The Boston College
Chronicle Published by the Boston College Office of News & Public Affairs january 19, 2012 VOL. 20 no. 9
INSIDE
UNDER THE LIGHTS
GSSW to Collaborate on Program in Afghanistan
•Police officer’s donation a life-saver, page 2
By Sean Smith Chronicle Editor
•Sub Turri at 100, page 2
•HEALTHY YOU ready for second year, page 3 •Two honors for Liane Young, page 3 Goaltender Chris Venti ‘12 makes a save during the Eagles’ 2-1 win against Northeastern Saturday at Fenway Park. It was BC hockey’s second visit to the fabled ballpark since January of 2010. (Photo by John Quackenbos)
BC Awaits Ruling on Irish Archives By Ed Hayward Staff writer
•Reminder on crime reporting, page 3 •Stokes looks at caregivers with HIV, page 4
•Irish Institute programs, page 5 •Kay Lemon on credit cards, page 5 •Muskavitch’s mosquito research, page 6 •Every Bite Counts food program, page 6 •Lowell Humanities Series spring schedule is set, page 8
Boston College is awaiting the decision of a federal appeals court in Boston that will determine its obligation to turn over to the US Attorney’s Office an interview with former IRA member Delours Price, which was conducted as part of the University’s oral history archive on The Troubles in Northern Ireland. The oral history project, which was directed by author and former Irish Times journalist Ed Moloney,
and overseen by Executive Director of Irish Programs and University Professor of History Thomas E. Hachey and Burns Librarian Robert K. O’Neill, contains dozens of personal accounts of individuals from the predominantly Catholic nationalist movement and the largely Protestant loyalist cause in Northern Ireland. Last spring, Boston College was served a subpoena by the US Attorney’s Office on behalf of an undisclosed law enforcement agency in the United Kingdom requesting the interContinued on page 5
A collaboration between Boston College and Hunter College aims to help establish social work as a recognized profession in Afghanistan, by developing national qualification standards and university level curricula at undergraduate and graduate levels. Eileen Ihrig, who is director of international programs at the BC Graduate School of Social Work, is the co-principal investigator for the project, which will create occupational standards and training systems that focus on child protection. The project will take place through the National Skills Development Program in the Afghanistan Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, Martyrs and Disabled, funded by a grant from UNICEF. Ihrig and co-principal investigator Hunter College School of Social Work Associate Professor Martha Bragin, chair of the school’s Global Social Work and Practice with Immigrants and Refugees program, traveled to Afghanistan twice last year to meet ministerial staff and others
who are involved in the project. Among those helping to coordinate efforts is Maryanne Loughry, RSM, associate director of the Jesuit Refugee Service Australia and a visiting scholar at GSSW. The project’s goal for the coming year, said Ihrig, will be to develop curricula for three different professional levels in child protection: social care worker, social worker and social work manager. Child protection is widely acknowledged as a critical need in Afghanistan, Ihrig said. Years of conflict have eroded traditional family-based structures that protected children. Today, children often face danger from within their own families, as well as from the larger society, says Ihrig. “You see family violence and child abuse in the home, and then there are other risks, such as forced or early marriage for girls, and forced labor or combat for boys. Afghanistan has many needs, but ensuring that its future generations are able to grow up safe and healthy is certainly a major priority.” Ihrig acknowledges that the Continued on page 4
A New Beginning for Muslims in Europe? Despite controversies, Laurence sees progress in state-mosque relations By Sean Smith Chronicle Editor
Western Europe hardly seems a model for harmonious relations between Muslim minorities and the non-Muslim societies in which they reside. Controversies have flared recently over the wearing of burkas in public, construction of mosques, and an ironic suggestion from a French ex-political official that his fellow Muslims wear green stars. But Associate Professor of Political Science Jonathan Laurence tells a different story in his new book, The
Emancipation of Europe’s Muslims: The State’s Role in Minority Integration. During the past two decades, he says, European countries have stepped up efforts to integrate Muslims into the institutional, political, and cultural fabrics of European democracy. Foremost among such initiatives has been the governmentled creation of Islamic Councils to help resolve public disputes over Islamic practices. The book caught the attention of The Economist, which called it an “original and thought provoking study...[focusing] on a crucial new mechanism of state-mosque relations.” “There’s a perception that multiculturalism and integration where Islam is concerned has been a failure
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in Western Europe,” says Laurence. “I think you have to take a wider, and longer, view. The fact is, although these are pluralistic societies, governments and official policies had been lagging behind the reality — they had not accepted the permanence of the situation. “But since the 1990s, and to an even greater degree this century, there is a definitive shift toward acceptance of Muslims as citizens — and affirming their emancipation —rather than viewing them as ‘foreigners.’” In the book, Laurence uses historical parallels in his analysis of the Muslim experience in Western Europe of the past several decades, pointing to government interactions with groups once considered “out-
Lee Pellegrini
Jonathan Laurence
siders” — such as Jews and trade unions — at key points in the development of modern states. “To be sure, it’s a transition that Continued on page 4
“The more veils we put between ourselves and mosquitoes, the less likely it is they will bite us and spread diseases among humans.” —Professor of Biology Marc Muskavitch, page 6
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Chronicle january 19, 2012
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Boston College Police Officer Joey Marano gave the greatest Christmas present of all to a seven-year-old girl at Children’s Hospital last month: the gift of life. A long-time blood and platelet donor at the hospital, Marano was contacted by medical officials to ask if he would donate his matching white blood cells to help save the life of a youngster facing an acute medical emergency. “I was on my way into work,” Marano recalls, “but they told me, ‘We need you to come in now.’ I called in, took a vacation day, and went right down to the hospital.” Technicians gave Marano an injection to stimulate the growth of white blood cells, and told him to report back at 7:30 the next morning for the four-hour collection procedure. “There’s only a 12-hour leeway when the procedure can be done,” Marano explains. “I was on the machine for about four hours. It took my blood out, removed the white cells, and then put the blood back in. There are a couple of big metal needles in your arms and you can’t move your arms during the entire procedure.” The transfusion was successful and hospital officials report that the young patient is doing well.
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Google+ Adds to BC’s Connections
BC Police Officer Joey Marano (seated) surrounded by well-wishers from his department, along with a special guest, after donating platelets.
Marano, who was a paramedic before joining the BCPD in 1994, says he has donated blood, platelets and cells on a regular basis for many years. “I have been very fortunate, and I want to do something proactively,” he says. “I have seen other people’s mothers and fathers get cancer or other diseases, and when I worked on the ambulances years ago, I saw a lot of children with some really serious health problems. “I’ve been a monthly blood and platelet donor, but every once in a while you get a call saying there is a child who matches the criteria for white blood cells or marrow or whatever,” he says. “When you are doing platelets, you know it is going to a great cause, but when you get that special call to come in, it really hits
home. I’ll keep doing it.” “Donors like Joey are critical for us,” says Maureen Beaton, transfusion services manager at Children’s, who notes that Marano has made nearly 200 donations. “This case was a child who was having a medical emergency and had a tremendous need, specifically, for white blood cells. If we did not have donors like Joey, we would have major issues supplying blood for all of the people who need it, not just the kids here at Children’s. If only everyone would do what he does.” Members of the Boston College community who would like more information on becoming a blood or platelet donor at Children’s Hospital may contact the program through www.halfpints. childrenshospital.org. —Reid Oslin
Boston College is now on Google+ [http://bit.ly/wO7hsF]. With the recent launch of brand pages on Google+, colleges and universities across the country have started adding the newest social network site to their online presences. BC’s Office of News & Public Affairs (NPA), which maintains the Boston College Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, BC iPhone App and the Chronicle YouTube channel, decided Google+ was yet another way to reach the Boston College community across campus and around the world. “Two years ago, the Office of News & Public Affairs embraced social media as a means of navigating the rapidly changing landscape of news and communication,” said NPA Director and University Spokesman Jack Dunn. “Google+ is the newest way for students, faculty, alumni and friends to remain connected with Boston College. Our efforts through Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have yielded remarkable results, and, as it grows in popularity, we anticipate Google+ to be equally successful.” Google+ shows great promise to be a major factor in the social media world, with a self-reported 62 million users added since the platform launch in June 2011. The Boston College Google+ site currently offers a circle for faculty, a circle for BC groups and organizations and a circle for other colleges and universities. Photos, video and news will be featured on the page. In upcoming months, historical photos, circle-specific content and a BC “hangout” – that’s Google+ speak for video chat – will be available. —Melissa Beecher The Boston College
Chronicle
Director of NEWS & Public Affairs
Jack Dunn
Sub Turri at the Century Mark
Deputy Director of NEWS & Public AFFAIRS
Patricia Delaney
“Vintage” is the fitting title for the 100th anniversary edition of Sub Turri, the Boston College yearbook. Sub Turri (Latin for “Under the Tower”) Editor-in-Chief Rachel Gregorio ’12 explained that the publication aims to put this year’s class in a much larger context of BC history. “There is definitely pressure in producing the 100th anniversary edition of Sub Turri, but I’m thrilled that it has landed on us,” said Gregorio. “This edition will be a look back and incorporate the full history of BC and our place in it.” The Sub Turri editorial team has taken advantage of the complete collection maintained by University Libraries to incorporate as many images as possible throughout the last century. A digital format available online [www.archive.org/details/subturri] enables viewers to browse generations of BC students within their respective yearbooks. “We’ve been having a lot of fun going through the editions and picking out fun facts while looking
back,” said Gregorio. Something that came as a surprise to the (majority female) Sub Turri staff? Seeing all-male classes smiling back for several decades. “Of course we knew that BC was all-male for a long time, but to see every member of the class was male and that each one of them had their own page in the yearbook – it was just really surprising how much BC has grown and changed,” said Gregorio. The students also found images of when the Mods were brought to the Chestnut Hill Campus in 1970. “I never knew that Mod #1 was broken en route to the campus, so it was a lot of fun to see those pictures — and it finally explains why there isn’t a Mod #1.” Given the historical theme, alumni as well as current students may enjoy the look back over the century, Gregorio said. In addition to the sections covering athletics, student life, seniors, clubs/organizations and academics, “Vintage” will introduce “Iconic Alumni,” featuring notable BC seniors’ yearbook photos. Some include Doug
Editor
Sean Smith Contributing Staff
Melissa Beecher Ed Hayward Reid Oslin Rosanne Pellegrini Kathleen Sullivan Michael Maloney Photographers
Gary Gilbert Lee Pellegrini
A new online archive helped provide material, and inspiration, for the Sub Turri 100th anniversary edition, out later this spring.
Flutie ’84, Amy Poheler ’93 and Campbell’s Soup CEO Denise Morrison ’75. While focused on University history, this year also allows the editorial team to reflect on the publications’ collective accomplishments, including the Printing Industry of America (PIA) 2008 Award of Merit winner. In 2004 and 2005, Sub Turri earned high honors as the PIA’s Best Book in America. The 100th anniversary celebration will continue throughout the year, with an editors’ banquet in
April. Forty-five former Sub Turri editors have been invited to attend. “We really wanted this book to be a chance for the students and alumni to look back and reflect on the history of BC,” said Gregorio. Gregorio added, however, that only 35 percent of this year’s senior class has taken a senior portrait. She encouraged those yet to be photographed to visit the Sub Turri’s website, http://www. bc.edu/clubs/subturri, to schedule a free appointment. Sessions take less than 10 minutes. —Melissa Beecher
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 january 19, 2012
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By Reid Oslin Staff Writer
Assistant Professor of Psychology Liane Young has won a multi-year research grant and a prestigious academic honor that will support her study of brain activity and related decisionmaking in populations of people with autism, and provide a valuable research opportunity for Boston College undergraduates. Young, who joined the faculty last fall, was awarded a threeyear grant from the New Yorkbased Dana Foundation Brain and Immuno-Imaging program to launch the research project on campus and was also named a Dana Neuroscience Scholar – one of four highly promising new career investigators to be so honored by the foundation. The scholar designation includes additional funding for Young’s research work. The Dana Foundation is a private philanthropic organization that supports brain research through grants and educates the public about the successes and potential of that research. “All of the research in my lab is focused on moral psychology and moral neuroscience,” said Young, who will include undergraduate students in her
Lee Pellegrini
Psychology’s Young Earns Two Honors
Liane Young
research teams. “Mostly we use functional magnetic resonance imaging to scan people’s brains to look at correlations between brain activity and the kinds of moral judgments that people make.” Young says her work will examine neural and behavioral patterns in typical populations — like BC undergraduates — during moral decision-making and then compare these patterns to what is observed in populations of high-functioning adults with autism. “Individuals with autism have been shown to have impairments in social interaction, and
it has been hypothesized that the source of these social difficulties is an impairment in what psychologists call ‘theory of mind,’” Young said. “Typically healthy people have no problems thinking about the thoughts of other people. For example, I may engage in theory of mind when I talk to someone to figure out what they think about what I’m saying. “There’s been a lot of work in cognitive and social neuroscience showing that specific brain regions support our ability to do this. We have found some abnormal patterns in high-functioning autism with respect to theory of mind and moral decision-making. We will be building on this work in the current research. “Autism and moral judgment are both so complex that there are a million ways to go,” she said. “Social interaction is also such a rich domain that it is going to take a lot to figure out how all of these factors interact in autism.” Young says five undergraduate students are already taking part in her research, and hopes to include more in the neural aspects of the project. Contact Reid Oslin at reid.oslin@bc.edu
University Issues Reminder on Reporting Crimes In the wake of recent allega- theft and arson. tions of sexual assaults of minors While the definitions of these on college campuses, Boston Col- crimes can be “a technical matlege recently issued a reminder to ter,” Herlihy said, it is the obligafaculty and staff advisors of BC’s tion of faculty and staff advisors registered student organizations to report to the Boston College about their legal responsibilities to Police any criminal activity that report suspected crimes. may fall under these categories. The memorandum, sent This obligation is triggered, he by General Counsel Joseph M. said, whether the advisor learns of Herlihy, cites the Jeanne Clery the crime by direct observation, Disclosure of Campus through disclosure Security Policy and Both federal and state by a victim, witCampus Crime Statisness, or perpetrator, tics Act, a federal law laws mandate report- or by a third party requiring universities ing suspected crimes who may have some to compile and publish knowledge other crime statistics on an on college campuses. than mere rumor. annual basis for their Herlihy added campuses and adjacent that faculty or staff areas. In compliance advisors are not rewith the Clery Act, BC has iden- quired to investigate suspected tified faculty and staff advisors crimes: “You do not need to deas among the campus security termine exactly what crime, or authorities who are required to indeed whether a crime actually report crimes for inclusion in the took place; nor are you required security statistics. to disclose the name of any vicCrimes mandated for inclu- tim who requests confidentialsion in the crime statistics in- ity.” Reporting a crime does not clude murder and non-negligent mean that criminal charges must manslaughter, forcible and non- be filed, but may simply help poforcible sex offenses, robbery, ag- lice obtain information for statistigravated assault, motor vehicle cal reporting, and for improving
campus safety. “Your reporting may also allow a victim, witness or perpetrator to discuss with police options for handling an incident,” said Herlihy. Herlihy noted that Massachusetts law also carries reporting requirements pertaining to child abuse and neglect. These are relevant because many Boston College programs and sponsored programs involve bringing persons under 18 to campus or otherwise in contact with faculty, staff and students. Those employees or students who have such contact must report to the Department of Youth Services “all instances where they have reasonable cause to believe a child is suffering physically or emotionally from abuse, including sexual abuse, or neglect.” The memorandum urged faculty or staff who have concerns that a child is being abused to contact the Boston College Police or the General Counsel’s Office immediately, “so that we can assist you in making all required reports under Massachusetts law.” —Office of News & Public Affairs
Year 2 for HEALTHY YOU The University’s “HEALTHY YOU” initiative is preparing to kick off a second year of efforts to improve the health and wellness of all Boston College employees, with organizers hoping to build on the first year’s high rate of participation. Launched in the fall of 2010, HEALTHY YOU emphasizes individual choice and responsibility through a voluntary program that focuses on wellness. It includes a range of resources to help faculty and staff avoid the risks that lead to an illness or ongoing health issue, and to improve management of a chronic illness. The HEALTHY YOU website [www.bc.edu/healthy-you], besides offering news and updates on the initiative, and links to health and wellness information, now includes video testimonials from nine BC employees who have taken steps to improve their health as a result of HEALTHY YOU. “We are very encouraged by the response we have received so far to our HEALTHY YOU initiative,” said Associate Vice President for Human Resources Robert Lewis. “I am particularly impressed by those colleagues who took the time to share their HEALTHY YOU-related stories on video at our website. I think there are words of wisdom and encouragement there for all of us and I hope members of our community take the time to check them out.” HEALTHY YOU’s inaugural year featured a “Know Your Numbers” campaign encouraging employees to find out or update important health indicators such as height, weight, blood pressure, overall and HDL cholesterol and blood glucose levels. During this past semester, based on aggregate results from those taking the Harvard Pilgrim Health questionnaire, the University introduced a lunchtime seminar series on health and wellness-related topics, such as nutrition, stress management and exercise. Nine BC Bookstore raffle prizes were awarded, along with an iPad that was won by the spouse of a BC researcher who attended the Health Fair.
The lunchtime seminar series also will be offered during the second year of HEALTHY YOU, organizers say. Bookstore raffle prizes will again be awarded at each of the lunchtime events and on-campus biometric screenings, with a grand prize drawing at the end of the semester for an iPad. Free, on-campus biometric screenings are planned for March and April, and “Know Your Numbers” will return. Eligible employees and their spouses will again be asked to fill out a personal, confidential health questionnaire — administered through HPHC — that includes their biometric information. Incentive rewards will again be offered to employees and spouses who participate in the program. More information on the HEALTHY YOU planned events for the spring semester and gift card rewards will be available shortly. HEALTHY YOU organizers base their confidence for a successful sophomore year on the BC community’s response during the first year. An average of approximately 50 people attended each of the lunchtime seminars, for example, while some 1,000 employees flocked to the Health Fair — where about 600 flu shots were administered with minimal waiting time, thanks to the presence of nurses from University Health Services, HPHC and the Connell School of Nursing. During 2010-11, 2,028 BC employees and their spouses took the HPHC questionnaire, or close to 50 percent of all eligible employees and 43 percent of all those eligible — a rate of participation considered very satisfactory, organizers note. Three hundred and 19 participants decided to use the services of a health coach provided through the program free of charge, and set an overall total of 552 goals for improving their health. “We hope to get even more employees and spouses involved this year, especially with the health care coaches who have gotten rave reviews from those who have been in contact with them this past year,” said Lewis. —Office of News & Public Affairs
Keeley Interim Director for OIP
Carroll School of Management Associate Dean for Undergraduates Richard C. Keeley has been appointed interim director of the Office of International Programs and the McGillycuddy-Logue Center for Undergraduate Global Studies, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Affairs Donald Hafner announced last week. Keeley succeeds Bernd Widdig, who left Boston College last fall after four years to take another position in the higher education field. A 1972 alumnus, Keeley has served as CSOM undergraduate
dean since 1995, after four years as dean of administration. He oversees the undergraduate management curriculum and is the liaison to faculty and department chairpersons. Since July of 2005, he has also served as director of programs at the University’s Winston Center for Leadership and Ethics. Keeley has chaired a variety of University-wide committees, including a committee on international partnerships, and taken part in a campus planning effort supported by the Lilly Foundation. —Office of News & Public Affairs
T he B oston C ollege
Chronicle january 19, 2012
Lee Pellegrini
Taking on Too Much?
Doctoral student researches plight of African-American women with HIV/AIDS who provide care for children, other family members By Sean Smith Chronicle Editor
“We have learned that exporting social work models from the West to another country doesn’t work. You have to gather information from the people on the ground, who are dealing with the issues on a day-in, week-out basis.” —Eileen Ihrig, GSSW
GSSW to Help Launch Program in Afghanistan Continued from page 1 political and social instability in Afghanistan looms as a potential obstacle to the success of this and other initiatives in the National Skills Development Program. She notes that the ministry implementing the program has periodically undergone sweeping administrative and personnel changes. “When the players change, it obviously affects how the game is played. But when we met the team we are working with on the project, we came away very impressed. They are young Afghanis who are very committed to helping their country. If nobody at least tries to make a change, nothing will change.” According to Ihrig, the project — part of a larger broad-based international effort to reshape Afghanistan’s social services — reflects a different approach to helping developing nations address social and familial problems. “We have learned that exporting social work models from the West to another country doesn’t
work,” she explained. “You have to gather information from the people on the ground, who are dealing with the issues on a day-in, week-out basis, and find out what they are doing to address the risks to children. Then, working with key stakeholders, you develop the occupational standards and curriculum that will build a strong professional community. “Social work has not played a major role in the post-World War II era of humanitarian aid and international development. But there is a growing recognition that the field’s academic and professional resources can be enormously helpful to countries that are attempting to cope with crisis and transition. And the global vision of GSSW is bringing Boston College into this discussion.” Ihrig, who is scheduled to make another visit to Afghanistan tomorrow, said efforts are underway to plan a second phase of the project, involving academic and other support.
My thought is God has watched over me all this time, He’s not going to take me away from my kids. I rely on Him for everything, He gets me through the day, He gets me through the moment when all else fails, He’s there for me. Between God sending people in my life, strong powerful people like my counselors, my peers, my case managers, I wouldn’t be anything without these people. I ask for help quickly cause I knew it couldn’t have been done by myself. The woman who said this to Graduate School of Social Work doctoral student Charu Stokes has many identities, including caregiver, churchgoer and GED student. She is also an HIV/AIDS patient. The struggles accompanying these various roles is of great concern to Stokes, who for her dissertation undertook a study of 24 Boston-area African-American women — mostly single and ranging in age from 30s to 60s — coping with HIV/AIDS even as they provide care for their children or other family members. Stokes’ findings suggest that women in such situations use available health care services, but eschew programs that provide assistance for child and family care. This project earned Stokes, a native of 29 Palms, Calif., two dissertation awards: the 2011 Jane B. Aron Doctoral Fellowship, awarded by the National Association of Social Workers Foundation to a social work doctoral candidate whose dissertation focuses on health policy and practice; and the Fahs-Beck Fund for Research and Experimentation, established with the New York Community Trust for Dissertation and Faculty Research in the Human Services. “What with various medical advances, there’s a perception of HIV/AIDS now as a ‘manageable’ condition,” says Stokes, whose dis-
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“These are resilient, resourceful and educated women who — despite health or personal-familial problems — are doing all they can to make their lives, and those of their families, better.” —Charu Stokes
sertation advisor is Donahue and DiFelice Professor Ruth McRoy. “But this overlooks the difficulties of living with HIV/AIDS, especially for certain populations. I decided to focus on African-American women because they are part of a population — African-American — that statistically faces the most severe HIV burden. “African-American women in the 30-60 age group also tend to be primary caregivers. If you combine that characteristic with financial and other health-related stressors associated with African-American women, you have a complex scenario — one that has seldom, if ever, been studied before. How do they manage all this? What are their needs? That’s what I wanted to find out.” The women Stokes interviewed generally made use of programs and services to assist them with healthrelated needs, such as obtaining health insurance or anti-viral medicines. But when it came to dealing with issues about caregiving, Stokes said, they tended to go it alone, or rely on family members, friends or other informal sources of support. “There is a negative perception of child welfare services among
these women,” said Stokes, who worked with Connell School of Nursing Associate Professor Rosanna DeMarco to find interviewees. “They used the services before, or were products of the system themselves, and their overall feeling is child welfare ‘doesn’t help families.’ Massachusetts is a national model in health care service delivery, but this study points up the need for more training and education in child welfare, to combat the negative perceptions around accessing services.” Stokes was impressed by the tenacity and determination she saw in her interviewees. “These are resilient, resourceful and educated women who — despite health or personal-familial problems — are doing all they can to make their lives, and those of their families, better.” Before entering the GSSW doctoral program, Stokes worked in diverse practice settings both in the US and abroad, serving as a substance abuse/mental health counselor, an intensive in-home services specialist, rape crisis counselor, crisis hotline counselor, and as a school-based clinician. Her international experience includes a year working in Malawi as a Save the Children Fellow and two years serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in South Africa.
Islam-Europe Relationship May Hold Lessons for US, Laurence Says Continued from page 1 takes generations, and there is no magic solution, but the course is unmistakable.” Laurence also sees the Islam-inEurope debate as strongly linked to the struggle within the Muslimmajority world over religious and political authority — a conflict often overlooked in the West, he says. “Europe and the US are often anxious over what they view as political expression of the Islamic faith, when in fact there are differences among Muslims about the nature and appropriateness of that
expression. “One important aspect of the Islamic Councils is that they provide a forum to address, and defuse, contentious issues concerning Islam that spill out into the public sphere. If there are outlets like this, religious observance becomes less politicized.” Laurence, who has spent considerable time in European cities with a strong Muslim presence, began studying the integration of Muslims into Europe in the late 1990s, and saw the process take on a greater urgency in the wake of
terrorism and violence attributed to radical Islam. Despite significant social, cultural and political differences between the US and Europe, Laurence sees comparable flashpoints, such as the controversy over the construction of a mosque near New York City’s ground zero, and Oklahoma’s legislation barring use of Shariah law. “I had thought the US would always err on the side of religious tolerance, but some Americans have fallen into similar modes of thinking as what has been seen in Europe. Certainly the impact of
the War on Terror and the fear — not unfounded — of religious fundamentalism have influenced attitudes, but this should not blind policymakers to the traditions the US has established. “The statement that ‘We’ll allow a mosque here when Saudi Arabia allows churches’ is a troubling example. What’s the use of liberal democracy if our decisions are premised on the actions of an undemocratic regime halfway around the world? Doing so plays into the hands of anti-Western activists.”
Although Laurence foresees a continued gradual acceptance of Muslims into more areas of European societies, the last stage of emancipation may prove the most difficult. “This phase involves getting beyond the description of religious faith as the defining characteristic in the minority-majority relationship within a country. It is not a matter of being a Muslim, but of allowing Muslims to be citizens with full rights and responsibilities.” Contact Sean Smith at sean.smith@bc.edu
T he B oston C ollege
Chronicle Irish Institute Looks at Educators and Entrepreneurs
Lee Pellegrini
january 19, 2012
By Ed Hayward Staff writer
A US Department of State-sponsored program run by the Boston College Irish Institute is aiding officials from Ireland and Northern Ireland on issues ranging from entrepreneurship to education reform by bringing officials from both countries to BC and sites throughout the US. Last week, officials spent several days on campus and in Boston meeting with education policy experts, state leaders and University faculty to discuss efforts on both sides of the Atlantic designed to reform schools to meet the changing demands of societies and economies. The group then headed to Indianapolis, for a similar series of meetings. As part of the Center for Irish Programs at Boston College, the Irish Institute seeks to promote the peace and normalization process on the island of Ireland and to contribute to social, political, and economic stability through cross-border and crosscommunity cooperation. Since its founding in 1997, the institute has sponsored more than 100 programs, hosting more than 1,000 officials from a range of sectors. Irish Institute Director Robert Mauro said last week’s program, sponsored by the State Department’s Educational and Cultural Affairs Bureau, is designed as an educational exchange that not only looks at innovative solutions to pressing social and economic problems, but also promotes political cooperation.
Ruling
Continued from page 1 views of two individuals who participated in the project. The subpoena requested audio recordings of former IRA members Brendan Hughes, who died in 2008, and Dolours Price, both of whom were interviewed for the project by republican Anthony McIntyre under the assurance that their interviews would not be released until after their deaths to the extent American law allows. Following Hughes’ death in 2008, Maloney authored a 2010 book, Voices from the Grave, based on Hughes’ interviews. Following the release of the book, Price conducted a newspaper interview where she made a number of statements incriminating herself and others in criminal activity. Many in Irish media have speculated that Price’s comments, in which she alleged Sinn Fein Leader Gerry Adams played a role in the abduction and murder of Belfast widow Jean McConville in 1972, may have prompted British law enforcement to seek the subpoenas. Adams has denied such allegations. A second round of subpoenas was issued in August requesting any materials within the Belfast Project interviews that referenced McConville’s disappearance. At issue in the case, which has
Irish Institute Director Robert Mauro
“The goal of the exchange is to promote collaboration and peace and reconciliation on the island of Ireland, demonstrate best practices, and enhance and encourage relations between the US and Ireland and Northern Ireland,” Mauro said. The group of education officials met with Massachusetts Secretary of Education Paul Reville and Boston Public Schools Superintendent Carol Johnson, as well as Boston-area teachers and principals, and listened to presentations by Lynch School of Education faculty. John Lawlor, the executive director of Bridge 21, a Dublin-based collaboration developing new models for classroom instruction, said meeting with his peers from Northern Ireland and the US presents a unique opportunity to examine a range of issues. “Bringing this diverse group of people together gives us a chance to compare our two systems and see how similar the problems are and we find there are the same problems here in the US,” said Lawlor. “It’s given us a real determination to find some solutions. There’s a lot to learn from our shared problems. It’s a unique forum.” Pamela McCrum, principal of Mullavilly Primary School in rural County Armagh of Northern Ireland, said educators in her country drawn considerable attention among Irish, British and Irish-American media, are the limits of confidentiality agreements when pitted against an active criminal investigation. The University asked to the court to consider potential harm — including the risk to those involved in the project — caused by a premature release of the materials. The University won a partial victory when US District Court Judge William Young, recognizing the University’s legitimate interest in protecting oral history, agreed late last month to review transcripts of the Price interviews in chambers, despite the US government’s argument that the court had no discretion in the face of an international treaty. Upon doing so, Young determined that the Price materials were relevant to the criminal investigation and ordered that BC turn over the materials to the US Attorney’s office for transfer to Northern Ireland, stating that the international treaty on criminal investigations took precedence over the bounds of confidentiality agreements. Boston College did not appeal Young’s ruling on the Price materials in light of the judge’s decision to personally review each of the remaining 24 interviews with former IRA members in camera. The University remains hopeful that these interviews will not have to be turned over to British authorities and
face a range of challenges, including recent budget cuts, an achievement gap and an influx of immigrants for whom English is a second language. “The networking opportunities are a real benefit,” said McCrum. “This gives me a chance to better understand the educational system in the south of Ireland, learn about US and best practices and look at the approach in Massachusetts on standards and reform. It’s a great opportunity.” Last month, Irish economic development officials attended a program focused on developing young entrepreneurs, splitting their time between Boston and San Diego. Once a roaring engine of Europe’s economic resurgence, the so-called Celtic Tiger has been among those national economies most badly damaged by the financial crisis of the past three years. Unemployment in Ireland is approximately 14 percent, while in Northern Ireland nearly 8 percent are unemployed, a majority of those people under the age of 25. Mauro said economic growth is not only critical to the health of both countries, but also plays a key role in the evolution and success of the Northern Ireland peace process. While the groups are in Boston, Mauro organizes meetings and presentations involving leading state officials, experts from BC and other universities, and meetings with nonprofit organizations and corporate leaders. “This exchange gives Massachusetts a chance to contribute, once again, to the Northern Irish peace process and to enhance Massachusetts entrepreneurial activities through international collaboration, which is foundational to the regional economy,” said Mauro. Contact Ed Hayward at ed.hayward@bc.edu
will remain in the Burns Library as a resource for journalists and historians in the future. “From the outset, Boston College has asked the court to weigh the competing interests of a criminal investigation in Northern Ireland with its desire to protect academic research and the enterprise of oral history,” said University Spokesman Jack Dunn, director of the Office of News & Public Affairs. “Judge Young has agreed to weigh these interests in this case. Our hope moving forward is that in reviewing the materials in camera, he will uphold our position that they should remain confidential until the deaths of the participants.” As US prosecutors were preparing to send the Price interviews to Northern Ireland, Maloney and McIntyre appealed Young’s decision and the First Circuit Court of Appeals granted a stay, pending its review of the appeal. The appellate court’s review remains underway at this time, with a ruling not likely until March, at the earliest. Boston College has played a longstanding and significant role in the Northern Ireland peace process. Most recently, Boston College was chosen as the repository for the archive of Independent International Commission on Decommissioning, which oversaw the disarming of the Irish Republican Army and other paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland.
Q&A
5
A FEW MINUTES WITH... Kay Lemon
Accenture Professor of Marketing in the Carroll School of Management Katherine “Kay” Lemon is an expert in the areas of customer equity, customer asset management and customer-based marketing strategy. Currently serving a four-year appointment as the editor of the Journal of Service Research, she has conducted research in a range of global industries and co-authored three books on customer relationship management. Ed Hayward recently spoke with Lemon about her current projects, the journal’s focus and her father’s influence on her research. [For the full text of the interview, go to www.bc.edu/chronicle] Your recent research with Asst. Prof. Linda Salisbury and colleagues from Britain looked at how credit card statement information influences the debt repayment habits of consumers. What did you find there? We found that the minimum monthly payment information you see each month on a credit card statement failed to motivate consumers to pay down their credit card balance quicker. In fact, it resulted in cardholders actually paying less per month. Was that a surprise? We thought giving people information about how long it will take them to pay off a credit card by making just the minimum payment and the total interest they’d have to pay would have a daunting effect and motivate people to pay more each month toward their credit card debt. But it didn’t. That was the most surprising result we saw. But if card companies set a higher minimum monthly payment, then people would pay it. That was somewhat counterintuitive to our expectations…I think the larger issue that surprised us is that a lot of people don’t truly understand compound interest. But if you give them a simple heuristic, they can see how small actions, such as small increases in payments, can make a difference in their personal finances. What did the findings imply about why people struggle with credit card debt? People tend to use a single reference point to make decisions. But when decisions become complex or require extra thought or forecasting into the future, with all the things people have going on in their lives they don’t have time to sit down and think about what to do. That’s part of what I find so interesting about researching how consumers make financial decisions. I’m interested in how we can make it easier for people to act in their own best interests. A new project involves looking at how firms solicit customer feedback. What are you looking at specifically? We’re all familiar with those questionnaires we get that ask us to rate something on a scale of 1 to 5 or 1 to 10. But what happens if you ask an open-ended question about a customer experience? Such as, “Tell us what you enjoyed most about your experience?” What we’re finding is this kind of question has a prominent effect on customers on each end of the spectrum: those who had a very positive experience and those who had a very negative experience. When you give customers a chance to express themselves, it has a positive effect on whether or not those customers – whether satisfied or not – return to conduct more business. So it has real implications for firms and how they should reach out to customers for feedback about their services. How will companies respond to the consumer upheaval sparked by service blunders like Netflix’s failed pricing overhaul and the sinceabandoned plan for Bank of America to charge customers a fee for using debit cards? Technology certainly played a role in consumers expressing their anger, but it was also a lot of old fashioned word-of-mouth buzz that forced companies to reassess those proposals and others. I expect firms to continue to try to establish platforms and opportunities for consumers to interact with them so they can deal with these and other questions head-on.
More at www.bc.edu/chronicle
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New discovery could aid in fight against spread of diseases
Lee Pellegrini
Mosquito Research Buoys Muskavitch
By Ed Hayward Staff Writer
(L-R) Seniors Ashley Thibodeau, Riley Collins, Emmie Monsein and Stephany Shelton founded the Every Bite Counts food donation program. (Photo by Lee Pellegrini)
Making Every Bite Count When these students saw all the leftover food in BC’s dining halls, they came up with an idea Every Bite Counts sends a small army of students to the dining halls around 8 p.m. every It started as a question be- night. Any trays of food that tween four Boston College were prepared, but not served, friends: What happens to all the are packaged with the assistance extra food in the University’s of Dining Service workers. Studining halls at the end of the dents then bring the trays to night? waiting refrigerated vans from When the then-sophomores the nonprofit groups. found out that most of the unRepresentatives from Every used food was discarded, they Bite Counts set up for the first decided to take action. So Riley time this year at Student AcCollins, Stephany tivities Day, and Shelton, Ashley found a warm reThibodeau and “Hunger is such a huge ception from unEmmie Monsein derclassmen. collaborated with issue in this country, “So many stuDining Services dents that came to but because it is not in Associate Directhe table had the tor of Food and front of our faces or in same reactions: ‘I Beverage Michael the communities where can’t believe this Kann to package is so new, I can’t all leftovers and most of us live, it can be believe I haven’t donate the food to heard of this.’ It easy to overlook.” the Greater Boston just makes a lot of Food Bank. —Riley Collins sense to people,” Three years said Shelton. “It’s later, the initiaso local and so tive has a name close to us.” — Every Bite Counts — and a “We look at it as a simple way membership of more than 50 to make a change,” said Collins. students, who are recruiting un- “The idea itself might not be so derclassmen to keep the program revolutionary, but it takes people going when the four founders who are willing to do it.” graduate in May. The group now This semester, the group plans donates to the Veterans Center to create a webpage, organize in Cambridge and hopes to ex- service trips to the shelters to pand to Rosie’s Place and the strengthen the relationships with Women’s Lunch Place during them, and help underclassmen the spring semester. take on the group’s administra“Hunger is such a huge issue tive responsibilities. in this country, but because it is “We take pride in the fact that not in front of our faces or in the this was something completely communities where most of us student-led and student-run,” live, it can be easy to overlook,” said Thibodeau. “We hope that said Collins, a native of Washing- it can continue to be a studentton, DC. driven program.” Shelton, who is from MinneTo become involved in Every apolis, adds, “With BC’s empha- Bite Counts, contact the organizsis on service and getting students ers at stephany.shelton@bc.edu , to do things in Boston, I think ashley.thibodeau@bc.edu, riley.colthe appeal of Every Bite Counts lins@bc.edu and emmie.monsein@ is that it is something you can do bc.edu. on campus that affects the lives of Contact Melissa Beecher at people in the community.” melissa.beecher@bc.edu By Melissa Beecher Staff Writer
Fruit flies and mosquitoes share similar sensory receptors that allow them to distinguish among thousands of sensory cues – particularly heat and chemical odors – as they search for food and try to avoid danger, according to new research by Professor of Biology Marc A.T. Muskavitch. Pinpointing a tiny portion of a protein found on the surfaces of neurons that give the fruit fly Drosophila and the malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiae the ability to distinguish different stimuli, the findings provide new clues that could be used to develop solutions to target disease-spreading mosquitoes. “Heat is one element of an ensemble of cues we present that mosquitoes read as they search for their next blood meal,” said Muskavitch, a co-author of the report in the journal Nature. “These findings give us another chance to look at how we might try to reduce the ability of mosquitoes to sense us, and thereby protect ourselves from their bites and the diseases that they spread.” Receptors that sense heat and chemicals are among the ancient biological tools organisms first developed to find food or avoid harm. Over the ages, these receptors have evolved, allowing humans, animals and insects to detect and distinguish among thousands of stimuli. What’s puzzled scientists is how animals distinguish between sensory inputs that are detected by the same sensors.
LSOE’s Helms Receives Honor Augustus Long Professor of Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology Janet E. Helms is this year’s recipient of the Elizabeth Hurlock Beckman Award, which recognizes educators in psychology, medicine and law who have inspired their students to benefit their communities. A member of the Lynch School of Education faculty since 2000, Helms was nominated for the honor by her former doctoral student Maryam M. Jernigan. The $25,000 award was presented to Helms at a Jan. 7 ceremony at the Carter Center in Atlanta. “I am honored by this recognition,” said Helms. “Students often come to me with ideas on changing
Marc Muskavitch (right) with researchers Adam Jenkins and Kim Regna.
Transient receptor potential (TRP) channels in the brain, skin and other sensory organs play key roles in deciphering thermal, chemical and other sensory cues. But the mechanism a TRP channel uses to distinguish between signals sent by a heat source or by a noxious chemical has eluded researchers. Building on earlier research into thermosensation in Drosophila by co-author and Brandeis University Professor of Biology Paul A. Garrity, the team found fruit flies possess slightly different versions, or isoforms, of the TRPA1 channel within their neurons. One version of the channel responds to warmth, while the other version responds only to chemicals. The same two TRPA1 isoforms are found in the malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiae, the team reports, giving mosquitoes the ability to distinguish between warmth given off from a potential host and the odor from a chemical repellent. Muskavitch, whose prior research includes decoding the genes of mosquitoes that transmit human diseases, says finding ways to disrupt the abilities of mosquitoes communities of interest to them for the better. I try to mentor them to think about community intervention with some complexity, and to value the communities as well as themselves — as scholars and practitioners with relevant life experiences.” Helms is founding director of the Lynch School’s Institute for the Study and Promotion of Race and Culture, sponsor of an annual “Diversity Challenge” that draws hundreds of scholars, practitioners, educators, community activists and policy makers for discussions on diversity-related issues. She is a former president of the Society of Counseling Psychology, and a fellow in the American Psychological Association’s divisions on counseling psychology and ethnic diversity. “Janet Helms has demonstrated a lifelong commitment to the pro-
to sense and bite humans has been a goal of researchers and public health services around the world for some time. Knowing more about the insect’s basic responses to its warm-blooded targets and to chemical insecticides and repellents will help inform efforts to reduce the transmission of mosquitoborne illnesses that kill and sicken millions of people around the globe each year. “If we could somehow make ourselves less ‘visible’ to the mosquito by reducing its ability to sense our warmth, or the carbon dioxide and other chemicals we emit, we could improve our ability to evade them,” said Muskavitch. “The more veils we put between ourselves and mosquitoes, the less likely it is they will bite us and spread diseases among humans.” Muskavitch and Garrity conducted the study with Boston College researchers Kimberly Regna and Adam M. Jenkins, and Brandeis researchers Alexandra M. Dainis, Lina Ni, Elaine C. Chang, Vincent C. Panzano and Kyeongjin Kang. Contact Ed Hayward at ed.hayward@bc.edu
Janet Helms accepts her award.
motion of race and culture, and the pursuit of social justice,” said LSOE Interim Dean Maureen Kenny. “As a long-time colleague of Janet’s I have witnessed her commitment and impact in inspiring the new generation of social justice learners. I am delighted that she was honored for her dedication to mentoring students at the Lynch School and beyond.” —Office of News & Public Affairs
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WELCOME ADDITIONS Carroll School of Management Accounting Instructor Alvis Lo examines the interplay between financial reporting and corporate finance practices. Prior to receiving his doctorate in accounting from the University of British Columbia, he conducted research at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and worked in the Hong Kong banking industry. His publications have focused on the impact of accounting restatements on corporate financing choices, the effect of accounting credibility on banks’ access to external financing, and how the supply of external capital affects managers’ disclosure choices. The long-term effects of child sexual abuse constitute a major area of expertise for Graduate School of Social Work Assistant Professor Scott Easton. This week he presented “Factors affecting mental health for adult men with sexual abuse histories” at the Society for Social Work Research annual conference, and has an article titled “Understanding Adverse Childhood Experiences and their Relationship to Adult Stress among Male Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse” forthcoming in the Journal of Prevention and Intervention in the Community. He holds a doctorate and an MSW degree from the University of Iowa. Assistant Professor Nadya Malenko, who teaches in the Carroll School of Management Finance Department, focuses her research on areas such as corporate finance, corporate governance and information economics. Her studies have examined the effectiveness of shareholder voting rules, the design of decision-making procedures in corporate boards, and “quadrophobia” – a strategic rounding of earnings data. Malenko holds a PhD in finance from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, a master of science in mathematics from Lomonosov Moscow State University and an MA in economics from the New Economic School of Moscow. —Sean Smith and Ed Hayward Photos by Lee Pellegrini and Kerry Burke “Welcome Additions,” an occasional feature, profiles new faculty members at Boston College.
Advancement Adds Sullivan, Ianno The University Advancement Development Office has added two new senior staff members: Ellen Sullivan ’88, executive director of the division’s Principal Giving Strategies office; and Deb Ianno, inaugural director of Development Initiatives. Sullivan had been director of International Advancement at Harvard University, after serving as associate director and director of Harvard’s Corporate and Foundation Relations division. She also worked as a staff member for the Harvard College Fund and was associate director of the university’s David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies. In addition to her degree in
political science from Boston College, Sullivan holds a master’s degree in education from Harvard. She spent two years in Belize as an English teacher and department head through the BC College International Volunteer Program. A graduate of St. Michael’s College, Ianno took over her new assignment on Jan. 1 after serving the previous 10 months as acting executive director of Annual Giving. She began her BC career as associate director of Annual Giving in 2004 and two years later was promoted to associate director of that office. In 2008, she was named director of classes for the Boston College Fund. —Reid Oslin
Fr. Dinneen Award Nominations Nominations for the The John A. Dinneen, SJ, Hispanic Alumni Community Service Award are now being accepted. The award recognizes an alumna/us of Latin American descent from a Boston College undergraduate or graduate program, whose work and service show commitment, leadership and service to the Latino community. Nomination forms are available at http://www.bc.edu/offices/romero/alumni. The deadline is Jan. 31.
Newsmakers
Publications
The Boston Sunday Globe featured a profile on University Professor of English Paul Mariani about his collaboration with actor James Franco on “The Broken Tower” — a film based on Mariani’s biography of poet Hart Crane — in advance of its release on DVD.
The Journal of Moral Theology, in its inaugural issue, featured contributions by three BC specialists in theological ethics: Monan Professor of Theology Lisa Sowle Cahill, University Chair in Human Rights and International Justice David Hollenbach, SJ, and Founders Professor James Keenan, SJ.
The Occupy movement challenges current economic model and could help transform markets into ones led by fairness and democracy, Prof. Juliet Schor (Sociology) wrote in “Sustainable Business,” a blog of The Guardian. The disappearance of defined benefit plans in the private sector, and the extent to which this shift has occurred in the last several years, was the focus of an essay by Center for Retirement Research Director Alicia Munnell for Smart Money. The New York Metro cited research by Prof. Sharlene Nagy HesseBiber (Sociology) on the media’s portrayal of thinness both under a guise of health and as an attainable status for any woman who works hard enough.
Grants
University President William P. Leahy, SJ, last week visited Chris O’Donnell ’92 at Paramount Studios, where the film and TV star hosted a function for 250 of his fellow BC alumni.
Prof. Paul Lewis (English) was interviewed on WBUR-FM about design proposals for a sculpture project celebrating Edgar Allan Poe’s life and work.
BC BRIEFING
Armed with insider knowledge, managers of share-restricted hedge funds sell off their own holdings ahead of their investors in order to avoid low returns produced by an outflow of shareholder dollars, according to a new study by Prof. Ronnie Sadka (CSOM) and the EDHEC Business School in France featured in Eurasia Review. Drinan Professor of Law George Brown offered to various media his views on the trial of Boston-area native Tarek Mehanna, convicted of conspiring to help al-Qaida and plotting to kill US soldiers in Iraq. Brown’s appearances included WGBH-TV’s “Greater Boston,” Fox News Boston, WCVBTV, NECN, CBS-Boston, AP and the Boston Globe.
Adj. Assoc. Prof. Robert Savage (History) discussed his latest book A Loss of Innocence? Television and Irish Society 1960-1972 on the RTE radio program “Talking History.” Assoc. Prof. Michael J. Connolly, chairman of the Department of Slavic and Eastern Languages and Literatures, discussed the nature of the Boston accent for the BBC special “Three Men Go to New England.” Assoc. Prof. Michael Moore (Psychology) was interviewed by the Boston Herald for a story on parents who take their children’s sports games to the extreme.
NOTA BENE Lynch School of Education Professor Diana Pullin has been named a “lifetime National Associate” for the National Research Council of the National Academies, known collectively as the National Academy, which produces reports to shape sound policies, inform public opinion, and advance the pursuit of science, engineering, and medicine. Since the mid-1990s Pullin, a former Lynch School dean, has worked on more than 20 National Academy projects, all of which were done pro bono publico. Projects include a book on students with disabilities and standards-based reform, proposals to the secretary of the US Department of Education on the Race to the Top, and workshops on best practices for state assessment systems. “Diana understands the importance of a well informed government and society,” said LSOE Interim Dean Maureen Kenny. “We are truly appreciative and proud of her extraordinary work that contributes to national policy decisions that support systems of social justice.”
Prof. Rachel Freudenburg (German Studies) received $10,000 from the German Information Center/German Embassy and $15,000 from the Adenko-Foundation for the completion of her film “Freya.”
Time and a Half Prof. Maxim D. Shrayer (Slavic and Eastern Languages and Literatures) presented “Ilya Selvinsky, Holocaust Witness” at the international conference “Great Patriotic War and Its Tragic Experience” held in Ukraine. At the Society for Economic Design and Johns Hopkins University Winter Workshop, Prof. Tayfun Sonmez (Economics) presented “Bidding for Army Career Specialties: Improving the ROTC Branching Mechanism” and Prof. M. Utku Unver (Economics) presented “Altruistically Unbalanced Kidney Exchange.”
JOBS The following are among the most recent positions posted by the Department of Human Resources. For more information on employment opportunities at Boston College, see www.bc.edu/offices/hr/: Assistant Director, Office of Health Promotion, Alcohol and Drug Education Assistant or Associate Director, School Development Operations Lieutenant, BC Police Department Program Director, Urban Catholic Teachers Corps Assistant Director, Research Integrity & Compliance Teacher Assistant, Lynch School of Education - Campus School Fiscal and Grant Officer, Lynch School of Education Program & Events Assistant, Career Center Assistant Director, Event Operations Athletic Association Cashier/Line, 129 Lake Street Food Service Executive Director, Academic Budget, Policy & Planning, Office of the Academic VP/Dean Of Faculties
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Humanities Series Resumes Next Month
LOOKING AHEAD
By Rosanne Pellegrini Staff Writer
Appearances by a slate of literary luminaries — among them Pulitzer Prize-winning author Junot Diaz and US Poet Laureate emeritus Billy Collins — highlight this semester’s Lowell Humanities Series. Other speakers include a celebrated young fiction writer, an historian talking about religion and disability, and a literary biographer discussing Boston writers on the brink of the Civil War, notes Professor of English and series director Carlo Rotella, who heads the American Studies Program. The annual Candlemas Lecture on Feb 8. will kick off the series with Fordham University Theology Professor James T. Fisher presenting “A ‘Fallen-Away’ Catholic’s Monastic Vocation in Autismland.” An autism advocate and organizer of Fordham’s recent Autism and Advocacy conference, Fisher pursues research in the cultural history of religion and ethnicity in the US as well as American Catholic studies. His most recent book, On the Irish Waterfront: The Crusader, the Movie, and the Soul of the Port of New York, offers a fresh reading of the famous Elia Kazan film. A look at other Lowell Humanities Series events this semester: FEB. 15: Fiction Days presents
(Clockwise from lower left) Junot Diaz, James T. Fisher, Téa Obreht and Billy Collins are among the speakers appearing through the Lowell Humanities Series this semester.
Junot Diaz, author of the 2008 Pulitzer-winning novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (other honors included the John Sargent Sr. First Novel Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award). His fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, African Voices, Best American Short Stories, Pushcart Prize XXII and The O. Henry Prize Stories. MARCH 1: Poetry days presents Billy Collins, whose combination of high critical acclaim and broad popular appeal recalls Robert Frost, according to event organizers. A former US Poet Laureate and New York State Poet Laureate, Collins is a Guggenheim fellow
and a New York Public Library “Literary Lion” whose work has appeared in periodicals including The New Yorker, The Paris Review and The American Scholar. He is a distinguished professor of English at Lehman College of the City University of New York, and a senior distinguished fellow of the Winter Park Institute at Rollins College. MARCH 21: In collaboration with the McMullen Museum spring semester exhibition, “Rural Ireland: the Inside Story,” Irish art historian Claudia Kinmonth will speak about her groundbreaking scholarship in Irish Rural Interiors in Art, which helped inspire the exhibition. Her research reveals that — contrary to earlier assumptions — artists working in Ireland turned to the lives of the country’s rural poor for subject matter. Her discovery of previously unknown works, including some depicting an impoverished peasantry, con-
Former Child Soldier to Share Story at BC Ishmael Beah, who chronicled Leoneans, was derailed by the outhis life as a child soldier in the break of a civil war that killed New York Times bestselling au- his parents and two brothers. He tobiography A Long Way Gone: fought for nearly three years beMemoirs of a Boy Soldier, will share fore being rescued in 1996 by John Madere a coalition of UNICEF his story on Feb. 6 at 7 p.m. in Gasson 100. and NGOs, though his “Children and transition back into soConflict in a Changciety was a challenge. ing World,” co-sponHe came to the United sored by the Center States in 1998, finished for Human Rights and high school and in 2004 International Justice graduated from Oberlin (CHRIJ) and the Arts College. and Social ResponsiHis ordeal, organizbility Project, will foers note, reflects the life Ishmael Beah cus on Beah’s experiof many children in his ences after being drafted — as war-torn country: brainwashed at a 13-year-old — into his native a young age, given guns and drugs Sierra Leone’s brutal civil war in and instructed to kill, and made the mid-1990s, and the human to believe that escape meant cerrights abuses perpetrated during tain death. Beah’s reminiscences that war. The event is free and serve to illustrate the human conopen to the public. text necessary to understand what Beah’s life, along with the has to be done to prevent the use lives of millions of other Sierra of children in war, and to develop
international standards to tackle this problem. Beah is a member of the Human Rights Watch Children’s Rights Division Advisory Committee and has spoken before the United Nations, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Center for Emerging Threats and Opportunities at the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory and other NGO panels on children affected by the war. He is the founder and president of the Ishmael Beah Foundation [www.beahfound.org], a private, independent institution dedicated to helping children and youth affected by war reintegrate into society and improve their lives. For information on the event, see www.bc.edu/chrij; RSVP to humanrights@bc.edu. —Rosanne Pellegrini
stitute an insufficiently recognized tradition of Irish genre painting warranting further investigation, organizers say. MARCH 28: Téa Obreht’s fiction debut, the New York Times bestseller and National Book Award finalist The Tiger’s Wife, was excerpted in The New Yorker and selected for the 2010 Best American Nonrequired Reading. Her short story “The Laugh” was published in The Atlantic and appears in the 2010 Best American Short Stories. The youngest writer to be selected for The New Yorker’s “Best 20 Writers Under 40,” Obreht also was named one of the “Best 5 Writers Under 35” by the National Book Foundation. APRIL 11: Brenda Wineapple’s most recent book, White Heat: The Friendship of Emily Dickinson and Thomas Wentworth Higginson, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle award, a winner of
the Washington Arts Club National Award for arts writing, a New York Times “Notable Book,” and ranked among the best nonfiction of the year by numerous publications. She is also the author of Genêt: A Biography of Janet Flanner; Sister Brother: Gertrude and Leo Stein; and the award-winning Hawthorne: A Life. Her talk, “On the Brink of War: Literary Boston in 1860,” is presented in conjunction with the Forgotten Chapters project, led by Professor of English Paul Lewis. APRIL 25: Award-winning science writer Rebecca Skloot has made a career of probing the intersections between hard science and human experience. Her bestselling 2010 book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, tells the story of a young black woman who died of cervical cancer in 1951 and left behind an inexplicably immortal line of cells —harvested without her knowledge or consent — that contributed to various scientific advancements. Part detective story, part scientific odyssey and part family saga, Skloot’s book raises questions about race, class and bioethics in America. This event is presented in partnership with the Winston Center for Leadership and Ethics. Complete series details, including event times and locations, are available at www.bc.edu/lowellhs. The series is sponsored by the Lowell Institute, the Boston College Institute for the Liberal Arts and the Provost’s Office. Contact Rosanne Pellegrini at rosanne.pellegrini@bc.edu
Hanneke Cassel (in photo), a widely acknowledged influence in the expressive Scottish-American style of fiddle playing, will kick off this semester’s Gaelic Roots Song, Dance, Workshop and Lecture Series with a concert Jan. 26 at 2101 Commonwealth Avenue on the Brighton Campus. Accompanying Cassel will be Newton native Ariel Friedman on cello and guitarist Christopher Lewis. The 1997 US National Scottish Fiddle Champion, Cassel has performed and taught across the US, Europe, China, India, Kenya, New Zealand and Australia. She has released four solo CDs and performed with the Cathie Ryan Band, Cherish the Ladies and Alasdair Fraser, among others. [For more on Cassel, see hannekecassel.com] Other Gaelic Roots events this semester: •An Irish dance and ceili directed by Boston College Irish dance teacher Kieran Jordan, with music by Sullivan Artist-in-Residence Seamus Connolly and friends, on March 29 in Gasson 100. •A concert by Cathie Ryan, a former member of Cherish the Ladies who has established herself as among Irish music’s finest female vocalists and songwriters, on April 12 in the Walsh Hall Function Room. •Duets on Irish accordion and fiddle by Seamus Begley — also a renowned singer in the sean-nos (“old style”) tradition — and Oisin Mac Diarmada, regarded as one of the most talented Irish fiddlers of his generation, on May 2 in the Walsh Hall Function Room. Sponsored by the Center for Irish Programs, all Gaelic Roots events begin at 6:30 p.m. and are free and open to the public. See www.bc.edu/gaelicroots for more information. —Sean Smith