Boston College Chronicle by Boston College

PUBLISHED BY THE BOSTON COLLEGE OFFICE OF UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS

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Around Campus

Songs, Service

BC Global

Canine Cognition Center is up and running; men’s and women’s hockey teams honor special individuals.

Common Tones of Boston College combines a cappella performance with community outreach.

Connell School and Chilean university working together to introduce nurse practitioner role in that country.

FEBRUARY 25, 2020 VOL. 27 NO.12

PUBLISHED BY THE BOSTON COLLEGE OFFICE OF UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS

Study: BC Among Most Generous to Needy Students BY SEAN SMITH CHRONICLE EDITOR

Abdi Nor Iftin enrolled in the Woods College of Advancing Studies last fall. photo by frank curran

The Story, So Far His past was full of violence, trauma, and persecution. His present includes Boston College. And he has high hopes for his future. BY SEAN SMITH CHRONICLE EDITOR

The realization hit Abdi Nor Iftin just after he’d disembarked from the Green Line train and began walking up the hill toward the Boston College campus, preparing to attend his first class at the Woods College of Advancing Studies. “This is it,” he remembers thinking. “I’m here. I made it.” Except that this internal monologue took place in his native Somali language, Iftin points out. “I don’t dream or think in English,” he says. “Not yet.” That evening last fall, Iftin joined the generations-long procession of men and women who have come to BC, from Boston or thousands of miles away, to cultivate their intellectual and spiritual selves, look-

ing inward while simultaneously reaching out to the world. Every BC student has his or her unique story, of course, but Iftin’s is a particularly compelling one—and widely shared, thanks to his improbable stint as a foreign correspondent and his 2018 memoir, Call Me American. Born and raised in war-torn Somalia’s capital of Mogadishu, Iftin endured a dangerously violent and traumatic childhood that eventually saw him flee to Kenya, where—still facing danger—he won a lottery enabling him to apply for a green card to the U.S. Barely escaping Kenya’s crackdown on Somalians and struggling with government bureaucracy, Iftin was able to make his way to the U.S. and settle in Maine. In the past few years, through media interviews and speaking engage-

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Boston College ranks among the top 30 private, nonprofit colleges and universities that are the most generous to their financially neediest students, according to a recent study published in The Chronicle of Higher Education. In its assessment of 958 four-year private, nonprofit institutions—from highprofile universities such as Duke, Stanford, Princeton, Harvard, and Yale to lesserknown institutions like Southern New Hampshire University, Central Baptist College (Ark.), and Wilberforce University (Ohio)— CHE examined the average net price of attending each school for students

from five family income groups. CHE also calculated the difference in each net price between the lowest and highest income groups, and how many times greater the average net price was for the highest versus lowest income groups. CHE determined the average net price by subtracting the average amount of federal, state, and local government aid, and institutional grant and scholarship aid, from the total cost of attendance for each institution. Using this methodology, the CHE study found BC was 26th in generosity to financially neediest students. The average net price for students from the lowest income group attending BC was $7,251

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Researchers See Link in Gun Policies, Rate of Workplace Homicides BY ED HAYWARD STAFF WRITER

States that toughened their firearms policies overall saw declines in the rate of workplace homicides, according to a new study by Boston College researchers who looked at gun law changes during a six-year period. When states tightened certain categories of firearm policies—restrictions on firearms for domestic violence offenders, concealed carrying, and background checks—work-

place homicide rates decreased significantly, the team from BC reported in an advance online publication of the American Journal of Public Health. “What this study points to is one potential lever that states can pull to help reduce the number of homicides that take place at work,” said BC School of Social Work Assistant Professor Erika Sabbath, who led the study. “Regardless of your position on gun control versus gun rights, we can all agree that nobody should be killed at work. Continued on page 4

I’ve come to love Chile. It’s a beautiful country with a warm and inviting population who are eager to see how nurse practitioners can improve the care in their country. I’m so delighted to be helping them in doing this work. – connell school of nursing assoc. dean susan kelly-weeder, page 8

ADDRESS GOES HERE

Chronicle

February 25, 2020

Around Campus

BC Opens Canine Cognition Center — and Your Dog’s Invited If you think there’s more to dogs than waggy tails, wet noses, and games of fetch, you’re not alone—there are several Boston College researchers who feel the same way, and now they have a place to study our four-legged friends and what we might learn from them. BC’s Canine Cognition Center and Social Learning Laboratory (CCC), led by Assistant Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience Angie Johnston, was launched in McGuinn Hall last July and recently underwent renovations. Johnston and her team investigate the origins of human teaching and learning by comparing human learning to that of domesticated canines. To address these questions, she works with children and pet dogs from the local community to pinpoint which aspects of human learning are unique and which are shared. She also works with Australian dingoes, a non-domesticated canid, to explore how domestication has shaped these traits. “Our center is devoted to learning more about canine psychology—how dogs perceive their environment, solve problems, and make decisions,” said Johnston, who earned a doctorate in psychology at Yale’s Canine Cognition Center. “By observing dogs participating in fun, problem-solving games, we can learn how the dog mind works, which not only helps us develop programs that improve canine training techniques—especially for service dogs—but also provides surpris-

Asst. Prof. Angie Johnston (Psychology/Neuroscience), right, watches her dog Vader work with Canine Cognition Center Lab Coordinator Molly Byrne, left, as Ave Wiebe ’23 looks on. The facility is located in McGuinn Hall. photo by lee pellegrini

ing insights into human psychology.” “Humans have amazing abilities to interact with one another,” said Molly Byrne, CCC lab coordinator, who previously held the same position at the University of Arizona’s Canine Cognition Center. “Complex aspects of human psychology like language and empathy must have evolved from other, simpler traits. Studying comparison species like dogs helps us look at what might have

lead these abilities to evolve.” Even though dogs are different from humans, they have a lot to tell us, says Johnston. Her 2016 study, published in the journal Developmental Science, examined how dogs imitate people. She discovered that while dogs are able to learn from humans, they are more likely to ignore human teaching if there is a more efficient solution, unlike children who commonly “over-

imitate” even silly and unrelated actions demonstrated by a teacher or parent. “Although, at first, it may seem that dogs are ‘smarter’ than children—since dogs don’t copy unnecessary actions—it’s not so simple,” said Johnston. “When you think about human society on a larger scale, there are so many things we teach children that are seemingly irrelevant, such as washing their hands and brushing their teeth, which are actually extremely important. Dogs provide an excellent opportunity for exploring potentially unique aspects of human psychology while living with us side by side! The CCC is looking forward to uncovering even more mysteries about dogs and humans.” Boston-area dog owners are invited to bring their pets to the center to serve as canine volunteers; all studies involve just simple problem-solving games. The CCC welcomes dogs of all breeds, ages, and sizes; however, they must be healthy, vaccinated (rabies, DHPP and proof of a stool sample negative for giardia from the last 12 months), and have no history of aggression. To register your dog, or to learn more, visit the CCC website at https://sites.bc.edu/ doglab, send e-mail to canine.cognition@ bc.edu, or call 617-552-3068. The CCC Instagram is at bccaninecog and its Twitter handle is @caninelab. —Phil Gloudemans

(Left) The BC women’s hockey team with its newest member, Natalia Donnelly. (Right) Brian Gionta ’01 and his family were joined by BC Athletic Director Martin Jarmond during Gionta’s jersey retirement ceremony.

February has been eventful for both the Boston College men’s and women’s hockey teams—and not just on the ice. On Feb. 9, the women’s team welcomed a new, very special member: high school student Natalia Donnelly of Norwood, who is battling a brain tumor. She joined the Eagles through Team Impact, a nonprofit which helps children facing chronic illness bond with athletes. ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT FOR UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS

Jack Dunn SENIOR DIRECTOR FOR UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS

Natalia, who turned 16 yesterday, had planned to play volleyball and lacrosse as a high school freshman. But she received her diagnosis the day before her first day of classes, and had to undergo surgery and then endure chemotherapy and radiation treatments. As an official member of the women’s hockey team, Natalia attends practices and games and takes part in team dinners and events.

CONTRIBUTING STAFF

Christine Balquist Phil Gloudemans Ed Hayward Rosanne Pellegrini Kathleen Sullivan

Chronicle

PHOTOGRAPHERS

www.bc.edu/bcnews chronicle@bc.edu

Patricia Delaney EDITOR

Sean Smith

On Feb. 15, the men’s hockey team paid tribute to two of its most accomplished alumni. Former All-American Brian Gionta ’01 had his jersey retired during the Eagles’ game against Merrimack in Conte Forum. A three-time Hobey Baker Award finalist who captained BC to the NCAA championship in 2001, Gionta went on to play 16 seasons in the National Hockey League for the New Jersey Devils, Montreal

Lee Pellegrini Peter Julian

Canadians, Buffalo Sabres, and Boston Bruins. He also was captain of the 2018 U.S. Olympic hockey team. In addition, BC honored Ernie Ciampa ’49, a World War II veteran who landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day, as a member of a medical unit. Ciampo also was a member of the varsity football team during his time at BC. –BC Athletics

The Boston College Chronicle (USPS 009491), the internal newspaper for faculty and staff, is published biweekly from September to May by Boston College, with editorial offices at the Office of University Communications, 3 Lake Street, Brighton, MA 02135 (617)552-3350. Distributed free to faculty and staff offices and other locations on campus. Periodicals postage paid at Boston, MA and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: send address changes to The Boston College Chronicle, Office of University Communications, 3 Lake Street, Brighton, MA 02135. A flipbook edition of Chronicle is available via e-mail. Send requests to chronicle@bc.edu.

Chronicle

February 25, 2020

Alumna Is Named Gates Cambridge Scholar BY PHIL GLOUDEMANS STAFF WRITER

Morgan Healy, a 2017 magna cum laude graduate of the Lynch School of Education and Human Development, has been awarded a Gates Cambridge Scholarship, annually awarded to approximately 25 American students to pursue a full-time postgraduate degree at the prestigious University of Cambridge. Healy, who will seek a doctorate in education at Cambridge’s Lucy Cavendish College, has focused her career path on support for quality early education services, including parenting programs. “I feel so honored to have won the Gates Cambridge Scholarship,” said Healy, a Los Altos Hills, Calif., native. “I’m most grateful for this opportunity because with it, I plan to amplify the voices of those whom our global society has overlooked and forgotten, and spotlight the fact that we are failing to uphold the basic human rights of our youngest and most vulnerable children. “Globally, over 40 percent of children in developing countries do not reach their full developmental potential, due in large part to parents’ inability to receive the

Morgan Healy ’17, whose research interests focus on quality early education services, will pursue a doctorate at Cambridge University’s Lucy Cavendish College.

support and quality care to which they are entitled. I hope that the play-based parenting intervention I design for my dissertation will serve as one of many tools to bring attention to this issue, amplify parent

AJCU Visit Next Phase in Jesuit Examen Self-Study Boston College will host a group of representatives from the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities from March 8-11, the next phase in a University selfstudy of its effectiveness in fulfilling the Jesuit aspect of its educational and formational missions. During its campus visit, the committee will meet with key stakeholder groups— faculty, administrators, staff, students, and Jesuits—to review components of the selfstudy, which is part of the Jesuit Mission Priority Examen, a process through which U.S. Jesuit colleges and universities assess, and demonstrate, their commitment to Jesuit educational and spiritual traditions and values. Institutions undertake a comprehensive evaluation of not only academic and student life programs and initiatives, but elements such as community outreach, service to the Catholic Church, and institutional policies in hiring and compensation. The peer committee’s subsequent report, with the University’s self-study, serves as a basis for conversations between the institution’s president, the Jesuit Provincial, and the Jesuit Superior General on the college or university’s future plans. The Superior General responds to the information he receives and decides whether the institution should continue to describe itself as a Jesuit university. Boston College’s participation in the Examen is being chaired by Special Assistant to the President Robert Newton and Campus Ministry Associate Director Ryan

Heffernan. Last fall, the two met with academic, administrative, undergraduate, graduate student, and alumni representatives, and a group of BC trustees, to hear their responses to questions derived from the AJCU’s “Some Characteristics of Jesuit Colleges and Universities: A Self-Evaluation Instrument,” which guided the development of the self-study. Among other subjects, the self-study describes how the University’s mission statement depicts its Catholic and Jesuit inspiration; how the Core Curriculum provides an understanding of what it means to be Catholic and Jesuit; what programs, initiatives, and campus events give witness to BC’s Catholic, Jesuit nature; and the opportunities and challenges in maintaining and promoting a Catholic, Jesuit campus culture. Following that round of discussions, the self-study document was finalized and sent to the AJCU visiting team. It is now accessible to the University community at the reference desk in O’Neill Library. Newton and Heffernan compared the Examen to the reaccreditation BC undergoes through the New England Commission on Higher Education. “The AJCU asks, ‘Do you want to remain a Jesuit institution? If so, how do you express the characteristics that are part of being a Jesuit institution? And how might you improve on this?’” Newton explained. “Ultimately, the AJCU wants us to come up with some recommendations for the next five years that address those questions.” –University Communications

voices, and improve early childhood outcomes, ensuring that all children have a fair shot in life.” Healy received a master’s degree in international education policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education last May. Following graduation, she spent two months in Baton Rouge, La., working with Cradle to K, an education initiative dedicated to strengthening the culture of parenting in the community. Healy then joined the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies in Sao Paulo, Brazil, as a post-graduate fellow, where she concentrated on two projects in early education leadership and education research dissemination. It was her second Brazilian posting; she had been a 2018 Fulbright Scholar in Belo Horizonte, where she taught at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, conducted research about Brazilian parenting beliefs, and contributed to the city’s common core curriculum assessment. “We were thrilled to learn that Morgan has won a Gates Cambridge Scholarship,” said Stanton E. F. Wortham, the Charles F. Donovan, S.J., Dean of the Lynch School. “The Lynch School has had an increasing number of outstanding undergraduate majors in recent years, and it’s great to see

global recognition for the quality of our students. Morgan’s project is very much aligned with BC’s mission, and I know that she will do important work to empower the less fortunate.” The Gates Cambridge Scholarship program was established in 2000 by a $210-million donation from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to the 811-year-old research university, the largest single donation to a UK-based institution of higher learning. A total of 80 scholarships are awarded annually; approximately 55 are presented to students outside the U.S. The program was founded with the aim of building a global network of future leaders committed to improving the lives of others. Those seeking advanced degrees in business, finance, or medicine are ineligible. Healy is the second Gates Cambridge Scholar to graduate from BC; in 2003, Tatyana Yakovleva ’03 won a Gates Cambridge Scholarship to study biochemistry at Cambridge. Another BC-affiliated former Gates Cambridge Scholar is Lynch School Assistant Professor Andrés Castro Samayoa, the first native of El Salvador to receive the honor.

Snapshot

Black History Month

The University formally opened Black History Month on Feb. 11 with a ceremony in Gasson 100 that included a performance of the song “Rise Up” by Stencia Bastien ’23, right, and a welcome by Thea Bowman AHANA and Intercultural Center Director Michael Davidson, S.J. Fr. Davidson also celebrated a Mass at St. Ignatius Church in honor of Black History Month. Other events have included an open mic night organized by the AHANA+ Leadership Council.

PHOTOS BY CHRISTOPHER HUANG

Chronicle

February 25, 2020

Team Studies Gun Laws/Workplace Homicides Link Continued from page 1

That’s a fundamentally unjust and preventable event. Results of this study suggest that laws that restrict firearm access and use could be meaningful steps toward prevention.” Gun violence in America has reached such proportions that it has been declared a public health crisis. In 2017, 13,205 working-aged adults died by firearm, making it the ninth-leading cause of death for the group. Each year, approximately 400-500 homicides occur while victims are at work, accounting for about 9 percent of the approximately 4,800 workplace fatalities that happen in the U.S. each year. Nearly 80 percent of those workplace homicides were classified as intentional shootings. While efforts to enact federal curbs on gun use have failed, state-level policies are more dynamic, with states both tightening and loosening certain firearm policies. The fact that legislatures in all 50 states change different policies at different times makes state-level policy activity a valuable tool to determine the effective of these policies on public health outcomes. Already, evidence has been gathered by other researchers showing that policy changes in areas such as background checks and permit requirements helped to reduce gun deaths overall. Sabbath and her School of Social Work colleague Associate Professor Summer Sherburne Hawkins, along with Professor of Economics Christopher F. Baum, looked at states’ annual workplace homicide rates and any variations in those rates related to

(L-R) Christopher Baum, Summer Sherburne Hawkins, and Erika Sabbath. photo by lee pellegrini

changes states made to their firearm policies, either to tighten or to loosen them. In all, the researchers analyzed 13 categories of firearm policy changes from 2011-2017. They then used federal data on workplace homicide rates from all 50 states during that same time period to test whether a state’s workplace homicide rate went down in the years after they tightened a firearm policy. From 2011 to 2017, more than 3,000 people died as a result of workplace homi-

BC a Constant Presence in List of U.S. Top Fulbright Producers Boston College has been a reliable fount of Fulbright award winners for some years, and its track record has now put the University in select company, according to a recent report. A study by The Chronicle of Higher Education found that BC is one of only 16 doctoral institutions in the U.S. to have made the list of top Fulbright-producing colleges and universities each of the past 10 years. Considered one of the most prestigious fellowships, Fulbrights—awarded on the basis of applicants’ academic merit and leadership potential—support a postbaccalaureate year abroad to study, teach English, or conduct research. The Fulbright U.S. Student Program operates in more than 140 countries throughout the world, affording young scholars the opportunity to exchange ideas and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns. For the 2019-20 academic year, 14 BC graduates were awarded Fulbrights out of an applicant pool of 56. Since 2009, there have been 171 BC Fulbright recipients. Joining BC on the list of decade-long top Fulbright producers among doctoral institutions were Arizona State, Brown, Columbia, Georgetown, Harvard, Northwestern, Princeton, Stanford, Villanova, Yale, Rutgers-New Brunswick, California-

Berkeley, Chicago, Michigan-Ann Arbor, and North Carolina-Chapel Hill. “It is very important to emphasize that the success of BC students in getting these grants depends first on the willingness of students to put themselves forward, and to take the time and effort that the application process demands,” said Political Science Professor of the Practice Paul Christensen, director of BC’s Fulbright program. “The students know going in that they probably have about a one in four or five chance of getting a Fulbright, but they still take the plunge, and that is a great credit to them—that goes for the students who get a grant and for those who do not. “We have a great team of advisors who spend hundreds of hours talking with students about their applications and reading drafts of proposals. We also rely on dozens and dozens of our colleagues from around the University to help us work with students on applications to countries or on subjects that those of us on the advising staff are not familiar with. Finally, the Boston College administration has continued to support the Fulbright program over these many years, which has given the advising staff and Fellowships Office needed resources. The entire process really is a team effort.” —Sean Smith

cides, with a firearm involved in 79 percent of those deaths. During that period, 23 states strengthened firearm regulations and 23 weakened them. “We found that when states tightened firearm policies overall, the rate of workplace homicides went down,” Sabbath said. If a state were to add enough firearm policies to move them from one of the least restrictive states to one of the most restrictive states, they could expect to see a 3.7 percent decline in workplace homicides, equivalent to

preventing 15 to 16 workplace homicides per year, the team found. The study is the first to demonstrate that workplace homicide rates can be influenced by stronger firearm laws, Sabbath said. Other studies have shown a relationship between a reduction in overall gun-related deaths and state-level firearm policy changes, such as background checks and permit requirements. “We saw clear evidence that when states tighten policies that make it harder to get or keep guns, their overall workplace homicide rates declined,” said Sabbath. “It was particularly true for a couple of categories, such as concealed carry policies. When you think about having a disagreement with someone at work if a gun is in your pocket, that argument can have a very different outcome than if the gun is in your home or in your car, or if you shouldn’t have a gun at all.” Sabbath said the findings may help contribute to workplace safety and gun policy debates among lawmakers. They may also support internal policymaking by companies, which have broad power to restrict concealed carrying of firearms within their organizations. “Nearly every workplace homicide is preventable,” Sabbath said. “There is no reason why someone should ever be killed by another person at work. While tightening gun policies cannot prevent every homicide at work, our results suggest that state legislative action could mean that more people would return home to their families at the end of their workday.”

Snapshot

KSA/CSA Culture Show

PHOTO BY YITING CHEN

The BC Korean Students Association and Chinese Students Association presented “Patchwork,” their 20th annual cultural show, on Feb. 15 at Robsham Theater.

Chronicle

February 25, 2020

BC Is Latest Stop on Iftin’s Incredible Journey Continued from page 1

ments as well as Call Me American, he has emerged as a voice for refugees and all who seek a new and better life; his website, callmeamerican.com, provides updates about his activities as well as details of his already eventful life story. But Iftin feels his story is in many ways just beginning—he just became a naturalized U.S. citizen—and that its direction will be shaped by his experience at Boston College. It’s already made a difference, he says. “Being able to go to a Jesuit school, one with a history of serving immigrants, is what I was made for,” says Iftin, who is majoring in political science as a part-time Woods College student. “I am really so grateful BC has that opportunity for people like me: someone who is 34 and never went to high school. I feel I belong here. I am not a stranger.” Iftin has been only able to attend one class at Woods; he works as a professional interpreter for district courts and hospitals, not only to support himself but to provide for his family back in Somalia. Yet that class, Modern History I and II, has been a revelation for him—and perhaps for his classmates as well. “I’m the one who asks all the weird questions,” he quips. “The thing is, most of the other students in class are at least familiar with what is being taught, whether it’s Karl Marx and his writing, or World War II, or the French Thirty Years War. As a Somali and a Muslim, I never heard this part of history, and so it’s a privilege now to learn it. I feel as if I’m on board, and it’s very thrilling to think: ‘I got this.’” “Abdi is a very committed, interested, and engaged student,” says Martin Menke PhD ’96, an adjunct faculty member who teaches Modern History. “He’s able to draw fascinating parallels and comparisons between the class content and his own

experiences. When you have someone like Abdi, who’s endured things most of us cannot imagine, the insights he has are incredibly valuable. He helps others realize the value of what we are learning and discussing. “And this is one of the joys of teaching at Woods College,” adds Menke, who’s been affiliated with the school for more than 20 years. “You have so many students

for the place. Finally, he enrolled in Woods and was able to transfer his credits, putting him on target for a 2021 graduation. For Iftin, moving to Boston and transferring to BC proved to be equally illuminating for his expanding world view, not to mention his emotional and spiritual wellbeing. He will always cherish his years in Maine, explains Iftin, who learned English as a child by watching action films, but he

“Being able to go to a Jesuit school, one with a history of serving immigrants, is what I was made for.” –Abdi Nor Iftin

photo by frank curran

who appreciate learning through sacrifice.” Iftin heard about BC not long after he had settled in Maine and began attending a college there, through a friend who is an alumnus of the University. The more he heard, the more intrigued he was— BC seemed to be a place “where I would thrive.” He eventually moved to the Greater Boston area and visited the campus frequently just to walk around and get a feel

also was keenly self-conscious of attracting scrutiny just by walking down the street or speaking his native tongue. These are not minor concerns, he says: As a diagnosed PTSD sufferer—he recounts Al-Shabaab militants pointing an AK-47 in his face, and forcing him to watch them kill civilians, all as a child—feelings of insecurity can be debilitating and lead to panic attacks.

“In Boston, though, I feel I can speak and move freely—if someone threatens me, I can call 911, and that person will be arrested,” he says. “People don’t pay attention to what language you’re speaking. It’s so different than what I knew in Somalia, which is homogenous in its language and faith. The U.S. I see in Boston is a small world. I’d never met anyone from Mexico or Brazil, for example, until I came here, and I’ve also now met people from other parts of Africa—we all play soccer together.” For Iftin, storytelling has been more a calling than a form of recreation or leisure: As a refugee in Kenya, he recorded audio diaries that were broadcast by BBC and NPR. “I wanted to tell the human side of the story, of ordinary people, not the warlords or fighters. Those were the stories the world needed to hear.” Bringing that story to life in Call Me American was a burdensome task—it meant having to revisit many traumatic events from his earlier life—but one he felt compelled to perform. “Storytelling is a great power, because it can make things happen,” he says. “America inspired me as a young boy. I love and respect America and I believe in its ideals. I want America to understand that there are many people, in Somalia and other parts of the world, who like me simply want to make a good life for themselves—not by lying around doing nothing, but working and contributing to the community.” Where will Iftin’s story take him next, after he finishes his degree at BC? Someday, he believes, it will send him home. “I want to go back to Somalia and apply what I’ve learned. Ninety-nine percent of refugees don’t make it here, so I am needed to help reconstruct our country and society. That is the best thing I can do.”

BC Generous with Financial Aid to Low-Income Students Continued from page 1

and $9,693 for the second-lowest income group. Duke ranked first in the study. Other institutions surveyed included Tufts (12th), Georgetown (19th), Northeastern (51st), Notre Dame (56th), Holy Cross (59th), and Boston University (74th). The study underscores what Boston College admission and financial aid administrators have been saying for years: Students from low-income families should not shy away from attending private, selective four-year institutions like BC because of the cost. As a need-blind university that meets the full-demonstrated need of all undergraduates, administrators say, BC is committed to providing access to students from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds, and ensuring they have the resources and support services that enable them to finish their degrees. “Prestigious colleges and universities like Boston College are often perceived as

‘out of reach,’ but most have the resources to make education a reality for qualified students of all backgrounds,” says Vice Provost for Enrollment Management John Mahoney. “Higher education institutions have often been regarded as ‘engines of social mobility,’ providing students of limited means with the tools that enable them to achieve success. This is the philosophy that guides our enrollment and financial aid practices: We want to ensure that a BC education is accessible to the very best students, regardless of their socioeconomic backgrounds.” “The strongest message that we send is, ‘If you can do the work, you’ll be able to attend,’” says Director of Student Financial Strategies and Enrollment Bernard Pekala. “We say, ‘Take a chance and apply. We’ll do our part.’” “Do our part,” Mahoney and Pekala explain, means not only attracting students from low-income families to BC, but keeping them here—an aspect of generosity not

easily quantified in statistical studies. Resources like the Montserrat Office and the Learning to Learn program play a valuable role in helping students with the highest levels of financial need to get the most out of their life at BC, inside and outside of the classroom. Pekala endorses the importance of Admitted Eagle and Eagle for a Day programs, particularly the Keith A. Francis AHANA Weekend, which allows students to meet with financial aid professionals who will continue to work with them once they have enrolled. “Our financial aid staff look to build relationships with students as soon as they’re accepted. We know they’ll have questions not just about financial aid for the academic year, but things like Junior Year Abroad or summer courses. We want them to feel they can fully participate in the BC experience.” Mahoney says that fostering an economically diverse student body is not an act of noblesse oblige: “Diversity in any form en-

riches the Boston College community. We believe it is vital to have people of many different perspectives and backgrounds as part of the University, creating an atmosphere in which we can learn from one another and broaden our perception of the world.” BC has been successful in retaining as well as enrolling low-income students, note Mahoney and Pekala, citing the University’s 91 percent graduation rate for Pell Grant recipients, who are typically the most financially needy students. The overall graduation rate for BC is 92 percent. “We continue to explore ways to improve our outreach to and support of students from the lowest income groups,” says Mahoney. “But the Chronicle of Higher Education study helps reinforce the message that families should not ignore BC because of sticker shock.” The Chronicle of Higher Education study is available at www.chronicle.com/article/ Colleges-Whose-Generosity-to/247915.

Chronicle

February 25, 2020

Singing and Service BC student group Common Tones is dedicated to a cappella and helping the community BY KATHLEEN SULLIVAN STAFF WRITER

When Frank Marrone ’20 was a Boston College freshman, he sought a means to maintain what he considered two of his primary identities as a high school student: someone committed to service and someone who loved singing. Then he saw a flyer for auditions for Common Tones of Boston College, a newly formed group dedicated to doing service and performing a cappella music, and thought it would be a perfect fit. And it has been: Marrone, a Common Tones member for four years, is now president of the 20-member co-ed ensemble. “What sets Common Tones apart from other a cappella groups on campus is our commitment to service as well as to singing on campus and off campus to people who could really use it to brighten their days, in whatever community setting they happen to be,” said Marrone, a Long Island, NY, native studying in the Lynch School of Education and Human Development. In March, Common Tones will perform at Franciscan Children’s Hospital and the Rosie’s Place women’s shelter. They recently appeared at an annual a cappella festival in Arlington, Mass., to benefit the Catherine J. Malatesta Foundation, which is dedicated funding cancer research and supporting cancer patients and their families.

Performances for children can be particularly fun and spontaneous, Marrone noted; for example, they will sing a song requested by one of the young patients. When Common Tones are finished with the performance at their service locations, they stay and engage with the people in the audience, whether it’s children at Franciscan or women at Rosie’s Place. “The music is the gateway for us to create and form relationships with the people we are performing for. It’s a starting point for conversations. Creating bonds through music goes to the root of our organization.” What makes a good a cappella song? “In my opinion, it’s a song that could be broken up into many different parts. We like to keep our repertoire very diverse, featuring songs from various artists, styles, cultures, and eras.” Having an array of songs is important when your audience crosses generations, Marrone explains. Marrone, who is a bass, sings solo on Shawn Mendes’ “Lost in Japan” and Elton John’s “Your Song.” Other songs in Common Tones’ repertoire include “Oh, What a Night” by Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons, “Take Me to Church” by Hozier, and “When I Was Your Man” by Bruno Mars. Last summer, the group released an album, “Fifteen Seasons,” available through Spotify. Common Tones also performs at traditional campus venues and events like

Members of Common Tones of Boston College outside Rosie’s Place, the women’s shelter where they frequently perform. “Creating bonds through music goes to the root of our organization,” says the group’s president, Frank Marrone ’20.

Arts Fest and the Pops on the Heights pre-show. Last week, they took part in an a cappella show along with the Boston College Acoustics and the Bostonians of BC. Earlier this semester, they competed in an “A Cappella Riff-Off” with the other BC a cappella groups as part of BC Dance Marathon, a fundraiser for Boston Children’s Hospital. They also performed a song exclusively in Spanish at an Organization of Latin American Affairs event. Like most of the members of Common Tones, Marrone is not pursuing music as an academic discipline. He is an applied

psychology/human development and biology major who is considering a career as a veterinarian working with wildlife. The Common Tones members represent a variety of schools and majors, but the common thread is that they all have a passion for service and a cappella. “The best part of the service is when the audience is really engaged with us. They’re bopping along to the music as we’re singing, and we get to all smile together,” said Marrone. “It’s not really particularly about the exact technicalities of the piece, but more so the overall energy that we bring.”

Three Carroll School Faculty Members Win Honors from American Finance Association Three members of the Carroll School of Management won coveted awards for academic papers at the Jan. 3–5 annual meeting of the American Finance Association (AFA) in San Diego—another notch in the school’s growing reputation as a leading management research institution, and more good news for its Finance Department. The latest faculty honors went to David H. Solomon, Andrey Malenko, and Nadya Malenko, for articles appearing last year in The Journal of Finance, published by the AFA. All three are associate professors of finance, with Nadya Malenko serving as the Giuriceo Family Faculty Fellow. Solomon and co-author Samuel M. Hartzmark of the University of Chicago won first place for “The Dividend Disconnect” in the contest for Dimensional Fund Advisors Prizes, awarded annually for the top three Journal of Finance papers in any area of research other than corporate finance. The Malenkos scored one of the associa-

tion’s three Brattle Group Prizes in Corporate Finance, winning a Distinguished Paper award for their article, “Proxy Advisory Firms: The Economics of Selling Information to Voters.” “The Journal of Finance is the premier journal of our field, and it is remarkable for one school to have representation in both the corporate finance and non-corporatefinance prizes,” said department chair Ronnie Sadka, who is also the Carroll School’s senior associate dean for faculty and the Seidner Family Faculty Fellow. “This is an outstanding achievement for our faculty and our department.” The Carroll School has consistently ranked among the top 20 business schools worldwide for faculty research, according to authoritative annual surveys compiled by the Financial Times. The Finance Department was 11th in U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Undergraduate Finance Programs” for this academic year. —Carroll School of Management

Professor of History Prasannan Parthasarathi led an informal walk-and-talk tour last Friday of “Indian Ocean Current,” the McMullen Museum of Art’s featured exhibition, which he co-curated. The exhibition is on display through May 31 (see www.bc.edu/artmuseum). photo by lee pellegrini

Chronicle

February 25, 2020

WELCOME ADDITIONS

BC in the Media

An Introduction to New Faculty at Boston College Nathan Dong

Assistant Professor of the Practice in Finance, Carroll School of Management DEGREES: Illinois Institute of Technology (MS); Indiana University (MBA); Columbia University (PD); Rutgers University (PhD). WHAT HE STUDIES: Corporate finance; financial intermediation; investment; international capital market; financial management of nonprofit and healthcare organizations. WHAT HE’S TEACHING: Finance; Corporate Finance.

Nam Wook Kim

University (PhD).

Assistant Professor of Computer Science, Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences DEGREES: Ajou University, Korea (BS); Stony Brook University (BS); Stanford University (MS); Harvard

WHAT HE STUDIES: Visualization;

human-computer interaction; data-driven storytelling; creativity support tools; crowdsourcing. WHAT HE’S TEACHING: Visualization; Web Application Development.

You were part of a creative team that won an Information Is Beautiful Award for your Data-Driven Guides project. What’s the outlook for DDG? What impact has it had on your career? “We developed DDG in collaboration with Adobe Research to address the need of creative designers for making data-driven graphics. We published an academic paper about the technique in the IEEE Visualization conference. The response was somewhat mixed as the visuals made through DDG can be very different from traditional charts. About a year later, I received the award—this was a tremendous honor for me since it was from the largest community of visualization practitioners, not researchers like me. I don’t know how much of an impact the award had on my career, but it brought me joy because it demonstrated that my research can have a practical effect. Since then, I’ve moved on to new projects to build other novel tools to amplify our design capabilities.” photos by lee pellegrini, peter julian and christopher huang

Vicki Losick

Assistant Professor of Biology, Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences DEGREES: Bates College (BS); Tufts University (PhD).

WHAT SHE STUDIES: The fly as a model.

mechanisms of tissue repair, using the fruit

WHAT SHE’S TEACHING: Mechanisms of Growth and Regeneration; Undergraduate Research.

Describe your research into wound healing.

“Wound healing is not a one-size-fits-all process. While the typical wound healing response relies on cell division to regenerate the cells that are lost by injury, aging, or disease, we found that cells can also be replaced by stimulating existing cells to grow in size by becoming polyploid, a process we have named wound-induced polyploidization. A polyploid cell is a cell that has more than diploid copy of its chromosomes. As a result, polyploid cells can grow to be many orders of magnitude larger than their diploid cell counterparts. Polyploid cells are ubiquitous in insects and plants, but are also required for the development of many tissues in our body. What remains unknown is why under conditions of stress, like injury, aging, and disease, polyploid cells frequently arise? And how do polyploid cells function during these stress responses?”

Christine Repsha

Clinical Instructor, Director, Brown Family Clinical Learning Laboratory and CSON Simulation Centers, Connell School of Nursing DEGREES: University of Massachusetts, Amherst (BS); University of Massachusetts, Boston (MS); WHAT SHE STUDIES: Health promotion in nursing.

Your objectives at BC are to provide additional training for the actors who portray patients and for faculty to conduct simulations of their own. What are the challenges in using simulations? “When you do a simulation, you create the patient, including his or her whole story and medical history, all the intricacies that go into the patient’s case. Most people don’t realize how much work it takes to create a simulation.”

—Ed Hayward, Sean Smith, Kathleen Sullivan

‘Women in Journalism’ Panel March 11 To mark the centennial of the 19th Amendment, the Boston College journalism interdisciplinary minor program will present a panel discussion, “Women in Journalism,” on March 11 at 4:30 p.m. in Devlin 101. Speakers will include Melissa Ludtke, the Sports Illustrated reporter who brought a federal lawsuit against the New York Yankees in 1978 to allow her into the team’s locker room, spurring other major sports leagues to do the same; Zoe Greenberg, a

reporter at The Boston Globe, who has covered issues such as #MeToo scandals, women’s health care in prison, and the booming blood plasma industry; and English Associate Professor of the Practice Lori HarrisonKahan, whose new book. The Superwoman and Other Writings by Miriam Michelson, explores connections among journalism, suffrage, and women’s activism. The event is open to the public. For more information, e-mail angela.ards@ bc.edu.

The coronavirus is prompting businesses in China to consider employees working from home—arrangements that tend to be less common in Asia than in the U.S., according to a study by the Center for Work and Family. Jennifer Sabatini Fraone, the center’s director of corporate partnerships, commented in Time. Joseph Professor of Catholic Systematic Theology Richard Gaillardetz appeared on WBUR’s “Morning Edition” to discuss Pope Francis’s ruling against ordaining married men in the Amazon region as a means of addressing the shortage of Catholic priests. Speaking on the subject with WNYC’s “The Takeaway,” Prof. Thomas Groome (STM) noted that the pope’s letter did not include action on celibacy to address the region’s priest shortage. Prof. R. Michael Cassidy (Law) spoke with The Washington Post about a complaint filed by a lawyer in Texas that could serve to shape the court system’s evolving view of plea bargaining. “Holy Science,” a new documentary film that focuses on the Vatican during World War II, features commentary by Assoc. Prof. Charles Gallagher, S.J. (History). Social Security is a “great equalizer” in American society, according to a report from the Boston College Center for Retirement Research that was featured by The Boston Globe. There are as many parenting approaches as diet plans. But in the great nature-nurture debate, there’s really no debate at all, according to a piece by Boston College Magazine Editor John Wolfson in the recent parenting-focused issue of Boston Globe Magazine. BC Law School Liberty Mutual Insurance Professor Patricia McCoy spoke to CNBC about the impact of new rules on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Amateur, or retail, investors are trying to make up for decreasing yields by getting into risky markets they aren’t familiar with and don’t fully understand. Asst. Prof. Rawley Heimer (CSOM), co-author of a paper on retail investors, discussed the topic with Bloomberg News. Assoc. Prof. Brian Quinn (Law) offered comments to Reuters on the decision by Tesla Inc. to settle a shareholder lawsuit over the company’s acquisition of SolarCity Corp., leaving Tesla CEO Elon Musk as the lone defendant. While 90 percent of fathers take some time off after their children are born, the majority take fewer than 10 days away from the job. But according to a white paper from the Center for Work & Family, men who were given parental leave at their full salaries took a lot more of it. Executive Director Brad Harrington discussed the survey

findings with New York Times. Prof. Heather Cox Richardson (History) talked with WGBH News about “Letters from an American,” her daily digest of all things political, which has attracted something of a cult following. BC Dining Services’ commitment to using diverse, locally-based food startups was cited by The Boston Globe. Childhood precocity does not necessarily guarantee enduring success and attention throughout life. Prof. Ellen Winner (Psychology) spoke with the BBC on how geniuses navigate the uncertain journey to adulthood. In an essay for the daily online magazine Tablet, Prof. Maxim D. Shrayer (Slavic Languages and Literatures) marked his father’s 84th birthday, presented a portrait of refusenik writer and medical scientist David Shrayer-Petrov as a New England poet.

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, Student Formation Programs, University Mission and Ministry Associate Director, Fiscal & Grant Administration, Academic Affairs/Provost Associate/Senior Associate Director, Major Giving, University Advancement Development Assistant, Schools and Programs, University Advancement Executive Education & Advisory Content Developer, Academic Affairs/Provost Graduate Program Assistant, Carroll School of Management, Academic Affairs/Provost Information Security Analyst, Information Technology Nutritionist, Athletics Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Academic Affairs/Provost Program Director, Ever to Excel, President’s Office Recovery House Manager, Student Affairs/Residential Life Research Economist, Academic Affairs/ Provost Senior Associate Director, Corporate & Foundation Relations, University Advancement Senior Enrollment & Financial Aid Analyst, Financial/Budget Stewardship and Donor Engagement Specialist, University Advancement Volunteer Coordinator, Academic Affairs/ Provost

Chronicle

February 25, 2020

BC Global

Starting from the Very Beginning Thanks to the Connell School, Chile now has its first nurse practitioner. And there’ll be more to come. BY KATHLEEN SULLIVAN STAFF WRITER

Sandra Leyan Castillo is a nurse practitioner in an orthopedic medical group—but with an important distinction: What sets this Boston College graduate apart from others in her field is that she is working in Chile as that country’s first-ever nurse practitioner. While Leyan is a trailblazer, her path is likely to be followed by many others, thanks to a partnership between the BC Connell School of Nursing and Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUC), who together are educating Chile’s first nurse practitioners. There is a pressing need for NPs in Chile, where access to care—particularly for those in rural areas and those cared for in the public hospitals—can be extremely difficult, according to Connell School Associate Dean for Graduate Programs Susan Kelly-Weeder, who is leading the effort to make nurse practitioners a reality in Chile. Kelly-Weeder said patients cared for within the public health care system are required to seek help in specific community clinics that are often understaffed. Patients typically queue up hours before the clinics open and may have to return again the next day if health care providers are not able to see them. “It’s a perfect time to introduce the NP role into both the public and private health care sectors,” explained Kelly-Weeder, a family nurse practitioner and associate professor in CSON. “The first NPs in the U.S. were prepared to take care of individuals who were not able to access care. Loretta Ford was a public health nurse who saw that young children were not getting the care they needed. They were not being immunized or getting preventative care. In response, she developed, along with pediatrician Dr. Henry Silver, the first NP program, training registered nurses to provide primary care to pediatric patients. “Today, the majority of NPs in the U.S. are educated as primary care providers and are managing care for individuals with acute and chronic illnesses across the lifespan.” Currently in Chile, nurses earn a bachelor’s degree in nursing (a five-year program) but while graduate programs are available, none of them involve post-baccalaureate advanced practice nursing. Last month, Kelly-Weeder made her fifth visit to Chile, where she taught an intensive session of her course The Role of the Advanced Practice Nurse to Chilean nurses who work in a variety of health care settings. She will teach the remainder of this course online for the 17 students.

Connell School Associate Dean Susan Kelly-Weeder, left, is leading the effort to introduce the nurse practitioner role in Chile. Above, Kelly-Weeder teaches a class of nurse practitioner students at the Pontifica Universidad Católica de Chile. photo at left by lee pellegrini

Since 2018, Kelly-Weeder has taught the course three times to approximately 75 students. Leyan attended Kelly-Weeder’s class two years ago and expressed interest in furthering her education and becoming a nurse practitioner. With financial support from PUC, its hospital, and CSON, Leyan enrolled in the Connell School and earned a master’s degree in 2019. She passed a national certification exam and returned to Chile as a family nurse practitioner. A second nurse from Chile who KellyWeeder also taught, Magdalena Correa Duque, is currently enrolled in the Connell School’s family nurse practitioner program and is expected to graduate in 2021. “I love being a nurse practitioner. It’s very exciting to talk to groups of nurses and physicians about what nurse practitioners can do,” said Kelly-Weeder, who is presidentelect of the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties, an organization devoted to promoting high-quality nurse practitioner education. The long-term goal is to establish a nurse practitioner master’s degree program at PUC, an objective supported by many physicians in Chile, said Kelly-Weeder, noting that limited access to care is a problem not only for those in rural areas or in the public health care system. She was told by a concerned oncologist that patients wait months to be seen—a critical and even deadly delay that doctors want to remedy. Kelly-Weeder expects Chile’s nurse practitioner educational and practice model to replicate how NPs were first introduced in the U.S.: The nurses will be educated and certified as NPs for a particular population (pediatrics, adult, women’s health, psychiatric, or family); specializations, if desired, would follow the certification process and would require additional training and expertise. A country lacking NPs also lacks NPs to

serve as faculty members. So how will the nurses be educated? Kelly-Weeder says she expects to continue to teach in Chile, but that other faculty members at PUC could fill the role. For example, a pharmacist could teach Advanced Pharmacology and physicians could teach Advanced Health Assessment; physicians also can serve as preceptors for the short term. Eventually, Leyan, and other NPs who come after her, will take on these teaching roles. Kelly-Weeder says PUC is a year or two away from having its NP program developed, approved, and ready for students. As an indication of how committed

BC Scenes

Chile is about moving forward with the NP model, this spring representatives from the Chilean Ministry of Health plan to visit the Connell School and Boston hospitals and health care facilities to see firsthand nurse practitioners in the field. “Interest in the role of the NP has increased dramatically in the five years I’ve been going to Chile,” said Kelly-Weeder. “I’ve come to love Chile. It’s a beautiful country with a warm and inviting population who are eager to see how nurse practitioners can improve the care in their country. I’m so delighted to be helping them in doing this work.” PHOTO BY PETER JULIAN

‘Rec Day’

The Undergraduate Government of Boston College and BC Recreation sponsored a celebration of National Recreational Sports and Fitness Day last Friday at the Margot Connell Recreation Center. The event included special classes and activities such as kayaking.