The Boston College
Chronicle
may 10, 2007-vol. 15 no. 17
BC Community Savors
More International Flavor
Increase in students,
faculty from abroad
brings change, challenge
By Greg Frost
Staff Writer
A FOND FAREWELL—Former Academic Vice President and Dean of Faculties John Neuhauser (center) talks
with colleagues and students at a reception following a University tribute to him Monday in Robsham Theater.
Neuhauser, who also served as dean of the Carroll School of Management, is leaving to assume the presidency
of St. Michael’s College. (Photo by Lee Pellegrini)
Not Just Another Baseball Game
After tragedy, emotional
return to the Heights
for ex-BC coach
By Stephen Gawlik
Staff Writer
First-year Virginia Tech head
baseball coach Peter Hughes
knew several months ago that
his team’s April 27-29 series with
Boston College was going to have
some special, personal meaning.
He just didn’t realize how
much.
Hughes, a Brockton native
and Boston College High School
alumnus, served as BC’s skipper for eight seasons, amassing a
250-181-2 record and compiling
a 100 percent graduation rate;
30 of his players were drafted by
Major League Baseball organizations.
The return to BC should have
been a joyous homecoming for
Hughes. But that was before
the April 16 massacre at Virginia Tech that left 32 dead, plus
the gunman, and plunged the
Blacksburg campus into shock
and grief.
The Virginia Tech baseball
team’s trip north to Boston two
weeks later was its first departure
AT A GLANCE
Markey to speak at Law
Commencement (page 3)
Faculty teaching, research
awards given (page 4)
Letter from Africa (page 9)
Arts Festival photos (page 12)
from campus since the shootings.
For Hughes, the trip served as
both a chance to reflect on the
events and as a means of helping
his players and assistants return
to some sense of normalcy in
their lives.
“I know these kids are carrying
a lot of baggage,” said Hughes.
Signs of the tragedy were everpresent in his team’s actions and
performance following the trag-
that a student athlete at this age
should be dealing with,” said
Hughes.
Hughes said he started to see
some signs of that when the Hokies beat Radford College at home
on April 25, their first win since
the horrific events of 10 days
earlier.
Traveling to Boston, the Hokies met with cold, dreary weather
that forced the postponement of
Even as Boston College has
become more active abroad over
the past two decades, the international community on campus
has grown and thrived in its own
right, bringing changes to the
University.
The international population
at BC has nearly tripled during
the last 20 years. According to
data compiled by the Office of
International Students and Scholars (OISS), the number of international students – both graduate and undergraduate – climbed
to 776 in the current academic
year from 360 in the 1986-87
academic year. Large increases in
the numbers of research scholars
and other foreign nationals on
practical training programs at BC
brought the total international
population to more than 1,100,
compared to fewer than 400 in
1986-87.
BC has responded to the increase by adding many programs
to meet the needs of international
students, an effort spearheaded
by OISS, under the leadership
of Director and Assistant Dean
Adrienne Nussbaum.
From their headquarters on
the second floor of 21 Campanel-
la Way, Nussbaum, International
Student Advisor Susan Shea and
International Student Systems
Administrator Ama Edzie offer a
variety of services to international
students ranging from immigration administration to advising
and counseling.
OISS runs a Thanksgiving
Day Host Program each November, which sends international
students into the homes of BC
faculty and administrator volunteers to celebrate the US holiday.
It also coordinates the International Assistant Program, which
matches each incoming undergraduate international student
with a BC student.
The IA program had a big
impact on Matt D’Orsi ’06, who
is currently studying in Argentina on a Fulbright Scholarship.
D’Orsi served as an IA during his
sophomore and senior years and
says it contributed to his desire to
be more international.
“I had wanted to go abroad
for a long time, and the IA program put me in touch with other
people and really helped me formulate my ideas and experience
cultural exchange while still being
on US soil,” D’Orsi says.
As an international assistant at
Boston College, D’Orsi was assigned students from Colombia,
Hong Kong, Italy and Germany,
but the North Providence native ended up “adopting” many
more.
Continued on page 7
Iraq, in Words
and Pictures
Virginia Tech baseball coach Peter Hughes and players during a pregame workout at Shea Field: “We need to get these guys getting back to playing baseball
and dealing with all those things that a student athlete at this age should be
dealing with.” (Photo by Kris Brewer)
edy, Hughes explained. His players were beating themselves up
over small errors and it was clear
to their new coach that their
hearts and minds were focused
elsewhere.
“It’s important for us to get
them out there to play college
baseball again, especially our seniors. I want them to care about
winning and losing. I want them
to go on a little run. I want them
to feel great about being a student
athlete at Virginia Tech and not
be defined by this one event.
“We need to get these guys
getting back to playing baseball
and dealing with all those things
the first of their three-game series
against the Eagles. The extra time
gave a reluctant Hughes a chance
to meet with members of the
Boston media in a Friday afternoon press conference in Conte
Forum.
“I just want to say,” said
Hughes, “that I’m embarrassed
to be talking about this, an event
of this magnitude, as a baseball
coach. I don’t know who is qualified to talk about this. It’s not
me.”
Hughes, fighting back the
emotions, described his team’s
role in helping Virginia Tech
Continued on page 10
Two years ago, Lt. Rory McGovern was finishing up his
senior year at Boston College.
Since last fall, he’s been with the
US Army’s 1st Cavalry Division
in Iraq, sending home a steady
stream of e-mails and photos to
family and friends, describing
his experiences and impressions.
See page 6.
Nov. 26, 2006: I can’t believe how much I’ve seen in a
week. I’ve seen good things that I don’t want to forget,
like little kids trying to play soccer with us while we’re
trying to patrol. I’ve seen terrible things that I can’t forget
like the horribly gruesome aftermath of sectarian revenge
killings...I’ve been served fresh homemade pita bread
while sitting with and talking to a family of eight. I’ve
also seen Iraqis who’ve looked at me with such icy cold
stares and pure hatred and who have acted as though
they’d gladly kill me on the spot if they had the chance...
T he B oston C ollege
Chronicle
may 10, 2007
AROUND
CAMPUS
A time to sweep
Riley Winslow with her father, Lt. Fred Winslow (center), and Boston College Police Chief Robert Morse. Riley and the
BCPD have partnered up to raise funds for cystic fibrosis research. (Photo by Lee Pellegrini)
Rally for Riley
The Boston College Police Department and its newest recruit,
nine-year-old Riley Winslow,
have joined forces to take on a
new challenge: the battle against
cystic fibrosis.
Riley, a third grader at the Floral Street School in Shrewsbury,
is the daughter of 20-year BCPD
veteran Lt. Fred Winslow. Riley
was born with cystic fibrosis, a respiratory disease for which a cure
has not yet been discovered.
“She has had surgery on her
stomach and needed to have a
feeding tube in place,” says Fred
In Welles’ footsteps
Senior Rebecca Camacho entered her final year at Boston
College with one unique distinction — as one of four siblings
attending BC at the same time
— and is leaving with another:
She’s the winner of the second
annual Welles Remy Crowther
Service Award.
The Undergraduate Government of Boston College and the
Volunteer and Learning Service
recently selected Camacho, from
Lenexa, Kan., to receive the award,
which is named for the 1999
alumnus who perished after help-
Paper chase
The cost of wasting paper is
about to go up.
In an effort to eliminate wasteful printing and its rising environmental and financial costs, Boston
College will join a growing number of universities nationwide in
adopting a student printing allotment policy in University libraries
and public areas, beginning this
September.
At the start of the each semester, all BC undergraduate and
graduate students will be given
an allotment of 500 free pages
Winslow. “But other than that
she’s just like any other kid.”
Winslow said that researchers are making progress and with
continued support help for those
suffering from cystic fibrosis is on
the way.
BC’s police have partnered
with Riley in an effort to raise
funds to help support cystic fibrosis research.
“The officers in charge of property made the choice to donate
the auction proceeds to cystic fibrosis,” said Winslow. “We are
thankful for their help.”
The annual auction of un-
claimed property organized by
BCPD this year raised some
$2,000 for Riley’s team, known
as “Riley’s Irish Roses” which is
organized through the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
Riley’s initial goal was to raise
$3,000, but with the help of the
police department and other generous donors has raised her goal
to $5,000.
To make a donation or learn
more please log on to www.cff.
org/great_strides, type in Riley’s
name and state (MA) to be connected to her team’s Web page.
—SG
ing co-workers escape from the
World Trade Center on Sept. 11.
The award honors an undergraduate student who has demonstrated
selfless service in a unique way.
Camacho, who received the
award at an April 26 ceremony,
has been a leader and participant
in the University’s Appalachia
Volunteers, the Pedro Arrupe International Immersion Program
and the CURA Christian Life
Community. She also spent a semester studying at La Casa Solidaridad in El Salvador. Three of
her brothers, Paul ’07, Michael
’09 and Patrick ’10, are current
BC undergrads.
As part of the honor, the Welles
Remy Crowther Charitable Trust
will donate $1,000 to the charity
of Camacho’s choice, the newly
formed Batahola Volunteers, a
service initiative in Nicaragua established by four BC seniors.
At the ceremony, attended by
Crowther’s mother Alison and sister Paige, senior Kristen Campbell
was recognized for her activities
with Appalachia Volunteers, the
Boston Living Center, the Jamaica
Mustard Seed Program and the
Boston College Campus School.
—Office of Public Affairs
for their printing needs on public printers, according to a new
policy announced today by the
University.
Should students use up their
semester allotment, a fee of 3
cents per sheet will be charged
to their Eagle Bucks card or to a
print card that can be purchased
in the library and at other campus
locations.
“The goal of the program is
to cut down on wasteful printing
that contributes to rising costs and
places a burden on the environment,” said Director of Public
Affairs Jack Dunn.
Dunn stressed that the policy
does not pertain to student-owned
printers, but rather to University
printers in public spaces such as
libraries.
“This program is already in
place at most major universities
where it has proved successful
at cutting costs and eliminating waste,” said Dunn. “We are
hopeful that it will have the same
result here, and will assist us in
our efforts to create a greener
campus.”
—Office of Public Affairs
The Boston College Alumni Association Cleansweep program, which collects items donated or left behind in campus
residence halls for area churches and social service agencies, is
looking for a little help from the University community.
During the next two weeks, when Cleansweep swings into
action, volunteers will be needed to pick up the donated items
and bring them to the Flynn Recreation Complex, help sort the
items and provide assistance when churches and agencies arrive
to collect the donations.
Organizers say there will be plenty to do, depending on the
amount of time (and strength) volunteers have to spend. Send
e-mail to cleansweep@bc.edu and let them know which of these
days and times you are available:
Monday, May 14, 3-11 p.m.
Tuesday, May 15, 3-9 p.m. Sunday, May 20, 3-8 p.m. Monday, May 21, 3-11 p.m. Tuesday, May 22, 5-9 p.m.
Wednesday, May 23, 5-9 p.m.
Thursday, May 24, 5-9 p.m. Friday, May 25, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.
For more about Cleansweep, see www.bc.edu/bc_org/rvp/
alum/cleansweep/.
A name to remember
Boston College football
linked to a golden era of its
gridiron past when Coach Jeff
Jagodzinski named Jack Bicknell Jr. as assistant head coach
and offensive line coach on
April 26.
Bicknell is the son of former Eagles’ head coach Jack
Bicknell (1981-90) and was the
starting center on the storied
BC football teams of the mid1980s that featured Heisman
Trophy-winning quarterback
Doug Flutie.
The younger Bicknell brings
an impressive coaching resume
to his post at Boston College.
For the past eight years he
served as head coach at Louisiana Tech, where he was one
of the youngest head coaches in
Division I-A football when he
was appointed in 1999. Bicknell had previously served as an
assistant coach at the University
of New Hampshire from 1987
until accepting the Louisiana
Tech position.
A 1985 graduate of Boston
College, Bicknell added a master’s degree in education from
the Lynch School in 1987 before starting his full-time coaching career. He was the anchor
of the offensive line that helped
the Eagles win the 1985 Cotton
Bowl, capping Flutie’s Heisman
Trophy season.
Bicknell is often remembered as the center who snapped
the ball to Flutie to start the
quarterback’s famous last-second “Hail Mary” pass play to
Gerard Phelan to defeat Miami
47-45 in a game that has become a college football classic.
—RO
The Boston College
Chronicle
Director of Public Affairs
Jack Dunn
Deputy Director of
Public AFFAIRS
Patricia Delaney
Editor
Sean Smith
Contributing Staff
Greg Frost
Stephen Gawlik
Reid Oslin
Rosanne Pellegrini
Kathleen Sullivan
Eileen Woodward
Photographers
Gary Gilbert
Lee Pellegrini
The Boston College Chronicle
(USPS 009491), the internal newspaper for faculty and staff, is published
biweekly from September to May by
Boston College, with editorial offices
at the Office of Public Affairs, 14
Mayflower Road, Chestnut Hill, MA
02467 (617)552-3350. Distributed
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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 10, 2007
Language Study Results Concern Researcher
Paez cites economic
background in struggles
of bilingual children
By Stephen Gawlik
Staff Writer
The controversy over whether bilingual education helps or
hinders children of non-English
speaking families has become one
of the 21st century’s hot-button
issues. Now, a new study led by
a Lynch School of Education faculty member has added a new
dimension to the debate.
A research team headed by
Asst. Prof. Mariela Paez (LSOE)
found that preschool children
who speak Spanish as their first
language at home are losing their
native tongue while also finding it
more difficult to speak English.
The results of the study, which
tracked students from age four
through the second grade, are
a cause for concern, says Paez,
because children’s first language
skills can provide a foundation
for learning English. Losing their
Spanish-speaking ability could
have long-term effects on the children that impede their learning,
says Paez.
“We have had a pretty good
idea of how students are doing in
the short term, but we were lacking that long term perspective,
especially in early childhood.
“That’s a critical period because it’s when students develop
pre-reading skills.”
Paez and her team studied 319
bilingual children in Massachusetts and Maryland in their first
year of preschool. The children
were from homes where Spanish
was at least one language spoken.
The researchers compared
them to 144 children in Puerto
Rico who spoke Spanish. All of
the children were first assessed in
the autumn of 2001 through last
year.
After comparing children in the
United States and Puerto Rico,
Paez said she and her colleagues
were surprised that the children’s
Spanish was so poor and at such
a young age.
“The most surprising finding
was that we are seeing that students in Puerto Rico were doing
so much better in the oral language test when compared to the
students in the mainland of the
United States,” said Paez, who
has a bilingual family and speaks
Spanish at home.
“We expected the children in
Puerto Rico to show strong language skills in Spanish because
opmental Psychology. The study
has already produced three papers,
with two currently in press.
The study, titled “Early Childhood Study of Language and Literacy Development of Spanish
Speaking Children,” was funded
by the National Institute of Child
Health and Human Development
and the US Department of Education.
Paez said that an important
aspect of the study is the socioeconomic background of the students
who were tracked.
“I don’t think we understand
enough about how to disentangle
Asst. Prof. Mariela Paez (LSOE): “We expected the children in Puerto Rico to
show strong language skills in Spanish because they are immersed in a Spanish
language culture, but we were surprised by the differences that we found because they were from low socioeconomic backgrounds.” (Photo by Lee Pellegrini)
they are immersed in a Spanish
language culture, but we were surprised by the differences that we
found because they were from low
socioeconomic backgrounds.
“A large percentage of the families of these children [in the US]
are speaking Spanish at home and
so we expected that their Spanish,
their oral language ability in particular, would be at higher levels
and that wasn’t the case.”
The study, which measured the
children’s letter and word recognition, writing, spelling, vocabulary
and language recall, was published
in the Journal of Applied Devel-
the facts of coming from a less
privileged background and also
coming from a home where you
don’t speak English,” she said.
“Part of what I want to do with
this study is to look at different
contexts in which bilingual children develop,” said Paez. She says
it is critical to ask more questions
about the impact of home and
school so as to start understanding the development of bilingual
students.
“With this study we are just
starting to see the conclusions,”
she said.
LSOE Receives Hewlett Packard Technology Grant
The Lynch School of Education
has been selected as one of 42 higher education institutions to receive
a 2007 Hewlett Packard Technology for Teaching grant, designed to
transform and improve learning in
the classroom through innovative
uses of technology.
LSOE will receive HP wireless
equipment and a faculty stipend
to support and improve student
achievement, valued at more than
$68,000.
During the 2007-08 academic
year, these grant projects will affect
more than 6,000 higher education
students. Grant recipients will use
HP wireless Tablet PC technology
to enhance learning in engineering,
math, science, computer science or
business courses.
The Boston College project team,
led by Asst. Prof. Mike Barnett
(LSOE), is an interdisciplinary collaboration that includes Asst. Prof.
Kate McNeill (LSOE), Research
Assoc. Prof. Eric Strauss (Biology),
Assoc. Prof. Alan Kafka (Geology
and Geophysics) and Urban Ecology Institute Director Charlie Lord.
The project utilizes an existing
infrastructure developed through
funding from the National Science Foundation for the Information Technology Experiences for
Students and Teachers (ITEST)
program. Student program participants will use the tablet personal
computers to collect data on urban
ecology issues, such as urban street
trees, bird bioacoustics and urban
biodiversity.
Boston Public School and LSOE
students, for example, will use Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
and advanced computer modeling
software to conduct scientific inquiry with data that they collect in their
neighborhoods. The complexity of
these investigations provide students
with opportunities for deep learning
in critical areas of science and technology, as identified in national and
state standards.
The grant — which will affect
nearly all pre-service elementary
teachers in Lynch School of Education, approximately 1,000 high
school students and 30 in-service
teachers — will help meet two critical needs in the US, say program
organizers. The project team will
be able to provide more in-depth
scientific experiences for future and
current teachers, which will enhance
their ability to engage their own students in cutting-edge science.
In addition, the project team
will be able to provide high school
students — most from underrepresented populations in science and
technology — much needed experience and practice in learning how
to use emerging information technological tools.
—Office of Public Affairs
US Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.)
Markey to Speak at Law
School Commencement
US Rep. Edward J. Markey ’68
JD’72 (D-Mass.), who has played
a key role in the nation’s telecommunications, energy and environmental policies for more than two
decades in Congress, will be the
featured speaker at the 2007 Boston
College Law School Commencement on May 25.
Markey’s legislative record spans
the breadth of Congressional policymaking, reflecting his position as
a senior member of three key committees, Energy and Commerce,
Homeland Security and Natural
Resources. He also is chair of the
House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, and
of the new Select Committee on
Energy Independence and Global
Warming.
A native of Malden, Markey has
been instrumental in breaking up
monopolies in electricity, long-distance and local telephone service,
cable television and international
satellite services. He was one of the
only members of the Commerce
Committee to fight AT&T’s monopoly in the early 1980s and is a
principal author of the requirement
that the Bell Operating companies
accept local telephone service in the
1990s.
On the environmental front,
Markey was a principal author of a
bill Congress passed that seeks to recover $14 billion in unnecessary tax
incentives to the oil and gas industry
and redirecting that funding to a
new fund for incentives for energy
efficiency, renewable and alternative fuels. He led the effort to pass
a landmark bill setting minimum
energy efficiency standards for major energy-consuming household
appliances. His amendment to the
Clean Air Act ensured that energy
efficiency would be credited under
the cap-and-trade system that has
reduced acid rain.
Markey also has led initiatives
to raise the minimum fuel efficiency
standards for cars and light trucks
sold in America, and to prevent
oil and gas drilling in the federally
protected Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge.
National Journal named Markey
to its “Homeland Security 100,”
a list of the top leaders influencing homeland security policy. He
has spearheaded efforts to provide
privacy protections for personal information such as medical records,
financial records, and purchases online.
“I don’t believe Boston College
has ever had a better friend in the
United States Congress than Ed
Markey,” said Law School Dean
John H. Garvey. “He has been a
member of the Law School’s Board
of Overseers since its inception. He
is constantly looking for ways to
help both BC Law and the University. It is wonderfully fitting that he
should speak to our 75th class on
their graduation.”
—Law School Marketing and
Communications Director Nathaniel
Kenyon
...and Will Receive O’Neill Award
In addition to being chosen as featured speaker for this year’s
Law School Commencement, US Rep. Edward J. Markey ’68
JD’72 (D-Mass.) will receive one of Boston College’s most prestigious honors: the Speaker Thomas P. O’Neill Award for Distinguished Citizenship, which recognizes those individuals who have
rendered outstanding public service while demonstrating integrity
and leadership.
Markey will be presented with the O’Neill Award at the University’s Commencement Eve dinner on May 20.
“I am truly honored to receive the Speaker Thomas P. O’Neill
Award for Distinguished Citizenship,” said Markey. “Tip O’Neill
was a fellow alum, one of my mentors and a great Speaker of the
House. Tip is a political legend and I feel blessed to have served
with him in the House throughout his years as Speaker. He set the
standard for being a champion for working Americans and fairness
and justice in American society. “In the strong Boston College tradition of public service, Tip’s
work represents an ideal we all strive to match, and I am deeply
touched to be a recipient of this award.”
Only three others have received the honor: former US Senate
Majority Leader and Ambassador to Japan Michael Mansfield, in
1996; special Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox in 1998; and,
posthumously, US Rep. J. Joseph Moakley (D-Mass.) in 2002.
T he B oston C ollege
Chronicle
may 10, 2007
Four Receive Distinguished Teaching, Research Honors
By Office of
Public Affairs Staff
At the annual Faculty Day event
held Monday in Corcoran Commons, University President William P. Leahy, SJ, and Provost and
Dean of Faculties Cutberto Garza
presented this year’s Distinguished
Teaching and Research Awards.
Teaching Awards
Assoc. Prof. David Quigley (History): Completing his ninth year on
the Boston College faculty, Quigley
already has garnered two awards for
teaching excellence from Phi Alpha
Teta, the undergraduate history
honors society. His classes on the
American Civil War and Reconstruction in particular have contributed to his long and established
record as an outstanding teacher:
“commanding in the classroom,
rigorous but fair and respectful
of students, who lavish praise on
his courses,” said one colleague in
nominating Quigley.
In his time at BC, Quigley has
supervised 19 honors theses and
was instrumental in developing
the History Department honors
seminar to train and support these
promising seniors. He also has
played a key role in the Teachers
for a New Era program, working
as a contact mentor with history
majors training to be secondary
school teachers and running weekly labs for education students in
his American Civilization and Civil
War courses.
One former student says of
Quigley: “[His] classes function as
an invitation for students to share
[his] passion for his area of study,
and are constructed to stimulate
University President William P. Leahy, SJ, left, and Provost and Dean of Faculties
Cutberto Garza flank this year’s Distinguished Teaching and Research Award winners (L-R) David Quigley, Zhijie Xiao and June Horowitz. Not pictured: Ann Burgess.
(Photo by Frank Curran)
work while enticing student investment.”
Prof. Ann Burgess (CSON): Burgess, an internationally recognized
expert on the treatment of trauma
and abuse, is a member of the
Connell School of Nursing Community and Psychiatric Mental
Health Nursing Department. She
is credited for her ability to bring
students, faculty and researchers
together from a wide variety of
disciplines, professions and backgrounds.
Colleagues cite several examples
of Burgess’ outstanding qualities as
a teacher. They note her engagement of students in developing
roles as teachers, advocates and
community liaisons, for example,
and her use of her extensive research
on rape and abuse — including
interviews with both victims and
perpetrators — as well as her use
of special skills in communicating
subject matter.
“Her patience and caring have
supported me through the many
tumultuous times that one experiences during [graduate study],”
wrote one student. “She is charitable in both her availability and
patience, allowing me to reach my
highest potential.”
Research Award
Prof. June Horowitz (CSON):
Horowitz, who joined the Connell
School faculty in 1980, focuses her
research on family mental health.
Her major areas of interest encompass postpartum depression
(PPD), childhood bullying and
teasing, and couples in interfaith
marriages.
Horowitz’s contribution to
PPD research has been widely
hailed. She has conducted studies
to determine PPD prevalence rates
in the United States and internationally, and demonstrating feasibility of large-scale PPD screening.
Horowitz also has developed and
tested interventions to promote
healthy interaction between depressed mothers and their infants.
Her honors include induction as a
fellow of the American Academy of
Nursing and the Nursing Research
Excellence Award from the Massachusetts Association of Nurses.
“Her sustained productivity is
reflective of an exemplary academic
career, and her excellent research
skills will help to expand the discipline of nursing and related health
fields as well as contribute to the
education of students,” wrote a
colleague from the University of
California-Los Angeles.
Junior Research Award
Asst. Prof. Zhijie Xiao (Economics): A colleague nominating Xiao
called him “astonishingly productive” and “one of the top econo-
metric theorists in the world in his
age cohort,” noting that in the nine
years since his doctorate, “he has
published more papers, on more
different topics, in prominent
econometrics journals than most
scholars produce in a lifetime.”
Xiao specializes in time series
econometrics, the study of data in
which there is a natural sequential
ordering provided by the date of
observation, such as interest rates
or the consumer price index. He
was the winner of Multa Scripsit Award in Econometric Theory
(2002) and National Prize of Science and Technology Progress in
China (1993).
“His work is so diverse, spanning so many different topics that
it is difficult to describe any unifying, distinctive theme, other than
that his papers involve a very high
level of technical, mathematical sophistication,” added the colleague,
“and all contain results that are
directly useful for both theoretical
and applied econometricians.”
In addition to the Distinguished Teaching and Research Awards,
the University announced presentation of the following grants:
Research Incentive Grants
Rebecca Nedostop, Shannon Seitz, Maxim D. Shrayer, Sarah
Beckjord, Kathy Dunn, Kevin Ohi, Eva Garoutte, Vidya Madhavan, Stephen Pope, Adam Brasel, Tieying Yu, Mei Xue, Jiri Chod,
Susan Shu, Thanh Van Tran, Dennis Shirley, Rosanna DeMarco
Teaching, Advising and Mentoring Expense Grants
Kevin O’Neill, Gerald Kane, Samuel Graves, David McKenna
Teaching, Advising and Mentoring Grants
Franziska Seraphim, James Morken, Crystal Tiala, Mark
O’Connor, Lisa Cuklanz, Jonathan Laurence, Ernesto Livon-Grosman, Maya Tamir, Judith Clair, Sharon Beckman, Paul Tremblay,
Patricia Tabloski, Patrick McQuillan, Guerda Nicolas
May 16 eTeaching Day to Include Presentations and Workshops
By Stephen Gawlik
Staff Writer
Virtual tours of Renaissance
and Baroque era Rome, a look at
Web-based collaboration through
technologies like Facebook, and
MySpace and the inner workings
of iTunes U. are all part of the
University’s eTeaching Day event
to be held on campus May 16.
The day offers three different
opportunities for direct interaction
with faculty presenters who will
discuss the ways they are using technology in the classroom. Topics
covered during the morning presentations will include recreating the
context of art through technology,
integrating collaborative technologies into teaching and utilizing multimedia templates to present course
content.
Organized by Instructional Design and eTeching Services, eTeaching Day will also recognize faculty
who were nominated by students
for their outstanding uses of technology to enhance learning during the Teaching with New Media
Awards ceremony.
Participants must register by tomorrow, May 11. Detailed information on the day and registration
are located at www.bc.edu/eteach-
ingday.
The event starts at 9 a.m. in
Fulton 511 with a presentation by
Asst. Prof. Stephanie Leone (Fine
Arts) on her “Roma: Caput Mundi”
project, a virtual tour of old Rome
which was created to facilitate students’ understanding of the city as a
physical entity.
“By navigating the map and interacting with the monuments, students take a virtual tour of Renaissance and Baroque Rome, which
helps them to learn about the interrelationships between monuments
and between monuments and the
urban environment,” she says of the
project, created with Associate Director for Instructional Design and
eTeaching Services Jeanne Po.
Asst. Prof. Gerald Kane (CSOM)
will discuss recent trends towards
Web-based collaboration, commonly referred to as Web 2.0. His
presentation will explore the available tools, opportunities and implications of integrating collaborative
technologies into teaching. He will
offer a guided tour of the Wiki site
he has developed for his CSOM
course, introduce a number of the
available tools he has experimented
and discuss the benefits and challenges that these tools have provided
for teaching.
College of Arts and Sciences
Honors Program Director Mark
O’Connor will present a Web template that is used to serve the Honors Program humanities curriculum. O’Connor says the template
offers an approach for bringing together the multiple primary sources
employed in a course and serve as a
repository of source materials that
become a collective resource for faculty and students.
“Since our seminars are Socratic
in their pedagogy, we are all reluctant to use class time for the sort of
[pre-lecture] which can make the
consideration of a painting or of a
piece of music more productive,”
he said.
Over lunch, participants will discuss using media in the classroom
using iTunes University, a new initiative provided by Apple Inc. that
administers space for instructors to
publicize multimedia and instructional content. Lynne O’Brien from
Duke University will talk about
Duke’s experiences using media in
teaching and learning, and a representative from Apple will showcase
iTunes U. BC is the first University in the Northeast to become an
iTunes University.
In the afternoon, participants
will have hands-on workshops and
demonstrations that range from
teaching with blogs and Wikis to
personal response systems.
CSOM Team Wins Business Strategy Challenge
A team of Carroll School of
Management undergraduates
has won the third annual Business Strategy Challenge, held last
month at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business.
The “Heights Consulting”
team of seniors Alexis Lobodocky
and Erica Mannherz and juniors
Mark Filenbaum and Matthew
Ryder won a $1,200 cash prize
for their prowess in creating a
business plan to impact a strategic
direction of a non-profit agency in
the competition.
The CSOM team focused
their presentation on KEYS
for the Homeless Foundation,
a Washington, DC non-profit
group that provides household
goods and supplies contributed
by the city’s hotel association
to needy families living in community shelters and transitional
housing.
Twelve teams representing
eight universities competed in
the Georgetown event. Participants were given 36 hours to
prepare a business plan for an assigned agency. A panel of judges
from the academic and business
sectors evaluated the presentations.
The Boston College team
members will use a portion of
their prize money to make the
Boston College community
aware of the work being done
by the KEYS for the Homeless
Foundation.
“When analytic skill and strategic savvy combine with a clear,
ethical vision and effective teamwork, great things happen,” says
CSOM Associate Dean Richard
Keeley. “We are very proud of
Matt, Erica, Alexis and Mark.”
—Reid Oslin
T he B oston C ollege
Chronicle
may 10, 2007
‘Where There’s Love, There’s No Burden’
Campus School
head DiMattia
prepares for retirement
“The school has always had
a simple belief: There is no
talent that can’t be cultivated because of disabilities.
It is an environment without hate, anger or ill will,
and that’s because of the
outstanding people we have
working here.”
By Sean Smith
Chronicle Editor
More than 50 years ago, Adj. Assoc. Prof. Philip DiMattia (LSOE)
missed a deadline — and it was
probably the best thing he could’ve
done, for himself and the Boston
College Campus School.
As a newly minted Boston College graduate in 1954, DiMattia
toyed with the idea of going to
work in national defense. After he
failed to send in his application on
time, however, he wound up as a
special education teacher. It was a
path that 16 years later would lead
him to help establish the Campus
School, which provides instruction,
training and therapy for children
with multiple disabilities. He became the school’s director in 1988.
DiMattia is stepping down this
spring as director, also ending an
association with BC that goes back
to 1962, when he came to campus
as a lecturer in special education.
He and other retiring and 25-year
faculty and employees will be hosted by University President William
P. Leahy, SJ, at a dinner on May
23, at which the 2007 Community
Service Award winner also will be
announced [see below].
Whatever the circumstances
may have been, DiMattia’s entry
—Phil DiMattia (left)
anger or ill will, and that’s because
of the outstanding people we have
working here.
“When I walk through the Campus School, I’m reminded of the
saying, ‘Where there’s love, there’s
no burden.’ That’s straight out of
Ignatius, which of course is at the
core of Boston College.”
“The Campus School is an institution that has provided tremendous programmatic and service options for public school administrators, as well as families, for years,”
says Jim Early, former special education administrator for Watertown
Public Schools. “Phil deserves a lot
of credit for this: He’s provided
excellent leadership, management,
Retirees, 25-Year Employees
to Be Honored at Dinner
Administrators, faculty and staff who have retired or marked 25
years of service to Boston College during the past year will be honored at a dinner given by University President William P. Leahy, SJ,
on May 23.
Those administrators and staff members officially retiring this year
are: Consuelo Castillo, Edward Chobit, Isaih Davis, Richard Geppner, M. Patricia Hagan, Franklyn Henry, Grace Maloney, Mary
McCaffrey, Sarah Munoz, John Rosseau and D. Michael Ryan.
Retiring faculty members are: Beth Casey, Philip DiMattia,
Katherine Frame, David Gill, SJ, Lois Haggerty, Lawrence Halpern,
William Richardson, SJ, Paul Thie and Leon Williams.
BC’s 25-year administrators and staff are: John Bai, Margaret
Bakalo, Richard Baldaro, Mary Cahill, Jerri Cole-Lauziere, Paul
D’Anello, Kenneth DeGrazia, Domenic DeLeo, Alice Drew, Anibal
Figueiredo and Fredlyn Frank.
Faculty members completing 25 years are: Daniel Chambers,
Charles Hefling Jr., Jeanne Sholl, Robbie Tourse and Paul Tremblay.
into special education proved to
be excellent timing on his part,
coming as more enlightened views
of physical and mental disabilities,
especially those in children, were
beginning to emerge. The Campus
School was a symbol for this new
era, says DiMattia, and through
its programs and projects, such as
EagleEyes, has helped increase understanding of human capabilities.
To say DiMattia is proud to
have been part of it would be an
understatement. “The school has
always had a simple belief: There
is no talent that can’t be cultivated
because of disabilities,” he says. “It
is an environment without hate,
dedication and diligence.”
DiMattia can reel off any
number of accomplishments for
the school, but EagleEyes merits
particular attention. The program
allows the severely disabled to control a computer at the blink of an
eye using technology developed at
BC. EagleEyes has been hailed as
a means for people thought to be
cut off from the very act of communication to express themselves,
even artistically.
“EagleEyes is like mining gold,”
says DiMattia. “It’s an incredible
program, because it helps us all see
the capacity of the human spirit,
the potential that exists within us
all. EagleEyes is a reflection of what
we firmly believe at the Campus
School: These kids are learners, just
like everyone else.”
DiMattia’s introduction to special education came about a year
after his graduation when he accepted a job at the Gaebler School
in Waltham, among the first freestanding children’s psychiatric facilities of its kind. Appointed as the
school’s principal in 1960, DiMattia was recruited two years later by
BC’s School of Education to lecture in a new program that trained
teachers to work with mentally ill
children.
“One of the most important
things I learned,” he says, “was that
children are excluded academically
before they are excluded physically
from school. The mind is meant
to be worked, and if it isn’t then
it starves. Unfortunately, too often
kids with special needs wouldn’t be
given any kind of stimulation because it was assumed they couldn’t
learn — and they didn’t.
“I came to believe, and I still
do, that it’s not the kids who fail,
it’s the services that are supposed to
help them. I wanted to be part of a
culture that would challenge this.”
In 1968, DiMattia’s SOE colleague John Eichorn, the director
of special education at BC, began
spearheading discussions on establishing a campus facility that would
not only serve disabled children but
also help to train special education
personnel. In many ways, the time
was ripe, says DiMattia: National
efforts to reach out to the disenfranchised, including the disabled, were
taking form, and led to legislation
that specifically targeted the educational needs of disabled children.
From BC’s vantage point, however, the timing was less auspicious, DiMattia says, given that the
University was in a shaky financial condition. But then-Academic
Vice President Charles Donovan,
SJ, gave his approval to the idea for
the Campus School — “Just don’t
bring us any red ink,” DiMattia
recalls him saying.
“You can’t overstate the importance of BC’s support for the
school,” he adds. “The University
wasn’t in the best financial health,
and space on campus was at a pre-
Looking Back, Looking Ahead
Name: Assoc. Prof. David Gill, SJ
Department: Classical Studies
How long have you been at Boston College?
I’ve been on the faculty in Classics since 1969, 38 years. In another
sense I’ve been here since I was 13 years old: BC High ’52, BC ’56,
Weston ’60, etc., then back on faculty in 1969.
What are your plans for retirement?
For the past four years I’ve been half time at BC and the rest of my
time I’ve been serving as pastor of St. Mary of the Angels Catholic parish in Roxbury. For the foreseeable future I hope to continue with the
same routine: part-time at BC and the rest in Roxbury. No big change
really.
What will you remember the most about working at BC?
I’ll still be around gathering memories, I guess. I’m sure that my
fondest memories will be of students I have taught, colleagues I have
worked with, and companions I have shared life with in the Jesuit Community.
Name: Richard Geppner
Department: Purchasing
How long have you been at Boston College?
27 years.
What are your plans for retirement?
I just came back from three months in Florida and I’ve been playing
golf and tennis and going to the beach, so I think that about sums it
up.
What will remember the most about working at BC?
My fondest memories? Beating Notre Dame in [football] when they
came in here with Lou Holtz [1994]. That was the best. Winning the
Big East tournament in basketball in 1997. A bunch of us went down
there every year for that and it was nice when we won it. It was a great
win. Co-chairing the annual Boston College Tee-Off Golf Tournament
— that has become one of BC’s great social events and I was happy to
be a part of it.
mium, but the administration gave
its blessing. That says a lot about
BC as an institution.”
The school was originally
housed in McGuinn Hall, with
some administrative offices scattered elsewhere around campus,
before moving to the old Roberts
Center, where it stayed until Campion Hall was extended in the early
1980s.
Over the years, the Campus
School has worked with various
public and private agencies and
public school systems, responding
to or anticipating trends and developments in special education and
health care — but always, says
DiMattia, “focusing on the poorest
of the poor, the kids who face the
most challenges.”
DiMattia plans to spend more
time with his family, do some writ-
ing and if possible remain active
with EagleEyes. He will, of course,
maintain an avid interest in the
Campus School and the issues before it.
“One of the most significant
developments is that children with
multiple disabilities are living longer than ever before,” he says. “This
has all kinds of implications for
health care, education, public policy — but above all for the children
and their families. What quality of
life can they expect, and how can
we, and others, help them achieve
this?
“To me, the Campus School
is still coming into its own — it’s
an unpolished pearl. So I think the
next challenge for the school is take
the bushel off the flame and show
its light to the world.”
T he B oston C ollege
Chronicle
may 10, 2007
‘Expect the Unexpected’
While on military duty in Iraq, Class of 2005 alumnus
Rory McGovern (the second soldier from left in photo
at right) shared his experiences via e-mail with friends
and family. But words and pictures, he says, can only
tell part of the story.
By Reid Oslin
Staff Writer
Two years ago, Rory McGovern ’05 was leading the good
life of a Boston College senior:
interesting and challenging classroom courses that topped off his
political science degree; leisurely
meals with friends at the time and
location of choice; and weekends
brimming with BC athletic contests and Boston social activities.
Today, Lt. Rory McGovern
is an officer in the United States
Army, leading a team of combat soldiers in Iraq. Each day he
confronts responsibilities, trials
and dangers far different from
anything experienced by his classmates; his weekends have ceased
to exist.
In April, McGovern, who grew up in
Haverhill, Mass., returned to the United
States for two weeks of “R&R” (rest and
relaxation), a respite granted to all American
soldiers at the approximate midpoint of their
time in the combat theater. While on leave,
McGovern spent time with his parents at
their current home in Round Pond, Me.,
caught up on a lot of missed sleep, ate to
his heart’s content and even planned to see
a Red Sox game in Fenway Park. He also
stopped by the Boston College campus to
share some of his stories and experiences with
ROTC cadets.
Since his assignment to the Middle East
last October, McGovern has sent a steady
stream of e-mails to his friends and family back home, detailing the stories, fear,
expectations, disappointments, pain and occasional humor that have marked his time in
combat. McGovern recently agreed to share
his e-mails and his experiences with Boston
College Chronicle.
As a graduate of the University’s Army
ROTC program, McGovern was commissioned on May 22, 2005, the day before Boston College Commencement. Immediately
after graduation, he served a brief tour at Fort
Knox, Ky., before attending Army artillery
school at Fort Sill, Okla. In January 2006,
he was assigned to duty with the 1st Cavalry
Division at Fort Hood, Texas. Last fall, the
legendary “First Cav” – which traces its military roots to the horse-mounted soldiers of
the Western plains – was ordered to Iraq.
Oct. 29, 2006: Ever since my unit got its
orders to deploy, I wondered what the night
before leaving would feel like. I wondered if I
would feel nervous and apprehensive, calm and
confident, or anything in between. I’ve sort of
felt a myriad of all of those, but as I sit here to
write, all I feel is tired...
As an artillery officer, McGovern was
assigned as a unit Fire Support Officer, typically advising the company commander on
the employment of fire support systems such
as artillery, close air and attack helicopter
support. “On top of that, we have anything
that is considered a ‘battlefield effect,’” McGovern says. “That includes psychological
operations, civil military operations, company-level intelligence operations and local
diplomacy.”
Oct. 31, 2006: I’m here in Kuwait with not
a whole lot to do at the moment. That’s a good
thing because I know it’ll change soon.
… I had to pick a couple of soldiers to load
live ammunition in their weapons to either
shoot the driver if he tried to get away from the
convoy and kidnap us or shoot back if anyone
decided to shoot at us on the way. That was
certainly strange for me, but I suppose I’ll have
to get used to it.
“In all of our training – especially what
we got in the ROTC classes at BC – the
emphasis was ‘Always be flexible. Expect
the unexpected,’” McGovern recalls. “If you
learn that and take it to be the ‘golden rule’
you’ll save yourself up for success.”
Nov. 11, 2006: I should tell you about the
guys I have in my fire support team… PV2
Dore is a 24-year old salt of the earth former
welder from Maine. My fellow New Englander
is a rabid Red Sox fan, Patriots fan and hater of
the letter ‘R’...He is a good soldier and is fiercely
loyal, refusing to even entertain the idea of me
going anywhere in Iraq without him right at
my hip with a fully loaded machine gun...far
and away my most important job is to take care
of these guys while we’re here and to put every
ounce of effort I have into making sure they all
get home in one piece.
“It’s really an enormous lifestyle change
going from college into the military,” he
says, “and then going from the military into
a combat zone. It’s a huge, huge culture
shock.”
Nov. 19, 2006: Hello from Baghdad! So,
the neighborhood is fine. The neighbors on the
other hand are not. They’ve been pretty ornery
and keep shooting rockets and mortars at the
camp most nights...It’s strange adjusting to that
and to living here in general. The sounds will
take a while to get used to. The smells are taking
some time to get used to as well. It just smells
strange here.
I’m going to be busy...I can expect to be conducting missions for anywhere from 4 to 16+
hours a day, 4-6 days a week...
Nov. 26, 2006: I can’t believe how much
I’ve seen in a week. I’ve seen good things that I
don’t want to forget, like little kids trying to play
soccer with us while we’re trying to patrol. I’ve
seen terrible things that I can’t forget like the
horribly gruesome aftermath of sectarian revenge
killings...I’ve been served fresh homemade pita
bread while sitting with and talking to a family of eight. I’ve also seen Iraqis who’ve looked
at me with such icy cold stares and pure hatred
and who have acted as though they’d gladly kill
me on the spot if they had the chance... Every
kid in our area knows some English... ‘Hey,
mista, give me chocolate’ or ‘Hey, mista, give me
dollar’... Iraqi culture places lot of emphasis on
politeness. In an effort to be polite, we at least
try to say our greetings and farewells in Arabic.
In an effort to be polite, they try to say them to
us is English. So in the process of trying to be
polite and find common ground by bridging the
language gap, we still end up speaking different
languages to each other. Go figure.
“I feel that there is a lot of support from
normal, day-to-day people at home,” McGovern says. “I get a lot of responses to my
e-mails.” McGovern says that he has been
fortunate to receive a number of “Hugs for
Heroes” packages sent from the Boston College community that contain many hard-toget items such as toiletries, individual snacks
and batteries. “They make a lot of people
very happy,” he says. “It’s great to see things
like that.”
Dec. 3, 2006: As I write, I’m actually listening to some Christmas music by Nat King Cole
that I put on my iPod recently. It’s comforting
and reminds me of home.
Very recently, I was involved in a direct fight
with insurgents. We had been out for about
7 hours and on our way back when we were
ambushed by heavy and sustained machine
gun and assault rifle fire...The whole thing was
absolutely the scariest thing that has ever happened to me...I have a whole new confidence in
my men, myself and my unit.
Dec. 17, 2006: I miss home and I miss all
of you terribly. Of course I do get homesick. But
we do take care of each other here.
Dec. 24, 2006: Merry Christmas to all of
you. Thank you so much for all the emails,
letters and packages that keep coming in. Your
support means more to me than you know.
Just after Christmas, McGovern suffered
a bullet wound to his ankle during a firefight
with insurgents. Although the wound was
not life-threatening, he was forced to spend
a month doing desk duty in the unit headquarters while he recovered. “I got to the
point where every time you sent your guys
out without you, you would sit back like a
nervous parent,” he says, “even if you had
other work to occupy yourself.”
During his recuperation, McGovern
received numerous cards and letters from
friends and teachers at Boston College. Included in this mail were notes of support and
Continued on page 9
T he B oston C ollege
Chronicle
may 10, 2007
LSOE Program Opens Door to a Wide World of Teaching
By Reid Oslin
Staff Writer
Lynch School of Education juniors who study abroad have the
added opportunity to participate
in the wide world of teaching
during their international sojourn,
thanks to an innovative program
offered by LSOE’s Office of Practicum Experiences and Teacher Induction.
The International Practicum
Experience program enables Boston College teacher candidates
taking an academic semester in
locales from England to Ecuador
to experience a 10-day teaching
and observation assignment in one
of LSOE’s nearly 50 cooperating
schools around the globe.
All future elementary and secondary level teachers are required
to participate in pre-practicum experiences as part of their LSOE
training, notes international practicum coordinator Jeffrey LaBroad.
Most of the practice teaching and
observation opportunities happen
at schools in the Greater Boston
area, but he says that about 10
years ago a few students asked
about the possibility of international practica opportunities.
“We recognize the merits and
incredible advantages that studying abroad affords a student,” says
LaBroad. “So, instead of doing all
of the placement work here, we
can do some of it over there and
we will facilitate that. The structure may be a little bit different
in terms of how we set it up and
how we manage it, but they are
getting an incredible experience in
a totally different setting.”
Each year, between 30 and 50
LSOE students take advantage of
Megan Goosman ’07 with her first grade students in Ecuador.
the international practicum program, LaBroad says. The practicum involves a series of scheduled
visits to the partner school where
the BC student observes and assists
in classroom teaching.
One major foundation LaBroad
cites as a reason for the program’s
success is the relationships that
the Lynch School has built with
schools all over the world. “We’ve
got sites in South Africa, Ireland,
Australia, rural and urban England, Ecuador, Barbados,” he says.
“We are establishing new sites
right now in Beijing and Puerto
Rico. We are developing a sense
of community between the Lynch
School at Boston College and these
schools around the world.
“These schools abroad are becoming very familiar with how we
do things and the mission and values of what we do,” LaBroad says.
“While this is significant,” he
adds, “I think the real key is the
courage of our students to accept
the challenge to step out of their
comfort zones and into uncharted
territory.”
The rewards of international
teaching experiences can greatly
augment a semester of international study, LaBroad says. “When you
study abroad, it is very common to
spend your time exclusively with
other Americans or with other college-age students. When you are
student-teaching, you are forced
to throw yourself into the community,” he says.
Jessica Kelly ’08 spent the fall
semester studying in Ireland and
helped teach “fourth class” in
Sciol Bhride, an urban school in
Galway. “Choosing to do a prepracticum abroad was one of the
best decisions I have made as an
education major,” she says.
Even though English is spoken
in Ireland, Kelly says understanding the nuances of the Irish dialect
was sometimes akin to learning a
new language. “Student teaching
helped me to develop a greater empathy for students who immigrate
to the United States, and especially
for English language learners,” she
says.
LaBroad, who taught at an elementary school in Bath, England,
in the fall of 2004, says, “I learned
so much from the experience of
being the ‘outsider’ and really seeing a side of British culture that
I wouldn’t have seen if I did not
have this experience.
“One of the things that I tell
our students is that if you want to
experience an ‘authentic’ England
or an ‘authentic’ slice of a culture,
there is no better way to do it
than through a program like this,”
LaBroad says.
“I think, too, that it fits in
perfectly with the Lynch School
mission,” he says. “We are sending
our student teachers out and they
are spreading our mission of justice and equality and good education. At the same time, the world
is giving it right back to us.
“Our students come back and
have a greater appreciation not
only for how we train our teachers in the American educational
system,” LaBroad says. “They become a lot more inquisitive about
why we do certain things and asking why our educational setting is
this way or that.”
Thu-Hang Tran ’08 says she
learned that exact lesson while student teaching in Quito, Ecuador,
this past fall where she witnessed
a disparity between that nation’s
elite private schools and public
schools.
“I saw poor and resource-lacking schools in poor urban areas
and fully-equipped schools in
the rich suburbs,” she recalls. “It
brought home the idea of how we
all can relate to the class divisions
and educational opportunities that
exist among people.
“I hope to work and use my
time at BC to develop myself as
a teacher who can pass these gaps
and work to help reach out to
students who may not be as lucky
as some others are. Teaching in
Ecuador really gave me a greater
spectrum of myself and what role I
can play in this world,” Tran says.
Krista Coppolino ’08 took this photo of children at the school in Australia where
she taught as part of her international practicum.
International Presence Strong in Graduate Student Population
Continued from page 1
“You are given a certain number of students, but the more you
enter into the community, the
more you are able to connect to
other students and be a part of
their lives as well,” he says.
Nussbaum says the impact of
international students at BC is
felt more in the graduate ranks,
where foreigners make up about
10 percent of the total student
population, versus only 2-3 percent of the undergraduate population. Accordingly, BC has made a
real push in recent years to offer
more resources for the burgeoning
international grad student population.
One example of this is the
Graduate Student Lunchtime
Discussion Series, in which international graduate students gather
each Friday in the Connors Family Learning Center (CFLC) to discuss various aspects of living and
studying in the United States.
Sue Barrett, director of the
CFLC, says the luncheon program — sponsored by OISS,
CFLC and the Office of Graduate
Student Life — began about five
She notes that her
office has also increased its offerings in
English as a Second
Language tutoring
and is working with
international graduate
students to prepare
them for their roles as
teaching assistants.
“For some of our
international students
it’s not just a language
issue but it’s the fact
that our country has
a completely different educational system than the one they
come from,” Barrett
says.
“In many other
MBA student Manasvi Thawani at a recent meeting in the Connors Family Learning Center of
countries there is a
international students attending Boston College. (Photo by Frank Curran)
more formal relationyears ago and is just one of a series to come and talk freely, practice ship between students and faculof resources added in recent years English, ask questions about the ty,” she adds. “What might seem
to accommodate the needs of in- university and bring up various to some international teaching asternational graduate students.
sistants as disrespect is just Americultural issues.”
“There just seems to be so
Barrett recalls that one session cans being American.”
much demand among graduate featured a scene-by-scene explanaPalash Gupta, a second-year
students to help understand the tion of the TV show “Seinfeld,” law student from Kolkata, Inculture here,” Barrett says. “The while another fielded students’ dia, is among the international
idea was to give them a place questions about dating.
graduate students who have tak-
en advantage of the resources at
the CFLC. As director of the
Graduate International Student
Association (GISA) at BC, Gupta
gives the University generally high
marks for its receptiveness to foreign students.
He specifically cites OISS’s orientation for international students
at the beginning of the academic
year as an excellent way of introducing foreigners both to BC and
America.
But Gupta says more can be
done to ease the transition for
newcomers, noting that GISA has
several initiatives in mind aimed
at enhancing resources for international students.
Gupta says the moves are part
of GISA’s evolution from a group
focused mainly on social programming to one looking to meet a
broader mix of international students’ needs.
“I don’t want it to be a social
organization anymore,” Gupta
says. “I agree it’s an important part
to have students know each other
and interact with each other, but
there’s got to be an academic part
to it and a logistical part to it.”
T he B oston C ollege
Chronicle
may 10, 2007
Learning from Those He Taught
Abroad and at home,
service has shaped the
life of BC senior
the same, and more.”
In his junior year at BC, Downes
had another important change of
heart. He had planned to study in
Rome, but the more he thought
about it the less enthused he was at
the prospect. Expanding his search
for overseas study, Downes found
a program geared toward international development and health issues based in Nairobi that offered
“a lot of flexibility.”
During the program, which included a two-week visit to Tanzania, Downes began to develop
an interest in working at a refugee camp. As luck would have it,
he had an important resource to
call upon: Flatley Professor David
Hollenbach, SJ, director of BC’s
Center for Human Rights and International Justice, happened to be
working in the region at the time,
“But what’s often forgotten
is that there are doctors, lawyers,
teachers, other skilled professionals
in the camp. People had lives before
Kakuma. They have a determination to make things better, and they
By Sean Smith
have a contribution to make; they’re
Chronicle Editor
not all one faceless, passive group.”
As far as Lynch School of EducaDownes acknowledges that an
tion senior Brendan Downes is conexperience like working at Kakuma
cerned, the two bracelets he wears
can cause one more than a little amon his right wrist may well stay
bivalence. “When you look at this
there for the rest of his life.
camp, you realize that even if you
The thicker and more elaborate
dedicate your life to it, you probably
of the two, resembling the Kenyan
can’t make that big of a difference.
national flag, he bought from street
It’s humbling to realize your place.
children he befriended while work“But,” he adds, “that doesn’t
ing at a refugee camp in northern
mean you stop trying, or that you
Kenya.
stop advocating.”
The other, a simple string of
It certainly didn’t stop Downes
beads, is from Tanzania, made by an
from later teaching at a Jesuit school
old woman from the Masai tribe.
in Nairobi that served AIDS-affectThese keepsakes are the gateway
ed children (“I spent a lot of time
to a host of cherished, if
with the kids —
often hard-earned memone of the best
ories Downes has accutimes we had was
mulated during the past
just hanging out
few years through serand talking about
vice in Africa as well as
life in the US
in Boston. For Downes,
and in Kenya”),
they bring to mind
and
traveling
people he has known
to Uganda and
— some of them his age
then to Rwanda,
or younger — in unforwhere he visited
tunate, even desperate,
memorials for
situations.
victims of the
Among others, there
genocide.
is Eric, a Rwandan refuIn fact, once
gee he met in Kakuma,
back in Boston,
the Kenyan town that is
Downes began
home to one of the oldan internship
Brendan Downes ’07, wearing the bracelets he acquired while workest — it was established
with the Boston
ing in Africa. (Photo by Lee Pellegrini)
in 1992 — and largest
Ten Point Coalition, which seeks to
refugee camps in the world. Eric and helped Downes arrange to go to prevent youth violence. He served
came to Kakuma after his family Kakuma through the Jesuit Refugee as a liaison to church communiwas killed during the horrific Hutu- Service (JRS).
ties as a means of involving them
Tutsi conflict in Rwanda a decade
Downes worked with the JRS in the coalition’s activities, such as
ago, says Downes, and has been education team over the summer, sending a crisis-response team to
there ever since. Given the complex, teaching introductory computer an area where a violent act has occontroversial legal and political sta- classes to young people in the camp, curred. It meant spending a lot of
tus of refugees in Kakuma, Eric is including Eric. He enjoyed their time in neighborhoods Downes had
unlikely to leave the camp anytime company, but not the setting.
only heard about through the media
soon.
“It’s probably the worst, most — and he found that such impres“Here is a guy who’s my age, unforgiving place I’ve ever been,” he sions do not hold up.
he’s lost everyone and everything, says. “Kakuma has about 110,000
“There are a lot of misconcephe’s essentially trapped in this refu- people packed into an area of only tions about Roxbury and Dorchesgee camp — and what would he a few miles, where it’s about 105 ter and the people who live there,”
do even if he could leave?” says degrees every day. The camp is not he says. “Again, as with Kakuma,
Downes, a Cambridge native who particularly secure, because there there is a tendency to put both vicwill receive his bachelor’s degree are a lot of nearby tribes who have tims and perpetrators in one group,
in human development at Com- conflict with the refugees, which with little or no redeeming characmencement.
include Sudanese, Somalis, Ethio- teristics. I met some great people,
“Yet when I saw him he always pians, Burundians, Congolese, Er- young and old, and they taught me
had a smile on his face, and there itreaans and Ugandans. There’s not an awful lot.”
was no hostility or anger in his enough food or water, and people
During the March spring break,
voice. Being around Eric taught me are not allowed to work or to leave Downes led a spring break service
how important it is to love, to serve the camp.”
trip to Belize, an appropriate way
others. And it wasn’t just Eric, it was
But somehow, Downes adds, to close out his BC undergraduate
so many of the kids in Kakuma.
there is “hope among the squa- years. But Downes is by no means
“So, if something in my life ever lor.” The refugees are “extremely finished with service: Come August,
goes shaky, my mind goes back to resourceful: They’ve managed to he will return to the Jesuit Refugee
them and puts it all in perspective.” bring in phone lines, Internet ac- Service for a two-year stint, workWho knows whether Downes cess, money transfers, and do other ing in southern Sudan as education
might have found his way to Ka- things to try and make the camp as coordinator for seven schools.
kuma, or any of his other life-shap- much of a functioning community
“When I look back at places
ing destinations, if he had followed as possible.”
I’ve been, and the people I’ve met,
a youthful whim. “My feeling about
It’s all too easy, Downes says, I really believe they’ve given me far
college was, ‘I don’t want to go to to make general, sweeping assump- more than I can ever give them,” he
BC’ — my older brother had been tions about a refugee population. says. “I don’t regard my role as eshere, and it just seemed to me like I “There are certainly many brave pecially prominent. No matter who
should follow my own path.
people who are trying to get by, and we are, whether we live in Kenya,
“But I really loved the Jesuit edu- who keep the faith. There are also or in the Sudan, or in Boston, we
cation I’d gotten at Boston College people there who have lost hope, all have the means to educate each
High School, and I came to realize because there’s just no light at the other.”
that BC would offer me much of end of the tunnel.
A Connell School of Nursing student talks with a visitor to last Saturday’s Health
Fair in Mattapan. (Photo by Suzanne Camarata)
CSON Event Affirms
Community Health Focus
By Kathleen Sullivan
Staff Writer
Last Saturday, more than 200
adults and children received free
medical care and health information at a Boston health fair
sponsored by the Connell School
of Nursing and the Dana-Farber
Cancer Institute.
The health fair, held at The
Voice of the Gospel Tabernacle
church in Mattapan, provided
prostate cancer education and
screenings, mammograms, eye
tests, blood pressure and glucose
measurements, nutritional counseling, employment information
and other services to an underserved, primarily Haitian population in Mattapan and Dorchester.
The fair was organized by
Asst. Prof. Jennifer Dacey Allen
(CSON), nursing students in her
Community Health Nursing clinical and Dana Mars ’07, Allen’s
research assistant, in conjunction
with Rev. Nicolas Homicil, pastor
of The Voice of the Gospel Tabernacle. Allen and the students not
only volunteered at the health fair,
but also planned and publicized
the event. The students visited
several churches in Mattapan and
Dorchester to speak about the
health fair and distribute flyers.
They also generated interest on
campus: some 50 students, both
inside and outside the Connell
School, volunteered to help with
the health fair.
In Allen’s 15 years of professional community health work,
she had established a relationship
with Rev. Homicil, whose congregation consists of a significant
Haitian contingent. During the
spring semester, the students traveled with Allen to The Voice
of the Gospel Tabernacle every
Thursday to conduct their community health clinical rotation.
The clinical group ran a successful
session on Haitian cuisine that
taught church members how to
cook foods with less saturated fat
and less salt.
“My students and I talked with
Pastor Nicolas about the enormous need in that community
and how a health fair would be an
opportunity to both help people
and demonstrate a visible display
of unity for the community,” said
Allen.
An interest in a career in public health is what drew math
major Mars to the project. The
Dorchester native also tapped her
own Haitian heritage to serve as a
translator.
Mars and the nursing students
established a partnership with the
Haitian Multi-Service Center of
Catholic Charities and together
they were able to reach out to
more than 15 community health
and social service agencies.
“One of the most gratifying
things is that [my] students got to
see how people can come together
to make a difference,” said Allen,
who also is a scientist associate at
“It has been an amazing experience.We have
a community partnership that can only grow
stronger now.”
—Jina Rameau ’07
Dana-Farber.
“It has been an amazing experience,” echoed nursing student
Jina Rameau ’07 of Brockton,
Mass., who plans to pursue community health nursing. “We have
a community partnership that can
only grow stronger now.”
In addition to Rameau, the
other CSON seniors in the clinical
group are: Brenna Ayers, Chanda
Beaty, Minochy Delanois, Megan
Green, Veronica Maunz, Ethiopia
Russell and Trinh Tang.
Allen’s passion for communitybased healthcare was born during
her stint with the Jesuit International Volunteer Corps after
her own BC graduation. “That’s
where it all started,” she recalled
in a recent interview. “I saw that
health risks are not evenly distributed and that factors like race,
ethnicity and social class all have
an effect on health.
“One of the best things about
being at BC,” added Allen, “is the
commitment to service and getting to involve students directly
in addressing social justice issues.
There is a noticeable difference in
the BC students and their emphasis on community service.”
T he B oston C ollege
Chronicle
may 10, 2007
A Post-BC Education in Africa
By Matthew Putorti
Special to the Chronicle
I had never been more nervous
and unsure than when the plane
landed in Khartoum that October
night. It was as if I was entering
some forbidden, dangerous land
– a place only known because of its
tragedies: war, famine, genocide. I
did not say much as we boarded
the bus to take us to the terminal.
Inside the airport, my ears still
plugged from the plane ride, I
sat quietly trying to inconspicuously look around at this new place
while I waited for my visa to be
processed.
At least, though, I was with
a friend (and fellow volunteer),
Frank So from Portland, Ore. We
were arriving from Kigali, Rwanda,
where we had just completed the
first leg of volunteer service with
VIDES (Volunteers International
for Development Education Services), an NGO operated by the
Daughters of Mary Help of Christians (Salesian Sisters), a Catholic
order.
I signed up for a year of service
with VIDES after having completed my undergraduate degree. The
decision to do so was something I
contemplated for a long time – and
was influenced by several factors.
First and foremost, I was inspired
by my parents, whose long involvement with civic organizations
helped shape my personal development and moral system.
This metaphysical respect of
humanity was codified and experienced during my time at Boston College where the Jesuit ideal
of “men and women for others”
brought me to Mozambique, El
Salvador and Appalachia – and
simultaneously to a better understanding of social justice and solidarity.
Finally, with faith’s challenge
to put love into action, I see a
responsibility to work for the betterment of everyone. Choosing to
do work internationally does not
deny that poverty exists in the US;
rather it highlights that the poverty
in many places of the underdeveloped world is more entrenched and
widespread, while infrastructure
and good governance do not exist
to bring people out of poverty.
My first four weeks abroad were
spent in Rwanda, the site of a
not-too-distant genocide that left
nearly 800,000 people dead during a terrifying 100-day period in
1994. But Rwanda has moved
toward stability and this is quite a
feat: reconciliation to the point of
progress in only 12 years.
I was volunteering at a primary
school and orphanage for girls aged
three to 18. My tasks, like washing dishes, were fairly menial, yet
humbling and gave me plenty of
time to spend with the orphans
whose love seemed to radiate from
their beings. More than anything,
they wanted only to be loved in
return, to be paid attention to and
affirmed that – yes! – they have
self-worth.
It was also in Rwanda that Frank
and I founded the Banana Fund, a virtually unnoticed.
Several boys have told me how,
fundraising effort with the original
aim of supplementing the diet of when fleeing their village from atthe school children and orphans tacks, they were separated from
their parents and have not seen
with healthy alternatives.
It was difficult leaving the or- them since, unsure if they are alive
phans after only a month, laden or dead. Another explained how
with a guilt that I was propagating he was wrongly accused of being a
a cycle of people coming into their rebel solider, imprisoned for three
lives then leaving shortly thereafter, days, tied up, beaten and tortured
but they understood I had to move in an attempt to extract a confesonto a new challenge – and that sion. Almost everyone has had to
they would forever remain in my flee their homes after the Janjaweed came to their villages, stole
heart.
This new challenge was Su- all their possessions and livestock,
dan, an interesting juxtaposition burned down their houses, killed
to Rwanda because many claim a their relatives and chased them
genocide is currently taking place to the nearest IDP camp. Many
have scars from
here. It is also in
Sudan that the Ba- Everyone tells me life was good being grazed by
nana Fund took on before; they were self-sufficient bullets or hit by
shrapnel from
a new dimension.
In Sudan I and happy. Now they live in bombs. Everycontinued volun- fear, hiding the emotional and one tells me life
was good before;
teering with the
Salesians, but this physical scars that come from they were selfsufficient and
time in a far difliving in a war-zone.
happy.
Now
ferent setting: at a
they live in fear,
technical training
school for young men in the city hiding the emotional and physical
of El Obeid, a school that has for scars that come from living in a
the past three years educated and war-zone.
The bearers of these stories,
boarded an increasing number of
IDPs (internally displaced persons) young men from Nyala, South
from Sudan’s troubled Darfur re- Darfur, are educated in the technigion, as well as young men from cal school where I currently reside.
the Nuba Mountains and street The idea behind the Darfur prochildren. Just before my arrival, gram is to remove them, if only
the school had taken in 178 young for a year, from what the school
men from Darfur for the 2006- director, Fr. Vincent Donati (an
80-year-old Italian missionary ded2007 academic year...
The violence in Darfur is very icated to the service of humanity
complex and a superficial analysis and love) refers to as the prisons
would only trivialize it. Suffice it of the IDP camps. The program
to say that since 2003, estimates combines both immediate relief
put the death toll at 200,000, with and long-term development, proanother three million who have viding the men with security and
fled their homes and become either the opportunity to gain a technical
IDPs or refugees in neighboring skill, which increases their chances
Chad, Uganda and the Central
African Republic...
[The] issue of sovereignty and
the violence in Darfur was the subject of my senior thesis at Boston
College – and has recently taken
on an entirely new dimension as
I have heard first-hand accounts
of what has happened in Darfur.
One year ago, sitting in the library
researching this subject, I never
would have imagined that today I
would be sitting in Sudan asking
young men from Darfur what has
happened to them over the past
four years. Never could I have
imagined, either, this globalized society in which we live — one that
proclaims the dignity and rights
of every person – permitting such
atrocities from occurring, going
of one day finding sustainable employment.
My time here has made me
reflect about a number of aspects
of life: Given what happened in
Rwanda in 1994, why hasn’t the
international community taken the
steps necessary to stop what has
been happening in Darfur for over
four years? What is the actual role
of international NGOs and why
hasn’t more progress been made on
the African continent if so much
money and manpower is being devoted to development work? What
are we, as individual US citizens,
obligated to do in the face of such
violence and poverty – both international poverty and the domestic
poverty that Hurricane Katrina
brought to the forefront?
Matthew Putorti with friends in Rwanda.
What I do know is that Sudan
will be my home for the next few
months. I teach one English class
a day to the young men from
Darfur and Nuba Mountains. The
rest of the day I spend coordinating the administration of the three
boarding houses – paying the bills,
purchasing food, making sure sick
students are taken to the hospital,
taking care of the needs of the
young men.
One might say I am a pseudoaccountant and general problem
solver. Together, Frank and I are
also writing grants and pursuing
other fundraising efforts to secure
the monies necessary for the continuation, and possible expansion,
of the Darfur program into next
year. Unfortunately, the violence
in Darfur shows no signs of stopping and thus the need for the
program continues. . .
I am very much looking forward
to the remainder of this experience
and I am far less nervous and unsure
than I was five months ago. I try to
be as present as possible, yet remain
excited about returning to the US.
I have a newfound appreciation for
the rights and liberties afforded to
us as US citizens, ones that ensure
our security and progress. I have
also come to realize how much my
friends and family are blessings in
my life. I am inspired by this all
– and now also by the people of
Rwanda and Sudan.
Matthew Putorti is a 2006 graduate of Boston College. He is the cofounder of the Banana Fund, which
seeks to support the work of the
Salesians by supplementing children’s
diets for a year, offering financial
aid for technical school, purchasing
books for classes and building a playground, among other projects. For
more information, see www.vides.us.
Notes Home from Iraq
Continued from page 6
encouragement from Capt. Brett
Tashiro, BC’s professor of military science; Rev. Robert Farrell,
SJ, McGovern’s English teacher
in his freshman and senior years;
and University President William
P. Leahy, SJ.
Dec. 31, 2006: I was shot a few
days ago...The bullet went straight
through my ankle, very luckily missing everything important. It cleared
my achilles by about a millimeter...
Instead, there is temporary pain,
very reparable damage to tissue, minor ligaments and nerves and a lifelong story...I felt somebody start to
apply direct pressure to the wound
to stop the bleeding...Much to my
surprise, it wasn’t the medic or one
of my soldiers, it was actually Mac,
my Iraqi interpreter...
There was a doctor looking at
the entry hole on the left and a
nurse looking at the exit hole on
the right...The nurse pulled out a
tiny pen light to get a better look.
She turned it on and put it right up
to the hole. I actually saw the light
hitting the tip of the nose of the doctor who was looking at the hole on
the other side. Call me crazy, but I
thought that was pretty cool.
“It’s kind of funny,” McGovern says, “they told us that ROTC
is just an introduction. ‘You’ll
learn the technical details of your
trade later.’ But the best preparation that I got for all of this was
what Capt. Tashiro taught me
about the basics of leadership and
the basics of mission preparation.
“My formal Boston College
education was pretty important
too,” he adds, “with what it taught
me about analytical reasoning and
consensus building. It had a far
greater hand in preparing me for
this that I would have given it
credit for a couple of years ago.”
March 11, 2007: We’ve been
through our worst stretch of time
since I’ve been here. Since I wrote
last, we have lost 7 soldiers and
1 interpreter...We’re all hurting.
Those were great guys. We haven’t
even had the memorial yet, so if this
e-mail seems a little jumpy it’s because I’m still dealing with it. I had
to write this though, if for no other
reason than to collect my thoughts as
I’m getting ready to write to Mrs.
Webb and Mrs. Rivera tomorrow...
I hope for nothing more than to
never have to write anything similar
to this for the rest of the tour.
March 19, 2007: It’s been a
hard and a slow road so far. We’ve
sacrificed greatly to get here and will
undoubtedly continue to do so as we
continue on, but it’s good to see that
in this area, we actually are making
a difference and are moving in the
right direction...
I will leave Iraq on Sunday...
Once I touch down in the US, I will
have two full weeks before I need
to head back here. While it’s going
to be strange not carrying a rifle at
all times or not to be scouring the
roads for signs of bombs while half
expecting the ‘sign’ to be another
explosion, I think it’ll be just what
the doctor ordered.
* * * * * *
Lt. McGovern has since returned to Iraq, where he expects
to get a new assignment commanding an artillery platoon. His
tour of duty, originally scheduled
to end in November, has been
extended until January.
T he B oston C ollege
Chronicle
may 10, 2007
10
Symposium on academic
honesty May 17
Boston College Libraries will host
the symposium “Teaching Toward
a Culture of Academic Honesty” on
May 17, featuring a keynote speech
by Gary Pavela, cited by the New
York Times as an “authority on academic ethics.”
Pavela, who is director of Judicial
Programs and Student Ethical Development at the University of Maryland, will present his talk “Academic
Integrity as a Bridge to Student
Ethical Development” during the
symposium’s luncheon.
The event, which takes place in
Devlin Hall, also will feature workshops and presentations led by Boston College administrators, faculty
and staff on ethical dimensions in areas such as student formation, international education, student research,
and policies and pedagogy.
For information on registration and
other details, see www.bc.edu/librarysymposium or call ext.2-0835.
Children’s literature is focus
of “Conversations”
The “Conversations with...” series
on authors and illustrators will present “New England Voices,” a look at
new local work in the field of children’s literature on May 22 at 7:30
p.m. in the Connors Family Learning
Center at O’Neill Library.
Guest speakers will be posted on
the Web site of the Foundation for
Children’s Books, a co-sponsor of the
series [www.thefcb.org/].
Admission is free with a BC ID, $5
for other college students with ID
and $15 for all others.
For more information, e-mail cohenlm@bc.edu.
Early release begins May 25
Vice President for Human Resources
Leo V. Sullivan has announced the
summer 2007 early release policy
schedule. From May 25 through Aug.
24, 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 vacation 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 University’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.
American Popular Music, in Black and White
Lee’s book shows the
‘symbiosis’ between
black and white music
Lee Pellegrini
Postings
By Sean Smith
Chronicle Editor
Along with French and English,
Prof. Emeritus Vera Lee (Romance
Languages) is conversant in many
other kinds of languages: dance,
theater, comedy and music, to
name a few.
But for her recently published
book, Lee also had to utilize the
language of social history and even
a little biology to chronicle the
complex interplay between black
and white popular music in America.
In The Black and White of American Popular Music: From Slavery
to World War II, Lee examines the
connections between the races in
a variety of music-related fields,
from songwriting to recording to
jazz. Tracing social as well as music
trends from approximately 1800
to 1950, Lee offers an overview of
what she describes as “a journey
from duality toward oneness,” with
black and white music forms crossing and recrossing paths continuously.
Lee describes, for example, how
black slaves used white hymns as
a “scaffolding” on which to build
their songs of faith, hope and comfort — what became known as
spirituals. Conversely, she notes,
as black music became marketable
— in forms such as minstrelsy,
vaudeville and ragtime — whites
imitated, adopted and modified it.
Consciously or unconsciously,
Lee says, black and white music
achieved what might be called symbiosis — a term that should be used
with a certain amount of caution,
she warns.
Prof. Emeritus Vera Lee (Romance Languages)
“Black and white interrelationships in popular music have
been too complex, too variable
— too human — to be neatly
categorized,” she explains. “While
referring to this ‘symbiosis’ doesn’t
completely describe or sum up the
intricacies between black and white
musicians, it’s a concept that can at
least put these interweavings into
perspective.”
Besides drawing on the expertise of musicologists for the book,
Lee notes, she sought out Prof.
Peter Clote (Biology) — himself
a musician — for a fuller understanding of symbiosis and its three
main forms: parasitism (“A takes
something from B to the detriment
of B”); commensalism (“A takes
something from B without affecting B at all”); and mutualism (“A
and B take from each other to their
mutual benefit”).
Although the book’s focus is on
black-white musical connections,
Lee spends time on more straightforward musical history, such as the
influence spirituals had on the development of jazz. She also explores
black music in the years between
the end of the Civil War and early
20th century, a period she says has
received relatively little attention.
“I once heard a New Orleans
bookstore owner say that in musical
terms this generation — post-Civil
War to 20th century — was ‘lost,’”
she says. “Most research stops at the
spirituals and picks up again at ragtime, but in fact the music did not
lie fallow during those years.”
If The Black and White of American Popular Music seems an unlikely project for a former Romance
Languages department chair and
one-time executive director of the
French Library and Cultural Center of Boston, Lee says in fact it
reflects some longstanding interests
of hers.
“I am not a trained musician,
per se, but I’ve always loved music
and it’s been a big part of my life: I
wrote musical comedies in college,
I’ve composed songs, I’ve been a
violinist, and I’ve been involved in
ballroom and tango dancing.
“In fact, it was through my ballroom dancing that I first got the
idea for this book. As I listened to
the lyrics being sung, from songs
that had been popular in the 1920s,
30s and 40s, I thought how over
time we lose sight of the context
in which these songs were written:
How many people, for instance,
really know what ‘I’ll Be Home for
Christmas’ is about?
“It got me thinking about the relationship of songs to society at the
time they were popular, and one
door led to another, until I found
myself looking at the interplay of
black and white musicians and the
impact on popular music.”
Lee acknowledges that the book
invariably treads on often highly
sensitive matters of race and culture, such as the degree to which
white society promoted, or exploited, black music.
“In the beginning, I was very
caught up in the black-white relationship, and by the end I realized,
‘Uh oh, there are some very controversial issues here,’” she says. “I tried
to address this in one chapter of the
book, but it’s an area that expands
into a whole other discussion.
“Any of these chapters, really,
could be expanded. The relationship between black and white music is vast, fascinating and complex,
so I hope if nothing else that the
book will get people to think, and
talk, about that relationship.”
V-Tech’s Hughes Makes Emotional Return to BC
Continued from page 1
heal, having performed in the first
event on the campus since the
massacre when the Hokies hosted
the University of Miami for a series the previous weekend.
“I don’t think we should have
played the game, but I know we
needed to,” said Hughes. “It was
definitely the most difficult thing
I’d done as a coach. I can’t imagine how it was playing, carrying a
badge of honor for people at a lot
of different levels: a community,
a college, 32 victims, 32 sets of
families and friends. It ran pretty
deep.”
No one on the team was injured in the shooting spree. According to Hughes, one player was
to have class in Norris Hall, the
site of the second of two murder
scenes, at 10 a.m. on the morning
of the shooting. A late-night email from the instructor canceled
the class.
But as much as the Virginia
Tech community reels from the
April 16 tragedy, Hughes vowed
that the excellent reputation built
by the many people who comprise
Virginia Tech will not be tainted
by the deadly act.
“I don’t think Virginia Tech
will ever be defined by that,” said
Hughes. “The foundation is too
strong. There are people who have
spent their whole lives creating an
unbelievable academic environment and community feel.”
Hughes described Blacksburg
as an idyllic setting out of a Norman Rockwell painting, one
where he can ride his bicycle to
work and pass cow pastures and
cross a footbridge over a placid
stream. That setting, he says, is
in sharp contrast to the awful acts
of violence that befell the campus
last month.
“It makes you think that if
it can happen in Blacksburg, it
could happen anywhere,” he said.
“No one is insulated from this.”
During the Boston College series, the Hokies were able to over-
come the weather and the Eagles
in the second of the three-game
series.
“Any win these guys can get
is going to be very helpful in giving them some momentum,” said
Hughes afterwards. “[The April
16 tragedy] is still very much at
the forefront and it will be for a
while.”
The BC series started off with a
moment of silence for each of the
32 victims. Members of the BC
Residence Life staff put together
a series of banners that spelled
out “V-TECH” in support of the
Virginia Tech team. It was signed
by about two thousand members
of the BC student body and given
to the team after the series.
Following the team’s return to
Blacksburg last week Hughes gave
his players some time off and sent
them home to prepare for final
exams and spend time with their
families.
“Because of the way the sched-
ule worked, they didn’t have a
chance to go home and be with
their families after April 16. This
was their first chance to do so
and I gave them the week off,”
he said.
For his part, Hughes said he
wished he could have returned to
BC under different circumstances
and with the focus on baseball.
“It was aggravating. While I
was up there we had some great
seasons, we had 30 players drafted
— but the only time I saw the inside of that press room was when I
had to talk about [the shootings],”
he said.
Following the Hokies and Eagles final game on April 29 each of
the Eagles lined up to greet their
old coach, many embracing him
as they trod off Shea Field.
“It was good to see all those
guys, but hard to coach against
them, and even harder to root
against them,” Hughes lamented.
“Hopefully our next trip up here
will be better.”
T he B oston C ollege
Chronicle
may 10, 2007
11
PEOPLE
Newsmakers
• Assoc. Prof. James Wallace (English) was quoted by the Associated
Press for a story on a proposal to
make Moby Dick the official book
of the state of Massachusetts.
• Adj. Assoc. Prof. Rev. Richard
McGowan, SJ (CSOM) spoke
with the Boston Herald regarding
Internet gambling.
• Adj. Lect. Rev. Raymond Helmick, SJ, discussed his work as a
mediator in the Irish peace process
with the Boston Globe.
•Prof. Paul Davidovits (Chemistry) was interviewed by the Boston
Herald for a story on the lye contamination of a local water supply.
•Boisi Center on Religion and
American Public Life Director Prof.
Alan Wolfe (Political Science) was
quoted by USA Today regarding
the new focus on Mormonism due
to Mitt Romney’s candidacy for
president and several new films.
•Juvenile Rights Advocacy Project
Director Adj. Assoc. Prof. Francine
Sherman (Law) was quoted by the
Boston Globe regarding “Hear Us
Make Artistic Noise” a program she
founded to enable girls in detention
to express themselves through the
arts.
•Prof. Juliet Schor (Sociology) was
quoted by the New York Times for
a story on “tweens” — children
between the ages of nine and 14 —
shopping and and consumerism.
She was quoted by the Minneapolis
Star-Tribune regarding allocation of
the planet’s resources.
•The Boston Globe interviewed
Assoc. Prof. Dennis Hale (Political
Science) for a story on the rare occurrence of a tie in a local townwide election.
•Assoc. Prof. John McDargh
(Theology) was quoted by the
Boston Globe in April about BC
students’ commitment to service
programs.
•Assoc. Prof. Joseph Tecce (Psychology) was interviewed several
times by NECN regarding coping
and healing in the aftermath of the
Virginia Tech tragedy.
•Prof. James O’Toole (History)
was quoted by the Boston Globe
about a new book chronicling the
history of Italians in Boston.
•Adj. Lect. Robert Herbstzuber
(Communication) was interviewed
by the Boston Globe for a story on
i Vostu, a Facebook for speakers of
Spanish. The piece was also published in the Chicago Tribune.
•Undergraduate Admission Director John Mahoney was a guest on
the WGBH-TV program “Greater
Boston” discussing admission
trends among highly selective colleges and universities.
•CSOM Drucker Professor of
Management Sciences and Center
for Retirement Research Director
Alicia Munnell was interviewed
by a Washington Post columnist
regarding use of home equity in
retirement.
•Adj. Lect. Joseph Steinfield
(Law) was quoted by the Boston
Globe regarding the a court ruling
upholding a judge’s decision to seal
the names of jurors.
Honors/Appointments
•Health Services Department Physician Dr. Pierre d’Hemecourt,
MD, served as director of medical
operations at the April 16 Boston
Marathon. He was responsible for
all planning and race day medical
services for the event, which drew
nearly 25,000 runners.
•Prof. Suzanne Matson (English) received a Fellowship award
from the American-Scandinavian
Foundation for travel to Finland
this summer as part of the research
for her historical novel-in-progress, The Liberty Committee. She’ll
travel to Lehtimäki and Alajärvi,
the villages in west central Finland
from which her characters originated, as well as making a visit to
the port city of Hanko, where
early 20th-century emigrants from
Finland embarked on their voyages
to America.
Nota Bene
The Boston College Venture Competition, held April 24 in Fulton
Hall, saw five teams of student entrepreneurs presenting business plans
to a panel of BC faculty and alumni who have experience raising capital
for new ventures. Cash prizes ranged from $10,000 for the winners to
$2,000 for the third place team. CampusTime, an outfit that is already operating the “EagleNites”
Web site for BC students, was declared the top winner.
Several firms including, Highland Capital Partners, Goodwin Procter, North Bridge Venture Partners, and Solasta, Inc sponsored the
competition.
Vying for the judges approval were firms with names like QuickHomeFix; Q-Note; Tealicious and Just Tracking. Their business plans
proposed such ideas as advertiser-supported text messaging, a teathemed restaurant concept and cellular-tracking software.
•A book edited by Prof. Sharlene
Hesse-Biber (Sociology), Handbook of Feminist Research: Theory
and Praxis, was among the books
chosen as a “Critics Choice Award
Winner” by the American Educational Studies Association.
Publications
•Prof. Maxim D. Shrayer (Slavic
and Eastern Languages) published
“Napoleon in San Marino” in
Southwest Review.
•Prof. James R. Mahalik (LSOE)
recently published “Masculinity
and perceived normative health
behaviors as predictors of men’s
health behaviors” in Social Science
and Medicine.
•Prof. Cynthia Simmons (History) published “Women’s Work
and the Growth of Civil Society in
Post-War Bosnia” in Nationalities
Papers.
Grants
•Prof. Evan Kantrowitz (Chemistry): $224,010, National Institutes
of Health, “Molecular Basis of Cellular Control Mechanisms.”
•Lynch School of Education faculty members Prof. Ina Mullis and
Research Prof. Michael Martin:
$150,000, International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement, “Design,
Manage and Implement PIRLS
2006.”
Donald J. White Teaching Awards
The annual Donald J. White
Teaching Awards, which recognize teaching excellence by
graduate students, were presented on April 23 in Gasson 100.
Each of the winners received
a cash award and a letter of
congratulations from Provost
and Dean of Faculties Cutberto
Garza.
This year’s recipients were:
Daniel Halgin and Christopher Roussin (Carroll School
of Management); Yi-hui Liu
(Connell School of Nursing);
Lisa Chen, Robin Hennessy,
Sara Hosmer, Alexandra Kenna
and Yi Shang (Lynch School of
Education).
Winners from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
were: Carlos Abaunza, Helena
Alfonso, Lea Marie Alford, Na-
diege Bartin-Yansen, Brandon
Bate, Phillip Braunstein, Erin
Cory, Jonathan Culp, Kim Degregorio, Eric Dimise, Tatiana
Farina, Jayme Flynn, Eric Fort,
Krista Granger, Eric Hazlinsky,
Erin Heath, Matthew Heitzma,
Megan Hektner, Ely Janis, Timothy Kirkpatrick, Colin Langford, Xiao Yang Luo, Benjamin
Lorch and Adrienne Luoma.
Also, Stephanie Maniscalco, Jason Marineau, Michael
McLaughlin, Sarah Moses,
Marisa Osswalt, Deborah Piatelli, Jennifer Quimby, Meghan
Radwich, Matthew Robinson,
Margarita Sapozhnikov, Alan
Scott, Joshua Smikler, Michael
Smith, Tara Sujiko, Jacqueline
Tabares, Kevin Tong, Annalisa
Trombetta, Amy Witherbee
and YaeJin Yoo.
Graduate Student Awards
The 2006-07 Graduate Student Awards were recently presented, honoring Boston College
graduate students who make
significant contributions to the
University and the community
through teaching, research, service and leadership activities.
University Awards
Ever to Excel Award: Emma�����
nuelle Anne Vanborre Martinvalet,
Lynch School of Education.
Research Excellence Award: Mi���
chael Evans and Corrie Stone-Johnson, Lynch School of Education.
Mentoring Excellence Award:
M. Rocio Calvo, Graduate School
of Social Work.
Men and Women for Others
Award: Michael Cermak, Sociology; Meghan Cooney, Law (awarded
posthumously).
John Courtney Murray, SJ,
Award for Student Life: Jessica
Donovan, Lynch School.
Sister Thea Bowman Award:
Margela Andrews, Geology and
Geophysics.
Set the World Aflame Award:
Ligia Gomez Franco, Lynch
School.
School Awards
Carroll School of Management:
John Owens and Peter Lloyd-Evans, Academic Achievement; Nicole
Pedersen, Contribution to Community; Jason Roberts, School Award.
Connell School of Nursing:
Julia Harris, Academic Achievement; Desiree Pujari, Contribution
to Community; Monica O’Reilly,
School Award.
Graduate School of Arts and
Sciences: Vikki Tsefrikas, Academic
Achievement; Tanya Price, Contribution to Community; Travis Holloway, School Award.
Graduate School of Social Work:
Gloria Tower, Academic Achievement; Madeline Howe, Contribution to Community; Cindy Lawlor,
School Award.
Law School: Cesar Cuauhtemoc
Garcia, Academic Achievement;
Adil M. Khan and Shiva K. Sandill,
Contribution to Community; Esther Chang, School Award.
Lynch School of Education: Allison Skerrett, Academic Achievement; Joanne Kersh, Contribution
to Community; Maria DeJesus,
School Award.
Woods College of Advancing
Studies: Melinda Rodriguez, Academic Achievement; Sarah Jewell,
Contribution to Community; Mark
Collins, School Award.
•Institute for Religious Education
and Pastoral Ministry Director
Prof. Thomas Groome (Theology): $91,665, Henry Luce Foundation, Inc., “Total Community
Catechesis”; $15,000, Anonymous
donor, “Programs for Hispanic
Ministry.”
•Assoc. Prof. David Scanlon
(LSOE): $61,957, The Anne &
Paul Marcus Family Foundation,
“The Boston College Evaluative
Research Project on Children’s
Hospital Social and Academic
Discourse Program.”
•Kearns Professor of Education
Mary Walsh: $50,000, Anonymous donor, “Boston Connects:
From Pilot Project to City-Wide
Model.”
•Deluca Professor of Biology Marc
Muskavitch: $18,775, Brooks/
Cole, “Discovering Biology.”
•Prof. John Michalczyk (Fine
Arts): $25,000, Foundation for
Moral Courage, “Gulag Documentary”; $800, various donors, “St.
Ottilien Orchestra Documentary.”
•Assoc. Prof. Gail Kineke (Geology and Geophysics): $30,681,
Office of Naval Research, “Fluid
Mud in Energetic Systems.”
•Assoc. Prof. Alan Kafka (Geology and Geophysics): $12,889,
St. Peter School, “Inquiry-Based
Learning Through Recording
Earthquakes in the Classroom:
Inviting Students into the World
of Science Research”; $2,015, Dr.
Paul Nettle School, “Inquiry-Based
Learning Through Recording
Earthquakes in the Classroom:
Inviting Students into the World of
Science Research.”
•Prof. Michael Naughton (Physics): $9,354, Atomic Ordered Materials, “Sponsored Project Agreement between Atomic Ordered
Materials and Boston College.”
Jobs
-Ticket Sales Representative,
Athletic Association -Athletic Events Administrator,
Athletic Association -Web Interface Designer, Information Technology Services
- Internet Strategy -Head Coach Women’s Ice
Hockey, Athletic Association
-Research/Sr. Research Analyst,
University Advancement
-ResNet Program Coordinator,
Information Technology Services -Senior Fitness Trainer, Athletic
Association
For more information on employment at Boston College, see www.
bc.edu/bcjobs
T he B oston C ollege
12
Chronicle
may 10, 2007
LOOKING AHEAD
Students in flight during the Arts Festival’s Dance Showcase. (Photos by Lee Pellegrini)
Bonaiuto, Quinn Earn Arts Awards
Outgoing College of Arts and formation projects.
rates of Penzance” Robsham proSciences Dean Joseph Quinn and
Christopher Leuchten ’07—per- ductions; performed in Lyric Stage
Bands Director Sebastian Bonaiuto formed with BC bOp! for four production of “1776.”
headlined the winners of this year’s years; lead trumpet in Marching
Christopher Hopkins ’08—singArts Council Awards, presented on Band, Pep Band and BC bOp!; er and pianist in University Chorale;
April 27 during the second day of principal trumpet and soloist for chosen to take part in vocal master
the University’s annual Arts Fes- University Wind Ensemble.
class this spring.
tival.
William Przylucki ’07—percusEmily Reeves ’08—played clariBonaiuto received the 2007 Fac- sion section leader for University net and saxophone with BC bOp!,
ulty/Staff Award for Contribution Wind Ensemble; also performed Concert Band and University Wind
to the Arts, while Quinn was pre- with Concert Band and other en- Ensemble; clarinet section leader for
sented with a Special ApWind Ensemble.
preciation Award for his
Benjamin Tress ’08—
support of arts-related promember of BC bOp! for
grams and activities.
three years, saxophone secIn addition, 13 undertion leader for two years.
graduates received Student
Cara Campanelli ’09—
Awards from the council.
section leader for BC bOp!
At the presentation cervocal section, which won
emony, Arts Council Chair
first place at Lionel HampProf. Jeffery Howe (Fine
ton International Jazz FesArts) praised Bonaiuto for
tival.
turning the bands program
Matthew Porter ’09—
“into a jewel in Boston
founder and producer of “24
College’s artistic crown,”
Hour Theater Experiment”
not only through his work
benefit for Nativity Prep;
with the Screaming Eagles
received Advanced Study
Marching Band but with
Grant to produce documenjazz and concert music entary on protest in America.
sembles such as BC bOp! Sebastian Bonaiuto receives his award at the Arts Festival
Mark Woodall ’09—viand the University Wind while Jeffery Howe (center) and Joseph Quinn applaud.
olinist in Boston College
Ensemble.
Symphony Orchestra; vocal“He not only has the highest sembles; teaching assistant in Film ist in University Chorale; performed
standards for music and works the Studies Program; completed Schol- in “Pirates of Penzance.”
students hard, but he also pur- ar of the College thesis on race in
The Arts Council also honored
posefully and carefully brings out cinema.
the winners of this year’s collabthe best in leadership and characJeff Augustin ’08—acted in orative sculpture, “Carnival Masks.”
ter,” said Howe. “He has, literally, many Theater Department and stu- The African Student Organization
changed the artistic landscape on dent productions; selected to lead won first place, the Lynch School
the Heights, and we ought to tell theater workshop for 2007-08 year; of Education Undergraduate Senhim that we know and are grate- director for Contemporary Theater ate won second place and the BC
ful.”
avant garde and experimental the- Bands Program received an honorHowe said Quinn — who will ater program.
able mention.
rejoin the faculty at the end of this
Jamie DeAngelo ’08—accomA new program, “BC’s Best,”
academic year after serving as A&S plished in art history and studio recognizing student singer/songdean since 1999 — had provided art; served as research assistant for writers and bands, made its debut
“full support, financial and moral” Becker Collection of Civil War.
this year. Jay Leonard ’07 won the
for the arts during his tenure as
Andrew Glynn ’08—major roles singer/songwriter category while
dean, lauding him for his “under- in “Cabaret,” “King Stag” and “Pi- The Project took top band honors.
stated, behind-the-scenes” backing.
—Sean Smith
“Joe has supported the arts in
innumerable ways and has played
a vital role in the growth of the arts
on campus in the past ten years,”
Howe said. “We will miss him.”
A look at this year’s winners of
the Student Arts Awards:
Myra Chai ’07—editor and photographer for Sub Turri; events photographer at Arts Festival; exhibited
photographs at a group show in
Ecuador museum.
Tina Dimonda ’07—winner of
this year’s Boston College Concerto
Competition; will perform a senior
recital for honors this spring.
Jarret Izzo ’07—accomplished
jazz pianist; active in various student O’Neill Plaza was once again the hub of the Arts Festival.
READINGS • LECTURES • DISCUSSION
May 15
•Reading for Pleasure - Book Discussion, Christ Stopped at Eboli
by Carlo Levi noon, O’Neill 413. Discussion Leader: Sonia Ensins, Reference Librarian, O’Neill Library.
May 16
•eTeaching Day, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m., various locations across campus,
call ext.2-3278, see: http://www.bc.edu/eteachingday, email:poillucc@bc.edu
• “The Impact of Science Fiction Film on Student Understanding
of Science” with Asst. Prof. G. Michael Barnett (LSOE), 7 p.m.,
Weston Observatory, 381 Concord Road, Weston, call ext.2-8300,
email: weston.observatory@bc.edu
May 17
• “Teaching Toward a Culture of Academic Honesty” with Gary
Pavela, University of Maryland, 9 a.m. Devlin 08 and 10, call
ext.2-0835, email: barretsc@bc.edu.
May 21
• Commencement Exercises, 9:30 a.m., Alumni Stadium.
May 23
• Contemporary Issues in Wealth and Philanthropy For Today’s
Grant Makers, Fund Raisers and Non-Profit Financial Officers,
8:15 a.m., Fulton Hall, call ext.2-8676, email: kennyr@bc.edu.
MUSIC • ART • PERFORMANCE
May 13
• Holy Cross Choir and Chamber Singers Concert, 3 p.m., St.
Mary’s Chapel, email: alumni@holycross.edu
May 21
•“Conversations with... Series” presents new work from area
authors and illustrators and spotlights new talent in the field of
children’ s literature, 7:30 p.m., Connors Family Learning Center,
email: cohenlm@bc.edu
ONGOING EXHIBITIONS
• “A New Key: Modern Belgian Art From the Simon Collection”
McMullen Museum, through July 20, hours: Monday-Friday 11
a.m.-4 p.m., weekend hours: 12 noon to 5 p.m., for more information call ext.2-8587 or email artmusm@bc.edu.
For more on BC campus events, see events.bc.edu or check BCInfo
[www.bc.edu/bcinfo] for updates.
A sampling of desserts and other delicacies pleased festival-goers.
The Filipino Student Association demonstrated a traditional folk dance.