foley Head Women’s Soccer Coach “The athletics field house shows the commitment and understanding of Boston College to continue to provide the resources for us as coaches to succeed at the highest level. This will not only allow for a professional year-round training environment for our student-athletes, but will show our recruits the level of dedication Boston College Athletics has for them.” Sam Leedy ’17 Intramural Student Staff Supervisor “I’m very excited about the announcement regarding a new recreation center, athletics field house and playing fields for varsity and intramural sports, as they will allow for greater opportunities in intramurals and expanded intramural leagues for all BC students.” Abby Campbell ’16 Senior Rec Plex Fitness Attendant “The new recreation center will be a tremendous benefit for the BC campus as a whole. The increased space will encourage even more students to dedicate time to their health and wellbeing.” Ryan McGowan ’18 Fitness Enthusiast “The announcement of a new rec center is wonderful news for BC students. Having a new facility with state-of-the-art amenities will benefit everyone, and greatly enhance the overall student experience at Boston College.”
T he B oston C ollege
Chronicle february 25, 2016
2016 Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship
Okorie Sees BC as Place to Find Identity By Kathleen Sullivan Staff Writer
Connell School of Nursing student Chiamaka Okorie ’17, whose career aspirations have changed from diplomacy to health care during her time at Boston College, has been named the 2016 Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Scholarship winner. The annual scholarship, presented to a Boston College junior who has demonstrated superior academic achievement, extracurricular leadership, community service and involvement with the African American community and African American issues, was awarded to Okorie at a dinner held last week honoring all the finalists. Her mother, Jane Ena Okorie, and her younger sister, Nnenna, traveled from the Bronx to attend the event. “It’s such a huge honor. Martin Luther King was able to unite a whole host of people for one mission, and that’s because he centered it on something that’s beyond race, that goes down to core identity,” said Okorie, who was born in Nigeria and came to the US when she was eight. “That’s been the focus of my reflection: ‘What is my identity and how do I use that?’” Boston College’s commitment to service was what attracted Okorie to BC. “Service was a big part of my high school career. No other school put that at the forefront of their mission [like BC did]. That really spoke to me. I thought ‘This is going to be a community of people who are going to be engaged in conversation and are going to set the world aflame.’ I wanted to be one of those people.” As a freshman, Okorie got involved in Campus Ministry’s Jamaica Magis program, which brings BC students to live and serve in solidarity with people in Jamaica. After participating in the summer 2014 program, she led the recent trip, serving as a teacher’s assistant at Holy Family Primary School in Kingston. Among other organizations, she worked at Missionaries of Charity, Missionaries of the Poor and Mustard Seed, providing companionship and care for their populations, which included the elderly and children with disabilities or HIV/AIDS. Okorie entered BC as a political science major intent on a career as a diplomat. She had a change of heart during her freshman year after returning to Nigeria over semester break, prompting her to transfer to the Connell School. She now plans to pursue a career in public health policy, first working as a nurse, which she feels will
Chiamaka Okorie ’17 receives congratulations from her mother, Jane Ena, on winning the Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship. (Photos by Frank Curran)
inform her advocacy work. She is particularly passionate about maternal health. “Maternal health is linked to the idea of female empowerment,” she said. “Women and children face the greatest burden of health care disparities. If a woman isn’t taking charge of her health and her child’s health then it is a lost opportunity for the whole community.” Last summer, Okorie traveled to Ghana on an Amanda Houston Fellowship to conduct a research project on malaria prevention for mothers and babies. This past fall, she presented her findings at the Conference on Child Rights & Sight at Yale University. As vice president of the Black Student Forum, Okorie focuses on dialogue on what it means to be a black student at BC — something she admits she initially found a bit overwhelming. “It’s been a great way for me to learn about my black identity. It’s personally very important to me that people embrace it, understand how to communicate what they’re struggling with, and define their experience. And then, overcome that, to appreciate BC for the opportunity it can give them. It means a lot to
me, that personal development.” Okorie also is a resident assistant, helping freshman students adjust to college; among the programs she’s led or co-organized have been a discussion on black women in the media, and a women’s retreat. “I really love it. It has been a meaningful opportunity to help build community for my women, support them during a transition that was challenging for me, and encourage them to be authentic.” Okorie expressed gratitude to many members of the BC community who have supported her, including Cathy Read, Allyssa Harris and Maureen Connolly from CSON and Michael Davidson, SJ, Christine Cichello, Daniel Leahy and Chris Darcy from Campus Ministry. She also cited Residential Life’s Katie Corey DiLeo and Peter Hausladen, as well as Director of Undergraduate Admission John Mahoney, Learning to Learn Director Dan Bunch, Montserrat Coalition Manager Yvonne McBarnett and Kwasi Sarkodie-Mensah, who served as her advisor for her Ghana project. Contact Kathleen Sullivan at kathleen.sullivan@bc.edu
University President William P. Leahy, SJ, with the 2016 Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship finalists (L-R) Joi Dallas, Osamase Ekhator, Chiamaka Okorie (the scholarship winner), Jessica Stephens and Jacquelyn Andalcio. Read about this year’s finalists at http://bit.ly/1oEUy6H.
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Laetare Sunday to Feature Talk by Journalist Orth Award-winning journalist, humanitarian and philanthropist Maureen Orth will be the featured speaker at the 65th annual celebration of Laetare Sunday at Boston College on March 6. Orth will also receive the Ignatian Award from University President William P. Leahy, SJ, at the event, which be held at Conte Forum beginning with a Mass at 9:30 a.m. She is a special correspondent for Vanity Fair magazine and founder of the Marina Orth Foundation, which promotes advanced learning in technology, English and leadership for more than 3,200 students in Colombia. She also is the mother of NBC News correspondent Luke Russert ’08 and widow of NBC News Washington bureau chief and “Meet the Press” moderator Tim Russert H ’04. In the course of her journalism career – which began in 1972 when she became the first woman writer at Newsweek – Orth has written about and interviewed Angela Merkel, Vladimir Putin, Margaret Thatcher, Irish President Mary Robinson, Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder and Bruce Springsteen, among others. Her Vanity Fair piece on the battle over designer Oleg Cassini’s will won her a Front Page Award. She also has been a network correspondent for NBC News, senior editor for New York and New West maga-
Maureen Orth
zines; a contributor to The New York Times, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times; and authored two books, including the best-selling Vulgar Favors. Orth volunteered for the Peace Corps after college, helping build a school named for her in Colombia. She later founded two non-profits, the Marina Orth Foundation in the US and Colombia-based Fundacion Marina Orth. Orth’s work with the Latino community was honored by the Spanish Catholic Center in Washington, DC, and last year she received the McCall-Pierpaoli Humanitarian Award from Refugees International. Admission for Laetare Sunday is free for current BC students, members of the Boston College and Newton College Class of 1966, and children under 18; $10 for members of undergraduate classes 2006-15; and $20 for members of all other classes and guests. To register, go to http://bit. ly/1orixGc. –Office of News & Public Affairs
‘Big Data’ Is Focus of Research Day Google Inc. executive Marvin Chow CSOM ’95 will deliver the keynote address at the second annual Advancing Research and Scholarship Day on March 16, which is focusing on the emergence of “big data.” Chow, Google’s senior director of global marketing, will speak at 10 a.m. in the Heights Room of Corcoran Commons. Additional events will include presentations by faculty on a range of issues connected to “big data,” a label applied to growing fields of corporate, academic and scientific research that specialize in the high-velocity processing of massive amounts of digital data from sources as varied as Internet search histories, the human genome and fast-food restaurants. Chow, who earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing and information systems from the Carroll School of Management, has been with the tech giant since 2010. Prior to joining Google, Chow held a series of positions with Nike, leading the athletics apparel firm’s marketing efforts in China, Japan and Korea. Chow has also launched start-up companies and serves as an investor and advisor to a number of tech firms. He’s also taken a leadership role mentoring underrepresented
minorities in the tech sector, including early-career colleagues at Google. Faculty speakers include: Sergio Alvarez (Computer Science), Stefan Hoderlein (Economics), Canisius Professor of Theology James Keenan, SJ, Elizabeth Kensinger (Psychology), Julie Holland Mortimer (Economics), TIMSS & PIRLS International Study Center Director Ina V.S. Mullis, Joseph Nugent (English) and Sam Ransbotham (CSOM). Among the topics to be covered will be the massive international student achievement surveys TIMMS and PIRLS, directed by the International Study Center in the Lynch School, and the use of powerful computing tools to analyze written texts. Imaging brain networks, merging economic models and new challenges in data analytics will be discussed, as will ethical issues tied to the uses of big data. Undergraduate and graduate students will also present examples of their projects related to data analysis. Advancing Research and Scholarship Day is sponsored by the Provost’s Office and the Vice Provost for Research. For more information or to register to attend, see www. bc.edu/research/research-day.html. –Ed Hayward
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Chronicle february 25, 2016
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Conference and Concert to Mark Easter Rising Centenary
Christopher Huang
Brigitte Lacombe
and dance with BC performers like former Sullivan Artist-in-Residence Seamus Connolly (who retired in December as director of Irish music programs at BC), Jimmy Noonan, Sheila Falls, Kieran Jordan, and the BC Irish Dance student club, as well as the University Chorale and the BC Chamber Music Society. Joining the BC contingent will be a bevy of special guests, including Charlie Lennon, a traditional musician who also is a prolific composer; New England Irish harpist Regina Delaney; and The Murphy Beds, a New York City-based duo of Irish native Eamon O’Leary and American Jefferson Hamer, noted for intricate instrumental arrangements and vocal harmonies. The concert is free and open to the public; registration is requested at http://bit.ly/1PMKjnc. Fr. Rafferty – whose newly pub-
Author Colm Tóibín and retired faculty member Seamus Connolly will be among the special guests at next month’s events commemorating the 1916 Easter Rising.
“The Rising was a seminal event in Irish history not because it was a victory, but because of how the British mishandled the aftermath: executing the rebel leaders, and imposing martial law and internment. This swung Irish public opinion in favor of what the rebels were trying to accomplish, and touched off nearly seven years of struggle that brought about Ireland’s independence.” Novelist Colm Tóibín, author of Brooklyn (now a critically acclaimed film), will be among a group of distinguished speakers at the “Easter 1916” conference during the weekend of March 18-20. Also on hand will be historians Alvin Jackson of Edinburgh University and Diarmaid Ferriter of University College Dublin, who are both former Burns Visiting Scholars of Irish Studies at BC; Emily Bloom of Georgia State University; Roisín Higgins of Teeside University; and Fearghal McGarry of Queen’s University Belfast. The conference opens at 6 p.m. on March 18 in Devlin 101, and includes daytime presentations on Saturday and Sunday and evening receptions Friday and Saturday. “Easter 1916” is free and open to the public, but registration is requested at http://bit.ly/1WnfzNs. On March 28, Easter Monday – the day the 1916 Rising occurred – the commemorative concert will take place in Gasson 100 at 6:30 p.m., offering a program of Irish music, song
lished book Violence, Politics and Catholicism in Ireland touches on the Easter Rising – said Boston College is an appropriate venue for marking the 1916 centenary. “The University has had a longstanding commitment to teaching and propagating Irish history and culture – in fact, some of our most popular history classes here are about Irish history,” he explained. “BC also has strong ties to Boston, the most Irish city in the US. As part of our service to Boston, we stage events and offer resources on Irish history and culture. “These two events, and others being held at BC, uphold that tradition by offering different perspectives on the Easter Rising. The conference will provide an intellectual engagement through the exploration of various issues in regard to the Rising: What was it? What was its impact? How did different communities and observers see it? “The Easter Monday concert represents a cultural, artistic engagement, one that not only involves musicians in the Irish Studies Program but also the Music Department. We’re very happy to collaborate with our colleagues in Music for this fascinating, and fun, event.” Fr. Rafferty praised the Irish Consulate for its support of the 1916 Easter Rising commemorative events [see http://www.bc.edu/ centers/irish/studies/calendar.html]. –Sean Smith
As a biography subject, said Mariani, Stevens was not an obvious romantic or dramatic figure, like Hart Crane who died at age 32. He was a businessman in an unhappy marriage, who did not publish his first book of poetry, Harmonium, until age 44. “If you look at his life, from the outside, very little seems to be happening,” said Mariani. It was Stevens’ interior life that was of interest to Mariani: “Stevens speaks to the human condition. I wanted to see if I could bring him to life.”
his interest in writing on the side. Stevens went to law school and became an expert in surety insurance. He ultimately rose to the rank of Wallace Stevens (1879–1955) vice president at what is now The worked most of his professional Hartford. He and his wife, Elsie, life as an insurance executive, yet had a daughter named Holly. is considered one of the greatest An imposing figure, both physipoets of the 20th century, winning cally and personally, Stevens had a a Pulitzer Prize and two National witty, comic and Dionysian side to Book Awards. A new biography his personality, according to Mariby University Professor of English ani. He liked to travel to Key West Paul Mariani shows how, through and once got into a fistfight there his poetry, Stevens sought out the with Ernest Hemingway. ineffable and spiritual in human exStevens’ work can be difficult istence in his search for the sublime. but is greatly rewarding to read, “Wallace Stevens was a poet according to Mariani, of the imagination,” said who has helped generaMariani, author of The tions of students deciWhole Harmonium: The pher Stevens’ poetry Life of Wallace Stevens. during his nearly 50“And for him, the imagiyear teaching career. nation was the ultimate “He was the most reality. He would say elusive of poets. The everything we say or do imagery is difficult,” he has to be filtered through said, adding that some the mind, through the of Stevens’ best-known imagination. He said the poems, “The Emperor scientist starts off with an of Ice-Cream” and imaginative hunch about “Wallace Stevens speaks to the human condition,” says “The Snow Man,” “are something. He made a Paul Mariani. “I wanted to see if I could bring him to life.” almost like riddles.” case that good poetry was The historical events of Stevens’ Stevens published several addieven more valuable than philosotime – the Gilded Age, the Deprestional poetry collections, including phy.” sion, and World War II – are all The Man with the Blue Guitar, The According to Mariani, Stevens’ embedded in his poetry, Mariani Auroras of Autumn (winner of a philosophical questioning, spiritual noted. National Book Award) and The depth, and brilliantly inventive use In researching the biography, Collected Poems of Wallace Stevens of language would be profound Mariani read books on Stevens (winner of a Pulitzer Prize and Nainfluences on poets as diverse as and explored what other poets said tional Book Award). William Carlos Williams, Hart Mariani taught his last class at Crane, Elizabeth Bishop and John about him, toured his home in Connecticut, studied his personal Boston College this past semester. Ashbery. letters, and spoke with Stevens’ He continues to write his own poMariani – who’s been called only grandchild. etry and lecture. His poem, “Psalm the “biographer of poets” for his Stevens started his career in for the Lost,” has been selected for previous volumes on Hart Crane, New York City as a journalist — the anthology Best American Poetry Gerard Manley Hopkins, William one of his first assignments was cov2016. He will give a talk on Gerard Carlos Williams, Robert Lowering the funeral of author Stephen Manley Hopkins in Jerusalem in ell and John Berryman – said he Crane. On the advice of his father, May, and is at work on his next started reading Stevens while an he decided to devote himself to a book project, a memoir of growing undergraduate more than a half more lucrative career and pursue up in New York City. century ago and has never stopped. By Kathleen Sullivan Staff Writer
Gary Gilbert
Boston College’s yearlong observance of the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising – a milestone in Irish history – will feature two major events in March: an international conference, “Easter 1916: A Terrible Beauty Is Born,” and an Easter Rising Commemorative Concert. These events will serve as a remembrance of the April 24, 1916, uprising by Irish nationalists to battle against British rule and establish an Irish republic. Although the insurrection was suppressed, the Easter Rising helped spur wider, and ultimately successful, efforts to gain Irish independence. “To understand modern Ireland, it’s important to appreciate the impact of the Easter Rising,” said Oliver Rafferty, SJ, director of the University’s Center for Irish Programs, which is playing a key role in organizing the BC commemorations.
The Life of a ‘Poet of the Imagination’
Burns Scholar to Speak on ‘Complicated’ Monastery Life The monastery, according to St. Benedict’s Rule, was supposed to be a “household of God,” but – given the presence of all-toohuman frailty – the truth has been more complicated, according to Colmán Ó Clabaigh, OSB, the spring 2016 Burns Library Visiting Scholar in Irish Studies at Boston College. A Benedictine monk of Glenstal Abbey in County Limerick, Brother Ó Clabaigh will discuss how ethnic rivalry, madness, alcohol abuse and personal ambition affected the religious communities of late medieval Ireland, at the annual Spring Burns Visiting Scholar Lecture on March 2. The lecture, titled “Fifty Ways to Cleave Your Brother: Mayhem, Mischief, & Misfits in Medieval Irish Monasteries,” will take place
at 4:30 p.m. in Burns Library. Brother Ó Clabaigh, a medievalist specializing in the history of monasticism and religion in late Medieval Ireland, earned his bachelor’s degree from National University of Ireland-Galway and, after undertaking research in Italy, Belgium and Oxford, received his doctorate in 1998 from NUI. His many publications, solo, edited or co-authored, include The Franciscans in Ireland, 1400– 1534: from Reform to Reformation, Art and Devotion in Medieval Ireland and Soldiers of Christ: the Knights Templar and Knights Hospitaller in Medieval Ireland. His monograph The Friars in Ireland, 1224-1500 was awarded the 2013 National University of Ireland Prize for Irish Historical Research. He also has contributed to nu-
merous Irish and international journals, and has lectured and taught courses for institutions and organizations in Ireland, Great Britain, Italy and Nigeria. In addition to pursuing his current research on popular religion in Medieval Ireland, as Burns Scholar Brother Ó Clabaigh is teaching a course, Religion and Society in Ireland, c. 1215 to c. 1526, in the History Department. The Burns Scholar Lecture is free and open to the public, but registration is requested at http:// libguides.bc.edu/Burns/visitingscholar. For further information about the lecture, including directions and parking, call (617)5523282. –Office of News & Public Affairs
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BOSTON COLLEGE IN THE MEDIA An introduction to new faculty members at Boston College
Nicole Eaton
Assistant Professor of History Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences DEGREES: University of Indianapolis (BA); University of California, Berkeley (MA, PhD) WHAT SHE STUDIES: Modern European social and cultural history; modern Russian and Soviet history; German and East Central European history; the Second World War and the Eastern Front. WHAT SHE’S TEACHING: Russian Revolutions; Russia to 1917 (both fall of 2015)
Angela Kim Harkins
Associate Professor of New Testament School of Theology and Ministry DEGREES: Loyola University-Chicago (BA); University of Notre Dame (MA, PhD) WHAT SHE STUDIES: Prayer in the Second Temple and early Christian periods; the instrumental role of emotion in reading and ritual experiences; the history of Jewish and Christian interpretation of Scripture; Qumran; the Hodayot (Thanksgiving Hymns). WHAT SHE’S TEACHING: Introduction to the New Testament; Gospel of John; Apocalypses and Apocalyptic Literature
Boston College faculty members offered views on two recent major news events involving Pope Francis. In an op-ed for The Boston Globe, Prof. James Bretzke, SJ (STM), said the pope’s comments on measures to avoid pregnancy in the face of the Zika virus are perfectly consistent with traditional Catholic moral teaching; Fr Bretzke also spoke on the subject with The New York Times and Associated Press, while CNN.com included remarks from Walsh Professor of Bioethics John Paris, SJ, and Canisius Professor and Jesuit Institute Director James Keenan, SJ, and Business Insider interviewed Prof. Stephen Pope (Theology). Meanwhile, Church in the 21st Century Center Director Thomas Groome talked to WCVB-TV
Katherine McAuliffe
Assistant Professor of Psychology Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences DEGREES: University of King’s College and Dalhousie University (B.Sc); University of Cambridge (M.Phil); Harvard University (PhD) WHAT SHE STUDIES: Development and evolution of cooperation in humans, with a special focus on how children acquire and enforce fairness norms. WHAT SHE’S TEACHING: Development of Understanding the Social World: Humans and Other Animals (fall 2016) Your work combines the expertise of psychology with evolutionary biology. What do you think this kind of cross-disciplinary research might help us to understand? “Combining evolutionary biology and psychology can provide insight into the origins of many of the cognitive abilities that are considered to be foundational to humans. Understanding which parts of our psychology are shared with other species and which are specific to our own species can provide hints about the unique challenges that the human mind had to solve in our evolutionary past. For example, many aspects of the psychology of cooperation in humans seem to be devoted to solving a problem that other animals do not commonly face: that is, the need to cooperate with huge numbers of unrelated—and even unfamiliar—individuals. More broadly, uniting psychology and evolutionary biology enables questions to be addressed at multiple levels of explanation: psychology helps us understand how the human mind solves problems while evolutionary biology places these solutions in a broader context, helping us understand why the human mind is the way it is.”
Matthias Waegele
Assistant Professor of Chemistry Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences DEGREES: Technical University of Munich (BS); University of Pennsylvania (PhD) WHAT HE STUDIES: Interfaces that show potential for the synthesis of renewable fuels, with the aim of facilitating development of efficient catalysts by elucidating the molecular events at the catalytic interface that lead from feedstock to fuel. WHAT HE’S TEACHING: Physical Chemistry: Principles and Applications Why have you focused your research on catalysts? “One of the most appealing aspects of research on heterogeneous catalysts is that answering fundamental scientific questions about the physico-chemical properties of their catalytic interfaces is closely related to the potential applications of these materials.”
–Kathleen Sullivan, Ed Hayward and Sean Smith Photos by Lee Pellegrini
Where do the presidential candidates stand on wealth and income inequality in the US? Assoc. Prof. Tiziana Dearing (BCSSW) provided commentary for a report that aired on CBS Boston (WBZ-TV). The New York Times featured a forthcoming paper in which Prof. Christine Neylon O’Brien (CSOM) assesses 10 National Labor Relations Board cases involving workplace profanity.
The Patriot Ledger reported on a 15year study of the Norwell, Mass., groundwater by Assoc. Prof. Rudolph Hon (Earth and Environmental Sciences) showing sodium levels in the town’s drinking water at more than twice state guidelines. More people are rejecting mass production, both for aesthetic reasons and because of exploitation in “fast fashion,” Prof. Juliet Schor (Sociology) commented in The Alantic. Prof. Ed Kane (CSOM) compared financial reforms proposed by presidential candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton and Bernie Sanders, in a Q&A with ineteconomic.org, the website of the Institute for New Economic Thinking.
EXPERT OPINION
Franklin Harkins
Associate Professor of Historical Theology and Church History School of Theology and Ministry DEGREES: University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (BS); Duke Divinity School (MDiv); Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, Toronto (LMS); University of Notre Dame (PhD) WHAT HE STUDIES: Medieval scholastic theology; ancient and medieval scriptural interpretation; Augustine and his reception in the Middle Ages; history of Jewish-Christian relations. WHAT HE’S TEACHING: History of Western Christianity; Medievel Exegesis; Book of Job in the Middle Ages; Great Christian Thinkers: Augustine, Aquinas, Luther Your undergraduate years were devoted to psychology and biology, so what eventually drew you to divinity school and studying church history and later medieval theology? “For as long as I can remember, I have been interested in why people believe, think, and act in the ways that they do, both individually and communally. This basic ‘why?’ question is one with which the disciplines of psychology and biology concern themselves in various ways, and it is central to the history of Christianity as well. Why – historically and theologically – do Christians (of various stripes) believe what they believe, think as they think, and act as they act? How might we account for the differences in belief, thought, and action across or between different Christian communities, or within the same community across time? How does or should the tradition of belief, thought, and action influence, reveal, and challenge the identities of Christians and Christian communities today? These are some of the fundamental questions underlying my interests and work in pre-modern Christian history and in medieval theology in particular.”
News regarding Pope Francis’ statements about Donald Trump’s views on immigration, and the Boston Herald asked Asst. Prof. David Hopkins (Political Science) to weigh in on the potential effect of the pope’s remarks on voters.
Boston College Law School Associate Professor David Olson on the controversy over Apple’s refusal to obey a court order and help the FBI unlock the iPhone of a San Bernardino terrorist:
“This district court order might have effects for privacy and human rights around the world. The precedent of telling Apple to create this less secure code to open an iPhone of government interest is one that countries that engage in human rights violations will find very appealing. Even if such governments don’t convince Apple to do the same for them, they might obtain the new code if it leaks or if it’s hacked. Suddenly it won’t just be terrorists whose phone security is broken, it could be dissidents protesting corruption and abuse in places like Russia, at which point the situation looks very different.”
See www.bc.edu/bcnews for more BC faculty media commentary
NOTA BENE The USA Northeast Province of Jesuits has announced it will honor University Trustee Charles I. “Chuck” Clough Jr. ’64 and his wife Gloria MDiv’90, MS’96 with its Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam Award in recognition of the Cloughs’ “selfless efforts in the church and community.” The couple will receive the award at the 2016 Jesuit Gala on April 28 in Boston. Chuck, chairman and chief executive officer of the Boston-based investment firm Clough Capital Partners LP, has been a member of the Boston College Board of Trustees since 1993 and was co-chair of BC’s recently concluded $1.5 billion “Light the World” campaign – the biggest fundraising effort in BC’s history. He also sits on the boards of numerous educational, health care and charitable institutions and serves as an ordained permanent deacon at Holy Family Parish in Concord, where he and Gloria live. Gloria worked as a pediatric nurse before earning a master’s degree in divinity from the Weston Jesuit School of Theology (now Boston College School of Theology and Ministry), and then established the first chaplaincy program at Concord’s Emerson Hospital, where she served as chaplain. After completing her master’s degree in nursing from BC, she ran a private practice as a psychiatric clinical nurse specialist for 15 years. She also has taken a leadership role in many community service organizations. At BC, the Cloughs established the Clough Center for the Study of Constitutional Democracy, which seeks to reinvigorate and transform the study of constitutional democracy through a global, holistic approach, and the Clough Colloquium, a speaking program that introduces members of the BC community to persons of high ethical standards who are leaders in their fields.
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 Director, Core Curriculum, Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences Dean, Boston College School of Social Work Research Economist, Center for Retirement Research Production Manager, Catering and Events, Dining Services Associate, Student Services Assistant Director, Sophomore Area, Residential Life Events Assistant, Alumni Chapters, Alumni Association Program Director, Master’s Health Administration, Woods College of Advancing Studies Assistant Director, C&F Communications and Proposal Development, Corporate Foundation Relations Communications and Events Administrator, Roche Center for Catholic Education Director of Compliance, Office of General Counsel Director of Career Advising, Career Center
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New on BC YouTube
www.youtube.com/BostonCollege
Q&A/MARY ARMSTRONG
sphere and light. The painting “Launch,” the final in the “24 Hour News” series, begins the return to light and air in the movement away from the earth, sailing up into the troposphere. [Armstrong had an exhibition, titled “Troposphere @ 12 Kilometers of Heaven” in 2014 at the
drums of war were beating in earnest in 2002-03 and images from the war started to enter my consciousness, the work began to respond to that. The color red came to dominate the work. From 2003 to 2006 responding to the war continued to be unavoidable. Then “Launch” fin-
“I am not trying to stir action. I would rather inspire a more meditative view. Paintings are riddles that have no solution. This allows all the energy the painter put into them to continue to resonate.”
Lee Pellegrini
A powerful series of 11 paintings on display at O’Neill Library depict meditations of the Iraq War, according to the artist, Mary Armstrong of the University’s Fine Arts Department. “The slow, inexorable march to war was unavoidable,” according to an excerpt from her exhibition introduction [http://tiny. cc/aar98x]. “The White House started to beat the drums, Congress debated, and the media related these events in the 24-hours-a-day news cycle.” Armstrong, who has taught painting at Boston College since 1989, has exhibited her work widely and received numerous professional honors and awards. Sponsored by the Fine Arts Department and Boston College Libraries, “24 Hour News” is on display in O’Neill Library’s Level Three Gallery through May 31. In what ways are the works in this exhibition a departure from your artistic style? Armstrong: These are predominately paintings created specifically in response to the Iraq War [which began in March 2003] and images from that war. Up until then I was working with imagery that connected nature to the human body. I was and am interested in exploring images of transformation and transfiguration. After I finished the “24 Hour News” series, I began to explore painting vast open spaces, filled with atmo-
–Mary Armstrong
Maine Center for Contemporary Art.] Over how long a period of time were these paintings produced, and is there a progression in the works, to represent the war as it went on? Armstrong: The dark blue paintings are the earliest and are part of a series painted during the period just after September 11, 2001. The paintings are of exposed organs, meditations on the vulnerability of the human body to violence. Then, as the
BC SCENES
ished the series with a release. Talk about the use of color in these paintings. Armstrong: Blood is blue until it is spilled. The color red is “intense enough to burnish the seat of the imagination which is where, after all, the symbolic mettle of art had better ring true.” [Quote from a 1990 Art Forum review of Armstrong’s work in a New York City gallery exhibition.] This exhibition was shown at a Boston gallery in 2006.
Why is it important to you to display these works on campus? Armstrong: I really appreciate the opportunity to show these paintings again, especially to the BC community. I wonder at our complacency in the face of all the misery and death launched with our “shock and awe” campaign. The genie of instability and carnage will not go back into the bottle. This has become a war without end, a terrifying prospect. What do you hope to convey to viewers through these works? Armstrong: Please first look at the pictures and know that whatever you find there is the right thing. The painter’s improvisations in the studio evolve into intentions in the gallery. This is just the starting point. All is experiment and discovery. Nothing is fixed. Or, as [Ger-
man artist] Max Ernst said, “Art is the magisterial eruption of the irrational.” I am not trying to stir action. I would rather inspire a more meditative view. Paintings are riddles that have no solution. This allows all the energy the painter put into them to continue to resonate. What feedback have you gotten from students and other BC community members? Armstrong: I am not on campus this semester so I am not able to know how students think about the paintings. I like to imagine a student – nose in book, studying – and then glancing up at the wall and letting the mind wander into a painting without judgment or a pressing need to figure anything out. In other words, to ponder the riddle with an open mind. –Rosanne Pellegrini
“Electrify” Feb. 25 and 26, 7 p.m. Robsham Theater
This year’s Boston College Irish Dance club annual spring show extends to two performances for the first time. In addition to presenting traditional and original Irish dance choreography, “BCID” will welcome BC student dance groups Masti and BC Dance Ensemble, as well as the Boston-based O’Shea-Chaplin School of Irish Dance. Go to www.bc.edu/robsham for tickets.
BOPPIN’ ALONG Photos by Christopher Huang
Student vocal/jazz ensemble BC bOp! livened up a cold winter night on Feb. 12 in the Heights Room of Corcoran Commons with “In the Name of Love,” an evening of music and dancing to kick off St. Valentine’s Day weekend.