The Boston College
Chronicle Published by the Boston College Office of News & Public Affairs may 23, 2013 VOL. 21 no. 18
COMMENCEMENT 2013
‘Above All, Be Yourselves,’ Kenny Urges BC Graduates Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny, speaking at Commencement on Monday. He was one of five honorary degree recipients, along with Wayne Budd, Mary Lou DeLong, Cornelia Kelley and James Woods, SJ. (Photo by Lee Pellegrini)
By Sean Smith Chronicle Editor
Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny gave the Boston College Sesquicentennial Class of 2013 an unabashed vote of confidence at Monday’s Commencement Exercises, encouraging them to put to use their talents and skills, as well as the values shaped by their family life and their time at the Heights. “Be successful, be well, be happy, and above all, be yourselves. Live long and deep and comfortably in your own skin,” said Kenny, who received a standing ovation from the nearly 4,400 graduates in Alumni Stadium. “You’ve listened long enough. Strike your note, for yourselves, for your family, for Boston Strong and the United States of America.”
Kenny — who received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree at the event — invested his speech with healthy doses of history, pop culture, science, literature, even mathematical principles, and included references ranging from Ignatius of Loyola to Albert Einstein to David Bowie.
Remarking on the University’s 150th anniversary milestone, Kenny affirmed the longstanding ties between Ireland and Boston College — created originally to educate the children of Irish immigrants — as well as America itself. “Today, the Irish story is writ
Fellowships
Another Year of Fulbright Success
By Office of News & Public Affairs Staff
The 2012-13 academic year has been a highly successful one for Boston College students seeking fellowships and scholarships. Highlighting this year’s achievements are the 22 Fulbright Scholarships awarded to BC graduating seniors, current graduate students and recent alumni to support post-baccalaureate teaching or research overseas (a 23rd, Elizabeth Sierocinski, was offered a Fulbright but elected to take a fellowship from the German Academic Exchange to fund an in-
INSIDE •GSSW HIV/AIDS forum marks 25th year, page 2 •Stokes Hall to be dedicated on June 7, page 3 •Some ‘Parting Thoughts’ from retirees, page 6
dependent project in northeastern Germany). BC Fulbright winners will travel to Turkey, the Philippines, Korea, Germany, India, Mexico and Jordan, among other destinations. A look at this year’s Fulbright Scholars and other fellowship winners, as of press time:
Christopher Bergan JD ’15 Shrewsbury, Mass.
DESTINATION: Mexico PROJECT/ACTIVITY: Work full-time at international law firm or international finance organization/bank while taking classes towards an MBA at Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico. FUTURE PLANS: Complete degree at BC Law. QUOTE: “The Mexican Binational Business Grant will provide me with excellent professional experience abroad, so that I will have the cultural competence and contacts needed to be a successful lawyer and advocate in today’s increasingly globalized workplace.”
large across America right to Capitol Hill. The hands roughened in Irish soil were leathered in your mines, your scaffolding, your bridges, your railroads. Over the generations, our farmers-turned-laborers saw to it that their children went from the schoolhouse and the firehouse, right to the White House itself.” BC, its students and alumni, he said, are “living proof of the power of imagining” among past generations who sought a better life for themselves and their descendants. “To those generations, whether in the chaos of immigration, or the grip of a poverty that was ruthless
Mathematics Chair Chosen as New McIntyre Professor By Rosanne Pellegrini Staff Writer
Professor of Mathematics Solomon Friedberg – who during his tenure as chair of the department has overseen a period of unprecedented growth and achievement – recently Laura Ahn was appointed the James P. McFairfield, Ct. Intyre Professor of Mathematics. DESTINATION: Korea He is the third to hold the McPROJECT/ACTIVITY: English teaching Intyre Chair, established in the Colassistantship lege of Arts and Sciences by a Boston FUTURE PLANS: Pursue master’s degree in education at BC, with specialCollege benefactor to honor BC’s ization in severe disabilities. longtime senior vice president. ForCaroline Ceriello QUOTE: “I am greatly honored to have mer A&S dean and Professor of Manhasset, NY the opportunity to go to South Korea DESTINATION: Turkey English Robert Barth, SJ — who with the Fulbright Grant. Not only will PROJECT/ACTIVITY: English teaching died in 2005 — was the inaugural the award provide me with valuable professional development as a teacher assistantship holder, followed by Professor of Ecoabroad, but I hope to grow as a person FUTURE PLANS: Enroll in law school, nomics Joseph F. Quinn, who will with specialization in international through the interactions and cultural serve as interim provost and dean of commerce and relations, with focus on exchanges I make with the people of US-Turkey. faculties in June. Korea, the country of my heritage. HavFriedberg – whose areas of intering studied at the Lynch School of Edu- QUOTE: “As an International Studies major, all of my personal and academic cation, I feel confident and excited to est are number theory and repreembark on this journey and open myself experiences at BC have instilled in me sentation theory — joined the BC an intense desire to not only understand up to the invaluable experiences that others’ personal histories and cultures, faculty in 1996 and has been the will be sure to follow.” but to also explain my own. I believe recipient of numerous awards and that the ideal place to accomplish this honors. Since he became chair in objective is Turkey — a nation that Continued on page 8 2007, the Mathematics Department
NOTICE:
and ecumenical, the sense of when this success might happen was largely immaterial. What mattered was that they dared to imagine it would. “On this May morning, here on Chestnut Hill, it does.” In addition to Kenny, BC presented honorary degrees to James A. Woods, SJ ’54, founding dean and namesake for the University’s Woods College of Advancing Studies (Doctor of Humane Letters); Wayne Budd ’63, former US attorney and long-time BC trustee (Doctor of Laws); Cornelia Kelley NC’69, headmaster emerita of Boston Latin School (Doctor of Humane Letters); and Mary Lou DeLong NC’71, who served in several key administrative roles at BC (Doctor of Humane Letters). University President William P. Continued on page 4
Sol Friedberg (Photo by Lee Pellegrini)
has established a doctoral program and a new bachelor of science degree and organized a Distinguished Lecturer series, among other initiatives; its faculty have earned prestigious honors from such organizations as the Simons Foundation, Alfred Sloan Foundation, National Science Foundation and American Mathematical Society. “The Mathematics Department has been one of the University’s Continued on page 3
Members of the Boston College community are reminded that Commencement Exercises for the Law School will take place tomorrow, May 24, in Conte Forum beginning at 10:30 a.m.