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to BC 3 ‘Thanks’ snow crews

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Boynton’s The Idea Hunter

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Swords drafted, Dyroff honored APRIL 28, 2011 VOL. 19 NO. 16

BC Scientist Says Fossil Discovery Suggests Life on Land Evolved Earlier

Gary Wayne Gilbert

“There is a great deal of autonomy within Catholic schools: fewer forms to fill out, less bureaucracy, and a strong local authority of teachers and principals. This is a great advantage in meeting students’ needs.”

—Patricia Weitzel-O’Neill, Roche Center for Catholic Education

Singing the Praises of Catholic Schools Finishing up her first year as head of BC’s Roche Center for Catholic Education, Patricia Weitzel-O’Neill is determined to help Catholic schools survive and thrive. And she thinks BC can play a key role in the struggle

BY SEAN SMITH CHRONICLE EDITOR

Patricia Weitzel-O’Neill didn’t exactly leave childhood with a glow of fondness for her Catholic high school experience.

“I would get into trouble and had to work hard for good deportment grades, and I often disagreed with the sisters,” she laughs, “and I was certain at age 18 that I’d never allow my kids to go to a Catholic school.”

Yet here she is, a former superintendent of schools for the Archdiocese of Washington, DC, former vice president of academic affairs for Trinity University, and now the executive director for Boston College’s Barbara and Patrick Roche Center for Catholic Education — one of the nation’s preeminent resources in training, preparation and problem-solving for Catholic educators on all levels.

And for the record, both of Weitzel-O’Neill’s children are graduates of Catholic grade school and high schools.

So what happened to all that youthful angst about Catholic

education?

“Looking back, I began to appreciate the discipline and rigor that underpinned my Catholic schooling,” says Weitzel-O’Neill, who grew up in Detroit and Pittsburgh. “There was a real openness in the faculty to promote critical thinking, to push you to question what you read and what you heard.

“Of course, my memory was of arguing with the sisters because they took to heart that task of pushing us to help us think on our own,” she adds.

“Well, weren’t they clever?”

to help Catholic education address a myriad of financial and social challenges. She lauds the personalities and programs at BC with whom she collaborates on numerous center-related initiatives, including the Urban Catholic Teachers Corps, the St. Columbkille Partnership School in Brighton, the Institute for Administrators of Catholic Higher Education, the journal Catholic Education, and new programming to support pre-K through grade 12 Catholic schools.

Boston College, she says, has been all she hoped for, and more.

Weitzel-O’Neill says she grew to ap“There is such a commitpreciate the discipline and rigor of her ment to the Jesuit-Ignatian culture of education here.

Catholic schooling: “There was a real You see it in practice, in openness in the faculty to promote crit- management styles, in the respect for other’s opinions ical thinking, to push you to question and comments, day in and what you read and what you heard.” day out — it’s not just basic pedagogy. People have chosen to be here because of this A year after her appointment culture, and that dedication is to the Roche Center — she for- reflected across the University.” mally began her duties in July Weitzel-O’Neill brings to the — Weitzel-O’Neill is happy to center both a broad overview have found many new allies and a day-in, week-out perspecfor the battle she wages now: Continued on page 6

organisms, but do include some rare multicellular structures with organic walls that measure up to one milIn the sandstone cliffs of the limeter long. The team reports that Scottish Highlands, Earth and En- these simple eukaryotes lived in anvironmental Science Department cient lakes that periodically dried part-time faculty member Paul out, exposing life directly to the Strother and colleagues discovered atmosphere. This discovery places fossils that show early life forms eukaryotes in freshwater settings apmight have emerged 500 million proximately 500 million years earlier years earlier than previously estab- than previously thought. lished.

Life probably originated in the The fossils reveal that eukary- sea more than three billion years otes that evolved ago; however, on land may have the first signs emerged from the of life on land sea sooner than are less wellscientists had defined. The thought, Strother identification and his colleagues of eukaryotes reported this in non-mamonth in the onrine settings line edition of the described by journal Nature.

Strother’s “We tend to team indicates think of evoluthat eukarytion as originatotic evolution ing out of the sea, on land may but it could have have comcome from land,” menced much said Strother. earlier than “We can take previously more seriously thought. the idea that life “We tend to think of evolution as In adhad occupied terdition to restrial habitats originating out of the sea, but it Strother, othmuch earlier than er researchers could have come from land.” we thought preinvolved in —Paul Strother the project viously and that it was much more include Leila a cradle of evoBattison and lutionary novelty Martin Brasithan the oceans were.” er of the University of Oxford, and Strother, a researcher in paleo- Charles H. Wellman, of the Unibotany at BC’s Weston Observa- versity of Sheffield. Funding from tory, and the rest of the team de- NASA’s Exobiology Program supscribe complex microfossils found ported the team’s research. in billion-year-old rocks from the The article co-authored by StrothTorridonian sequence in northwest er is available online at http://bit.ly/ Scotland. eblO56.

These diverse microfossils inContact Ed Hayward at clude mostly simple single-celled ed.hayward@bc.edu

BY ED HAYWARD STAFF WRITER

Arts Festival Kicks Off at Noon The Boston College community’s abundant artistic talents and resources will be in the spotlight beginning today at noon, with the start of the University’s 13th annual Arts Festival.

The three-day festival, which is open to the public, features more than 80 events on campus. Among the many highlights will be a tribute to Prince of Thieves author Chuck Hogan ’89 and a staging of the hit musical “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” at Robsham Theater.

For more information, see www.bc.edu/ artsfestival or call ext.2-ARTS (2787).

T he B oston C ollege

Chronicle APRIL 28, 2011

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‘SCHOOLED’ DAY

Photos by Lee Pellegrini

A ROUND C AMPUS

Alumni pitch in More than 200 Boston College alumni — representing 14 local alumni chapters from Maine to Hawaii – took part in the University’s sixth annual National Day of Service on April 16, pitching in their time and talents to revitalize parks, assist the homeless and improve the lives of children in their home areas.

Alumni good works ranged from a home building project with Atlanta’s Habitat for Humanity group to cooking and serving food at the Women and Children’s Shelter at the Catholic Center in Cleveland. In Honolulu, BC graduates helped sort donations at Hawaii’s Institute for Human Services, and, closer to home, another team of alumni joined crews from the Boston Public Works department to clean up Cassidy Park in Cleveland Circle.

-RO Above (L-R), Brendan Benedict ’12 conferred with Sarah Onori ’11 and Jennie Eckhart ’12 prior to a taping of the New England Sports Network game show “Schooled!” that took place April 19 in the Burns Library Thompson Room. The BC trio took on counterparts from Boston University in this episode, which will be broadcast in September. “Schooled!” features academic and trivia-type competition among teams representing colleges and universities throughout New England.

‘QUOTE/UNQUOTE’ “He’s from an obviously gerrymandered district and is also the oldest guy in the delegation. I think Olver and his staff know that the finger is pointing in their direction.”

—Assoc. Prof. Dennis Hale (Political Science), interviewed by the Boston Globe for a story on how redistricting might threaten the fourdecade tenure of US Rep. John Olver (D-Mass.)

T he B oston C ollege

Chronicle ON Cook your own Have you ever wondered what it is like to cook like the skilled but often impetuous chefs on the Food Channel?

Boston College students and employees will get a chance to whip up their own char-broiled specialties next Wednesday from 1:30 until 3 p.m. on the Corcoran Commons plaza, where BC Dining Services will provide the grills, ingredients and more than a few helpful hints for students who want to prepare their own luncheon meals.

“We call it ‘Grillin’ and Chillin,’” says Michael Kann, associate director of food and bev-

erages for BCDS. “We let the students come through and cook their own chicken sandwich. We usually get about 300 people using our four grills.

“The students think they are just going to get a chicken sand-

wich when they first come in,” he laughs. “We make them cook it, too.”

Kann and his staff ensure that students wear cooking gloves, use hand sanitizer and broil the meat to the proper 165-degree temperature before serving. “We explore food safety and how to cook things at the same time that we make lunch fun,” he says.

The outdoor do-it-yourself cooking event was originally scheduled to be held last Wednesday, but was postponed because of afternoon thunderstorms. Next week’s cook-out event is also subject to weather conditions.

—RO

Nothing ventured...

The Boston College Venture Competition (BCVC) marked its fifth anniversary with a split decision when judges deadlocked on picking the best proposal from the five finalists in the business plan competition.

Two student teams, My Savvy Shoes and AddItUpp, were named the co-winners of the competition, earning high marks for their detailed business plans and the pitches they made to a distinguished panel of judges.

Each team was awarded $6,500

in seed funding to move their projects ahead. MogloApps took third place and received $2,000 in funding.

My Savvy Shoes teammates Alexa Fleischman, Brynne Lee, Amanda McBride, and Lauren Wallace hope to begin production later this year of customizable shoes for girls. AddItUpp, a team made up of students Jeb Thomas, Peter Casinelli, Thomas Coburn, and Daniel Donohue, offers a pay-per-question-answered advertising. Teammates Matt Ricket-

son, John Bacon, Spencer Frazier, and Hanyin Cheng of MogloApps developed a location-based board game for mobile devices.

In just its fifth year, BCVC has seen at least one competitor take its product to production phase.

WakeMate, a company that designed a smart phone application that helps people achieve optimal sleep patterns, this year began shipping orders of the wristband device that synchs to the user’s phone.

—EH

Be sure to check out the Boston College Chronicle YouTube channel [www.youtube.com/bcchronicle] for video features on Boston College people, programs and events. New and upcoming videos include: •Project Hapa/Project Me: “Project Hapa: Project Me,” held as part of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, offered a chance for multiracial students to come together and talk among others in the community about perceptions of identity, culture and their experiences at BC. •BC shows appreciation to snow removal crews: University President William P. Leahy, SJ, spoke at a reception paying tribute to Facilities Services staff for their hard work during the past winter. [See story on page 3.]

The Boston College

Chronicle DIRECTOR OF NEWS & PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Jack Dunn DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF NEWS & PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Patricia Delaney EDITOR

Sean Smith CONTRIBUTING STAFF

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

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.

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Chronicle APRIL 28, 2011

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A Warm ‘Thanks’ from the University With spring finally here, BC shows its appreciation to work crews who labored through the winter After more than three months of being inundated by snow, ice, winds and rain, last week Boston College Facilities Services employees were showered with praise.

“I am very appreciative of the work that you did to keep Boston College operating in the midst of a very tough winter,” University President William P. Leahy, SJ, told a team of workers who were honored last Thursday for their herculean efforts in battling this past winter’s record-setting snowfall.

From Dec. 21 through April 1, BC’s foul-weather crews took on 14 storms that together dumped almost eight feet of snow on the University’s three campuses.

“When I would go from St. Mary’s Hall over to Botolph House, there would be a path that had already been cleared,” Fr. Leahy told the grounds crews and custodial employees who cleaned up after the frequent storms. “You worked in the nights, and when I came in the morning, everything was in great shape.

“We could not have functioned this winter without all of you. We have this occasion to say ‘thank you’ and how much we appreciate the long hours and effort that you put forth.”

Vice President of Facilities Daniel Bourque echoed Fr. Leahy’s thanks. “Across the whole University, people have recog-

nized your effort,” he told the 100 workers who attended the afternoon reception and buffet.

“Whether it was the Higgins stairs, cleaning out around the [Alumni Stadium] ‘Bubble’, cleaning Linden Lane or the stairs at Hillside, it was a massive effort.”

Associate Director of Facilities Services Gina Bellavia, who heads up the unit’s grounds division, said Thursday’s reception came about as “Fr. Leahy, Dan Bourque and [Executive Vice President] Pat Keating recognized that this was a tough winter. When we have a snowstorm, it makes for a tough week. We had two weeks this year when we had three snowstorms in that single week. Everything was compounded.

“The guys went above and beyond. They had to,” she said.

“They always respond, but this year was especially tiring for everyone. To think about these poor guys doing it over and over and over again, it’s one we will remember for a long time. We wanted to show them that we recognize how difficult it was.”

In addition to food and drink at the reception, all workers were presented with a special Boston College t-shirt depicting an Eagle pushing a snow shovel.

—Reid Oslin To see a short video about this event, go to the Chronicle YouTube channel, http://www.youtube.com/ bcchronicle

University Chancellor J. Donald Monan, SJ, who as president of Boston College from 1972 until 1996 transformed the University from a financially struggling, largely commuter school into one of the nation’s leading academic institutions, received the New England Province of Jesuits’ Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (AMDG) Award at the 11th annual Jesuit Gala on April 12 at the Marriott Copley Place in Boston.

The province’s AMDG award honors those who selflessly give of themselves for the greater glory of God. Fr. Monan’s presidency – the longest in Boston College history – was marked by dramatic growth in the University’s academic reputation; significant modernization and expansion of BC’s physical plant; careful attention to the University’s historic Jesuit and Catholic traditions, and substantial increases in student enrollment, quality and selectivity.

Throughout his priesthood, Fr. Monan has championed a host of educational, civic and human rights causes. Among these, he chaired a Visiting Committee on Management in Courts at the request of the Chief Justice of the Massachusetts

Gary Wayne Gilbert

Fr. Monan Earns AMDG Honor from NE Province

J. Donald Monan, SJ

Supreme Judicial Court; has served as chair or board member of numerous civic, charitable and educational endeavors; and was instrumental in securing justice in the case of the murders of Jesuit priest-educators in El Salvador in 1989.

Also honored at the Jesuit Gala were Rev. Aloysius P. Kelley, president of Fairfield University from 1979-2004 and Rev. John E. Brooks, SJ, president of the College of the Holy Cross from 1970-1994.

The New England Province of the Society of Jesus consists of more than 300 Jesuits serving the Church in educational, pastoral and spiritual ministries throughout the six New England states.

—Reid Oslin

“We could not have functioned this winter without all of you,” said University President William P. Leahy, SJ, at last week’s reception for Facilities Services employees (above). “We have this occasion to say ‘thank you’ and how much we appreciate the long hours and effort that you put forth.”

Photo by Caitlin Cunningham

21 MILES DOWN, FIVE MORE TO GO Boston Marathon runners were welcomed to the Boston College campus with signs and spirit — as well as a large inflatable arch reading “The Heartbreak Is Over” —thanks to the University’s “Mile 21” program that debuted this year. Student leaders and administrators created the initiative, which aims to organize more visible BC support for the marathon.

(Photo by Caitlin Cunningham)

T he B oston C ollege

Chronicle APRIL 28, 2011

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Boynton’s Book Stalks the Best Idea Hunters How do innovators find great ideas? Carroll School of Management dean has the answers

BY ED HAYWARD STAFF WRITER

In the Information Age, ideas are arguably the most valuable of assets. The challenge is finding the best ideas — the kind that can boost careers, change organizations, and improve lives. Carroll School of Management Dean Andy Boynton has co-authored a new book that challenges many of the assumptions about how great ideas are discovered.

Citing examples from a number of successful innovators, executives and entrepreneurs in The Idea Hunter: How to Find the Best Ideas and Make Them Happen, Boynton and co-author Bill Fischer show that great ideas come to those who are in the habit of looking for them — all the time.

“Idea hunters are voraciously curious and are interested in ideas found in the world around them,” says Boynton, a 1978 Carroll School graduate who returned as dean six years ago. “They understand innovation is not about originality and that the best ideas are often combinations of existing ideas that are creatively repurposed and combined to solve problems or address new opportunities. They also realize the hunt for great ideas is a byproduct of

their everyday lives and that great ideas are out there for the taking and are, essentially, free.”

These people — their stories and secrets — are highlighted in The Idea Hunter. The authors present a number of well-known idea hunters, ranging from Thomas Edison and Walt Disney to Warren Buffett and the Boston Beer Company’s Jim Koch.

The idea for the book grew out of the long-time collaboration between Boynton and Fischer, former colleagues at the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Lausanne, Switzerland, who previously co-authored the book Virtuoso Teams: Lessons From Teams That Changed Their Worlds.

“Bill and I taught executives from around the world for a decade and realized that the most effective leaders and managers were those who were passionately curious and were effective at finding and working with ideas to propel their organizations forward,” Boynton says. “We’ve written this book for managers and leaders in a way that links their overall performance to the value of the ideas they have. We prescribe how they can better meet their goals and objectives by strengthening their ability to hunt for ideas.”

“Idea hunters,” says Carroll School of Management Dean Andy Boynton, “understand innovation is not about originality and that the best ideas are often combinations of existing ideas that are creatively repurposed and combined to solve problems or address new opportunities.” (Photo by Caitlin Cunningham)

The Idea Hunter unveils a strategy for unearthing new ideas in any industry or organization. That strategy is “The Hunt,” which has to be fueled by the hunter’s own personal and professional passions. Boynton says that advice works for CEOs, as well as BC students and soon-to-be graduates entering the working world.

“Figure out what you are passionate about and make that the center of your professional life,” says Boynton. “That provides the filter for your hunt for ideas.

After that, it’s game on. Never stop learning. Never stop reading.

Never stop listening and visiting

diverse places. Always be curious about the world around you. Realize that you will never get much further in life based on what you already know. Be an idea hunter.”

And, he adds, start hunting for ideas and talking about them from day one.

“Being an idea hunter regardless of where you are on the corporate ladder is a way to differentiate yourself,” says Boynton. “You can’t start idea hunting once you get to the top of the ladder. Idea hunting is what gets you up the ladder.”

Many of the tools and tactics described in the books are part

of Boynton’s management style at the Carroll School, where he brings together diverse teams to launch new initiatives. He points to examples such as the school’s innovative freshman ethics course, Portico, as well as efforts to create a vital research culture among faculty and students.

Asked about the best idea he’s ever had, Boynton cites a pair of personal examples. First, marrying his wife, Jane (Murphy) ’78, the year they graduated. “Second, I had the idea I should attend Boston College in 1974. Those two ideas went a long way to shape my life.”

Media Multitasking? It’s More Like Multi-Distracting BC study takes a good look at how computers and TV distract us

BY ED HAYWARD STAFF WRITER

Multitaskers who think they can successfully divide their attention between the program on their television set and the information on their computer screen proved to be driven to distraction by the two devices, according to a new study of media multitasking by Carroll School of Management facultly members S. Adam Brasel and James Gips.

Placed in a room containing a television and a computer and given a half hour to use either device, subjects in the study on average switched their eyes back and forth between TV and computer a staggering 120 times in 27.5 minutes – or nearly once every 14 seconds, Brasel and Gips report in a forthcoming edition of the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking.

While researchers – and the parents of millions of teenagers – have long suspected media multitasking was distracting, Brasel and Gips used advanced cameras to track where research subjects were looking to understand the physical demands and likely disruption caused by switching between the

television and computer.

“We thought it was going to be high, but the frequency of switching and amount of distraction going on was really shocking,” said Brasel, an associate professor of marketing.

What’s more, the subjects were not even aware of their own actions. On average, participants in

are doing when in multi-media environments.”

Study participants who thought they were only looking at the computer during TV commercials, or said they thought they were watching TV while web pages were loading, were actually behaving much differently.

The findings have sweeping

nant medium in this side-by-side challenge, the computer comes out the winner, drawing the attention of the study participants 68.4 percent of the time. But neither device proved capable of holding the attention of study participants for very long, regardless of their age. The median length of gaze lasted less than two seconds for

the study thought they might have looked back and forth between the two devices about 15 times per half hour. In reality, they were looking nearly 10 times as often. And even if quick “glances” less than 1.5 seconds are removed from the equation, people were still switching over 70 times per half hour.

“What we found is that when people try to pay attention to multiple media simultaneously they are switching back and forth at an astounding rate,” said Brasel.

“We’re not even aware of what we

implications for millions of people as well as companies that use television advertisements, web ads and web content to connect with consumers. Prior surveys have shown 59 percent of Americans say they now use their computer and television at the same time. In addition, youths under 18 report this type of media multitasking is now the dominant mode in which they use both devices.

Brasel and Gips, Egan Professor of information systems and computer science, determined that when it comes to the domi-

television and less than six seconds for the computer, the researchers found.

It’s not just younger people who are rapid-fire switching between media; men and women over 40 who participated in the study still switched an average of nearly 100 times in 27.5 minutes.

It was rare that a person looked at either screen for more than a minute. Just 7.5 percent of all computer gazes and 2.9 percent of all glances at the television lasted longer than 60 seconds, the study found.

Understanding the physical behavior of multi-media multitaskers raises questions about the level of comprehension among people who switch their eyes between the devices, specifically the impact on productivity or on children doing their homework.

And for companies that rely on TV or the Internet to communicate with consumers, the findings raise questions about the effectiveness of the two channels as means to garner the attention of potential customers.

“Clearly, the rules we developed for the mono-media culture no longer apply,” said Brasel. “Our assumptions about how people are using media need to be updated. The era of the mono-media environment is over.”

For both parents and marketers, a new media age has arrived with profound effects. And, the researchers note, the study did not take into account the impact of another ubiquitous device that’s now a staple of the media mix: the mobile phone.

The paper “Media Multitasking Behavior: Concurrent Television and Computer Usage” is available for download at http:// www.liebertonline.com/toc/cyber/0/0 Contact Ed Hayward at ed.hayward@bc.edu

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Chronicle APRIL 28, 2011

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Choy Has Embraced a Leadership Role at BC Brown Award winner came to the Heights for academics, but says service made her stay

BY MELISSA BEECHER, STAFF WRITER

Leadership comes easy to Susan Choy ’11. Self-promotion, not so much.

In fact, when the soft-spoken Malden native was named recipient of the 2011 Dr. Donald Brown Award for extraordinary contributions to the greater AHANA community at Boston College, she made a quiet phone call home to tell her family, but hardly told any friends at school.

“I didn’t want to come across as boastful,” explained Choy.

“So many people are doing so many great things here.”

She is undoubtedly one of them.

Asked about winning the Brown Award, Choy character-

NA Caucus representative and vice president for the Southeast Asian Student Association.

She also was a co-chair of the AHANA 30th Anniversary Celebration Committee.

“I always strive to do my best and try to find what I can do to better myself,” said Choy. “I really want to experience it all and find myself getting antsy if I’m not doing anything. It was nice to find people with a similar mindset here at BC.” Choy said that while academic excellence brought her to BC, the commitment to service is what made her stay. She has participated in several immersion experiences, including the Mississippi Service Immersion Trip, the ALC Volunteer Corps and the Nicaragua Service and Immersion Trip, for which she was a co-leader.

“I went on the Nicaragua trip twice and found a very different experience each time. After my first trip, I really needed to process the mixed feelings I had.

Coming from the US, from such a place of privilege, and knowing the history of Nicaragua, it left me very conflicted.”

In addition, many people in Nicaragua called attention to Choy’s race, something she had not expected.

“People would ask where I was from, if I was Japanese. It made me uncomfortable to think that people were so focused on my race,” said Choy.

Questions of race and inequality nagged at her even when she returned home and resumed her normal life.

“I always strive to do my best and try to find what I can do to better myself. I really want to experience it all and find myself getting antsy if I’m not doing anything. It was nice to find people with a similar mindset here at BC.” —Susan Choy ’11 Photo by Kerry Burke, Media Technology Services

istically replied: “I felt humbled and fortunate to be recognized.”

Choy is an operations management and marketing major who is pursuing an American Studies minor with an Asian American Studies concentration. She made a mark practically right after arriving at BC: As a freshman, she became involved in the AHANA Leadership Academy, the Emerging Leaders Program and the Campus School Volunteers Boston Marathon Team.

She has since added to her list of activities, serving as chief-of-staff for the AHANA Leadership Council, AHANA Caucus co-director, and AHA-

“The experience provided me with the motivation to look inside and learn why things were happening the way they are. I decided to become more informed of the current political structure there, sought out news, and returned with a different group of people who were so inquisitive and willing to learn of the current situation there. It made all the difference for me.”

Choy has accepted a job in operations at UBS Investment Bank and hopes to earn an MBA in public health.

Contact Melissa Beecher at melissa.beecher@bc.edu

Hak Kim ’14 talks with Timothy and Bernadette Muller Broccolo — who established the scholarship Kim was awarded — at the University’s annual Scholarship Dinner. (Photo by Caitlin Cunningham)

Getting the Chance to Say ‘Thank You’ Annual Scholarship Dinner brings together Boston College benefactors and the undergraduates whose lives have been touched by their gifts

BY REID OSLIN STAFF WRITER

Student recipients of endowed scholarships at Boston College had an opportunity to meet – and say a sincere “thank you” – to their educational benefactors recently at the University’s eighth annual Scholarship Dinner.

University President William P. Leahy, SJ, spoke at the dinner — held on April 14 at the Murray Room in the Yawkey Athletic Center — which also featured remarks by selected scholarship recipients from each undergraduate class.

“I have the highest respect for people who not only make a living for themselves, but also, so generously, donate money to others,” said Hak Kim ’14, recipient of the inaugural Harry and Marie Muller Scholarship, in his remarks to the 125 attendees. The Muller grant was established by 1977 Carroll School of Management graduates Timothy and Bernadette Muller Broccolo in honor of Bernadette’s parents to assist promising young

men and women from New Jersey to attend Boston College regardless of their family’s financial circumstances.

“All of the things that I have done and plan to do are only possible because of your generosity,” Kim told the Broccolos as he addressed the gathering. Kim and his family emigrated from Korea to Fort Lee, NJ, when he was 15.

“I will not forget how much you have helped me,” he said.

Kim, a biochemistry major, told the group that he is also interested in working as a tutor in the Connors Family Learning Center, volunteering with the Eagle EMS group, and assisting the Undergraduate Admissions Office as a program coordinator during his undergraduate years. He plans to attend medical school after graduation.

“We are so grateful to Boston College for selecting such an extraordinary individual as the first Harry and Marie Muller Scholarship recipient,” Bernadette Broccolo said. “Meeting Hak and hearing him tell his story enabled us

to see and feel first-hand the value of giving the gift of an education to students like Hak who are not only talented but truly committed to the mission of BC and the Jesuits.

“It is a gift that will keep on giving in so many ways for many years to come,” she said, “not only to Hak and his family, but to the BC community and many others.

What a great return on our investment in BC.” “These students are tremendous in wanting to come to this event and wanting to say ‘thank you,’” said Joanne Goggins, executive director of donor relations in the University Advancement office. “We even had students who made arrangements to leave campus rehearsals or lab projects to make sure that they got over to thank their donor personally before they had to dash back to their other commitments.

“As you can see from Hak’s remarks, the evening was very touching,” Goggins said.

Contact Reid Oslin at reid.oslin@bc.edu

April 30 Talk Will Celebrate Burns Nursing Exhibit Connell School of Nursing 1976 alumna Marianne Lille, a registered nurse and case manager at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center’s Emergency Department, will give a talk on April 30 at noon in celebration of the “Notes on Nursing: Past, Present and Future” exhibition now on display in Burns Library.

The exhibition, featuring items from the Josephine A. Dolan Collection of Nursing History — including original letters by Florence Nightingale — is on display at the Ford Tower at the Burns Library through June 1.

Lille, who also holds a master’s of education from BC, has been at Beth Israel Deaconess since 2005. She was previously regional director for case management at Kindred Healthcare.

Comprising the Dolan Collection is a first edition (1859) of Nightingale’s Notes on Nursing: What It Is,

and What It Is Not, letters, books, photographs, engravings, a 19th century pharmaceutical cabinet, and other artifacts collected by nursing professor and historian Josephine A. Dolan (1913–2004).

A featured item in the exhibition is an original letter written by Nightingale, dated April 1, 1855, from the barracks hospital in Scutari, Turkey.

In the letter to an acquaintance, Nightingale laments the toll that dysentery has taken on some people of their mutual acquaintance. In February 1855, the death rate at the barracks hospital in Scutari where Nightingale was posted, was 42 percent. A few months later, the death rate had decreased to 2 percent.

Prior to Nightingale’s arrival, sanitary conditions at this hospital were so deplorable that a royal inquiry was put in place to investigate the horrible illnesses and sufferings

of soldiers in Scutari. Nightingale wrote to Britain’s secretary of war Sidney Herbert to offer her services.

Nightingale arrived in Scutari on Nov. 4, 1854 and she spent many hours in the wards, patrolling with a lamp to give personal care to the wounded. Thus she became known as the “Lady with the Lamp.”

Dolan became the first instructor in the School of Nursing at the University of Connecticut in 1944. At UConn, she taught a course on the history of nursing, often using primary sources to illustrate this subject to her students. She pursued nursing history for the remainder of her lengthy career, including her work with the Committee on Historic Source Materials in Nursing.

Dolan received an honorary degree from Boston College in 1987.

—Kathleen Sullivan

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Chronicle APRIL 28, 2011

6

‘Golden Age’ for Christian-Jewish Relations Center for Christian-Jewish Learning promotes interreligious dialogue, research

BY ED HAYWARD STAFF WRITER

As Kraft Family Professor James Bernauer, SJ, explains it, the study of Jewish-Christian relations has entered its Golden Age. BC’s Center for ChristianJewish Learning, which Fr. Bernauer directs, is playing a key role in the growing dialogue and body of scholarship in this area of study that draws on experts from multiple academic disciplines.

Celebrating its 10th anniversary year, the center has sponsored numerous events that have brought scholars from across the globe to campus to examine some of the most pressing issues in the field of Jewish-Christian relations — including last month’s conference “Are Jews and Christians Living in a Post-Polemical World? Toward a Comparison of Medieval and Modern ChristianJewish Encounters.” An endowed visiting professorship has brought leading scholars to BC to teach, research and collaborate with their peers.

“We are becoming a real center for scholarly analysis,” said Fr. Bernauer. “What we are aiming for now is to combine both service to students with our service to the broader scholarly world.”

Through a series of new projects, the center has incorporated additional opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students to participate in center activities

and learn from leading scholars.

Fr. Bernauer says it is crucial for the field to encourage young students and scholars, lest this Golden Age succumb to a challenge posed by shifting demographics: many of the scholars who have led the field since the end of World War II are nearing their “golden years.”

“This is a veteran group of scholars engaged in understanding and encouraging Christian-Jewish dialogue,” says Fr. Bernauer.

“They have come out of the postHolocaust and post-Vatican II eras. One of the real challenges is to pass this dialogue down to the younger generation.”

To that end, the center has sought to increase opportunities for students to participate in center events and work with faculty.

The center established a Junior Scholar Research Grant program, which supports student research under the direction of faculty.

At the School of Theology and Ministry, a discussion group on the topic has formed and the center established an interdisciplinary graduate seminar regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“We are trying to involve the center more in the life of the university and its students – both graduate and undergraduate,” said Fr. Bernauer, a professor in the Philosophy Department.

Fr. Bernauer said the center has benefited from the establishment of the Corcoran Visiting Profes-

sorship, named in honor of the late John Corcoran, a 1948 alumnus and former trustee of Boston College, who made a gift to the University in 2000 to establish the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning.

This year’s Corcoran Visiting Professor is Daniel Lasker, the Norbert Blechner Professor of Jewish Values at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. An expert in medieval polemical literature, Lasker taught a course last fall on Debating Religious Truth: Jews and Christians in the Medieval World.

Lasker teamed up with Fr. Bernauer and center Associate Director Camille Fitzpatrick Markey to organize March’s “Are Jews and Christians Living in a PostPolemical World?” conference, which offered a new look at the controversial polemics in an effort to assess how they continue to shape Jewish-Christian relations.

“Even though the past has a number of unhappy parts to it that many of us would like to see changed, the past is prologue and it influences greatly the situation today,” Lasker said. “That’s why these centers exist: to encourage a new understanding between Jews and Christians with an eye toward changing the situation so the many negative things in the past may not be repeated.”

Contact Ed Hayward at ed.hayward@bc.edu

“This is a veteran group of scholars engaged in understanding and encouraging ChristianJewish dialogue. They have come out of the post-Holocaust and post-Vatican II eras. One of the real challenges is to pass this dialogue down to the younger generation.”

—James Bernauer, SJ Photo by Lee Pellegrini

Weitzel-O’Neill Settling Into Roche Center for Catholic Education Continued from page 1 tive of Catholic education, from While Catholic schools’ fieight years heading the Arch- nancial struggles are welldiocese of Washington Catholic known, says Weitzel-O’Neill, schools as well her years at Trin- professional development is an ity, where in addition to vice equally vital concern. “In the president of academic affairs, past, the religious orders runshe was dean of the College of ning the schools became proArts and Sciences and associ- fessional learning communities, ate professor of sociology. This where they could share expericombination of vantage points ences and pass along the wisdom has given her a sharp insight into that comes with practice.” the distinctiveness of Catholic “But as education became education. compartmentalized, and as “One of the the laity have most basic Ignati“The Catholic commu- moved in to an tenets addressreplace the relies the question nity needs to wrap its arms gious in Cathoof ‘Why did God around Catholic educa- lic education, make me?’ — ‘To it’s been diffido those things tion,” says Weitzel-O’Neill, cult to replace in the world God “and recognize what it’s that sense of asks you to do so community. you can find the contributed to the leader- You need traintruth and be with ship and common good of ing and menGod.’ Catholic toring for leadthe United States.” schools help chilership, so you dren achieve that have people goal. Any Cathowho can help lic school you visit, the adminis- shape the vision for 21st century tration and faculty are commit- Catholic education.” ted to this mission — theirs is Accordingly, Weitzel-O’Neill not a job, it’s a vocation. and her colleagues are devel“There is a great deal of au- oping plans and strategies that tonomy within Catholic schools: will support the center’s mission fewer forms to fill out, less bu- of providing Catholic educators reaucracy, and a strong local with opportunities for profesauthority of teachers and princi- sional advancement, applied repals. This is a great advantage in search, support programs and meeting students’ needs.” outreach. The center’s current

agenda includes a two-day conference for teams of pastors and Catholic school principals from the Archdiocese of Boston and other Massachusetts and New England dioceses, workshops for elementary and secondary principals, and in July, the annual four-day Institute for Administrators in Catholic Higher Education.

Also, the center will collaborate with graduate students in the Lynch School of Education and continue the work of the Legacy project. “This project, begun by [former Lynch School dean] Joseph O’Keefe, SJ, has collected data on Catholic schools since 1995 and now provides us with a means to look at Catholic schools in a very detailed and meaningful way: What ones have stayed open, and why, and what are the characteristics for success?”

Weitzel-O’Neill points to the third Catholic Higher Education Collaborative Conference, held on campus last fall, as another source of support for Catholic education. That event focused on what institutions of Catholic Higher Education could do to support academic excellence.

The 2009 conference, held at Loyola University of Chicago, launched an initiative to compile standards for effectiveness in

Catholic schools that Catholic educators may be able to employ in quantitative and qualitative assessments.

“This project looks at, for example, what are Catholic identity and academic excellence in an effective Catholic school? How can a school be operationally vital and stable? That’s the piece about which Catholic educators have historically lacked training.”

Through these and other activities, Weitzel-O’Neill also hopes the center can help foster greater support from the Amer-

ican Catholic community for Catholic education.

“My belief is that the Catholic community needs to wrap its arms around Catholic education,” she says, “and recognize what it’s contributed to the leadership and common good of the United States. It’s not just the colleges and universities that have done this, but the elementary and secondary schools, too — Catholic education makes a difference from the very beginning of a child’s school life.”

Contact Sean Smith at sean. smith@bc.edu

Deadline Is Tomorrow for Service Award Nominations Tomorrow, April 29, is the deadline to submit nominations for the 2012 Boston College Community Service Award.

Many Boston College faculty and staff serve the communities where they work and live by volunteering their time in support of programs for youth and seniors, coordinating neighborhood clean-up and beautification projects, and participating in the philanthropic activities of various health, educational, cultural and religious organizations.

The BC Community Service Award was created to recognize the outstanding contributions of an employee whose actions truly exemplify the Jesuit spirit of community service and involvement.

Nomination forms are available online at http://bit.ly/ h6b8jw.

T he B oston C ollege

Chronicle

BC at Forefront in Digital Humanities

7

Lee Pellegrini

APRIL 28, 2011

University’s MediaKron app is expanding research and scholarship possibilities for faculty and students

BY ED HAYWARD STAFF WRITER

nize and present images, video, audio and text. Metadata tags allow students to follow multiple pathways through the materials as they explore their course topics.

Some sites are publicly accessible, but some projects are password protected.

Tim Lindgren, an instructional designer with IDeS who has worked extensively on the MediaKron project, says there are similar public online tools faculty can use – such as photo archives on flickr or Picasa, wiki spaces, and Google maps – but MediaKron gives faculty a secure space where they can manage multimedia content in support of instruction.

“It’s really about having everything in one place for faculty members,” says Lindgren. “It allows them to focus on how they want to organize their content and spend less time worrying about the tool itself. It also provides them the flexibility to customize their site to their particular content.”

One of the earliest adopters, A&S Honors Program Director Mark O’Connor, is working on a project focused on four Polish artist-intellectuals in the 19th and 20th centuries.

“This project represents an important first stage in trying to conceive of my scholarship in

As the universe of digital information expands exponentially, educational technology is taking humanities scholarship out of dusty archives and into vibrant online spaces.

At Boston College, a webbased application developed by a team of faculty and designers College of Arts and Sciences Honors Program Director Mark O’Connor is impressed by the potential benefits of the in the University’s Instructional MediaKron database platorm, which he is using for a project on Polish artist-intellectuals. MediaKron technology, he Design and eTeaching Services says, “makes feasible an investigation of the artist-intellectuals under consideration on a scale hitherto impractical.”

(IDeS) office has placed BC at become manufacturers of knowl- projects can bring them into conthe forefront of this emerging era for the humanities.” tact with primary source materials of scholarship dubbed the digital Associate Professor of Fine Arts edge.”

University Librarian Thomas here at BC that they might not humanities.

Stephanie Leone developed the MediaKron, an online dataMediaKron project “Roma: Ca- Wall, whose staffers have worked otherwise see,” Wall says. “Part base platform that allows faculty put Mundi” as a way to bring closely with faculty and IDeS on of what MediaKron does is it alto build multimedia-rich archives, to life the history of the art and MediaKron and other digital ar- lows students to see the depth of gives students access to an unarchitecture of Rome. The site chive projects, says the technol- our collections and that is a great precedented array of materials and allows students to navigate a map ogy is bringing more and more service.”

For more information about resources that support traditional and interact with monuments on students into contact with the Instructional Design and eTeachclassroom lectures and readings. a virtual tour of the Italian capital archives of the University, as well ing Services projects, see http:// Ease of use and the capacity to city during the Renaissance and as collections from around the idesweb.bc.edu/ides/website/projworld. expand and enhance projects as Baroque eras.

“Our students are very familiar ects. faculty and students contribute “I think you have to underContact Ed Hayward at to this new form of scholarship stand the city in order to un- with digital content, but these ed.hayward@bc.edu were essential elements designers derstand the art and architecture sought to incorporate when the within it,” says Leone. “I found Samples of MediaKron projects project launched in 2004, says early on that students find arRita Owens, executive director for chitecture very challenging. It is Academic Technology. tougher to understand three-diDeveloped with the help of a mensional objects – such as build2006 grant from the Davis Eduings or monuments – in space cational Foundation, the MediaKwithout seeing them. So this is a ron platform now boasts two-dozchance to get students as close to en projects, which are part of a Rome as possible without bringrapidly expanding portfolio ing them to Rome.” of web-based projects in the For some faculty mem“The trend for the community to see humanities at IDeS. Last bers, the technology behind and understand is that the humanisemester there were a dozen MediaKron has allowed ties are not stuck in the past, but that active MediaKron projects them to expand the scope in use by faculty and their of their projects at each step. digital technologies are allowing for students.

For one professor, the next new, creative ways of exploring and Emerging as a prime step will be a mobile platcreating knowledge.” tool in the creation of digiform that will put James tal humanities scholarship, Joyce’s Dublin at the fin—Elizabeth Clark MediaKron projects have gertips of users of wireless covered topics including bidevices. ology, Chinese culture, the Sec- ways that could speak at once disJoyce scholar Joe Nugent, ond Vatican Council, the art of tinctively both to American and an adjunct assistant professor of Walt Disney studios, the death of Polish students,” says O’Connor. English, started with a project Jesus, bilingual education, gender “The MediaKron format IDeS called “The BC Students’ Guide and religious images, the Gaelic has designed makes feasible an in- to Ulysses,” which has evolved Athletic Association, the history of vestigation of the artist-intellectu- into “Walking Ulysses,” a multipublic health, Irish studies, sculp- als under consideration on a scale media tour depicting Dublin in tor Michelangelo, the poet Dante hitherto impractical – the image 1904, the year in which Joyce’s Alighieri and the artist Albrecht data base alone includes over 600 masterwork Ulysses takes place.

Durer. entries—a scale extremely rich for Students from his classes have “Our intention early on was to both individual and comparative helped conceptualize the projects, fill a gap we found in commercial case studies, offering an extended as well as collect and assemble products that did not allow us horizon for analysis and general- materials. He says the technology to work with media-rich content ization.” makes his students active creators to enhance scholarship,” Owens “Scholars need not be boxed of knowledge, rather than passive says. “We looked to the College into an application,” says Eliza- recipients. of Arts and Sciences Honors Pro- beth Clark, director of Instruc“I employ a horizontal rather gram and to the Davis Education- tional Design and eTeaching Ser- than vertical, top-down, model al Foundation as partners to begin vices. “The trend for the commu- of technology in my teaching,” the creation of MediaKron.” nity to see and understand is that Nugent says. “It’s best for stuWorking off the MediaKron the humanities are not stuck in dents not to be in the business template, faculty can customize the past, but that digital technolo- of absorbing knowledge, but to the look and feel of their sites gies are allowing for new, creative produce knowledge. This techand use a range of tools – such ways of exploring and creating nology gives me the chance to let as maps and timelines – to orga- knowledge. It’s an exciting time them use their own minds and to

T he B oston C ollege

Chronicle APRIL 28, 2011

8

Linguistics: Not Just a Whole Lot of Talk

Undergraduates like program’s mix of cultural, historical, scientific perspectives on language

BY SEAN SMITH CHRONICLE EDITOR

For as long as she can remember, Colleen White ’11 has enjoyed language for its own sake — to the point where, as a young girl, she was hooked by a seemingly innocuous phrase in the classic Laura Ingalls Wilder book Little House on the Prairie.

“There’s one part where Pa scolds Laura for saying ‘I love this’ — he tells her that you should only use ‘love’ for people, not things,” recalls White, a native of Elk River, Minn. “I thought it was interesting: Why should that word be all right for one, but not the other? Does it really make a difference?”

She didn’t know it at the time, but White was preparing for her future area of study in college, and in all likelihood, her career.

White is one of 13 Boston College seniors who will receive bachelor’s degrees in linguistics this year, an unprecedented number in University history, according to faculty from the Slavic and Eastern Languages Department, which offers the program.

“No matter whom I talk to, or what the situation is, linguistics seems to come up,” says White, who is serving an internship at a translation company. “There’s always something you can contribute to the conversation.”

Linguistics might have had a reputation as an intensely specialized, even arcane field, but the truth is quite different, say faculty and students. It’s a discipline that BC grads have found useful in any number of professions: teaching, speech pathology, government

service, law, management consulting — and, in at least one case, the fashion industry.

“The best way to think of linguistics is like taking a watch apart,” says department chair Associate Professor Michael Connolly. “What makes language work?

There are so many facets to that question: cultural, historical, cognitive, philosophical, as well as scientific. So linguistics is not sitting in front of a computer or a tape recorder doing analysis. It involves practically the whole spectrum of the humanities.”

“Studying linguistics means you are always prepared to engage another human being, because everyone is interested — on some level or another — in the way we communicate,” says Catherine Hadshi, a senior from Frederick, Md., who has used insights from her linguistics courses in studying literature, teaching second languages, analyzing history and considering aspects of psychology and neuroscience.

“I have never met a person who doesn’t have an opinion on accents, language acquisition, social uses of language, word games — the list goes on. Part of the attraction of linguistics is that language is so quintessentially human, so that in studying language, you begin to unlock truths about humanity.”

The linguistics program at BC encompasses central courses — Syntax and Semantics, Language in Society and Historical Linguistics, for instance — and classes in philology, including Old Irish, Classical Armenian and Christian Latin. A third branch of the program is “topics courses,”

Many undergraduates are finding that courses in linguistics taught by Slavic and Eastern Languages and Literatures faculty like Margaret Thomas (above) are challenging and satisfying. “Linguistic study is good for the brain,” says senior Sarah Boyle. “It helps us challenge our assumptions about everyday life and our knowledge of things that are second nature to us.”

Prof. Margaret Thomas (Slavic and Eastern Languages) teaches a class in linguistics. Thirteen students are graduating this year with degrees in the discipline. (Photos by Christopher Huang)

such as Language and Ethnicity, Linguistics and Communication, Linguistic Analysis and Field Methods, and Second-Language Acquisition.

“We cover a good chunk of the field,” says Professor of Slavic and Eastern Languages and Literatures Margaret Thomas, who cites several factors for the growth in linguistics she and Connolly have noted. She credits in particular the increased “internationalization” of BC students, especially their greater interest in studying abroad and learning languages such as Arabic or Chinese. Studying another language, she explains, “presents an opportunity to study language itself” — and undergraduates can find that a challenging yet satisfying prospect.

For example, in Linguistic Field Methods, one exercise directs students to construct the grammar of Vietnamese — including syntax and semantics — through non-translated interviews with native speakers. “It was difficult but rewarding,” says senior Bridget Germain. “One of the coolest projects I’ve ever done at BC.” Rebecca Edwards, whose senior thesis compares the development of Arabic dialects with the proliferation of Romance languages from Latin, says: “Here I’m taking a look at a culture that I literally knew nothing about before starting to write the initial paper. I love that with my background in linguistics, I’m able to study languages and cultures that I really did not understand before, and come out of it with a solid understanding of it all.”

But linguistics also is critical to exploring the use of language beyond routine interpersonal communication. Alicia Johnson ’11, whose interests lie in the intersection of language with gender, geography, ethnicity, sexual orientation and other social factors, and who envisions a career working in health policy and advocacy, is writing her thesis on language in the abortion debate. “Language is so vital to advocacy in studying

how people think about issues like abortion and how organizations, politicians, and individuals talk about ‘choice,’ ‘life’ and other important concepts.”

Senior Coley Labun, meanwhile, pursued an intriguing project: finding out whether college hockey players’ nicknames that are derived from their surnames are created at random or can be predicted linguistically. She surveyed more than 60 players from the US and Canada and analyzed the linguistic features of their last names and how these related to the suffixes used to fashion a nickname [see accompanying article].

Thomas says the need for persons with an acute insight into the subtleties of language is a neverending one, even in what would

seem unlikely settings. One BC linguistics grad, she says, wound up being hired by a cosmetics firm because it needed somebody who, among other things, could help gauge the effectiveness of product names and campaigns.

“As new kinds of media and vehicles of communication emerge, it is more important than ever to be aware of how we express ideas and concepts, consciously or unconsciously,” she says. “Linguistics is more relevant than it has ever been.”

“Linguistic study is good for the brain,” says senior Sarah Boyle. “It helps us challenge our assumptions about everyday life and our knowledge of things that are second nature to us.”

Contact Sean Smith at sean. smith@bc.edu

‘Gordo’ or ‘Gordie’: What’s in a Nickname Linguistics major Coley Labun describes herself as an “avid sports fan,” especially college hockey. While doing research on “speech communities” in society — professions or distinct groups that have a specialized jargon — she found an article about the linguistics of nicknames for professional hockey and baseball players, and knew she had a topic for a project.

Labun set out to see if college hockey players’ nicknames taken from their surnames are created at random or can be predicted linguistically. She surveyed more than 60 players in the US and Canada who fit the description — a last name of “Gordon,” for instance, and a nickname of “Gordo” or “Gordie.”

“The linguistic features of the last name decided which suffix or suffixes could be added,” she explains. “Some names could have multiple nicknames, and others could only have one. In each case they could either truncate part of the name and add a suffix or leave the name as is and attach a suffix.”

She expressed her findings this way: •Adding no suffix [“Griffith” à “Griff”] •Adding “o” [“Ord” à “Ordo”] •Adding “s” [“Klein” à “Kleins”] •Adding “er” [“Price” à “Pricer”] •Adding “i” or “ie” [“Brooks” à “Brooksie”] Using this approach, Labun was able to create charts to predict the nicknames of college hockey players.

“Essentially, it showed that the hockey world is a huge speech community,” she says. “I was very excited by how the project turned out. I was able to take my love for hockey and apply it to my schoolwork. It showed me that my academics can apply on so many other levels of my life — and even pertains to my sports obsession.”

—Sean Smith

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Chronicle APRIL 28, 2011

9

Hockey Humanitarian Award winner Dyroff scores with service, too

BY REID OSLIN STAFF WRITER

BC basketball star Carolyn Swords ’11 will trade her maroon-and-gold for the colors of the Chicago Sky of the WNBA this fall.

Net Gains for Swords Eagles’ accomplished hoopster earns lofty selection (15th overall) in 2011 WNBA draft time to watch TV coverage of the draft. She is thankful for every message and well wish.

The moment was not lost on “I have had a wonderful expeBoston College senior Carolyn rience at BC and am honored to Swords. Standing in the ESPN be part of the strong tradition of studios in Bristol, Conn., with excellence here. I will miss Conte her family, the WNBA (Wom- Forum — the band, the fans, my en’s National Basketball Associa- teammates. I will always be thanktion) draft was nothing less than a ful for my time here.” dream realized.

While at BC, Swords devel“All weekend other players – oped an interest in public speakpeople I have played with and ing, critical thinking and docompeted against over the years ing community outreach and — kept saying to each other that volunteer work, especially with we couldn’t believe this moment children. She cites the theology was here, that it was actually hap- class Human Setback: The Unexpening,” said Swords, who was pected Grace, taught by Director picked 15th overall by the Chi- of Campus Ministry Fr. Tony cago Sky. Penna, as among her favorites, The selection is the highest ever and Communication associate for a BC athlete in a professors Ashley professional draft, and Duggan, Donald marks the fifth time “I have had a wonder- Fishman and Paa BC women’s player mela Lannutti as has been chosen by a ful experience at BC teachers who have WNBA team. and am honored to be had the biggest in“I honestly just fluence on her. feel so blessed that I part of the strong tradi“So many of have the opportunity tion of excellence here.” my communicato take my career to —Carolyn Swords tions courses were the next level,” said engaging,” she Swords, who gradusaid. “It’s difficult ates next month with to pick which one a degree in commuamong them made the greatest nications. impact. Each one of them changed Swords’ career at BC has my perspective and caused me to changed the record books: She is think about things differently.” the second all-time leading scorer Swords is scheduled to report in BC basketball history (1,978 to Chicago on May 12 and said points), and all-time leader in re- she views the move with nervous bounding (1,117) and career field excitement – it will be the furthest goal percentage (67.7); in her final she’s ever lived from home. season she led the country in field “But I keep telling myself that goal percentage (72.2). She has it’s really not all that far from been a member of the All-ACC home,” she laughs. “I’ve already First Team from 2009 to 2011. heard from an old friend in the Swords, who grew up in Sud- Chicago area and look forward to bury, Mass., said she has heard experiencing the great BC alumni from excited friends and team- network that I hear is in Chicago.” mates who are now around scatContact Melissa Beecher at metered across the country but found lissa.beecher@bc.edu

BY MELISSA BEECHER STAFF WRITER

Like any good hockey player, Boston College’s Brooks Dyroff likes goals. Lots of them.

The goals achieved by Dyroff, a College of Arts and Sciences sophomore from Boulder, Colo., far surpass the traditional red lamp variety of the on-ice contest: He’s the cofounder of a non-profit organization that has provided higher education opportunities for some 40 teenagers in Indonesia, as well as a growing group of promising students here in Boston.

Dyroff’s efforts in establishing and overseeing this CEO4Teens (Creating Educational Opportunities for Teens; www.ceo4teens.com) program have earned him the 2011 BNY Mellon Wealth Management Hockey Humanitarian Award, presented annually to “college hockey’s best citizen.”

Dyroff received the award during the recent NCAA “Frozen Four” championship tournament in St. Paul, Minn., becoming the second Boston College skater to capture the prize. Sarah Carlson, a two-time captain of the BC women’s hockey team, won the Humanitarian honor as a senior in 2005 in recognition of her extensive volunteer work at Boston health clinics, shelters and service projects and on various service immersion trips while a Connell School of Nursing undergraduate.

Running the CEO4Teens program while meeting strong academic requirements and practicing and playing a major intercollegiate sport is a challenge Dyroff relishes. He has also found the time to produce several award-winning documentary films; found an after-school math enrichment program for local secondary school pupils; and launch a Micro Finance Program that provides grants to students desiring to launch a business.

“Discipline and time management are things that I have learned over the course of my life,” he says.

“I’m always running from one thing to another. As the old saying goes, ‘If you need something done, give it to a busy man.’ I really think that is true. When the hockey season is over, and I have some spare time on my hands, I actually feel that I get less done.”

Dyroff is quick to point out the foundation of his multi-tasking and good works: his parents Wendi Hill and Matt Dyroff. “Both my Mom and Dad have always been big on giving something back to your community. It’s always been a part of our family, and something I can never thank them enough for.”

The CEO4Teens program is structured to raise money through community service projects and pledges to benefit needy teenagers in Indonesia. It was the idea of Dyroff and Kenny Haisfield, a childhood friend from Boulder, who set the project’s goal to send 10 students

Lee Pellegrini

Making Goals, On and Off Ice

Sophomore Brooks Dyroff has made an impression on BC Men’s Hockey Coach Jerry York with more than athletic ability: “Brooks embodies a lot of what we talk about here at BC. He is really a man for others,” York says. “In a 24-hour segment, Brooks will be a full-time student, a student-athlete at the Division I level, and also manages to devote time to other people.”

who otherwise could not afford the cost of higher education to Campuhan College in Bali, Indonesia each year.

In four years, CEO4Teens has never failed to reach its $10,000 annual fund-raising target, Dyroff says.

Dyroff is currently working to establish a similar educational program in the Boston metropolitan area. He has launched an outreach effort at Roxbury Community College to identify and assist underprivileged local students in earning their high school GED. Last year, the program helped three Boston teens achieve the goal, and Dyroff wants to move that number up to 10 annually.

Eagles’ head coach Jerry York says that he knew Dyroff would enhance the BC hockey program

off-ice as well as on while he was recruiting the Colorado native during his post-graduate year at Phillips Andover Academy in Massachusetts.

“It’s amazing what he has been able to accomplish,” says York. “He handles a full hockey schedule with practices, travel and games; a full academic schedule and does very well in school; and in his ‘spare time’ he energizes himself to help others who need it.

“Brooks embodies a lot of what we talk about here at BC. He is really a man for others,” York says. “In a 24-hour segment, Brooks will be a full-time student, a student-athlete at the Division I level, and also manages to devote time to other people.

It’s a pretty impressive thing for coaches and others to see.”

Contact Reid Oslin at reid.oslin@ bc.edu

MANY HANDS

Boston College student-athletes traveled to Dorchester recently to help clean up the grounds of the Mather School, the oldest public elementary school in the country. The outreach was part of an Atlantic Coast Conference’s initiative, ACC-Athletes Cleaning the Community. The studentathletes worked together with Mather students in kindergarten through fifth grade to clean the playground, the newly added outside classroom and the fence-line perimeter of the school grounds. In addition, they planted flowers matching the Mather’s school colors, orange and blue.

T he B oston C ollege

Chronicle APRIL 28, 2011

10

Liberty Mutual Grant Aided CSOM Honors Service Trip The Carroll School of Management Honors Program was one of 10 college undergraduate organizations across the country to receive a grant from the Liberty Mutual Responsible Scholars “Alternative Spring Break Grants” program.

The program received $2,500 to travel to New Orleans’ St. Bernard Parish to spend the last week of winter break (Feb. 28-March 4) building homes for families. During the trip, 15 BC students helped rebuild a home for a family separated since Hurricane Katrina, allowing all three generations to once again live together.

The group also spent time learning about the social and economic impact of the storm as well as the role New Orleans’s unique culture plays in the city’s ongoing relief efforts.

“We wanted to give our time, passion, and hard work to those who need it most,” said Anna Trieschmann ’13, who wrote the grant. “Students in the Honors Program encourage each other to develop as corporate and community leaders of the future and, by undertaking an annual service trip, members of the CSOM Honors Program strive to someday become not only educated but also socially minded business people.

“At Boston College, we all hope to do well for ourselves and for our future families, but it is equally important to do good work for the betterment of the community. This balance is imperative to a healthy society.”

CSOM Associate Professor of Business Law Stephanie Greene, director of the CSOM Honors Program, praised Trieschmann and trip co-organizer junior John Kelly for their efforts, and expressed appreciation to Liberty Mutual for providing “a tremendous boost to the students’ fundraising.”

Greene said the participants — some of whom were “seasoned workers” while others “including me, were experiencing mudding, sanding and putting up walls for the first time” — were “stunned to learn how much work remains to be done to get families back into their homes.” A return trip to New Orleans is planned for next year, she said.

—Office of News & Public Affairs

Upcoming Campus Seminars Focus on National Economy Martin Feldstein, an advisor to three US presidents, and Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Executive Vice President and Senior Policy Advisor Jeffrey C. Fuhrer will share their expertise on the nation’s economy at two upcoming campus events sponsored by the Boston College International Economic Policy and Political Economy Seminar.

Fuhrer will give his talk “Inflation, Expectations, and the Fed’s Exit Strategy from Post-Crisis Expansion” tomorrow, April 29, while Feldstein will present “What’s Next for the American Economy?” this Monday, May 2.

Both lectures will take place from 4-5:30 p.m. in Higgins 225.

The interdisciplinary seminar series brings to BC speakers who boast extensive experience in economic policy — whether helping to craft it, or conducting research on it.

Fuhrer has spent most all of his professional career in the Federal Reserve System, serving as a senior economist for the Fed’s board of governors for seven years, before joining the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston in 1992 as an assistant vice president and economist.

Fuhrer writes on such topics as the importance of habit formation in consumer spending decisions, the persistence of inflation, and the interaction between monetary policy and long-term interest rates.

Speaking at Brandeis University earlier this month, Fuhrer warned of a slow economic recovery, pointing to lagging GDP growth

and high unemployment: “The economy is growing and creating jobs slowly by historical standards for a recovery. Unemployment is high and is likely to remain so for some time.”

Feldstein, the George F. Baker Professor of Economics at Harvard University, has frequently contributed his facility to presidential administrations. He was chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers and President Reagan’s chief economic advisor from 1982-84. In 2006, President Bush appointed him to the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, and in 2009, he became a member of President Obama’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board.

The president emeritus of the National Bureau of Economic Research, Feldstein is a director of Eli Lilly, an economic advisor to several businesses and government organizations in the US and abroad, and regularly writes for the Wall Street Journal and other publications.

In a recent interview with Bloomberg Television, Feldstein said a balanced budget will be necessary for a US economic recovery.

“We’re not going to do it with economic growth, period. We’ve got to do the fiscal policy, the spending and tax revenue, stabilize the debt, and then growth can bring down the debt-to-GDP ratio.”

For information on the International Economic Policy and Political Economy Seminar, see http:// tinyurl.com/3ufq9o7.

—Office of News & Public Affairs

Alumnus Paul Daigneault Appointed Monan Prof. in Theatre Arts for 2011-12 Theater educator, stage director and arts leader Paul Daigneault ’87 has been named Rev. J. Donald Monan, SJ Professor in Theatre Arts for the 2011-2012 academic year.

Daigneault is the first BC alumnus to hold the prestigious professorship, named for BC’s 24th president and current University chancellor. During his yearlong residency, he will direct a production of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s critically acclaimed musical “Into the Woods,” as part of the celebration of the 30th anniversary of BC’s Robsham Theater Arts Center. He will also teach an advanced class in Musical Theater Performance, serve as a mentor to student directors, and as a guest lecturer in other courses.

“I look forward to returning to BC to work with students over the course of an entire school year,” said Daigneault. “I’m curious to see how things have changed since I was a student a generation ago.”

Daigneault is the founder and producing artistic director of SpeakEasy Stage Company in Boston, a mid-sized resident regional theater currently celebrating its 20th season.

Under his leadership, SpeakEasy is one of the most successful and respected professional theaters in New England, with a strong reputation for producing regional premieres of contemporary musicals and plays. He has directed more than half of SpeakEasy’s roughly 100 productions over the past 20 years, including Annie Baker’s “Body Awareness” and the musical “Nine” in the 2010-11 season.

Daigneault has remained involved with his alma mater. For the Theatre Department, he directed Craig Lucas’s “Blue Window” in 2002 and the musical “Urinetown” in 2008. In 2007, in recognition of his professional success with SpeakEasy, he was

“Anybody can start a theatre company,” says Theatre Department Chair Scott T. Cummings of Paul Daigneault ’87. “It takes a rare combination of talents to keep it alive, growing, and prospering to the point where 20 years on it is a major regional arts organization.”

Doug Saglio Photography

presented with the Alumni Award for Distinguished Achievement from BC’s Arts Council during the University’s annual Arts Festival.

“Paul will be a great inspiration to our students,” said Associate Professor Scott T. Cummings, chair of BC’s Theatre Department. “Anybody can start a theatre company. It takes a rare combination of talents to keep it alive, growing, and prospering to the point where 20 years on it is a major regional arts organization.

That is a tremendous achievement.”

After graduating from BC, Daigneault pursued a theatrical career in New York City before returning to Boston in 1992 to start SpeakEasy with help from some BC friends. In its early days, the fledgling operation worked out of South Boston’s St. Augustine’s School, where Daigneault taught sixth and seventh grade.

In 2008, SpeakEasy received StageSource’s Theater Hero Award, given annually to “an exceptional member of the Greater

Boston theatre community who has demonstrated a history of service and commitment to the community through leadership, support, inspiration, innovation and promotion of the art of theatre throughout the region.” SpeakEasy employs 120 actors, designers, and production staff annually, making it a mainstay for many of Boston’s most talented theater professionals. SpeakEasy productions have won numerous honors, including five Elliot Norton Awards in 2010.

Daigneault will be the fifth Monan Professor in Theatre Arts, which was established in memory of late Trustee E. Paul Robsham, MEd’83 — benefactor of the campus theater arts facility named for his son — and in celebration of the longstanding relationship between the Robsham family and the BC Theatre Department. The professorship enables the Theatre Department to bring nationally and internationally recognized professional theater artists to work with, and teach, undergraduate students at the University.

—Office of News & Public Affairs

JUST A DEMONSTRATION—Boston College Community Safety Day, organized by the BC Police Department, took place on April 11 in the parking lot of Edmonds Hall, as numerous public safety and campus service organizations came together to offer students and employees an up-close look at emergency services. (Photo by Caitlin Cunningham)

T he B oston C ollege

Chronicle APRIL 28, 2011

OBITUARY

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NEWSMAKERS

incidence disabilities.”

The Boston Globe and Boston Herald highlighted actor James Franco’s appearance at Boston College April 15 to screen for students his new film “The Broken Tower,” inspired by and based on University Professor of English Paul Mariani’s biography of poet Hart Crane [see photos on page 12].

Prof. Dayton Haskin (English) contributed the essay “The Love Lyric” to the Oxford Handbook of John Donne.

An excerpt from the book Seven Last Words for Seven Weeks by Campus Minister Mary Sweeney, SC, was cited in a recent issue of the UKbased international Catholic weekly newspaper The Tablet.

The essay “Old Man Lying By the Side of the Stage,” by Assoc.

Prof. Lad Tobin (English), was reprinted in the May-June issue of the Utne Reader.

BC BRIEFING

Service Today for GSSW Student Martin Parkins, 52 A memorial service will be held today at 1 p.m. in St. Joseph’s Chapel in Gonzaga Hall for Martin Parkins, a student in the Graduate School of Social Work who died on April 4. He was 52.

Mr. Parkins, a Newton resident and native of Kalamazoo, Mich., was recalled by colleagues and friends for his work with refugees and immigrants, inner city children, troubled teenage boys, veterans with disabilities and other neglected and marginalized people.

“Martin was a very engaging man who had an open mind to connect with such a diverse spectrum of the population,” said Craig Keefe, a part-time GSSW faculty member who was Mr. Parkins’ advisor. “He was a consistent and dynamic participant in class, often engaging in many moving debates with students and professors while always displaying a respect for the points that those in dialogue with him were making. Martin would not allow himself to hand in a paper ‘just to hand in a paper,’ but had to make sure his points were communicated within the frameworks of the syllabus.

“What will be missed is his relentless desire to help others, as evident by his wide level of participation within the Boston College community both academically and socially.”

Mr. Parkins’ diversity of interests was reflected in his professional and educational background. He held senior management positions in corporate and nonprofit organizations and was a specialist in entrepreneurial and rapidly changing environments. His non-profit experience included serving as business manager and director for the Institute for New Americans, a refugee service organization, and as strategic planning and marketing consultant for the International Rescue Committee.

Kraft Family Professor James Bernauer, SJ, director of the

Center for Christian-Jewish Learning at BC, was a visiting professor at Loyola University in Chicago years ago when he met Mr. Parkins, who sought Fr. Bernauer’s advice on pursuing on doctorate in the philosophy of Michel Foucault. Instead of studying for the degree, recalled Fr. Bernauer, Mr. Parkins established The Foucault Society — a non-profit educational organization dedicated to the study of Foucault’s work — and served as its first executive director.

“One of Martin’s greatest talents was that he was a real entrepreneur,” said Fr. Bernauer, “and I am sure that he would have continued with that spirit.”

He earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Michigan State University, a master of arts in religion from Yale Divinity School, an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business and a master’s degree in special education from Hunter College. He would have received his MSW next month from BC. Mr. Parkins used his business training to assist his brother Thomas in establishing the Hamilton, Mass.-based investment advisory firm Chartpoint Financial Group, where he was managing director of operations.

He also was a sales specialist and marketing manager at HarperCollins Publishers, director of operations for Simon & Schuster Inc. and project director of information technologies at Random House Inc. Mr. Parkins was pre-deceased by his parents Richard and Katherine and brother Andrew.

A funeral service for Mr. Parkins was held April 16 at the Farley-Estes & Dowdle Funeral Home in Battle Creek, Mich.

Donations may be made in Mr. Parkins’ memory to the Penikese Island School Inc., a facility for troubled teenage boys, at PO Box 161, 565 Woods Hole Road, Woods Hole, MA 02543.

—Sean Smith

Center for Work and Family Assistant Director Jennifer Fraone discussed with FoxNews Boston the trend toward more flex time work for employees among many forward thinking companies, and even those that have not previously been on board with the idea.

Assoc. Prof. Jonathan Laurence (Political Science) was interviewed by CNN over France’s law banning face-hiding Islamic burqas and niqabs.

A review of Language Memory and Identity in the Middle East; The Case for Lebanon, by Asst. Prof.

Franck Salameh (Slavic and Eastern Languages), appeared in the Spring 2011 Middle East Quarterly.

HONORS/ APPOINTMENTS School of Theology and Ministry student Dan Finucane has been awarded a Summer Fellowship by The Beatitudes Society and will serve at the Ignatian Solidarity Network in San Francisco.

PUBLICATIONS Assoc. Prof. David Scanlon (LSOE) is the section editor on transition in the new Handbook of Special Education, in which he has co-authored “Transition to daily living for persons with high

TIME AND A HALF Asst. Prof. Franck Salameh (Slavic and Eastern Languages) presented “Language and Identity Formation in the Middle East: The Case of Arabic” at the University of Massachusetts Amherst Department of Judaic and Near Eastern Studies.

Foto Ivo Rovira & Ana Ponce

Martin Parkins (Photo by Jack Snyder)

Music Department Chairman Prof. Michael Noone, above, released the CD “Atalanta Fugiens: Music, alchemy and Rosacrucianism in the early 17th century,” on which he conducts music by Michael Maier from the court of Rudolf II. Part-time faculty member Fang Lu (Slavic and Eastern Languages) presented “Confucius Met Nanzi and the Formation of Lin Yutang’s Feminist Thought” at the joint conference of the Association for Asian Studies & International convention of Asian Scholars in Hawaii.

NOTA BENE The National Resource Center for Participant-Directed Services (NRCPDS) — a national center based at the Graduate School of Social Work providing support to programs that give veterans with disabilities more options for independent living — wrote five issue briefs that were used in the development and implementation of the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Plan, part of the Affordable Care Act and Health Care Reform Act. The center, directed by GSSW Professor Kevin Mahoney, was commissioned to work on the papers by the SCAN Foundation, which seeks to advance the development of a sustainable continuum of quality care for seniors.

Oriana Bandiera, who earned a doctorate in economics from Boston College in 2000, is the recipient of the Carlo Alberto Medal, which honors an Italian scholar under the age of 40 for outstanding contributions to economics. Bandiera — the first woman to receive the prize — does research on the role and design of incentives in the workplace, and on advanced and developing economies. She is a professor of economics at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and currently serves as associate editor for the Journal of Economic Literature and the Economic Journal.

Prof. Maxim D. Shrayer (Slavic and Eastern Languages) contributed his translation of Ilya Ehrenburg’s poem to “Faces of Babi Yar in Felix Lembersky’s Art,” a catalog of an exhibition at the Brandeis University Rose Art Museum, and spoke at in the exhibition’s opening. He also gave a master class and a reading at Reed College, where his book Yom Kippur in Amsterdam is on the syllabus of a Russian Short Story course, and presented “JewishRussian Poets Bearing Witness to the Shoah” at Portland State University.

Founders Professor in Theology James Keenan, SJ, presented “Ten Reasons for Doing Virtue Ethics Today” and led a faculty discussion on “The Catholic Intellectual Traditions” at Villanova University.

Adj. Assoc. Prof. Richard McGowan, SJ (Economics), presented “Searching for Gold: Gambling Expansion in the New England States” at the Midwest Political Science Association Meetings in Chicago.

O’Neill Library Manager of Instructional Services Kwasi Sarkodie-Mensah discussed the library research skills high school seniors should have before entereing college at a panel discussion hosted by the Gutman Conference Center Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Send items to: people.chronicle@bc.edu

JOB LISTINGS The following are among the most recent positions posted by the Department of Human Resources. For more information on employment opportunities at Boston College, see http://www.bc.edu/offices/hr: Events Manager, Center for Corporate Citizenship Director, Annual Capital Projects, Facilities Management Housing Assignments Specialist, Residential Life Assistant Manager, Residential Life Associate Vice President, Residential Life Associate Director, Classes & Reunions, Law School - Alumni and Development Web Developer, Office of Marketing Communications Research Technician, Biology Department Legal Information Librarian, Law Library Associate Dean, College of Arts & Sciences Administrative Assistant, Center for Corporate Citizenship Senior Assistant Director, Undergraduate Admission Office Assistant Director of Bands for Operations and Administration, Boston College Bands

T he B oston C ollege

Chronicle APRIL 28, 2011

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LOOKING AHEAD ‘Piano Guy’ Ready to Sing It One More Time Carr to ring down the curtain on his Eagle’s Nest concerts May 5

BY MELISSA BEECHER STAFF WRITER

For those who have come to expect a regular concert of lunchtime music in the Eagle’s Nest, next Thursday will be a sad day indeed.

Denny Carr ’11, popularly known as the “Eagle’s Nest Piano Guy,” will give his final performance at the McElroy Commons eatery, starting at noon on May 5.

And from Facebook RSVPs, it’s one of the hottest tickets in town: More than 1,000 students say they will attend.

“This has definitely been my best memory at BC. I never expected this to become what it turned into,” reflected Carr. “But I think a true performer knows when to step away, and I know that it’s that time.”

BC’s unassuming celebrity became a sensation his freshman year when he developed a devoted fan base in the Eagle’s Nest. Rarely using sheet music, he would play requests from memory and enjoy the spontaneous sing-alongs that erupted when he played songs like Sara Bareilles’ “Love Song” or Billy Joel’s “Only the Good Die Young.”

Since then, Carr has been featured in countless campus events and fundraisers, become the subject of numerous media articles, gone viral on YouTube, and established a steady following on Facebook and Twitter.

And it all started with “100 Years,” a song by the rock group

Denny Carr ’11 has provided entertainment — and many opportunities to sing along — during his undergraduate years at Boston College. “Coming to BC was the best decision I could have made and nothing made me happier than being able to play music.” (Photos by Chistopher Huang, above; Lee Pellegrini, below)

Five for Fighting that will, incidentally, be one of his final songs at the Eagle’s Nest piano.

“Over the past four years, it has been an honor and a privilege to play for people at BC. The response has been beyond anything I imagined when I sat down at the piano that first time,” said Carr.

It was an unused piano in the corner of the Eagle’s Nest that caught Carr’s attention his freshman year. Growing up, he was classically trained as a pianist and seeing the abandoned instrument recalled for him the words of his father: “The worst music comes from a silent piano.”

BC SCENES

STAGE AND SCREEN

“And every time I walked by it, I could only think of that,” said Carr, a Merrimack, NH, native and graduate of Bishop Guertin High School.

“Now, I look back and think about how my time here at BC would have been so dramatically different if I didn’t sit down that first day and start playing. What if people hated it? I took a leap of faith and it paid off. It’s a lesson I will always take with me.”

Carr will not be far away next year, having enrolled in the master’s program in higher education at the Lynch School of Education and accepted a job to program and manage campus events. Although a theology and philosophy major with a minor

in ancient civilizations, Carr says he sees his future in school administration.

“This was my first year working on Nights on the Heights and I really did fall in love with programming. I’m thrilled to be able to work with Nights on the Heights next year as a graduate student,” said Carr.

Carr said it is easier to walk away now from the Eagle’s Nest piano because so many other underclassmen have also started playing.

“I think I noticed a change in myself over the years. As a freshman I looked at other players as competition. Now I want to see as many as possible get involved and play whenever they can. It’s a great way for musicians to meet each other or to meet other students on campus,” said Carr.

For his final song, Carr has selected, very fittingly, Elton John’s “Your Song”: And you can tell everybody this is your song It may be quite simple, but now that it’s done I hope you don’t mind, I hope you don’t mind that I put down in words How wonderful life is while you’re in the world.

“I just want the BC community to know how incredibly grateful I am,” said Carr. “Coming to BC was the best decision I could have made and nothing made me happier than being able to play music.”

For more on the last “Piano Guy” performance, visit http://on.fb.me/ hyLMOt. To see Denny Carr play, visit his YouTube page at http://www. youtube.com/user/ThatBCPianoGuy Contact Melissa Beecher at melissa.beecher@bc.edu

DATE & TIME

The Orthodox Christian Fellowship hosts a food fair this Saturday from 1-4 p.m. in the Vanderslice Hall Cabaret Room, featuring samples from Greece, Cyprus, Syria, Albania, Egypt, Romania, Russia and the US, as well as performances

by Greek dance troupes and Hellenic College’s Byzantine Chanting group, in addition to a Vespers service. See http://on.fb.me/fWZGJB Contemporary Russian-American authors Gennady Katsov, Leon Kogan, and Leopold Epstein will read from and discuss their works at the 2011 Michael B. Kreps Memorial Reading in Russian Émigré Literature this Saturday at 7 p.m. in Devlin 101. See http:// fmwww.bc.edu/SL/SL.html.

Campus Ministry will hold the annual Service of Remembrance in honor of family, friends, and colleagues who have died this academic year on May 2 at 5:15 p.m. in the Shea Room of Conte Forum.

The annual Fulton Prize Debate on May 3, at 7 p.m. in Higgins 300, will feature four members of the Fulton Debating Society addressing the topic “Resolved: The United States should abandon the use of military force to support humanitarian intervention in the Middle East.” E-mail katsulas@ bc.edu.

Photos by Lee Pellegrini University Professor of English Paul Mariani joined actordirector James Franco onstage at Robsham Theater April 15 as part of the world premiere of “The Broken Tower,” Franco’s film adaptation of Mariani’s biography about American poet Hart Crane. The screening was held for Boston College undergraduates, who were selected via lottery.

The Political Science Department will sponsor the lecture “Obama and Asia: the Unexpected” by Victor Cha (above) — who served as US deputy head of delegation to the Six-Party Talks — on May 4 at 4 p.m. in McGuinn 121.

Cha, director of Asian Studies at Georgetown, is the Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. E-mail carol. fialkosky@bc.edu.

For more on Boston College campus events, see events.bc.edu or www. bc.edu/bcinfo.