Boston College Chronicle

Page 1

The Boston College

Chronicle Published by the Boston College Office of News & Public Affairs february 14, 2013 vol. 21 no. 11

INSIDE

GSSW Social Innovation Leaders Looking Ahead

STORM SCENES

•Faculty discuss pope’s resignation, page 2

Completion of latest phase offers plenty of optimism for initiative

•Dining to Go, page 2 •A new way to look at morality, page 3

By Sean Smith Chronicle Editor

With an important major milestone completed, organizers of the Graduate School of Social Work’s social innovation initiative are now planning for its next phase, including an effort to involve other Boston College schools, departments and programs. Nearly three years ago, GSSW Associate Professors Marcie PittCatsouphes and Stephanie Berzin launched the initiative, establishing a center to coordinate activities that promote social innovation — a growing field that blends entrepreneurship and practices from business/management and other disciplines to address social needs. Concurrent with the Center for Social Innovation (CSI), PittCatsouphes and Berzin created a program to train GSSW students in integrating macro social work practice and social innovation to unleash their leadership potential and work for sustainable social

•Student email moving to Google Apps, page 3 •Gasson Chapel, page 3

•McHarris named King Scholarship winner, page 4 •New advising evaluation form to debut, page 4 •Kerry as Secretary of State, page 5

NIH Grants Support Biologists’ Research Related to HIV/AIDS

•Fontenot honored as Nurse of the Year, page 5 •What’s so great about studying abroad? Plenty. See page 6 •Rougeau on the future of law schools, page 7 •McMullen presents ‘Portugal, Jesuits, and Japan,’ page 8

change. Yet another component was the Social Innovation Lab, created to support social service agencies wishing to develop new responses to social issues. Recently, the lab — having begun as a pilot program in 2011-12 — marked its first formal year of operation by winding up a partnership with four Greater Boston area social service agencies. Representatives of South Shore Mental Health, Bridge Over Troubled Waters, Old Colony YMCA and Phoenix Charter Academy took part, each focusing on a specific social problem and working with the lab to develop and test potential solutions. For Bridge Over Troubled Waters (BOTW), which serves homeless youth and young adults, the concern was to ensure their population has access to preventive, not just acute, care. As a result of their work in the Social Innovation Lab, BOTW decided to offer some health and wellness programs, such as yoga classes, instead of relying on hospital services. “For many of the homeless, Bridge Over Troubled Water is essentially their community,” explains Pitt-Catsouphes. “The agenContinued on page 5

Members of the Boston College community sent in numerous campus photos via Twitter, Instagram and other social media during last week’s winter storm Nemo, which shut down the University on Feb. 8. For links to more photos, see pinterest.com/bostoncollege.

A Welcome Return

Woods College faculty member Andrew McAleer back in classroom after tour of duty in Afghanistan By Reid Oslin Special to the Chronicle

Woods College of Advancing Studies faculty member Andrew McAleer ’91 brings a wealth of experiences to his teaching, as a published crime novelist, a state prosecutor, an attorney, and as the son — and former teaching cohort

— of the late John McAleer, one of BC’s most popular and acclaimed English professors. And now, Andrew McAleer has added still another credential to his list. He recently returned from active duty with the US Army in Afghanistan, where he served as a combat historian, chronicling the Continued on page 6

QUOTE:

By Ed Hayward Staff Writer

The lab of Professor of Biology Ken Williams, whose research focuses on the role of immunological cells in a range of illnesses that strike people living with HIV and AIDS, has been awarded a pair of grants totaling $4.6 million from the NIH’s National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Williams is the principal investigator on a five-year, $2.7 million award that marks the third round of funding for his lab’s research into monocyte and macrophage cells, which play important roles

as part of the body’s immunological response. One of the lead researchers in the Williams’ lab, Research Associate Professor of Biology Tricia Burdo, is the principal investigator on another NIH/NINDS award of $1.9 million over five years. That grant will fund a study of the role of the body’s immune response in a debilitating form of nerve damage suffered by people living with HIV. Williams and his research team have linked the activity of macrophage and monocyte cells to the presence of debilitating conditions like dementia, cardiovascular disContinued on page 3

“He was a good listener and was able to quickly understand difficult issues and concepts. John enjoyed the Socratic dialogue. I think he will continue to use the Socratic method so that he can make informed decisions about any issue.” —Prof. Robert Bloom (Law) on his former student John Kerry, page 5


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