Boston College Chronicle

The Boston College

Chronicle Published by the Boston College Office of News & Public Affairs december 15, 2011 VOL. 20 no. 8

INSIDE •Kiefer pens The Misfit Sock, page 2 •Santa comes to St. C’s, page 2 •Weerapana snares two awards, page 3

•GSSW to hold conference, page 3 •Ex-law dean Huber dies, page 3

BC Grad Goldschmidt to Lead C21 Center

By Kathleen Sullivan Staff Writer

Erik Goldschmidt, a Boston College alumnus and executive vice president of FADICA (Foundations and Donors Interested in Catholic Activities) in Washington, DC, has been named director of the Church in the 21st Century Center.

Goldschmidt, who will assume his duties on Jan. 9, succeeds Special Assistant to the President Robert Newton, the center’s interim director for the past 18 months.

Interviewed last week, Goldschmidt said he looked forward to

tor of C21 going into its second decade,” said Goldschmidt. “I was a graduate student at Boston College when the C21 Center was founded at a time when the Church needed a forum to engage in difficult conversations about critical issues. I’ve been truly impressed by how C21, through its various programs and publications, has successfully balanced theological engagement and pastoral need. C21 has been a gift to the Erik Goldschmidt Church and to the Boston College guiding C21’s efforts to be a cata- community.” lyst and resource for the renewal of Since its inception in 2002, the Catholic Church. the center has explored four fo“I’m honored to be the direc- cal issues: handing on the faith,

“They lifted my spirits during one of the most difficult times of my life.”

—Theresa Mahan (center, back row, with glasses) and some of her RecPlex friends

•CSON’s Harris on urban lit, page 4

especially with younger Catholics; relationships among lay men and women, deacons, priests, and bishops; sexuality in the Catholic tradition; and the Catholic intellectual tradition. In the past nine years, the center has attracted more than 60,000 people to its programs on campus, has published 16 issues of C21 Resources and 10 books, and developed a website with 300 archived webcasts and hundreds of thousands of visitors from 132 countries. It has also established a social media presence and a new C21 mobile app.

“The center will continue to adContinued on page 3

Boys, Girls and Friends

Girls take friendship disputes harder, LSOE researcher MacEvoy says

By Ed Hayward Staff Writer

•Q&A with GSSW’s Jessica Black, page 5 •What’s new on BC Bookshelf, page 6 •Ireland’s rich sporting life, page 6 •Holidays hit the Heights, page 8

Friends’ Support a Source of Strength When Theresa Mahan was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year, she found out she had many allies at BC to help her through the battle

By Reid Oslin Staff Writer

NOTICE: Boston College will be closed for the ChristmasNew Year’s break Dec. 26Jan. 2. Today’s Chronicle is the last edition of the fall semester. We will resume publication on Jan. 19.

Always healthy, energetic and outgoing, Theresa Mahan for years has been part of a group of Boston College women who meet informally at the Flynn Recreation Complex each weekday morning for fitness and socializing before heading to work.

But last Jan. 19, Mahan, an events and web specialist for the Office of University Mission and Ministry’s service center, thought that her association with her ’Plex colleagues had come to an unfore-

seen and abrupt end: Just days before her 51st birthday, she was diagnosed with stage IV colorectal cancer, and the disease had already spread into her lungs.

For Mahan, the past year has involved two major surgeries, repeated rounds of chemotherapy and radiation treatments, and a long and painful convalescence.

Without an outpouring of love and support from her circle of RecPlex friends, the University community, her family, and her fiancé Mike Spinello, she says, her recovery might not have been possible.

QUOTE:

On Dec. 1, Mahan rejoined her early morning fitness partners to express her appreciation for their support during her illness and long recuperation [see photo above].

“It’s been a difficult 10 months,” says Mahan, who has worked at Boston College for 11 years. “What makes this story unique for me is that I didn’t know every woman in this group really all that well; we’d just see each other in the locker room and talk.

“But when I got sick, they Continued on page 4

All the research told Lynch School of Education Assistant Professor Julie Paquette MacEvoy that relationships were more important to girls than to boys. But more and more, MacEvoy heard a different story from boys.

“What I heard told me that boys do care as much about relationships as girls do, which was at odds with research that has found girls are better at relationships than boys,” said MacEvoy. “That led to this idea that there is this aspect of friendship that girls really struggle with, but that we just hadn’t tapped into it yet.”

Working with colleagues at Duke University, MacEvoy began to examine whether or not girls cope better than boys when friends violate core expectations of friendships.

What MacEvoy found was that young girls are more devastated than boys when friends let them down and as likely to pursue “revenge goals” – small acts of getContinued on page 5

“It helped to be able to get away from hectic campus life and reflect on some big life questions.”

—Senior Megan Monahan, a participant in the annual Post Graduate Volunteer Discernment Overnight, page 5

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Chronicle december 15, 2011

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It all began with a pile of mismatched socks in the laundry room.

But instead of being consigned to a trash can, the unmatched socks found new purpose in a family Christmas tradition started many years ago by Church in the 21st Century Center Associate Director Karen Kiefer and her daughters. The girls, McKenna, Madison, Emma and Rosie, decorated the socks and filled them with jingle bells, pine cones, candy, recipes and a poem. They hung the socks by red ribbons on neighbors’ front doors on Christmas Eve morning as a way to spread Christmas cheer.

Today, the Kiefer family tradition is the centerpiece of a Christmas storybook written by Kiefer and illustrated by Belgium artist Kathy De Wit. The Misfit Sock tells of a sock that loses hope after its perfect match goes missing. Unhappy and unloved, the sock is labeled a misfit and overlooked until it is transformed, through the magical spirit of Christmas, into a “gratitude sock” filled with goodies for Santa and his reindeer and elves.

“The Misfit Sock tells a simple message that everyone can relate to,” said Kiefer. “Everyone deserves to be loved and find happiness.

There are times we lose hope. This story is about finding a purpose and believing you are worth something.”

Kiefer also sees a strong anti-bullying lesson in the story: how labels can cause harm and make people feel marginalized. She has received orders for The Misfit Sock from families, adults, social workers and others who connect to its message.

For Kiefer, the idea for the book came to her during her eldest daughter’s serious illness — “some of the darkest days and nights of my life” — when, unable to sleep, she

Caitlin Cunningham

A sock-cessful Christmas tale

Prof. Dwayne Carpenter (Romance Languages), co-director of the Jewish Studies Program, played the role of Santa during his visit to St. Columbkille Partnership School in Brighton as part of the University’s Read Aloud Program.

See more at http://bit.ly/v58xdl.

C21 Center Associate Director Karen Kiefer, author of The Misfit Sock.

turned to writing as a way to occupy her restless mind.

“I didn’t have a vision for the story, like some authors do. I just felt God’s pull,” said Kiefer.

Her daughter’s illness now past, Kiefer calls The Misfit Sock experience “a blessing. I believe out of something bad, there always comes something good.”

The Misfit Sock, which is sold online, comes in a kit with its own misfit sock that can be decorated, hung on the mantle and turned into a gratitude sock for Santa and his reindeer and elves. “It’s a nice tradition for families,” said Kiefer.

To order The Misfit Sock or find more information, visit www.themisfitsock.com.

—Kathleen Sullivan

As part of the ongoing BCConserves campaign to save energy across campus, the Office of Energy and Engineering offers a few quick and easy ways in which faculty, staff and students can help to conserve over the upcoming semester break. Before leaving campus:

•Turn off items that consume electricity, such as lights and individual coffee makers.

•Unplug chargers and other electronic equipment.

•Shut down computers.

•Review requirements and assignments for turning off office equipment such as printers and copiers.

•Where possible, close blinds and curtains in offices and classrooms.

•Close windows.

•If a refrigerator is empty, raise the setting to a warmer temperature.

•In offices with thermostats, lower the setting to 55 degrees.

Small efforts collectively result in big savings, and every effort is appreciated!

Reaching out to Outreach Afghanistan Members of the Boston College Army ROTC unit have spent the pre-holiday season collecting children’s clothing and school supplies to support Operation Outreach Afghanistan, an organization of military and civilian volunteers dedicated to providing muchneeded items for hospitals, schools, orphanages and villages in the wartorn nation.

“In the military that we are in now, most people will not finish their service without doing a tour in Afghanistan,” says Cadet Kathryne Bauchspies ’13, one of the leaders of the campus drive, which ended Tuesday. “I am sure that most of the soldiers who have fought there have run into children who need help. The whole point of the program is to help empower the Afghan people.”

This is the second year that BC ROTC cadets have held the clothing and supplies collection to benefit Afghan children. In 2010, the unit collected 26 cartons of materials for children in the Kabul area.

“Last year they really needed

a liberal arts education.”

The students highlighted are: Ian Roundtree A&S ’13; Monica Chase LSOE ’12; David Kete A&S ’12; Kasey Jong CSOM ’15 and Scott Landay CSOM ’12.

“Since we know prospective students are utilizing the web more and more to research colleges, I’m hopeful this new website will help to distinguish the Boston College experience in the minds of viewers,” said Mahoney.

“We are competing for the best students in the country with the best colleges in the country,” he added. “With the web, our print publications, and our campus programming, our challenge is to capture the richness and spirit that define Boston College, to set it apart from other formidable competitors.”

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

New (virtual) look for Admissions Virtual visitors to the University’s Office of Undergraduate Admission are now met with an enhanced, redesigned website [http://www.bc.edu/content/bc/ admission/undergrad.html] that showcases the distinctive Boston College student experience.

“The key enhancement is presenting Boston College’s academic richness and mission through what I consider to be our most authentic voices: BC students,” said Office of Undergraduate Admission Director John Mahoney.

“We identified five messages we wanted to convey and then found students who could best articulate them. So, you’ll find five short videos on the themes of research opportunities, extracurricular involvement, Jesuit identity, community, and the value of

winter jackets,” Bauchspies says.

“This year, we want to focus a little more on school supplies. We have received information from them that they need things like paper, pencils, markers – really anything that can be used to help teach the children.”

Bauchspies, a mathematics and pre-med major in the College of Arts and Sciences, is planning to join the Army’s aviation branch after receiving her officer’s commission in the spring of 2013. She also hopes to attend medical school after her active duty service.

—Reid Oslin

Kathleen Sullivan Michael Maloney Photographers

Gary Gilbert Lee Pellegrini

Mahoney credits the work of Office of Undergraduate Admission senior assistant directors Marybeth Cheverie and Elizabeth Borge, who took the lead in developing the themes and identifying students for the website.

“We also could not have completed this project without the support of Brock Dilworth [se-

nior associate director, web content] and Ravi Jain [lead digital media and web producer] in the Office of Marketing Communications. They interviewed the students, shot the films, and completely revamped the look of the Undergraduate Admission website.”

—Rosanne 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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Chemist earns a pair of young investigator awards for her protein research

Lee Pellegrini

Plans Forum on Two Honors for BC’s Weerapana GSSW Spirituality in Social Work

By Ed Hayward Staff Writer

Assistant Professor of Chemistry Eranthie Weerapana has received a pair of prestigious young investigator awards to support her research into identifying new protein activities implicated in cancer and aging, and developing small molecules to perturb these activities within a cellular environment.

Weerapana, a chemical biologist in her second year at BC, described her experimental research as “highly interdisciplinary” – pushing the science of synthetic and analytical chemistry to explore and better understand biological systems.

Foundations that specialize in supporting daring and innovative research call the work of Weerapana and her peers “high risk/ high reward” science that could lead to dramatic advances in science and medicine.

The Richard and Susan Smith Family Foundation recently honored Weerapana with a Smith Family Award for Excellence in Biomedical Research. The threeyear, $300,000 grant is part of a program designed to encourage accomplished junior faculty as they pursue research that has the potential to yield medical breakthroughs.

Likewise, the three-year, $450,000 Damon RunyonRachleff Innovation Award Weerapana received took note of her lab’s cutting-edge research for its promise to make significant

Eranthie Weerapana

inroads in the prevention, diagnosis or treatment of cancer.

Weerapana, who received her doctorate from MIT, said that without foundations like the Smith Family Foundation or the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, young sci-

Weerapana and her colleagues hope to achieve new insights into the molecular basis of cancer and aging and define protein targets that may one day aid drug development efforts to combat cancer and delay the onset of aging and age-related diseases. entists pursuing new avenues to discovery would face steep financial barriers.

“I appreciate that these organizations support young investigators and are open to investing in high risk/high reward projects that traditional funding sources

are reluctant to fund,” said Weerapana. “These foundations give us a chance to go out on a limb and explore new approaches to catalyze discoveries that would be slow to happen under traditional funding scenarios.”

Weerapana and her fellow honorees have demonstrated promising early findings and now, thanks to these foundations, can pursue additional advances and new breakthroughs.

Weerapana’s six-member research group takes a multidisciplinary approach, using the tools of synthetic chemistry, biochemistry and mass spectrometry to investigate proteins that contain reactive cysteines. Dysregulation of these cysteine-mediated protein activities is known to play a role in cancer progression and the onset of aging and age-related diseases.

“Our approach is unique in that we combine the tools of chemistry and mass spectrometry to interrogate and modulate cysteine-mediated protein activities within complex biological systems. We build small molecules that react with cysteines and then use mass spectrometry to fish out and identify the protein targets of these small molecules.”

With the financial support of the Smith Family and Damon Runyon awards, Weerapana and her colleagues hope to achieve new insights into the molecular basis of cancer and aging and define protein targets that may one day aid drug development efforts to combat cancer and delay the onset of aging and age-related diseases.

Contact Ed Hayward at ed.hayward@bc.edu

Goldschmidt Is New C21 Center Director Continued from page 1 dress salient issues for the Church in a respectful fashion that facilitates productive dialogue,” said Goldschmidt. “The work ahead will build on the success of these past 10 years and ensure that C21 has a greater presence at the national level.”

At FADICA, Goldschmidt coordinated the organization’s work with a younger generation of foundation leaders, managed the planning of a conference on Catholic philanthropy and assisted in identifying foundations with a focus on Catholic giving.

Prior to FADICA, Goldschmidt served in a variety of positions in the Lynch School of Education, including teaching fellow, adjunct professor and program director in Boston College’s Cen-

ter for Child, Family, and Community Partnerships.

Goldschmidt, who earned master’s and doctoral degrees in counseling psychology at Boston College, has master of divinity and bachelor’s degrees from the University of Notre Dame and a master’s in teaching from the University of Portland.

He has a long commitment to Catholic education, both as a researcher and a practitioner.

His professional work at Boston College involved examining the academic outcomes of addressing the whole child through implementing a comprehensive student support system in Boston’s urban Catholic elementary schools.

“Erik is both an academic and a person of strong faith,” said

University President William P. Leahy, SJ. “He understands the importance of engaging contemporary issues in ways that advance dialogue and understanding, and his own life manifests a deep commitment to Catholic life and values. I look forward to having him as C21’s next director.”

Fr. Leahy also praised the work of Newton as interim director. “Bob cares deeply about C21 and has been actively involved in it from the beginning. I am grateful for his dedicated service, and I am glad that he will continue to be involved in C21 as chair of the steering committee and co-chair of the advisory committee.”

Contact Kathleen Sullivan at kathleen.sullivan@bc.edu

By Sean Smith Chronicle Editor

The Graduate School of Social Work is expanding its annual alumni celebration into a school-wide conference that will explore spirituality in social work. The event, which takes place Jan. 13 from 8 a.m.-noon in McGuinn 121, will include a keynote address by Edward R. Canda — whose research interests bridge religious studies and social service — as well as workshops and the presentation of the GSSW Distinguished Alumni Award.

Organizers say the wider scope of the event, which is co-sponsored by the GSSW Diversity Committee, will strengthen GSSW alumni connections with faculty, staff and students. It also is keeping with the Diversity Committee’s mission to engage the school community on social work-related issues in increasingly diverse populations, they said.

The committee holds a series of events during the academic year to encourage reflection and discussion on a particular area of focus, such as race, sexual orientation, immigrants and refugees, and poverty.

This year’s concentration on spirituality stemmed from a 2010 survey of GSSW students, said GSSW Professor Paul Kline, chairman of the Diversity Committee.

“It was an area in which the students said they felt least prepared,” said Kline. “Their enthusiasm for

what we’ve been doing on diversity matters has been considerable, so spirituality seemed an obvious choice. And obviously it dovetails with Boston College’s mission and Jesuit, Catholic ethos.”

Kline said this academic year’s exploration of spirituality in social work began with a lecture for new students held during the school’s 75th anniversary celebration in September. A faculty retreat later in the fall was the venue for discussions on integrating spirituality into the school’s academic and non-academic life.

The Jan. 13 conference offers an opportunity “to have a conversation not only between students, faculty and staff, but with our alumni, who as professionals out in the field have a very valuable perspective. We believe we all have much to teach each other.”

Helping spur that conversation, Kline said, will be the keynote by Canda, a faculty member at the University of Kansas School of Social Welfare. Canda studied the anthropology of religions, art, and art history as an undergraduate, and earned a master’s degree in religious studies focusing on East Asian religions and comparative religions. His MSW and PhD degrees at The Ohio State University involved study and practice on cross-cultural and spiritual issues.

Kline praised students for being “active participants in visualizing, shaping and creating this event.”

Former BC Law Dean Huber Dies Funeral services were held yesterday at St. Ignatius Church for former Boston College Law Dean and longtime faculty member Richard Huber, who died on Saturday. A member of the Law School faculty from 1957 until his retirement in 2005, Professor Huber was 92.

Professor Huber’s tenure as dean from 1970-85 saw a number of major accomplishments and initiatives.

He oversaw the school’s move from More Hall on Main Campus to its present location on Newton Campus, helped introduce the first joint degree program in collaboration with the School of Management, and increased resources for clinical programs and courses. Eight faculty were added during his first nine years as dean alone, and the school established administrative positions for alumni relations, and admissions and financial aid. The law library grew from a one-room operation to a top-flight center of legal research with more than 150,000 volumes.

Professor Huber also was very active in AHANA recruitment and hiring as dean: In 1977, he hired the Law School’s first full-time African

American professor, Ruth-Arlene Howe ’74. The Environmental Affairs Law Review, International and Comparative Law Review, and Third World Law Journal at BC Law all began under Professor Huber’s leadership, as did the Black American, Asian American, and Latin American law students associations.

“Dick Huber was well-known for his warm, generous nature, his intellect and compassion, and his ability to bring out the best in everyone he touched,” said BC Law Dean Vincent Rougeau. “He will be missed.”

“He played a vital role in minority enrollment, not just at BC but nationally,” said Professor Huber’s successor as dean, Daniel Coquillette, who is Monan Professor of Law at BC. “Besides promotion of minorities, Dick was a tremendous advocate for women in law school…By the time he was done, female enrollment here went from essentially nothing to about 40 percent.”

For the full version of this story, see http://bit.ly/v1kHkK —Boston College Law School

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Chronicle december 15, 2011

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Reading Between the Lines Urban literature has become a popular genre, but is it potentially harmful to young readers?

CSON’s Alyssa Harris decided to find out

editors who asked Harris to blog about the topic.

Harris believes that urban Although Connell School of lit books present an opportuNursing Assistant Professor Al- nity for dialogue. “Younger girls lyssa Harris is familiar with ur- can’t always make the distincban literature, she admits she has tion between real life and fiction. a hard time reading it, given the Whether it is video games or genre’s gritty portrayal of city television shows or books, media life characterized by provocative, is so influential.” sexually explicit themes detailBut Harris cites an influence ing violence, stronger than Lee Pellegrini promiscuity the media or and substance peers. “It’s the abuse. power of the So what does parent. Mulshe think when tiple studies she encounters have shown young patients that adolesat her comcents cite pamunity health rental closeness center reading and communiB-More Carecation about ful by Shannon their beliefs Holmes, or The and attitudes Coldest Winter as very imporEver by Sister tant to guiding Souljah, or oththem with deer works of urcision-making, ban literature? including risky A certified behaviors.” women’s health “I’m not advocating censorship Parents nurse practitioneed to ask and I think it is a good thing ner, Harris sees their children many patients that young people are reading. what they are who partake in But, we can’t ignore the influ- reading and high-risk behavtalk to them ior, not unlike ence these books can have.” about the conthe characters sequences of —Alyssa Harris who populate making risky urban lit. She decided to con- choices and encourage them to duct interviews with African- make healthy choices, Harris American women ages 18-21 to said. investigate the influence of urHarris, who teaches graduate ban literature. students in the women’s health Though targeted for adults nurse practitioner program, add18-44, most of the participants ed that nurses can do their part in Harris’ study said they began by encouraging this dialogue bereading urban lit when they were tween parents and adolescents 12 or 13. Many had received when they see patients. urban lit books from their moth“I’m not advocating censorers or other family members. ship and I think it is a good They reported being “able to thing that young people are readdiscern that these novels were ing. But, we can’t ignore the fictionalized accounts, but be- influence these books can have,” lieved younger adolescents might said Harris, who received the Exnot be able to distinguish fact cellence in Nursing Education/ from fiction, instead believing Teaching Award from the New that this might be an accurate England Black Nurses Associaportrayal of the way a women tion earlier this year. might behave,” said Harris.

Harris, who joined the Con“Young women in the books nell School faculty in 2007 as are caught up in the ‘ghetto life,’ a clinical instructor overseeing worried about day to day living, undergraduates conducting their how to pay the rent and where obstetrics clinical rotation, has their next meal is coming from,” published in the Journal of Obshe said. “Other things fall by stetric, Gynecologic, and Neonatal the wayside.”

Nursing, The Journal for Nurse She wrote about her study Practitioners and Nursing for for the Journal of National Black Women’s Health.

Nurses’ Association, which caught Contact Kathleen Sullivan at the attention of Huffington Post kathleen.sullivan@bc.edu

By Kathleen Sullivan Staff Writer

On the Strength of Friendship Continued from page 1 started doing something every month – getting together, taking pictures of the group and sending me cards that they had all signed,” she says. “They lifted my spirits during one of the most difficult times of my life.

“Sometimes, when you are sick it seems like such a betrayal,” Mahan notes, “because you take such good care of yourself, you do all of the right things, and then you get such a devastating diagnosis. All of the women at the ’Plex made me feel very hopeful — hopeful that I would get back there someday.”

As she recovered, the group sent Mahan pictures of themselves in various ’Plex venues — at the swimming pool diving board, on the building’s front steps, even in the locker row where Mahan kept her workout gear. Many of the photos contained the month’s calendar page, showing that the group was counting off the days until Mahan would be healthy enough to rejoin them.

“The plan all along was to take one final picture,” she says.

“And I would be in it.”

“Theresa is such a lovely person,” says one RecPlex friend, Loretta Cedrone, administrative assistant in the Office of Institutional Research, Planning and Assessment. “I think that she was much more an inspiration to us than we were to her. When we saw the way she carried on — after the surgeries, the chemo, the radiation — what’s so hard about taking a picture? When we put a basket out to collect some small gifts and said that they would be going to Theresa, people just filled it. We thought about her

During Theresa Mahan’s recovery from cancer treatment, the friends she had made at the Flynn Recreation Complex sent her photos of the group to help boost her morale.

all the time.

“There are many, many big hearts out there,” Cedrone says.

“This is what it is all about.”

English Department senior lecturer Bonnie Rudner is another one of the morning fitness circle members who stepped up to bolster Mahan’s spirits. Rudner says that sending the first group photo was an effort to show Mahan that her ’Plex friends missed her and were thinking of her.

“This wonderful group of women of which I am blessed to be a part went out of its way to make sure, in spite of work schedules, summer vacations, the July 4th holiday, swimming lessons, yoga classes and other commitments, that there was always a large enough group to show Theresa how much she means to us.”

Other members of the University community were similarly helpful, Mahan adds. “Fr. Jack Butler [Vice President for University Mission and Ministry] was wonderful,” she says. “He said a Healing Mass for me last February and he told me at the time that things would get much harder for me. I couldn’t imagine what he meant.

“But, from the very beginning, Fr. Jack told me ‘I know you are going to survive this,’” she says. “And I never doubted it.”

Fr. Butler was a frequent visitor and constant source of hope during her long recuperation, Mahan says.

Other BC employees sent small, but thoughtful gifts, such as healing oil for her surgical scars, scarves and warm socks.

The Athletics Department offered a free RecPlex membership.

Co-workers provided transportation to medical appointments.

Business Systems support analyst Mary Pohlman loaned an electrically controlled reclining chair that enabled Mahan to sleep comfortably while she was recuperating from major chest surgery.

“Everybody has been wonderful,” says Mahan, who recently returned to her job in Carney Hall. “You think to yourself, ‘How do I ever repay such kindness?’ For me, it will just be paying it forward to someone else at some time.”

Contact Reid Oslin at reid.oslin@bc.edu

Photos by Christopher Huang

TAKING STEPS

The Dec. 2 “Concert for Congo” in Robsham Theater — held to raise awareness about the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo and foster solidarity with the Congolese people — featured performances by Boston College student groups PATU (Presenting Africa to You), above, and Synergy.

T he B oston C ollege

Chronicle december 15, 2011

Study Casts New Light on Relationships

Volunteering the Answer?

Overnight helps students mull post-grad options

By Melissa Beecher Staff Writer

It’s the question every senior hears ad nauseum this time of year: What are your plans after graduation?

For some Boston College students, the answer is service. According to the University’s Volunteer and Service Learning Center (VSLC), on average approximately 250 BC seniors opt to spend the first year after graduation in some sort of volunteer capacity, whether in the US or other parts of the world.

To help seniors who may be struggling with their post-BC plans, three years ago the VSLC began sponsoring an annual Post Graduate Volunteer Discernment Overnight.

Q&A

A FEW MINUTES WITH...

Jessica Black

It might seem unusual for a faculty member in social work to be involved in research that has to do with brain imaging and neural systems, but for the past several years, Graduate School of Social Work Assistant Professor Jessica Black has taken part in studies of dyslexia in early childhood through adolescence. Black discussed her research interests, and their potential application in social work, with Sean Smith of the Chronicle.

[The full version of this interview is available via online Chronicle at www.bc.edu/chronicle] Lynch School of Education Assistant Professor Julie Paquette MacEvoy: “There tends to be a perception of girls as being more passive than boys, but this just doesn’t seem to be true.” (Photo by Lee Pellegrini)

friendships, they are just as likely as boys to want to retaliate and to respond with aggression,” said MacEvoy.

Earlier studies have shown that girls’ friendships are more emotionally intimate than boys’ friendships and that girls are better at supporting and helping their friends and demonstrate they’re more capable of resolving conflicts with their friends. But studies have also shown that boys’ friendships last as long as girls’ friendships, that boys are as happy with their friendships as girls are, and that boys are no lonelier than girls over time.

In the study, the researchers read brief stories describing how a friend violated a core expectation of friendship. For each story, the children were asked how they would feel about the incident if it really happened and how they would respond.

MacEvoy and co-author Steven Asher of Duke recommend that

teachers, parents and adults interested in fostering healthy friendships among children help them learn to cope with the inevitable disappointments that can arise.

Girls in particular may need extra guidance as they try to understand a friend’s behavior and decide how to respond.

MacEvoy said she is currently following up the study with new research into whether or not girls set higher expectations when it comes to friendships. Most recently, she interviewed 300 local kids on their friendship values.

“We’re looking at whether girls really do value their friendships more than boys do,” said MacEvoy, herself the mother of a fouryear-old daughter. “When people talk about boys and girls, they think girls care more about having friends than boys do. But no one has ever really looked at that.”

“This is such a busy time of year for students. The Discernment Overnight gives them the opportunity to get off campus and reflect on where they are being called,” said VSLC Assistant Director Kate Daly. “Over the years we’ve found that it is helpful for students to speak to peers and graduates when they are making such a big decision.”

Earlier this month, a small group of students attended this year’s overnight at the Connors Family Retreat and Conference Center in Dover, where they heard from BC alumni offering different perspectives on the postgraduation question: one who is in the midst of a volunteer experience; another who considered volunteering but decided against it; and a married couple who, individually, participated in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps and the American Council on Education before starting careers.

College of Arts and Sciences senior MaryJo Maliekel felt she benefited from the event. “The Discernment Overnight was re-

ally helpful because it catered to students who are in various places within their own discernment.

There were students who already know that they want to serve next year, but need to discern which program was best. Others, particularly me, were or are still in the process of deciding whether or not to spend a year of service. And the retreat helped us all.”

Her fellow A&S senior Megan Monahan agreed.

“It helped to be able to get away from hectic campus life and reflect on some big life questions.

The Discernment Overnight was a great space in which to hear from past and present volunteers, ask questions, and continue my personal journey towards my vocation.

“I also enjoyed sharing with other seniors who are discerning similar questions, especially since I sometimes feel isolated in my questioning,” said Monahan.

To learn more about the program, see http://bit.ly/uIUCHt.

Contact Ed Hayward at ed.hayward@bc.edu

Contact Melissa Beecher at melissa.beecher@bc.edu

The most recent work you’ve done focuses on the role of IQ tests.

Talk about the controversy over the use of these tests in determining whether or not a child has dyslexia or other reading disabilities.

Historically, schools and psychologists have relied on IQ to both define and diagnose dyslexia. If a child’s reading achievement is below what is expected based on IQ, he or she could meet the criteria for dyslexia. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act mandated that states no longer require school districts to use IQ tests in the identification of children with learning disabilities like dyslexia.

What has been established in research and what continues to happen in practice appears dissociated, as many US schools still use the discrepancy model to define and diagnose dyslexia.

Dyslexia affects between 5 to 17 percent of US children, and the use of IQ to diagnose the condition has real implications for poor readers who do not meet the definition based on IQ-achievement discrepancy. If the child was not diagnosed with dyslexia, then he or she would not qualify for services that a child with dyslexia does. Our neurobiological findings converge with extant psychological and educational evidence suggesting that the longstanding IQ-achievement discrepancy diagnosis is not supported.

Lee Pellegrini

Continued from page 1 ting even that are on par with the perceived slight – the researchers reported last month in the journal Child Development.

The study of fourth- and fifthgrade children found that these violations – such as cancelling plans, sharing a secret with a friend, or failing to be supportive at a difficult time – upset girls more than boys and left them feeling angrier and sadder in response.

“Our findings stand in contrast to previous research that has shown boys to experience more anger than girls in their relationships,” said MacEvoy, the study’s lead author. “Here, we found that girls are in fact just as capable as boys are of anger. What leads boys and girls to feel angry, though, seems to be different. For girls, the anger comes out when they think that their friends have betrayed them or haven’t been there for them.”

The study of 267 girls and boys found girls were also more likely than boys to interpret friendship transgressions in a negative way, such as thinking that their friend does not care about them, does not value their friendship, or was trying to control them, the researchers report. In response, girls indicated they would be just as likely as boys to get revenge on their friend, or verbally scold their friend or threaten to end the relationship.

“There tends to be a perception of girls as being more passive than boys, but this just doesn’t seem to be true. It seems that when girls feel that something that matters to them is in jeopardy, like their

5

What are the potential implications of this research for the social work profession?

Social work uses the biopsychosocial model to understand and advocate for equal access to opportunities to thrive, especially for populations marginalized historically. Specific to my work, research tells us that children with significant impairments in reading may face deleterious effects (including lowered self-worth, impaired peer relationships, and greater chances of dropping out of school) secondary to the primary effects of deficits in content knowledge and vocabulary growth.

I believe that through increased opportunities we can improve children’s chances to succeed academically (which carries with it implications for social, emotional and cognitive well-being). One way to increase opportunity is to revise the traditional discrepancy model. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is currently being revised, and there is a proposal to change the diagnosis of dyslexia so IQ would not be taken into consideration. We provide the first neurobiological support for this change.

It’s fair to say that special education has become a hot-button issue in many school communities. Does social work have a part to play in offering potential solutions?

I believe so. Social workers have unique and important training, and subsequent careers considering human development through the biopsychosocial model relying on both a clinical (micro) and a policy-oriented (macro) lens. In essence, social work considers the complex and very much interwoven layers of individual development, from early relationships to broader community, policy and history. It seems such a perspective is needed as we consider ways we may improve opportunities within schools.

More at www.bc.edu/chronicle

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The Bookshelf

The first book by Assistant Professor of History Owen Stanwood, The Empire Reformed: English America in the Age of the Glorious Revolution, offers “a compelling explanation for the political turbulence in colonial North America in the late 17th century,” according to a reviewer. In a narrative that moves from Boston to London to Barbados and Bermuda, it tells the story of a forgotten revolution in English America — one that created not a new nation but a new kind of transatlantic empire.

Sculptor, architect, painter, playwright and scenographer Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) is the subject of a new biography by Romance Languages and Literatures Associate Professor of Italian Franco Mormando. According to the publisher, Bernini: His Life and His Rome — the first English-language biography of Bernini — takes a look at the life of “the last of the universal geniuses of early modern Italy, placed in the same exalted company as Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo. His artistic vision remains present today through the countless statues, fountains, buildings and other works of his design that transformed Rome into the Baroque theater that continues to enthrall tourists.”

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

McDermott, Lee Join Advancement Vice President for Development Thom Lockerby has announced the appointment of two new members of the University Advancement division’s senior staff.

Beth McDermott has been named executive director of school development and organizational giving, while Theresa Lee will be BC’s new executive director of annual giving.

McDermott had been director of development for the Carroll School of Management since 2010, after serving as executive director of institutional development at Middlebury College’s Monterey Institute of International Studies. She

worked at BC in a variety of advancement roles from 1999 through 2004 and was director of annual giving at Milton Academy from 1995-99.

Lee, who will assume her BC duties in January, has been director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Annual Fund since 2009. In addition to other advancement program leadership positions at MIT, her 20-year career in higher education includes experience as capital gifts officer at College of the Holy Cross, director of annual giving at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and assistant director of student activities at Northeastern University.

—Reid Oslin

The annual poc fada competition is among many Irish sporting traditions, customs and historical tidbits explored by Mike Cronin (below) in his recent books on the Gaelic Athletic Association.

Not Just Fun and Games

Cronin’s books use sports as lens to examine Irish social, economic, political life

By Sean Smith Chronicle Editor

Sports may not be to everyone’s taste, but its impact on national culture and heritage is pervasive — especially in Ireland, says Mike Cronin, academic director of the Dublinbased Boston College Centre for Irish Programmes.

Cronin is directing BC Ireland’s four-year oral history project of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), which promotes Irish amateur sports and cultural activities internationally as well as throughout Ireland. As Cronin explains, to study the GAA — which celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2009 — is to gain a valuable insight into the lives of Irish people.

“The GAA has had a club in every parish in Ireland, as well as in places like Boston, New York and London,” said Cronin. “GAA clubs — there are about 2,500 in total, with a membership of about 800,000 — represent a tremendous amount of dedication by the community, and are a thread running through the experiences of many Irish, whether urban or rural, the Republic or Northern Ireland.”

Appropriately enough, Cronin says, the oral history project, which began during the GAA’s 125th-anniversary year, has relied on precisely the same kind of grassroots effort that has characterized the GAA: Through the assistance of volunteers from the GAA and other organizations, the project has amassed some 1,600 interviews, 3,000 hours of recordings and 20,000 photographs.

Following up on the project’s first book, The GAA: A People’s History, which was produced to commemorate the quasquicentennial, two new volumes are now complete: Places We Play: Ireland’s Sporting Heritage, written by Cronin and Roísín Higgins; and The GAA: County By County, on which Cronin collaborated with Mark Duncan and Paul Rouse, as he did for the project’s first.

While each book has its own focus, Cronin says that both are attuned to the GAA history project’s

Lee Pellegrini

Fifty Key Thinkers on Language and Linguistics, by Slavic and Eastern Languages Professor of Linguistics Margaret Thomas, explores how 50 of the most influential figures in the field have asked and responded to classic questions about the language. What was the first language, and where did it come from? Do all languages have properties in common? What is the relationship of language to thought? The book offers an introduction to thinkers — including Aristotle, Samuel Johnson, Friedrich Max Müller, Ferdinand de Saussure, Joseph H. Greenberg and Noam Chomsky — who have had a significant impact on the subject of language.

mission. “The two books are about heritage: What are the things that mean the most to the Irish, which stand out in collective or individual memory? What aspects of this heritage are emphasized, and how, and does their meaning change over time?

So on the one hand, yes, the books are rich in detail about Irish sports, but they also point up some very interesting social issues and questions.”

Published earlier this fall, Places We Play is an overview of Ireland’s many and varied sporting venues.

These include the thoroughly modern Aviva Stadium — formerly Lansdowne Road — Ireland’s new home for international soccer and rugby and the most expensive structure ever built in the Irish Republic.

The book also explores once popular, now neglected racing courses or handball courts, and even unlikely settings such as the mountains of County Louth, where players from GAA hurling clubs gather for the traditional poc fada competition, in which they must propel the ball (sliothair) over a three-mile course with as few hits as possible.

Fascinating, sometimes troubling stories abound in many of these current or former sporting sites, Cronin notes. A GAA stadium in Killarney was built with the assistance of inmates from a local asylum — a contribution belatedly acknowledged years later with an historical plaque.

The famed Baldoyle racecourse had to close down in the 1970s due to structural problems and became the site for a housing development during Ireland’s “Celtic Tiger” economic surge — but then came the crash,

Cronin says, and today the remains of the derelict course sit anonymously amidst the unfinished development.

“It’s questions like this we find throughout the study of sporting sites: What do we choose to preserve, and to remember? Do we appreciate these sites for what happened there, for their architecture, or perhaps for their ties to tradition and community?”

County by County is exactly as its title implies: the story of the GAA from the perspective of each of Ireland’s 32 counties — as well as its so-called “33rd” county, the immigrant populations around the world, including Boston (the site of the first game played under GAA rules outside of Ireland, in 1886).

As with Places We Play, sporting anecdotes in County by County are a lens with which to examine social, economic, political and other elements of Irish life. Because the GAA All-Ireland competitions in soccer, hurling and other sports are organized by counties, Cronin notes, players and their communities sometimes have had to put aside longstanding rivalries from club-level GAA activities — or deeper, more complicated causes — to represent the county. It’s not always an easy thing to do: In 1931, simmering tensions aggravated by the still uneasy post-Irish Civil War climate tore apart the Tyrone Gaelic football team before its match with Cavan.

County identification also was paramount to Irish immigrants when they became involved in overseas GAA branches like Boston’s, says Cronin. “You didn’t simply have a ‘Boston’ team, you had ‘Boston Dublin’ or ‘Boston Tyrone.’ It was important to have that distinction.

“You look through the interviews and anecdotes, and it’s very interesting to see how people choose to identify themselves, and what the extent of that identification is.”

For more on the GAA project, see www.irishsportinghistory.com Contact Sean Smith at sean.smith@bc.edu

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WELCOME ADDITIONS Joseph McCarthy Professor of Catholic Systematic Theology Richard Gaillardetz came to Boston College this fall after 10 years as the Thomas and Margaret Murray and James J. Bacik Professor of Catholic Studies at the University of Toledo.

His honors include the Washington Theological Union Sophia Award for “theological excellence in service to ministry,” as well as numerous awards from the Catholic Press Association for his occasional pieces. Gaillardetz, who earned his doctorate from the University of Notre Dame, is vice president of the Catholic Theological Society and will assume the presidency in 2013.

Associate Professor of Biology Welkin Johnson will formally join the faculty in January, bringing expertise in areas such as retroviruses, virus evolution, host genetics and infectious disease, and microbiology/virology. Since 1998, he has been affiliated with the Harvard Medical School; he is also a member of The Broad Institute in Cambridge and an associate blogger for “Small Things Considered,” [schaechter.asmblog.org/schaechter], maintained by the American Society for Microbiology. Johnson, who earned his doctorate at the Tufts University School of Medicine, is a member of the editorial boards for such journals as Journal of Virology and AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses.

Lynch School of Education Assistant Professor Rebecca Lowenhaupt specializes in school reform and organizational change, bridging the fields of educational leadership, immigrant education and education policy. Lowenhaupt earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Harvard University and her doctorate in educational leadership and policy analysis from the University of Wisconsin-Madison; she was a postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern University prior to joining BC. Her professional experience includes teaching at Nativity Preparatory School in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston, and in charter schools and a bilingual school in Central America.

Carroll School of Management Assistant Professor Ewa Sletten researches how strategic decisions, corporate governance and executive compensation influence financial disclosure practices. Before joining the CSOM Accounting faculty, Sletten taught at the Sloan School of Management at MIT, where she was nominated for the Excellence in Teaching Award. A CPA, she earned her PhD from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and holds an MS in accounting from the University of Illinois at Chicago and an undergraduate degree from the University of Lodz in her native Poland.

—Sean Smith and Ed Hayward Photos by Caitlin Cunningham and Lee Pellegrini “Welcome Additions,” an occasional feature, profiles new faculty members at Boston College.

NOTA BENE A special issue of Nursing Science Quarterly [http://nsq.sagepub.com] honors the work of Connell School of Nursing Professor Sister Callista Roy, creator of the Roy Adaptation Model, a nursing theory practiced worldwide. The journal features articles by Sister Roy and other scholars as well as an interview with Connell School Associate Clinical Professor Stacey Barone.

Boston College junior linebacker Luke Kuechly made a clean sweep of the nation’s top collegiate defensive player awards this year, capturing the Butkus Trophy (top linebacker), Lombardi Trophy (best lineman), Lott IMPACT Award (on-field performance and personal character) and Bronko Nagurski Award (college football’s best defensive player.) In photo, Kuechly accepts the Butkus Award from its namesake, football Hall of Famer Dick Butkus.

Newsmakers

Publications

Who gets the blame when a member of a group does something wrong — the individual or the group? The answer may depend on how cohesive the group is perceived to be, according to a report co-authored by Asst. Prof. Liane Young (Psychology), published in the current issue of the journal Psychological Science.

Rattigan Professor of English Emeritus John L. Mahoney published the chapter “Wordsworth and Ultimate Reality: Poetry and Religious Practice” in Ultimate Reality and Meaning.

In an interview with Campus Technology, Information Technology Services Web Technology Manager Scott Olivieri discussed the process that enabled BC to launch a services-based mobile site in just eight weeks.

Assoc. Prof. Mary Ann Hinsdale, IMH (Theology), was interviewed by “CBS Sunday Morning” regarding the Vatican launch of an apostolic visitation of orders of nuns in the US, and other issues and changes in the Church.

Neenan Millennium Professor of Economics James E. Anderson published “The specific factors continuum model, with implications for globalization and income risk” in the Journal of International Economics.

Assoc. Prof. Christopher F. Baum (Economics) co-published “The Impact of the Financial System’s Structure on Firms’ Financial Constraints” in the Journal of International Money and Finance, and co-published “The contextual ef-

BC BRIEFING

Salt Lake City’s KSL News interviewed Egan Professor of Computer Science James Gips, a co-creator of EagleEyes, the groundbreaking assistive technology for the severely disabled.

fects of social capital on health: A cross-national instrumental variable analysis in Social Science & Medicine.

Honors/Appointments Conor O’Brien, a resident director

o b i t u a r ies

BC Law Prof. Robert Berry Robert C. Berry, a 25-year member of the Boston College Law School faculty who created the first sports law course in the country, died in Florida on Nov. 21. He was 75.

Professor Berry was a wellknown expert in contracts and sports and entertainment law, and a frequent media commentator, appearing on “Larry King Live,” National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered,” ESPN and network news broadcasts and writing as a guest columnist for the New York Times, among other media outlets.

He is survived by his wife, Carole; his sons, James Doak and Dana; stepdaughter, Beth Ann Jerskey; his brother, James; and grandsons Joshua and Ender. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Jackie Robinson Foundation in memory of Robert C. Berry.

—Office of News & Public Affairs

Former LSOE Associate Dean Raymond Martin Raymond J. Martin, a retired professor and associate dean in the Lynch School of Education, died Nov. 21 following an illness. He was 83 and lived in Walpole.

Dr. Martin worked at Boston College for nearly 30 years as an associate professor and associate dean for undergraduates. His area

of expertise was school administration and management and he took great pride in the role he played working with students who would go on to serve as teachers, principals and superintendents, colleagues said.

Dr. Martin is survived by his wife of 51 years, Louise, their children Ted, Chris, Cathy, Molly, Tim, Julie and Louise, and 11 grandchildren.

A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated Nov. 26 in St. Ignatius Church. Martin was buried with military honors in St. Mary’s Cemetery, Needham.

—Ed Hayward

in the Office of Residential Life, received the Richard F. Stevens Outstanding New Professional Award for the state of Massachusetts at the National Association for Student Affairs Professionals Region I conference. The award recognizes new professionals who have made significant contributions to their institution and the student affairs profession.

Time and a Half Prof. Dwayne E. Carpenter (Romance Languages) has been invited to serve as a member of a team of scholars based in Nantes, France, to study the legal status of Jews and Muslims in medieval Europe.

Prof. Maxim D. Shrayer (Slavic and Eastern Languages) presented “Nabokov and Soviet Literature” and “Ilya Ehrenburg and the Price of Writing Poetry about the Shoah” at the annual conference of the Association for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies in Washington, DC. Asst. Prof. Eyal Dvir (Economics) presented “Globalization, Optimal Auctions and Exchange Rat PassThrough” at the REPLHS International Conference in Milan, Italy.

Neenan Millennium Professor of Economics James E. Anderson spoke at the University of Toronto and Sciences Po in Paris.

JOBS The following are among the most recent positions posted by the Department of Human Resources.

For more information on employment opportunities at Boston College, see www.bc.edu/offices/hr/: Dean, Lynch School of Education Assistant Director, Research Integrity and Compliance, Compliance and Intellectual Property Management Legal Information Librarian,

John Lowell, trustee in 1970s Law School A memorial service for former Boston College Trustee John Lowell, who died Nov. 22 at the age of 92, will be held this spring in his hometown of Nahant, Mass. Mr. Lowell, who served on the board from 1972 until 1979, was among the first group of laymen to be appointed as trustees. He was a member of the board’s executive committee during the final three years of his term.

A civic-minded person throughout his career in Boston’s financial community, Mr. Lowell served on a number of educational and charitable boards in the area. A graduate of Harvard University, Mr. Lowell served in the US Navy during World War II. —Reid Oslin To read the full versions of these obituaries, see online Chronicle [www.bc.edu/chronicle]

Associate Dean, Academic and Student Services, Graduate School of Social Work Associate Director, University Fellowships office Report Writer/Analyst, Advancement Services Athletic Maintenance, Facilities Management Administrative Assistant, Office of Campus Ministry Aquatic Manager, Flynn Recreation Complex Food Service Worker, Dining Services - Catering Faculty Support Assistant, Law School Financial Aid Associate, Student Services

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Chronicle december 15, 2011

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‘From Santa with Love’

Students find humor and poignancy answering children’s letters to St. Nick

Approximately 20 Boston College undergraduates gathered in Rubenstein Hall on a recent afternoon to write some letters using an assumed name: Santa Claus.

The students replied to Christmas correspondence from almost two dozen special needs children from low-income Rhode Island families. The children had been learning how to write letters in school, and their teachers thought that penning a note to Santa would be a good way to practice.

Rubenstein Resident Assistant Katherine Beckett — who had contacts with the teachers through her past work with special needs children — had an even better idea: Why not have Santa write the kids back?

A Seekonk, Mass., native who is pursuing a combined BA/MA in history at BC, Beckett remembered receiving letters from St. Nick through the US Postal Service’s “Operation Santa.” What she didn’t know then was that her aunt, a local postmaster, was the author: “She would always write personalized notes to the children, including me. I was amazed that Santa knew how I did on every spelling test!

“I really enjoyed having a personal letter from Santa, and since the USPS no longer runs Opera-

BC SCENES

tion Santa in every town, I thought major with a minor in education that it’d be a good idea to organize from Bethesda, Md. a program for my residents to give “The little girl I responded to back this season.” thanked Santa for all the gifts she Lindsay Thomann, a Connell had received over the years and School of Nursing senior from Sau- drew a picture of a reindeer and a gus, Mass., jumped at the chance. Christmas tree,” said Thomann.

“I thought about how I felt each “I commented on her outstandyear at this time, writing my long ing artwork and told her about letter to Santa and mailing it hop- how the reindeer were doing and ing that he would get it in time. I how excited they were getting for thought this would be a fun way to Christmas as well.” give back and make some children But the letters also bore indicavery happy around the holidays.” tions of familial and personal hardAs one might expect, many of ships: One girl asked to reunite the letters were full of youthful with her parents, whom she hadn’t charm, curiosity and solicitousness: seen “in a long time,” and another one boy asked for a real dinosaur hoped to see her father after three (if none were availyears of separation; able, however, an “When a young child a boy said he would action figure was love any presents, acceptable); some starts worrying about said Willingham, children requested “but his mom told a parent’s employpresents for siblings him there wouldn’t ment, it makes me or pets; one child be a lot because she described his behavhad to buy a new wonder what home ior for the past year couch last week.” life must be for her.” as “nice — most of A letter from a the time.” girl who mentioned —Erica Reynolds ’12 Senior Tori her mother was out Willingham read a of work troubled letter from a little girl who expressed Erica Reynolds, a senior psycholconcern about Santa’s weight but ogy major from Scarsdale, NY. promised to leave half a cookie “I found that profound because anyway: “We weren’t sure where when a young child starts worrying the other half of the cookie would about a parent’s employment, it be,” said Willingham, a psychology makes me wonder what home life

Students in Rubenstein Hall write “letters from Santa” to special needs children from low-income families. (Photo by Frank Curran)

must be for her. The fact that this young child is taking responsibility to worry for her mother reflects an unhealthy mentality. Children are usually inherently selfish — not in a bad way, they just naturally only think of themselves because they have not learned to think of others.

What has she seen to lead her to think this way?”

Although there were some guidelines to follow in crafting responses — namely, don’t promise to give kids the gifts they ask for — it was up to each student to rely on his or her creativity and sensitivity.

“I made sure to tell them how smart and wonderful, and lucky, their parents were to have them,” said Reynolds.

Said Willingham, “I started by answering the questions the kids asked me and then filled in some

CHRISTMAS TIME COMES TO THE HEIGHTS

fun stories about the North Pole.

I told the kids that Christmas presents had to stay a secret and I couldn’t spoil it just yet, but would do my best to get them presents they would love.”

Inevitably, childhood memories of Christmas and Santa beckoned to the BC students — like Willingham, who remembers putting out “reindeer food” along with the requisite cookies and milk, and finding presents wrapped in “Santa’s wrapping paper.”

“My parents went through a lot of planning to ensure our belief in Santa,” she said. “It made the holiday so much more magical for me and my siblings. I hope I got to inspire some of that magic in other kids. I wish I could’ve seen their faces when they got our letters.”

—Sean Smith

Photos by Caitlin Cunningham

With the approach of the Christmas holidays, the Boston College campus was full of activity. University President William P. Leahy, SJ (near right), marked the official start of the holiday season at the campus tree-lighting ceremony Nov. 30 in O’Neill Plaza, an event that included a visit from a special guest (far right).

Members of the University community enjoyed performances by BC bOp! and Boston College Acoustics at the Dec. 8 Breaking the Barriers Ball in Gasson Hall.

The Alumni Association turned Newton Campus into a “Winter Wonderland” for alumni, family and friends on Dec. 10, with horse-drawn carriage rides, an appearance by Baldwin and other entertainment and activities.