Boston College Chronicle

PUBLISHED BY THE BOSTON COLLEGE OFFICE OF UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS

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First Year Convocation

What Happened?

A McMullen Quartet

Chris Wilson, author of The Master Plan, is the speaker at the Sept. 5 event.

University announcements and other news from the past summer.

The McMullen Museum of Art will host four innovative, exclusive exhibitions this fall.

AUGUST 29, 2019 VOL. 27 NO. 1

PUBLISHED BY THE BOSTON COLLEGE OFFICE OF UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS

University Convocation

‘University, Catholic, Jesuit’ BC’s foundational commitments are key to addressing both current and future challenges, says Fr. Leahy

BY SEAN SMITH CHRONICLE EDITOR

Off we go Fine weather greeted students for the first day of classes on Monday as Boston College’s 2019-20 academic year got under way. photo by lee pellegrini

Speaking at yesterday’s University Convocation, Boston College President William P. Leahy, S.J., pointed to BC’s foundational commitments as the means for the University to respond to social, political, and financial pressures affecting American higher education.

“We should look for renewed vision, inspiration, and direction to the foundational commitments of Boston College,” he said, “which can be summarized by three words: university, Catholic, and Jesuit.”

Yancey Appointed VP for Development

BY JACK DUNN ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT FOR UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS

Boston College has named Amy Yancey, the associate vice president for development at the University of Virginia, as vice president for development, effective Oct. 1.

A proven fundraiser with 18 years of experience in planned, principal, major, and annual gifts, Yancey has played pivotal roles in four comprehensive campaigns ranging from $1 billion to $5 billion at three national universities.

Working at the University of Virginia during the past seven years, she has risen from executive director for development for the Jefferson Grounds Initiative to her

current position as AVP for development.

In this capacity, she oversees campaign planning for 15 programs—including schools, centers, and university initiatives—through a staff of 70, and serves as a member of the senior leadership team for UVA’s $5 billion Honor the Future campaign. She also serves on the diversity and inclusion committee and the campaign task force on prospect management. In addition, she works with multiple volunteer and foundation boards while maintaining relationships with significant donors.

BC Senior Vice President for Advancement Jim Husson praised Yancey as a respected and experienced development professional with a successful track record in

Provost and Dean of Faculties David Quigley and Executive Vice President Michael Lochhead also offered remarks at Convocation, which was held in Robsham Theater.

Fr. Leahy said higher education institutions, while still enjoying widespread support and recognition of their importance, face increasing scrutiny and skepticism about the value of a college education, especially one focused on the liberal arts.

Colleges and universities also are affected by complex, compelling political, and social issues, including controversies over

Continued on page 3

African & African Diaspora Studies Is Now a Major

BY PHIL GLOUDEMANS STAFF WRITER

African and African Diaspora Studies (AADS) will be offered as a major beginning this fall, a curriculum development that coincides with the 50th anniversary of the Black Studies Program at Boston College.

The AADS program explores the history, culture, and politics of Africans on the continent and African-descended peoples in the U.S., the Caribbean, South America,

Amy Yancey

Continued on page 7

Continued on page 6

“Every day we were learning just by being in the city. Whenever we went to a place we were analyzing it through an academic lens, thinking about the historical context. It was so different from being there as tourists.”

– bilguissa

barry ’22 on the ‘paris noir’ summer course, page 8

ADDRESS GOES HERE

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August 29, 2019

Around Campus

For First-Year Students, It’s Now ‘Weeks of Welcome’ to the Heights Boston College’s annual rite of welcome for first-year students had a different look this academic year.

Welcome Week—the traditional fiveday interval from move-in to the first day of classes—was condensed to four days, and served as the kick-off for “Weeks of Welcome,” a series of events and activities through which new undergraduates can settle into their BC lives.

The first Week of Welcome began on Aug. 22, when first-year students moved onto campus, assisted by “Welcome Wagon” student volunteers who helped unload vehicles and made the move-in process as efficient as possible.

During the first Week of Welcome, first-year students participated in activities that introduced school traditions, showcased BC academic, employment, recreation, formational, and volunteer programs, and facilitated connections with current students, faculty members, and staff. New events included small-group conversations on the DiversityEdu online course required for all incoming students and a community service opportunity to aid Boston-area schoolchildren.

Carrie Klemovitch, special assistant to the vice president for administration and strategic initiatives, explained that many of the major campus events during the first four to six weeks of the academic year “are really critical to first-year students’ engagement with and transition to BC.” For that reason, she said, Student Affairs is encouraging the new students to experience as much as possible of the Weeks of Welcome, which will include tomorrow’s Student Involvement Fair, Saturday’s first home football game, the Mass of the Holy Spirit and First Year Convocation (Sept.

5), a Multi-Faith Mixer (Sept. 8), a Career and Internship Fair (Sept. 12), and Parents Weekend (Sept. 27-29), among other events.

“The first Week of Welcome is designed to help first-year students make connections to the campus, to other students, and to faculty and staff,” said Klemovitch. “We hope students find events, activities, and programs—whether in the first Week of Welcome or throughout that first month of the semester—that will help them feel connected and a part of the University.”

–Christine Balquist

First-year students moved into residence halls on Aug. 22, with the assistance of “Welcome Wagon” student volunteers. photos by peter julian

BC Among ‘Best Values’ and ‘Prettiest Campuses’ Boston College ranks 20th among U.S. private universities and 57th overall on Kiplinger’s 2019 “Best College Values” survey. This marks the third consecutive Kiplinger’s survey to rank BC among the top 20 private universities assessed on factors related to academic quality and affordability.

Introduced in 1998, the rankings were expanded this year to include 400 public, private, and liberal arts colleges.

Kiplinger’s provides an overall ranking of all schools surveyed, plus breakout lists of top values in each category.

Kaitlin Pitsker, associate editor of Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Magazine, which publishes the rankings, explained that the rankings are compiled using data on nearly 1,200 public and private four-year schools from Peterson’s Undergraduate Database. Kiplinger’s narrows the list based on measures of academic quality, then ranks each school using cost and financial aid measures: Quality criteria account for 55 percent of total points, and cost criteria account for 45 percent.

The ranking methodology assesses areas such as student-to-faculty ratio; test scores ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT FOR UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS

Jack Dunn SENIOR DIRECTOR FOR UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS

of incoming freshmen; the percentage of students who return for sophomore year; graduation rate; cost and financial aid; and student debt at graduation, among other factors.

The full list of “Best Private College Values 2019” is available at Kiplinger.com.

BC also made the list of “10 of the Prettiest College Campuses in the Country” published by TheTravel.com [thetravel. com/pretty-college-campus-united-states].

The University came in seventh in the compilation, which identified Whitman College in Washington state as the most attractive campus. Others in the top 10 included University of San Diego (second), Princeton (third), Duke (sixth), Lewis & Clark College (eighth), and the University of Richmond (10th).

“This campus boasts some of North America’s earliest examples of collegiate gothic architecture,” read TheTravel.com description for BC, noting that Bapst Library “is a Gothic-style building which is cool.”

–University Communications

CONTRIBUTING STAFF

Sean Smith

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Lee Pellegrini Peter Julian

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Alumni spouses Matt and Sarah Hasselbeck (both Class of ’97) presented a talk Monday as part of Portico, an introductory course for all first-year Carroll School of Management students that examines business from global, multidisciplinary, ethical, and social perspectives. Both former athletes, the Hasselbecks have been active in various charitable and service activities.

Christine Balquist Phil Gloudemans Ed Hayward Rosanne Pellegrini Kathleen Sullivan

Patricia Delaney EDITOR

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Chronicle

August 29, 2019

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First Year Academic Convocation, Sept. 5

‘The Master Plan’ Author to Share His Story

BY SEAN SMITH CHRONICLE EDITOR

Chris Wilson’s life story seemed destined to follow a grim, all-too-familiar arc for many young men of color—poverty, violence, crime, prison—but the Washington, D.C., native was able to change the narrative dramatically. Next week, he will talk to the Boston College Class of 2023 about his transformation from prison “lifer” to social entrepreneur, author, and inspirational speaker.

Wilson, author of the memoir The Master Plan: My Journey from Life in Prison to a Life of Purpose, is the keynote speaker for the 2019 First Year Academic Convocation, which takes place Sept. 5 at 7 p.m. in Conte Forum. Earlier that day will be another annual event, the Mass of the Holy Spirit [see page 10].

The campus tradition welcomes all firstyear students into BC’s academic community. First Year Academic Convocation begins with the assembly of freshmen on Linden Lane, where faculty, staff, and administrators challenge the class to follow the charge of St. Ignatius to “Set the world aflame.”

The lantern-led First Flight procession that follows—and which is repeated by the class on the day of its Commencement—winds through Gasson Hall, down the Higgins Stairs, and into Conte Forum.

Chris Wilson

Since 2004, each incoming Boston College first-year class has engaged in a reflective dialogue, “Conversations in the First Year,” about a common text as a means to offer insight on responding to life’s questions, and to find direction in each student’s personal journey—a shared experience embodying the richness of the Catholic intellectual tradition at Boston College. The author of that year’s text presents the convocation’s keynote address, which serves to broaden students’ perspectives on, and appreciation for, what they have read.

Past speakers have included Barack Obama, John McCain, New York Times columnist and author David Brooks, and University Trustee Steve Pemberton ’89, author of the memoir-turned-movie A Chance in the World.

Wilson would have seemed an unlikely addition to that list two decades ago. Growing up in a violent neighborhood and volatile home environment, an angry and embittered Wilson became embroiled in the hard, high-risk life around him, and began carrying a gun for protection. During an altercation, he shot two men threatening him, one of whom died. At age 18, Wilson was sentenced to life imprisonment, and his family shunned him.

But Wilson had long possessed a passion for books and a flair for entrepreneurship: As a child, he would pool his lunch money to buy a bag of lollipops, which he would then sell individually at a profit. Behind bars, he drew on those qualities and embarked on a path to self-improvement, writing what he called his Master Plan—a list of all that he expected to accomplish or acquire. He earned GED and college degrees and learned multiple languages, as well as the nitty-gritty details of running a business, like keeping the books and filing taxes. Finally, 16 years after being jailed, he convinced a judge to grant him his freedom.

Now living in Baltimore, Wilson is the owner and founder of the Barclay Investment Corporation, a multi-service social enterprise specializing in residential and commercial contracting work. Barclay works closely with local workforce and social service providers to connect unemployed residents with clients who are in need of services. His other business ventures include a high-end furniture restoration and design company and a social impact content development company.

Through The Master Plan, published earlier this year, and various speaking engagements and media appearances—including CNN.com Business, MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” and “The Daily Show”—Wilson has shared his experiences with a variety of audiences.

“Chris Wilson’s memoir, The Master Plan, shares important lessons for the Boston College Class of 2023 about the value of reflection and self-improvement, despite incredibly challenging circumstances,” said Michael Sacco, executive director of the Center for Student Formation and Office of First Year Experience. “Chris’ words and actions provide inspiration for first-year students on their own quest to grow and become their best selves. Boston College is excited to welcome him to campus for the First Year Academic Convocation.”

Senior Leadership Sets Agenda for 2019-20 Continued from page 1

race, immigration, climate change, and institutional responses to sexual assault and court decisions, as well as concerns about student mental health. Changing demographics—as exemplified by the predicted decline in the number of 18-year-olds in some regions of the U.S. during the coming decade—will be another factor.

Yet another likely flashpoint is the 2020 election campaign, he added, which has already included discussion on higher education-related topics like free college tuition, student loan forgiveness, and college cost, access, and affordability.

But the University’s “Ever to Excel” strategic plan provides a guide to address these challenges, said Fr. Leahy, with its emphasis on BC’s commitments to being a pre-eminent Catholic, Jesuit university.

A university, as a place where teaching, research, inquiry, debate, service, and learning occur, seeks “to stretch its students intellectually and socially and does not merely transmit the past. It is animated by intellectual inquiry and the pursuit of truth,” he explained. A Catholic university, with its focus on the liberal arts and integration of religious commitment and intellectual excellence, helps people become “more able to recognize their gifts and use them for the good of others.” The Jesuit aspect of BC, he added, combines “the best of humanistic education with character formation” and helps students “develop skills in analysis, speaking, and writing as well as a method for learning.”

The clarity of its mission, and the talent and commitment within its community, have BC well-positioned to realize the “great possibilities” ahead, Fr. Leahy said.

Looking to 2019-20 and beyond, Fr. Leahy said he hoped for BC to move forward in preparing a new fundraising campaign to build on BC’s progress of the last 50 years, and in devising a plan for developing Lower Campus that aligns with BC’s campus heritage, institutional needs, and fiscal

“We have much reason to approach the future with confidence and ambition, even an institutional boldness and commitment to maintain institutional momentum.”

–President William Leahy, S.J. realities. BC should also continue to offer a rigorous, liberal arts-centered, intellectual and formational education, while remaining a vibrant, welcoming intellectual and faith community for people of different backgrounds, experiences, and talents—all striving to model civility and moral and ethical decision-making.

“We have much reason to approach the future with confidence and ambition, even an institutional boldness and commitment to maintain institutional momentum,” he said.

Lochhead spoke on developments related to the University’s financial affairs and facilities. This past fiscal year marked the 48th consecutive year in which BC’s budgeted revenues exceeded budgeted expenses, an achievement he credited to “continued strength in our undergraduate enrollment” and a “diligent and continued focus on expense management to help ensure that resources are devoted to the highest priorities.”

He presented updates on campus construction, including the completion of the Margot Connell Recreation Center and the Pine Tree Preserve, renovations to the auditorium space at 300 Hammond Pond Parkway, and the addition of nine new classrooms— featuring movable seating and white boards to accommodate flexible teaching methodologies—to Carney Hall. Current projects he cited include construction of the new science building, which will house the Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society; Phase 2 of the Harrington Athletics Village; and reclamation of the site of the now-demolished Flynn Recreation Complex for green space, recreation, and parking.

“We’ll no doubt need to pace ourselves and match priorities with the availability of resources,” said Lochhead, “but I’m confident in the direction we are headed and the guideposts—like Ever to Excel—that inform our decision-making.”

Quigley listed some academic-related achievements and milestones of the 2018-19 academic year, such as the selection of Isa-

belle Stone ’18 as BC’s third Rhodes Scholar; the establishment of a curriculum committee for University-wide academic programs; a series of broad-based conversations on formative education; and the graduation of the first BC undergraduate class to study all four years under the Core Curriculum Renewal initiative.

Quigley devoted a significant portion of his remarks to the Schiller Institute, which he linked to the University’s mission of helping address complex societal problems and contribute to the common good, with a particular focus on the sciences. The institute, Quigley “will strengthen teaching and research in the sciences, expand cross-school collaboration, and enhance Boston College’s ability to address critical global problems in targeted areas such as energy, health, and the environment. Its distinctive programs will be marked by deep and ongoing engagement with the University’s longstanding strengths in the humanities, social sciences, and the professions.”

Among the developments that bear watching for the just-begun academic year, Quigley said, are the arrival of 53 new faculty members, the establishment of a new major in African and African Diaspora Studies [see story on page 1], the continuing implementation of the University’s “Ever to Excel” strategic plan, and—echoing Fr. Leahy—a variety of challenges for higher education at the state, regional, and national level, some of which may have direct implications for BC.

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August 29, 2019

WHILE YOU WERE AWAY...

University Appoints Two Vice Presidents Boston College filled two key senior leadership positions during the summer, appointing Joy Moore as vice president for Student Affairs and Mara Hermano as vice president for institutional research and planning.

A 1981 alumna, Moore had served as interim VP for Student Affairs since August of 2018, and earned praise from students for her accessibility and attentiveness to their needs. Moore had previously managed the Boston College Alumni Association as associate vice president of alumni relations.

A skilled strategic thinker and planner, she directed the University’s Commencement in 2018 and 2019. Prior to joining the University’s Advancement division in 2011, she led the Archer School in Los Angeles and Dana Hall School in Wellesley before becoming the interim head of the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa. She was awarded an honorary degree from Boston College in 2010.

“BC is thriving on all fronts, and it is an exciting time to be part of the growth and expansion taking place,” said Moore. “I am thrilled to be able to continue to build

photo by peter julian

The University made a pair of senior administrative appointments in Student Services and graduate education this summer, naming Mary French as University registrar and Adam Poluzzi as assistant vice provost for graduate enrollment management.

French, a respected and versatile administrator with 25 years of experience in Undergraduate Admission and Student Services, had worked in the Office of Student Services since January as director of academic services, assisting in the implementation of the Eagle Apps Enrollment Module, part of the University’s new enrollment and student services system. Provost and Dean of Faculties David Quigley said French’s leadership would play an important role “as we complete the transition from UIS to Eagle Apps and as we build on Student Services’ strong history of working with students, schools, and departments.”

Poluzzi, who holds undergraduate

Joy Moore

photo by lee pellegrini

close working relationships with students, so that together we can enrich and enhance the student experience for all. We made some strides this past year in a number of areas, but there is still work to be done and new ideas to be considered.”

Hermano, who will formally assume her post on Sept. 1, has been founding vice president of integrated planning at

photo by caitlin cunningham

and graduate degrees from Boston College, had served as associate dean of enrollment management in the School of Theology and Ministry; he also held positions in the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences and the Lynch School of Education and Human Development. He will work with Student Services and Information Technology Services to effectively utilize Slate, the University’s CRM System for enrollment, and with the Provost’s Office, external vendors, and individual graduate schools in their digital advertising campaigns on behalf of key graduate programs. He will also monitor peer and competitor schools to evaluate BC’s programmatic offerings and identify new opportunities through online, hybrid, or on-campus programs, while working with the Office of University Communications to effectively market BC’s existing graduate and professional programs.

Mara Hermano

photo by adam mastoon

the Rhode Island School of Design since 2015. She led a wide range of planning and assessment efforts to achieve maximum efficiency with the school’s financial, human, and space resources, while promoting the effective use of data for institutional decision-making. She also redesigned the academic program review process to align with the school’s accreditation and multiVice President for Student Affairs Joy Moore announced several personnel changes in the Student Affairs division this summer: • Tom Mogan, formerly associate vice president and dean of students, is now associate vice president for student engagement and formation.

•Associate Dean of Student Conduct Corey Kelly was named director of student conduct.

•Associate Vice President for Residential Life George Arey has added special projects to his title.

•Associate Vice President for Student Affairs Melinda Stoops assumed the post of associate vice president for student

year resource planning, and oversaw two strategic planning processes at RISD, the most recent of which seeks to creatively reimagine organizational and financial models to support the school’s goals of contributing to a just local and global society and a sustainable planet, and engaging in new levels of research, creative practice, and critical scholarship.

Prior to being named vice president at RISD, she served as associate vice president of planning and effectiveness and chief of staff to the school’s president, and as executive director for strategic planning and academic initiatives.

“From my experience, institutions that have a robust planning culture and use data effectively are better able to respond to the challenges facing higher education,” said Hermano. “It allows us to be agile, to make adjustments, and respond to issues and new opportunities. Boston College has recognized strengths in these areas and strong ambitions to address the critical issues facing higher education. I am excited to join this effort as a member of the BC community.” health and wellness.

•Carrie Klemovitch, special assistant to the vice president and director of special projects, is now special assistant to the vice president for administration and strategic initiatives.

•Associate Dean of Student Outreach and Support Services Caroline Davis was named director of student outreach and support services.

Moore, who also announced that Joseph Du Pont will continue as associate vice president for career services, said the changes in the leadership team “reflect our commitment to providing the best possible outreach and services to our students.”

Boston College’s Ever to Excel Jesuit leadership program (July 28-Aug. 2) hosted high school students from around the world—including a group from Ireland that rose to the occasion. photo by lee pellegrini

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August 29, 2019

5

Boston College News from the Summer of 2019 Hunter, Fr. Vicini Named to Endowed Chairs Two of Boston College’s oldest endowed chairs were filled this summer by a pair of distinguished scholars.

Physician and ethicist Andrea Vicini, S.J.—who has taught at the School of Theology and Ministry since 2011—was named the Michael P. Walsh, S.J., Professor of Bioethics and a professor of theology in the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences.

Fr. Vicini’s Theology Department appointment begins Sept. 1.

David G. Hunter, an internationally renowned scholar in early Christian studies with a particular interest in ethical issues, was appointed as the Margaret O’Brien Flatley Professor of Catholic Theology.

Fr. Vicini succeeds inaugural Walsh Professor John Paris, S.J., who served from 1990 until his retirement in 2017.

Funded through support by Boston College alumni medical and dental professionals, the Walsh Chair is named for Michael P. Walsh, S.J., who served as University president from 1958 to 1968.

Fr. Vicini’s research interests include fundamental moral theology, theological bioethics, global public health, biotechnologies, reproductive technologies, endof-life issues, medical ethics, genetics, and environmental issues. He is author of the book Human Genetics and the Common Good and co-editor of Just Sustainability: Technology, Ecology, and Resource Extraction. He has held teaching posts

•The Margot Connell Recreation Center opened on July 9. Located on Lower Campus off St. Thomas More Road, the 244,000-square foot facility includes a fitness center, rock climbing wall, jogging track, aquatics center, wood-floor basketball courts, tennis courts, multi-activity courts, multi-purpose rooms for spin, yoga, and fitness classes, and more.

•The Lynch School of Education and Human Development agreed in principle to establish a dual degree master’s program with South Korea’s Yonsei University College of Educational Sciences.

David G. Hunter

photo by peter julian

in Italy, Albania, Mexico, Chad, and France.

The former Cottrill-Rolfes Professor of Catholic Studies at the University of Kentucky, Hunter is the successor to Roberto S. Goizueta, who retired as Flatley Professor at the end of last academic year.

The Flatley Chair was established in 1990 through a $2 million endowment by commercial real estate developer Thomas J. Flatley, who was a benefactor to Boston College and served as a trustee.

Hunter’s primary research area is in patristic theology and literature, and he has written extensively on ethical issues per-

Andrea Vicini, S.J.

photo by lee pellegrini

taining to marriage, family, sexuality, and celibacy. Last year, he published Marriage and Sexuality in Early Christianity, a revised and expanded edition of his 1992 book Marriage in the Early Church. Co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Studies, Hunter is the author of Marriage, Celibacy, and Heresy in Ancient Christianity.

His current projects, such as studies on the origins of priestly celibacy and sexual continence in the early Church and the question of divorce and remarriage in early Christianity, offer perspectives on crucial contemporary issues in the Catholic Church.

Roche Center, CDIL Directors Are Announced The Barbara and Patrick Roche Center for Catholic Education welcomed its new director, Melodie Wyttenbach, formerly an assistant professor at the Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program at the University of Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education. Wyttenbach succeeded Patricia Weitzel-O’Neill, who retired after leading the Roche Center since 2010.

The University’s new Center for Digital Innovation in Learning (CDIL), meanwhile, brought on board Bryan Blakeley, a former administrator at the Boston College Center for Teaching Excellence, as its inaugural executive director.

Headquartered in the Lynch School of Education and Human Development, the Roche Center is named for the late Patrick E. Roche ’51, H ’01, co-founder of the Roche Brothers supermarket chain, and his wife, Barbara, whose $20 million donation endowed the center. The center has risen to prominence through initiatives serving Catholic schools nationally and advancing Boston College’s role as a leader for excellence, equity, and faith formation in Catholic education.

Wyttenbach has held a number of roles in service to Catholic schools and networks: She served as academic director for ACE’s

QUICK TAKES

•More than 70 scholars from around the world gathered at Boston College from June 11-13 for the fifth annual International Symposium on Jesuit Studies, titled “Engaging Sources: The Tradition and Future of Collecting History in the Society of Jesus,” organized by the Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies.

•Boston College is again among the top volunteer-producing colleges and universities for the Peace Corps, according to a report from the agency. Boston College is ranked 18th among medium-size schools, with 19 alumni currently volunteering in countries around the world.

•Boston College has established a Catholic Religious Archives Repository to assist in the collection, preservation, and study of institutional records and documents belonging to Catholic religious orders and congregations in the United States and Canada. The repository will be part of the University’s library system, and will be guided by an advisory committee of archivists and faculty associated with Boston College.

DEATHS

Remick Leadership Program and president of Nativity Jesuit Academy in Milwaukee, where she also worked a teacher and administrator; she was an administrator with the Nativity-Miguel Network of Schools, a group of faith-based schools that serve lowincome communities throughout the U.S. Under Blakeley, the CDIL will be a centralized service center for all facets of online education support at BC and an innovation space for new digital teaching and learning initiatives. Its online education support responsibilities will include planning, course

development, budgeting, technology support, and student and faculty support.

Blakeley’s technology-related experience at BC—which included a stint in the University’s Instructional Design and eTeaching Services prior to its incorporation into the Center for Teaching Excellence—is complemented by his academic background: He holds a master’s degree in history from BC and is completing a doctorate in higher education administration at the Lynch School of Education and Human Development.

•David Wedge, 51, assistant foreman, Mechanical Shop, Facilities Services, Aug. 20.

•William Erwin Jr., 69, former management supervisor in Facilities Services, Aug. 4.

•Saoirse Kennedy Hill, 22, communication major in the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences, Aug. 1.

•Michael J. Buckley, S.J., 87, former director of the Boston College Jesuit Institute and Peter Canisius Professor of Theology, July 25.

•Cathy Inglese, 60, former Boston College women’s basketball coach, July 25.

•Brendan Rockett, 20, political science major in the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences, June 19.

•Severyn T. Bruyn, 91, longtime faculty member of the Sociology Department, May 26.

•Mary Griffin, 95, dean of the School of Education from 1979-87, May 23.

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August 29, 2019

African/African Diaspora Studies Debuts as Major Continued from page 1

Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, and familiarizes students with the multiplicity and diversity of the African diaspora.

Through interdisciplinary and comparative approaches, the new major draws on a broad range of methodologies in English, history, sociology, philosophy, theology, communication, romance languages, and art.

“AADS majors will gain transferable skills as they learn to analyze information from multiple perspectives and to assess the pros and cons of different types of evidence,” said program director C. Shawn McGuffey, an associate professor of sociology and African and African Diaspora Studies. “These skills are important as we prepare students for both an ever-changing workforce and to be knowledgeable, ethical, and civically engaged citizens of the world. It is a major that is needed now more than ever.”

“I am very happy that Boston College will be launching a new major in African and African Diaspora Studies in the 201920 academic year,” said Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences Dean Gregory Kalscheur, S.J. “With a program history that dates back to 1969, the launch of the new AADS major contributes to the important celebration of the program’s 50th anniversary. As the University deepens its strategic commitment to interdisciplinary academic experiences that promote engagement with the common good and increase global aspects of the curriculum, I am delighted that we are moving forward with this important new major.”

AADS’s mission, according to administrators, is to introduce histories, cultures, and experiences of African-descended peoples to the widest range of students; to support serious academic research on Africa and the African diaspora; give Africandescended students and their peers oppor-

tunities to examine the depth and breadth of African legacies on this continent and throughout the world; more closely link local black communities with BC; and project the significance of realities of people of African descent to the intellectual life of BC and larger communities.

“It’s important that students think about the many complexities in the world,” said McGuffey. “The AADS program of

Rollins, a former journalist and longtime diversity consultant.

In 1981, Boston community activist and teacher Amanda V. Houston was appointed the program’s director. She laid the groundwork for the Black Studies minor, established in 1985, and much of the structure, goals, and mission of today’s program. In 1991, the University Core Curriculum requirements were revised to

“AADS majors will gain transferable skills as they learn to analyze information from multiple perspectives and to assess the pros and cons of different types of evidence.”

–C. Shawn McGuffey

photo by peter julian

study brings together all of the ‘isms’—racism, sexism, classism, extremism—and demonstrates how they work as an interlocking system operating at the interpersonal, institutional, and cultural levels.”

AADS began in the 1969-70 academic year as the Black Studies Program, which along with the Black Talent Program was part of a recruitment effort to attract talented African American students to BC. The program served as a direct response to the 1968 “Inter-Racial Apostolate” letter to Jesuit colleges and universities from Jesuit Superior General Pedro Arrupe, S.J., and as an outcome of discussions begun in 1967 between then-BC President Michael Walsh, S.J., and Boston community leaders Mel King, a former Massachusetts state legislator and community organizer, and Bryan

include one course designated “cultural diversity” for the class of 1997, resulting in an even broader range of BC students enrolling in Black Studies courses.

In 1993, Frank Taylor, an associate professor of Caribbean history, became the first full-time faculty member to assume the position of director of Black Studies; his tenure was defined by an expanded focus on the Caribbean.

Associate Professor of English Cynthia Young was named director of Black Studies in 2005, and under her leadership the program grew to include faculty jointly appointed with the departments of English, History, Theology, and Romance Languages and Literatures. Correspondently, its network of affiliate faculty grew exponentially and the minor’s curricular offerings

were expanded to approximately 40 courses per year.

The program was renamed the African and African Diaspora Studies Program in January of 2006, reflecting the minor’s broadened focus on Africa and its worldwide diaspora. Central to AADS’s renewed focus was the “New Directions in African Diaspora Studies Lecture Series,” which highlighted new AADS research by national and international scholars and creative writers, and the “Works in Progress” lecture series featuring presentations by BC scholars.

In July 2009, Associate Professor of English and AADS Rhonda Frederick was appointed as the program’s fourth director, with the mission to increase AADS’s profile within the academic and local communities. To develop these connections, Frederick revived the “Blacks in Boston” conference series, initially launched by Amanda Houston in 1983. “‘Black...and Immigrant,’ the 2015 conference theme, engaged current issues in the U.S. immigration debate, and explored what black immigrants bring to this charged issue,” said Frederick. “Critical insights revealed by examining American immigration from an AADS perspective exemplify the kind of perspective available to an AADS major.”

“I’m thrilled that AADS is taking this next step,” said Associate Professor of History and AADS Martin Summers, who directed the program from 2014 until McGuffey’s appointment in 2018. “We have some dynamic and brilliant faculty who are doing cutting-edge work in the field.

We also have some dedicated students in our classes who are passionate about studying the African diaspora, and they deserve an opportunity to pursue a major in the subject.”

OBITUARY

Charles F. Smith Jr., First Tenured African-American BC Professor Charles F. Smith Jr., Boston College’s first tenured African-American faculty member, died on Aug. 1 at the age of 86.

A native of Cleveland, Dr. Smith joined Boston College’s School of Education in 1968 as an instructor of social studies methods and director of the Teacher Corps Program, which was part of a national effort to train graduate students to teach in urban areas. He developed and directed the Urban Education Program, Boston College’s initiative to prepare student-teachers for inner-city work. He also organized and chaired the Association of Black Faculty, Staff, and Administrators, as well as the Council of Black Faculty. An associate professor, Dr. Smith frequently spoke and wrote about issues of social justice and ra-

cial inequality.

Dr. Smith was active in national professional organizations and was elected to the board of directors of the National Council for the Social Studies’ Fund for the Advancement of Social Studies Education. In 1995, the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities created a lecture series in his name.

Dr. Smith also took a leadership role in the Newton, Mass., community, serving as vice chairman of the Black Citizens of Newton and contributing to the development of the Black Teachers Association of the Newton Public Schools.

Upon his retirement from full-time teaching in 1996, Newton held a “Charles Smith Day” with a ceremony honoring Dr. Smith in the Shea Room of Conte Forum.

In addition to the congratulations of his

colleagues, Dr. Smith received letters from numerous public officials, including President Bill Clinton, Senator Edward Kennedy, and Gov. William Weld.

Among those to speak at the ceremony was the University’s Affirmative Action director, Barbara Marshall, who called Dr. Smith “a mainstay for the AfricanAmerican community on campus for a long time.”

At the event, Dr. Smith said he had chosen to work at BC “because I thought if anyone was going to make an impact in the Boston Public Schools, it was going to be someone from Boston College, because more leaders in those schools had degrees from Boston College than any other institution.” He described BC as “committed to social justice and the Jesuit and Ignatian mission of helping future generations. That is what I feel this institution is designed to do and should do.”

He earned his bachelor’s degree from

Bowling Green State University; a master’s degree from Kent State University; a certificate of advanced study in curriculum and administration from the Harvard Graduate School of Education; and a doctorate in education from Michigan State University.

Dr. Smith was husband to Lois Anna Thompson for 50 years, father to Carolyn Adelle and Charles F. Smith III; grandfather to Asia Beatrice Nelson; and brother of Barbara Jean Smith Barclay and Marlene Smith Daniels; his brother Roderick Smith pre-deceased him.

Donations may be made in Dr. Smith’s memory to the AHANA Fund at Boston College, whether by check (Cadigan Alumni Center, 140 Commonwealth Ave., Chestnut Hill, MA 02467) or online at www.bc.edu/give.

–University Communications

Chronicle

August 29, 2019

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New Approach, New Resource Career Center changes its organizational model, launches ‘Career Closet’ initiative

BY SEAN SMITH CHRONICLE EDITOR

One undergraduate already has a career path picked out—working in public health—and hopes to find a summer internship. Another has become interested in life science research and wants some insight into employment opportunities.

And another student is undecided about which profession to pursue after college: media and communications? marketing? business?

The Boston College Career Center aims to better help address such needs and questions with its newly implemented “career cluster-based” organizational model, and thus provide students with resources—career coaching, job-searching and networking events, information, and employer and alumni connections—that will point them in the direction they seek.

In this model, the center has defined six career clusters with some common characteristics and facets: Business, Consulting, and Finance; Communications, Media, and Arts; Education, Nonprofit, and Social Service; Healthcare and Nursing; Government, Law, and Public Policy; and Science, Technology, and Engineering. Each cluster has a corresponding career coach to work with students.

Another cluster, Exploration, is for students seeking to discern how their values, interests, and skills relate to their different career options and possible post-graduate pursuits.

The shift to a cluster-based model is one of several recent Career Center initiatives, among them the “Career Closet,” through which students can rent clothing for career search-related purposes.

Career Center staff say the cluster model reflects current practices in the collegiate career-counseling domain, but more importantly, an assessment of the student population it serves.

“Students today want personalized, specific attention instead of a one-size-fits-all approach,” says Director of Career Education and Strategy Rachel Greenberg, who co-coordinated implementation of the cluster model. “The generalist model we used for years served an important purpose, and

standing of themselves and how they can put their skills to use in the world.

“Employers value students with the liberal arts background BC provides, because they know those students have had a wellbalanced education that stresses, among other things, critical thinking, communica-

Joseph Du Pont: “Employers value students with the liberal arts background BC provides, because they know those students have had a well-balanced education that stresses, among other things, critical thinking, communication and teamwork.”

Rachel Greenberg: “Students should know that it’s OK to have questions, and that there are people in the Career Center who can help them find the answers.”

overall was very effective. The cluster model, however, is not only better attuned to students’ needs, but suits our engagement with alumni and employers: It provides greater clarity to our programming, such as deciding whom to bring to campus for career exploration events, and how to connect students with resources they need.”

In the bigger picture, says Associate Vice President of Student Affairs for Career Services Joseph Du Pont, the cluster model approach aligns with Boston College’s affirmation of its academic and formational mission, as expressed in its 2017 Strategic Plan.

“BC has dedicated itself to a reimagining of the liberal arts for the 21st century,” he explains. “The career cluster model will help us do that while complementing our efforts to help students gain greater under-

tion and teamwork.”

The new model compels Career Center staff to stay informed and up-to-date on trends and developments in their respective clusters, to be in touch with alumni and other professionals in the relevant fields, and where possible go on site visits or sit in on employee programs.

“We’re not experts on the day-to-day work life in a given profession, but we are well-versed in helping students access information, programs and people that can inform them on the career paths that one can take,” says Greenberg. “We serve as connectors to alumni and other professionals who can give insights and perhaps serve as points of contact, but it is incumbent on the student to take the initiative and seek the information he or she needs to decide on a possible career path.”

photos by lee pellegrini

Knowing a student’s specific career-related interests and needs enables the center to personalize its outreach, she adds: “We can contact the student and say, ‘Here are five upcoming events on campus that you might be interested in.’”

While the clusters are broad enough to encourage students’ career exploration, Du Pont and Greenberg affirm that undergraduates who are uncertain about their postBC lives should feel equally empowered to interact with the center. “Students should know that it’s OK to have questions,” says Greenberg, “and that there are people in the Career Center who can help them find the answers. We want to play whatever role we can in an undergraduate’s BC experience as they discover their interests, skills, and values and how those relate to their future aspirations.”

The Career Closet initiative being piloted this fall is another example of the center’s effort to expand its resources to better serve students, according to Du Pont and Greenberg. Through donations from alumni and other benefactors, new and gentlyused attire will be available at the center for students with demonstrated need for career interviews, career fairs, and networking opportunities. Students make appointments to use the Closet, and will be assisted by center personnel or volunteers.

“People may be surprised by the number of students who need assistance to secure business attire to attend interviews, networking opportunities or other events,” says Du Pont. “We want to do our part to remove a barrier to students’ ability to more fully participate in these important aspects of career exploration and make all students feel welcome, respected and supported in our office and programs. We feel this work is very aligned with our mission and is an extension of the good work being done by many of our colleagues around campus engaged in programs such the annual Winter Coat Drive and the BC Res Life Clean initiative.”

Information on these and other Career Center programs and activities are available on the center’s website, www.bc.edu/ careers.

Yancey to Join University as VP for Development Continued from page 1

managing and motivating high-performing fundraising teams.

“Amy is a collaborative and strategic leader who brings an important set of perspectives and skills to our advancement organization,” said Husson. “She will be a valuable partner to me and my colleagues as we make the case for philanthropic investments that will ensure Boston College’s continued success.”

Yancey said she is pleased to be joining Boston College to work in support of the University’s Jesuit mission.

“I am honored and excited to be joining

a committed and skilled advancement team under Jim’s leadership,” said Yancey. “I look forward to working with alumni, families, and friends of Boston College to build on a strong tradition of philanthropy in service to the common good.”

Prior to her work at UVA, Yancey served as director of development and alumni relations for University Libraries at Pennsylvania State University, and as director of development for University Libraries and the Institute for Agriculture at the University of Tennessee.

A graduate of the University of Tennes-

see, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and a master’s degree in plant sciences with a minor in agricultural economics, Yancey is a member of the inaugural Advancement Leadership Lab, a cohort of deputies at top fundraising universities who are committed to exploring ethical leadership and inclusion within the advancement field.

A distance trail runner and amateur equestrian, she currently lives in Virginia with her daughter, Wren, an incoming freshman at the University of Tennessee.

“I believe in the power of higher edu-

cation to transform lives and the power of philanthropy to exponentially expand the reach of our universities,” said Yancey.

“Boston College is compelling to me as one of the nation’s and world’s top universities that is poised to address some of the most pressing global issues through education, research and service. My previous experience has prepared me well to join an outstanding advancement team, and I am particularly enthused to work for a university deeply committed to student formation.”

Chronicle

8

August 29, 2019

A Different View of Paris BC summer class in City of Light provides unexpected, and fascinating, insights into the African diaspora

BY ALIX HACKETT SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE

One of the most viral videos to come out of France’s 2018 World Cup victory was filmed long after the final whistle blew. In it, 80,000 joyous fans sing along as French rapper Vegedream belts out his hit song “Ramenez la Coupe a la Maison” (English translation: Bring the cup home) surrounded by members of the French national team. One American news outlet called it “the most iconic video of all time.”

This summer, Boston College sophomore Grace Assogba found herself in the fourth row of a Vegedream concert in Paris, singing along to the World Cup anthem-turnedcultural phenomenon. But for her and her classmates, the event was more than just a fun night out—it was part of the syllabus for Paris Noir: From La Négritude to le Hiphop, a four-week summer course exploring black identity in Paris through art, literature, and film.

Each week, the 11 students enrolled in the course did assigned reading and attended classroom sessions, but also went to concerts, heard from guest speakers, and visited museums and restaurants focused on black art and cuisine.

“We had so many moments where we were in class learning these things but then actually going out and living them,” Assogba said. “It was a completely different cultural experience.”

For students interested in studying the African diaspora, European countries are rarely a destination of choice. Associate Professor of

Romance Languages and Literatures Régine Michelle Jean-Charles, who taught the Paris Noir course, remembers feeling disappointed when her own parents insisted she study abroad in Paris instead of Senegal.

“In my mind, I didn’t associate Europe with black people,” she said, “but when I went to France there were people from Cameroon, Senegal, Togo—there were people from all over the African continent.”

In designing the course, Jean-Charles focused on the numerous and varied contributions people from Africa and the diaspora have made to Parisian literature and culture, and how those contributions have helped shape black identity in France from the 1930s to the present. Woven throughout were topics ranging from the history of immigration to French rap to diversity on the national soccer team.

Whenever possible, students learned through experiences, such as eating at African and Caribbean restaurants and visiting book stores and shops owned by black proprietors.

When studying how black figures have been represented in the visual arts, they visited the Musée d’Orsay for an exhibit on the topic.

“The experiential piece adds so much,” said Jean-Charles. “When I teach this class at BC in the future I will of course talk about these paintings, but it’s totally different to see them in person.”

The opportunity to experience the culture she was learning about was part of the appeal for sophomore Bilguissa Barry, who is originally from Guinea.

“Every day we were learning just by being in the city,” she said. “Whenever we went

Assoc. Prof. Régine Jean-Charles (Romance Languages and Literatures) and her students visited the Musée d’Orsay as part of the Paris Noir course she taught.

to a place we were analyzing it through an academic lens, thinking about the historical context. It was so different from being there as tourists.”

Throughout the course, Jean-Charles invited speakers of all backgrounds to address the class, including authors, journalists, and activists. Of all the speakers, Assogba was most inspired by Assa Traoré, whose brother,

Adama, died while in police custody in 2016, sparking a movement similar to Black Lives Matter.

“I literally had chills listening to her tell her story,” she said. “That speaks to the class because there were so many ways that we were engaged—from classroom discussions to museum visits to speaking to journalists— every single aspect of learning was present.”

Landrigan to Be Honored for Work on Children’s Health Rodale.”

Regarded as the birthplace of the organic movement, the Rodale Institute Global Observatory on Pollution and is a global leader in regenerative organic Health Director Phillip Landrigan, MD (in agriculture. Executive Director Jeff Moyer photo below), will be honored next month said the Organic Pioneer Awards offer an for his pioneering work in the health of opportunity to recognize key figures in children and the effects of the organic community “who toxic chemicals on their brains often endured personal hardand nervous systems. ships and professional chalLandrigan, a professor of lenges to make the brave decibiology who also directs the sion to change the way food is Global Public Health and the produced around the world.”

Common Good program, will Landrigan’s nearly five debe one of three individuals cades of studying the effects of recognized at the Rodale Intoxic chemicals on children’s stitute’s ninth annual Organic brains and nervous systems Pioneer Awards on Sept. 7. began in the late 1960s while He and fellow honorees he was a pediatric resident at Pennsylvania Governor Tom Boston Children’s Hospital Wolf and Jennifer Taylor, an and cared for children with associate professor at Florida photo by lee pellegrini acute, high-dose lead paint Agricultural and Mechanical poisoning.

University and an organic farmer, have “Most recently, I have become involved been cited as “pioneers in the field of linkin the rapidly growing but neglected ing soil health to human health in the rich problem of toxic environmental exposures tradition of the pioneering work of J.I. to children in low- and middle-income

BY ED HAYWARD STAFF WRITER

countries,” he said. “From 2015 to 2017, I co-chaired the Lancet Commission on Pollution & Health, which reported that pollution causes nine million deaths around the world each year and is an existential threat to planetary health.”

To continue the work of the Lancet Commission, Landrigan returned to Boston College—from which he graduated in 1963—last year to establish a Global Observatory on Pollution and Health within the soon-to-be-launched Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society. The observatory’s core mission is to aggregate, archive, and analyze data on pollution and pollution-related disease in cities and countries around the world in order to guide research; close gaps in knowledge; inform the development of energy and environmental policy; and ultimately save lives.

In addition, Landrigan has been selected by the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation to conduct a special report on the health of the world’s oceans that will be distributed at the foundation’s Monaco Ocean Week 2020 conference.

Landrigan will partner with the Monaco

Scientific Center on the report, as well as with leading scientists from around the world. The team will review the impact of ocean pollution on human health, with a special emphasis on vulnerable populations. Researchers will further assess the influence of climate change on the oceans and try to predict future trends.

Landrigan traveled to Monaco earlier this year for Monaco Ocean Week, where he was joined by a select group of marine biologists, physicians, and representatives of international non-governmental organizations, including the World Health Organization.

“Ocean pollution has multiple direct and indirect negative impacts on human health and these effects are only beginning to be understood,” Landrigan said. “The purpose of this study is to comprehensively examine these effects, especially effects on the health of children and other vulnerable populations, estimate their magnitude, project future trends, identify gaps in knowledge, and offer feasible, cost-effective solutions.”

Chronicle

August 29, 2019

Long Exposure Gary Wayne Gilbert, director of photography in the Office of University Communications, left Boston College this summer after more than three decades of capturing its people, places, and events through innumerable camera lenses.

His photographs appear across campus websites and walls, and in a host of publications including Boston College Magazine, for which he served as photo editor, as well as Boston College Chronicle, admission viewbooks, annual reports, and two books: one a study of the University’s distinctive stainedglass windows, the other an illustrated history published in celebration of BC’s sesquicentennial anniversary. He’s earned Awards of Excellence from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education and his work has been featured in Communication Arts magazine.

Interviewed shortly before his departure, Gilbert reflected on a career spent putting the BC campus, and community, into focus. [The following is a shortened version of a Q&A that appeared on BC News; read the full piece at on.bc.edu/GaryGilbert] At BC, you’ve taken campus landscapes, architectural photos, portraits, candids—any preference?

I tend to favor portraiture and still lifes, where you can really craft the images. I prefer making, not taking, photos. It’s challenging and exciting, especially when the photo is set in an interesting or unusual place—whether it’s a beautiful Gothic building on campus, or Christie’s auction house, or Google headquarters in Manhattan, or a sound stage at Universal Studios in LA. BC offers such a broad range of subject matter. I love history and the arts, and photography related to the sciences is always intriguing. For the latest issue of

Former director of photography Gary Wayne Gilbert reflects on three decades behind the lens for Boston College

Gary Wayne Gilbert took a self-portrait in Gasson 100 on his last day at BC.

Boston College Magazine, I worked with the

art director to create a portrait backdrop related to forensic investigation, which was great fun.

What have been some of the more enjoyable aspects of the job?

The campus is so beautiful, and the Collegiate Gothic architecture is so impressive, it’s hard to imagine a better environment in which to craft images. I’ve had access to some areas that many people don’t get to see—including the view from the very top of Gasson Tower during its renovation. Also, there are so many treasures in

Boston College Websites Earn CASE Circle of Excellence Award Boston College’s Office of University Communications Web Services team was recognized with a 2019 Circle of Excellence Award from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), for the multi-year effort to redesign all Boston College school websites.

Last fall, the team—part of the Office of University Communications—completed the redesign of the eight school websites. The team also developed separate sites for the centers, institutes, and departments within each school, amounting to 85 websites in two-and-half years.

According to the award citation, the CASE judges “were impressed by how a college of this size and complexity succeeded in creating a website with such a cohesive presentation. The consistency in both navigation and branding across eight different schools is to be commended.”

CASE District I annually bestows its Excellence Awards, which recognize “work that raises the bar for the entire profession,” on individuals and schools doing innovative work in the fields of special events, fundraising, stewardship, volunteer engagement, alumni relations, advancement services, and communications.

9

the University Archives, Burns Library, and the McMullen Museum. Photographers are lucky to have the opportunity to work with rare things—I’ve handled a firstedition printing, from 1613, of a book of scientific treatises by Galileo, a copy of Isaac Newton’s Principia, and even a Mesopotamian tablet [dated from 2100–2000 B.C.]. I’m used to wearing white gloves a lot.

While most of the work was on campus, I was fortunate to be able to travel for some special assignments: to London, Rome and the Vatican, a Native American reservation in Arizona, the Florida Keys, the U.S. Supreme Court, and the Executive Office of the White House, among other places.

Transforming Light: The Stained Glass Windows of Boston College was one of your most important assignments. How did that come about?

I had used the windows in Bapst and Gasson and St. Mary’s as backdrops for many portraits, and always tried to choose the one that best suited the subject, which required looking closely at them. Their artistry and detail is fascinating, as is their range: windows depicting religion, poetry, fine arts, political science, law, medicine, and more. I proposed that BC do a book about them, and was thrilled when it became an actual project. Executing it was challenging, however: The windows are very tall, some as high as 30 feet, which required using a rolling platform ladder to get close enough to shoot the individual panes. I arrived at BC with a fear of heights, but had to get over that. And the weather had to cooperate: Cloudy days provided the best lighting; interior illumination wouldn’t have the same effect. It was very important to me to get it right, to

Snapshot

Welcome to the Heights

After having moved onto campus the previous day, the Class of 2023 received a formal welcome on Aug. 23 in Conte Forum from Undergraduate Government of Boston College President Michael Osaghae ’20 (above). Also speaking at the event were (L-R) Vice Provost for Undergraduate Academic Affairs Akua Sarr, Associate Vice President for University Mission and Ministry and Director of Campus Ministry Fr. Tony Penna, and Vice President for Student Affairs Joy Moore. See page 2 for more about the “Weeks of Welcome” for first-year students.

be true to the artists’ work.

What strikes you about the university you’ve spent nearly 35 years photographing?

It’s changed tremendously, of course, and to document that has been not only fun, but a privilege. BC is a great university with a great mission; I truly believe that. I’ve appreciated being able to help advance, in some small way, an institution striving to do good in the world.

Most of all, though, it’s the people who’ve made it such a pleasure. I’ve been lucky to work with so many talented and creative and genuinely nice people, especially the photography team and other colleagues in the former Office of Marketing Communications and now University Communications. And the Jesuits—Fr. Leahy [University President William P. Leahy, S.J.]; Fr. Monan, [former BC president and chancellor J. Donald Monan, S.J.]; Fr. Neenan, [former academic vice president William B. Neenan, S.J.] who officiated at my wedding [to University Communications Senior Director Patricia Delaney]; Fr. Barth [former College of Arts and Sciences Dean J. Robert Barth, S.J.,]; Fathers Donovan and Duffy [former University Historian Charles F. Donovan, S.J.; Joseph P. Duffy, S.J., former University Secretary]—and more recently, Fr. Beaumier [current Vice President, University Secretary, and Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies Director Casey Beaumier, S.J.], among many others. I never had an understanding of the Jesuit tradition until I came to BC, and it was through these friends, to quote Fr. Neenan, that I came to appreciate what was at the core of the BC experience.

—University Communications

PHOTOS BY PETER JULIAN

Chronicle

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August 29, 2019

Campus Arts

Robinson Climate Justice Talk Launches Fall Humanities Series Former President of Ireland and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson will usher in this fall’s Lowell Humanities Series when she appears on campus Sept. 11 to discuss climate justice, the subject of her critically acclaimed 2018 book.

In addition to Robinson, the diverse Lowell Humanities Series fall lineup includes appearances by a memoirist and fiction writer, a philosopher and cultural theorist, a Renaissance scholar, and an award-winning psychologist.

“We are excited that this year’s inaugural lecture will be presented by Mary Robinson, a return visitor to campus,” said Associate Professor of English James Smith, the series director.

“The Lowell is committed to making the series as interdisciplinary and diverse as possible and continues to look for opportunities to partner with other centers on campus, as well as departments and programs,” Smith added, noting that Robinson’s lecture is cosponsored by the Environmental Studies Program and Earth and Environmental Sciences Department.

Another LHS event— a talk by Bryan Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative— is co-sponsored with the Winston Center for Leadership and Ethics and PULSE Program as part of the PULSE 50th anniversary celebration this academic year.

A look at the LHS program this fall (all events start at 7 p.m. and are in Gasson 100 unless otherwise noted): Sept. 11: Mary Robinson—In Climate Justice—Hope, Resilience, and the Fight for a Sustainable Future, co-authored with Caitríona Palmer MA’97, Robinson writes that she came relatively late to the public conversation on global warming and environmental sustainability. But establishing the global initiative Realising Rights, a project to advance economic, social, and cultural rights for developing nations, helped her grasp the link between climate change, human rights, justice, equality, and individual empowerment. President of Ireland from 1990-97 and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights from 1997-2002, Robinson is currently an adjunct professor of climate justice at Trinity College Dublin.

Sept. 25: Kiese Laymon—The Jackson, Miss., native’s observant and often hilarious writing does battle with the personal and the political: race and family, body and shame, poverty and place. His powerful memoir Heavy won the 2019 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction. He also authored the groundbreaking essay collection How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America and the genredefying novel Long Division. In addition to his work for Gawker, Laymon has written for outlets including Esquire, NPR, The Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, Ebony, and The Oxford American.

Oct. 9: Bryan Stevenson—Founder and executive director of the Equal Justice

Bryan Stevenson

Kiese Laymon

Carl Hart

photo by nina subin

photo by jason adams

photo by bruce gilbert

Initiative, Stevenson is an acclaimed public interest lawyer who has dedicated his career to helping the poor, the incarcerated, and the condemned. Under his leadership, EJI has won major legal challenges eliminating excessive and unfair sentencing, exonerating innocent death row prisoners, confronting abuse of the incarcerated and mentally ill, and aiding children prosecuted as adults. His numerous awards and honors include the MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Prize and the National Medal of Liberty from the American Civil Liberties Union.

This event will be held in Conte Forum.

Nov. 6: Michael Witmore—The seventh director of the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, Witmore was

Mary Robinson

photo by barbara sweetman

Kwame Anthony Appiah

Michael Witmore

photo by chris hartlove

formerly an English professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and prior to that, an associate professor Carnegie Mellon University. He has held the Andrew Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of California-Los Angeles, a research fellowship and a curatorial residency fellowship at the Folger, and a pre-doctoral fellowship at Berlin’s Max-Plank-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte. Among recent projects, Witmore launched the Working Group for Digital Inquiry at WisconsinMadison and organized the Pittsburgh Consortium for Medieval and Renaissance Studies.

Nov. 14: Carl Hart—The Ziff Professor of Psychology in the Columbia University departments of Psychology and Psychiatry,

Hart has published dozens of scientific articles in the area of neuropsychopharmacology, and co-authored the textbook Drugs, Society, and Human Behavior. His book, High Price: A Neuroscientist’s Journey of Self-Discovery That Challenges Everything You Know about Drugs and Society, won the 2014 PEN/E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award. Fast Company magazine named Hart one of their Most Creative People of 2014. His appearance is cosponsored by the Park Street Corporation Speaker Series.

Dec. 5: Kwame Anthony Appiah—A British-born Ghanaian-American philosopher, cultural theorist, and novelist, Appiah studies political and moral theory, the philosophy of language and mind, and African intellectual history. He most recently wrote The Lies That Bind, based on his 2016 BBC Reith Lectures on “Mistaken Identities” and is working on a book centered around his 2016 Terry lectures at Yale. He also has taught at Cornell, Duke, and Harvard, and lectured at universities worldwide. A professor of philosophy and law at New York University, he teaches both in New York and Abu Dhabi. His lecture is cosponsored by the Clough Center for the Study of Constitutional Democracy, the Global Citizenship Project, and the International Studies Program.

This event will be held in McGuinn 121.

Smith “welcomes faculty to contact us to suggest possible future speakers, encourages them to incorporate relevant Lowell events onto their syllabi, and to urge students to attend.”

For more details on the series and speakers, see www.bc.edu/lowellhs. Lowell Humanities Series events are free and open to the public. The series is sponsored by the Lowell Institute, BC’s Institute for the Liberal Arts, and the Office of the Provost and Dean of Faculties.

–University Communications

Mass of the Holy Spirit Is Sept. 5 University President William P. Leahy, S.J., will celebrate the annual Mass of the Holy Spirit on Sept. 5 at noon in the Plaza outside O’Neill Library (rain location: Conte Forum). Members of the Jesuit communities and other priests from the University will concelebrate.

All members of the University community are invited to attend the Mass, a tradition for the opening of the school year at Jesuit institutions dating back to the Middle Ages. Classes are cancelled that day from noon to 1:15 p.m.

The Mass of the Holy Spirit is organized by the Office of Campus Ministry in the division of University Mission and Ministry.

–University Communications

Chronicle

August 29, 2019

York Is Inducted Into Hockey Hall of Fame Schiller Family Head Hockey Coach Jerry York, the winningest coach in college hockey history, has been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

York has won five national titles and posted 1,067 victories in his nearly five decades as a Division I head coach at Clarkson, Bowling Green, and Boston College.

This past season, he won his 600th game at BC, becoming just the fifth Division I coach to win 600 games at the same institution.

In 25 seasons at his alma mater, York has led the Eagles to four NCAA titles, 12 Frozen Fours, and nine Hockey East Tournament championships. The all-time leader in NCAA Tournament victories with 41, York collected his fourth Hockey East Coach of the Year Award in 2018.

York has seen 18 of his players selected in the first round of the NHL Draft, including a program-record three this year. His former players have combined to win 10 Stanley Cups, and forwards Johnny Gaudreau (BC, 2011-14) and Cam Atkinson (2008-11) were both named NHL All-Stars this past season.

He becomes the fifth NCAA coach to

Jerry York speaking at the campus celebration for the Boston College hockey team’s 2012 national championship. photo by lee pellegrini

earn the honor, joining Lou Lamoriello, Herb Brooks, Bob Johnson, and John Mariucci. York will be inducted along with five other honorees—Guy Carbonneau, Hayley Wickenheiser, Sergei Zubov, Vaclav Nedomansky, and Jim Rutherford— at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto on Nov. 18.

–Boston College Athletics

Lifetime Achievement Honor for LSOE’s Helms Janet E. Helms (in photo), the Augustus Long Professor in the Lynch School of Education and Human Development and director of BC’s Institute for the Study and Promotion of Race and Culture, was chosen for the American Psychological Foundation’s 2019 Gold Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Psychology in the Public Interest.

The Washington, D.C.-based foundation, a grant-making organization affiliated with the American Psychological Association (APA), provides financial support for innovative research and programs that enhance the power of psychology to elevate the human condition and advance human potential both now and in generations to come.

Helms, a faculty member of the Lynch School’s Department of Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology, received her award at the APA annual meeting earlier this month. She accepted two lifetime achievement awards at last year’s APA gathering: one in mentoring from the Society of Counseling Psychology (APA Division 17), and another for outstanding contributions over the course of her career in the promotion of ethnic minority issues from the Society of for the Psychological Study of Culture, Ethnicity, and Race (APA Division 45).

The APA is the nation’s leading scientific and professional organization representing

psychology, with more than 115,700 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students as its members.

A BC faculty member since 2000, Helms has been frequently recognized by her peers. Her honors include the Elizabeth Hurlock Beckman Award for mentoring students; an engraved brick in her name in the Plaza of Heroines at Iowa State University, where she received her doctorate; the Distinguished Career Contributions to Research Award from the Society for the Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues; APA awards for Distinguished Contributions to Education and Training in Psychology and for Distinguished Contributions to Research in Public Policy; and the Association of Black Psychologists Distinguished Psychologist Award.

In 1991, she was the inaugural recipient of the Janet E. Helms Award for Mentoring and Scholarship in Professional Psychology, now an annual honor given by Columbia University Teachers College.

Helms is past president of the APA’s Society of Counseling Psychology, and a fellow in the APA’s divisions 17 (Counseling Psychology), 45 (Culture, Ethnicity, and Race) and 35 (Psychology of Women). Additionally, she is a member of the American Psychological Society, the Association of Psychological Science, and the American Educational Research Association.

–Phil Gloudemans

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BC in the Media Is Social Security running out? Center for Retirement Research Director Alicia Munnell discussed the situation on WBUR’s “Here and Now,” as did Assoc. Prof. of the Practice Matthew Rutledge (Economics), a research fellow at the center, with Bloomberg Baystate Business.

Coordinating services for students pays huge dividends, and a comprehensive approach to needs should become standard in schools, wrote Lynch School of Education and Human Development Kearns Professor Mary Walsh, director of BC’s successful integrated services initiative City Connects, in a piece for CommonWealth Magazine.

Murray and Monti Professor of Economics Peter Ireland weighed in on the Fed’s recent interest rate cut in an essay for E21.

By forming their own corporation, rideshare workers could win leverage over Uber and other companies that refuse to consider them employees, wrote Asst. Prof.

Hiba Hafiz (Law) in an op-ed for The New York Times.

Peaceful solutions to the world’s problems, which often involve religious tensions, are hard to find. Professor of Theology and Newton College Alumnae Professor of Western Culture Catherine Cornille, noted for her work in comparative theology and interreligious dialogue, offered her views on the topic as a guest on an Australian Broadcasting Co. Radio National podcast.

Asst. Prof. Cal Halvorsen (BCSSW) discussed ageism in presidential politics and racial disparities in entrepreneurship over age 50 in op-eds for PBS Next Avenue, both picked up by Forbes. On WGBH’s

Nota Bene School of Theology and Ministry Associate Professor Catherine Mooney has been elected president of the Hagiography Society for a three-year term.

Founded in 1990, the Hagiography Society exists to promote communication among scholars studying holy people and their cults in all eras, cultures, and religious traditions. The society publishes a book series, sponsors sessions at academic conferences on both sides of the Atlantic, and makes specialized bibliographies and syllabi on saints and hagiography available to its members.

Mooney is the author of the book Clare of Assisi and the Thirteenth-Century Church: Religious Women, Rules, and Resistance, and has taught courses such as Saints and Sanctity and Women Doctors of the Church: Hildegard of Bingen, Catherine of Siena, Teresa of Avila and Thérèse of Lisieux.

“Greater Boston,” he talked about a new poll that found one in four Americans have no intention of ever retiring.

Prof. Heather Cox Richardson (History) was among experts discussing the history of racism and the U.S. presidency on WBUR’s “Radio Boston.”

In the past 10,000 years—a barely perceptible sliver of evolutionary time— virtually every feature of childhood has changed, particularly in industrialized societies, wrote Psychology Department postdoctoral research fellow Dorsa Amir in an op-ed for the Washington Post.

The most effective responses to digital disruption don’t make use of technology at all, Prof. Gerald Kane (CSOM) wrote in a piece for Sloan Management Review.

The U.S. ended orphanages in the 1960s, wrote Assoc. Prof. Kari Hong (Law) in an op-ed for WBUR’s “Cognoscenti,” but the detention facilities on the nation’s southern border have revived them.

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: Research Associate, Academic Affairs/Provost Director, Event Management, Dining and Catering/Auxiliary/Public Safety Writer, University Advancement Senior Integrated Security System Technician, Dining and Catering/Auxiliary/ Public Safety Assistant Director, Financial Aid, Academic Affairs Development Assistant, University Advancement Campus School Teacher Assistant, Academic Affairs/Provost Senior Research Consultant, Information Technology Evening Operations Supervisor, Facilities/Trades Social Work Library Supervisor, Academic Affairs/Provost Assistant Manager, Dining Services, Dining and Catering/Auxiliary/Public Safety Intern, Business Administration, Athletics Fiscal Administrator, Facilities/Trades Grant and Contract Post Award Administrator, Academic Affairs/Provost Report Writer, University Advancement Third Cook, Dining and Catering/Auxiliary/Public Safety Insurance Specialist, Risk Management, Financial/Budget

Chronicle

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August 29, 2019

Campus Arts

Four for the Show

McMullen Museum hosting four innovative exhibitions this fall

BY ROSANNE PELLEGRINI STAFF WRITER

The McMullen Museum of Art at Boston College will present four innovative, exclusive exhibitions this fall, including the first monographic examination of 19th-century landscape painter William Trost Richards’s art in Boston; the New England debut of Simon Dinnerstein’s renowned masterpiece, “The Fulbright Triptych”; the gritty New York street photography of Alen MacWeeney; and seascapes and landscapes by longtime BC faculty member Mary Armstrong.

The four exhibitions will open Sept. 9 and run through Dec. 8.

“William Trost Richards: Hieroglyphs of Landscape” • The first monographic examination of William Trost Richards’ (1833–1905) art in Boston, this exhibition explores the artist’s career from his earliest sketches and exemplary Pre-Raphaelite technique of the 1860s to his late masterful seascapes and landscapes. His landscapes come to light within the context of the 19th century’s burgeoning appreciation for the environment. “Hieroglyphs of Landscape” reveals how Richards’s works manifest the Romantics’ hieroglyphic interpretation of nature, a metaphor embraced by Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, and reflect nascent scientific discoveries of contemporary geologists who revolutionized understanding of evolution and history.

“The possibility of re-examining the career of a significant artist like William Trost Richards in an exhibition with an interdisciplinary team of outstanding scholars and spectacular loans emerges rarely,” said Inaugural Robert L. and Judith T. Winston Director of the McMullen Museum of Art Nancy Netzer, a BC professor of art history.

“The McMullen is honored to seize this opportunity to share these great works and new discoveries with our audiences.”

“Hieroglyphs of Landscape” features more than 190 oil paintings, watercolors,

“Peace Meals,” Aaron Siskind (from “A Century of New York Street Photography”)

drawings, and sketchbooks, including many drawings—20 of which are promised gifts to the McMullen—loaned by the family of Richards’ descendants Ellen P. and Theodore Richards Conant. In addition to works from the McMullen Museum’s collection, loans come from the Bowdoin College Museum of Art; Brooklyn Museum; Davis Museum at Wellesley College; Mark Twain House & Museum; the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Nantucket Historical Association; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts; Newport Art Museum; William Vareika Fine Arts, and many private collectors.

An accompanying scholarly catalogue of multidisciplinary essays tells “a new story about Richards and the art of landscape in American culture, and explore the ways in which nature and art convey meaning,” said exhibition curator Boston College Professor Emeritus of Art History Jeffery Howe, the

“Reid AM,” Mary Armstrong

catalogue’s editor.

Organized by the McMullen Museum, “Hieroglyphs of Landscape” has been underwritten by Boston College with major support from the Patrons of the McMullen Museum and Mary Ann and Vincent Q. Giffuni.

“Simon Dinnerstein: The Fulbright Triptych” • Simon Dinnerstein’s “The Fulbright Triptych” (1971–74) was produced in an era of postwar art when minimalism, video art, and installation dominated the New York City scene. At the time, figuration and even painting were out of fashion.

Representing Dinnerstein’s first foray into the medium, the monumental suite was called “a little-known masterpiece of 1970s realism” by New York Times art critic Roberta Smith, in which the intersection of the personal and the historical prefigured the path that postmodernism would take a decade later.

Adopting the medieval sacred form of an altar-sized triptych, he substitutes secular and highly personal, idiosyncratic iconography for traditional religious subject matter.

In the central panel, he features an engraved plate and printmaker’s tools below two windows depicting views from his studio in Germany. The artist paints himself, his wife, and baby daughter in the side panels. He fills the walls of each panel with details of

well-known Old Master paintings, drawings, prints, children’s drawings, photographs, quotes, and sketches.

The Fulbright Triptych is on loan from the Palmer Museum of Art at the Pennsylvania State University. Its presentation at the McMullen, curated by John McCoy, has been underwritten by Boston College and supported by the Patrons of the McMullen Museum.

“Alen MacWeeney and a Century of New York Street Photography” • In conjunction with a Nov. 13 panel discussion organized by BC Professor of the Practice of Photography Karl Baden, “When Everyone Has a Camera: Street Photography, the Right to Free Expression, and the Right to Privacy in the Internet Age,” the museum presents a selection of documentary photographs from its collection—all made on the streets or in the subways of New York City, one of the world’s capitals of street photography.

Because street photography occurs in a public space, it has been protected as a right to free expression under the First Amendment. The digital revolution of the past three decades, social media, the ubiquitous smartphone, and high resolution, affordable surveillance cameras, however, have blurred the line between public and private spaces.

Suspicion and resistance by the general public to being photographed by an unknown individual without permission have increased. At the same time, particularly in urban environments, the public is constantly surveilled by governmental and corporate entities, from body cams on a police officer’s lapels to satellite cameras powerful enough

“Flora,” William Trost Richards

format and content, approximating the confinement of a subway car.

The exhibition’s second section includes images by a diverse group of photographers who took pictures on New York City streets from the 1920s into the 21st century, including Walker Evans, Berenice Abbott, Aaron Siskind, Jerome Liebling, and Walter Rosenblum.

Organized by the McMullen Museum, the exhibition has been curated by Baden with major support from the Patrons of the McMullen Museum.

“Mary Armstrong: Conditions of Faith” • This exhibition presents 22 seascapes and landscapes painted over the last seven years by Mary Armstrong, in which nature and memory inspire her layered, complex compositions. Oil and wax depict forces of nature, both imagined and real, in the seascapes. For Armstrong—who began

“The Fulbright Triptych,” Simon Dinnerstein

to read license plates. It is these paradoxical issues that the panel and exhibition seek to highlight and debate.

The first section of this exhibition features Alen MacWeeney’s rarely seen subway photographs, which he snapped in the late 1970s with a small, hand-held camera and printed recently, through the archival inkjet process, as large-scale panoramas.

However, these outsized images are not true panoramas; rather, each print is the sum of joining two photos of conventional 35 mm proportion and printing them as a single panorama. The result is a surreal blend of

teaching painting at BC in 1989—roiling currents, sunlit estuaries, and particularly rising waves are “a perfect visual metaphor for change, both desired and feared, destructive and regenerative, personal and political.”

“Conditions of Faith” is accompanied by an e-book with contributions from the artist and Suzette McAvoy, executive director and chief curator at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art. For information on these exhibitions, and associated public events, see www. bc.edu/artmuseum.