Boston College Chronicle Dec. 16, 2010

The Boston College

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Chronicle Published by the Boston College Office of News & Public Affairs

INSIDE:

prison 3 STM’s ministry program

Chobit leaves 4 Ruth BC after 48 years

soccer 6 Women’s seeks more success

december 16, 2010 VOL. 19 no. 8

SWEETENING UP THE HOLIDAYS

Photos by Caitlin Cunningham

Program to Offer Global Studies in Service, Justice

By Melissa Beecher Staff Writer

Dining Services Associate Director Michael Kann (top) and bakers Scott Young (right) and Maria Touloupakis (bottom) are hard at work making holiday treats for dining halls or special campus events.

Gingerbread Houses, Yule Logs or Christmas Cookies, BC’s Bakers Go Full Tilt This Time of Year Gingerbread houses, Yule Logs, holiday cookies and fruit

breads are all on the mouth-watering menu this month, thanks to the efforts of BC Dining Services and the talents of those in its bakery division.

Production at the bake shop — located behind the Eagle’s Nest in McElroy Commons — ensures that holiday treats are aplenty on campus during this celebratory season. Some are available in dining halls, others are made specially for catered events.

While a “normal” day means the production of some 220 dozen cookies — or 2,640 individual treats — at this time of year the volume is increased by about a third, according to BCDS Food and Beverage Associate Director Michael Kann.

That means a spike of some 70-80 dozen cookies per day, in addition to seasonal production of special fruit breads and other holiday baked goods. Crowd favorites reportedly include Linzer cookies, snowballs and decorated sugar cookies.

Gingerbread houses also are popular holiday classics. This year, Kann notes, 230 were assembled and available —complete with frosting and candy for custom decoration — for purchase by students. Another 120 of the confections were sold as kits.

Festive Bouche de Noel cakes — or Yule Logs — and specialty cookies also are made for catered functions.

“All of the holiday production makes for a cheery bake shop,” Kann says.

The BC Dining Services website is http://www.bc.edu/offices/dining —Rosanne Pellegrini

A new program established by the McGillycuddy-Logue Center for Undergraduate Global Studies will provide a formal way for students to engage in concepts of community service and social justice throughout their years at Boston College.

The Global Service and Justice Program blends local and international service experiences with research and coursework, a combination that fosters students’ intellectual growth and a greater awareness of the world, said Director of International Programs Bernd Widdig.

“Boston College is at the forefront of a movement that addresses the larger question of what it means to have an international education,” said Widdig. “The program’s focus on service learning, which is part of the larger Jesuit mission, is one important reason why so many students came to BC in the first place.”

Organized by the McGillycuddy-Logue Center, the Global Service and Justice Program (GSJP) will “imbed and integrate an international experience in the field of

service learning into a curriculum of preparation, experience and reflection,” Widdig said.

This year, 20 freshmen were selected for the pilot class from an applicant pool of more than 75, a number that far exceeded organizers’ expectations.

Beginning next semester, the freshmen will participate in a onecredit class on global service and social justice. In order to receive a GSJP certificate, students will be required to complete a second one-credit course their sophomore year while participating in a local community service placement, as well as a month-long international service experience their junior year and a capstone project during their senior year.

Students are also required to take two years of a language and participate in four courses relevant to international service and explore a common theme, such as environmental justice, peace studies, or global health.

Widdig said the center would utilize relationships within the Greater Boston community to place students at parishes and nonprofits.

“Our goal is to make students Continued on page 5

Q&A: MARY CRONIN

Products That Play It Smart Carroll School of Management Professor of Information Systems Mary Cronin has just published a new book, Smart Products, Smarter Services, which looks at business strategies behind the technology embedded in smart phones, intelligent autos, and medical and energy devices. Cronin, who teaches courses on e-commerce to undergraduates and IT management for MBA students, is on the editorial board of the journal Electronic Markets.

What convinced you to write a book about smart products?

It’s part of the trajectory of the work I’ve been doing. I started writing about the Internet in the 1990s, starting with books for business readers on Internet strategies.

In the past decade, I focused on mobile applications and wireless enterprise strategies. I teach in both areas. I was looking for a new technology area that seemed likely to disrupt industry leaders and create new business opportunities. I got very interested in the emergence of ubiquitous wireless connectivity in combination with embedded intelligence in many of the products we

see these days.

What is a “smart” product?

This book defines smart products as network-connected consumer items with embedded microprocessors and software designed to manage various aspects of the product’s functionality. The smart parts of the smart products are microprocessors and micro controllers. The most widely known is the iPhone and others branded as smart phones. But there are ereaders, medical devices, wireless personal health and home health monitoring devices. Everything from cardio vascular monitors to glucose monitors to smart band aids to smart pills, which contain tiny chips able to communicate health information to a patch you wear on your body.

There are all sorts of areas and industries that are being impacted by this combination of embedded intelligence and wireless connectivity. I saw this happening, I wanted to understand the technology, and I thought it was going to have a big impact on business strategy in Continued on page 4

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Chronicle december 16, 2010

A ROUND C AMPUS

BC BUDDIES Photos by Sean Smith

Present company Seniors Joe Tursi and Kevin Schuster have found a way to pay it forward during the holidays.

Last year, the two won second place in the “Lights Off the Heights” house decoration competition, sponsored by Office of the Dean for Student Development and the Off-Campus Council. With their $200 Target gift card prize, the housemates went to the Target in Watertown and bought dozens of toys they then dropped off at the US Marine Corps Toys for Tots location on Beacon Street.

“In the spirit of the season we went to Target and it was literally kids let loose in a toy shop,” said Tursi. “We had just done the holiday decoration competition for fun and thought there were kids in real need who could use the prize more than any of us.”

This year, Tursi and Schuster found themselves with another $200 in Target gift cards after volunteering to take freshmen to Target during the first semester.

“We thought it would be a good start to buy some gifts for Toys for Tots this year,” said Tursi. “It was so rewarding last year, and really in the spirit of the Jesuit philosophy of ‘men and women for others.’ It’s something we try to do all year long, but is especially appropriate during

the holidays.”

The “good start” has snowballed with students donating money and gift cards to get more toys for the cause. A Facebook page has been created [http://on.fb.me/fDfzhP] and word is quickly spreading throughout campus that the duo will be heading to Target next week for their holiday shopping spree.

“Friends of friends and roommates are now getting involved. It’s really been surprising to see how many people are interested in making a donation,” said Tursi.

Schuster said the reality of the tough economy isn’t lost on college students.

“The toy drive is first and foremost about the kids, but it is also about the parents,” said Schuster.

“Every parent wants to be able to provide that Christmas morning moment — to see the joy and excitement on their kid’s face when he or she opens that gift. Unfortunately, not every parent is in the financial situation to do so, so if this drive can provide even one of those moments then it is more than worth it.”

Donations will be accepted until Monday, Dec. 20. To donate or to get more information, e-mail joseph.tursi@bc.edu or kevin.schuster@bc.edu.

—MB

Nearly 50 area foster children from ages 3 to 12 came to Boston College’s Newton Campus on Dec. 4 for the annual “Christmas Buddies” party, sponsored by the University’s Office of Residential Life in conjunction with the Department of Children and Families. BC students and their young “buddies” played games, worked on holiday arts and crafts projects and serenaded residents of Cushing and Hardey halls with Christmas carols. The event concluded with a visit from Santa Claus and his elves.

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Feeling at “Home” For many college students, Sophomore Liz Moy placed the question may not be so landscapes, dinner scenes and much where they call home text inside the silhouettes of but what they call home. That colonial style houses — the was the general idea behind paintings, noted Sheehan, “Home,” a collaborative ex“touched on a feeling of longhibition created by a group of ing for nature coming out of a undergraduates and recently suburban background, as well displayed in O’Connell House as a somewhat satirical critique on Upper Campus. of cliché notions of family and The students, whose mahome.” jors included English, studio According to Sheehan, the art, chemistry, communicawidely-accepted view that coltion and art history, met once lege students tend to regard a week for two months during their childhood home largely the fall to discuss their interas a place they’ve outgrown is pretations of “home” and how overly simplistic. to present them visually.

“Our perception of home “This theme was popular is forever changing as we pass because home is something through our collegiate years. that is never stable during our Certainly at one point home collegiate life,” said exhibition did stand for restrictions and co-organizer Stafford Sheehan limits, yet this more youthful ’11. “You reach a point when approach to home changes as the constant moving becomes one travels through college. disorienting, and the home Seniors Stafford Sheehan (top) and Devon ZimHome no longer becomes you return to longer feels as merman with their piece “Memory,” created for four walls and a roof that anchoring as it used to be. this fall’s “Home” exhibition. traps you; rather, it becomes The show became a reflection of something more fluid. Memories of what home was, is, and will be — one’s life. Rich Hoyt ’12 recorded a holidays, music, conversations, and which doesn’t often happen while 10-minute piece of poetry, layered daydreams hold our nostalgia and in college.” over ambient music, that traced the the focus of our artwork, and not Sheehan and fellow senior Devon evolution of the concept of home the walls that framed these events.”

Zimmerman produced an abstract throughout one’s life, incorporat—SS representation of the memories of ing biblical verses to draw attenhome and their lasting impact on tion to the idolized status of home.

Chronicle ON Be sure to check out the Boston College Chronicle YouTube channel [www.youtube.com/bcchronicle] for video features on Boston College people, programs and events. New and upcoming videos include: •Music at St. Mary’s: Members of the University Chorale at Boston College annually perform at St. Mary’s Chapel. Under conductor John Finney, the group features holiday favorites, including “Carol of the Bells.”

•Caroling by the BC Madrigal Singers: The Madrigal Singers of Boston College [http://www.bc.edu/clubs/madrigal] provided a little caroling for the BC community in The Quad earlier this month.

•Fair Trade Holiday Sale: The Boston College Neighborhood Center and the Volunteer & Service Learning Center at Boston College sponsor the Fair Trade Holiday Sale, an effort among concerned administrators and faculty at BC to spread awareness of and access to fairly traded goods and crafts on our campus.

The Boston College

Chronicle Director of NEWS & Public Affairs

Jack Dunn Deputy Director of NEWS & Public AFFAIRS

Patricia Delaney Editor

Sean Smith Contributing Staff

Melissa Beecher Ed Hayward Reid Oslin Rosanne Pellegrini Kathleen Sullivan Eileen Woodward Photographers

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Chronicle december 16, 2010

Reaching Out to a Hidden Population

School of Theology and Ministry students see prison ministry as chance to be ‘loving presence’

By Kathleen Sullivan Staff Writer

The Christmas songs may have been traditional but the location was not, as School of Theology and Ministry students joined nearly 100 other carolers Dec. 3 to provide holiday music at the Northeastern Correctional Center, a minimum security/pre-release prison in Concord.

“It was a beautiful event,” said STM student Alyssa Adreani, about her first time attending the annual caroling event sponsored by Concord Prison Outreach. “There was a local string group and a choir from a Concord church that performed. About a half a dozen inmates sang and played instruments. There were songs in English and Spanish.

“After the event, inmates from the culinary program provided food and refreshments,” she added.

Adreani and her classmates’ presence at the prison caroling event exemplifies the growth of STM’s Prison Ministry Initiative

(PMI), formed earlier this year by students, alumni, faculty and staff of STM and the Theology Department to offer pastoral care to the incarcerated. According to the PMI, there are more than two million men and women imprisoned in the United States, more than in any other country.

“Much of what drew me to prison ministry was the desire to reach out and simply be a loving, human presence to a population that has largely been told it is not worthy of anything, to be that presence that may enable an inmate to see him or herself as having worth and dignity and being worthy of God’s love,” said Adreani.

In October, PMI, along with STM, The Church in the 21st Century Center and Jesuit Prison Ministries Inc., sponsored a oneday conference called “‘You Visited Me’: The Urgent Challenge of Prison Ministry” that drew some 200 students, prison chaplains and criminal justice professionals.

Vice President for University Mission and Ministry Jack Butler, SJ,

As part of the School of Theology and Ministry Prison Ministry Initiative, students — including (L-R) Meg Felice, Courtney Callanan and Megan Chenaille, shown with STM Associate Dean Jacqueline Regan (at left) at a campus event — took part in caroling with inmates earlier this month. (Photo by Justin Knight)

and Theology Associate Professor John McDargh were among the speakers.

In addition, STM offered a course this semester on Foundations in Prison Ministry, taught

by George Williams, SJ, who was the chaplain at MCI-Concord.

Students in the course were required to complete two hours of prison ministry per week.

“It was a great course, one which further increased our awareness about the need for this ministry,”

Photos by Sean Smith

BLESSING FROM THE CARDINAL

Cardinal Sean O’Malley, OFM Cap., archbishop of Boston, was principal celebrant for the recent blessing of the chapel at the new Blessed Peter Faber Jesuit Community. University President William P. Leahy, SJ, also was present at this signature event for the community, which opened this fall. Created through a partnership between Boston College and the USA Assistancy of the Society of Jesus, the community houses an international group of 75 Jesuits whose main apostolate is theological reflection, scholarship and research.

said STM student Elke D’Haeyer, who goes to MCI-Framingham once a week to facilitate a prayer group and prepare women for the sacrament of Confirmation.

Adreani also ministers at MCIFramingham, where she works with the inmates on public speaking skills. She added that STM students are involved in prison ministry at various other Massachusetts correctional facilities, such as Shirley, Gardner, Bridgewater and Suffolk County.

The PMI is a great source of connectedness, added D’Haeyer, who noted that “people who are involved in prison ministry work in isolation.”

Said Adreani, “When I reflect on prison ministry — especially the collective efforts of those in the STM community— this is the passage from Scripture that most often comes to mind: ‘As you did it to the least of these my brothers and sisters, you did it to me.’”

Contact Kathleen Sullivan at kathleen.sullivan@bc.edu

GSSW-Based Center Now in Partnership With VA A national center based at the Graduate School of Social Work is providing support to programs that give veterans with disabilities more options for independent living.

The National Resource Center for Participant-Directed Services (NRCPDS), directed by GSSW Professor Kevin Mahoney, has contracted with the Veteran Health Administration (VHA) to work with Veterans Administration medical centers in 28 states that have implemented or will be implementing participant-directed services for veterans. The contract spans four years for $1.5 million.

The agreement comes in the wake of a partnership formed in 2008 between the VHA and the US Administration on Aging’s Community Living Program to create the Veteran Directed Home and Community-Based Services (VD-HCBS) program. Through the program, veterans have more control over services provided in their homes to allow them to continue to live independently in their communities. They can manage their own flexible spending budgets, decide for themselves what mix of goods and services can best meet their needs, hire and supervise their own workers — including family and friends — and purchase items or services that help them live more independently.

This “participant-directed” model is the focus of NRCPDS’ work. The center provides research, policy, training and assistance for

participant-directed programs, and runs a National Participant Network that works with these programs to ensure they are designed and implemented with the needs and preferences of the individual at their core.

NRCPDS will offer a wide variety of training and technical assistance to staff at VA medical centers that now, or plan to, offer VDHCBS programs. Massachusetts is among 14 states where the VA is operating VD-HCBS programs, and the list also includes Connecticut, New York, Texas, Florida, Michigan and Washington. VHA plans to extend this program to all states in the coming years.

“We are proud to be a part of helping America’s Veterans maintain their independence and preserve their quality of life,” said Mahoney.

The NRCPDS is home to the widely acclaimed Cash & Counseling program, which works to improve support services for people with disabilities and the elderly and to develop inclusive communities for both populations. Studies cited by C&C indicate that C&C programs do not cost substantially more than traditional personal care services via a state-contracted home care agency, and they improve delivery of personal care services to participants, the majority of whom report significant improvement in their lives, a trend also found among primary caregivers.

—Office of News & Public Affairs

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Chronicle december 16, 2010

‘The Best Thing Was Meeting People’ After almost 50 years at BC, Ruth Chobit is set to walk on the beach

By Reid Oslin Staff Writer

Prof. Mary Cronin (CSOM): “Consumers need to become smarter and be more proactive in finding out what the devices we use in our everyday lives are tracking and evaluate for ourselves whether we want that or not.” (Photo by Lee Pellegrini)

Cronin on ‘Smart Products’ Continued from page 1 the future.

You write about products having minds of their own. What is the significance of that?

There is a trade-off in adding intelligence to products to make them able to be more predictive or more responsive or more able to anticipate and deal with certain situations. Sometimes the manufacturer or system provider chooses to bake those functions into the product.

Embedded intelligence can be used – for example in entertainment and media devices – to control product behavior. Often that is not necessarily in the interests of the owner of the product – such as to restrict copying or restrict use.

On the other hand, we’ve come a long way in auto safety because of embedded sensors and systems that warn the driver of collision danger or changes in car performance.

Another feature of embedded intelligence and network connectivity is the vendor can reach out to the product, as long as it is connected to the network, long after it has been bought and paid for and make changes to the product’s functionality. In some instances, that’s great.

The consumer doesn’t have to update it to get the latest features.

In other instances, and there have been famous ones with the iPhone and the Kindle, it’s not so great because you didn’t want those changes to be made, but the vendor made them anyway. I look at the pros and cons of this as to how companies are using the capabilities of smart products to differentiate their service or to control consumer options. It’s a spectrum.

Explain the second half of the title, “smarter services.”

Delivering smarter services requires enabling and maintaining a smart product ecosystem that supports and enhances the product over time. A well-known example is Apple. The iPhone breakthrough wasn’t just the design of the phone.

The breakthrough was Apple’s ecosystem where developers and content providers were eager to make more and more value-added content and services available for iPhones and other Apple devices. They were able to add value to the phone through its applications, through managing

the App Store and its content. That is one example of smarter services.

Do smart products and smarter services make us smarter people?

What we own is smarter than we often think. Sometimes smart products are designed to be helpful to us and sometimes they are designed to monitor and control what we’re doing even when we don’t necessarily want that. I think consumers need to become smarter and be more proactive in finding out what the devices we use in our everyday lives are tracking and evaluate for ourselves whether we want that or not.

Do you ever get the sense there could be a rebellion against these consumer items?

I certainly do and in the book I talk about the pros and cons of control. I look at what controls are permissionbased or consumer-endorsed and what controls are in a sense adversarial to consumers and prevent them from doing what they would otherwise want to do.

A very simplistic embedded intelligence is the barrier in ink cartridges to the interoperability with different kinds of printers. There’s a small code in the cartridges that prevents a Dell printer from using a generic cartridge.

That barrier to generic ink cartridges is very important to the profit margin of printer manufacturers. It’s something that is primarily useful to the manufacturer. That’s a classic example of a strategy to control the market and make more profit through embedded intelligence.

There have been backlashes against these technologies, but not to the extent some consumer advocates expected. As I branched out from consumer entertainment and mobile products to smart products in health care and automotive safety and to energy monitoring, the benefits of smart products became clearer and more exciting.

In a sense, we’re transcending that moment where embedded intelligence was used mainly for consumer control.

Today’s companies are looking at using smart products and services to create entirely new markets and types of services. That’s what’s so exciting. There is the potential for transforming business models and entire industry sectors when companies really take advantage of smart product capabilities.

—Ed Hayward

Any Boston College employee of the past five decades who has had a payroll glitch corrected, gotten a flu shot at the University’s annual Health Fair, or taken part in one of BC’s community outreach programs for Boston schoolchildren is likely to know – and appreciate — Ruth Chobit.

The effervescent and efficient Chobit, assistant director for special projects in the Human Resources Service Center and formerly the University’s payroll manager, is retiring this month after 48 years at Boston College.

Her nearly five decades at the Heights are filled with friendships and achievements, including the University’s 2000 Community Service Award for her many contributions to, and beyond, BC. “It’s been a great 48 years,” Chobit says as she shows off her More Hall office, decorated with scores of BC-themed photographs and memorabilia that make it more like a living museum of the University’s history than a typical administrative workspace. “Over the years, I have gotten to do a lot of different things, which I have really enjoyed. But the best thing always was meeting people. I love people.”

“When I think about Ruth, I think about all the things that she has done to be such a positive and helpful member of the Boston College community,” says Vice President for Human Resources Leo Sullivan. “She has befriended so many people, visited so many folks who were sick, especially those who were in really difficult positions health-wise. There are so many times when Ruth has reached out and lent a sympathetic and helping hand.”

Chobit, who has twice survived breast cancer, says she had been “contemplating retirement for a year or two,” noting that she underwent four surgeries to treat the cancer during the summer of 2008. “But what really put me over the edge was losing my close friend Ellen Hominsky, who worked in the Residential Life Office for 35 years, who died of leukemia this past September. I told myself ‘Life is too short.’”

Ms. Hominsky was not just a friend and colleague to Chobit.

The two headed up the University’s Wellness Program for 15 years, bringing speakers and health resource professionals to events on campus to meet with cancer survivors and employee friends and family members of survivors.

“Ruth was a guiding force behind those luncheons,” says Sullivan. “This is something very important to people in our community who have had illnesses.”

Chobit came to Boston College in June of 1963, two days after graduating from Brockton

Ruth Chobit always has a treat, and some good advice, for visitors to her office in More Hall. (Photo by Lee Pellegrini)

High School. She hasn’t worked anywhere else since.

“I had a chance to go to work at the old Potvin Shoe Co. in Brockton for $40 for a 40-hour week,” Chobit recalls. “But my guidance counselor at Brockton High knew someone at BC and suggested that I apply here. I interviewed and they offered me a job in the treasurer’s office that paid $58 for a 33-and-three-quarter hour week.

“Gas was 32 cents a gallon.

There couldn’t have been anything nicer,” she laughs.

She was assigned to work for former University Treasurer Thomas Fleming, SJ, a Jesuit priest who would marry Ruth and her husband Edward — who also worked at BC — four years later. “The entire treasurer’s office was in Gasson 100,” Chobit says. “The payroll ‘office’ was a desk right under the stained glass window, and I think there were four people who handled all of the student accounts. People would have to come in and stand in line to pick up their paycheck every week.”

Chobit’s lasting memories from the Boston College of that era include praying in a packed St. Mary’s Chapel for President John F. Kennedy after hearing of his assassination, and the student strikes of the 1970s when undergrads demonstrated to remove Army ROTC offices from the campus (“They weren’t letting anyone in the Main Gate when the protests were going on, but I got in because I was doing the paychecks!”).

BC’s financial operations were relocated to More Hall in the mid-1970s and Chobit took on more responsibility as the Univer-

sity community and BC’s administrative operations went through a growth spurt. She was promoted to payroll manager, then assistant controller, and when the payroll office was merged with Human Resources a decade ago, Chobit was named to her present post.

In recent years, Chobit has streamlined the University’s annual Health Fair, developing a scheduled and orderly flu shot distribution system for employees, and bringing in health care and wellness professionals for the yearly fall event. She was instrumental in setting up a system to simplify employees’ purchase and payment of home, auto and life insurance, and encouraged businesses such as BJ’s Wholesale Club to offer extra discounts and membership benefits to BC employees.

Chobit has also taken part in a number of community service activities, including the popular “Read Aloud” program for children in neighborhood public schools and an initiative co-sponsored by the City of Boston and the Private Industry Council that places Boston high school students in paid summer work positions on campus.

For the past four years, she has participated in the STEP program, which brings inner-city high school students on campus for a closer look at academic and college life.

“Anytime anybody needs anything, I am usually there to help out,” says Chobit, who plans to enjoy her retirement along with Edward at their home on Cape Cod. “There have been a lot of things over the years. But now, I can’t wait to get back walking along the beach.”

Contact Reid Oslin at reid.oslin@bc.edu

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Chronicle december 16, 2010

The world knows all about Haiti’s problems — but little else, says BC’s Jean-Charles

By Sean Smith Chronicle Editor

Journalism is supposedly the first draft of history, but when it comes to the Haiti earthquake of 2010, Assistant Professor of Romance Languages and Literature Regine JeanCharles only hopes the subsequent drafts are better than what she’s seen thus far.

The American-born daughter of Haitian immigrants who returned to their native country, Jean-Charles says media coverage in the aftermath of the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake — which killed an estimated 230,000 people and left at least a million others homeless — has, however well-intentioned, helped reinforce longstanding negative stereotypes about Haiti.

Phrases like “the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere,” bundled with video images of destitute, helpless Haitians amidst rubble and shelters — or, more recently, coping with a cholera epidemic — form an all-too-familiar narrative that simplifies Haiti as little else but a socioeconomic wasteland, she says.

“To say Haiti is the poorest country in this hemisphere is, obviously, not untrue,” says Jean-Charles. “But when it is repeated over and over, in words and images, it becomes the whole picture to the exclusion

of all else.”

Examples of Haitian-produced What’s often left out of this ac- perspectives on the disaster include count are the voices of Haitians who the book Haiti Parmi Les Vivants can provide thoughtful context and [Haiti Among the Living], which balance to a seemingly unrelent- contains essays, poetry and eyewiting procession of despair, says Jean- ness accounts, and “Haiti’s Hero,” a Charles, whose recent research, writ- documentary about a doctor’s efforts ing and teaching reflects her inter- to provide post-earthquake mediest in post-earthquake perspectives. cal care produced by Haitian film She contributed to a book of essays students. There also is a blog by Cawhich train historical and cultural rine Exantus [http://bit.ly/cuEuzK], lenses on the earthquake’s impact, a college student who now lives in a helps maintain a blog on Haitian refugee camp with her family. life and culture The media [www.tandenou2. focus on internawant to talk about gratitude. blogspot.com], II want tional assistance to talk about compassion. and has dealt with I want to talk about respect. to Haiti, especialearthquake-related How even the desperate deserve it. ly on-the-ground issues in her classes relief efforts from How Haitians sometimes greet on Haiti this fall. the US and elseother The coverage each where, fuels the with the two words, “Honor” of post-earthquake & “Respect.” perception of Haiti has been How we all should follow suit.

Haiti as an irreaptly summarized trievably broken

by Haitian-Ameri- Try every time you hear the word society, she adds: can author Ed- “Victim,” “If you read or think “Honor.” widge Danticat, you watch most outTry every time you hear the tag according to Jean- “John Doe,” lets, you’d think Charles. “She said you shout “Respect!”

Haitians are not that Haitians are doing anything.” described as either Because my people have names.

In fact, Jeanmy people have nerve. ‘impoverished’ or Because Charles only has Because my people are ‘resilient,’ when in your people in disguise. to look within her fact the best and family to know truest descrip- Excerpt from “Quaking Conver- otherwise. Her tion is somewhere sation” by Lenelle Moïse [www. father, a physiin between. And lenellemoise.com] cian, and her there are Haitians mother, a mediwriting, produccal professional, ing radio shows, have both been and taking phoactive in providtographs that offer more nuanced, ing health care to victims of the complicated and human images of disaster. And there are other, broadHaiti.” based responses to Haiti’s plight, she

Despite Setback, CSON Hopeful on Haiti Trip

By Kathleen Sullivan Staff Writer

The Connell School of Nursing’s medical mission to Haiti, scheduled for January, had to be postponed this week due to that country’s growing political unrest and a travel warning issued by the US State Department recommending against all non-essential travel to the Caribbean nation.

While the CSON faculty, students and alumnae who had been preparing for the trip all semester are “heartbroken” by the turn of events, they are committed to bringing their nursing skills and medical aid to Haiti sometime during the spring semester, according to trip leader CSON Clinical Assistant Professor Donna Cullinan.

When the CSON team does eventually arrive in Haiti, the plan is to set up a clinic in Leogane, about 20 miles outside of Port-auPrince, where they will see about 300 to 400 patients a day. According to Cullinan, common ailments the team will encounter are cholera, hypertension, acid reflux, scabies, diabetes, fungal infections, wounds and infestations.

For an aid trip to be successful, “you have to know and respect

Clinical Asst. Prof. Donna Cullinan (CSON) at a recent planning meeting for the school’s medical missionary trip to Haiti: “You have to know and respect the culture. You have to know how they do things and make sure you do things their way, not your way.” (Photo by Lee Pellegrini)

the culture. You have to know how they do things and make sure you do things their way, not your way,” said Cullinan, who went to Haiti last February to aid victims of the catastrophic earthquake.

Cullinan, a certified family nurse practitioner, has a longstanding commitment to Haiti. For 10 years, under the aegis of the nonprofit organization Circle of Hope, Cullinan has volunteered her time and nursing skills as part of a team providing medical care in Haiti.

Other members of the CSONHaiti group are: Carroll Professor of Nursing Judith Vessey, alumnae Elizabeth Donahue ’05, MS ’10, and Kathryn Quinn MS ’10, graduate students Elizabeth Hodgman, Laura Kondrat, Caitlin Reisman and Kate Sortun, and seniors Myr-

iam Charles-Pierre, Emily Doyle, Katie D’Souza, Kellyn Freed, Bridget Igo, Erin Kane, Djerica Lamousnery, Lauren Szabo and Molly Rosenwasser.

Each one will bring three 50pound suitcases filled with supplies such as pain relievers, vitamins, IV tubing and solution, toothbrushes, underwear, reading glasses, and antibiotics and other medicines.

Besides providing much-needed medical care, the trip also will give an economic boost to the village because the team will pay locals to act as translators, cooks and transporters. The CSON team also will visit the students and faculty at the FSIL School of Nursing.

The CSON students have been fundraising to support the venture, including organizing a successful

Lee Pellegrini

Listening to Haiti’s ‘Other Voices’

Asst. Prof. Regine Jean-Charles (Romance Languages) contributed a chapter to a book that provides broader, and deeper, insights into Haiti.

notes, through indigenous organizations like Fonkoze, which has been fighting Haitian poverty for years and was instrumental in reviving the nation’s currency system after the quake. Other promising ventures, such as a collaboration to bring mobile financial services to Haitians without bank accounts, tend to be less reported, she says.

Jean-Charles cites the book to which she contributed, Haiti Rising: Haitian History, Culture and the Earthquake of 2010, as a further example of “other voices” telling Haiti’s story. While not all the writers featured in the volume are of Haitian descent, all have considerable experience and insight on Haiti. They include former Haitian ambassador to the US Jean Casimir, Journal of Haitian Studies Associate Editor Legrace Benson, photographer and filmmaker Leah Gordon,

Universite d’Etat d’Haiti literature professor Nadeve Menard and novelist Yanick Lehens.

Jean-Charles’ essay, “Shaken Ground, Strong Foundations: Honoring the Legacy of Haitian Feminism after the Earthquake,” looks at the historical contributions of women to Haitian society, and urges that the reconstruction address economic, social and educational inequities that afflicted women before the January disaster.

“The best way to honor the legacy of our fallen Haitian feminist trailblazers will be to rebuild in a way that includes gender equity,” she writes, “to reconstruct institutions that assist the development of women and girls, and to provide more educational opportunities for women and girls to become agents of transformation.”

Contact Sean Smith at sean.smith@ bc.edu

5K race on campus in November with the help of Student Programs Assistant Director Karl Bell.

“The support from the community, alumni, and our peers has been absolutely amazing,” said Doyle. “At the 5K race, we had around 250 participants. We also collected donations at two tailgates during football season.

“BC has always felt like a big family and it certainly felt that way those two Saturday mornings, generous donations and genuine well wishes from everyone. It makes you feel good, like you have a built in support system that stretches world-wide.”

“I’m so thankful for the support we have received. [CSON] Dean Susan Gennaro has given us so much encouragement and support,” said Cullinan, who also expressed gratitude for the financial and logistical assistance provided by the CSON Dean’s Office and the Volunteer and Service Learning Center.

Despite the problems in Haiti, Doyle said that Cullinan has helped them focus on the hope and goodness of the Haiti people. “[She] always tells us about the kindness of the people we will meet, how generous they are and the way they will invite us into their lives. It is nice to hear so much about the passion and pride of the Haitians and their wide open hearts.”

Contact Kathleen Sullivan at kathleen.sullivan@bc.edu

Global Service Justice Program to Debut Continued from page 1 aware of the reality of others, not only in other countries and cultures, but right here in Boston,” said Widdig. “This program also provides an opportunity for reflection, along with an academic component, which will hopefully provide a more informed vision of their role in the world, locally and globally.”

Christopher Knoth ’14 said he felt like the program was tailormade for him. In high school, Knoth often volunteered helping homeless populations in Cleveland, but also participated to a service trip to the Dominican Republic.

“From the first time I saw the flyer in a hallway advertising the program, I thought it was an amazing opportunity. The more I learned, the more I thought this is exactly the type of program I wanted to be involved in during my years at BC,” said Knoth. “When I found out I was accepted, I was just so excited. I love learning different languages and different cultures, but also am deeply committed to service and social justice. It is such a great idea to have a program like this on campus.”

Contact Melissa Beecher at melissa.beecher@bc.edu

T he B oston C ollege

Chronicle december 16, 2010

‘We do belong’

Coach Is Building BC Women’s Soccer for More Success

By Reid Oslin Staff Writer

Although the Boston College women’s soccer team’s first visit to the NCAA tournament championship rounds earlier this month ended with a 2-0 loss to topranked Stanford, there could be future “Final Four” opportunities in store for the Eagles.

“We hope to be back in the College Cup finals again next year,” says head coach Alison Foley, who has piloted her teams to 10 NCAA tournament appearances in 14 seasons at Boston College. “When you get to the Final Four, you sometimes wonder, ‘Do we really belong?’ Now, we walk away and know that’s the place we should be. We do belong.”

Foley says she has a nucleus of talented players and a highlyrated incoming freshman class to back up her prediction of future success.

On-field accomplishments were not always apparent when Foley took over as the Eagles’ head coach in the fall of 1996. “In my first game, we lost to Connecticut 5-0. UConn was a powerhouse and I think it was 4-0 after 20 minutes,” she recalls. “I was thinking, ‘Oh my God, we are so far

Women’s Soccer Coach Alison Foley says the program’s focus has been to “replicate Boston College’s reputation as a fantastic academic institution. We try to dig our heels in deep and do the very best that we can in recruiting and getting those top kids in the Northeast to come here.” (Photo by Lee Pellegrini)

away.’

“Over time, our focus has been that our soccer program should replicate Boston College’s reputation as a fantastic academic institution,” Foley says. “We try to dig our heels in deep and do the very best that we can in recruiting and getting those top kids in the Northeast to come here.”

A look at this year’s roster shows

The Bookshelf

that 18 of the team’s 24 players are from New England, New York and New Jersey. “Northeast kids have gotten better club training,” Foley explains. “They have always been the hard workers, but as soon as the youth programs and clubs made commitments to better coaching and training, the level of soccer has really started to increase. At one time, to get the best players, you had to go to California or the Southeast, places where they played year-round and had really good coaching. But

now, Region I – the Northeast – has really picked it up.

“In my mind,” Foley says, “BC was built on blue-collar work and intensity. Now, can we get the kids who are more cultured, soccer-wise, who have a little more finesse, a little more technique?”

Foley says she prefers to keep her recruiting more local than many schools that look for players from all over the world. “You can build a great program by going overseas and getting a couple of 20-year-olds and have them come for a year or two,” she says. “But what we try to do as a staff is to get really good people right out of high school. We want to build a program with a sense of belonging – people who will be proud to be here for four years. They understand our philosophy. They know they are here to play soccer and someday, maybe to win a national championship for Boston College. That’s everybody’s goal,” she says.

“But, you also need to do well in school, you need to take care of each other, you need to be a really good citizen here, you need to understand that you represent something bigger than yourself and that you really wear the BC uniform 24 hours a day.

“When you have that type of culture,” she says, “then you have a program.”

Foley’s coaching philosophy is

not lost on her student-athletes.

Team co-captain Hannah Cerrone, a senior from Wappingers Falls, NY, says that good team chemistry is a major reason for the team’s success. “We can honestly say that everyone on our team is friends with one another,” says Cerrone, a communication major.

“We enjoy practice, we enjoy being with each other off the field, and we enjoy playing with each other on the field.

“Our coach has everything to do with this,” Cerrone adds. “She doesn’t just look for good players, she looks for a certain type of person.

It is so much easier to do well when you are having fun out there.”

In spite of the semifinal round loss to Stanford, Cerrone says that the Final Four atmosphere of the NCAA tournament will remain her favorite soccer experience. “In our heads, we appreciated being there,” she says. “But we wanted the whole thing. Unfortunately, Stanford got the better of us.

“When we went to the Final Four, we told ourselves that our only regret would be if we did not play to our potential or if we held something back,” Cerrone says. “I think everyone walked off that field knowing that we gave everything that we had. Unfortunately, we didn’t get it – but maybe next year, or in years to come, we will.”

Contact Reid Olsin at reid.oslin@ bc.edu

Another Good Harvest for Fall Sports Career Center Associate Director Janet Costa Bates [http://www.janetcostabates.com] is the author of a new children’s book, Seaside Dream. The book is about a young girl named Cora seeking a birthday present for her grandmother, who is homesick for her native Cape Verde Islands.

In A Loss of Innocence?: Television and Irish Society, 1960-72 [http://bit.ly/hoYhg6], Adjunct Associate Professor of History Robert Savage explores how television helped facilitate a process of modernization that slowly transformed Irish society during the 1960s. Television introduced into Irish homes an unrelenting popular culture that helped undermine the conservative political, cultural and social consensus that dominated Ireland.

Since the mid-1960s, the war on crime has reshaped public attitudes about state authority, criminal behavior and the responsibilities of citizenship. In Learning to Live with Crime: American Crime Narrative in the Neoconservative Turn [http://bit.ly/icjFsw], Professor of English Christopher P. Wilson examines how this war on crime has made its way into cultural representation and public consciousness, as Americans have been urged to regard crime as a risk of modern living and accept aggressive approaches to policing, private security and punishment. At its most scandalous, his study suggests, contemporary law enforcement has even come to mimic crime’s own operations.

The above entries are excerpted from the “BC Bookmarks” blog, which includes notes on recent books by current Boston College faculty, administrators and staff. For more information, visit the blog at http://bcbookshelf.wordpress.com/.

Mark Herzlich (94) — named as a finalist this week for the College Football Rudy Award — will suit up one last time for the Eagles Jan. 9 in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl. (Photo by John Quackenbos)

In addition to the Boston College women’s soccer team appearance in the “Final Four” championship event and No. 3 national ranking, a number of other BC fall sports teams enjoyed the “thrill of victory” in their recent seasons: •Coach Frank Spaziani’s Eagle football team won five consecutive games to close out the 2010 regular-season campaign and qualify for BC’s 12th consecutive bowl game invitation. Boston College will play No. 13 Nevada in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl on Jan. 9 in San Francisco. The game will be televised nationally by ESPN. •Linebacker Luke Kuechly ’13 was selected to the American Football Coaches Association’s First Team All-America squad, one of few sophomores to be so honored. Kuechly led the nation in tackles with 171.

•Coach Ed Kelly’s men’s soccer team finished with a 10-5-5 record and earned a spot in the NCAA championship tourney.

The team was ranked as high as No. 5 during the season.

•BC field hockey, coached by Ainslee Lamb, posted a 12-7 record and ended the season as the No. 13 team in the nation.

•Coach Randy Thomas’ women’s crosscountry team finished 19th in the NCAA Championships, with Caroline King ’11 earning All-America honors.

•The men’s golf team, under the direction of Coach Trevor Drum, won the fall ECAC Championship Tournament with sophomore Luke Feehan shooting the lowest first round score among 49 competitors.

•BC’s sailing team won the Intercollegiate Sailing Association’s Match Race National Championship in waters off Kings Point, NY, in November. Taylor Canfield ’11, Danny Bloomstine ’11, Ryan Mullins ’13, Briana Provancha ’11 and Tyler Sinks ’11 proved to be the winning crew combination for Coach Greg Wilkinson.

—Reid Oslin

T he B oston C ollege

Chronicle december 16, 2010

WELCOME ADDITIONS Assistant Professor of Political Science David Hopkins is the coauthor of Presidential Elections: Strategies and Structures of American Politics (2011). Hopkins’ research and teaching interests include American political parties and elections, the US Congress, voting behavior, public opinion and research methods, and he has been published in American Politics Research.

Hopkins, who earned his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, is currently working studying the causes and consequences of increased geographic polarization in American elections.

Connell School of Nursing Clinical Instructor Rosemary Byrne holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from the Connell School, and has been connected with CSON since the 1990s through the joint Por Cristo/BC Community Health Immersion Program.

Byrne spent her career in international nursing and administration in Ecuador and Nicaragua. Most recently a family nurse practitioner and clinical director at Atreva Health Care, an inner city family practice for underserved populations in Boston, Byrne pursues research on care for underserved populations, particularly the Hispanic community.

Assistant Professor of History Arissa Oh is a graduate of Yale and earned her PhD from the University of Chicago in 2008. She specializes in 20th-century United States history, immigration and race, Asian American history and Cold War social policy. She is currently working on a project that examines the origins of the practice of Korean and international adoption. Oh has been published in Women’s Studies Quarterly.

Graduate School of Social Work Assistant Professor Jessica Black earned her PhD from Stanford University, where she worked as a postdoctoral scholar at the Center for Interdisciplinary Brain Sciences Research at Stanford’s School of Medicine. Black worked as a project manager for a longitudinal study of kindergartners with high risk for developing reading disabilities. Her research interests include achievement motivation, dyslexia and special education, child and adolescent development and educational neuroscience.

—Melissa Beecher Photos by Lee Pellegrini “Welcome Additions,” an occasional feature, profiles new faculty members at Boston College.

Nominations for Dr. Brown Award Are Due Tomorrow Nominations are being sought for the 2010 Dr. Donald Brown Award, which honors a senior who, throughout his or her undergraduate career, has made extraordinary contributions to the greater AHANA community at BC in the areas of leadership, service, and academic development.

The award is named for Donald Brown, who served as director of the Office of AHANA Student Programs from 1979-2005.

Nomination forms, which are available at http://bit.ly/frZtWg, must be submitted by tomorrow, Dec. 17, to Joyce Wang at wangbf@bc.edu.

Boston College offices will be closed for the Christmas and New Year’s holidays from Dec. 24-31, and re-open Monday, Jan. 3.

Boston College Chronicle will return to publication on Jan. 20.

NEWSMAKERS Economics Associate Professor Robert Murphy discussed the direction of housing values in the Boston market and the potential for the return of inflation in light of new stimulus efforts with the Boston Herald and Reuters.

Director of Undergraduate Admission John L. Mahoney appeared on the WBZ-AM program “Nightside with Dan Rea” to discuss college admission.

Carroll School of Management Finance Professor Edward Kane discussed with the New York Times how details released by the Federal Reserve on the recipients of bailout largesse reveal how little actually was given to troubled homeowners whose houses are threatened with foreclosure.

Director of American Studies Prof.

Carlo Rotella (English) wrote in the Boston Globe on the recently released film “The Fighter” and its portrayal of Lowell.

H onors / A ppointments The Jewish Studies Program at Boston College selected Prof.

John Michalczyk (Fine Arts) for its 2010 Distinguished Scholarship Award and Prof. Nancy Netzer (Fine Arts) for the 20110 Distinguished Service Award.

Assoc. Prof. Donald Fishman (Communication) received the 2010 Phifer Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Parliamentary Procedure from the Commis-

in the United Kingdom” at the SET 2010 Conference in Singapore.

Prof. Dwayne E. Carpenter (Romance Languages) presented “Tales from the Script: Attitudes toward Conversos in Recently Discovered and Translated Polemical Texts from Spain” at the History Department Colloquium at Duke University.

Part-time faculty member Fang Lu (Slavic and Eastern Languages) chaired the panel “Transnational

BC BRIEFING sion on American Parliamentary Practice at the National Communication Association Convention in San Francisco.

Boisi Center on Religion and American Public Life Associate Director Erik Owens wrote in The Huffington Post about a crucial period upcoming for Africa.

Assoc. Prof. Rosanna DeMarco (CSON) was presented with the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care Excellence in HIV Prevention Award in recognition of her significant and outstanding contributions to the prevention of the spread of HIV infection.

PUBLICATIONS

TIME AND A HALF

Director of Undergraduate Admission John L. Mahoney published “Thoughts in Troubled Times” in the Journal of College Admission.

Prof. Zhijie Xiao (Economics) organized and chaired a session of the 2010 Tsinghua Econometrics Conference in Beijing and also presented “The Role of Distributional Information in Financial Markets” and “Semiparametric Panel Model for Climate Change

NOTA BENE The Im-Possibility of Interreligious Dialogue, by Associate Professor and Chairperson of Theology Catherine Cornille has won the Frederick J. Streng Award for Excellence from the Society for BuddhistChristian Studies, given annually to a book that “makes make an important contribution to issues relevant to the context of BuddhistChristian dialogue.”

Associate Professor of English Andrew Sofer received the inaugural American Society for Theatre Research Essay Prize for his article “How To Do Things With Demons: Conjuring Performatives in Doctor Faustus,” which appeared in Theatre Journal. The honor, presented at the society’s awards ceremony in Seattle, recognizes the best refereed essay published by a scholar who is at least seven years beyond earning his or her doctorate. The award committee praised Sofer for “rigorous and insightful interweaving of theatre and literary history, performance and critical theory, and cultural and textual analysis,” and called his essay “a model of elegant scholarly inquiry.”

Two graduate students in the Sociology Department recently won notable awards: Autumn Green was the inaugural recipient of the Patsy Mink Legacy Award, honoring an individual whose work advances social justice, presented by the Patsy Takemoto Mink Education Foundation, established in memory of the first woman of color elected to the US House of Representatives. Green plans to use the award stipend for research expenses for her dissertation, “Surviving and Striving: Supporting Low Income Mothers in Pursuit of Higher Education”; Emily Dubois earned first prize in the Rachel Tanur Memorial Prize for Visual Sociology, a contest designed to encourage students to incorporate visual analysis in their study and understanding of social phenomena.

Associate Vice President for Annual Giving Matthew Eynon was selected for the Carol and Stephen Hebert Award by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education District 1.

Flows of Chinese culture and literature” and presented “Re-presentation of Chinese Women for Western Readers in Lin Yutang’s Translations, Adaptations, and Rewritings” at the Annual Meeting of the New England Association for Asian Studies.

Prof. Margaret Kenney (Mathematics) presented Making Algebra Meaningful and Engaging at the Annual Fall Conference of the Association of Teachers of Mathematics in New England.

Asst. Prof. Charles Gallagher, SJ (History), presented “An Uneasy Patriotism: US Government Surveillance of Roman Catholics Prior to World War II” at the Institute of Historical Research, University of London School of Advanced Study, and “Islam, the Vatican, and Terrorism: Historical Perspectives on Transnational Religions” at the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland.

JOB LISTINGS 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 http://www.bc.edu/offices/hr: Marketing and Communications Manager, Athletic Association, Flynn Recreation Complex Supervisor, Outdoor Recreation, Athletic Association, Flynn Recreation Complex Financial Analyst, Auxiliary Services Associate Director for Career Services / Employer Relations, Career Center Administrative Assistant, Carroll Graduate School of Mgmt, Career Services Program Analyst, Center for Home and Community Life Associate Director, Special Gifts, Development, Annual Giving Assistant Director, Parents’ Fundraising, Development, Capital Giving Associate or Senior Associate Director, Development, Capital Giving

T he B oston C ollege

Chronicle december 16, 2010

Professor uses BC football game days to boost interest in chemistry

By Ed Hayward Staff Writer

Saturdays in the fall may be made for college football, but they’re not too bad when it comes to chemistry, either, says Assistant Professor of Chemistry Dunwei Wang.

Prior to Eagles home games, Wang and students from his lab in the Merkert Chemistry Center set up shop at Fanfest, the pre-game celebration in the Flynn Recreation Complex for students, parents, alumni and fans.

Next to the bouncy house, Wang uses a radio-controlled car to catch the attention of the children attending Fanfest. They learn that the car doesn’t rely on batteries for power, but uses clean, environmentally friendly hydrogen as a power source.

“Football games are a big deal at Boston College,” said Wang, a native of China who admits he’s still learning the American game. “We thought it was a great chance to show people what kind of scientific research is taking place at Boston College and to reach out to children and let them know that they don’t have to be intimidated by science. Science can be fun and they can enjoy learn-

BC SCENES

ing about it.”

Searching for new sources of clean energy is a big part of the research that Wang conducts in his lab. He has used nanotechnology to engineer “nanonets,” tiny, highly-conductive web-like structures that show promise as a new platform for a number of clean energy applications, including extracting hydrogen from water and building better lithium ion batteries.

While the nanonets are not on display, water-splitting is exactly what kids get a chance to do at the lab’s Fanfest station. It starts with fueling the car. Visitors press a small water-filled hand pump, generating the energy to separate – or split – hydrogen from oxygen. When the water within the pump is split, the hydrogen gas is stored in a small pouch. This fuel tank is placed in the car and it’s off to the races.

Children run the car through a course set up on the floor of the Plex basketball courts. Wang’s students time the racers and the top finisher gets to pick from a couple of solarpowered toys as prizes.

At a table, lamps are used to power toys that get their energy from solar panels. In addition to being pretty cool to look at, the devices

offer Wang the chance to talk about how solar power and other clean energy solutions work. Wang says children – and adults – have great curiosity about the subjects. Most often, they’ve heard about solar power and hydrogen-powered engines, but they don’t know the science behind the technologies that have advanced furthest in efforts to reduce dependence on fossil fuels.

“The kids ask a lot of questions and the adults ask a lot of questions too,” said Wang. “That’s exactly what we want to happen.”

Wang hopes to spark an interest in science, just as he was inspired as a child by articles he read about advances in superconductivity. Having grown up on a farm in rural China with no electricity, he was fascinated by the early breakthroughs and the idea that new materials could conduct electricity with zero energydraining resistance.

Finding sustainable solutions to global energy problems motivates his work.

“I enjoy the prosperity that development has offered us, but I do not like the prospect of what we have done to Mother Nature through this development,” said Wang. “That is

Ed Hayward

Making Science a Fan-tastic Experience

Asst. Prof. Dunwei Wang (Chemistry), right, and senior Stafford Sheehan, a student in Wang’s lab, talk with a youthful BC football fan as he operates a hydrogen-powered toy car at a recent Fanfest.

a key motivation to develop clean technology, which we can enjoy and which will not devastate our environment.”

The message is one young Eagles fans are keen to understand.

“I like science, it’s my favorite subject,” said 12-year-old Angelina,

who visited the clean energy display during a recent football game. “I don’t really know what hydrogen is, but I know about solar power. It would be great not to use gasoline and use the sun instead.”

Contact Ed Hayward at ed.hayward@bc.edu

AT THE HEIGHTS, HOLIDAY SOUNDS AND SIGHTS Lee Pellegrini

Christopher Huang

Frank Curran

The Boston College calendar was full of holiday-related events during the past two weeks: Above left, Lee Calamis Mita ‘99 (at left) watched as Laura Thomson Colleran ‘97 took a photo of her husband Matt Colleran ‘99 and their daughter, Riley, at the Alumni Association family event, “Winter Wonderland,” on Dec. 11; above right, freshmen Jazmine Estrada (left) and Katie Woodward perused the Fair Trade Holiday Sale (see a video about the sale at http://bit.ly/ekBzWE) on Dec. 9 in Corcoran Commons, which was also the setting on Dec. 2 for the annual “Breaking the Barriers Ball,” at left; right, the Office of Residential Life welcomed area foster children for its “Christmas Buddies” program (more photos from this event on page 2).

Sean Smith