The Boston College
Chronicle
september 7, 2007-vol. 16 no. 1
Boston College Must
Be ‘True to Its Calling’
Plans for academics,
construction outlined at
annual Convocation
Wednesday’s Convocation in
Robsham Theater featured a look
into the not-so-distant future, as
Boston College’s leadership offered
a sneak preview of upcoming academic and construction plans for
the University.
At the same time, the administration made clear that, whatever
changes in programs or geography,
the University’s success relies on
remaining faithful to its Jesuit and
Catholic heritage.
“Boston College must be true
to its calling: to be a great university and to be a great university distinguished by its Jesuit and
Catholic mission and character,”
said University President William
P. Leahy, SJ.
“For BC to be an even stronger
university and more influential in
issues concerning faith and culture,
we must keep striving to recruit and
retain superior faculty whose scholarship advances knowledge and addresses critical issues of our day.
We need to keep attracting talented
students who have the ability and
desire to help make our world a
better place. We must provide
facilities and resources necessary for
our institutional objectives.”
Also speaking at the event were
Executive Vice President Patrick
Keating and Provost and Dean
of Faculties Cutberto Garza, who
discussed initiatives that will address the objectives referred to in
Fr. Leahy’s remark.
Garza touched on the “Seven
Directions” that form the core of
BC’s strategic plan, which includes
committing resources to targeted
academic and research areas, fostering student formation activities
and affirming BC’s Jesuit-Catholic
dimension.
Among other facets of the strategic plan, Garza said, the University expects to allocate $43 million
in recurring annual expenditures
through 2015 for the humanities,
natural sciences, social sciences and
professional schools.
BC also envisions establishing
an Institute for the Liberal Arts,
to support multidisciplinary teaching and research activities across
the liberal arts and to serve as an
organizational structure for centers,
programs, and activities throughout the University, Garza added.
Other initiatives being developed
include a visiting artists series in
performing and visual arts and a
faculty-centered program on the
Catholic Intellectual Tradition.
Garza said the University would
Continued on page 3
Boston College begins the
2007-08 academic year with some
notable changes in its academic
and formation administration,
highlighted by the appointment
of Patrick J. Maney as dean of the
College of Arts and Sciences, the
oldest and largest undergraduate
school within the University.
In addition, Prof. Donald Hafner (Political Science) was named
as the University’s inaugural vice
provost for undergraduate academic affairs, and Timothy Muldoon
’92 has become assistant to Vice
President for University Mission
and Ministry Joseph Appleyard,
SJ, after serving as the first director
of the Church in the 21st Century
Center at BC. Also, Bernd Widdig
has been appointed director of the
Office of International Programs
[see separate stories on page 4].
Maney, formerly professor and
chair of the history department at
the University of South Carolina,
succeeds Joseph Quinn, who returns to the faculty after serving as
A&S dean since 1999.
Discussing Maney’s qualities,
University administrators said that
he had cultivated an impressive
reputation while department chair
at South Carolina, nurturing young
faculty, recruiting and retaining top
scholars, and strengthening the department’s reputation in Southern
and African-American history.’
“I am pleased that Dr. Patrick
Maney is the new dean of the
College of Arts and Sciences,” said
University President William P.
Leahy, SJ. “He is an accomplished
teacher, scholar and administrator,
knows liberal arts education, and is
committed to fostering the Jesuit,
Catholic dimensions of Boston
College.”
Added Provost and Dean of
Faculties Cutberto Garza, “His record of achievement in building a
nationally recognized department
of history, attracting the best in
the field to his department, and
proven commitment to diversity
Continued on page 4
By Sean Smith
Chronicle Editor
START AGAIN—Kaitlin Kramer ’10 had a minor setback as she loaded her belongings on a cart to take to her
room at Walsh Hall, with the help of her brother, Jim and her mother, Barbara Roehl. Freshmen and returning
students alike moved onto campus during Labor Day Weekend. (Photo by Lee Pellegrini)
BC Acquires Boston Archdiocese Land
By Reid Oslin
Staff Writer
Boston College signed an
agreement with the Archdiocese
of Boston on Aug. 22 for the
purchase of an additional 18 acres
of land and several administrative and academic buildings on
the Brighton campus that has
been home to the archdiocese for
nearly a century.
The University will pay $65
million for the property, which
includes the Archdiocesan Chancery Office, Bishop Peterson
Hall, a library used by students at
St. John’s Seminary and a smaller
research library.
In transactions completed in
2004 and 2006, Boston College purchased 46 acres from
the Archdiocese at the Brighton
site bordered by Commonwealth
Avenue, Lake Street and Foster Street. These acquisitions
included the former Cardinal’s
Residence, St. William’s Hall,
St. Clement’s Hall, the former
Tribunal Building, and several
smaller structures.
The Archdiocese of Boston
will retain ownership of St. John’s
Seminary on Lake Street. The
200 employees of the Archdiocese who are employed at the
Chancery offices are expected to
be relocated to an office complex
in Braintree by next summer.
“It’s the final piece of the
puzzle,” said University Vice
President for Governmental and
Community Affairs Thomas Ke-
INSIDE:
New A&S Dean Among
Administrative Changes
The Chancery Office is part of the property Boston College has purchased from the
Archdiocese of Boston. (Photo by Gary Gilbert)
ady, noting that the Archdiocese
had previously agreed to offer the
additional parcels of land to the
University if they decided to sell
them.
Keady says the proposed Boston College School of Theology
and Ministry, which would be
the result of the reaffiliation of
the Weston Jesuit School of Theology and Boston College — a
move that has yet to be finalized
— would be located in Bishop
Peterson Hall, which contains
classroom, academic and office
facilities. BC’s Institute for Religious Education and Pastoral
Ministry also would be part of the
School of Theology and Ministry
(STM).
The Weston School’s 60,000-
Author Jeannette Walls to speak
at First Year Convocation (page 3)
volume collection of books, periodicals, documents and other
materials will be located in the
former St. John’s Library. Students from BC, as well as STM
and St. John’s Seminary, will have
access to the library, although St.
John’s and Weston Jesuit will
retain ownership of their collections.
Plans also include the construction of housing for the Jesuit formation community on the
newly acquired real estate located
on Foster Street.
Keady said that the purchase
of the additional land and structures has delayed the filing of
a master plan with the Boston
Redevelopment Authority for the
Continued on page 5
McMullen Museum puts Pollock
mystery in spotlight (page 5)
A global view of
social work (page 6)
T he B oston C ollege
Chronicle
september 7, 2007
AROUND
CAMPUS
Step off
By now, those in the University community who
regularly traverse the Upper Campus-College Road area
near Beacon Street may have noticed something — or
rather, the lack of something: that flight of stairs leading
down from College Road to the McElroy Commons
parking lot and the Campus Green.
Yes, the stairway is gone for good, and while it may
have been a convenience for pedestrians, more than a
few Facilities Services personnel are quite happy to see
it gone.
“We had those steps there for years — no one seems
to know exactly how long — and they were just a lot
of trouble,” says Associate Vice President for Facilities
Management Michael Dwyer. “They were a slip-andfall hazard during the winter months, even though Carpentry installed friction strips to improve footing.”
Furthermore, he adds, the stairs often served to draw
foot traffic away from the crosswalk at the College
Road-Beacon Street intersection; instead, travelers from
Upper Campus would cut through 36 College Road
(which houses the Presidential Scholars Program Office), then across the street to the stairs.
“It was just an unsightly, as well as unsafe, situation,”
sums up Dwyer.
But this past summer, with the City of Newton doing extensive work on the College Road surface and
sidewalks, University administrators decided the time
was ripe to get rid of the stairs.
“I am sure there will be some complaints because
now it’s not as direct a route from Upper Campus to
the Campus Green,” said Dwyer. “But this was really
a safety issue. And I think people will be able to adjust
walking a little bit farther.”
—SS
BC football player Sulaiman Sanni, a student in the College of Advancing Studies, acknowledges the cheering crowds
during the team’s inaugural “Eagle Walk” before Saturday’s win against Wake Forest. (Photo by Frank Curran)
Walk this way
A new Boston College football
tradition, the “Eagle Walk,” was
inaugurated at Saturday’s opening game against Wake Forest at
Alumni Stadium.
The “Walk” signals the BC
team’s arrival on campus two
hours and 15 minutes prior to
kickoff. Players and coaches – led
by the Eagles’ Marching Band
and cheerleaders – now walk from
Corcoran Commons on Lower
Campus down Campanella
Way and enter Alumni Stadium
through Gate E. Alumni, fans,
students and parents are encouraged to line the route and offer a
rousing cheer for the squad as they
prepare for the game.
“This really gets the kids fired
up,” says Assistant Athletic Director for Football Operations Barry
Gallup, who was instrumental in
launching the event. “We talked
to our captains about doing something special before home games.
They knew that a lot of other
schools do something like this and
they were really excited about it.”
At Notre Dame, the football
team traditionally walks across
campus from the University Basilica to the stadium prior to games,
an event that draws thousands of
adoring fans. At Georgia Tech,
the main thoroughfare leading to
Bobby Dodd Stadium becomes
“Yellow Jacket Alley” as the team
files in for home games.
The “Eagle Walk” will take
place before all home games, ex-
cept those that start at noon. For
noontime games, campus parking
lots do not open until 10 a.m.,
a few minutes after the team has
arrived.
—RO
The Boston College
Chronicle
Director of Public Affairs
Jack Dunn
Deputy Director of
Public AFFAIRS
Patricia Delaney
Editor
Sean Smith
Contributing Staff
Reid Oslin
Rosanne Pellegrini
Kathleen Sullivan
Eileen Woodward
Friendly competition
It wasn’t exactly on a Red SoxYankees level, but a late-summer
softball game between the Admission and University Advancement
offices had a little behind-thescenes intrigue.
The idea for the contest
came from University Advancement staffer Carrie Klemovitch
’01, who while a BC undergraduate volunteered as a tour guide
for Admission. This experience
gave her insight into many facets
of the office — including “The
Beancan,” their informal softball
game each summer against their
counterparts from Boston University. So Klemovitch assembled
15 of her Advancement colleagues
to play her former employers on
Aug. 2.
Associate Director of Admission Christopher O’Brien (who
is in charge of his office’s student
volunteers as well as its softball
team) jokes that Klemovitch made
the challenge because she had indepth familiarity with the Admissions team roster — and because
they had a five-game losing streak
against BU.
But Klemovitch insists her
motives were purely out of
fellowship: “We all work for
the same University, and it’s
very rare to have direct interaction with one another.
I thought this was a great
way to create community and
bring BC employees together
in a different environment
– the softball field.”
As it turned out, Klemovitch and company got the
most out of this interaction,
running up a 9-0 lead in the
first inning. But Admission
— displaying the grit and
determination that allowed
them to process more than
28,000 applications this year
— managed to rally in the middle
innings before falling 21-16.
After the final out, Director
of Admission John Mahoney and
Vice President for University Advancement James Husson praised
one another’s offices for their fine
work and professionalism.
“This was my favorite moment
Photographers
Gary Gilbert
Lee Pellegrini
Admission and University Advancement staff members relax after their epic
— but good-spirited — softball game.
of the game,” says Klemovitch. “It
was just a nice BC moment.”
Klemovitch and O’Brien say
they hope this new tradition of
intradepartmental softball might
catch on throughout BC. Mean-
while, observers wondered if the
two offices might start eyeing David Ortiz or Jonathan Papelbon as
potential employees.
—Submitted by Michael Bohigian, University Advancement
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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at the Office of Public Affairs, 14
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Electronic editions of the Boston
College Chronicle are available via
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www.bc.edu/chronicle.
T he B oston C ollege
Chronicle
september 7, 2007
First Year Convocation
Glass Castle Author Walls to Speak
By Reid Oslin
Staff Writer
Jeannette Walls, an author and
network television reporter who has
vividly portrayed her childhood of
homelessness, family dysfunction
and hopelessness in the best-selling
book The Glass Castle, will be the
keynote speaker at the annual First
Year Academic Convocation to be
held on Sept. 13 at 7 p.m. in Conte
Forum.
The convocation, which is mandatory for all first-year students,
will begin with a traditional academic procession from Linden Lane
through the O’Neill Library plaza
and down to the Conte arena.
Earlier this summer, all incoming students were provided a copy
of The Glass Castle as well as a
pamphlet offering questions and reflections on the meaning of Walls’
memoir.
“The idea of the First Year Convocation, the reading program and
the guest speaker has to do with a
variety of things that are important
to us as we start off our new class,”
said Rev. Joseph Marchese, director
of the University’s First Year Experience program.
“The reading program engages
them in a bit of analysis in terms of
their purposes of coming here and
to recognize that those purposes are
connected to something larger than
themselves.”
Walls’ book poignantly details
her nomadic childhood as her family moved from place to place seeking food, shelter and a normal existence while confronting her father’s
constant battles with alcoholism
and unemployment. The book was
on The New York Times bestseller
list for over six months and is being
adapted as a major motion picture.
Walls was able to overcome the
hardships of her dysfunctional family life, eventually graduating from
Columbia University’s Barnard
University President William P. Leahy, SJ, chats with Center for Retirement Research Director Alicia Munnell and center Associate Director for Administration
Timothy Garufi following Wednesday’s Convocation in Robsham Theater. (Photo by
Lee Pellegrini)
First Year Experience Director Rev. Joseph Marchese calls
Jeannette Walls “a survivor who will...create within us a
sense of how important it is to understand what role our own
homes have had in determining who we presently are.”
College and launching a successful
career as a newspaper and television
reporter and author.
“This year’s book has been recognized as a good contemporary
literary piece speaking about the
problems that we see in the worlds
of homelessness, dysfunctional families, addictions and carelessness,”
said Fr. Marchese. “Jeannette Walls
is the voice of a survivor who will
join us not only to share her story
but also to create within us a sense
of how important it is to understand what role our own homes
have had in determining who we
presently are.
“What we want to do is contextualize the book because the dysfunction and hopelessness that was
so severe in her family I would say
is a rare experience in our student
body. We want to understand how
significant a home is and to broaden
that definition of home to a sense
of belonging and for our students
to understand how important it is
to create in the world a home for
other people who may not have
that home.”
Added Fr. Marchese, “We want
to connect their purposes here at
BC not only with their intellectual striving for excellence but also
with the idea of becoming men and
women for and with others – the
whole Jesuit character of Boston
College.”
Walls joins an illustrious roster
of speakers who have addressed the
convocation since it was introduced
in 2004. Last year, US Sen. John
McCain (R-Ariz.) spoke of his experiences as a prisoner of war in
Vietnam. Previous speakers have
been US Sen. Barack Obama (DIll.), who addressed the issues of
race and identity in America, and
Dr. Paul Farmer, who has provided
medical services to thousands of
impoverished residents in developing countries.
The Sept. 13 convocation is free
and open to the University community.
Carroll School, FYE Cited in US News
The Boston College Carroll
School of Management and the
University’s First Year Experience
fared well in this year’s US News
guide to colleges and universities.
In addition to remaining in
the US News annual survey of top
35 national colleges and universities, BC was included among
the publication’s “Great Schools,
Great Deals” rankings of institutions offering best value.
CSOM was ranked 27th in
the US News list of top business
and management programs, tying
Babson College, Michigan State
and Wake Forest universities, and
the universities of Florida and
Georgia. The University of Pennsylvania Wharton School finished
first, followed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan
School and University of California at Berkeley Haas School. The
rankings were based on surveys of
deans and senior faculty at undergraduate business programs.
BC’s First Year Experience was
included in a list of notable programs and seminars that bring
together small groups of incoming
freshmen with faculty or staff on a
regular basis as a means of easing
students’ transition to college life.
These were cited by education
experts as one of eight program
types — along with internships
and senior capstone programs, for
example — that are identified
with student success, according to
US News.
—Office of Public Affairs
Mass of the Holy Spirit Is Sept. 19
University President William P. Leahy, SJ, will celebrate the
annual Mass of the Holy on Wednesday, Sept. 19, at noon on
O’Neill Plaza.
Prof. Rev. Michael Himes (Theology) will deliver the homily
at the Mass, a tradition at Catholic schools that dates back to
the Middle Ages.
Although celebrated on a Sunday in past years, the Mass of
the Holy Spirit has been moved to a weekday this year to allow
more members of the University community to attend, according to Campus Ministry Director Rev. James Erps, SJ. All noon
classes on Sept. 19 have been canceled.
In the event of rain, the Mass will be held in St. Ignatius
Church.
—Kathleen Sullivan
Strategic, Master Plan
Elements
Are Outlined
Continued from page 1
shootings this past spring.
Fr. Leahy, who spoke first at
spend nearly $3 million during the
next eight years on student forma- Convocation, noted some changes
tion, with a focus on areas such as to the University’s academic and
“enhancement and realignment of administrative leadership, including
undergraduate advising programs the appointment of Patrick Maney
and greater attention to graduate as dean of the College of Arts and
student support in the development Sciences [see page 1]. He also said
of the whole person,” as well as that a search committee is in place
improving students’ residential life to seek a successor to Vice President
for Student Affairs Cheryl Presley;
experiences.
Other initiatives under the stra- Sheilah Shaw Horton will serve as
tegic plan Garza noted include interim VP until the new person is
providing for research on urgent announced, which Fr. Leahy said he
societal problems — such as ad- hoped would be early next year.
Reporting on the University’s
dressing social and emotional needs
of schoolchildren and strengthening acquisition of land from the ArchCatholic education — the devel- diocese of Boston, Fr. Leahy said
opment of an Integrated Science plans are in place for a reaffiliation
Center and supporting leadership in with the Weston Jesuit School of
selected areas of social work, nursing Theology, which would become
part of an envisioned School of
and management.
Keating touched on highlights Theology and Ministry to be loof the University’s proposed master cated at Bishop Peterson Hall on
plan, which will be submitted to the the Brighton Campus.
After a discussion of BC’s fundCity of Boston this fall. Its most imraising outlook
mediate provisions
— he noted
include construcIn seeking to excel, said Fr.
that last year
tion of a replaceLeahy, “we must maintain
the University
ment for McElroy
raised $95 milCommons, Stokes
our distinctive Jesuit, Catholic
lion in cash and
Commons, and
a new academic heritage. It helps differentiate us $123 million in
building for so- from other institutions of higher pledges — Fr.
Leahy said he
cial work, nursing
education and fosters an ethos
found enthuand the humanities, followed by and sense of purpose that other siasm for BC’s
progress among
projects on Lower
schools seek but do not have.”
alumni
and
and Newton camfriends, which
puses.
The University’s acquisition of will prove crucial for future camadditional property from the Arch- paigns.
“I believe we can make great
diocese of Boston [see story on page
1], Keating said, will enable BC to strides in fundraising, given the
broaden its academic, administra- growing number of our alumni,
tive and student activities on the their increasing wealth, and BC’s record of academic achievement and
Brighton Campus.
Keating also discussed some re- of service to the wider community,”
cent and ongoing administrative he said.
“I also know that we must
and infrastructural matters affecting
BC, such as budgetary, financial continue our efforts to provide an
and human resources-related devel- outstanding liberal arts education
opments. He also noted the devel- for our increasingly talented unopment of a University protocol to dergraduate students and build on
deal with suspected hate crimes, and the reputations and excellence of
noted the generally high satisfaction our graduate and professional prowith BC reflected in surveys of staff grams. And in the process of seeking to excel, we must maintain our
and students.
Another recent activity, he said, distinctive Jesuit, Catholic heritage.
has been the formulation of an It helps differentiate us from other
emergency preparedness plan for institutions of higher education and
the campus — a task many colleges fosters an ethos and sense of purand universities have undertaken pose that other schools seek but do
in the wake of the Virginia Tech not have.”
T he B oston C ollege
Chronicle
september 7, 2007
Patrick Maney
including the book “Young Bob” La
Follette: A Biography of Robert M.
La Follette, Jr. 1895-1953. He has
received a number of awards for
his teaching and leadership, among
them the Affirmative Action Administrative Award presented by the
Black Faculty and Staff Association
at the University of South Carolina,
and Tulane’s top award for undergraduate instruction, the Sheldon
Hackney Prize.
Former colleagues praise Maney
for his leadership as well as his
teaching and scholarly work. Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Leon
Litwack, the Alexander F. & May
T. Morrison Professor of American History at the University of
California, Berkeley, said Maney
had helped the University of South
Carolina become one of the preeminent centers of southern history
and culture.
“Aside from being a bold and innovative administrator, Pat Maney
has left his own mark in his scholarly work and in the classroom,”
he said.
Hamilton College President Joan
Hinde Stewart, who previously had
served as dean of the College of
Liberal Arts at South Carolina, said,
“Patrick Maney is a man of integrity, energy and vision, with the
insight and ability not only to envision a shining future, but to work
with all constituencies to formulate
and bring to fruition plans that are
at once ambitious and realizable.”
—Patricia Delaney
Muldoon Joins Mission and Ministry
As recently appointed assistant
to Vice President for University
Mission and Ministry Joseph Appleyard, SJ, Timothy Muldoon
’92 will be involved in developing the content of programs for
administrative staff and faculty
focusing on the Jesuit and Catholic dimensions of the University’s
mission.
Muldoon — who was the inaugural director of Boston College’s Church in the 21st Century
Center when it opened in 2004
— also will teach courses on Ignatian spirituality in the College
of Arts and Sciences Honors Program, and work with Campus
Ministry and Intersections to plan
an Ignatian leadership program
for undergraduates.
In addition, Muldoon will
develop an online journal about
faith and contemporary issues for
undergraduates and young adults.
“I’m delighted that Tim will
be working with me,” said Fr.
Appleyard. “His theological background, his experience working
with young adults, and his ability
to communicate about faith issues
are resources that will be very useful for the programs that we are
developing.”
As director of the C21 Center
— an outgrowth of a BC initiative to assist the Catholic Church
in exploring issues emerging from
the clerical sex abuse crisis and the
course for renewal — Muldoon
helped organize events, activities
and programs to further the C21
mission. One popular example was
“Agape Latte,” a series of informal
discussions on faith and spirituality for undergraduates with BC
administrators and faculty.
—Office of Public Affairs
Hafner Takes Undergraduate Affairs Post
Prof. Donald Hafner (Political
lives of our undergraduates,” said
Science), who has played a key
Garza.
role in building Boston College’s
Hafner said, “It’s a little dauntsuccessful fellowships program,
ing, but I am looking forward to
assumed his new position as the
the job. There are a number of
University’s inaugural vice profine ambitions BC has set out for
vost for undergraduate academic
itself in the forthcoming strategic
affairs on July 1.
plan, and I hope to contribute
Announcing the appointment,
when and wherever possible in
Provost and Dean of Faculties
this new role.”
Cutberto Garza praised Hafner’s
As vice provost, Hafner will
academic and administrative talserve as a liaison of the Office of
ents, notably his tenure as directhe Provost to — and help protor of the Fellowships Commitvide support for — undergradutee — a period that has seen BC
ate academics and student life at
mark the awarding of its first two
BC. “Obviously, the focus for me
Rhodes Scholars and numerous
will be more on the academic side
prestigious fellowships, including
of things, since our very capable
a record 21 Fulbrights
Student Affairs division
this past year.
is well-equipped to fulfill
“Don has been instruBC’s student life and stuHafner says he plans to continue
mental in preparing many
dent formation mission,”
his involvement in the University’s
talented BC students for
he said.
national and internation“But since academics,
highly successful fellowships program:
al competitive trials that
student life and formation
“I am devoted to helping students
have led to our students
are of paramount concern
winning stellar underto all of us at BC, I will
pursue these valuable opportunities,
graduate fellowships,”
certainly be taking part in
and very much want to ensure BC
said Garza.
the conversation.”
Hafner is also an asHafner said he expects
continues its forward progress.”
sociate director of the
to continue his involveCenter for Human Rights
ment with the Fellowships
negotiating with the Soviet Union
and International Justice,
Committee. “I am devoted
Garza noted, and a highly re- on strategic nuclear weapons and to helping students pursue these
spected scholar in international weapons in outer space.
valuable opportunities, and very
“I expect that these professional much want to ensure BC continpolitics, American foreign policy,
national security and arms con- experiences will serve Boston Col- ues its forward progress. In fact,
trol policy, who served with the lege exceedingly well as we navi- I hope that this new position as
US Arms Control and Disarma- gate the many trans-departmental vice provost will provide me with
ment Agency during the Carter and college policies, programs, etc., a perspective that could enhance
Administration, where he was an that define our undergraduate pro- the committee’s work.”
adviser with the US delegations grams and otherwise influence the
—Office of Public Affairs
Lee Pellegrini
Continued from page 1
and undergraduate education, no
doubt will serve the College of Arts
and Sciences very well.
“His enthusiasm for our Jesuit heritage is another strength he
brings to us,” Garza added. “I have
no doubt that our faculty will share
the search committee’s enthusiasm
for him.”
Vice President and Special Assistant to the President William B.
Neenan, SJ, who led the national
search for the position, noted the
breadth of Maney’s tenure in higher
education. “Patrick Maney brings
to the important position of dean of
A&S years of academic experience
— first as a professor at Tulane
University and more recently as a
successful academic leader at the
University of South Carolina.”
“I’m honored, and humbled,
by my appointment as dean,” said
Maney. “Boston College ranks
among the top national universities
in America and is committed to an
educational experience that seeks to
integrate classroom learning, service activities and spiritual-moral
growth.
“Higher education is in a state of
profound change today, rethinking
how best to educate students for the
21st century,” Maney added. “For
me a big allure about coming here
is the leadership role BC will surely
play in this process. I’m looking
forward to that challenge.”
A Wisconsin native, Maney
holds a bachelor’s degree from
Wisconsin State University-Stevens
Point and a PhD from the University of Maryland. During the late
1970s, he worked in the Wisconsin
State Senate managing the office
of the Senate majority leader. He
joined the history department of
Tulane University in 1980 as an assistant professor, rising to the rank
of full professor and chair. In 1998,
he was named professor and chair
of the history department at South
Carolina.
Maney has served as a commentator on historical subjects for
National Public Radio and Wisconsin Public Television, and is the
author of numerous publications,
Gary Gilbert
Maney Is A&S Dean
Widdig to Direct International Programs
Bernd Widdig, who helped
develop the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s cornerstone
program for international education, has been appointed director
of the Boston College Office of
International Programs.
Widdig’s appointment coincides with a change in name for
BC’s study-abroad administrative hub, which had been known
as the Center for International
Partnerships and Programs.
The new name, said Widdig,
“highlights our central focus on
BC’s 8,900-9,000 undergraduate
students and their educational
experience abroad.”
Widdig was a co-founder
and later associate director of
the MIT International Science
and Technology Initiative, which
offers study and internship opportunities as well as short-term
workshops and language courses
abroad for MIT students, and
funding for collaborative research
between MIT faculty and international colleagues.
He also founded and directed
the MIT-Germany Program,
which works with about 30 of the
most successful German companies and research institutes.
Widdig attended the University of Bonn, where he studied
Lee Pellegrini
Students, says Widdig,
“realize that we have a
social responsibility in
the midst of the dynamics
of globalization.”
political science, sociology and
German literature. He came to
MIT in 1989 after finishing his
doctorate at Stanford University, and was a faculty member
in German Studies. A researcher
on 20th-century German culture,
Widdig is the author of Culture
and Inflation in Weimar Germany,
which investigates the cultural dimensions and representations of
the German hyperinflation in the
early 1920s.
In a letter of introduction to
the University community, Widdig praised BC students for their
interest in international study
experiences. “[They] realize that
we need to understand the great
global challenges that we all face,
that we have a social responsibility in the midst of the dynamics
of globalization, that we need to
respect and have an intellectual
curiosity for other cultures and
people different from ourselves.
“These values and goals are
deeply rooted in the Jesuit educational tradition, which has always
insisted on a global perspective.
These values and goals are also
central to the cutting-edge liberal
arts education for the 21st century that Boston College offers.”
He also lauded the Office
of International Programs staff,
whose “expertise and experience
are an invaluable resource here
on campus.”
Widdig said he looked forward
to working with the University’s
faculty, administrators and staff,
and to cultivating a relationship
with BC students and their parents, as well as BC alumni and
supporters.
—Office of Public Affairs
T he B oston C ollege
Chronicle
september 7, 2007
McMullen Museum’s ‘Pollock Matters’
Exhibition Explores Artistic Mystery
By Office of
Public Affairs Staff
The McMullen Museum of
Art at Boston College presents a
groundbreaking exhibition, “Pollock Matters,” on view through
Dec. 9, that explores — for the
first time — the personal and artistic relationship between famed
American Abstract Expressionist
painter Jackson Pollock and noted Swiss-born photographer and
graphic designer Herbert Matter.
“Pollock Matters” reveals the
aesthetic connections between
Pollock and Matter, and the crucial role Matter’s technical innovations played in helping stimulate
Pollock’s radical artistic conception of “energy made visible.”
Guest curated by Ellen G.
Landau, Mellon Professor of the
Humanities at Case Western
Reserve University, in collaboration with Prof. Claude Cernuschi
(Fine Arts), “Pollock Matters” has
been organized by the McMullen
Museum and is underwritten by
Boston College with major support from William and Katherine
McLaughlin and the Patrons of
the McMullen Museum.
“Boston College is uniquely
suited to present this scholarly
exhibition, which draws on the
resources of our University as well
as scholars from other institutions,” according to McMullen
Museum Director Prof. Nancy
Netzer (Fine Arts). “We view the
artistic relationship between Pollock and Matter as an important
interdisciplinary research project
and a significant teaching opportunity.”
This exhibition also debuts to
the public more than 20 recently
discovered experimental works
found in 2002 by Matter’s son
in a storage facility belonging to
his late father. The paintings
— although identified as “Jackson experimental works” by an
inscription in Herbert Matter’s
hand — have been the subject of
controversy, scientific study and
scholarly analysis, and have generated significant media attention.
“Part of the McMullen exhibition is devoted to ‘the state of the
question’ of the recently discov-
ered paintings; it brings together
and presents to the public the
known evidence concerning the
attribution of the newly discovered works,” Netzer says. “We
hope that the exhibition encourages dialogue and further research
by art historians and scientists
who will now recognize Matter’s
artistic impact on Pollock and
view the mysterious suite of works
found in his estate for the first
time.”
Netzer describes the exhibition
as “a fresh examination of Jackson
Pollock. The controversial, recently discovered paintings have provided a catalyst for new research
on his artistic and philosophical
sources in connection with his
already known body of work.
“In both the exhibition and a
diverse group of catalogue essays,
we present this emerging scholarship—the work of humanists and
scientists at our institution and
others, including data of analyses
of paints on the disputed works
and discussion of scale as well as
the role of fingerprint and fractal
analysis in determining Pollock
“We view the
artistic relationship
between Pollock and
Matter as an important interdisciplinary
research project and
a significant teaching
opportunity.”
—Nancy Netzer
Herbert Matter, “Mercedes in Motion,” c. 1939
BC Aquires
Additional
Property
Continued from page 1
entire parcel’s future use. “We
had originally planned to file the
master plan in June, but with the
anticipated sale of the property
to Boston College we made the
decision to wait because now we
have to rezone that property for
institutional use.”
The Boston College long-term
vision plan, which has previously
been made public, includes the
renovation of the former Cardinal’s Residence as a conference
center; the continued use of various existing buildings as academic
and office spaces, and the proposed construction of baseball,
softball and intramural playing
fields, a tennis center, graduate
and undergraduate housing and
parking facilities.
“This is the first plan in the city
of Boston where an institution has
shown its long-term plan to the
community before filing the mas-
“Untitled No. 22,” one of the works on display in the “Pollock Matters” exhibition.
authenticity.”
According to Netzer, in preparing for this exhibition, the scholars involved discovered new art by
all four protagonists: Pollock and
Matter, and their wives, painters
Lee Krasner and Mercedes Matter.
“These kinds of discoveries are
products — some might more
accurately be categorized as byproducts — of the scholarly process, and the McMullen Museum
is pleased to present this new material to the public,” she adds.
“In addition to presenting
groundbreaking research on the
artistic relationship among the
four artists, ‘Pollock Matters’ is
an interdisciplinary attempt to examine the intellectual problems
posed by the newly discovered
paintings.
“The results of the latter research, bringing new approaches
to bear on Pollock’s work, are laid
out in the accompanying catalogue. The evidence — which
points in different directions
— leaves researchers with a conundrum, a mystery that may or
may not be solved with further
research.”
“Pollock Matters” comprises
more than 170 works, including paintings, drawings, sculpture,
works on paper and other documentation. It compares Matter’s
experimental abstract photos with
known works by Pollock, and
highlights their significant stylistic, technical and thematic connections.
The exhibition is accompanied
by a fully illustrated scholarly catalogue published by the McMullen
Museum. It includes essays by
Landau, as well as by Cernuschi
and Boston College physicist Andrzej Herczynski, who have collaborated on the role of scale in
Jackson Pollock’s working process
and on the issues raised by the
discovery of fractal patterns in
Pollock’s work.
Exhibition tours will be given
every Sunday at 12:30 p.m.
For more information, see the
McMullen Museum Web site,
www.bc.edu/artmuseum, or call
ext.2-8100.
BC Retirement Center to
Study State, Local Pensions
The Creagh Research Library. (Photo by Gary Gilbert)
ter plan,” Keady said. “Neighbors
have said what they like and what
they don’t like. We have taken
their comments back and we are
now working on our formal submission to the BRA.”
Keady said several University
administrative offices have already
moved into existing office space
on the Brighton campus and the
University Advancement and
business offices are expected to
move from More Hall into St.
William’s Hall and the Chancery building sometime next year.
Plans call for More Hall to be
razed and a future dormitory built
on the site.
In addition, Keady said a former gymnasium on the Brighton
campus is being renovated as a
student rehearsal space and was
completed this month.
The Center for Retirement
Research at Boston College will
launch a study of state and local
pension plans, under a $1.5 million grant by the newly created
Center for State and Local Government Excellence (CSLGE).
The two-year initiative will
establish a data clearinghouse
on state and local pension plans
and explore their funding status
and economic impact. Although
state and local plans cover about
10 percent of the workforce and
hold more than 20 percent of
the nation’s total pension assets,
according to the CSLGE, to date
research and data collection have
been limited and fragmentary.
“We are delighted to be working with the new Center for Excellence in State and Local Government,” said CRR Director Alicia
H. Munnell, who is the Drucker
Professor of Management Sciences at BC.
“Our program of research and
data collection will be tailored
to the unique circumstances of
public sector employers and employees. By supporting this effort,
the center will set the stage for a
national research agenda that will
benefit policymakers, plan participants, and the public.”
The mission of the CSLGE,
formed through initial funding from the ICMA Retirement
Corp., is to help state and local
governments become competitive
employers so they attract and retain a talented, innovative and
committed workforce.
The announcement of the
study comes, as CSLGE noted, at
a time when more than 60 percent
of state and local employees are
over age 40, and two-thirds of
knowledge workers are eligible to
retire in the next 10 years. Decision makers need high quality
data and a better understanding of
the competitive environment they
face, including complex retirement security issues, so they can
attract and retain skilled workers,
according to CSLGE.
—Office of Public Affairs
T he B oston C ollege
Chronicle
september 7, 2007
Postings
BC Law’s Kanstroom, Times’
Preston to discuss immigration
Deportation and immigration issues in the United States will be the
topic of a discussion presented Sept.
12 by Boston College Law School
International Human Rights Program
Director Daniel Kanstroom and New
York Times national correspondent
Julia Preston.
The event, “Nation of Immigrants or
Deportation Nation?,” will take place
at 4 p.m. in Room 115A of the Law
School.
Kanstroom is author of the recently
published Deportation Nation: Outsiders in American History and is
founder and director of the Boston
College Immigration and Asylum
Clinic. Preston was a member of The
New York Times staff that won the
1998 Pulitzer Prize for reporting on
international affairs for its series that
profiled the corrosive effects of drug
corruption in Mexico.
For more information, call ext.21968 or send e-mail to jane.vecchi.1@bc.edu.
Volunteer and Service Learning
Center fair Sept. 12
Members of the University community will have an opportunity to find
out about the services and programs
provided by the Boston College Volunteer and Service Learning Center
at 7 p.m. on Sept. 12 in Lyons Dining
Hall.
The center’s responsibilities include
assisting students, staff and faculty
who are seeking opportunities to
serve in the greater Boston area,
creating a network between existing
student service and immersion organizations, and helping departments in
their efforts to offer safe, high quality experiences for those who want
to serve others.
Call ext.2-1317 or e-mail volunteer@bc.edu for more information.
Read Aloud deadline is Sept. 14
Boston College employees interested in participating in the Read Aloud
Program, which sends volunteers to
read to local schoolchildren, must
register by the end of Sept. 14.
Participants in Read Aloud are
divided into teams and assigned to
a particular class at the Mary Lyon,
James Garfield or St. Columbkille
elementary schools in Brighton.
The time commitment is one hour a
month, approximately noon-1 p.m.
Volunteers also must attend a onehour training session on Sept. 18.
For more information on Read
Aloud, contact the Office of Governmental and Community Affairs at
ext.2-4787 or e-mail laura.bitran@
bc.edu.
BC Art Club welcomes faculty,
staff submissions
The Boston College Art Club invites
all Boston College faculty and staff
to submit their artwork to the fourthth
annual Boston College Faculty and
Staff Exhibition, which will begin
with an opening reception Sept. 27
from 5:30-8 p.m. in the Bapst Library
Student Art Gallery.
Requests for submissions should
be e-mailed to kamandul@bc.edu
by Friday Sept. 14, and all artwork
must be ready for drop-off during
the week of Sept. 17 –21. Requests
must include: title of piece, medium
and materials used, dimensions, date
completed and the artists’s job title,
position and department at BC.
For more information, contact Lois
Kamandulis at (407)802-9383 or kamandul@bc.edu.
An Eye on the World of Social Work
Major symposium
offers insight to Shen
and GSSW students
“The conference
provided me with
a sense of purpose
and solidarity with
hundreds of people
from around the
world,” says GSSW
student Desiree
Sanchez (in photo
with Asst. Prof.
Ce Shen, who cochaired the event).
By Sean Smith
Chronicle Editor
A major international event cosponsored this summer by the
Graduate School of Social Work
offered a look at the new, increasingly global face of social work.
The 15th International Consortium for Social Development
(ICSD) Symposium, co-chaired
by GSSW faculty member Asst.
Prof. Ce Shen, brought more than
600 social work professionals,
practitioners and scholars from
more than 40 countries — both
record numbers for the event, according to Shen — to Hong Kong
to discuss issues such as environmental dangers, HIV/AIDS, corporate responsibility, health care,
child labor and international aid.
These and other topics covered at the ICSD event reflect
social work’s broadening focus,
and a widespread recognition that
local concerns often have an international dimension, according
to Shen, who was accompanied
to Hong Kong by seven GSSW
students.
“Social work is expanding as a
profession and a discipline. Those
who practice and teach social work
have come to realize that many of
the problems we encounter are
global, and so the solutions must
be global.
“By the same token, it has
become clear that social work has
much to offer in confronting issues that are of great concern
across the globe, such as HIV/
AIDS, the abuse of children, or
the social impact of economic
inequality.
“These are matters of special
relevance to Boston College, as a
Jesuit university with a strong interest in social justice,” he added.
From a professional and academic standpoint, co-sponsoring
a symposium of this nature represented a great opportunity for
GSSW, as a school that has implemented a greater international
perspective in its curriculums,
programs and research, Shen says.
“The talent, knowledge and
experience represented at the symposium was very impressive,” said
Shen, who notes that more than
400 abstracts submitted to the
event, a record number for ICSD
— an organization of practitioners, scholars and students in the
human services that serves as a
clearinghouse for information on
international social development.
“It’s very important for GSSW
to be associated with events of this
magnitude, which can have such
an impact on international social
work.”
The GSSW students who attended the symposium also had
the chance to visit human and
social services professionals and
organizations in Hong Kong and
elsewhere in China.
“The conference provided me
with a sense of purpose and solidarity with hundreds of people
from around the world,” said Desiree Sanchez, who toured an after
school program in Hong Kong’s
poorest area. “To know that so
many are not only aware of the injustices and struggles of people all
over the world, but are attempting
to find solutions, live in solidarity
and work to alleviate the injustices
is inspiring. It reaffirmed my decision to go into social work.”
For Shen, meanwhile, the
ICSD event represented the lat-
est in a series of return visits to
his native country — something
he’d never imagined when he left
China two decades ago, he says,
after he and his family had endured government persecution for
their religious beliefs during the
1950s and ’60s.
“I honestly did not think I
would want to come back to China, but now that I have, I can see
it has undergone some significant
positive changes. It is in the midst
of one of the most tremendous social, economic and political transformations of our time.
“But clearly, China is also
struggling with many problems.
Besides questions over human
rights, there are others relating to
the environment, unemployment
and inequality. So this symposium, through the exchange of
ideas and views on matters that
relate to social justice, will help to
move China forward.”
BC Study Finds State’s Giving Patterns ‘Complex’
High-income Massachusetts
residents give more than twice
the average given by comparable
households nationwide, according
to two Boston College researchers,
but middle- and lower- income
residents here, burdened by the
high cost of living in the Commonwealth, give less than their
peers elsewhere in the country.
And when area residents give, they
give far more to secular causes
than to religious institutions.
Those were among the findings in a study recently conducted
by Center on Wealth and Philanthropy Director Prof. Paul
Schervish (Sociology) and Senior
Associate Director John Havens.
The report contains extensive data
about Greater Boston and Massachusetts with regard to wealth and
giving, and includes comparative
information from other states and
urban areas.
The result is a first-ever truly
national context for charitable giving as well as a foundation for
other areas that choose to explore
local levels of giving.
“Philanthropy is especially im-
portant in Massachusetts because
of the scale and significance of
our nonprofit sector,” said Paul
S. Grogan, president and CEO
of the Boston Foundation, which
funded the report. “For years we
have operated on hunch and anecdotal evidence, but this report for
the first time puts the subject on a
credible, factual basis.”
Findings from the study indicate that, while giving is evenly
split between religious and secular
giving at the national level, New
England is one of the few places
in the country where giving favors
secular causes.
In addition, the study found
that wealthy householders in Massachusetts donate more to charity than their counterparts, except
in New Jersey, Connecticut and
New York.
In Boston and Massachusetts,
meanwhile, households headed by
African Americans give the largest
percentage of their incomes to
charity, compared to other races.
This community also stands apart
because members are more likely
to make their contributions to
religious organizations.
“This story is both simple and
complex,” said Schervish. “Most
giving is made by those with the
most to give. On the other hand,
the research makes it clear that the
idea of summing up entire states
with a charitable giving identity
runs counter to reality. States are
hugely complex entities, with different economic climates and different ethnic characters in differ-
ent places.
“There are interesting and useful things to be said about the pattern of giving in Massachusetts,
and this report was designed to
encourage other parts of the country to follow up with further close
readings in their neighborhoods.”
For more information on the
Center for Wealth and Philanthropy, see www.bc.edu/cwp.
—Office of Public Affairs
Affiliates Program Seeks Candidates
The Boston College University Affiliates Program, which
helps prepare AHANA employees for potential leadership positions at BC, is seeking candidates for the 2007-08 academic
year.
Mentored by a team of senior University administrators,
University Affiliates learn about the methods used to address
strategic issues in higher education. Through regular meetings with mentors as well as special presentations and other
events during the academic year, participants can deepen their
knowledge of the University and strengthen their viability for
promotion.
Completed applications must be received by Oct. 12. For
details on eligibility and application requirements, see www.
bc.edu/offices/diversity/programs/affiliates/ or e-mail hollowas@bc.edu.
T he B oston C ollege
Chronicle
september 7, 2007
PEOPLE
NOTE: Some entries e-mailed to
“People” from late May to late
August may be missing. If you submitted an item during that period,
you may wish to re-send it to people.
chronicle@bc.edu.
Newsmakers
•An essay by Flatley Professor of
Catholic Theology Rev. David
Hollenbach, SJ, director of the
Center for Human Rights and
International Justice, on the grassroots church-based initiatives that
have helped troubled Colombia
become a school for peace was
published in The Tablet.
•Assoc. Prof. Dennis Hale (Political Science) was quoted by the
Boston Globe “Globe West” regarding the city of Marlborough’s
efforts to retain control in the face
of rapid growth.
•Lynch School of Education Dean
Rev. Joseph O’Keefe, SJ, spoke
with the Boston Globe regarding a
turnaround for Matignon Catholic High School in Cambridge.
•An essay by Adj. Asst. Prof. Paul
McNellis, SJ (Philosophy), on the
saga of “Baghdad Diarist” Pvt.
Scott Beauchamp, military honor
and modern journalism was published by Real Clear Politics.
•Prof. Robert Bloom (Law) offered remarks to the Boston Herald
for a story on a $101-million
wrongful conviction judgment in
a decades-old local murder case.
•Cawthorne Millennium Profes-
sor of Education Marilyn Cochran-Smith spoke with Channel
News Asia about Singapore’s National Institute of Education as a
teacher-training center.
•Prof. Robert Meyerhoff (Mathematics) was among a trio of
US and Australian academics who
proved that the “Weeks manifold”
is indeed the smallest possible
hyperbolic space. Their research
was featured by Science magazine
in July.
•University Historian Thomas
O’Connor discussed the history of the City of Boston’s water
fountains for an article in the
Boston Globe.
•Prof. Solomon Friedberg (Mathematics) was interviewed by the
Christian Science Monitor on the
need for graduate students to be
good teachers as well as researchers.
•The Chicago Tribune published
an op-ed by Assoc. Prof. Zine
Magubane (Sociology) on how
celebrity charity efforts may send
the wrong message about Africans.
•Connell School on Nursing
Continuing Education Director
Jean Weyman was quoted by the
Boston Herald regarding the aging
of the US nursing workforce, and
professionals working longer to
fill the void.
•Asst. Prof. Mary-Rose Papandrea’s (Law) views on shield laws
for bloggers and other citizen
Nota Bene
Drucker Professor of Management Sciences Alicia Munnell was
named the recipient of the 2007 International INA Prize for Insurance
Sciences by the Italian Accademia Nazionale Dei Lincei in Rome.
The prize is awarded each year to an Italian or foreign scholar who
has completed distinguished research in the field of insurance. Munnell
is director of Boston College’s Center for Retirement Research and is
considered one of the nation’s leading experts in Social Security and
retirement funding.
The Accademia is a prestigious Italian science academy founded in
1603. Its members have included Galileo, Niels Bohn and Max Planck,
among others.
Boston College’s “EagleEyes” project is the winner of a da Vinci
Award from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society Michigan Chapter
“honoring exceptional design and engineering achievements and universal design that empowers people of all ages.”
EagleEyes is a computer-based program which allows the severely
disabled to control a computer with the blink of an eye using technology developed at BC. EagleEyes systems are provided free to disabled
persons through a partnership between Boston College and the Opportunity Foundation of America.
The da Vinci Award will be accepted by Egan Professor James Gips,
director of the EagleEyes Project, at a dinner on Sept. 28 in Dearborn,
Mich.
Earlier this summer, graduating senior David Saunders was confirmed as Boston College’s 21st Fulbright recipient of 2007. Saunders,
a native of Hastings, Minn., had been one of four BC students named
as Fulbright alternates. His project entails travel to Nepal, where he
will research pluralistic healing mo­dalities, specifically TB and other
infectious diseases in the neighborhood of Boudha and the surrounding
Kathmandu area.
journalists were cited by Consumer Affairs.
•Center for Work & Family Executive Director Brad Harrington
was featured in the Fox News
report “Have a Life and a Career,”
discussing options for balancing
work and family responsibilities.
Publications
•Adj. Prof. Nadia Smith (History) published Dorothy Macardle:
A Life.
•Physics Department faculty
members Prof. Ziqiang Wang and
Assoc. Prof. Hong Ding co-authored the paper “Angle-resolved
photoemission spectroscopy study
on the Fermi surface topology of
NaxCoO2,” which appeared in
Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter.
•Assoc. Prof. Charles Morris
(Communication)
published
Queering Public Address.
Grants
(Biology): $264,537, National
Institutes of Health, “Nuclear
Import Pathways for HPV Macromolecules.”
Honors/Appointments
•Asst. Prof. Willie Padilla (Physics) was one of 33 recipients of
awards from The Office of Naval
Research Young Investigator Program, which supports academic
scientists and engineers who have
received doctorates or equivalent
degrees within the last five years
and who show exceptional promise for doing creative research.
Time and a Half
•Part-time faculty member Ralf
Gawlick’s (Music) composition
“Ich schreite kaum” for orchestra
was commissioned and premiered
by Kirk Trevor and the Missouri
Symphony Orchestra. Gawlick,
his wife Barbara and three of their
vocal students toured Poland this
summer and gave several performances, including selections
of the children’s opera “Brundibar” in Terezin, site of the former
•Assoc. Prof. Junona Moroianu
Fr. Anderson, a Scholar of
Faith and Science, Dies
Assoc. Prof. Ronald Anderson, SJ (Philosophy), a scholar
whose research interests combined facets of religion and science, died during the weekend
of June 2-3. He was 57.
Fr. Anderson joined the Boston College faculty as an assistant professor in 1987, after
serving as a lecturer during the
spring of 1985. He was promoted to associate professor in
1993.
At BC, he taught such courses as Philosophy of Physics: An
Introduction to its Themes,
Science and Religion: Shifting
Boundaries, Changing Contexts
and God and Science: Developing Spiritualities for the 21st
Century. He published articles
in Physical Review, Journal of
Physics and Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science,
among other publications, and
contributed to such volumes as
Jesuit Postmodern: Scholarship,
Vocation, and Identity in the 21st
Century.
Colleagues recalled Fr. Anderson as a dedicated teacher
and mentor who pursued diverse interests, as evidenced by
his doctorates in philosophy and
physics from, respectively, Boston University and the University of Melbourne, as well as a
master’s of divinity degree from
the Weston School of Theology.
“Ron was a rare person who
was equally at ease in the disciplines of religion and science,”
said Rev. Francis Clooney, SJ, a
former member of the Theology
Department faculty residing in
the University’s Jesuit Community who knew Fr. Anderson for
20 years. “He could do the ‘hard
numbers,’ yet he also was active
in archival work tracing the development of science.”
Even as he tended to pastoral duties and other aspects of
Jesuit priesthood, Fr. Clooney
noted, Fr. Anderson had made a
serious exploration of Buddhist
philosophy.
“Ron was knowledgeable in
so many ways. He had a great
range of gifts and put them to
very good use,” said Fr. Clooney.
University Vice President for
Mission and Ministry Joseph
Appleyard, SJ, described Fr. Anderson as an “intellectually restless person” who was devoted to
his students and also found time
to maintain the Jesuit Community’s Web site.
Born in Hokitika, New Zealand, Fr. Anderson entered the
Society of Jesus on Feb 24, 1974,
and was ordained on Sept. 1,
1984. Fr. Anderson was the son
of the late Gideon and Nance
Anderson and brother of the late
Len Anderson. He is survived
by a brother, Gideon, of New
Zealand.
Following a June 11 funeral
Mass in St. Mary’s Chapel, Fr.
Anderson was buried at the Jesuit Cemetery at Campion Center
in Weston.
World War Two concentration
camp near Prague.
Deaths
•Herbert Goldberg PhD’87, former field instructor at the Graduate School of Social Work (Aug.
27).
•Rev. Paul J. Nelligan, SJ, assistant archivist at Boston College
from 1982-88 (July 24).
C21 Books
Earn Awards
Two books from a series
based on Boston College’s
Church in the 21st Century
initiative were honored in the
annual awards presented by the
Catholic Press Association.
Sexuality and the US Catholic
Church, edited by BC Law Dean
John Garvey, Monan Professor
of Theology Lisa Sowle Cahill
and Jesuit Institute Director T.
Frank Kennedy, SJ, was awarded first place in the Catholic
Press Association’s Gender Issues category, with an honorable mention in the category of
Theology.
Handing on the Faith: The
Church’s Mission and Challenge,
edited by Assoc. Prof. Rev. Robert Imbelli, (Theology), earned
third place in the Educational
Books category.
The books were among four
volumes released during the
past year as part of the Church
in the 21st Century series. Entries in this series are based on
conferences hosted through the
Church in the 21st Century
initiative, which explored issues
and problems highlighted by the
Catholic Church sexual abuse
scandal.
For more information, see
the Church in the 21st Century Web site at www.bc.edu/
church21.
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/
Technology Consultant
Data Manager/Analyst, Lynch
School of Education
Administrative Officer, Lynch
School of Education
Administrative Assistant, Law
School - Alumni and Development
Database Specialist, Carroll
School of Management, Center
for Corporate Citizenship
HRSC Representative, Human
Resources Service Center
Academic Counselor, Learning
Resources for Student Athletes
T he B oston C ollege
Chronicle
september 7, 2007
LOOKING AHEAD
READINGS • LECTURES •
DISCUSSION
Cushing 001. E-mail friedber@
bc.edu.
September 12
•“Nation of Immigrants or Deportation Nation?” with Law School
International Human Rights Program Director Daniel Kanstroom
and New York Times national
correspondent Julia Preston, 4
p.m., Law School 115A. Call
ext.2-1968, e-mail jane.vecchi.1@
bc.edu.
September 19
•Workshop: “Spiritual Nourishment in Parish Ministry,” 2-4
p.m., 66 Commonwealth Avenue,
weekly through Oct. 18. Call ext.28057, e-mail lambmb@bc.edu, or
see www.bc.edu/irepmce.
September 13
•Workshop: “Spiritual Nourishment in Parish Ministry,” weekly
through Oct. 18, 2-4 p.m., 66
Commonwealth Avenue. Call
ext.2-8057, e-mail lambmb@
bc.edu.
•“Conversations in the First Year:
2007 Academic Convocation,”
with guest speaker Jeannette
Walls, 7 p.m., Conte Forum. Call
ext.2-3281, e-mail bcfye@bc.edu.
September 14
•“Uplift Versus Buzzsaws: Topographic Evolution of the Cascade
Range, Washington State” with
Sara Gran Mitchell, 4 p.m., Devlin 307. Call ext.2-0839, e-mail
noah.snyder@bc.edu.
•“Socrates and the Eleatic Stranger: An Introduction to Plato’s
Sophist,” with David Bolotin,
Saint John’s College, 4:05 p.m.,
McGuinn 121. Call ext.2-4144,
e-mail geesh@bc.edu.
September 15
•Workshop: “Parish Development:
Fundraising for Parish Leadership,” 9 a.m.-3 p.m., McGuinn
Third Floor Lounge. Call ext.28057, e-mail lambmb@bc.edu, or
see www.bc.edu/irepmce.
September 18
•“What Does Terrorism Really
Look Like?,” with Diane Covert
and Avi Goldberg, MD, 8 p.m.,
UPLIFTING EXPERIENCE
September 20
•Workshop: “The Priest as Collaborative Minister,” 5-8 p.m., Gasson 100. Call ext.2-8057, e-mail
lambmb@bc.edu, or see www.
bc.edu/irepmce.
September 24
•“Lectura Dantis: Purgatorio
XXII,” public reading series of
Dante’s Divine Comedy, 7:30
p.m., Devlin 101. Call ext.2-8269,
e-mail shephardl@bc.edu, or see
www.bc.edu/schools/cas/honors/
bcdante.html.
MUSIC • ART • PERFORMANCE
September 12
•Brendan Begley and Caoimhín
Ó Raghallaigh perform traditional
Irish music, 7 p.m., Connolly
House. Call ext.2-3938, e-mail
irish@bc.edu or see www.bc.edu/
irish.
September 18
•“Music in the Afternoon” presents Giogio Carducci (tenor) performing music of the early Italian
Baroque, 4:15 p.m., Gasson 100.
Call ext.2-6004, e-mail concerts@
bc.edu or see www.bc.edu/music.
September 20
•Jim Malcolm (guitar, vocals) performs Scottish folk music, 7 p.m.,
Connolly House. Call ext.2-3938,
e-mail irish@bc.edu or see www.
bc.edu/irish.
September 25
•Master class with singer-songwriter Craig Finn ’93, 7:30 p.m.,
Lyons Dining Hall. Call ext.26343, e-mail soyerd@bc.edu.
September 26
•Performance by BC bOp!, 5:30
p.m., Corcoran Commons. Call
ext.2-6004, e-mail concerts@
bc.edu or see www.bc.edu/music.
UNIVERSITY EVENTS
September 19
•Annual Mass of the Holy Spirit,
noon, O’Neill Plaza (rain location:
St. Ignatius Church). E-mail ministry@bc.edu.
ONGOING EXHIBITIONS
•“...something to measure from,”
British Catholic Authors Collection, Burns Library, through
Sept. 14. Call ext.2-3282, e-mail
horndb@bc.edu or see www.
bc.edu/libraries/centers/burns/.
•“Somewhere A Voice is Calling:
American Irish Musical Interpreters, 1850 - 1975,” O’Neill Library
Lobby, through Oct. 26. E-mail
sweeneec@bc.edu.
•“Pollock Matters,” McMullen Museum of Art, through
Dec. 7. Call ext.2-8100, e-mail
artmusm@bc.edu or see www.
bc.edu/artmuseum.
WEEKLY MASSES
• St. Joseph Chapel (Gonzaga Hall
– Upper Campus) 5 p.m. and 9
p.m.; Trinity Chapel (Newton
Campus) 5 p.m. and 9 p.m., St.
Ignatius Church, Lannon Chapel
- Lower Church, 9 p.m., Heights
Room, 10:15 p.m., St. Mary’s
Chapel (Spanish Mass) 7:30 p.m.
For more on BC campus events,
see events.bc.edu or check BCInfo
[www.bc.edu/bcinfo] for updates.
BC SCENES
Lee Pellegrini
Gaelic Roots Fall Series
Begins Sept. 12
Gaelic Roots — Boston College’s popular series on music and dance
from Irish, Scottish and other Gaelic traditions — features three concerts this semester, two of them this month. Also on tap this fall is a
special multimedia presentation as well as two social dance events in
which the public is invited to participate.
In addition to the Gaelic Roots events, BC is co-sponsoring a major
benefit concert on Sunday for fiddler Jerry Holland, with an all-star list
of performers including BC Sullivan Artist-in-Residence Seamus Connolly, who is Irish Music and Dance Programs Director. [see sidebar]
Begun last year, the Gaelic Roots Music, Song, Dance, Workshop
and Lecture Series takes its name and inspiration from the acclaimed
summer festival and school held at BC for 10 years. All events take place
at 7 p.m. in Connolly House, unless otherwise noted.
The series kicks off this coming Wednesday, Sept. 12, with Brendan
Begley and Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh. Begley is a gifted accordion player
and singer in both English and Irish, while fiddler Ó Raghallaigh has
drawn raves for his inventive use of tunings and the Norwegian Hardanger fiddle as well as his more traditional
playing.
Scottish guitarist and vocalist Jim
Malcolm will perform on Thursday,
Sept. 20. Malcolm is a widely admired
singer of Scottish traditional songs but
also has won recognition for his own
compositions, notably Songwriter of
the Year honors in 2004 from the Scots
Traditional Music Society.
Oct. 10 will be the first of two ceilidhs sponsored through Gaelic Roots.
These events feature social dances from
the Irish tradition that are open to Jim Malcolm
all participants, and will be taught by
Meghan Allen, who teaches Irish stepdance at BC. The ceilidh, which
will be held in Gasson 100, starts at 6:30 p.m. with instruction for beginners, followed by dancing for all levels at 6:45 p.m.
The following Thursday, Oct. 18, Gaelic Roots will host a multimedia presentation “‘Play He Single’: Chance and Necessity in the
Traditional Music of Newfoundland,” by Sally Sommers Smith, an
associate professor of natural science at
Boston University, who will examine
how immigration patterns and changing social influences have helped shape
the traditional music and dance of
Newfoundland.
Paddy Keenan, one of the most
revered performers to emerge from the
modern Irish folk music revival of the
1960s and ‘70s, will come to BC on
Nov. 6. A virtuoso on the Uilleann
pipes and tin whistle, Keenan was a
member of The Bothy Band, a promiPaddy Keenan
nent and highly influential group that
was instrumental in bringing a contemporary sound to Irish traditional music.
The Gaelic Roots fall schedule closes out with another ceilidh on
Dec. 5.
For more on Gaelic Roots, see www.bc.edu/gaelicroots.
—Sean Smith
BC, Connolly Lending a
Hand in Benefit for Musician
Ashley Galvez ’10 moved into Walsh Hall last weekend with the help of her friend, Shawn Staton.
Sullivan Artist-in-Residence
Seamus Connolly, director of
Irish music programs at Boston College, will join a multitude of musicians and dancers
this Sunday as part of a benefit
concert for Jerry Holland, a
much-beloved fiddler and one
of the most influential figures
in the modern Cape BretonScottish-Irish music tradition.
Holland, who grew up in
the Boston area, was diagnosed
with cancer earlier this year.
The concert, which BC is
sponsoring along with Boston University and Harvard
University, will take place at
2 p.m. in BU’s Jacob Sleeper
Auditorium, 871 Commonwealth Avenue. Tickets are
$30.
Joining Connolly and fellow BC faculty member flutist
Jimmy Noonan will be such
performers as fiddler Eileen Ivers — known for her stint with
“Riverdance,” among other
things — and guitarist-vocalist Mick Moloney, who is a
former Burns Library Visiting
Scholar. Others on the bill
include Alasdair Fraser, James
Keane. Joe Derrane, Laura
Risk, John McGann, as well
as Irish and Cape Breton-style
dancers.
The full list of performers
and other concert details are
available at www.concertforjerry.org.