Bellarmine Award Goes to Education Innovator Walsh

BY PHIL GLOUDEMANS STAFF WRITER

Mary E. Walsh—namesake of the Lynch School of Education and Human Development’s Center for Thriving Children—is this year’s recipient of the Saint Robert Bellarmine, S.J., Award in recognition of her exemplary career and significant contributions that have consistently and purposefully advanced the mission of Boston College.

Walsh, the Daniel E. Kearns Professor in Urban Education and Innovative Leadership at the Lynch School, will receive the faculty honor from University President William P. Leahy, S.J., at the University Commencement Exercises on May 22. She is the fourth recipient of the award, named for the Italian cardinal, influential professor, and one of the leading figures in the Counter-Reformation.

Drawing from research in child development and learning, Walsh, a clinical developmental psychologist and BC faculty member since 1989, has advanced a pathbreaking, evidence-based “whole child” approach to supporting students in school. Under her leadership, the Walsh Center

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“I am excited to accept the job as dean of undergraduate admission and financial aid,” said Gosselin, a 1997 graduate of the Carroll School of Management, a 2002 graduate of the Lynch School of Education and Human Development, and parent of a current BC undergraduate. “I have tremendous respect for the talented people in the offices of Undergraduate Admission and Financial Aid, who are leaders in their respective fields, and look forward to building on our relationship.

“I’m especially pleased that, as dean,

I will work on the overall vision of our undergraduate admission program, yet still provide day-to-day engagement with students and families who want to be part of BC.”

Gosselin honed his expertise in undergraduate admission at BC—where he served as senior assistant director of undergraduate admission and associate director of marketing and international admission—before going on to Babson College and Wheaton College. As chief enrollment officer at both Babson and Wheaton, he set historic highs in applications and enrolled students, as well as in international student recruitment. He also implemented a new admission marketing strategy that included affordability and yield campaigns and a high school counselor communications plan.

Since returning to BC in 2018, Gosselin has been instrumental in a host of impressive achievements in undergraduate admission: In the last five years, undergraduate applications have risen 20 percent, the admit rate has dropped from 28 to 15

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