Boston College Chronicle

The Boston College

Chronicle Published by the Boston College Office of News & Public Affairs april 25, 2013 VOL. 21 no. 16

•Boston College Venture Competition, page 2

COMMENCEMENT 2013

Irish Prime Minister Kenny to Address Grads Wayne Budd, Cornelia Kelley, Mary Lou DeLong, James Woods, SJ, also to be honored

By Office of News & Public Affairs Staff

•BC alum Byron finishes 147-mile marathon, page 2 •Cancer prevention study seeks subjects, page 2 •Truman Scholarship for Luangrath, page 3

•Arts Festival kicks off today, page 3 •Conte hosts Sesquicentennial on the Road, page 4

Frank Whalen

INSIDE

Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny, who has a record of almost four decades in service to the public, will address this year’s graduates at the 137th annual Boston College Commencement Exercises on May 20.

University President William P. Leahy, SJ, will present Kenny with an honorary Doctor of Laws degree at the ceremony, which will be held at 10 a.m. in Alumni Stadium, rain or shine.

BC will also present honorary degrees to: James A. Woods, SJ, founding dean and namesake of the University’s Woods College for Advancing Studies; Wayne

Enda Kenny

Budd, former US attorney and long-time BC trustee; Cornelia Kelley, headmaster emerita of Boston Latin School; and Mary Lou DeLong, who served in several key administrative roles at BC. Following the main Com-

Staying Strong

mencement event, some 4,395 Boston College students will receive their undergraduate and graduate degrees at separate ceremonies held around campus.

Enda Kenny was elected as Taoiseach (prime minister) in March of 2011, almost nine years after being chosen as leader of Fine Gael, the largest political party in the Dáil Éireann (House of Deputies). Kenny has articulated a vision of Fine Gael as a party of the progressive center, focusing on the rights and responsibilities of all citizens, while also demonstrating his concern for social justice: Earlier this year, he delivered an emotional apology in the Dáil on behalf of the state to the Magdalene Laundry survivors.

Kenny’s ascension to prime minister was the latest achievement in a political career that has spanned nearly 40 years. As Minister for Tourism and Trade from 1994-97, Kenny was credited with overseeing an unprecedented growth in Ireland’s tourism business, and with helping strengthen its trade position internationally — thus playing a significant role in Ireland’s “Celtic Tiger” era of economic growth.

A native of Islandeady in County Mayo and a former primary school teacher, Kenny was first elected to the Dáil in a byelection in the Mayo constituency in 1975 following the death of his father, Henry. He was a member Continued on page 4

New Student Affairs VP Named

By Jack Dunn Director of News & Public Affairs

•BC is Hartford Ctr. of Academic Excellence, page 5 •Clote, Ohi selected for Guggenheims, page 8 •Sesquicentennial Q&A with Doug Flutie, page 8

A student at last week’s Mass for Hope and Healing. (Photo by Lee Pellegrini)

BC community leans on faith, and one another, to deal with horror, aftermath of marathon bombings

By Sean Smith Chronicle Editor

•Six earn NSF Graduate Fellowships, page 9 •New UGBC president and VP talk, page 10 •Romero winner, page 11 •“Avenue Q,” page 12

The Boston College community this week sought to return to familiar work and study routines following one of the most tumultuous periods in recent memory.

Last Friday, even as BC — along with all of Boston — continued to cope with the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings on Patriot’s Day, an intense manhunt for the surviving one

of two suspects involved in the heinous act of terrorism necessitated a lockdown of the city and adjacent communities. The University sent out an emergency notification early that morning cancelling classes, while most BC employees remained home and students stayed in their residence halls until Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick lifted the “shelter-in-place” order that evening.

BC administrators said the Continued on page 6

QUOTE:

Boston College has named Barbara Jones, the vice president of the division of student affairs at Miami University of Ohio, as its new vice president for student affairs, effective July 1.

Jones brings extensive experience and a reputation as a nationally respected student affairs leader to Boston College. Prior to assuming her role at Miami University in 2008, Jones served as assistant chancellor Continued on page 3 Barbara Jones

Committee Unveils Proposal for Renewing Core Curriculum

By Sean Smith Chronicle Editor

A proposal for renewing Boston College’s undergraduate core curriculum would establish a new three-component, 42-credit structure of courses encompassing numerous disciplines, as well as an emphasis on student formation and personal discernment.

This model, the subject of a town hall-style campus meeting held yesterday afternoon, is the latest development in the nearly year-long process to revamp the University’s core curriculum being undertaken by a committee of faculty and administrators in collaboration with Continuum, an acclaimed innovative thinking Continued on page 5

“I suggest that, as we move back into real time from surreal time, we take time to do an examen of this past week, that we invite the Holy Spirit to enlighten us, and that we play back the tape in our heads.”

—From a homily by Center for Ignatian Spirituality Director Joseph O’Keefe, SJ, page 7

T he B oston C ollege

Chronicle april 25, 2013

ND

CA

M

S

BCPD Auction Elizabeth Byron ’06 takes a break during her run through the Sahara.

Byron’s odyssey also provided some mathematical exercises for her students, posted on her blog as “Math from the Sahara.” One problem read, “Assuming there are 862 athletes competing in the Marathon Des Sables, and 14 percent of the entrants are women, how many women are running in the race?” Another read: “By day 4 of the race (tomorrow’s leg) Ms. Byron will have run about 110 miles. If the race is 150 miles long, what fraction of the race does she have left? Show your answer in both fraction and decimal form.”

For more information about Byron’s fundraising efforts, see www.runforlaptops.org.

—Ed Hayward

ACS study seeks subjects

U

Lynch School of Education Teaching Fellow Elizabeth Byron ’06 blazed a trail through the Sahara on her way to raising funds to purchase computers for students at the Gardner Pilot Academy, where she is a special education teacher.

Byron, an All America swimmer as a BC undergraduate, finished the Marathon des Sables in fine form, recording the third fastest time for an American woman in the 147-mile ultra marathon. She placed 12th among all female competitors in what is billed as “the world’s toughest foot race.”

“This race just reaffirmed I’m probably too competitive,” Byron wrote on her blog following the five-stage race in Morocco.

“More importantly I hope it’s raised more funds for GPA.” Byron had insisted she wasn’t running for time. Instead, her goal was to use the race to raise $50,000 to purchase computers for classroom use at the Gardner, which is located in Allston. So far, Byron has raised $36,000 toward her goal.

She reported that as she passed other runners from around the world, they would often shout, “Go, teacher!”

O

U

P

A good run

AR

2

The Boston College Police Department will hold its annual auction to benefit Special Olympics Massachusetts on May 4 in the Walsh Hall Function Room.

Items set for auction include, electronics, jewelry, clothing, sporting equipment and much, much more.

Viewing of items begins at 8:30 a.m., and the auction will start at 9 a.m.

For information about Special Olympics Massachusetts programs and activities, see www.specialolympicsma. org.

Additional details on the auction are available from Sgt. Kevin Croke, at kevin. croke@bc.edu.

—Office of News & Public Affairs

Members of the Boston College community who are between the ages of 30 and 65 and have never been diagnosed with cancer will have the opportunity to take part in a new cancer prevention study.

The American Cancer Society is soliciting volunteers for its Cancer Prevention Study-3, or CPS-3, which over a period of 20 to 30 years will follow a diverse sample of the population and study how lifestyle choices affect the likelihood of developing cancer.

Enrollment for CPS-3 will take place on May 1 in the Newton Room of Corcoran Commons from 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m.

Register for an appointment at www.cancer.org/cps3NE. During the May 1 appointment, applicants will read and sign an informed consent form; complete a survey asking for detailed information on lifestyle, behavioral, and other factors related to their health; be measured for waist circumference; and give a small blood sample, drawn by a trained, certified phlebotomist.

Those who participate in the study will be asked to complete a mailed survey every few years for the next 20-30 years.

“The American Cancer Society’s Cancer Prevention studies began in the 1950s and have involved hundreds of thousands of volunteer participants,” said University Benefits Director Jack Burke. “They have led to discoveries such as the link between cigarette smoking and lung cancer, and the role obesity plays in the risk of several cancers.

This new CPS-3 effort will help researchers build on evidence from previous studies, and help bring us closer to eliminating cancer as a major health burden in the future.

“We at Boston College now have an opportunity to help in this very important goal.”

For more information, see www.cancer.org/cps3, email cps3@cancer. org, or call 1-888-604-5888.

—Office of News & Public Affairs

Venture Competition spotlights BC entrepreneurs Three Boston College undergraduates and their business plan for the tech start-up phyre took the top $20,000-prize at the seventh annual Boston College Venture Competition, held April 10 at the Carroll School of Management.

The team of Matt Ricketson, Patrick Allen and Joshua Jackson, all seniors — Jackson in CSOM, Ricketson and Allen in the College of Arts and Sciences — plans to use the prize money to launch phyre, a company that will manufacture and market a portable data device the team designed to deliver sales and conference presentations seamlessly to televisions and display screens.

For two members of the phyre team, this was their third BCVC competition. They drew on their earlier experiences to craft a business plan to market their portable device – about the size of a deck of cards – to sales personnel and others who struggle to connect to incompatible presentation hardware and software. Eventually, phyre plans to incorporate the technology into a line of display screens.

“We think BCVC has been an invaluable experience,” said Ricketson. “It imposes a structure on your work and it gives you a timeline and deadlines to complete

these ideas that you have. It is a lot of work and it’s time-consuming, but BCVC really pushes you.”

Now in its seventh year, BCVC has more than doubled its prize money, from $15,000 to $35,000. Winners and finalists from past competitions have gone on to earn places in some of the country’s top start-up incubators, launched tech start-ups locally

“We just had a great mix this year,” said Gallaugher. “But it was most thrilling to see students who have essentially grown up in BCVC. They are not only making their mark here and making this an elite program for student entrepreneurs, but they are taking part in some of the leading business competitions around.”

The $10,000 second-place

The phyre team (L-R, Joshua Jackson, Patrick Allen and Matt Ricketson) present at the Boston College Venture Competition. (Photo by Ed Hayward)

and in the Silicon Valley, and snared approximately $25 million in seed funding. BCVC faculty advisor and Associate Professor of Information Systems John Gallaugher said this year’s group of finalists represented a broad range of ventures and benefitted from prior experience, be it through BCVC or similar competitions at institutions such as MIT and Yale.

prize went to BC undergraduates Tommy Christmas ’13 and Kevin McGovern ’14 and their high school classmates Tyler Kennedy and Wes Schroll, who both study at the University of Wisconsin. All four grew up in Acton and attended Acton-Boxborough Regional High School.

They impressed the judges with Fetch Rewards, a mobile

app for grocery shoppers that would offer a range of services and discounts to shoppers in real time, while collecting volumes of cutting-edge data about shoppers, products and service. The team is seeking financing to launch a beta version through a mid-west grocery chain within the next nine to 12 months.

Finishing in third place with an award of $2,500 was KnowledgeArena, a web-based platform for competitive test-takers that would allow users to place bets based on their knowledge and test-taking skills. The team consisted of freshmen Andy Lee and Tommy Tan and their partner Sean Nam. Other finalists included Campus Calories, a mobile app for health-conscious college diners, led by senior Jimmy Campbell, and Streak Media, an email marketing company run by BC seniors David Casinghino, Andrew Flynn, Chris Marciniack, Michael Nardella and sophomore William Chamberlain.

Learn more about the Boston College Venture Competition at http://bcvc.org. For a video about this year’s finals, see on.bc.edu/ZLEQsT. —Ed Hayward

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 Rosanne Pellegrini Kathleen Sullivan Michael Maloney Photographers

Gary Gilbert Lee Pellegrini

The Boston College Chronicle (USPS 009491), the internal newspaper for faculty and staff, is published biweekly from September to May by Boston College, with editorial offices at the Office of News & Public Affairs, 14 Mayflower Road, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467 (617)552-3350. Distributed free to faculty and staff offices and other locations on campus. Periodicals postage paid at Boston, MA and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: send address changes to The Boston College Chronicle, Office of News & Public Affairs, 14 Mayflower Road, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467.

Contact Chronicle via e-mail: chronicle@bc.edu.Electronic editions of the Boston College Chronicle are available via the World Wide Web at http://www. bc.edu/chronicle.

T he B oston C ollege

Chronicle april 25, 2013

3

Jones to Lead Student Affairs

BC Junior Wins Truman Scholarship

By Sean Smith Chronicle Editor

Narintohn Luangrath ’14 — whose family’s experiences as immigrants inspired her interest in migration and asylum policy issues — has won a Harry S. Truman Scholarship, which recognizes undergraduates who demonstrate leadership potential and the capacity to “make a difference.”

Truman Scholars are selected on the basis of a strong record of public service, as well as a policy proposal that addresses a particular issue in society. The scholarship provides funding support for graduate study.

While a Boston College student, Luangrath, an International Studies major from Portland, Ore., has traveled to France to study media coverage of that country’s burqa ban, and interned for the Irish Human Rights Commission to provide research, analysis and recommendations for the Irish government on policies concerning refugees and asylum seekers.

She has served as an Undergraduate Research Fellow for Political Science faculty members Professor Peter Skerry and Associate Professor Jonathan Laurence, both eminent scholars in immigration issues, and Assistant Professor Jennifer Erickson, who studies international security.

These research opportunities have fueled Luangrath’s desire to advocate for reform in US policies toward refugees and persons seeking asylum.

“The plight of people who come to the US as forced migrants and refugees is often overlooked in mainstream debates about immigration,” she said. “This is a population at the mercy of a process that is not very transparent, and which often relies on prison detention or other detrimental practices.

“The US needs to balance its security concerns with a more effective, and humanitarian, policy toward forced migrants and asylum seekers.”

For Luangrath, the issue has a deeply personal connection. The experiences of her father, a native of Laos, and her mother, from Thailand, as well as other family members in immigrating to the United States made an indelible impression on her, and provided a signpost for her research interests.

“My parents had advantages other immigrants may have lacked, in that they came to the US on academic scholarships and obtained a college education,” she explained.

“Although it wasn’t easy, even with

Narintohn Luangrath ’14 (Photo by Sean Smith)

a good fluency in English, they were able to integrate into American society quite well. But other family members, many of whom were refugees from the Vietnam War, had a far more difficult time resettling.

“So, I found myself becoming more and more interested in these conflicting immigrant narratives, and what was behind them. Doing the research project in France on the burqa controversy — which provided insights into how a Western society integrates an immigrant population — and then working with the Irish Human Rights Commission — and seeing how the state deals with the ‘Travelers,’ a nomadic population — were incredibly valuable experiences.

“Being able to do research with professors Laurence, Skerry and Erickson — who have been so generous with their time and advice — also has helped me learn more about the various social and political aspects related to migration and asylum policy issues.”

Luangrath says the process of applying for the Truman, which includes spoken as well as written presentations, has further benefited her.

“What I learned is, you can be passionate about a policy issue, but you have to understand the costs, the ramifications, the related topics — you have to see the bigger picture. How might people respond to the policy?

What are the competing policy interests? That way, you’re better prepared to think and reason about your issue.”

Skerry praised Luangrath as “a very impressive young woman who has continually taken the initiative in her education, whether showing up at my door asking to do research or obtaining funding through Advanced Study Grants and other sources to support her work abroad. She is a

serious and dedicated student who is always finding ways to build on her classroom experiences.”

At BC, Luangrath directed the BCTalks lecture series, which showcases the scholarly interests and achievements of undergraduates. A member of the University’s Shaw Leadership Program, Luangrath also has mentored Boston area high school debaters and volunteered through the Generation Citizen program to teach young people about the importance of participating in democracy.

Luangrath expressed thanks to Vice Provost for Undergraduate Affairs Donald Hafner, Political Science faculty members Kenji Hayao and Jennifer Purnell, and Founders Professor in Theology James Keenan, SJ, for their assistance in the Truman application process, as well as Kuong Ly ’07, Aditya Ashok ’12 and Amanda Rothschild ’11.

“Boston College is a very supportive community,” said Luangrath, who will work this summer at Georgetown University’s Institute for the Study of International Migration, and plans doctoral studies after BC. “I feel fortunate to have had so many mentors and friends at BC, who have helped me find opportunities to grow intellectually, to learn more about social and global issues of concern to me — and the role one can play in effecting change.”

But it is to her parents whom Luangrath feels the most gratitude.

“They have worked hard and given back to the community — my father, for example, worked for an Indochinese refugee center in Portland. They have always encouraged me to pursue that which interests me most, so they are very happy my doing so has led to a Truman Scholarship.”

Continued from page 1 for student affairs at the University Executive Vice President Patof Wisconsin-Whitewater, associ- rick Keating, who will oversee ate vice president for student af- Jones in her new role, offered a fairs at Ball State University, and similar assessment. “Barbara’s as director of student activities and combination of education, seniororganizations at Minnesota State level experience in student affairs, University-Mankato. She also and commitment to our mission served as president of the National makes her an ideal choice to be the Association of Student Personnel vice president for student affairs Administrators (NASPA) from at Boston College,” said Keating.

2006-2007, and as a member of “Her career has been dedicated to the National Task Force on the the development and formation of Future of Student Affairs from students. She will be a tremendous 2008-2010. contributor and member of the While at Miami BC family.”

University, Jones Jones said she “BC offers unique was credited with was delighted to acopportunities to live cept the offer to join improving outreach to students by creat- out that commitment Boston College and ing an initiative to looked forward to improve academic and to help students to beginning her new success and expand grow, develop and ex- role this summer. student internship “The people I have opportunities. Jones perience formation.” met at Boston Colalso helped to en—Barbara Jones lege have a genuine hance staff develcommitment to stuopment through a dents and to student targeted series of professional de- development,” said Jones. “BC ofvelopment programs that focused fers unique opportunities to live on student retention, academic out that commitment and to help success, program assessment and students to grow, develop and exalcohol education, and to foster a perience formation while they are culture of assessment by introduc- with us. That is what I look foring both learning and program ward to most.” outcomes and data-driven deciJones said she welcomed the sion-making. opportunity to work at a Jesuit, University President William Catholic university and to help P. Leahy, SJ, described Jones as integrate the University’s distincan experienced professional with a tive mission in the Student Affairs proven track record in managing division’s outreach to students. student affairs. “Dr. Jones brings “Coming to Boston College gives to Boston College tremendous me an opportunity to expose myexperience in higher education, self to a greater depth of thinking particularly in the area of student about issues and to reflect on them affairs,” said Fr. Leahy. “She un- through a values-based process,” derstands BC’s mission, and I am said Jones. “I look forward to convinced that that she will con- working in a collaborative way tribute in many ways to campus with students, faculty and staff all life and to achieving our student across the University.”

Contact Jack Dunn at formation goals.” jack.dunn@bc.edu

Arts Festival Opens Today The 15th annual Boston College Arts Festival begins today, showcasing music, theater, dance, poetry, film, painting, sculpture and more from members of the University community.

A highlight of the festival will be public appearances by alumni guests acclaimed writer Robert Polito ’73 and award-winning photographer James Balog ’74. Polito will be presented with the Boston College Arts Council Alumni Award for Distinguished Achievement

by Vice President for University Mission and Ministry Jack Butler, SJ. Associate Professor of Fine Arts Sheila Gallagher will receive the faculty arts award, which will be presented ­— along with student awards — at a ceremony tomorrow in the Stokes Art Tent at 4 p.m.

The awards reception is free and open to the public, but registration is required at http://tinyurl.com/bulbrvc. Contact Alumni Relations Assistant Director Eva Maynard at ext. 2-4757 for more information.

Festival highlights also include the performance of the adult musical comedy “Avenue Q” at BC’s Robsham Theater Arts Center [see page 12], and more than 80 public events for all ages.

For Arts Festival details, see www.bc.edu/artsfestival or call ext.

2-2787.

—Rosanne Pellegrini

T he B oston C ollege

Chronicle april 25, 2013

4

COMMENCEMENT 2013

The legal career of Wayne A. Budd ’63 has run the gamut from corporate counsel to associate US attorney general, from business executive to Massachusetts’ chief federal prosecutor.

Along the way, Budd has served as a mentor, advocate and advisor in support of education, civil rights, and the development of the next generation of business and civic leaders.

The son of a Springfield, Mass., police officer, Budd graduated cum laude from BC in 1963 with a degree in economics. He went on to earn his law degree from Wayne State University Law School in Detroit while working for Ford Motor Co. Budd’s ties to his alma mater have remained significant. From 1980 to 1997, Budd served as a trustee of Boston College and from 1973 to 1988 he was an adjunct faculty member at Boston College Law School. His family endowed the Budd Family Scholarship.

Currently senior counsel at the Boston law firm of Goodwin Procter, LLP, Budd has lent his expertise to federal and state agencies on sentencing guidelines, civil service regulation and public health. He is a board member for the New England Innocence Project and the pre-collegiate program Squash Busters Inc., and a former chairman and board member of The Partnership, a leadership development initiative for African-American men.

Budd will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree at Commencement.

Mary Lou DeLong NC’71 is the retired vice president and University secretary of Boston College. During her tenure, she oversaw a variety of responsibilities, including chairing the University’s Sesquicentennial Steering Committee; providing oversight and coordination of

Bachrach Photo

Gary Gilbert

Continued from page 1 of Mayo County Council from 1975-1995 until his appointment to the cabinet. Kenny also has served as minister for state in Education; Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht; the Islands; Western Development; and Youth Affairs and Sport.

Married to Fionnuala O’Kelly, and father of Naoise, Ferdia and Aoibhinn, Kenny climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in aid of three Mayo charities in 2003, and regularly undertakes charity cycles.

Lee Pellegrini

University to Honor Kenny, Four Others

Wayne Budd

Mary Lou DeLong

Cornelia Kelley

James Woods, SJ

Commencement exercises and activities; and serving as liaison for the Trustee Committee on Nominations and Governance, University honorary degree recipients and senior liaison to The Council for Women of Boston College.

From 1992 until 2004 DeLong served as vice president for University relations at BC, responsible for educational fundraising and alumni affairs. She oversaw the University’s $441 million “Ever to Excel” campaign and from 2002-2004 managed a two-fold expansion and reengineering of the University’s Advancement division.

In addition, DeLong — a 1971 Newton College alumna — served Boston College as executive director of development, director of individual gifts, director of development programs, and assistant director of the Alumni Association, as well as five years as a University trustee. She also held senior positions at Harvard Medical School, Phillips Academy, and Stevens Institute of Technology. DeLong has been active with the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education at both the national and district level, and was the recipient of the CASE District I Distinguished Service award.

At Commencement, DeLong will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree.

$35 million capital campaign, Pons Privatus, a revolutionary concept for funding special programs and scholarships for graduating seniors at a public school.

A model in the US, Boston Latin was recognized as a center of educational excellence by the governments of China, Iceland, Ghana and Turkey.

A lifelong resident of Boston and 1969 graduate of the Newton College of the Scared Heart, Kelley now serves as a member of the Commission on American and Independent Schools Abroad and the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.

The University will award Kelley an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree at Commencement.

of Advancing Studies, James A. Woods, SJ, stepped down in 2012 from that leadership post, which he held for 44 years. At that time, he was honored at a University “Celebration of Gratitude” for his dedication and commitment in service to others.

During his tenure, Fr. Woods oversaw comprehensive changes in the curricula at Boston College and designed and introduced a graduate degree program for part-time students. At his request, the name of the Evening College was changed in 1996 to the College of Advancing Studies to reflect its evolving mission. In May 2002, the school became the Woods College of Advancing Studies following a $5 million gift from Katharine B. and Robert M. Devlin, which symbolized their high regard for the University and the dedication of Fr. Woods, a mentor to two

generations of the Devlin family.

A native of Dorchester’s Neponset neighborhood, Fr. Woods earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Boston College, followed by a bachelor of sacred theology degree from Weston College and a doctorate in education from Boston University.

He has said that the Woods College helps fulfill the University’s educational and service mission in the Boston area. He established numerous scholarship and endowment funds during his years as dean, and named them for his longest-serving faculty and staff.

At Commencement, he will be presented with an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree.

Cornelia Kelley became the first female headmaster of Boston Latin School — the nation’s first public school — in 1998, and during her nine-year administration the school constructed a new wing for the visual and performing arts, a media center that is touted as the most advanced school library in the US, and a new dining hall. In addition, Boston Latin renovated existing facilities to incorporate technology into every classroom.

Kelley pioneered a five-year,

Boston College’s longestserving dean and namesake of the University’s Woods College

For information on Commencement 2013, see www.bc.edu/commencement.

#WEAREBC150 More than 500 Boston College alumni, along with family members, turned out at Conte Forum on April 13 — BC’s National Day of Service — to pack meals for needy families as part of the Sesquicentennial on the Road tour. The volunteers prepared 191,934 meals, which along with the tour’s stops in Miami, Los Angeles and most recently San Francisco comes out to almost 293,000 meals overall — far surpassing the goal of 150,000 in honor of BC’s 150th anniversary. The tour’s three remaining stops are New York City, Dublin and Chicago.

(Right) Among the helpers in Conte were 1991 grad Patty Lavoie (second from left), her daughters Megan and Colleen, husband Chris, and son Mike.

For more information, see www.bc.edu/150ontheroad

Photos by Suzanne Camarata

T he B oston C ollege

Chronicle april 25, 2013

5

New Core Proposal Unveiled Continued from page 1 and design consultancy. divisions, as well as interested Core Renewal Committee The Core Renewal Com- faculty.

(CRC) to spearhead ongoing inmittee has held extensive disCore Renewal Committee novation and oversight of the cussions with diverse groups of representatives reiterated that renewed core. The CRC would faculty, administrators, staff, by adopting the proposal for be housed within the Institute students and other stakeholders a renewed core, the University for the Liberal Arts, and receive in the University community would put in place “a framework funding from the University to in an effort to address concerns for innovation” rather than “a support core course developand hear views regarding the detailed blueprint that will re- ment and administration. The core curriculum, last revised in main unchanged for 20 years.” CRC would consult twice a year the 1990s.

The basic structural principles with the Core Steering Com“What’s important to know contained in the proposed mod- mittee and the Student Adviis that the footprint of the core el, they said, would be subject sory Council. The Core Steering curriculum is unchanged; the to periodic external reviews and Committee would provide overnumber of credits has not been will be reassessed at least every sight, guidance and funding adreduced,” said committee co- 10 years. vocacy, and administer an exterchair Rattigan Professor of EngThe proposal included some nal program review every eight lish Mary Crane, director of potential scenarios of how stu- to 10 years to assess the core and BC’s Institute for the Liberal dents might experience the new recommend improvements.

Arts. “More importantly, the core. For example, in the EndurThe new CRC will work University remains committed ing Questions program, a Com- with departments to articulate to the classic liberal arts educa- munity of Inquiry would focus discipline-specific learning outtion and the Jesuit, comes for individual Catholic tradition requirements, ac“What’s important to know is that the footthat has been central cording to the proprint of the core curriculum is unchanged; the to the Boston Colposal, and to ensure lege experience.” that departments and number of credits has not been reduced. More Under the new faculty measure and importantly, the University remains commitproposal put forth assess student work by the committee, ted to the classic liberal arts education and the against these learning core classes would outcomes — these inJesuit, Catholic tradition that has been cenbe organized in three clude understanding parts. Communities a discipline’s major tral to the Boston College experience.” of Inquiry are coursapproaches and ideas, —Core Renewal Committee Co-chair Mary Crane es taken in the first and understanding year, with cohorts of from a scholarly perapproximately 225 spective the relationship of faith students engaging in intensive on one overarching topic, such and reason. multidisciplinary study of fun- as “Understanding the Past.”

During the next two weeks, damental questions and global Faculty would agree on three departments in the University’s challenges through two six-cred- enduring questions to cover four undergraduate schools it sequences, Enduring Ques- in each class within the topic; are expected to study the protions and Complex Problems. these might include the nature posed core renewal and report “We felt it was vital for the of knowledge, the impact of past their findings to their respeccore to make a big impact in on future, and the influence of tive deans. These will be shared freshman year,” said Crane. religious belief on society. with University President Wil“The committee felt this can be These questions would be ex- liam P. Leahy, SJ, and Provost accomplished by creating small- plored in pairs of linked courses and Dean of Faculties Cutberto er groups of about 225 students taught be faculty from different Garza, and a decision on the — Communities of Inquiry — disciplines. A list of possible proposal will be made during where they participate in an en- paired courses – and the disci- the summer. gaging and intense intellectual plines they encompass – might Implementation of the reexperience.” include Lost Civilizations (His- newed core curriculum experiThe Exploration phase entails tory and Classical Studies), ence would begin on a small 10 courses across the humanities, Memory and Trauma (Litera- scale with the 2013-2014 acanatural sciences, and social sci- ture and Psychology), and Bos- demic year and continue over ences that ensure students gain a ton’s Past (Literature and His- several years. rigorous education in the liberal tory).

Along with Crane, the Core arts while enabling intellectual “The multidisciplinary char- Renewal Committee is coengagement and exploration. acter of these sequences,” said chaired by College of Arts and Characterized as Foundations or Crane, “is a major point that Sciences Dean David Quigley Immersions, these courses range emerged from discussions with and Carroll School of Manin level of breadth or depth, class both faculty and students as to agement Dean Andy Boynton. size, and pedagogical approach. what would make for an inter- Committee members are DeIn the Reflection component, esting and engaging experience.” Luca Professor of Biology Tom students are given opportunities In the Complex Problems Chiles, Associate Professor of inside and outside the classroom program, the cohort of students Earth and Environmental Scito help them discern the mean- might study issues such as mi- ences Gail Kineke, Professor of ing, significance and value of the gration and immigration, or ac- Sociology Juliet Schor, Professor work taking place in their dis- cess to water, supplemented by of Philosophy Emeritus Richard ciplinary studies and lives out- independent research and lab Cobb-Stevens, and A&S Associside of class. This program will work. ate Dean Akua Sarr, director of involve the Student Affairs and The proposal also recom- the University Advising Center.

University Mission and Ministry mends the creation of a new

Ahearn Professor of Social Work James Lubben. (Photo by Gary Gilbert)

BC Will Be Resource for Geriatric Social Work

By Sean Smith Chronicle Editor

Boston College will be the location for one of the first two Hartford Academic Centers of Excellence in Geriatric Social Work, providing leadership, education and other resources in an increasingly critical area of social work.

BC and the University of Michigan were selected as the inaugural Hartford Academic Centers of Excellence (ACE) by the Hartford/ GSA National Center on Gerontological Social Work Excellence, which was established through a three-year, $1.35 million grant from the John A. Hartford Foundation to the Gerontological Society of America (GSA) in February.

The Hartford Academic Center of Excellence at BC will be led by James Lubben, the Louise McMahon Ahearn Professor in the Graduate School of Social Work and a leading scholar in social gerontology whose research focuses on social support networks among older populations. Lubben is director of the school’s doctoral program and also heads the University’s Institute on Aging. Three aging research centers at BC are affiliated with the Institute on Aging, two of them housed at GSSW: the Sloan Center on Aging and Work and the National Resource Center for Participant-Directed Services, as well as the Carroll School of Management’s Center for Retirement Research.

Each ACE is expected to provide leadership for social work educators; build bridges to local health professionals, such as those employed by agencies on aging; form regional consortia of social work field agencies serving older adults and their families that will address gaps in education and training on aging; and engage in inter-professional collaborations with other departments of the university, with other professional groups within the region, and with Hartford Centers of Excellence in medicine and nursing.

“Being identified as a Hartford

Geriatric Social Work Center commits that university to exemplary leadership in training future generations of geriatric social work practitioners and faculty, as well as to leadership in the translation of new knowledge into policy and practice,” said GSA Fellow Barbara Berkman, who chairs the association’s national advisory board.

“This association provides a recognizable brand that empowers these universities to serve as models that will motivate other universities to meet the standards required of being an identified center.”

The centers also will provide mentoring to Hartford-funded researchers based at the US Veterans Administration; create and evaluate training models that translate new knowledge into practice and policy; and seek additional support to sustain the social work centers.

“It is both an honor and a challenge to be named a Hartford Academic Center of Excellence,” said Lubben, who is founding director of the Hartford Doctoral Fellows Program in Geriatric Social Work, funded by the Hartford Foundation and administered by the GSA. “The honor acknowledges the leadership GSSW faculty have provided, and are providing, in geriatric social work. The challenge is for GSSW to remain committed to that leadership in a rapidly changing environment. Hartford ACEs are expected to continue their commitment to training social workers capable of enhancing the health and well-being of America’s rapidly growing population of older adults.”

GSSW Dean Alberto Godenzi added, “Being named a Hartford Academic Center of Excellence demonstrates our continued commitment to social work with older adults and their families. The Hartford Center at Boston College will provide new opportunities for the Graduate School of Social Work to share our expertise and engage the practice community.”

Contact Sean Smith at sean.smith@bc.edu

T he B oston C ollege

Chronicle april 25, 2013

6

Continued from page 1 events of last week required Boston College to be a community of faith and fellowship, as well as a place of learning and scholarship — and the University met the challenge.

University President William P. Leahy, SJ, in a letter published Monday, thanked the BC community “for its generosity, cooperation, and example as we and Greater Boston dealt with such unusual circumstances.”

Fr. Leahy and other administrators praised BC police officers and staff from Dining Services, Facilities Management and Health Services who stayed on after their overnight shifts ended because the shelter-in-place order prevented them from leaving and many of their replacement workers from coming to campus.

Many who did make it in worked overnight on Friday until the campus returned to a normal schedule on Saturday.

Administrators also cited the work of the Emergency Management Team — whose membership comprises several offices and departments — for keeping the University community informed of developments on Friday and resolving several logistical problems related to the lockdown.

A highlight of their efforts was arranging meals for some 7,400 students on campus: Through the work of Residential Life staff, students were directed to the dining facility nearest them and given food by a skeleton Dining Services staff to carry back to their rooms.

“The cooperation of our students was greatly appreciated by everyone at BC,” said University Spokesman Jack Dunn. “The plan would not have worked as smoothly without their assistance and cooperation.”

Athletic Director Brad Bates announced on Friday the cancellation of the annual Jay McGillis Spring Football Game scheduled for the next day, out of respect for bombing victims and their families and not wishing to overburden the BC Police, Dining and Facilities staffs.

The days preceding Friday found the BC community sharing in the widespread grief, horror, sorrow and bewilderment over the Boston Marathon bombings.

Many at BC felt connected, directly or indirectly, to the tragic event: Some 300 undergraduates ran in this year’s marathon, many of behalf of the Campus School; other members of the University community also participated, or had a family member or friend

Lee Pellegrini

Marathon Tragedy and Aftermath Tests University Community

Boston College held a Mass of Hope and Healing in St. Ignatius Church the day after the Boston Marathon bombings.

who had entered the race; and still others at BC were spectators near the finish line where the explosions occurred.

BC in particular focused its concern and prayers for graduate students Liza Cherney and Brittany Loring, as well as Lynch School of Education graduate Patrick Downes ’05 and his wife Jessica, all of whom were hospitalized from injuries sustained in the bombing.

The story of the Downeses, in fact, became an international phenomenon after some of their friends launched a fundraising effort via GiveForward.com to help pay the couple’s medical bills and other costs. Although the couple’s families did not give media interviews and requested respect for their privacy, their plight — and the fundraising on their behalf — was widely reported in newspapers, TV and throughout the Internet.

[As of Tuesday, “Help for Patrick

and Jess” had solicited 11,367 donations. The page can be viewed at http://bit.ly/ZzSitR.] Similar efforts have been launched for Loring [at http://

of the New England Patriots, and Dustin Pedroia, Jarrod Saltalamacchia and John Farrell of the Boston Red Sox. An update for Cherney yesterday reported she

“To come over to console a freshman crying during the tragedy at the Marathon was purely amazing. It meant so much to me that complete strangers would be willing to do that and not only make sure I was okay, but sit with me for a while until I truly felt better. I can’t thank you enough for your kindness and for giving me a reason to believe in humanity when all my faith had been lost.”

—Boston College student Facebook post

bit.ly/11eVsEF] and Cherney [http://bit.ly/ZEqPdB]. A fundraising website gave a progress report that earlier this week Loring walked with a walker, and had received visits from Rob Gronkowski and Stevan Ridley

had undergone her final surgery, which had gone “really well.”

BC outreach also extended beyond the University community.

BCPD officers and students in the Eagle EMS program attended yesterday’s memorial service for

Marquette University students gathered to show their support for Boston College by running five miles — the distance from BC to the Boston Marathon finish line. (Photo contributed to Boston College Facebook)

slain MIT officer Sean Collier.

The Boston College Irish Dance student club volunteered to perform at a benefit this Saturday for Jane Richard, whose eight-yearold brother Martin was killed in the bombing; Jane, who lost her leg in the blast, is a student in the Clifden Academy of Irish Dance in Milton.

A Mass of Hope and Healing held in St. Ignatius Church the day following the marathon offered the BC community an opportunity to gather and offer prayers for the victims and all others affected by the bombings. The church, which the previous day had been a temporary sanctuary for stranded marathon runners, filled quickly to capacity with BC students — several wearing this year’s blue-and-yellow Boston Marathon windbreakers — faculty, administrators and staff as well as St. Ignatius parishioners.

Fr. Leahy, who celebrated the Mass, urged those in attendance to draw on “a reservoir of care and good will, that will sustain us as a community.

“We come with certain hurts and a sense of confusion: Why do these things happen? How can we carry on?” he continued. “It is this very community of faith that engages us and provides us support. Tap into that reservoir of goodness around us; there is no need to be alone.”

The Mass proved a healing tonic for four BC seniors who had come close to being victims themselves: Kara Mackintire, who was among the entrants in the marathon, and her friends Tommy Belton, Morgan Hiler and Caitlin Walsh, who accompanied her for the last five miles of the race.

They had crossed the finish line at about 2:45 p.m., only minutes before the twin blasts. What had been a glorious day — an opportunity to experience the marathon one last time together as BC students — dissolved into a rush for safety at Boston Common, followed by a numb trek back to campus and an anxious — but ultimately reassuring — search for news of other friends who had been at the marathon.

Outside St. Ignatius following the Mass, the four reflected on the events, and shifting emotions, of the past 24 hours.

“It was so scary for the first several hours, not being sure if someone you know might be injured, or worse,” said Belton.

“We found out later on that everyone we knew was safe. But it was important to come here today, to find comfort together.”

Continued on next page

T he B oston C ollege

Chronicle april 25, 2013

7

Lee Pellegrini

“We come with certain hurts and a sense of confusion: Why do these things happen? How can we carry on?” said Fr. Leahy at last week’s Mass of Hope and Healing (above). “It is this very community of faith that engages us and provides us support.

Tap into that reservoir of goodness around us; there is no need to be alone.”

“I was really impressed by how many people showed up for the Mass,” said Hiler. “It made me feel how lucky and blessed we are to be at BC.” “We’ve replayed those moments in our heads, and how everything could have been so different if we had been a few minutes later,” said Mackintire. “Today, I felt thankful for the BC community, and that we could be together to thank God.” Social media also provided evidence of the generosity of spirit and fellowship at BC in the wake of the tragedy. One student’s Facebook posting expressed appreciation for a “senior girl in Ignacio” who had provided help in a time of anxiety over missing friends: “I have no idea who you are but you took the time to talk to me and give me a hug to comfort me.”

“To come over to console a freshman crying during the tragedy at the Marathon was purely amazing,” read another Facebook post. “It meant so much to me that complete strangers would be willing to do that and not only make sure I was okay, but sit with me for a while until I truly felt better.

I can’t thank you enough for your kindness and for giving me a reason to believe in humanity when all my faith had been lost.”

More than 800,000 people were reached by the BC Facebook page alone.

One Boston College story from Marathon Monday had a happy, if

incomplete, ending.

David Evans, a resident of Maidstone, England, and a civilian investigator for the Surrey Police Department, entered the Boston Marathon to raise funds for Meningitis Trust [his fundraising page is at http://www.justgiving.com/ daves2013page]. He had reached the top of Heartbreak Hill when officials halted the race, and was directed to St. Ignatius.

Evans and the other runners were met by Eagle EMS volunteers, who provided bagels, fruits and drinks, cooked pasta and gave medical treatment to Evans and other participants who had begun cramping up.

“They were awesome,” said Evans in an e-mail sent to a BC office.

At one point, Evans said, a

female student wearing “a black top and white blouse” lent him her cellphone so he could call his girlfriend and let her know he was safe.

Although he thanked the student, Evans said, “I really don’t think she will ever fully understand how important that 30-second call was.”

More to the point, Evans said he would like to pay for the call he made.

“I knew nothing about BC before the marathon,” said Evans, who arrived back home safely.

“As they say, first impressions count, and you guys and girls made a fantastic impression on me.”

—Office of News & Public Affairs staff contributed to this story.

A photo taken on Marathon Monday by Boston College freshman Sarah McNamara. (Photo by BC Instagram)

‘Where is the glimmer of light?’

Center for Ignatian Spirituality Director Rev. Joseph O’Keefe, SJ, offered his thoughts on events of the past week in his homily during last Sunday’s Mass in St. Ignatius Church. The full version is available at http://on.bc.edu/Y1vwzJ I have been on this earth for 3,159 weeks. And I have never experienced anything like the week that we just went through, my 3,160th week.

How to describe the week that was?

In today’s Boston Globe “Ideas” section, columnist Ben Zimmer captures the experience with a word I have recently used often and that I have often heard from others. The title of his piece is: “How Surreal.”

Zimmer recalls that the word comes from the early 20th-century art movement with which you are familiar, called Surrealism. He writes, “Surreal is no longer merely an aesthetic: Now, we turn to it most often when our mundane day-to-day experiences of life seem to move into some other dimension that our rational minds cannot account for.”

He goes on, “When there are no words, ‘surreal’ ends up as a proxy for more complex, inchoate emotions that are difficult to verbalize.

‘Surreal’ says: I saw it, but I don’t understand.”

The week that we just endured, the week that made us fearful, sad, and baffled — surreal: “I saw it, but I don’t understand.” As Christians, how do we come to understand what seems incomprehensible? How do we fathom our inchoate emotions? I suggest that we take time to engage in the prayer that is at the heart of the Ignatian experience. I suggest that, as we move back into real time from surreal time, we take time to do an examen of this past week, that we invite the Holy Spirit to enlighten us, and that we play back the tape in our heads.

The first images that will probably come to mind are the horrific ones – scattered limbs, scarred lives, horrified looks on faces, terrified children, weirdly deserted streets, text messages from frightened friends and relatives across the world. Yes, scenes of desolation indeed.

But you see, our lives are a mix of desolation and consolation. We need to face our desolations head on and with courage, we need to learn to deal with the harsh realities of the world of 2013, we need to bring perpetrators to justice and we need to protect our loved ones, but we also need to look for consolation. When our faith in human goodness has been challenged and our innocence lost, we turn to God. In the midst of darkness, Christians look for the glimmer of light.

Where is the glimmer of light? In some ways, with hindsight, I wonder if God hadn’t been preparing us for this surreal week. All of these events have taken place during the Easter season, when we collectively ponder the meaning of the resurrection.

I want to take you back to a “real” week – three weeks ago Saturday.

When the ancient announcement of

Christ’s resurrection was proclaimed in this church, with only the dim glimmer of candles, faint light in the darkness, the deacon proclaimed in the exultet, “The power of this holy night dispels all evil and restores lost innocence.” This surreal week has, in many ways, robbed our city of its innocence. At Easter, God promised to restore it.

I want to take you back to last Sunday, when we were still in real time. Our gospel echoed the sheep/ shepherd metaphor that we hear again today. To paraphrase, Jesus said to Peter, “If you love me, feed my sheep; if you love me, tend my lambs; if you love me, be a good shepherd.”

Earlier that week, on Thursday, April 11, I was deeply moved by the awarding of the Congressional Medal of Honor to Rev. Emil J. Kapaun, an Army chaplain who died a prisoner in the Korean War for his lifesaving ministrations to his fellow prisoners. I vividly recall watching the interviews with his fellow soldiers, now men in their 80s, who spoke through their tears. Father Kapaun’s example of self-giving changed their lives.

Mike Dowe, one of the veterans recalled the scene when Father Kapaun was being led away to his death. He said, “Father Kapaun told everyone to stop resisting and not to ‘fight them on my behalf.’ I was in tears,” Dowe continued, “And then he turned to me and said ‘Mike, don’t cry. I’m going where I’ve always wanted to go. And when I get there, I’ll be saying a prayer for all of you.”

During this surreal week, we have seen horror, we have felt the fear, and we have lost our collective innocence.

But — and this is so crucial and I cannot emphasize it enough — we have seen good shepherds in our midst, good shepherds in combat boots, good shepherds in running shoes, good shepherds in nurses’ shoes, good shepherds in flip-flops, good shepherds in high heels, good shepherds in wing tips. We have seen the bystanders who chose not to run away from danger but run into danger because the sheep were wounded, and fearful, and lost. My friends, these are the examen images that dispel all evil and restore lost innocence.

It is time to move from surreality back to reality. It is time to adjust to a new normal. As individuals and as a civic community, how do we regain our innocence? How to we come to realize anew that life wins out over death, that love conquers hatred, and that hope displaces despair?

Let us remember the promise that we, and especially those who suffer from violence and terror, shall not hunger or thirst anymore, nor will the sun or any heat strike us, for the Lamb who is in the center of the throne will shepherd us and lead us to springs of life-giving water, and God will wipe away every tear from our eyes.”

T he B oston C ollege

Chronicle april 25, 2013

8

Clote, Ohi Are Guggenheim Fellows Celebrating THE Sesquicentennial The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation has awarded 2013 fellowships to two Boston College faculty members, Professor of Biology Peter Clote and Professor of English Kevin Ohi. Guggenheim Fellowships recognize professionals who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts. A diverse group of 175 scholars, artists and scientists were chosen for the fellowships — out of nearly 3,000 applicants — on the basis of prior achievement and exceptional promise.

Clote, whose current research into synthetic biology draws on a career spent melding the disciplines of mathematics, computer science and biology, will work as a visiting professor in applied mathematics and bioengineering at California Institute of Technology in the fall and next spring at the University of Vienna, the Bioinformatics Institute of the University of Leipzig and the Max Planck Institute of Berlin.

Clote’s distinguished career includes publishing approximately 100 research articles, coauthoring two books and coediting three books, as well as editorial roles at several journals, including his current post as associate editor of the Journal of Mathematical Biology.

“This is wonderful news for Peter,” said DeLuca Professor and Biology Department Chairman Thomas Chiles. “The Guggenheim recognizes Peter’s scholarly contribution and innovative approach to RNA and synthetic biology. It also speaks to the caliber of our faculty at Boston College.”

“I feel very fortunate,” said Clote, who holds a courtesy appointment in the Computer Science Department. “I’m indebted to Tom Chiles, who has helped to create an excellent research infrastructure within our department. That support has fostered a lot of great research in our department.”

Clote moved into the field of computational biology more than a decade ago, coming from a background in mathematics and computer science. In addition to his post at BC, where he has worked since 1984, Clote has held professorships at universities in France and Germany.

His varied and accomplished

Justin Knight

By Rosanne Pellegrini and Ed Hayward Staff Writers

Kevin Ohi

background has led him into the area of synthetic biology, specifically an effort to design RNA molecules for particular purposes.

“The focus I have is on RNA computational biology, which concerns the biophysics of RNA molecules, their structure, evolution and design,” Clote said.

“So this project, building on the recent work of my lab, concerns the design of RNA molecules for certain specific functions.”

Ohi, who joined the Boston College faculty in 2001, specializes in literary and cultural theory. He has taught a number of courses at both the undergraduate and graduate levels,

Guggenheim Fellowships recognize professionals who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts.

among them William Faulkner, Virginia Woolf, Queer Origins, and Studies in Narrative. His writing and teaching interests include queer theory, aestheticism and decadence, Victorian and modernist literature, 20thcentury American literature, and film.

He is the author of the books Innocence and Rapture: The Erotic Child in Pater, Wilde, James, and Nabokov and Henry James and the Queerness of Style, and has published essays in edited collections and in such journals as ELH, Criticism, Camera Obscura, Victorian Literature and Culture, and The Henry James Review.

The fellowship, awarded to Ohi in the category of humanities and field of literary criticism, will enable continued work on his book Dead Letters Sent: Queer Literary Transmission.

“In any project there comes a time when one needs to give sustained, uninterrupted atten-

Peter Clote

tion to one’s writing, and I am grateful that the Guggenheim Foundation, with BC’s support, will allow me to take a year off from teaching to finish my book,” he said. “It is a tremendous honor to receive a Guggenheim Fellowship. I’m doing my best not to look too carefully into the question of whether I deserve to be on a list with such accomplished people.”

Ohi noted that, at a time when higher education is under increasing financial pressure, “people tend to talk about research as if it came at the expense of undergraduate teaching. In my case, it certainly doesn’t. I can’t imagine my teaching without my research, and I believe my research has made my teaching more vital and relevant.”

Information on fellowships and other programs of the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation is available at http://www.gf.org.

Golf Tourney Benefits ALS Foundation The Athletics Association and BC2Boston program will host a charity golf tournament at Newton Commonwealth Golf Course this Saturday, April 27, to benefit the ALS Foundation in honor of Athletics’ Pete Frates and Dick Kelley, who are both combating the disease.

Teams registering as threesomes will be completed by a student-athlete of their choice from a pool of volunteers. A raffle will be held in conjunction with the event.

For more information, see the Facebook event page at http://on.fb.me/11hh3fR. —Office of News & Public Affairs

Few Boston College alumni are as well-known as Doug Flutie ’85, Heisman Trophy winner, long-time professional football player and current NBC television college football analyst.

But Flutie – the diminutive quarterback who captured the nation’s heart as he led the Eagles to a Top 5 ranking in his senior year, capping off the magical season with the famous “Hail Mary” touchdown pass in Miami – might have wound up at Harvard if newly-hired BC coach Jack Bicknell hadn’t offered him BC’s last remaining scholarship for that year.

Flutie went on to become the most prolific offensive player in major college football history, accounting for more than 11,000 yards of offensive yardage. He also excelled in the classroom: He was the University’s sole candidate for a Rhodes Scholarship in 1984 and won virtually every scholar-athlete honor and acclaim available.

In addition to his long and successful playGary Gilbert ing career — including 21 years in profesERSPECTIVES sional football — Flutie and his wife Laurie have founded the Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism that funds advocacy programs and provides educational, therapeutic and recreational opportunities to improve the lives of people and families living with autism. The Fluties have helped to raise more than $13 million for the foundation, which is named in honor of their son, Dougie, who is autistic.

The former BC quarterback – who is forever remembered in a lifesized bronze statue outside of Alumni Stadium - shared some memories of his Boston College experience with Chronicle correspondent Reid Oslin in a recent telephone call from the Flutie home in Melbourne Beach, Fla. The full interview is available at www.bc.edu/chronicle.

P

on the Heights

How did you wind up at Boston College?

When I was at Natick High, I was a 1-AA type player being recruited by the Ivy League and 1-AA schools. BC’s coach at the time, Ed Chlebek, had decided not to recruit me. Then Chlebek resigned, and Jack Bicknell came from University of Maine to take over. Late in the recruiting season, BC realized they were not getting either one of their top quarterback recruits. BC kept in touch with me, but I was in the last round of guys who visited the school. They did not have a quarterback coming in. I think they saw me as an athlete who could potentially play elsewhere and brought me in, saying “We’ll let you start out as a quarterback then you will probably wind up playing somewhere else.”

Who were your favorite teachers at BC? My No. 1 was Rev. Leonard Mahoney, SJ. He was a history professor, but he was always there as a chaplain with the football team. He realized that in the first semester of my freshman year I was living by myself, and so he would always stop by to check in with me. He was very caring, he worried about everyone. I loved Fr. Mahoney. He really looked after me when I needed it.

The other would be Professor Marilyn Matelski in the Communication Department. I had switched into a communication major [from computer science]. I had several courses with her, but I really appreciated how she went out of her way to help me out with my own public speaking, interviews and television appearances.

I remember watching an interview of me after the high school allstar game and realizing how shy and quiet I was; I wouldn’t even look at the camera. Between taking courses, Marilyn’s help, and just by doing all of those interviews, the difference from freshman to senior year was amazing.

What has Boston College meant to you over the years?

I have always liked being around campus. My brother Darren was there right after I left, so I enjoyed being able to watch him play. I always loved going to BC basketball and hockey games, too. I always felt I was a part of BC. It’s been a big part of my life.

Read the full interview at www.bc.edu/chronicle

T he B oston C ollege

Chronicle april 25, 2013

9

Six Earn Prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowships

By Ed Hayward and Kathleen Sullivan Staff Writers

Six members of the Boston College community have received National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships, which support graduate education for individuals who have demonstrated their potential for significant achievements in science and engineering research.

•Graduate student Ashley Biernesser, in her second year in the lab of Assistant Professor of Chemistry Jeff Byers, is working toward her doctorate and conducting research in the area of organo-metallic chemistry. The Pennsylvania native, who earned her bachelor’s degree at Duquesne University, said the three-year, $90,000 fellowship will support her study and work on a project to create a new class of biodegradable plastic.

“We’re trying to create a new type of biodegradable plastic that is more economical than current alternatives,” said Biernesser. “If we’re able to make this type of biodegradable plastic, it would allow us to modify the life of the polymer and tailor it to particular applications. We could make it degrade quicker or last longer.”

To do that, Biernesser is developing new catalysts capable of building a degradable product and giving chemists the responsiveness to “tune” the material to the desired use.

Biernesser credits Byers with encouraging her to revise and resubmit her application after NSF reviewers gave her positive comments last year. In addition to her skills as a researcher, Byers said Biernesser played an instrumental role in setting up his lab when he first arrived on campus and that her community outreach efforts highlight her commitment to making science and scientific discovery accessible to the public.

“This is a well-deserved honor for Ashley that speaks to the high caliber students the Department of Chemistry attracts to our graduate program,” Byers said. “Our

Halle Zucker

Ashley Biernesser

graduate students conduct first-rate research, work closely with our undergraduates and really enrich the department.”

•A visit to the Kennedy Space Center when he was in elementary school inspired Nathan Nesbitt to pursue a career in the sciences.

Today, the graduate student in the Physics Department is searching for innovative energy solutions he hopes will one day help solve the problem of climate change.

His NSF fellowship will support graduate study and a project to develop highly efficient solar panels that combine the innovative nanocoax receptor technology – developed by BC faculty – with benign, readily available, and highly absorptive coatings.

A graduate of Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Nesbitt said his senior thesis explored a similar coat-

Nathan Nesbitt

ing scheme – namely Porphyrin, an organic dye similar to chlorophyll – that proved to be a highly effective absorber of sunlight. His goal is to apply that and other coatings to the nanocoax, a highly efficient converter of sunlight to energy.

Nesbitt works in the lab of Ferris Professor of Physics and Department Chairman Michael Naughton, a member of the BC faculty team that developed the nanocoax.

Nesbitt said his focus on renewable energy and sustainability was prompted by his concern over climate change. Nesbitt, who has been a vocal advocate for sustainable energy policy, said he’s excited by the challenge of putting his skills as a researcher to use in an effort to

find new solutions that could potentially curb climate change.

“I think we all have a responsibility to reduce the impact of climate change,” said Nesbitt. “Personally, I want to focus my work as a graduate student and a researcher on areas that can potentially have a significant impact on reducing fossil fuel use and stop the damage that’s being done to the climate on a global scale.”

•Senior Lisa M. Piccirillo, a math major from Greenwood, Me., with hopes of becoming a research professor, plans to pursue a doctorate in pure mathematics, studying topology at the University of Texas at Austin, considered a powerhouse in this area.

“She is the first BC undergraduate in mathematics to win this award since I came to the Univer-

Lily Tsoi

sity in 1996,” said Mathematics Professor Solomon Friedberg, chair of the department.

As an Undergraduate Research Fellow under the supervision of Assistant Professor of Mathematics Elisenda Grigsby, Piccirillo worked on a computational problem in knot theory.

“Lisa is an impressive young mathematician and I am thrilled that she was awarded an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship,” said Grigsby. “When she began, she had absolutely no background in knot theory and no mathematics training beyond linear algebra.

Within a week, she was successfully performing calculations that give many graduate students trouble.

By the end, she had obtained sufficiently interesting results — using a computer program she had written — to be invited to present her work at competitive undergraduate research conferences across the country. I look forward to following her career in the years to come.”

Piccirillo was chosen to participate in the Women and Mathematics program at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, one of the world’s leading centers for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. As part of the intimate and research-focused mentoring program for undergraduate and

All photos by Lee Pellegrini except Lisa Piccirillo graduate women in math, she took teachers. I don’t know any other courses in symplectic geometry and undergrads going into math who Legandrian knot theory. can say the same.”

Last summer, she was one of 18 •Psychology Department reundergraduates from around the searchers James Dungan, Lily Tsoi world to participate in the NSF’s and Halle Zucker round out BC’s Research Experience for Under- NSF Graduate Research Fellowgraduates (REU) at Cornell Uni- ship winners. versity. She worked closely with “These fellowships are highly selective, and the fact that three students mentored in our labs have received NSF fellowships is a testament to our terrific faculty and to the excellent doctoral students they attract,” said Psychology Department Chair Professor Ellen Winner.

Dungan and Tsoi are researchers in Assistant Professor of Psychology Liane Young’s Morality Lab, where they study moral psychology and the neural process of James Dungan people making moral judgments. faculty advisor Bob Connelly and Dungan was awarded a fellowship co-authored a forthcoming paper, for continued graduate studies at “On Unit Triangle and Square Til- BC, where his research looks at ings.” the cognitive and neural basis of Last fall, Piccirillo gave a talk distinct moral domains, specifically at the Shenandoah Undergraduate morals targeting one’s self versus Mathematics and Statistics Confer- another. He recently presented his ence at James Madison Univer- research at the Society for Personalsity. She gave a report talk and ity and Social Psychology’s annual poster presentation at the Young meeting.

Mathematicians Conference at Tsoi is completing her second The Ohio State University in 2012 year as the full-time manager in and 2011, respectively, as well as a Young’s lab. Her fellowship will talk at the 2012 Nebraska Confer- support her transition from lab ence for Undergraduate Women in manager to graduate student at BC Mathematics. She also spoke and this fall. Her area of study is the role presented at the Joint Math Meetings — the world’s largest math conference — in 2013 and 2012, respectively.

Piccirillo is enrolled in an advanced, graduate-level topics course on knot theory taught by Assistant Professor of Mathematics Joshua Greene, who also serves as Piccirillo’s thesis advisor. “[For her thesis] Lisa is studying a problem in knot theory [that] deals with simplifying a very interesting family of knots into unknot- Lisa M. Piccirillo ted curves by a specific sequence of of brain regions in moral judgment. moves. Lisa surprised me with her She recently gave a poster presentaearly progress on this problem -- tion on “Brain Regions for Theolshe quickly saw the ‘right’ approach ogy of Mind Distinguish Between to it, whereas I had been envision- Cooperative and Competitive Ining something much more compli- teractions in a ‘Rock, Paper, Sciscated. She is now in the process of sors’ Game” at the annual meetwriting up her result, and I expect ing of the Cognitive Neuroscience it will lead to interesting directions Society. for further study. I am looking “We’re really thrilled for James forward to seeing how she develops and Lily,” said Young. “We are very from a bright undergraduate stu- proud of them. They’ve worked redent into a researcher through her ally hard and are worthy recipients graduate career.” of this recognition.” “[The BC Math Department] Zucker, a research assistant in has been a great department in Associate Professor of Psychology which to be an undergraduate,” Elizabeth Kensinger’s Cognitive said Piccirillo. “Many undergrads and Affective Neuroscience Lab, have to compromise between ap- will use her fellowship to support proachable faculty and current and graduate studies in cognitive neuinspiring researchers. My advisors roscience at the University of Calat BC have all been both incred- ifornia-Davis. ible mathematicians and fantastic

T he B oston C ollege

Chronicle april 25, 2013

10

Jessica Vallejo ’14 hears the applause after being announced as the Romero Scholarship winner. (Photo by Caitlin Cunningham)

Vallejo Wins Romero Honor

By Kathleen Sullivan Staff Writer

Junior Jessica Vallejo, who credits her experiences in the Arrupe International Immersion trip to Mexico and a fellowship program on the legal profession with shaping her personal and world views, is this year’s Archbishop Oscar A. Romero Scholarship recipient.

The scholarship, which covers 75 percent of senior year tuition and is awarded to a Boston College junior who demonstrates a commitment to the values and ideals reflected in the life of Archbishop of El Salvador Oscar Romero. Vallejo, was honored with the award recently in a ceremony hosted by the Romero Scholarship Committee.

Vallejo, from Queens, NY, is a political science major with a double minor in International Studies and women and gender studies. Since her freshman year, she has been active in the student group Organization of Latin American Affairs (OLAA) and serves as editor of Sabor, its Latin America literary/art magazine. She also is involved in the AHANA Leadership Council and the Women of Color Caucus.

Vallejo cites her Arrupe International Immersion trip as “one of the most transformative experiences” of her BC career. “In many of the young women I met in Cuernavaca, I saw myself. I could have easily been them had I been born — by sheer luck — in a different part of the world or had I not been provided with the support and opportunity to attend college.”

Witnessing social, political and economic injustice, she said, “allowed me to see that not only do I have a duty to, but that I could, through my education, do something to help achieve a more just system.”

Vallejo, who plans to attend law school, was a participant in the Lindsay Fellowship Program — a summer educational program for college students interested in careers in the law — where she worked hands-on with both judges and law clerks, took an intensive

legal research and writing course taught by a law school professor and interned at the US Attorney’s office. At the conclusion, she participated in a moot court before a federal judge.

“Learning about the law’s power and significance was vital, as it helped me realize that through the law I can work to uplift the Latino community working in a variety of areas and issues that affect our community,” said Vallejo.

In addition to support from friends, Vallejo praises her parents and her mentor, Carroll School of Management part-time faculty member Arivee Vargas ’05, JD ’08 — the 2004 Oscar Romero Scholar — for fueling her passion and work ethic.

“I owe everything I am today to [my parents’] hard work and dedication,” she said. “They have given me more than I could ever ask for, in love, values and motivation. [Arivee’s] guidance, instruction, encouragement and example have given me the assurance that it is possible to succeed as a Latina, and to work to achieve social justice through the law. She has been an incredible support and a huge source of inspiration.”

Also honored at the ceremony was Alberto Vasallo III ’89, the 2013 Rev. John A. Dinneen, SJ, Hispanic Alumni Community Service Award winner. Last year, Vasallo was named president and CEO of El Mundo, New England’s premier Latino newspaper, where he has worked since 1981.

The other Romero Scholarship finalists were Andrea Lopez, a nursing major who is a member of the Voices of Imani gospel choir and president-elect of the Massachusetts Student Nurses Association; Andrea Roman, a political science major who serves as a mentor for the Big Sister Association of Greater Boston; and Victoria Torres-Vega, an applied psychology and human development major who serves as site leader for the Lawrence Recreation Department and advocate for the Lawrence Juvenile Courthouse.

Contact Kathleen Sullivan at kathleen.sullivan@bc.edu

Juniors Matthew Nacier and Matthew Alonsozana were recently elected Undergraduate Government of Boston College president and vice president, respectively, the “Matt and Matt” ticket garnering 58 percent of the student vote earlier this month. Chronicle staff writer Melissa Beecher recently sat down with the team to talk about plans for the upcoming year. For the full interview, see www.bc.edu/chronicle.

Did you have political ambitions before coming to BC? Why did you get involved with UGBC? Matt N.: I’ve always been attracted to business and industrial design — politics never crossed my mind as something I would be well suited for. But I’ll admit during the campaign this question came up a lot and maybe the political bug might have bitten me. We’ll see.

I got involved in UGBC because I wanted to make a difference. I wanted to give to the community and do everything in my power to be a positive addition my environment. Matt and I both love BC. As a matter of fact, every candidate that ran loves BC; our visions were just different. Our goal has always been to better the BC experience and in that process help our school become the premier Catholic university in the world.

Matt A.: Prior to coming to BC, I had envisioned myself serving the community by becoming a top expert and advocate on matters of health care law and policy, but I had wanted to do so in the context of medicine.

As I became more involved in policy and political activities during my BC career, my focus began to shift to the legal and political field until I found this year that what got me out of bed in the morning was having the ability to advocate for various members of the community, through the Asian Caucus and UGBC. I ended up spending this entire year on campaigns: in the fall with the Romney and Brown campaigns and in the spring with my own. Now, I envision myself moving more towards being an effective legislator. (Perhaps the first Asian-American senator from Maryland?)

I got involved with UGBC because I truly believe that it is the organization best placed to serve the undergraduate community and act as a catalyst for change. I had mentors who encouraged my involvement, and luckily, by the skin of my teeth, I won a senate seat last year. In senate, I founded and now chair the UGBC Policy

Lee Pellegrini

New UGBC Team Ready for Work

Matthew Nacier Hometown: Highland Village, Tex. Major: Economics and philosophy

Matthew Alonsozana Hometown: Baltimore Major: Economics and biology; Pre-law

Caucus that acts as a coordinating forum, think tank, and resource for policy advocates in the BC community for many different issues, from health to sustainability.

I also joined UGBC because I wanted to encourage the Asian and Asian-American community to step out of its comfort zone and become more involved with larger on-campus organizations.

Who came up with the campaign slogan “Forward with U?” and why do you think it resonated with students?

Matt A: Coming up with the slogan was a team effort. The original slogan “Standing with You, Moving Forward” was somewhat cumbersome, but after honest advice, we found a simple slogan that people could remember and fit well with our innovative aspirations.

You have an extensive platform that the student body obviously appreciated. What are the top three issues you will tackle as president/vice president?

Matt N.: Our platform began with introduction of the three Cs: Community, Clarity, & Creativity. Our biggest goal is to implement that into the way UGBC is run next year. With the new structure, community is more important than ever so that all groups in UGBC feel included.

This sense of community would reach to other offices and organizations so that we can work to help each other overcome campus-wide issues.

With a community this large there has to be a sense of clarity. We need to be clear in our direction and vision and we need to be able to communicate better not only with the new organization but also with students and faculty.

This clarity would make UGBC a bridge between the concerns of faculty and students where we can find ways to jointly solve problems.

Lastly, we need to be creative.

Matt and I wish to work towards a

more proactive UGBC that works harder in advocating students’ needs and finding ways to include students’ input. Too often we find ourselves repeating things year after year in UGBC when we should be asking “How can we make this better? Does it better the BC experience? How can we better appropriate our resources?”

What advice would you give to an incoming student who may have an interest in UGBC? Matt N.: I would tell them to apply and learn as much as you can about the BC community.

More importantly, I would assure them if you have enough passion and drive, you don’t need to be in UGBC to make a change.

Matt A.: Get involved with something early, and reach out to us. Matt and I got involved by having great mentors to show us the way, and we want to learn with you and pass on this legacy that we have inherited since we arrived at BC. Your YouTube campaign videos were very entertaining.

How much of a role does social media play in today’s UGBC campaigns?

Matt N.: Thanks, I’m glad you enjoyed them. We couldn’t have done it with out the help of Joseph Baron and James Pettigrew. I most certainly will say that social media plays a huge part during campaigns. A strong social media presence can get you more exposure. Although social media is nice, nothing can compare to speaking face to face in the residence halls. Matt and I absolutely loved knocking on doors and getting to meet and hear so many different stories from our BC peers.

Without any interaction with one another, campaign season would be so boring if you took away chances to meet with students and share your vision.

Contact Melissa Beecher at melissa.beecher@bc.edu

T he B oston C ollege

Chronicle april 25, 2013

11

NOTA BENE The Edgar Allan Poe Foundation of Boston, chaired by Professor of English Paul Lewis, has received a $5,000 donation from Stephen King, acclaimed author of contemporary horror, suspense, fantasy and science fiction.

The gift from King and his wife Tabitha put the foundation’s campaign to fund artist Stefanie Rocknak’s life-sized bronze sculpture “Poe Returning to Boston” over the one-third mark toward raising the $175,000 needed for the project.

Organizers have targeted May 2014 for unveiling the artwork in Poe Square, a plaza opposite the entrance to Boston Common at the corner of Boylston and Charles streets. It will be a permanent commemoration of the city’s influential writer, who was born in 1809 in Boston.

For more information, email Lewis at paul.lewis@bc.edu.

The McMullen Museum of Art’s groundbreaking fall 2012 exhibition “Paul Klee: Philosophical Vision; From Nature to Art” was chosen as one of five finalists for the 2012 Association of Art Museum Curators (AAMC) Award for Outstanding University Exhibition.

The critically acclaimed, exclusive exhibition was the first to focus on the relationship between philosophy and Klee’s prolific artistic oeuvre, and to reveal the broad impact the artist has had on recent philosophical thought.

“In a year in which we received an incredible number of nominations this is a wonderful achievement,” according to the AAMC Prize Committee Chair Georgiana Uhlyarik.

McMullen Museum Director Nancy Netzer, professor of art history, called the AAMC selection a “wonderful recognition,” and noted that the exhibition was nominated by John Wilson, director of the Timken Museum of Art in San Diego.

The winner will be announced at the AAMC conference in New York in May. Carroll School of Management Associate Professor of Accounting Sugata Roychowdhury has won the 2013 Distinguished Contribution to Accounting Literature Award from the American Accounting Association for his article “Earnings Management Through Real Activities Manipulation,” which was published in the Journal of Accounting and Economics in 2006. The award recognizes a work of exceptional merit published more than five but not more than 15 years ago. Roychowdhury will receive the award at the August 2013 AAA Annual Meeting in Anaheim, Calif.

A team of Carroll School of Management graduate students placed second out of a field of 20 teams at the recent ninth annual Minority MBA Student Case Competition in Cleveland. The team of Jeff Song MBA ’14, Jamie Shim MBA ’14 and Lucy Cheng MSA/MSF ’14 advanced to the final round, where they were runner-up to a team from UCLA.

Newsmakers Prof. James Bretzke, SJ (STM), and Assoc. Prof. Rev. James Weiss (Theology) gave comments to the Boston Herald on the appointment of Boston Archbishop Cardinal Sean O’Malley, OFM, Cap., to the eight-cardinal Vatican Advisory Council. Fr. Bretzke also was interviewed by WBZ-AM, WCVBTV and, with BC students, by WHDH/WJAR-TV. Lynch School of Education Brennan Professor Andy Hargreaves, a featured speaker at this month’s National Forum on School Improvement, discussed sustainability in a Q&A with Education Week.

The ways in which people interact with their mobile devices open up all sorts of opportunities for fresh uses of language to capture the effect on their experiences and inner lives, wrote Director of American Studies Prof. Carlo Rotella (English) in the Boston Globe.

Improving Americans’ retirement security requires a three-pronged

approach: work longer, preserve Social Security and save more, Carroll School of Management Drucker Professor Alicia Munnell, director of the Center for Retirement Research wrote in an op-ed for Bloomberg News.

Asst. Prof. Peter Krause (Political Science) discussed the North Korean situation in an interview with New England Cable News.

KPCC-FM (Los Angeles) and KCBS-AM (San Francisco) interviewed Adj. Assoc. Prof. Richard McGowan, SJ (CSOM; Econom-

Publications Adj. Assoc. Prof. Michael C. Keith (Communication) published a new fiction collection, Everything is Epic.

BC BRIEFING

Prof. Maxim D. Shrayer (Slavic and Eastern Languages) published English translations of Ilya Selvinsky’s Shoah poems in Four Centuries: Russian Poetry in Translation.

ics), about the advent of Powerball in the state of California.

Honors/Appointments

An article published in C21 Resources by Burns Library Conservator Barbara Adams Hebard, “God’s Mercy in the World,” was reprinted in the Osservatore Romano and cited by Vatican Radio.

Colleagues to Fete Romance Lang.

Professor Bruckner at May Event Medieval studies colleagues from Boston College, the US and abroad will pay tribute at a conference next month to Romance Languages and Literatures Professor Matilda Bruckner, who joined the BC faculty three decades ago.

The 48th International Congress on Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo, Mich. (May 9-12) will feature three sessions in honor of Bruckner’s outstanding contribution to the field.

This professional homage follows the publication of a 2013 festschrift in honor of her distinguished career, Shaping Courtliness in Medieval France: Essays in Honor of Matilda Tomaryn Bruckner, co-edited by her department colleague Associate Professor Laurie Shepard and former student Daniel E. O’Sullivan PhD ’00, now an associate professor at the University of Mississippi. Both also contributed essays to the volume.

The festschrift focuses on works written in the Francophone world between the 12th and 15th centuries that examine courtliness as both an historical privilege and a literary ideal, and as a concept that operated on and was informed by complex social and economic realities.

Bruckner’s areas of research include Medieval French literature, which she said continues to raise questions for readers in the 21st century. Her particular fo-

Prof. Maxim D. Shrayer (Slavic and Eastern Languages) was interviewed by The Jewish Advocate and Runyweb.com about his new book I SAW IT, and by The Voice of Russia about the recently published Russian translation of his book Waiting for America.

cus is on 12th and 13th-century romance, verse and prose narrative, troubadour and trouvère lyric. She has taught a variety of introductory level literature courses – narrative, poetry and drama, and masterpieces of French literature – in addition to those for graduate students and advanced undergraduates on Medieval French literature.

Bruckner, whose achievements include fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Council of Learned Societies, described her response to the tribute as “Speechless, moved to tears — my first reactions don’t easily translate into words; a gift of such overwhelming generosity filled my heart.

“When Dan first told me about the sessions at Kalamazoo in my honor, I felt incredible gratitude that my work had evoked such a beautiful response from students, colleagues and friends,” Bruckner said. “When he told me that he and Laurie had organized a festschrift as well, I was truly astounded.

Many people kept the secret so well that I was totally surprised.”

To have “the opportunity to learn that my work has made a difference, to hear a response from those who share my desire to make the past and present speak to each other in fruitful exchange ­— that is a privilege,” she added.

—Rosanne Pellegrini

Hyunjung Chang ’14 was selected as a finalist to participate in the third annual “Chinese Bridge” Speech Contest for University Students in New England, hosted by the Confucius Institute at the University of Massachusetts-Boston, winning third place. As a result, she earned the International Exchange Scholarship from the Educational Center in Heilongjiang, China, for a free 20-day cultural trip to Northeast China. Her essay, “Tianjin—The Place Where I Developed My Dreams,” was published in a local Chinese-English newspaper, Bostonese.

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/: Assistant Director, AHANA Student Programs Fiscal Manager, Auxiliary Service Center Grant Proposal and Contracts Administrator, Office of Sponsored Programs Administrative Assistant, Boston College Law School Advancement Associate Director, Capital & Special Gifts, Athletics Department Head Librarian, Social Work Library Manager, Human Resources Service Center Associate Director, Diversity and Inclusion, Office of Institutional Diversity Senior Associate Director, Development, BC Law Advancement Technology Manager, Office of Residential Life Research Economist, Center for Retirement Research

T he B oston C ollege

Chronicle april 25, 2013

12

Strolling Down ‘Avenue Q’

Photos by Lee Pellegrini

Boston College theatre students are finishing up a unique learning experience with the staging of “Avenue Q,” which opened at the Robsham Theater Arts Center yesterday and runs through a Sunday matinee performance.

The contemporary musical comedy tells the timeless coming-of-age story of young adult puppets living in tenements on the fringes of New York City — the rundown “Avenue Q.” And while several puppets are parodies of “Sesame Street” regulars, they are in their 20s and 30s and face adult problems. Despite the fuzzy faces, organizers note, it is an adult show, not suitable for children.

Professional puppeteers Brad Shur and Roxie Myrhum – artist-in-residence and artistic director of the Puppet Showplace Theatre in Brookline, respectively – collaborated throughout this academic year with BC students in preparation for the production. Nine students participated in a fall workshop with Shur to construct the puppet actors. Throughout this semester, Myrhum has served as puppetry coach for the student actors.

Tickets for “Avenue Q” are available via the Box Office or via the web site: www. bc.edu/robsham.

—Rosanne Pellegrini