The Boston College
Chronicle
may 8, 2008-vol. 16 no. 17
‘Smart Kids’ with a Plan
Carroll School MBAs
offer high-quality, nocost consulting services
HOP TO IT—The student group Synergy Hip Hop Dance Company presented a sample of their repertoire as part of
the Boston College Arts Festival’s Dance Showcase. The festival, which took place April 24-26, celebrated its 10th
anniversary this year. Story, more photos on page 8. (Photo by Lee Pellegrini)
Moving Forward, Rising to the Top
GSSW has plenty of
reason to cheer, but the
school is not about to
rest on its laurels
By Sean Smith
Chronicle Editor
Early in his tenure as Graduate School of Social Work dean,
Alberto Godenzi began holding
an annual luncheon to recognize
GSSW faculty members who had
enjoyed a productive year in external research funding.
The number of attendees at the
first such event would have barely
filled a dining room table.
This year’s luncheon, however,
included a list of nearly 50 faculty,
students and staff.
While attendance at a luncheon
might seem an unlikely benchmark of success, it’s nonetheless
a revealing one for the Graduate
School of Social Work. These past
few years have seen major steps
forward for GSSW, as measured
by many important yardsticks —
increases in enrollment, scholarly
publications, financial aid, as well
as external funding [see box on p.
4] — and most recently its rise
from 24th to 14th in the US News
& World Report rankings of social
work programs. (GSSW had tied
for 14th in the 1997 US News
rankings.)
Colleagues and observers praise
Godenzi, who became dean in the
spring of 2001, for GSSW’s progress and cite his leadership and
INSIDE:
vision in, for example, bringing to
the school an emphasis on global
practice and aging — areas that are
at the forefront of contemporary
social work, they note.
But Godenzi credits the GSSW
community’s willingness to look
hard at its strengths, needs, character, and most of all, its identity.
By doing so, he says, GSSW has
been able to build on its legacy
while adapting to 21st-century realities a school of social work must
confront — especially an ambitious one.
“If you want to move a school
forward, you need to know the
rules of the game,” says Godenzi.
“You have to understand where
the market is going, and to accept the role and significance of
something like a US News ranking. If people don’t know about
you, especially the good things
about you, you won’t make an
impression. Without that kind of
visibility, you just don’t attract the
outstanding students and faculty
who help you achieve your goals.
“None of what GSSW has
achieved would have been possible without an engaged school
community — alumni as well as
students, faculty and staff. You
need to excite them, and they need
to excite you. That is how you
transform an organization.”
Bill Allen, a 1971 GSSW graduate who co-chairs the school’s
Advisory Council, says, “Besides
strengthening the school, what AlContinued on page 4
Graduate School of Social Work Dean Alberto Godenzi with Adrienne Pisoni MSW,’08:
“Our school community has shown itself to be committed to, and capable of, doing
what needs to be done to keep GSSW going forward.” (Photo by Suzanne Camarata)
Faculty Day (page 3)
Sawhney’s venture made inroads
in the niche market he sought to
serve, although the mortgage crisis
of the past year has negatively affected his business.
As the US and regional econoBy Ed Hayward
mies continue to sputter along,
Staff Writer
a new course has bolstered the
Viney Sawhney, the president Carroll School’s ability to offer stuof Natick-based Boston National dents the opportunity to cut their
Capital Partners Inc., saw an op- teeth on real business development
portunity to enter into the com- projects while providing businesses
mercial mortgage market back in with high quality consulting ser2006. To refine the idea, the en- vices at no cost.
“First and foremost, this is about
trepreneur turned to an unlikely
source: the students and faculty teaching students to launch or run
of the Carroll Graduate School of a business,” says Lect. Greg Stoller,
who teaches MBA courses in enManagement.
In six months, a team of MBA trepreneurship and global business.
“But we also think
students had turned
this is a tremendous
his idea into a legiti“...This is a tremendous
resource for local
mate business plan.
resource for local and inter- and international
“It was a very
good deal for me,” national companies looking companies looking
for energetic young
says Sawhney, who
for energetic young manage- management stuteaches a summer
course at the school ment students to help create dents to help create
or refine business
as well. “I got a busior refine business plans.”
plans.”
ness plan written by
Participating
these smart kids in a
—Lect. Greg Stoller
companies range
short period of time
from
entrepreand free of charge.
neurial start-ups
They helped us focus and gave us some good ideas to businesses looking to spin-off
about marketing that we adopted new ideas. Clients range from Mitand followed through. I was pleas- subishi’s Electric Research Labs,
Continued on page 4
antly surprised at the effort.”
Fr. Paris Nominated for
‘Professor of the Year’ Honor
Provost and Dean of Faculties
Cutberto Garza has nominated
Walsh Professor of Bioethics
John Paris, SJ, for the Council
for Advancement and Support of
Education “US Professor of the
Year” award.
Co-sponsored with The
Carnegie Foundation for the
Advancement of Teaching, the
award honors excellence in undergraduate teaching and mentoring. Candidates are nominated
by the school administration or
members of the campus faculty,
and entries are judged by top
American educators and other active participants on the education
scene. Boston College’s nominee
is determined through a consultative process with deans and department chairs.
Last year, the Professor of the
Year program recognized four national winners and state winners
in 40 states and the District of
Columbia.
Fr. Paris is a widely recognized
national authority in the field
Heights of Excellence:
Mary Walsh (page 5)
of bioethics and the interrelated
roles of law, medicine and ethics.
A 1959 graduate of Boston College — he also holds a master’s
degree from BC — Fr. Paris
joined the University faculty in
1990 as the inaugural Rev. Michael P. Walsh, SJ, Professor of
Bioethics.
The recipient of the 2007
Teacher of the Year Award from
BC’s Phi Beta Kappa chapter, Fr.
Paris has authored or co-authored
more than 165 articles, law reviews and book chapters, which
have appeared in such publications as the New England Journal
of Medicine, Pedatrics and the San
Francisco Law Review.
He has frequently offered commentary to the media, including
the New York Times, Washington
Post, Time, Newsweek, National
Public Radio and every major TV
and cable news channel.
Professor of the Year Award
entries include six letters of recommendation: two from current
Continued on page 3
College Bound Program
marks two decades (page 6)
T he B oston C ollege
Chronicle
may 8, 2008
Frank Curran
AROUND
CAMPUS
Belly up
With the Boston College community savoring the Eagles’ national hockey championship, BC women’s athletics
took its place in the spotlight.
On April 26, the University held its first “Celebration of Women’s Athletics: Honoring Yesterday, Celebrating
Today, Building Tomorrow,” a tribute to the more than 1,300 female athlete alumnae who have competed during
nearly four decades of women’s sports at the University, as well as the more than 350 current BC female student
athletes and women’s varsity sports coaches, staff and administrators.
The event, held in Conte Forum, included a panel discussion with alumnae and current athletes representing
a variety of sports (above), including (L-R) Kia McNeill, ‘08 (women’s soccer), Cristin Stuart, ‘08 (women’s ice
hockey) and Alison Corradi Wallace, ‘93 (field hockey).
This past weekend saw the BC women’s water polo team (below) finish up its most successful season to date,
as they traveled to the National Collegiate Club Water Polo Tournament in Gresham, Ore., where they finished
11th. The team, which was founded in 2001, earned its berth in the nationals with a victory over MIT in the North
Atlantic Division Tournament.
The installation of “Big Belly”
solar-powered trash compactors at
three busy locations on the Boston
College campus has not only cut
down on litter, but reduced the
cost of daily trash collection.
The new compactors, which
provide up to five times the capacity of traditional trash barrels, are
located on the north side of the
Campus Green, on the north side
of Conte Forum and the walkway
between Kostka and Gonzaga residence halls on upper campus.
“The ‘Big Belly’ systems have
reduced the numbers of collections,” notes Facilities Services
Superintendent of Grounds Scott
McCoy. “In the past, the grounds
staff would often change out the
cans at these locations two or
three times a day. Now we only
have to visit the ‘Big Bellies’ once
a day to ensure proper operation
and empty if needed.”
McCoy says that grounds crew
staffers were at first skeptical of
the new compacting canisters installed by Facilities Management
in late April, but have quickly become proponents of the new selfpowered system. “They recognize
the need for innovative new ideas
which also teach a valuable lesson
about sustainability and a cleaner
tomorrow,” McCoy says.
“Plus, they are a big hit with
the students,” McCoy adds. “It’s
something we can all be proud
of.”
—RO
Clippings
“...Ecological footprint analysis suggests that global production and consumption are now
exceeding sustainable levels by
more than 23 percent. That’s the
backdrop when scientists confirm
that 2007 was yet another year of
rising carbon and methane emissions, when hungry Vietnamese workers stage massive strikes
against Nike, and when major
US retailers start rationing rice.”
—Assoc. Prof. Prasannan Parthasarathi (History) and Prof.
Juliet Schor (Sociology), Boston
Globe
“In a Democratic administration, Massachusetts supplies a
recruitment pool for the administration.”
—Moakley Professor Kay Schlozman, interviewed by the Boston
Herald about Bay State political
leaders’ loyalties in the ObamaClinton race
The Boston College
Chronicle
Director of Public Affairs
Jack Dunn
Deputy Director of
Public AFFAIRS
Patricia Delaney
Editor
Forecasting the Heights
In true New England form,
Boston College campus weather
takes many turns — sometimes
in the course of a single day. The
University’s first weather station,
the brainchild of senior Eric Sanderson, will eliminate some of the
guesswork now that monitoring
technology has been installed on
the roof of the O’Neill Library.
The station, which tracks temperature, humidity, wind speed
and direction, barometric pressure, UV index, solar radiation,
and rainfall, is expected to support
teaching, research and even some
aspects of University operations.
“This was something I wanted
to do and would have done for
the fun of it,” says Sanderson, an
environmental geosciences major
and aspiring forecaster. “It turned
into a course for me and once we
got the word out, everyone was interested and it turned into a pretty
important project.”
The station was funded through
a $6,200 grant awarded to Asst.
Prof. Amy Frappier (Geology and
Geophysics), who applied to BC’s
Academic Technology Innovation Grant program, which makes
yearly awards to encourage the
use of technology in teaching and
research.
As he researched installing and
operating the station, Sanderson
was aided by Weston Observatory
Director Prof. John Ebel (Geology
and Geophysics), lab technician
Ken Galli, and BC Facilities Manager Rich Hoy. Robert Herbstzuber in IT Services, Kevin Quinn
from Network Services, and Joe
Figueiredo, Jay O’Brien and Tom
MacDonald from carpentry got
the station up and running last
month.
For now, the station feeds realtime data to a computer in the
Geology and Geophysics Department around the clock.
This summer in the department offices, monitors will be installed to display the weather data,
as well as seismological reports
from other equipment on campus.
“We’ll be able to provide a look at
the motions deep inside the earth
as well as what is happening on
the surface,” says Frappier, who
plans to use the station in her new
core course Climate Change and
Society beginning in the fall.
Ultimately, the plan is to feed
data to a dedicated Web site,
and provide weather information
24/7 to must-read Web sites like
BCInfo, Agora and the BC home
page.
Sanderson, who will begin
graduate studies in atmospheric
science this fall at the University
of Massachusetts Lowell, also authored a detailed manual intended
to guide future curators of the
station.
He says BC is an intriguing
place to weather-watch, something he plans to do from afar
after graduation.
“From BC, it’s difficult to
predict the temperature, because
we’re so close to the ocean,” Sanderson says. “And sometimes the
sea breeze doesn’t reach us. It’s
complicated, but it’s very interesting watching the weather from
this location.”
—EH
Title of the Week:
“In a Grotto Da Vida,
Baby: Trevrizent’s Cave
as a Place of Re-Birth in
Wolfram’s Parzival”
Presented by English graduate student Leigh Elion at the
29th annual Medieval and Renaissance Forum at Plymouth
State University.
Clarification:
Off-campus student
life conference
A Chronicle story in the
April 25 edition concerning
the conference on off-campus student life issues held
April 15 at Corcoran Commons neglected to mention
that the event was organized
by the Office of the Dean for
Student Development in cooperation with the Office of
Governmental and Community Affairs. Chronicle regrets
the oversight.
Sean Smith
Contributing Staff
Melissa Beecher
Ed Hayward
Reid Oslin
Rosanne Pellegrini
Kathleen Sullivan
Eileen Woodward
Photographers
Gary Gilbert
Lee Pellegrini
The Boston College Chronicle
(USPS 009491), the internal newspaper for faculty and staff, is published
biweekly from September to May by
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Electronic editions of the Boston
College Chronicle are available via
the World Wide Web at http://
www.bc.edu/chronicle.
T he B oston C ollege
Chronicle
may 8, 2008
Faculty Day
Master and Strategic Plans, Endowment,
Fundraising Vital for Future, Says Fr. Leahy
By Melissa Beecher
Staff Writer
At his annual Faculty Day address last week, University President
William P. Leahy, SJ, said Boston
College’s Master and Strategic plans
offer faculty, as well as students, the
prospect of an academically stronger
institution.
Fr. Leahy said the $800 million
campus improvements proposed in
the Institutional Master Plan aim
to not only address student housing needs, but also create new and
improved facilities for academics
— the Graduate School of Social
Work, the Connell School of Nursing and a planned Institute for Integrated Sciences among them.
BC has been meeting regularly
with Boston officials and neighborhood representatives since announcing the Master Plan in December, said Fr. Leahy. If the plan
is approved, work could start by the
end of the year, he added.
More than 100 faculty and staff
members attended the May 2 event
in Corcoran Commons, which is
held to formally mark the end of
the academic year and honor faculty research and scholarship. A
highlight was the presentation of
the 2008 Faculty Research Awards
to Prof. Mary Roberts (Chemistry)
and Asst. Prof. Elizabeth Kensinger
(Psychology) [see related story].
The University’s 10-year, $1.6
billion Strategic Plan, said Fr. Leahy,
will ensure BC’s tradition of success
continues through, for example, the
addition of up to 100 new faculty
positions.
“The more we can reduce the
ratio of student to faculty while
providing resources to you and your
colleagues, the stronger it will make
Boston College.”
In addition to discussing the
Master and Strategic plans, Fr.
Leahy spoke about the status of
the University’s $1.7 billion endowment, which he said had enabled
BC to offer $115 million in financial aid assistance last year — a level
of support that will need to increase
as the cost of higher education con-
tinues to rise.
Fr. Leahy added that, despite the
lagging national economy, fundraising efforts have remained consistent
from supportive alumni.
In his remarks at the event, Provost and Dean of Facilities Cutberto
Garza expressed gratitude to the
instructors whom he dubbed “the
key to the University’s heart and
mind.”
Reviewing milestones of the past
year, Garza noted the addition of
five endowed professorships, the
progress of the University’s Strategic
and Master plans and the growing
national profile Boston College enjoys through its progress in national
rankings, such as US News & World
Report.
Garza praised the faculty for its
continued success in the face of
ever-heightening expectations: “The
constant trajectory we set for ourselves is undaunted by the trajectory
getting progressively steeper.”
A list of faculty members who received grant awards is on page 4.
Fr. Paris Is Candidate for CASE Award
Continued from page 1
or former undergraduate students; tially, thanks to the
two from campus colleagues; and dedication, teaching
two from supporters on campus, style and raw knowlin the community or in the candi- edge of Fr. Paris, I
date’s profession.
now know that public
Garza, in his letter nominat- policy is where my fuing Fr. Paris, called him “a gifted ture lies.”
teacher of undergraduates, an exMichael Patrick
emplary mentor, creative intel- Moore Jr., ’04, wrote
lectual and remarkable human that Fr. Paris does
being.”
not impose his per“He truly integrates the goals sonal beliefs or the
of enhancing our students’ intel- stance of the Catholic
lectual, social and spiritual devel- Church on his stuopment,” Garza continued, “an dents – in fact, he
achievement that distinguishes added, Moore’s class
Professor Paris and that many of could not read Fr.
us aspire to emulate. He never Paris’ articles until affails to challenge his students to ter the semester was
engage and explore the intellec- over.
tual, ethical, spiritual and political
“He warned against
dimensions of the most urgent the danger of absolutquestions facing contemporary ism, not by saying so
society.”
himself, but by demPresidential Scholar Caitlin onstrating (through
Ann Peterson, ’08, praised Fr. questioning)
that
Paris for uniting “the intellectual absolutism is often
philosophy of ethics with the real- incompatible with logic and realife application of modern medical son. Most importantly, he taught
dilemmas and the public policy every student to reject knee-jerk
decisions that surround them.” responses to complicated issues;
She noted that Fr. Paris had ar- we learned to pause and consider
ranged a special night class with all of the facts.”
an attorney who
Theology
had argued imDepartment
“[Fr. Paris] never fails to
portant medical
chairman Prof.
challenge his students to
ethics cases, as
Kenneth Himes,
well as the wife engage and explore the intel- OFM, described
of a patient inFr. Paris’ unconvolved in the lectual, ethical, spiritual and ventional, but
groundbreaking
effective, confipolitical dimensions of the
Brophy vs New
dence-building
England Sinai most urgent questions facing method:
He
Hospital case.
finds the two
contemporary society.”
“For
the
students who
—Provost Cutberto Garza are “the worst
first time, I felt
like I could put
cooks in class”
my liberal arts
and helps them
education to use in a way that put together a gala, four-course
appealed to me on both an intel- dinner for the class at his home.
lectual and practical level. Essen“I have heard students talk
Gary Gilbert
“Professor of the Year” nominee Walsh
Professor of Bioethics John Paris, SJ.
about these evenings for days afterward,” said Fr. Himes, “and I
have seen photos of the cheerful
faces gathered around their teacher and mentor, who in later years
often becomes their friend.”
Michele Goodwin, the Everett
Fraser Professor of Law at the
University of Minnesota and a
former research assistant of Fr.
Paris, said that he has contributed
to the development of bioethics
as a respected discipline within
the larger academy, and along the
way, has nurtured a new generation of scholars who eagerly seek
truth, reason and integrity in their
scholarship and teaching.”
Assoc. Prof. Seth Jacobs (History) was nominated by Garza for
Professor of the Year in 2007.
—Office of Public Affairs
University President William P. Leahy, SJ, and Provost and Dean of Faculties Cutberto Garza flank Asst. Prof. Elizabeth Kensinger (Psychology), who received the Junior
Faculty Distinguished Research Award at Faculty Day. (Photo by Lee Pellegrini)
Roberts and Kensinger Earn
Awards for Faculty Research
A look at this year’s Distinguished Research Award winners,
Prof. Mary Roberts (Chemistry)
and Asst. Prof. Elizabeth Kensinger (Psychology):
Senior Research Award recipient Roberts’ work is in two areas: the use of Nuclear Magnetic
Resonance to define how interfaces modulate lipolytic enzyme
activities; and stress responses in
various cells and microorganisms,
particularly the regulation of novel
solutes in extremophiles.
Roberts earned her doctorate
from Stanford University in 1974
and worked as a postdoctoral associate at the University of Illinois and University of California,
San Diego. She has been honored
with the National Science Foundation Faculty Award for Women
and the Dreyfus Teacher/Scholar
Award.
Kensinger, the Junior Research
Award winner, focuses on cognitive and affective neuroscience, the
effect of emotion on memory with
a focus on the cognitive and neural
mechanisms through which emotion influences vividness and accuracy of memory. Kensinger also
researches how memory changes
across the adult lifespan. One of
her notable projects — that human beings remember sad events
with greater clarity than happy
events — involved asking Red
Sox fans to recall details about the
final game of the 2004 American
League Championship Series.
Kensinger was recently named
a 2008 Searle Scholar, an award
which provides funding to support the independent research of
exceptionally creative and productive young faculty in the biomedical sciences and chemistry. The
Searle Scholars Program recognizes individuals who have already
done important, innovative research and have the potential for
making pivotal contributions to
biological research over an extended period of time.
Kensinger is the first from Boston College to receive the honor,
which consists of a three-year research grant of $100,000 per year
and is among the top monetary
awards given in chemistry and the
biomedical sciences.
—Melissa Beecher
Smyer Accepts Post at Bucknell
Prof. Michael A. Smyer (Psychology), co-director of the Center for Aging & Work and former dean of the Graduate School
of Arts and Sciences, will become provost at Bucknell University
effective July 2, Bucknell President Brian C. Mitchell announced
recently.
Smyer, an expert on geriatric mental health, joined BC in
1994 as GSAS dean and associate vice president for research. He
held the latter post until July of 2005, when the Center for Work
& Aging was formally established, and left the GSAS deanship
after the 2006-07 academic year.
“I am excited to be asked to serve as the next provost for
Bucknell University, one of the finest undergraduate liberal arts
institutions in our country,” said Smyer in a press release announcing his appointment. “But this is a bittersweet moment for
me, since I will miss my many friends and colleagues at Boston
College. I am honored to have been part of BC’s transformation
during the last decade or more. I have learned a lot from the faculty, students, staff and administrators at BC, and I look forward
to staying connected with BC.”
—Office of Public Affairs
T he B oston C ollege
Chronicle
may 8, 2008
Faculty, Staff Grants Awarded
The following grants were announced at Faculty Day May 2 [see
p. 3]:
Teaching, Advising and Mentoring Expense Grant Recipients: Asst.
Prof. Mary Aruda (CSON), Prof.
Robin Fleming (History), Adj. Assoc. Prof. Kenneth Metz (Chemistry)
and Instr. Nanci Peters (CSON).
Teaching, Advising and Mentoring Grant Recipients: Asst. Prof.
Angela Amar (CSON), Assoc. Prof.
Karen Arnold (LSOE), Asst. Prof.
Eric Dearing (LSOE), Assoc. Prof.
Patrick McQuillan (LSOE), Asst.
Prof. Laura O’Dwyer (LSOE), Adj.
Assoc. Prof. Kathleen Bailey (Political Science), Assoc. Prof. David
Deese (Political Science), Prof. Ann
Burgess (CSON), Biology Laboratories Director Michael Piatelli,
Asst. Prof. Othelia Lee (GSSW),
Assoc. Prof. Kenneth Metz (Chemistry), Assoc. Prof. Elizabeth Rhodes
(Spanish), Assoc. Prof. Robert Signorile (Computer Science) and Asst.
Prof. Lisa Patel Stevens (LSOE).
Research Incentive Grant Re-
cipients: Asst. Prof. Sing-chen
Chiang (Slavic Languages), Asst.
Prof. Yonder Gillihan (Theology),
Prof. Charles Hoffman (Biology),
Prof. June Horowitz (CSON), Asst.
Prof. Goran Krilov (Chemistry),
Asst. Prof. Sean McGuffey (Sociology), Prof. John Michalczyk (Fine
Arts), Asst. Prof. Elizabeth Miller
(CSOM), Assoc. Prof. Renato Mirollo (Mathematics), Assoc. Prof.
Jan Engelbrecht (Physics), Asst.
Prof. Zachary Morgan (History),
Prof. Michael Numan (Psychology),
Asst. Prof. Charles Proctor (LSOE),
Assoc. Prof. Billy Soo (CSOM)
and Asst. Prof. Valentina Zamora
(CSOM).
Academic Technology Innovation Grant Recipients: Michael
Barnett (LSOE), Asst. Prof. Steven
Bruner (Chemistry), Asst. Prof.
Amy Frappier (Geology), Asst. Prof.
Sheila Gallagher (Fine Arts), Asst.
Prof. Seung-A Jin (Communication) Prof. Evan Kantrowitz (Chemistry) and Assoc. Prof. Robin Wood
(CSON).
Anniversary Mass for Sister
O’Keeffe to Be Held May 10
An Anniversary Mass for late College of Arts and Sciences
Associate Dean Sister Mary Daniel O’Keeffe, OP, MA ’71,
PhD ’84, will be celebrated this Saturday, May 10, at 4 p.m.
Sister O’Keeffe died last May 17 at age 73. She joined the
A&S administration in 1989 as the school’s freshmen advisor
and coordinator of advising and also taught courses in Classics, and the Cornerstone and Capstone programs.
A tribute to Sister O’Keeffe was posted on the A&S Web
site: www.bc.edu/schools/cas/EventsFeaturesNews/News/
remember%20sister.html.
GSSW on the Rise
Continued from page 1
berto has done is to ensure a good
relationship between GSSW and
the University. Because of where
the school is, and where it’s headed, Boston College will view social
work as a major emphasis in its
mission.”
Godenzi points to the school’s
18-month planning effort, culminating in the 2005 report “Rise to
the Top,” as a watershed. A large
group of administrators, faculty,
students, staff and alumni scrutinized GSSW as well as other top
social work programs, and came up
with a series of goals and strategies.
Among other things, the self-study
affirmed GSSW’s focus on global
practice and gerontology, both of
which are now concentrations in
the school curriculum.
“Perhaps the most important result of the process,” says Godenzi,
“was to answer the question, ‘Who
are we, and what should we stand
for?’ Certainly, as a social work
school your areas of interest are in
health and mental health, and in
children, youth and families. But
what would make us stand out,
and keep us true to BC’s Jesuit,
Catholic mission? We felt building
on our strengths in older adults
and in the global perspective would
do that.”
GSSW’s international effort
— which includes field placements
and partnerships with agencies and
organizations overseas — offers
particular promise, say administrators. “The Global Practice concentration has brought a great deal of
interest and attention to the school
by both students and outside faculty,” says GSSW Associate Dean
Thomas Walsh. “As part of this,
the school also initiated the first national conference on best practices
in international social work last
spring, which brought in representatives from more than 90 schools
of social work across the country.”
“The pioneers of social work,
like Jane Addams, were true internationalists,” says Godenzi. “Over
the years, the profession became
more parochial, but in the past
decade the view is becoming global
again. However, you cannot really
build an international focus with
two or three-week trips — not that
those aren’t valuable undertakings.
You need to establish sustainable
and mutually beneficial relationships with global partners, built
into the curriculum.”
Whatever the characteristics
of an era compared to the one
that immediately follows, it’s not
uncommon to find precursors or
hints of what’s to come. Such is
the case, Godenzi explains, with
his predecessor, June Gary Hopps,
Frank Curran
Carroll School of Management Lect. Gregory Stoller, center, discusses a business plan with MBA students (L-R) Daniele Blancada, John Ryan, Caitriona Taylor and Aaron Zarwan.
Students Help Area Businesses Plan Ahead
Continued from page 1
Textron Financial and Sesame
Workshop to nascent companies
envisioned by Carroll School MBA
alumni and global entrepreneurs.
Last fall, students worked on plans
for businesses in regions as diverse as
Beijing, China, Tokyo, Japan, and
Bordeaux, France. Other projects
have included commercialization of
research out of BC’s own departments of chemistry, computer science and physics.
In the fall semester’s Business
Planning and Entrepreneurship
course, five-person teams work
alongside a mentor with industry
or entrepreneurship experience, as
well as a third-year law student who
provides advice on legal issues that
arise. In the end, each team develops
its business plan, and then makes a
5-minute “elevator pitch” to a panel
of professors and businesspeople.
The top teams compete again to
determine the best proposal.
This spring, Stoller rolled out
the new Business Plan Continuation Course, where students work
individually or in teams with clients
to refine plans developed during the
fall semester or on new projects.
“When you get the students to
work on ideas that come from outside of Fulton Hall, the learning
becomes that much stronger,” says
Stoller. “Students are working on
something that is absolutely real
and has a pretty good probability of
getting implemented.”
Building strengths in financial
analysis, accounting, marketing
communications, business plan
writing and presentation pitching,
the students say the projects sharpen
skills and resumes as they approach
graduation.
For Colleen Pentland ’08, who
spent this semester refining the
business plan her team developed
last fall for a group of investors, the
experience proved invaluable.
“You are working with a client
and you can’t really teach that,”
says Pentland, who works in real
estate with CB Richard Ellis Capital Markets Group. “You gain the
experience of knowing what they
want and managing and meeting
expectations. They can fire you if
they want. So even if we are not
making money on this, it could affect their business. You have to take
this seriously.”
For the fall course, Stoller will
assemble 18 outside projects with
companies who seek assistance.
This year, he expects to see interest
grow beyond the 30 to 35 proposals
he normally receives.
who served as GSSW dean from
1976 to 2000.
In the late 1990s, he says, Hopps
facilitated two key faculty hirings:
Prof. Kevin Mahoney and Assoc.
Prof. Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes, who
have become major exponents of
GSSW’s success in securing external funding — Mahoney as director of the Center for the Study of
Home & Community Life, Pitt-
ing model. At GSSW, we made a
similar commitment.”
The rise in research funding at
GSSW, from $500,000 in 2001
to $4.1 million last year, had other
implications, note GSSW administrators. By virtue of surpassing the
$3 million mark in research revenues, GSSW was invited to join
the St. Louis Group, a prestigious
consortium of the leading research
US News top 10. Some of the
criteria needed to make that move
have been met: one is a revamped
doctoral program with improved
financial aid under Ahearn Professor Jim Lubben’s leadership that
Godenzi says is now a model for
others in the US. Others will take
a little more time, and money:
a bigger endowment; more endowed chairs (the school has just
one at present); a 1-to-13 facultystudent class ratio (1-19 now, 1-22
in 2005); and its own distinctive
facility (the University Master Plan
envisions such a structure).
“We think the school is well-positioned for the near-future,” says
Godenzi. “Even the job market
for human services and social work
looks positive — a federal study
sees it as a ‘hot profession’ over the
next five to 10 years, especially in
the area of aging.
“Our school community has
shown itself to be committed to,
and capable of, doing what needs
to be done to keep GSSW going
forward. And most of all, we have
the support of Boston College,”
adds Godenzi, singling out University President William P. Leahy,
SJ, Provost and Dean of Faculties
Cutberto Garza and his predecessor, John J. Neuhauser.
“It is good to know you have
people who are not just cheering
you on from the sidelines but actively helping you.”
GSSW by the numbers
Enrollment
Financial Aid
Publication per faculty/year
Overall research funding/year
Hours of community service
Catsouphes as co-director of the
Center for Aging & Work.
“One of the great things June
did was to hire Kevin and Marcie,
because they reflected the potential
for GSSW’s next step forward,”
says Godenzi. “They represented
the value of creating a research culture that goes hand in hand with
teaching.
“This is something that BC as
an institution has been working toward, providing resources, support
and encouragement for sponsored
research and bringing in faculty
who embrace the research-teach-
2001
2007
396
$750,000
0.9
$500,000
196,000
509
$1.8 million
1.9
$4.1 million
270,000
social work schools in the country.
Nor has the increased attention
to research come at the expense of
teaching, administrators add: They
note, for example, that Godenzi
designated Assoc. Prof. Kathleen
McInnis-Dittrich — winner of a
University Distinguished Teaching Award — to help faculty assess, monitor and improve their
instruction (Prof. Thanh Van Tran
was given a similar charge for research).
“The hill gets steeper now,” says
Godenzi of GSSW’s path, which
ideally will lead to a place in the
T he B oston C ollege
Chronicle
may 8, 2008
HEIGHTS
OF
EXCELLENCE
Bringing Her Energy to Education
For the Lynch School’s Mary Walsh, home is where her heart — and her work — remains
“Heights of Excellence” profiles faculty
members who, through their exemplary teaching and research, contribute to the intellectual
and spiritual life of Boston College.
By Ed Hayward
Staff Writer
Something of a study in perpetual motion, Kearns
Professor of Urban Education and Leadership Mary
Walsh criss-crosses St. Columbkille Elementary School,
a red brick building on Arlington Street in Brighton.
The apple green hallways are familiar to Walsh, who
turns a corner and stops momentarily in front of Room
2 to whisper, “This was my first-grade classroom.”
Not a lot has physically changed a few decades later
inside of Room 2. The tiles have gone from light and
dark to a patina somewhere in between. Walsh, who
now assists her alma mater with student assessment,
notes that the old desks are gone. “You can see the
holes they filled when they took them out. They used
to be nailed to the floor,” says Walsh, toeing the patch
job with her shoe.
St. Columbkille is a few blocks from the house
where Walsh and her sister were raised by their parents
– her father a factory worker in Watertown, her mother
a homemaker. It’s just a few more blocks from the
Lynch School of Education, where Walsh has been a
professor since 1989 in the Department of Counseling
and Developmental Psychology.
There might be more exotic research locales than
Brighton Center. But from her vantage point as a clinical-development psychologist, St. Columbkille and
other city schools sit directly in that area Walsh so
clearly covets as a teacher and researcher.
“For me, the place where I’ve always lived, intellectually, is the space where thought and action meet,”
Walsh says. “That, to me, is where the excitement is.”
Photos by Lee Pellegrini
Columbkille after-school program. “I couldn’t understand
where she got her energy from. I thought, ‘OK. I’ve got
my work cut out for me.’ She really sets the bar high.”
Her students say that when they’re running out of
steam, Walsh usually digs up a granola bar or other
healthy snack. She’s an avid consumer of apples, they
note. But often, there is a tin of cookies somewhere in her
office. Walsh is typically at work by 7 a.m., usually brown
bags lunch. By 4 p.m., she might be on the phone with
her husband, offering a cooking tip or two.
Research reports and other projects that are turned in
are typically met with Walsh’s trademark response: “Terrific!” and double thumbs up sign.
“I feel like I owe Dr. Walsh so much,” says Merriam,
who plans on returning to teach in her native Honduras.
“If I hadn’t connected with her, I think I would have
missed out on what is such a huge part of my life is right
now. I would have missed out on something great.”
“School’s the place to be”
From the beginning of her career, Walsh knew she
wanted to make a difference in the lives of children. But
she did not entertain the idea of becoming a classroom
teacher. “I could never. It’s the hardest job in the world,”
says Walsh, who did marry a school teacher, Dan Hurley,
recently retired from the Boston Public Schools.
But the schoolhouse was the place to make the biggest
difference with the largest number of children.
“It’s the one place in society where children are and it’s
the place where they spend the most significant amount
of time,” she says. “If you’re going to engage in intervention programs to enhance the life chances of kids, school’s
the place to be.”
Today, she’s directing a program that reaches 4,000
children.
Managed from the Center for Child, Family and
Community Partnerships, which Walsh directs, BostonConnects is a signature program of the Lynch School
and Walsh’s defining project in a 33-year career that has
focused on using best practices and sound assessment to
design and prove the worthiness of programs that help
children and families.
From its first site, BostonConnects has grown into
a broad partnership of the Lynch School, city schools,
foundations, and community groups that provide a comprehensive array of supports – such as health, mentoring,
School, says Walsh, “is the one place in
society where children are and it’s the
place where they spend the most significant
amount of time. If you’re going to engage
in intervention programs to enhance the life
chances of kids, school’s the place to be.”
candidate and research assistant who works on assessA sense of place
ing the impact of BostonConnects. “In every aspect of
After earning her doctorate from Clark University
the project, she knows what’s happening on the ground
in Worcester, Walsh divided her time between teach– with training, evaluations, schools and funding. On top
ing psychology at Regis College and doing research at
of that she teaches and is involved in what’s going on in
the University of Massachusetts Medical School, where
our department. I don’t know if she sleeps.”
she examined the various ways patients explain their
Among the strengths of BostonConnects are the relaparticular illness and its cause. Her career has focused
tionships
it has helped to forge with the communities that
most often on mental health challenges for children
host
its schools. A primary focus is to construct a
and families in a variety of settings
system
within schools that leverages school and
– ranging from health care facilities
program
resources to attract extra services and
to schools to homeless shelters, where
support
from
community groups, non-profits and
Walsh researched her 1992 book,
others.
Moving to Nowhere: Children’s Stories
Walsh, and her colleagues from inside and outof Homelessness.
side
of the University, have broken apart the old
Lynch School Dean Joseph M.
approach
to helping “at-risk” students and impleO’Keefe, SJ, says Walsh’s sense of
mented
a
new “whole child” model of student
place – be it academic or geographic
supports
aimed
at removing the “non-academic”
– contributes to her focus on schools
barriers
to
success
for urban students.
serving the newest generations of imFr.
O’Keefe
notes
that it takes a manager’s
migrants from Latin America, Africa
touch
for
an
academician
to generate the fundand Asia.
ing
to
support
such
an
ambitious
project and also
“Mary is driven by this loyalty to
coordinate
the
many
players
involved.
her neighborhood and to her expe“Dedication, that boundless energy, a sense of
rience of being a daughter of Irish
what
people need and an ability to convey that
immigrants and the importance of
to
funders
and to stakeholders” are critical to the
the immigrant experience,” says Fr.
task,
he
says.
“In addition, Mary brings an apO’Keefe. “It has shaped her work.
preciation
of
evaluation
and assessment data that
Many psychologists are removed from
often
is
just
not
found.
You
often find you have
day-to-day engagement in their local
people
who
do
research
and
those
who do practice
Walsh
with
LSOE
Associate
Dean
Maureen
Kenney
at
a
BostonConnects
meeting.
As
director
of
the
community. But I think Mary puts
program, Walsh takes an active role in training, evaluations, funding and other aspects, as well as
and
the
two
do
not
meet.
But
Mary
is able to
in the time and plugs away in order
teaching. “She’s involved in everything,” says a colleague. “I don’t know if she sleeps.”
bring
them
both
together.”
to be able to enter the world of pracGarfield Elementary Principal Victoria Megias-Batista
counseling, after-school and family services – to 14 Bostitioners. That is one of the important things she does
says
Walsh brings a comprehensive approach to solving
ton
Public
Schools
serving
4,000
students.
The
program
very, very well.”
the
problems
students have inside and outside of her
expanded
to
five
more
schools
this
year
with
$9.2
milHer students also feed off of what Fr. O’Keefe and
Brighton
school.
lion
in
new
funding
–
bringing
total
funding
during
its
others describe as Walsh’s “boundless energy.”
“She sees the big picture of what is needed in this
nine-year history to more than $14 million. The project
Ana Merriam, who graduates this month with her
school,”
says Megias-Batista. “She sees the whole child,
research
and
implementation
staff
number
about
two
bachelor’s degree in human development and a fifththe
family.
Because of that, everybody works with her to
dozen
people.
year master’s degree in elementary education, first met
complete
the
whole package. What I admire most is her
Walsh
does
not
administer
from
a
distance.
“She’s
Walsh when she was a freshman.
passion
and
advocating
for what she believes children and
involved
in
everything,”
says
Kristin
Wieneke,
a
doctoral
“I just automatically noticed she was very energetic,”
families
need.”
says Merriam, who this year taught part-time in the St.
T he B oston C ollege
Chronicle
may 8, 2008
Postings
Asia University offers
scholarships to undergrads
Prof. Arch Woodside (CSOM) has
invited Boston College undergraduates and graduating seniors to apply
for four-week scholarships to Asia
University in Taiwan.
The scholarships include: $1,200
to support air fare travel from the
US to Taiwan and return; all tuition
and fees paid for by Asia University;
and four-week accommodations at
Asia University. The course of study
includes cultural, language, and corporate and government management
training as well as tours to cultural
sites throughout Taiwan.
Interested students should contact
Woodside before May 15 at woodsiar@bc.edu.
Global Proficiency Program
to honor graduates
Boston College 2008 graduates who
have distinguished themselves in international study and activity will be
honored May 16 at the ninth annual
Boston College Global Proficiency
Program Certificate Ceremony.
Through the Global Proficiency Program, students who study abroad,
take several courses of an international nature, and pursue some form
of cross-cultural activity or service
receive upon graduation a special
transcript from the University. This
transcript will provide potential
employers or graduate school admission officers with a clear record of
a student’s interest in international
issues and culture.
This year’s honorees are: David
Applegate, Anna Geueke, Alexandra O’Donohue, Michelle Bernal,
Natasha Henry, Emily Pierce, Sheila
Bharucha, Melissa McGrath, Andrea
Reichert, Krisanne Campos, Ashley
McLaughlin, Kaitlin Rosa, Cara Caponi, Robert Jones, Katie Schermerhorn, Jennifer Close, Ellen Kim,
Shanta Shepherd, Amanda Del Balso,
Sarah Metz, Candace Spradley, Veronica Gentile, Michaela O’Brien and
Nathan Straudinger.
Early release schedule
will start on May 23
Vice President for Human Resources
Leo V. Sullivan has announced the
summer 2008 early release policy
schedule. From May 23 through Aug.
22, most University offices will close
at 3 p.m. on Fridays.
Sullivan issued several guidelines
associated with the policy:
•It applies to Friday afternoons
between 3 and 5 p.m. and may not
be used to alter work hours at any
other time.
•The shorter work day applies to
those who are normally scheduled to
work after 3 p.m. on Fridays. In the
relatively few cases where a person’s
regular shift ends earlier than 5 p.m.
on Friday, the employee may be
released two hours early with the
supervisor’s approval.
•If an employee is required to work
past 3 p.m., he or she may receive
compensatory time off on another
day approved by the supervisor.
•An employee who takes a vaca­
tion or sick day on Friday is charged
with a full day and does not get an
“extra” two hours to use at another
time.
•Except as noted above, the Uni­
versity’s policy is to provide coverage
in all offices during normal working
hours and employees are expected
to work their regular schedules. Any
proposal for an exception to this
policy should be directed to Sullivan’s
attention.
College Bound for Success
BC-Boston Schools
initiative celebrates its
20th anniversary
By Melissa Beecher
Staff Writer
Matthew Vialva, ’11, couldn’t
hide his pride any longer.
The seven Boston Public
School students Vialva had mentored, coached and taught over
the past year last week stood confidently in front of a Gasson Hall
classroom full of people and discussed how they established TAV,
or Teens Against Violence, an
outreach program in Boston.
Each one of the students had
personally experienced or witnessed violence and, over the next
year, will be reaching out to middle school students in the city to
encourage alternatives to violent
behavior.
“I am just so proud of all you,”
Vialva said to his group, who
had created pamphlets, a PowerPoint presentation, a skit, statistical analysis and speaking points to
bolster their pitch.
“This group has worked so
hard and what they have achieved,
it should be commended,” Vialva
said.
TAV is one of the latest achievements to come out of the College Bound Program, which this
year is marking two decades of
partnerships between Boston College students and Boston Public
Schools to keep local schoolchildren focused on higher education.
Through after-school and Saturday sessions, the program provides
‘Team College
Mogul’ Takes
CSOM Honors
The Carroll School of
Management hosted the annual Boston College Venture
Competition, a business plan
competition designed to promote and support entrepreneurship at the undergraduate level at BC, on April 15.
The 2008 winner — and
recipients of the $10,000
first-place prize — was Team
College Mogul (seniors
Henry Khachatryan, Miles
Lennon and Alexander Lindahl), a one-stop resource for
entrepreneurs to share ideas
and experiences, profiles and
reviews of new and existing
companies that are launched
by students or recent graduates. Group Runner, which
produces tools to manage the
publicity of groups, received
$3,000 for second place, and
Anaptyx, LLC, a “green” wireless Internet service provider,
received $2,000 for third.
A presentation by Boston Public Schools students at the May 2 reception marking
the 20th anniversary of the College Bound Program. (Photo by Frank Curran)
academic enhancement opportu- (LSOE), who after working as liainities and college coaching while son to the Boston Public Schools
fostering tomorrow’s leaders.
in the 1970s, established College
In celebration of College Bound as a vehicle to provide
Bound’s 20th anniversary, stu- educational assistance to promisdents, parents, BC supporters ing students from disadvantaged
and alumni from the program backgrounds. That novel concept
gathered in Gasson
has become the
“What we have today is region’s oldest
Hall on May 2 for
an award ceremony
and most sucmade possible because
and banquet.
cessful campuswe are standing on the based college
Lynch School
of Education Dean
shoulders of some truly preparation efJoseph O’Keefe,
forts.
wonderful people.”
SJ, said that over
To
date,
the last two demore
than
200
—LSOE Dean Fr. O’Keefe
cades many lives
students have
have been changed
participated in
thanks to College Bound.
the program; 85 percent of the
“What we have today is made participants have been the first in
possible because we are stand- their family to attend college.
ing on the shoulders of some
“Remember,” Ladd told the
truly wonderful people,” said Fr. hundreds gathered for the celebraO’Keefe.
tion. “People really care for you.
One of those people honored Make us proud.”
was Prof. Emeritus George Ladd
This year, students from West
Roxbury High School’s Media
and Communications Technology Program, Brighton’s Brook
Farm Business & Service Career
Academy and Brighton High
School presented a symposium of
their work, which included establishing outreach programs on teen
violence, drop out rates and peer
assistance.
Catherine Wong, the director
of urban outreach initiatives at the
Lynch School of Education, hopes
the symposium will become an
annual event to highlight the important work of College Bound.
“We want to give all students
involved an experience,” said
Wong. “We decided to do things
a little different this year and have
students work on action research
projects that they could take back
to their own communities in an
enriching and contributory way.
“This is the fourth time these
students have presented and each
time they get stronger. We had to
tell them that what they have been
doing is college-level work and
even then, they didn’t believe it.
They might not understand that
they are doing statistical analysis,
but that is what this is.”
Sung-Joon Pai, headmaster of
Media Communications Technology High School, said the partnership is a positive experience for all
involved.
“I have only known about this
program for the last three years
and it didn’t take long for me to
see what a valuable experience this
is for the students who participate,” said Pai. “The goal is to get
students to college and that’s what
this program represents.”
CSON Partnership with Local Church Draws Praise
Outreach is seen to benefit underserved, largely Haitian community
By Kathleen Sullivan
Staff Writer
Connell School of Nursing faculty and students pitched in at a
health and job fair last month in
Mattapan, as part of an ongoing
relationship with a local church
located in an underserved, primarily Haitian community.
The Inite Pou La Sante (United for Health) Health and Job
Fair, sponsored by CSON and
the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute,
took place April 19 at the Voice of
the Gospel Tabernacle Church in
Mattapan. Some 200 adults and
children attended the event, which
offered prostate cancer education
and screenings; mammograms; eye
exams; blood pressure, glucose and
cholesterol measurements; nutritional counseling; BMI testing;
health insurance sign-ups; health
information, and information on
employment and local educational
opportunities, among other services.
The health fair was the most
recent product of a partnership
between CSON and the Voice
of the Gospel Taber­nacle Pastor
Rev. Nicolas Homicil. During the
school year, as part of their com-
munity health clinical work, Connell School students make weekly
visits to the church to work with
area residents. Students conduct
health screenings, including blood
pressure and blood sugar checks,
give advice about nutrition and
answer questions about medications and general health.
“Health risks are not evenly
distributed and factors like race,
ethnicity and social class all have
an effect on health,” said Asst.
Prof. Jennifer Allen (CSON),
who oversees the Voice of Gospel
Tabernacle clinical group and is
described as “the driving force”
behind the collaboration of BC,
Dana Farber and Voice of the
Gospel Tabernacle.
“Many cultural and systemic
barriers prevent Boston’s Haitian
community from easily accessing
the health care services provided
in the area,” explained Sam Clark,
a BC graduate nursing student and
organizer of the health fair. “Language and lack of interpreters in
clinical settings make communication difficult, and make misunderstandings common. Non-English
speakers often do not receive the
essential information and resources
needed to live a healthy lifestyle.
“High costs of care prevent the
community from being able to
bring more culturally competent
care into the neighborhoods in
which they live, and poor access to
public transportation makes going
out to get it difficult, as well,” he
continued. “A lack of supermarkets means a lack of healthy food
choices, a lack of safe outdoor
spaces means too few places to
exercise, and what results is a very
difficult path to a healthy lifestyle.”
The Boston College nursing
contingent not only worked the
day of the health fair, but also
was instrumental in planning and
publicizing the event. The students visited several churches in
Mattapan and Dorchester to speak
about the health fair and distribute
flyers.
Dorchester native Dana Mars
is one of the keys to this project’s
success. A 2007 graduate of Boston College, Mars helped organize
the first health fair last year. She
and other BC students established
a partnership with the Haitian
Multi-Service Center of Catholic
Charities and together they were
able to reach out to many community health and social service
agencies.
T he B oston C ollege
Chronicle
may 8, 2008
Newsmakers
•The Boston Globe “Globe West”
profiled two-time women’s tennis
team Leadership Award recipient
Alina Sullivan, ’09, part of a local family whose sports pedigree
spans generations.
•The Irish Times featured the
book Ireland’s Magdalen Laundries and the Nation’s Architecture
of Containment by Assoc. Prof.
James Smith (English). He also
was interviewed about the book
on as part of the “Today with Pat
Kenny” show on Ireland’s RTE
Radio 1.
•With the 30th anniversary of
the abolition of the death penalty
in Massachusetts upcoming, Prof.
Alan Rogers (History) published
an op-ed in the Boston Globe
on capital punishment and due
process.
•Assoc. Prof. Robert Murphy
(Economics) discussed the potential economic impact of the
federal tax rebates with NECN.
•An interview with Prof. Maxim
D. Shrayer (Slavic and Eastern
Languages and Literatures) appeared in The Coast, an annual of
Russian culture.
•Center for Work & Family Research Director Jacquelyn James
explained the benefits of a flexible
work schedules for older workers in a Sarasota Herald-Tribune
article.
Publications
•Prof. Alan Rogers (History)
published “State Constitutionalism and the Death Penalty” in the
Journal of Policy History.
Lee Pellegrini
PEOPLE
•Assoc. Prof. Ourida Mostefai
(Romance Languages and Literatures) published “De Vincennes
à Ménilmontant: promenade et
projet autobiographique dans les
Rêveries du promeneur solitaire”
in The Nature of Rousseau’s “Reveries”: Physical, Human, Aesthetic.
Honors/Appointments
•Assoc. Prof. Charles Morris
(Communication) is the 2008 recipient of two honors from the
Eastern Communication Association: the Past President’s Distinguished Scholar Award and the
Everett Lee Hunt Award for book
of the year (Queering Public Address: Sexualities in American Historical Discourse).
•Asst. Prof. Jonathan Laurence
(Political Science) has been named
senior fellow of the Transatlantic
Academy of the German Marshall
Fund in Washington, DC, for the
2008-09 academic year.
•Assoc. Prof. Ourida Mostefai
(Romance Languages and Literatures) was appointed advisory editor of Eighteenth-Century Studies,
a refereed journal published by
Johns Hopkins University Press.
Nota Bene
The Boston Chapter of the National Society of Hispanic MBAs
(NSHMBA) presented Boston College with two honors at its recent
gala dinner in Boston.
NSHMBA selected BC for its Education Institution Award, in recognition of the University’s sponsorship of, and growing relationship
with, the association. Carroll Graduate School of Management Enrollment Director Shelley Burt accepted the award on behalf of BC.
In addition, NSHMBA awarded a scholarship to Carroll School
graduate student Andres Lessing. A native of Argentina who also has
lived in Venezuela and Mexico, Lessing is active in efforts to raise funds
to combat neurofibromatosis, a genetic disorder of the nervous system.
Lynch School of Education Dean Joseph M. O’Keefe, SJ, spoke
on the current state of Catholic urban schools at the April 24 White
House Summit on Inner-City Children and Faith-Based Schools in
Washington, DC.
Fr. O’Keefe, who in 2001 led a landmark study of inner-city Catholic elementary schools, presented “Catholic Schools in the Inner City:
A Time to Innovate or Perish,” during the panel “Practical Realities on
the Ground.”
Drawing on the expertise and experiences of educators, policy-makers, clergy and lay people from throughout the US, the White House
Summit focused on the historic contributions of faith-based urban
schools in America, examined the challenges these schools face, and
discussed solutions to problems confronting educators from all faiths.
Four Boston College students recently earned honors from the
American Council of Teachers of Russian (ACTR). Woong-Ki Ahn,
’09, became the first BC student selected as the Post-Secondary Russian
Scholar Laureate. In addition, BC placed three winners in the ACTR
National Post-Secondary Russian Essay Contest: graduate student
James Stotts, second place, Non-Heritage Learners Category, Level
4; graduate student Laura Hurst, honorable mention, Non-Heritage
Learners Category, Level 4; and senior Artom Bogdanovich, honorable
mention, Heritage Learners Category, Level 1.
(L-R) Vice Provost for Research Kevin Bedell, Physics Department chairman Prof.
Michael Naughton, University of California San Diego Prof. Douglas Magde and
his wife, Peggy, Joan Glashow and Harvard University Prof. Sheldon L. Glashow.
Glashow, recipient of the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physics, who delivered the first
Magde Colloquium lecture April 30. Douglas Magde, ‘63, a professor of chemistry,
has provided financial support for the lectureship in appreciation of the education
and mentoring he received as a Boston College undergraduate studying physics.
Time and a Half
•Prof. Dwayne E. Carpenter (Romance Languages) met with the
Infanta Doña Cristina, daughter
of King Juan Carlos I and Queen
Sofía of Spain, at the Real Colegio Complutense to discuss his
research in medieval Spanish literature and Sephardic Studies.
•Adj. Assoc. Prof. Michael Noone
(Music) presented two lectures
at the Museum of Fine Arts as
part of their “Arts and Cultures
of Spain” series. He also conducted the Ensemble Plus Ultra
in a concert of liturgical music in
the Spanish primatial cathedral
in Toledo, Spain, to celebrate the
establishment of the Royal Toledo
Foundation.
•Prof. Alan Rogers (History)
was an invited participant at the
Pierce Law Review Death Penalty
Forum.
•Assoc. Prof. Junona Moroianu
(Biology) had an invited seminar on “Nuclear Import Pathways
for Human Papillomaviruses” at
Harvard Medical School Virology
Program Seminar Series.
•Asst. Prof. Jonathan Laurence
(Political Science) spoke at a
roundtable on the Italian elections at MIT and was a panelist
on German identity at the Harvard University conference “Germany in the Modern World.”
•Asst. Prof. Timothy Crawford
(Political Science) presented
“Wedge Strategies in Power Politics” at the Olin Institute for Strategic Studies National Security
Seminar.
•Assoc. Prof. James Smith (English) presented “Imagining Adoption in Contemporary Irish Fiction” at a research workshop he
co-directed addressing the theme
“Children, Childhood and Irish
Society, 1700-Present” at the
Boston College-Ireland center in
Dublin. He also presented “The
Architecture of Containment:
Complicity, Collusion, Responsibility” as part of an ongoing
lecture series “Trespass and Forgiveness” in Limerick.
•Assoc. Prof. Ourida Mostefai
(Romance Languages and Literatures) presented a paper on Rousseau’s Letter to D’Alembert at the
Annual Convention of the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies in Portland, Ore.
Grad, Professional
Awards Presented
The following honors were presented at the Graduate and Professional Student Awards Ceremony,
held April 23 in the Murray Room
of Yawkey Center.
Graduate School of Social Work:
Adrienne Pisoni (Academic Achievement), Megan O’Brien (Contribution to Community), Heather Wind
(School Award).
Law School: William Trunk (Academic Achievement), Toni Ann Kruse
(Contribution to Community), Eleanor Richmond (School Award).
Lynch School of Education: Edmond Bowers (Academic Achievement), Solly Haynes (Contribution to
Community), Sadek Firwana (School
Award).
Woods College of Advancing
Studies: Andrea and Matthew Krull
(Contribution to Community), Ritika Tulshan (School Award).
Carroll School of Management:
Florian Leka, Diane MacLaughlin
(Academic Achievement), Tara Wilcox (Contribution to Community),
Jessica Wesson (School Award).
Connell School of Nursing: Leah
Grant (Academic Achievement), Lauren Parks (Contribution to Community), Patricia Underwood (School
Award).
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences: Yingying Dong (Academic
Achievement), Eliza Bliss-Moreau
(Contribution to Community), Mark
Sentesy (School Award).
Research Excellence Award: Jessica Johnson, GSSW.
Mentoring Excellence Award: Justin E. Hagert, CSOM.
John Courtney Murray, SJ,
Award for Student Life: Farooq
Pasha, GSAS.
Set the World Aflame Award:
Marissa Loon, GSAS.
Ever to Excel Award: Faedra
Backus, LSOE.
Sister Thea Bowman Award:
Marlon Cummings, GSSW.
Men and Women for Others
Award: Anthony E. Giardino, Law
School.
Commitment to Change Award:
Gregory S. Burnett, Jennifer Kim,
Jessica Liou, Josmar Roman, and
Debbie Satyal, Law School.
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.edau/offices/hr/:
Senior Research Associate, Academic Technology Services
Administrative Assistant, Lynch
School of Education
Accounting Specialist, Student Services
Teacher Assistant, Campus School,
Lynch School of Education
Boston College Director of Athletics Gene DeFilippo congratulates Sylvia Crawley during an April 29 press conference introducing her as the head coach of BC
women’s basketball. Crawley, a player on the 1994 North Carolina team that won
the NCAA championship, had been head coach at Ohio University since 2006.
Health Educator/RN, University
Health Services
Grant Manager, Connell School of
Nursing
T he B oston C ollege
Chronicle
may 8, 2008
LOOKING AHEAD
READINGS • LECTURES • DISCUSSION
May 9
•Lecture: “Amicita in the Manipulus Florum of Thomas of Ireland:
Flowers from Ancient Gardens,” with James McEvoy, Queen’s University, Belfast, 4 p.m., McGuinn Third Floor Lounge.
May 14
•Reading for Pleasure: A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini, with Mary Ellen Kiddle, noon, O’Neill 413. Contact perrypd@
bc.edu for more information.
•Lecture: “Forecasting Earthquakes: A Statistical Approach,” with
Assoc. Prof. Daniel Chambers (Mathematics), 7 p.m., Boston College Weston Observatory, 381 Concord Rd., Weston. Reservations
required due to limited seating, call ext.2-8300.
May 20
•Conversations With...Series: New England authors and illustrators
discuss their work, 7:30 p.m., location TBA. See www.thefcb.org or
e-mail cohenlm@bc.edu for details.
Arts Hit
The Heights
UNIVERSITY EVENTS
May 19
•Boston College Commencement Exercises, 9:30 a.m., Alumni Stadium (rain site Conte Forum).
The Boston College Arts Festival celebrated its 10th anniversary April 24-26
with an array of artistic activities, including a Dance Showcase featuring the
South Asian Student Association and
other BC student dance groups (above),
a performance of the off-beat musical “Urinetown” at Robsham Theater
(right), and a demonstration of ceramics
and other arts (lower right). Appearances
by notable alumni Tom McCarthy, ’88,
and Mike Lupica, ’74, further enlivened
the festival, as did the first concert collaboration between BC bOp! and Voices of
Imani — a performance of excerpts from
Duke Ellington’s “Sacred Concerts.”
In addition, the BC Arts Council
presented its annual Achievement in
the Arts awards. Fine Arts Department
chairman Prof. John Michalczyk won the
Faculty Award, and the following honors
were presented to these students: Lindsey Barcebal,’08 (photography); Meghan
Hart,’08, Sarah Lang,’10 (theater); Lois
Kamandulis,’08, Tyson Jang,’09, Melissa Keller,’10 (studio art); Katherine Moulton,’08 (English); Benjamin
Tress,’08 (bands); Eileen Walsh,’08, Jennifer Patten,’09 David Heighington,’10
(music); Matthew Porter,’09 (film);
Shelbi Thurau,’09 (bands, theater).
Photos by Lee Pellegrini
CELEBRATING RESEARCH
May 23
•Boston College Law School Commencement Exercises, 2 p.m.,
Newton Campus.
MUSIC • ART • PERFORMANCE
May 16
•Concert: “Family Night at the Pops,” Annual concert held at Symphony Hall for alumni, parents and friends of Boston College. Tickets range from $30-$90. See www.bc.edu/familypops, call ext.2-3469
or e-mail kate.loftus@bc.edu for information.
ONGOING EXHIBITIONS
•“Tree of Paradise: Jewish Mosaics from the Roman Empire,” at the
McMullen Museum of Art, through June 6.
•“Neenan, Have You Read a Good Book Lately?” O’Neill Library
Lobby, through June 10.
•“Fighting Irishmen: Celebrating Celtic Prizefighters 1820 to Present,” Burns Library, through Sept. 5.
For more on Boston College events, see events.bc.edu or check BCInfo
[www.bc.edu/bcinfo] for updates.
Ex-Governor Cellucci Is First
Rehnquist Award Winner
BC SCENES
Lee Pellegrini
Inna Grishkan,’08, winner of this year’s Grant Balkema Memorial Award, stands with Prof. Anthony Annunziato with and part-time
faculty member Marilee Ogren — and widow of Grant Balkema — during the Biology Department’s annual Celebration of Undergraduate Research on May 2. The event honored the nearly 60 students who took part in research activities with faculty mentors
over the course of the year. Thirty-four of those students displayed their research in a poster session, and four gave oral presentations on their work. The department also recognized the contributions of its first-ever undergraduate teaching assistants.
Former Massachusetts Governor A. Paul Cellucci, JD’73, is the
inaugural recipient of an award
from the Boston College Law
School chapter of the Federalist
Society for Public Policy Studies that is named for late United
States Supreme Court Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist.
Cellucci formally received the
Rehnquist Memorial Award at a
banquet held April 24 at the Law
School. James Rehnquist, son of
the chief justice, was the presenter.
The award will recognize a
member of the legal community
who has gone above and beyond
the call of duty in serving the public, according to BC Law Federalist Society President Guillaume
Buell.
“We have named the series in
memory of the late chief justice
because of his decades of service
to the United States while on the
Supreme Court,” said Buell. “We
are also establishing this award
— and the banquet dinner where
it will be presented — to bring
together current BC Law students
and faculty, alumni, members of
the legal community, and supporters of the Federalist Society
for an evening of celebration of
our common ideals and the recipient’s service to the public.”
Buell said Cellucci, who served
as US ambassador to Canada from
2001-05 following his four years
as governor of Massachusetts, was
an appropriate choice to receive
the award.
“Ambassador Cellucci is a role
model for any law student aspiring
to serve the public,” said Buell.
“From his time in the Massachusetts Legislature, and as United
States ambassador to Canada,
Ambassador Cellucci has demonstrated all of the qualities of
service and leadership that Chief
Justice Rehnquist similarly displayed during his time on the
Supreme Court. While many
politicians can only stake their
reputation on rhetoric of hope and
expectation, Ambassador Cellucci
had one of the most successful
governorships in the history of the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts,
and served his country admirably
during a time of war. Few graduates of Boston College Law School
have done more for their state and
country.”
—Law School Marketing and
Communications Director Nathaniel Kenyon