The Boston College
Chronicle
march 15, 2007-vol. 15 no. 13
Taking Care
of Business
Undergrad Applications
Continue to Climb
CSOM student set to
earn degree he started
three decades ago
Another record year,
but also some positive
long-term trends
By Stephen Gawlik
Staff Writer
Thirty years after starting a successful career on Wall Street, John
L. McWilliams ’07 is about to close
the deal on the acquisition of one
valuable asset that has eluded him
all along: a Boston College degree.
When he first set foot on campus in 1972, the Carroll School
of Management student knew he
wanted to one day work in finance,
but he never thought the opportunity would arise as quickly as it
did.
“When I was here in the 1970s I
spent more time working than going to school,” said McWilliams, a
New York City native who was one
AT A GLANCE
Five BC faculty win
NSF awards (page 3)
Heights of Excellence:
Kevin Mahoney (page 5)
Gasson Professor is a
bridge-builder (page 6)
COMING UP@BC
TODAY: Baldwin Awards Film
Festival, 5 p.m., Cushing 001
TONIGHT: Rev. Peter J.
Gomes, 7:30 p.m., Heights
Room, Corcoran Commons
THROUGH SATURDAY: “The
Shape of Things,” 7:30 p.m.,
Robsham Theater Arts Center
See page 8 for more, or go to
events.bc.edu
By Stephen Gawlik
Staff Writer
John L. McWilliams, left, with fellow Class of 2007 member Ryan Thompson: “I
couldn’t believe I was given the chance. I guess you are part of this community for
life.” (Photo by Lee Pellegrini)
of six children. “Money was pretty
tight in our family and I worked so
much that I wasn’t a very diligent
student and had a poor academic
record.”
A summer opportunity before
his final year at BC with a firm on
Wall Street resulted in a job offer that kept McWilliams working
beyond the start of the school year.
That opportunity led to another,
and with the help of some colleagues who recognized McWilliams’ unique skills, his career took
off.
“I had every intention of coming back to school,” said McWilContinued on page 4
BC Law to Host Forums
on Politics, Law, Religion
The Boston College Law
School this month will host backto-back conferences examining
controversial issues in politics,
law and religion.
US Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.)
JD ’76 and other congressional
Democrats – all of them BC Law
alumni – will gather March 19 to
look at the challenges of achieving bipartisanship in politics.
Kerry will deliver the opening
keynote address, followed by a
panel discussion moderated by
former Senator Warren Rudman
JD ’60. Scheduled participants
include Massachusetts congressmen Michael E. Capuano JD ’77,
Stephen Lynch JD ’91, and Edward J. Markey ’68, JD ’72; Rep.
Robert “Bobby” Scott JD ’73, of
Virginia; and Rep. Paul Hodes
JD ’78, of New Hampshire.
The event is the last in a series
of celebrations marking the 75th
anniversary of the Law School
– and a fitting way to ring in the
next 75, according to Dean John
H. Garvey.
“I’m very pleased that we’ve
been able to gather such an impressive group of alumni together
for a single event. It promises
to be an important day for our
students and community,” Garvey said.
The following day, March 20,
the Boston College Law and Religion Program will hold its inaugural conference, “Matters of Life
and Death: Religion and Law at
the Crossroads.”
University of Chicago Profes-
US Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) JD ’76
will be among the participants at a
March 19 Law School conference on
bipartisanship.
sor Leon Kass will deliver the keynote address at the forum, which
will also comprise panel discussions on euthanasia and stem cell
research featuring experts from
around the country.
John T. Mulcahy, the lead student organizer of the symposium,
said the event will offer an exciting, open and diverse exploration
of the intersection between law
and religion.
“BC Law has the opportunity to once again lead the way in
producing the best of scholarship
– scholarship that is broad, open
and inclusive, on issues so important to our nation and world,”
Mulcahy, a third-year law student, said.
For more information on the
two conferences, contact kenyonn@
bc.edu.
—Greg Frost
More than 28,000 high school
seniors have applied to Boston
College this year, setting another
new record in undergraduate applications for the University.
That figure, the highest in BC
history, represents an increase
of almost eight percent over last
year’s total of 26,584. Admission
administrators say the 2007 application data also suggests some
promising trends in the University’s efforts to expand its national
profile.
In addition, applications from
AHANA students are up significantly from last year, representing 27 percent of the applicant
pool, and the Carroll School of
Management has seen a marked
increase in popularity among applicants wishing to attend BC.
“We continue to see strength
in areas of the country where we
have traditionally done very well,
and we are seeing a lot of interest
in new regions,” said Director of
Undergraduate Admission John
Mahoney.
BC has set a new record
for undergraduate applications
almost every year in the past
decade, and consistently ranks
among the top five or 10 private
universities nationally for applications received.
Students from all 50 states,
Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands,
Guam and multiple foreign
countries have applied to BC this
year. The University is seeing
a continued interest from areas
that have typically been the strongest sources of students: New
England, New York, New Jersey
and Pennsylvania as well as the
Midwest.
Mahoney noted that BC attracted better than expected
numbers in Michigan (30 percent
increase in applications), Indiana (29 percent increase), Chicago and Ohio (12 percent rise
in both), a significant trend given
the decrease in the college-age
population that is forecast for the
Midwest.
“While a lot of smaller schools
in the Midwest have felt that leveling-off already, we’re still drawing pretty well,” he said.
In regions of the US where
the population is increasing – the
Southeast and West – BC has
seen some of the highest numbers
of applicants ever, Mahoney said,
including more than 3,000 applications from California and 650
from Texas.
The number of applicants
from North Carolina (up 28 percent), Georgia (up 21 percent)
and South Carolina (up 42 percent) indicate a rising tide of
interest throughout the South,
he said.
“We are recruiting aggressively in those areas, but BC’s
growing academic reputation and
the increasing exposure we’re getting through the Atlantic Coast
Conference are all factors. With
the South a market that’s going to
grow, BC is well positioned.”
Mahoney also noted the rising number of AHANA students
who have expressed interest in
BC. Applications are now up to
8,000 this year — a rise of 14
percent over a year ago. This
year’s application trends include a
Continued on page 4
Eagle Hockey, Hoop Teams Gear
Up for Postseason Challenges
It’s championship tournament time for the college winter sports
seasons, and – as usual – the Boston College Eagles are front and
center in the playoff picture.
Men’s basketball (20-11) drew a No. 7 seed in the NCAA Championship Tournament’s East Region and will play No. 10 Texas Tech
in a game that will start at 12:25 p.m. today. The Eagles vs. Red Raiders game will be broadcast on CBS-TV (WBZ Channel 4 locally) and
on WEEI Radio (850 AM).
The women’s ice hockey team – ranked seventh in the nation
with a 24-9-2 record – earned its first-ever NCAA tournament win
last Saturday, a 3-2 double overtime victory over No. 3 Dartmouth
in Hanover. The win propelled the Eagles into the NCAA’s “Frozen
Four” national championship series. BC will meet University of Minnesota-Duluth (22-10-4) in a semifinal game in Lake Placid, NY, at 8
p.m. on Friday. The game will be televised nationally by CSTV.
Men’s ice hockey (24-11-1) will once again compete for the
Hockey East championship, meeting long-time rival Boston University (20-8-9) in a HE semifinal game at 8 p.m. on Friday at the TD
Banknorth Garden. The game will be televised on NESN.
—Reid Oslin
T he B oston C ollege
Chronicle
march 15, 2007
AROUND
CAMPUS
Old language, new era der to deliver. They’ve taken to the
Sandra S. Young, associate director of the African and African Diaspora Studies Program, spoke with (L-R)
freshmen John Proper, Karyn Hollister and Brian Jacek at the Feb. 28 “Professors and Pastries” event in
Gasson 100, which focused on cultural diversity. Students talked with faculty, staff and administrators about
academic, volunteer, service and other opportunities to broaden their horizons. (Photo by Lee Pellegrini)
Excellence personified
Their ranks include the likes
of University Historian and Boston expert Thomas O’Connor
’49 MA ’50; US State Department Undersecretary for Political
Affairs R. Nicholas Burns ’78;
Blenda J. Wilson PhD ’79, first
president and CEO of the Nellie Mae Foundation; US Marine
Corps General John J. Sheehan
’62 ; blind mountain climber,
teacher and wrestling coach Erik
Weihenmayer ’91; Pierre-Richard
Prosper ’85; and Kathleen Hickey
Barrie, NC ’72, designer of the
International Spy Museum.
Those are just some of the
past recipients of the Boston College Alumni Association’s annual
Alumni Awards of Excellence,
which honor outstanding BC
graduates.
Nominations are now being
accepted for the 2007 Awards of
Excellence that will be presented
this fall. The Alumni Association Awards committee is seeking
the names of graduates who have
distinguished themselves in any of
the following fields: arts and humanities, commerce, education,
‘QUOTE/UNQUOTE’
health professions, law, public service, religion and science.
In addition, the Alumni Association each year presents the
William V. McKenney Award to
recognize an outstanding alumnus
and the Young Alumni Award of
Excellence which honors a person
who has graduated in the past 10
years.
Information and on-line nomination forms are available at www.
bc.edu/friends/alumni/awards.
html
Nominations are due by April
1.
—RO
Weathering the Change in Climate — Geological and Political
Climate and weather events
used to be topics that stayed
largely in the domain of science,
but in recent years have become
the stuff of sociopolitical controversy. Asst. Prof. Amy Frappier (Geology and Geophysics),
however, plans to stay scientific when she presents “Katrina
and Climate: Is There A Link
Between Hurricane Hazards
and Global Climate Change?
A Geological Perspective,” on
March 28 from 8-10 p.m. at
Weston Observatory.
Frappier says her talk will
touch on global warming and
its connection to Atlantic hurricane activity, as well as the
scientific debate on the subject,
but also will offer a long-term,
geological perspective, using her
expertise in paleotempestology
— the study of ancient storms.
Nonetheless, Frappier says,
it’s impossible to avoid recent
events when the subject is hurricanes. “The Katrina disaster
is important to address when discussing hurricanes with members
of the public, because that storm
— while not particularly strong at
landfall — reminded people in a
very emotional way how destructive extreme weather events can
be to vulnerable individuals and
institutions.” While paleotempestology can
contribute to scientifically assessing the natural hazard side of risk,
she says, in the case of Katrina
the social sciences are also fundamental. “In the aftermath of the destruction of New Orleans, it became clear that the disaster was
more a function of human failures
rather than directly caused by the
storm itself. In this sense, the cost
in lives and dollars of the Katrina
disaster can serve as a wake-up
call to reduce our vulnerability to
natural hazards.”
Despite the highly charged undertones, Frappier says she doesn’t
find it particularly difficult to pres-
ent these subjects in a scientific
manner. The debate in scientific circles, she says, is no longer
whether the climate is warming
or whether people play a role in
causing that change: Instead, the
focus is more on the climate system’s sensitivity to continuing
greenhouse gas emissions, the
differing impacts from region
to region and understanding the
risk from abrupt climate changes
and extreme events.
“The political controversies
— what to do about climate
change, what to do about New
Orleans — are questions that
the earth and environmental sciences can help to inform. They
can provide critical analysis of
risk and the relative efficacy of
some proposed solutions.”
The observatory is located at
381 Concord Road in Weston.
Frappier’s talk is free, but reservations are required. Call ext.28300 or e-mail weston.observatory@bc.edu.
—SS
This time of year is famous — or
notorious — for bringing out everyone’s inner Hibernian, but to some
Boston College students Irish Gaelic
is something more than the ubiquitous St. Patrick’s Day toasts of “Erin
Go Bragh.”
That’s because Aibhistin O Coimin, an Irish-language teacher at
Wesley College in Dublin, is on the
Irish Studies Program faculty this
academic year, thanks to an Irish
government initiative promoting the
study of the ancient language. In collaboration with the Fulbright program, last fall Ireland began sending
Irish-speaking teaching assistants to
American universities, and BC was
one of the first four to participate.
“Teaching Irish to BC students is an absolute pleasure,” says
O’Coimin, who is teaching Introduction to Modern Irish, which focuses on developing conversational
and compositional skills and the
ability to read Irish prose. “Since the
beginning, I’ve been bowled over by
their enthusiasm. They are hungry
to learn and I feel that I have to be
on top of my game everyday in or-
language like ducks to water, which
doesn’t surprise me given their dedication.”
O’Coimin gives his students
simple Irish language poems “that
every Irish school child will have
learnt at some point or another,” as
well as catchy songs “which allow us
to escape from some of the more demanding grammar.” The class also
regularly watches programming on
line from the Irish language TV
station TG4 — “everything from
a documentary film on the Irish in
France to an Irish language dating
program.”
When he returns home, says
O’Coimin, he’ll miss “the drive of
the BC students to learn a difficult
language one that is not their own,
that they may never get to use practically but that’s beginning to grow on
them for one reason or another.”
As an added bonus to the BC
community, O’Coimin offers a
greeting that will come in handy this
week: Beannachtai na Feile Padraig
libh go leir (“Happy St. Patrick’s Day
to you all”).
—SS
The Boston College
Spotlight for Fr. Skehan
He’s already had a half-billion-year-old undersea invertebrate
named after him, but Prof. Emeritus
James Skehan, SJ (Geology and
Geophysics) found this most recent
tribute a particularly heartfelt one.
Fr. Skehan, who founded BC’s
original Department of Geology
and served for 20 years as director
of the Weston Observatory, was
the subject of a special symposium
at this week’s annual meeting of
the Geological Society of America
Northeastern Section, held March
12-14 at the University of New
Hampshire.
The all-day March 12 symposium, “Rev. James Skehan, SJ —
Geologist, Teacher, Mentor, Priest:
A Jesuit Journey,” featured presentations by colleagues — including
fellow BC geologists Weston Observatory Director Prof. John Ebel
and Prof. J. Christopher Hepburn
— and former students of Fr. Skehan. Some of the talks highlighted
Fr. Skehan’s contributions to the
field, while others provided an overview of current research associated
with Fr. Skehan’s work.
“I was very surprised and delighted when I found out this symposium had been organized,” said
Fr. Skehan, who in 2003 became
the namesake for Skehanos, which
was coined by a paleontologist for a
genus of trilobite.
“The geologists who made the
presentations are people I’ve known
for many years, and who are working on geology in many corners of
the world. This was a wonderful
honor.”
—SS
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
Lauren Piekarski
Kathleen Sullivan
Photographers
Gary Gilbert
Lee Pellegrini
The Boston College Chronicle
(USPS 009491), the internal newspaper for faculty and staff, is published
biweekly from September to May by
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at the Office of Public Affairs, 14
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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
march 15, 2007
Five BC Faculty Net NSF Honors
By Greg Frost
Staff Writer
Five junior Boston College faculty are receiving prestigious earlycareer awards from the National
Science Foundation this year, a
milestone that puts Boston College among the ranks of top-rated
national research institutes.
The five — Asst. Prof. Steve
Bruner (Chemistry), Asst. Prof.
Vidya Madhavan (Physics) Asst.
Prof. David Martin (Computer
Science) Asst. Prof. Noah Snyder
(Geology and Geophysics) and Clare
Booth Luce Assistant Professor of
Computer Science Stella Yu — have
earned NSF’s Faculty Early Career
Development (CAREER) awards,
which carry substantial grants designed to recognize and support
promising young teacher-scholars.
Vice Provost for Research Kevin
Bedell noted that until this year, BC
faculty had received a total of five
CAREER awards over the previous
12 years – and never more than two
in a given year. Previous winners include Prof. Marc Snapper (Chemistry) and Assoc. Prof. Gail Kineke
(Geology and Geophysics).
“This is a sign of great faculty
appointments that foretells of even
greater things to come. It’s a significant achievement both for the
individual professors and for BC,
as it puts us in the company of
major national research institutions
like Stanford, MIT and Princeton,”
Bedell said.
“It’s truly a reflection of the quality of our faculty and the increased
emphasis we as an institution are
Photos by Lee Pellegrini
placing on research and education.”
Together, the five professors are
garnering $2.5 million in NSF CAREER funding, to be distributed
over the next five years.
•Asst. Prof. Steve Bruner (Chemistry) will receive $575,000 for his
Madhavan
Bruner
study of the intricate way in which
plants and microorganisms produce
molecules used in therapeutic drugs.
Bruner’s research program uses an
interdisciplinary approach, including structural biology and synthetic
organic chemistry, to study the protein machines responsible for the
biosynthesis of natural products.
A detailed understanding of these
systems at the molecular level will
enable the rational engineering of
these systems and will facilitate the
development of more effective and/
or novel medicines.
•Asst. Prof. Vidya Madhavan
(Physics) will receive $500,000 for
her study of “spin,” a property that
electrons exhibit in addition to their
charge. Spin is the microscopic,
quantum mechanical analog of a
classical, macroscopic magnet. It’s
a property scientists hope will lead
to a new generation of semiconductor-based electronic devices – spintronics – that use both the charge
and spin of the electron. Spintronic
devices are expected to carry information on both the charge and spin
channels, making them faster and
requiring less current.
•Asst. Prof. David Martin
(Computer Science) will receive
$500,000 over five years for his
work on bringing “visual intelligence” to computers by building
software that can view an image and
react intelligently to its content. For
that to happen, machines need to
understand what they are looking
at – and that is no easy task given
the conscious and unconscious processes that let human beings quickly
and easily process visual information. Specifically, Martin is working
on finding a universal “mid-level”
representation of visual information
that is between the low-level dots
(or pixels) of an image and the highlevel conscious experience that most
human beings have.
Yu
Snyder
Martin
how ongoing and future changes
(such as reforestation, stream restoration, fish reintroduction, and dam
removal) will affect channel shape
and habitat. Student research teams
will conduct research in the field,
and Martin plans to share results
and recommendations with government land-management officials
and watershed restoration non-profit
groups.
•Asst. Prof. Noah Snyder (Geology and Geophysics) will receive
around $430,000 — the exact
amount will be finalized this spring
— to investigate the history and
physical processes of several rivers
in northern Maine that are host to
the last remaining populations of
wild Atlantic salmon in the United
States. Snyder hopes to understand
•Clare Booth Luce Assistant Professor in Computer Science Stella
Yu will receive $500,000 for her
interdisciplinary work in art and
vision. In studying how computers
might be instructed to interpret
three-dimensional images, Yu will
examine the ways artists have organized pigments on two-dimensional canvas to evoke the sense of a
three-dimensional scene for viewers.
She hopes that studying these artistic techniques will lend insights
into the computation of recovering
scene layout from pixels.
Carroll School Gains in National Survey
Boisi Forum on Religion, Free
Expression, Journalism March 24
The Carroll School of Management placed 14th in the BusinessWeek annual survey of US undergraduate business schools, which
was released last week.
CSOM, which rose from last
year’s 23rd place ranking, finished
behind the University of TexasAustin Red McCombs School of
Business and ahead of the KenanFlager Business School at the University of North Carolina-Chapel
Hill.
The University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School ranked first
in the survey, followed by the
University of Virginia McIntire
School of Commerce, the University of California-Berkeley Haas
School of Business, Emory University’s Goizueta Business School
and the University of Michigan
Ross School of Business.
The BusinessWeek rankings are
based on five areas of measurement, including a poll involving
more than 80,000 business majors
at schools across the nation and
undergraduate recruiters. Other
factors considered were starting
salaries for graduates; the number of graduates who went on to
top MBA programs; and an academic quality rating that included
SAT scores, faculty-student ratios,
student services and the school’s
The complex interplay between religious freedom, free expression
and journalism will be the subject of a daylong conference hosted by
Boston College on Saturday, March 24.
“Blasphemy, Free Expression and Journalistic Ethics” will feature
two panel discussions, one comprised of local religious leaders representing Christian, Jewish and Muslim faiths, the other of journalists
and editors who cover the religion beat for national media outlets.
Among other topics, the conference will look at the question of
whether religious communities should support hate speech legislation,
and the news media’s reporting of the clergy sexual abuse scandal and
of Islam and global terrorism.
The event, which takes place in Higgins 300, also will include a
keynote speech, “The Lively Experiment: Why Religious Freedom
Requires the Right to Offend,” by Charles Haynes, a senior scholar at
the First Amendment Center.
Also offering remarks will be Erik Owens, assistant director of the
Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life, which is sponsoring the conference with the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning,
Jesuit Institute, Boston College Magazine, and the Winston Center for
Ethics and Leadership.
Panelists for the event will be: Imam Talal Eid, founder and director of religious affairs for the Islamic Institute of Boston; American
Jewish Committee Greater Boston Chapter Executive Director Larry
Lowenthal; Rev. Edward M. O’Flaherty, SJ, director of the Office of
Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs for the Archdiocese of Boston;
and Eastern Nazarene College Associate Professor of Religion Rev. Eric
Severson. Center for Christian-Jewish Learning Executive Director
Philip Cunningham will be the panel moderator.
Also participating will be Gustav Niebuhr, associate professor of
religion and the media at Syracuse University, and reporters Michael
Paulson of the Boston Globe, Hanna Rosin of the Washington Post and
Monica Brady-Myerov of WBUR-FM. Moderating the discussion will
be Soterios Zoulas, an associate professor of communication arts at
Eastern Nazarene College.
For more information, see the Boisi Center Web site, www.bc.edu/
boisi.
—Office of Public Affairs
BusinessWeek Rankings
of American Undergraduate
Business Schools for 2007
1) University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)
2) University of Virginia (McIntire)
3) UC Berkeley (Haas)
4) Emory University (Goizueta)
5) University of Michigan (Ross)
6) MIT (Sloan)
7) Notre Dame (Mendoza)
8) Brigham Young University (Marriott)
9) New York University (Stern)
10) Cornell University
11) Georgetown University (McDonough)
12) Villanova University
13) University of Texas-Austin (McCombs)
14) BOSTON COLLEGE (Carroll)
15) UNC at Chapel Hill (Kenan-Flagler)
16) Washington University (Olin)
17) Wake Forest University (Calloway)
18) Indiana University (Kelley)
19) USC (Marshall)
20) Lehigh University
physical facilities.
The Carroll School earned
“A+” grades in teaching quality
and job placement categories and
an “A” rating in facilities and services. “Alumni and professors love
helping find jobs,” noted the BusinessWeek report, “making BC’s
campus networking an invaluable
resource.”
“We are pleased about the
rankings, of course,” said Carroll
School Dean Andrew Boynton,
“but most important is that they
reaffirm to all of us that striving
each day to create an outstanding undergraduate education that
shapes the whole person is what
Boston College is about.
“These excellent rankings combined with the excitement we have
about the undergraduate student
at Boston College give testimony
to the creativity and energy that
the entire Carroll School faculty,
staff, and increasingly, engaged
alumni, have brought to bear on
the undergraduate management
program at BC,” Boynton said.
CSOM was one of only two
New England undergraduate
management programs to earn a
place in the BusinessWeek top 25
ranking; Massachusetts Institute
of Technology’s Sloan School of
Management was sixth. Five other
Atlantic Coast Conference schools
– University of Virginia (No. 2),
University of North Carolina
(15), Wake Forest University (16)
and University of Maryland (30)
— placed at the top of BW’s 93school listing.
The BusinessWeek story on undergraduate business schools is available online at www.businessweek.
com/bschools/undergraduate/.
—Reid Oslin
T he B oston C ollege
Chronicle
march 15, 2007
Decades Later, A Degree
Continued from page 1
liams, who did return to BC last
January.
This spring, McWilliams is slated to graduate from CSOM, finally
completing the degree in finance
that he started all those years ago.
“Education is more valuable to
me now than it was 30 years ago
— it’s just where I was at the time, I
have to be honest about that.”
McWilliams admits to some rebelliousness in his earlier days that
contributed to his walking away
from his formal education.
“I was not the most socially adjusted kid. But I’ve learned that you
make mistakes in your life, you deal
with consequences, you own them
and you move on,” he said.
McWilliams, who retired in
2001 to spend time with his young
son and wife, may have made his
share of mistakes, but apparently
not in his professional life. When
he was working at the specialist firm
Spear, Leeds & Kellogg Specialists,
LLC during the summer of 1975
for $100 per week, senior managers quickly recognized his special
gift for calculating large columns of
numbers in his head, a valuable skill
in an era when transactions were
calculated with paper books, before
the rise of computers in trading.
“I had a knack for running numbers in my head,” said McWilliams,
who was working as a a front-line
trading assistant by the end of that
summer, something that was rare
for a person of his little experience.
The rest is history. In the ensuing years McWilliams would go on
to become a partner in two firms
and cover major institutional investors in New York, Chicago and
Boston. In the late 1980s he started
his own venture and bought a seat
on the floor of the New York Stock
Exchange. After walking away for
a short while to travel around the
world, he moved to San Francisco
and took a position with an investment bank where he worked during
the halcyon days of the late 1990s
bull market.
“I have fallen uphill in life, and
have taken advantage of opportunities and been in the right place at
the right time,” said McWilliams.
McWilliams’s family relocated
to the Greater Boston area two years
ago as his son enrolled in a local
private school. The close proximity
caused McWilliams to consider calling CSOM Associate Dean Richard
Keeley to inquire about returning to
Boston College — and he received
an answer that was as gratifying as it
was surprising.
“I couldn’t believe I was given
the chance,” says McWilliams. “I
guess you are part of this community for life.”
Despite all his experience in the
fast-paced, high-energy world of
Wall Street trading, the return to
the classroom has been full of challenges for McWilliams.
“I can calculate a lot of numbers
in my head, but if you haven’t
taken algebra in 30 years you’re going to make a lot of mistakes,” he
laments.
The hardest adjustment, said
McWilliams, is learning how to
work in group projects with younger students.
“After having been a partner and
executive in several companies, the
dynamic is definitely different than
it was years ago.” But, he says, “everyone is so accepting, and people
defer to each others’ strengths.”
McWilliams said one lesson
learned on Wall Street was that, to
be successful you need to surround
yourself with intelligent people. At
BC, he says, it’s easy to do after
taking classes with the likes of some
outstanding faculty members like
Adj. Lect. Michael Barry (Finance),
Prof. Carlo Rotella (English) and
Prof. Amy Lacombe (Accounting),
to name just a few.
“The other students are in awe
of John,” says Barry. “He brings
something to every class that they
wouldn’t normally get – he has a
different perspective.”
McWilliams, in turn, says that
while he was very successful as a
trader, BC faculty know much more
about finance than he ever will.
McWilliams’ advice to some of
his classmates is to not follow in his
footsteps as the world in general and
Wall Street in particular requires
formal education.
“I think when you don’t have
an education you have chip on
shoulder and try to prove others
wrong,” he said. “That will only get
you so far – and it’s not really possible now.”
Bodine to Discuss Iraq March 29
Barbara Bodine, the former United States ambassador to Yemen who
later served as an administrator in the
US reconstruction of Iraq, will present a talk, “Cassandra’s Curse, Pandora’s Box: The Lessons and Legacy
of Iraq,” on March 29 at 5:30 p.m.
in Devlin 008.
Now retired from the Senior Foreign Service, Bodine spent much
of her 30-year diplomatic career in
the Middle East and the Arabian
Peninsula. She was ambassador to
Yemen from 1997-2001, a period
that included the terrorist attack on
the USS Cole, and served as deputy
principal officer in Baghdad during
the Iran-Iraq War and, in 1990, as
deputy chief of mission in Kuwait
during the Iraqi invasion and occupation.
In March 2003, she was appointed as coordinator for post-conflict
reconstruction for Baghdad and the
central governorates of Iraq, returning to the State Department that
summer.
In addition to receiving the Secretary of State’s Award for Valor
for her work in occupied Kuwait,
Bodine’s honors at the Department
of State include the Secretary’s Career Achievement Award and the
Distinguished Service Award.
Bodine’s appearance is sponsored
by the Middle Eastern and Islamic
Studies Program. For more information, e-mail baileyk@bc.edu.
—Office of Public Affairs
LONG DAY’S JOURNEY—
Students going on spring
break service trips gathered
on March 3 on the plaza
outside Corcoran Commons
to embark on buses to more
than 30 destinations, from
Wilmington, Del., to Hattiesburg, Miss.
Photos by Frank Curran
Undergrad Applications Top 28,000
Continued from page 1
13 percent increase in applications
to the Carroll School of Management, which also saw a sizeable
increase a year ago.
The popularity of business
schools rises and falls with the
economy, which affects how students see management careers,
Mahoney said.
“The stock market has performed solidly, major investment
firms are hiring and BC has wonderful ties on Wall Street,” said
Mahoney. “We have also been favorably reviewed by publications
like BusinessWeek [see story on
page 3]. All of these factors contribute to the rising stock of the
Carroll School.”
Mahoney noted that the spike
in applications at BC has been
experienced at colleges and universities across the country, reflecting a demographic trend that
is expected to subside within a
few years.
“Everybody at our level — the
Ivies, elite highly competitive
schools, private universities — is
up five to 10 percent in applications. We are experiencing much
of the same thing everyone else is.
The rising tide has lifted all boats,”
said Mahoney. “The number of
18 year-olds is on an upswing and
has been since 1992, it will peak
in 2009 and, after that, will level
off and decline.”
The upward trajectory of application numbers has created
a “vicious circle” of admissions
pressure at higher caliber schools,
said Mahoney: The competitive
and selectivity at such institutions
compels students to apply to more
schools, thereby further increasing
the competition right down the
ladder.
“Ten or 15 years ago if I was
giving a talk to a group of high
school students and heard of a kid
applying to 10 schools I would
say, ‘That’s too many.’ Today, I
can’t in good conscience do that.
They really do have to cover their
bases. In this climate there are
fewer automatics,” he said.
Boston College will notify
applicants at the end of March
whether or not they have been
accepted. Students offered admission have until May 1 to make up
their minds.
“It looks like we will be enrolling a terrific Class of 2011,”
Mahoney said.
Nobel Laureate to Visit
Chemistry Department
Richard R. Schrock, a winner of the 2005 Nobel Prize in
Chemistry and a professor at
the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, will deliver a series
of lectures this month at Boston
College as the Chemistry Department’s University Lecturer.
Schrock will deliver one lecture a day from March 21-23.
Each lecture will take place at 4
p.m. in Merkert 127.
Schrock is no stranger to BC,
having shared a close working
relationship for the past decade
with Joseph T. and Patricia
Vanderslice Millennium Professor of Chemistry Amir Hoveyda, who is also the department
chair.
Hoveyda called Schrock “one
of the world’s foremost influential scientists” and said his upcoming lectureship was particularly special because of the pair’s
longstanding
collaboration,
which has been funded since
1999 by a joint National Insti-
Richard R. Schrock
tutes of Health grant. The collaboration has resulted
in the publication of nearly 40
research papers in top journals
and a new class of catalysts called
Schrock-Hoveyda catalysts that
are sold commercially.
For more information on
Schrock’s visit, contact ticchi@
bc.edu or see events.bc.edu.
—Greg Frost
T he B oston C ollege
Chronicle
march 15, 2007
HEIGHTS
OF
EXCELLENCE
Photo by Lee Pellegrini
Seeing the Vision Through
For more than a decade, GSSW’s Kevin Mahoney has led a major effort to
improve care for the elderly and disabled. Now comes the biggest challenge yet
“Heights of Excellence” profiles faculty members who,
through their exemplary teaching and research, contribute
to the intellectual life of Boston College
By Sean Smith
Chronicle Editor
and has more energy than any 12 people in a room
combined. But perhaps his most important quality
is his ability to listen to people, really listen, and to
see all sides of a picture. That’s incredibly important
for an undertaking like Cash & Counseling.”
At BC, one person in particular has a unique
perspective on Mahoney: his sister Ellen, an associate professor in the Connell School of Nursing.
She tells of a studious, loving big brother whose
soft-spoken demeanor belies his ability to command
attention and respect — and who isn’t above pulling a surprise, such as the time he delighted the
audience watching him accept an award from the
Gerontological Society of America by bursting into
a Garth Brooks song.
“Kevin is so engaging,” she says, “and people not
only like him, they trust him.”
Foment: to instigate or foster; promote the growth or
development of.
“Foment” is a favorite word of Prof. Kevin Mahoney (GSSW), and with good reason. While he
may not be out on the streets inciting revolution,
for the past decade he’s spearheaded a populist, consumer-directed initiative that represents a significant
turn in American health care.
As Mahoney sees it, elderly and disabled Americans receiving Medicaid should decide how to meet
their personal care needs, rather than face the limits
of conventional home health care. The Cash &
Next step for C&C
Counseling (C&C) program, of which he is national
These are heady days for Cash & Counseling,
program director, does just that — lets the consumer
the
flagship program in the Graduate School of
determine what care they need and want, and who
Social
Work’s Center for the Study of Home and
will give it to them, whether a professional, a friend
Community
Life (of which Mahoney is also direcor a family member.
tor).
The
recent
federal Deficit Reduction Act has
Since the program first began in 1995, it has been
made
it
easier
for
states to introduce a C&C option,
piloted successfully in three states and is now being
opening
the
possibility
that more will follow suit.
implemented in a dozen more. Along the way, C&C
Meanwhile,
C&C
cites
several studies showing its
has drawn praise from policymakers, social service
effectiveness:
C&C
programs
do not cost substanprofessionals, advocates for the elderly and disabled
tially
more
than
traditional
personal
care services
and, most of all, from those who have taken part in
via
a
state-contracted
home
care
agency,
and they
it.
improve
delivery
of
personal
care
services
to
particiHaving a vision is one thing, carrying out is
pants,
the
majority
of
whom
report
significant
imanother, especially on a grand scale that is growing
provement
in
their
lives,
a
trend
also
found
among
ever larger. In the world of health care and social
primary caregivers.
services, the reward for trying
To be sure, C&C is
to implement an initiative like
not
without its probCash & Counseling includes
lem
areas, as even its
dealing with worker’s compensaproponents
acknowltion guidelines or tax laws, for
edge.
Federal
and state
example, and myriad other necofficials
raise
questions
essary details.
about
the
qualifications
While Mahoney is by no
for workers the consummeans in this all by himself —
ers hire under C&C, or
and is quick to credit the many
whether paying family
who make C&C possible — it is
caregivers will lead them
his name at the top of organizato provide less care for
tion, and in good times or bad he
free, and there are unreis the C&C go-to guy, as well as a
solved issues concerning
prominent national figure in the
the Internal Revenue
home care approach. Colleagues
Service’s guidelines and
and friends laud Mahoney’s tempolicies for reporting tax
perament and patience in keeppayments on the working focused on the big picture,
ers consumers hire.
and above all, embodying the
Mahoney and others
compassion that C&C upholds
believe,
however, that
as its hallmark.
momentum
is build“I’ve always found him an afing
behind
C&C.
“You
fable person, able to work with
have
to
prove
it’s
a
valid
many different stakeholders,”
option,
and
I
think
it’s
says Robyn Stone, executive diclear
we
have,”
says
Marector for the Institute for the Mahoney discusses Cash & Counseling with Medicaid adminhoney. “The challenge
Future of Aging Services, a pol- istrators in 2004. Says a colleague: “There are a lot of logistics
in
managing
a
program
like
C&C,
which
involves
both
state
is to move on from the
icy research institute within the
and federal governments. You have to be able to compromise,
pioneer states, the early
American Association of Homes avoid adversarial relationships, sell the program well in a way
believers, and continue
and Services for the Aging.
that’s positive — and still be able to achieve your goals. Kevin
to build support. That
“There are a lot of logistics in can do that, no question.” (Photo by Gary Gilbert)
means you get a whole
managing a program like C&C,
new
set
of
questions
as
you
figure out how to make
which involves both state and federal governments.
this
a
sustainable
system.
But
I find it exciting.”
You have to be able to compromise, avoid adversarial
relationships, sell the program well in a way that’s
From the heart
positive — and still be able to achieve your goals.
Personal experience isn’t always a reliable indiKevin can do that, no question.”
cator
of where one’s professional interests lie, but
Lori Simon-Rusinowitz, a faculty member at the
Kevin
Mahoney has a special insight into the twin
University of Maryland Department of Public and
pillars
of C&C’s focus — the elderly and persons
Community Health, research director of the Cash
with
disabilities
— he says has been important in
and Counseling Demonstration and Evaluation
his
work.
Project, and long-time collaborator with Mahoney,
Both his sons, Jay and Rob, have struggled with
says: “Kevin is incredibly bright, attentive to detail
Mahoney believes the Cash & Counseling
program he directs could play a key role
in helping elderly and disabled Americans
receiving Medicaid get the care they need
and want. “You have to prove it’s a valid
option, and I think it’s clear we have.”
physical and developmental problems. Rob, the
younger, had pediatric epilepsy resulting, at age 10,
in the removal of his right temporal lobe and hippocampus. As Mahoney notes, the doctor said Rob
would never be able to read. But 12 years after the
operation, Rob passed his driver’s test and now has
his own car.
Yet Mahoney points out that Rob, for all the progress he has made, faces issues shared by many people
with disabilities. His transition to legal adulthood
meant an end to the latticework of federal or state
educational, vocational and financial programs that
had provided him support during his youth. So he
and the family have to grapple with a maze of agencies to find a job, suitable housing and social supports
that adequately serve his needs.
Similarly, Mahoney can look within his own
family for a role model of what might be called “successful aging”: his Grandma Mahoney, who lived to
be 102. Kevin and Ellen Mahoney fondly recount
her predilection for games like Scrabble or checkers,
where she displayed a loving but no-nonsense approach (“She played it straight — she wouldn’t let
the grandkids win,” says Ellen. “She showed a lot of
respect in that way, and that’s why everyone loved
her.”) A former schoolteacher and a widow for more
than 30 years, Grandma Mahoney took a keen interest in current affairs and thought her grandchildren
should do the same.
“She’d send me a clipping of something she’d read
in the news and would say, ‘Look into this,’” says
Kevin. Adds Ellen, “And you can be sure she’d check
to make certain he did.”
When she was 100, Grandma Mahoney moved
to assisted-living quarters, a decision that Ellen Mahoney says was a tough one for the family — and to
an extent unknown at the time: “My father thought
it was the best thing he did for her. But a friend told
us later that she had said it had been the best thing
she did for him.”
Says Kevin, “Obviously, we are not the only family who has had a child with special needs, or an
elderly relative requiring assistance. But quite truthfully, some of the most important things I learned
were from what we’ve gone through.”
Meaningful though they may be, family experiences only go so far in preparing one for negotiating
the waters of health care policy and programs. Then
again, as Ellen Mahoney describes it, her brother
while growing up would exhibit the kind of fascination for detail that would turn out to be useful later
Continued on page 8
T he B oston C ollege
Chronicle
march 15, 2007
Postings
TIAA-CREF sessions available
Representatives from TIAA-CREF will
be on campus to hold one-on-one counseling sessions with participants in
401(K) and 403(b) retirement plans.
The meetings will take place in More
Hall on April 12 and 20, May 22, and
June 12 and 13. To make an appointment, go to www.tiaa-cref.org/moc or
call 1-800-842-2004 and ask to speak
with Pearl Ajayi.
BU Communication Dean speaks
on news media
The Communication Department will
present a lecture by Boston University
College of Communication Interim
Dean Tobe Berkovitz, “ News U Can
Use, From O’Reilly to ‘Oh Really?’ How
The Media Food Chain Works To Deliver News, Information and Junk,” on
March 21 at 6:30 p.m. in Higgins 300.
Berkovitz, a professor of advertising
at BU for almost two decades, has
worked for 30 years as a political
consultant and appears regularly in the
press commenting on popular culture,
the media and politics.
For more information, contact the
Communication Department at ext.24280.
Bioethics Commission head to
appear March 22
Edmund Pellegrino, MD, chairman
of the President’s Council on Bioethics, will present this year’s LaBrecque
Medical Ethics Lecture, “Bioethics and
Catholic Conscience,” on March 22 at 7
p.m. in Cushing 001.
Dr. Pellegrino has authored or coauthored 24 books and more than 550
published articles, and is founding
editor of the Journal of Medicine and
Philosophy. He also is a member the International Bioethics Committee of the
United Nations Education, Scientific
and Cultural Organization.
The LaBrecque Lecture is sponsored
by the Philosophy Department. For
more information, e-mail kellynm@
bc.edu.
Exhibition organizers discuss
Belgian art
The McMullen Museum of Art will
sponsor a panel discussion, “A New
Key: Modernism’s Other Voices,” on
March 22 that will serve to complement its current exhibition “A New
Key: Modern Belgian Art from the
Simon Collection.”
Exhibition curator Prof. Jeffery Howe
(Fine Arts) and several contributors to
the catalog for “A New Key” will speak
at the event, which will be held at 8
p.m. in Devlin 101. The museum will
be open for extended hours after the
discussion.
For more information, see www.
bc.edu/artmuseum, call ext.2-8100 or
e-mail artmusm@bc.edu.
Romero Scholarship Award
Ceremony is March 24
The Annual Archbishop Oscar A.
Romero Award Ceremony will be held
March 24 at 8 p.m. in the Murray Room
of the Yawkey Athletic Center.
Highlighting the event will be the presentation of the Romero Scholarship to
a Boston College junior who best represents the ideals and values of Archbishop Romero, an activist for the poor
in El Salvador who was assassinated
in 1980. The scholarship covers 75 percent of senior year tuition. There will
be food, dancing, and performances.
For more information see www.
bc.edu/romero, call ext.2-1996 or email bcromero@bc.edu.
A Scholar In Search of Bridges
Gasson Professor sees
liturgy as providing
critical connections
to real-life issues
By Reid Oslin
Staff Writer
Keith Pecklers, SJ, this year’s
holder of the Gasson Chair in
Theology at Boston College, is
widely recognized as one of the
foremost authorities on Catholic
liturgy in the world.
But Fr. Pecklers, who has lived
and worked in Rome since 1992
as professor of liturgy at the Pontifical Gregorian University and
professor of liturgical history at
the Pontifical Liturgical Institute
of Sant’Anselmo, prefers to think
of his calling in far simpler terms.
“It’s all about ‘bridge-building,’” he says. “I see my own role
that way as a Jesuit, always looking for bridges: to people, to concerns, to other things. The liturgy
is the bridge.
“My basic premise about liturgy is that it needs to connect to
life and real-life issues. You can go
to church and fulfill an obligation,
but what if what we do in church
doesn’t impact upon, for example, ethical issues, social outreach,
ecumenical religious concerns, the
Church in the future?” he asks. “If
we are not asking those questions
within the liturgical field, then
there is something wrong with the
picture.”
The Thomas I. Gasson, SJ,
Chair, the University’s first endowed professorship, was established in 1975 with a gift from the
Jesuit Community. It supports a
distinguished Jesuit scholar’s visiting professorship in any discipline
at the University.
As Gasson Professor, Fr. Pecklers has applied his extensive
“bridge-building” skills accordingly. “What I have tried to do
with the Gasson Chair is to be as
engaged as possible in my limited
time here, and to use the chair to
sponsor projects that push forward
some issues that might be helpful
to the University or a chance to
make some connections.”
This approach is reflected in
several events Fr. Pecklers has
helped organize while at BC. One
is an upcoming discussion on
March 20 with Nella Cassouto, an
Israeli woman, and Ali Abu Awwod, a Palestinian man, both of
who have lost family members to
violence. The event, which takes
place at 4:30 p.m. in Gasson 305,
also features Thomas Fitzpatrick,
SJ, director of the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Jerusalem.
Fr. Pecklers has also helped arrange for an April 17 campus visit
by Cardinal Godfried Daneels of
Brussels, who will deliver the Jesuit Institute’s annual Canisius
Lecture. “Cardinal Daneels is one
of the most prominent Cardinals
in the church in terms of his courage in speaking out on all kinds of
issues,” Fr. Pecklers says.
In cooperation with the BC
Center for International Human
Rights and Social Justice, Fr.
Pecklers is co-sponsoring an April
26 lecture by Rafael Luciani, director of theology at the Catholic
University Anres Bello in Caracas,
who will speak on “The Socialist Revolution of Hugo Chavez
and the Future of the Venezuelan
Church.”
Last fall, he co-sponsored a
lecture and panel discussion on
recent developments involving the
WELCOME ADDITIONS
•Adj. Asst. Prof. Thomas P. Miles
(Philosophy)
PhD, University of Texas at Austin
Research Interests: Ethics, 19th
century philosophy
Courses: Philosophy of the Person
I and II
Among his many teaching and
scholarship honors, Miles was
twice named the University of
Texas Philosophy Department’s
“Outstanding Teacher” and received a grant from the DanishAmerican Fulbright Foundation
to study at the Soren Kierkegaard
Research Centre in Copenhagen.
A graduate of Yale University, he
holds a master’s degree in philosophy from Cambridge University
in England, where he also taught.
Miles has lectured on a variety of
course topics, including biomedical ethics, contemporary moral
problems and introduction to
Western philosophy.
•Prof. James P. Morken (Chemistry)
PhD, Boston College
Research Interests: Development
of new catalysts for chemical reactions, especially for construction
of stereochemically complex molecules
Courses: Advanced Organic Synthesis
Morken taught at the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill from 1997-2005 following
a stint as a postdoctoral fellow at
Harvard University. An alumnus
of the University of California at
Santa Barbara — as an undergraduate he worked as an analytical chemist for a local analytical
services firm — Miles studied for
his doctorate in chemistry at Boston College under the direction of
Vanderslice Professor of Chemistry Amir Hoveyda. His honors
include the Astra-Zeneca Excellence in Chemistry Award and the
Bristol-Myers Squibb Award in
Synthetic Organic Chemistry, as
well as a DuPont Young Professor
Grant.
Gasson Professor Keith Pecklers, SJ, is co-organizing a discussion on
March 20 involving an Israeli and a Palestinian who have lost family
members to violence. (Photo by Gary Gilbert)
Roman Catholic religion with Anglicans and Methodists.
“Somebody might ask, ‘What
does liturgy have to do with
that?’” he says. “I think that kind
of question – looking at ecumenical relations, looking at some of
those issues – that a liturgy person
would sponsor that is important.”
“In my own Gasson Lecture, I
tried to raise some of these same
sorts of questions and concerns
about where we are heading as a
church 40 years after Vatican II,
and what role does the liturgy play
in some of that?”
In between his duties at Boston
College, Fr. Pecklers has delivered
lectures on Catholic liturgy in the
21st century at several college campuses and in November returned
to Rome where he helped organize
the Archbishop of Canterbury’s
historic visit to the Vatican.
He also is a frequent commentator on Catholic liturgy and
Church affairs for ABC television
and other networks.
“In Rome, they seem to think
that I am on ‘sabbatical’ over
here,” he laughs, “just reading
books and sitting in a library all
day.
“I have been extremely impressed with Boston College on
all sorts of levels,” Fr. Pecklers
says. “On the level of the Church,
I have been extremely impressed
by the great seriousness, as a Jesuit
University, the whole mission is
taken on the part of the administration and how that plays out in
all the different ways throughout
the University – retreats, social
outreach, all parts of the Jesuit approach to education and the way
people are formed. Boston College has taken a leadership role.”
•Asst. Prof. Laura M. O’Dwyer
(LSOE)
PhD, Boston College
Research Interests: International
comparative studies and the effects of organizational characteristics on individual outcomes;
school organizational characteristics and technology
O’Dwyer, in addition to teaching in the Lynch School’s Department of Educational Research,
Measurement and Evaluation, is a
senior research associate in LSOE’s
Center for the Study of Testing, Evaluation and Educational
Policy. Her current activities include collaborating on a nine-state
e-learning initiative funded by the
US Department of Education’s
“Ready to Teach” grants program.
O’Dwyer, who holds degrees from
the National University of Ireland,
also is working on several other
research studies involving school
systems in Louisiana, Maine, Wisconsin and eight school districts in
Massachusetts.
•Asst. Prof. Gergana Yordanova
(CSOM)
PhD, University of Pittsburgh
Research Interests: Consumer behavior
Course: Marketing Principles
Yordanova, a graduate of the
American University in Bulgaria,
studies consumers’ self-control
and decision-making abilities and
the factors that influence them,
particularly in such areas as dieting and money management. Her
research has been presented at
major marketing conferences such
as the Association for Consumer
Research, the society for Consumer Psychology and Marketing Science. While pursuing her
doctorate at Pittsburgh she taught
principles of marketing and consumer behavior, and last summer
led a course in consumer psychology at the Chicago School for
Professional Psychology.
—Reid Oslin
“Welcome Additions,” an occasional feature, profiles new faculty
members at Boston College.
T he B oston C ollege
Chronicle
march 15, 2007
PEOPLE
•Adj. Assoc. Prof. Rev. Richard
McGowan, SJ (CSOM), was interviewed for a front-page story in the
Los Angeles Times about declining
sales for California’s state lottery.
•Center on Aging and Work CoDirector Assoc. Prof. Marcie PittCatsouphes (GSSW) was quoted
by the Los Angeles Times regarding
corporate preparation for America’s
aging workforce. The piece was also
pulished in the Chicago Tribune,
among other news outlets.
•Academic freedom and government authority in Hong Kong
were the subjects of an op-ed piece
co-authored by Monan Professor of
Higher Education Philip Altbach
and published in the South China
Morning Post. He was also quoted
by The Chronicle of Higher Education in two stories addressing US
education institutions expanding
into India.
•Church in the 21st Century Center Director Tim Muldoon was
quoted by the Dallas Morning News
for a story about a new bishop for
•Honorable David S. Nelson
Professorial Chair Dr. Anderson J.
Franklin told the Bay State Banner
about his research on the emotional and psychological stability of
African Americans.
•Carroll School of Management
Corporate and Government Affairs
Executive Director Peter Rollins,
the organizer of the popular Boston College Chief Executives Club,
was profiled in the Boston Globe.
•United Press International interviewed Prof. Thomas Seyfried
(Biology) on new research showing
that a high-fat, low-carbohydrate
diet designed to treat epileptic children may also fight brain cancer.
•Prof. Joellen Hawkins (CSON)
received the Nicholas A. Cummings Annual Award, given each
year to a National Academies of
Practice member who has made
enduring professional contributions and whose contributions to
the community are of an outstanding caliber.
Grants
•Kearns Professor of Education
Mary Walsh: $2,500, City of
Boston, “Violence Prevention
– Program & Evaluation.”
Honors/Appointments
•Asst. Prof. Benjamin Howard
(Mathematics) has been awarded a
Sloan Research Fellowship.
•Assoc. Prof. Victoria Crittenden
(CSOM) and graduate student
Eric Schaeffer ’07 co-authored
“Litigation in the Pharmaceutical
Industry: The Impact on Marketers,” which was presented at the
Association for Marketing and
Health Care Research conference
in Wyoming. The paper won the
Best Paper award in the student/
faculty co-authorship category.
Moot Court by defeating a team
from Harvard Law School and
was undefeated in all six arguments they faced in the competition held recently in Washington,
DC. Jessup Moot Court is an
international competition run by
the International Law Students
Association and the American Society of International Law. Over
500 teams compete across the
world in various locations.
•Asst. Prof. Paula Mathieu
(English) has won the 2007 Rachel
Corrie Courage in the Teaching of
Writing Award.
•A team of Boston College Law
students won the Northeast Regional Championship of Jessup
Nota Bene
Center for Christian-Jewish Learning Executive Director Philip A.
Cunningham and Associate Director Rabbi Ruth Langer were among
those honored on March 11 at the South Area Solomon Schechter Day
School’s Chaijinks 2007 “Building Interfaith Bridges” celebration.
At the event, which took place at Congregation Mishkan Tefila in
Chestnut Hill, they received the Lester Gilson Community Service
Award.
The program showcased the work of the center in bringing the
highest quality academic rigor to researching and teaching about the
encounters between Christians and Jews through the centuries and to
building enhanced understanding between Christians and Jews.
Prof. Lisa Feldman Barrett (Psychology) was one of three recipients
of the Cattell Sabbatical Awards for 2007-08. The awards, sponsored
through the James McKeen Cattell Fund provide support for the science and the application of psychology.
The Northeastern Association of Graduate Schools Graduate selected
Prof. Peter Weiler (History) for its Faculty Teaching Award and Prof.
Christopher Wilson for the Geoffrey A. Marshall Mentoring Award.
Center on Aging and Work Co-Director Assoc. Prof. Marcie PittCatsouphes (GSSW) was invited to speak at the US Senate Special
Committee on Aging hearing “The Aging Workforce: What Does it
Mean for Businesses and the Economy?”
Special Assistant for University Development Rev. Edward Hanrahan, SJ, greets
Robert Sherwood at a party held last month to honor Sherwood, who recently
stepped down after 20 years as dean for student development to take a new role
with Alumni Affairs.
Time and a Half
•Seelig Professor in Philosophy Richard Kearney presented
“Narrative, History, Fiction,”
at University of Amiens, France
and “Hermeneutics of Narrative:
Between History and Story” at the
National University of Ireland,
Dublin.
Walsh
•Drucker Professor of Management Sciences Alicia Munnell,
director of BC’s Center on Retirement Research: $123,110, Prudential Foundation, “Working Longer:
Advancing Public Understanding
and Discourse.”
•Monan Professor of Higher Education Philip Altbach: $76,125,
Ford Foundation, “Transitional
Grant Proposal Towards Higher
Education in Africa.”
•Prof. Zhifeng Ren (Physics):
$15,000, Teledyne Scientific &
Imaging, LLC, “Growth Aligned
Carbon Nanotubes.”
•Prof. John Michalczyk (Fine
Arts): $11,286, various donors, “St.
Ottilien Orchestra Documentary;
$1,000, Foundation for Moral
Courage, “Gulag Documentary.”
Publications
•Volunteer and Service Learning
Center Director Daniel Ponsetto,
served as Coordinating Editor for
the recently published Saint Mary’s
Press College Study Bible.
•Center on Wealth and Philantho-
•Assoc. Prof. Mary Ann Hinsdale, IHM (Theology), presented
“Communicative Theology:
Maintaining Dialogue in the
Catholic Church” at John Carroll
University’s Institute for Catholic
Studies.
py Director Prof. Paul Schervish
(Sociology) penned a companion
guide for reflection on the new
feature film “The Ultimate Gift.”
•Asst. Prof. Jonathan Laurence
(Political Science) gave a series of
speeches in Berlin on intercultural
dialogue and Islam in Europe to
the European Union Workshop
on Integration, the German-Jewish Dialogue and the Transatlantic
Dialogue on Muslims in Europe.
IREPM to Host
Workshop on
Religious Violence
The Institute of Religious
Education and Pastoral Ministry will sponsor a workshop,
“Responding to the Roots of
Religious Violence and Fostering Hope for Religious Peacebuilding,” from 9 a.m.-3 p.m.
on March 24 in Higgins 263.
R. Scott Appleby, a history
professor who is the John M.
Regan Jr. Director of the Kroc
Institute at the University of
Notre Dame, will be the presenter at the event, which will
examine the roots of religious
violence by looking at religious
involvement in contemporary
conflict, and the potential of
religious peace-building efforts
such as mediation by religious
groups and efforts to promote
inter-religious and intra-religious dialogue.
For more information,
call ext.2-8057 or e-mail
lambmb@bc.edu.
File photo
•Institute for Religious Education
and Pastoral Ministry Director
Prof. Thomas Groome (Theology)
discussed an upturn in fundraising success for the Archdiocese of
Boston with The Boston Globe.
the Dallas diocese.
File photo
Newsmakers
•Drucker Professor of Management
Sciences Alicia Munnell, director of BC’s Center on Retirement
Research, was quoted by Newsday
and the Chicago Tribune regarding
Americans’ retirement security, and
by the Baltimore Sun for a story on
the risks baby boomers face when
they expect to rely on an inheritance to fund their retirement.
Sister Hinsdale
•Assoc. Prof. Bruce Morrill, SJ
(Theology), presented “Miraculous
Responses to Trauma: Liturgy,
Piety, and the Mass Media” at
the annual meeting of the North
American Academy of Liturgy in
Toronto.
Jobs
-Health Services Aide, University
Health Services -Administrative Assistant, Lynch
School of Education
-Editorial Assistant, Psychology
Department -Physics Research Technician,
Physics Department -Staff Assistant, University Advancement -Teacher, Children’s Center
-Administrative Assistant, Carroll
School Of Management, Corporate and Government Affairs -Head Librarian, Social Work
Library -Personnel Officer, Human Resources -Asst. Director, Stewardship,
Donor Relations
For more information on employment at Boston College, see www.
bc.edu/bcjobs
T he B oston C ollege
Chronicle
march 15, 2007
LOOKING AHEAD
READINGS • LECTURES •
DISCUSSION
March 15
•“Regensburg and Beyond: Pope
Benedict and Religious Freedom”
with Robert Arujo, SJ, Pontifical
Gregorian University, 3:15 p.m.,
Law School, Newton Campus,
East Wing Room 120, email:
desmonca@bc.edu
•Annual Prophetic Voices of the
Church Lecture” with Rev. Professor Peter J. Gomes, Harvard University, 7:30 p.m., Heights Room,
Corcoran Commons, call ext.21860, email: richarsh@bc.edu.
•“Be Fabulous: Lessons from the
Life of Sylvester, Queen of Disco”
with Joshua Gamson, University
of San Francisco, 8 p.m., Fulton
511, email: ennissa@bc.edu.
March 16
•“Two Modernisms, Two
Thomisms: Reflections on the
Centenary of Pius X’s Letter
against the Modernists” with F.
Russell Hittinger, University of
Tulsa, buffet dinner and discussion follow. RSVP: ext.2-4144,
email: geesh@bc.edu.
March 19
•“Achieving Bipartisanship: The
Challenge for National Leadership, 9:30 a.m., Law School, East
Wing Room 115, email:frenchj@
bc.edu.
•Turning Points In Irish History
Lecture Series: “Choosing to Kill,
1919-1927: The Milestone of
Revolution?” with Anne Dolan,
Trinity College, Dublin, 4 p.m.,
Connolly House, email: elizabeth.
sullivan.3@bc.edu.
March 20
•“Matters of Life and Death: Religion and Law at the Crossroads,”
9 a.m., Law School, East Wing
Room 120, email: kenyonn@
bc.edu.
call ext.2-2680, email: ernesto.
livon-grosman@bc.edu.
•Film: “Daens” 8 p.m., Devlin
026, call ext.2-8100, email: artmusm@bc.edu
•“The Shape of Things” by Neil
LaBute, directed by Matthew Cullinan ’07, through March 17, 8:30
p.m., Bonn Studio, Robsham
Theater, call ext.2-4002, email:
marion.doyle.1@bc.edu.
The documentary “Cartoneros,” by BC’s
Ernesto Livon-Grosman, will be shown
tonight at 7:30 p.m. in Devlin 008.
•“Celts, Scots, Danes, and the formation of literatures in English”
with Cairns Craig, University of
Aberdeen, 3 p.m., Haley House,
call ext.2-3938, email: elizabeth.
sullivan.3@bc.edu.
•Lowell Humanities Series: Reading by Jonathan Lethem, 7:30
p.m., Gasson 100, call ext.23705, email: paul.doherty.1@
bc.edu
March 21
• “The Discovery and Development of High Oxidation State
Catalysts for the Metathesis of Alkenes and Alkynes with Richard
R. Schrock, F.G. Keyes Professor
of Chemistry at MIT and 2005
Nobel Laureate, 4 p.m., Merkert
127, email: wallactb@bc.edu
MUSIC • ART • PERFORMANCE
March 15
•Baldwin Awards Film Festival,
6 p.m., Cushing 001, call ext.24576, email: thebaldwins@bc.edu
•“Cartoneros” followed by Q&A
with director Assoc. Prof. Ernesto
Livon-Grosman (Romance Languages), 7:30 p.m., Devlin 008,
March 17
•“Composers in Red Sneakers:
Duets” 8 p.m., Gasson 100, call
ext.2-6004, email: concerts@
bc.edu.
• BC bOp! Presents: “Major
League bOp!” 8 p.m., Robsham
Theater, call ext.2-3018, email:
bands@bc.edu.
March 18
•Music At St. Mary’s: “Planctus
Mariae” 3 p.m., Gasson 100,
call ext.2-6004, email: concerts@
bc.edu.
March 19
•Center for Human Rights and
International Justice Film Series:
“Prelude to Kosovo” with postfilm discussion led by Prof. John
Michalczyk (Fine Arts) and Prof.
Cynthia Simmons (Slavic/Eastern
Languages), 7 p.m., Higgins 300,
email: kingei@bc.edu
March 20
•Film: “Maria Full of Grace” 4:30
p.m., Campion 139, part of the
Center for Human Rights and
International Justice film series,
“The Meaning of Home: Migrant Lives through Film” email:
kingei@bc.edu.
ONGOING EXHIBITIONS
•“A New Key: Modern Belgian
Art From the Simon Collection”
McMullen Museum, through July
Red Sneakers to Gaelic
Roots, Music All Around
Every so often, the Boston College campus calendar absolutely overflows with musical events — and that’s certainly the case over the next two
weeks. A sampling:
*This Saturday at 9 p.m. in Gasson 100, Composers in Red Sneakers
— a group co-founded by Prof. Thomas Oboe Lee (Music) to promote
the work of young composers on the way to significant careers — will
present “Duets,” a concert with Eduardo Leandro (marimba) and Yeon-Su
Kim (violin) performing works by Delvyn Case, Tim Doosenbury, Howard Frazin, Ezra Laderman, Lansing McCloskey and Gunther Schuller.
*Same night, same time, the University’s popular jazz ensemble BC
bOp! presents “Major League bOp!” in Robsham Theater. The event,
which celebrates the group’s 20th anniversary year, also — as its title suggests — is a salute to the upcoming baseball season. In fact, to help promote the concert, BC bOp! group printed up baseball cards with pictures
of ensemble members in classic baseball poses.
*On Sunday, the “Music at St. Mary’s” series welcomes Cappella Clausura, which will perform “Planctus Mariae,” a liturgical drama on Jesus’
death from the point of view of the three Marys. The concert takes place
at 4 p.m. in Gasson 100.
*BC student tunesmiths will have a chance to show off their music at a
singer/songwriter competition sponsored by the Music Guild and the Undergraduate Government of Boston College March 23 in the Chocolate
Bar, beginning at 7 p.m.
*Gasson 100 will be the setting at 4 p.m. on Sunday, March 25, for
a piano recital by part-time faculty member Sandra Hebert (Music),
who will perform works by Bach, Rachmaninoff, Brahms and Whitman
Brown.
*Soprano Katherine Weiss ’04 will return to her alma mater on March
26 at 5:15 p.m. in Gasson 100 for a concert of compositions by Barber,
Chausson, Liszt, Rorem and Schubert. She will be accompanied by pianist
Alla Katchan.
*The next night, March 27, the student group United in Christ will
hold a “Night of Praise and Coffeehouse” as part of their “Jesus Week”
celebration. The event, which will take place from 8-10 p.m. in the Voute
Hall third floor lounge, promises worship music, coffee and cookies.
*The Gaelic Roots Music, Song, Dance, Workshop and Lecture Series
will wrap up its 2006-07 schedule on March 28 with a concert at 7 p.m.
in Connolly House by Jerry O’Sullivan, a gifted and well-respected player
of the Irish uilleann pipes. O’Sullivan has won acclaim for maintaining
the historic traditions and melodies of the instrument while expanding its
range into new genres of music and media.
Information on all these events is available at events.bc.edu.
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.
(Newton Campus) 5 p.m. and 9
p.m., St. Ignatius Church, Lannon
Chapel - Lower Church, 9 p.m.,
Heights Room, 10:15 p.m., St.
Mary’s Chapel (Spanish Mass)
7:30 p.m.
WEEKLY MASSES
• St. Joseph Chapel (Gonzaga
Hall – Upper Campus) 5 p.m.
and 9 p.m.; Trinity Chapel
For more on BC campus events,
see events.bc.edu or check BCInfo
[www.bc.edu/bcinfo] for updates.
Mahoney Ready to Take Cash & Counseling Program to Next Step
Continued from page 5
on: watching TV coverage of a
Democratic convention, for instance, or touring the Gettysburg
battlefield.
“Kevin is one of those people
who can make history captivating
— he gives great tours of Concord
and Lexington,” says Ellen. “He
absorbs details and relates them in
a way that’s helpful and interesting.”
Perhaps Kevin Mahoney’s most
far-reaching youthful activity was
his participation on the Boston
College High School debate team,
which amounted to some 15,000
miles of travel and countless hours
boning up on any number of
topics and issues. One debate, he
notes, concerned the proposition,
“Social Security should be extended to include complete medical
care for the elderly” — a topic
he would argue in the affirmative
well past BC High.
“Debating was a lot of fun,”
says Kevin. “But it also was good
training for researching and thinking on your feet. I think it came in
quite handy.”
Says Ellen (who remembers
their mother timing his speeches
as he practiced them), “It’s the
kind of experience that can give
you a lot of self-confidence. You
have to take a stand and be convincing.”
Diplomat, educator
In Mahoney’s Haley House office is a sign: “Irish diplomacy is
the ability to tell a man to go to
hell so that he actually looks forward to the trip.” It would be difficult to ascertain how frequently,
if at all, and in what form or to
what degree Mahoney might have
had to employ to such an approach in the course of his work
with C&C.
way to do that is to see and hear
But Mahoney has had plenty for yourself. In particular, if a
of opportunity to make use of his state is struggling for some reason,
diplomatic, analytical and forensic I’ll make a point of going there.”
talents. In the past 18 months, for
Mahoney brings all these qualinstance, he’s made site visits to ities to GSSW, ably fulfilling a
24 C&C-affiliated
role that, for all
programs in various
his work with
In Mahoney’s Haley
states, and spoken at
C&C, colleagues
House office is a sign:
numerous national
say should not
and state hearings
“Irish diplomacy is the be overlooked:
on C&C matters, in
as educator, and
ability to tell a man
addition to internain some ways a
tional travels — into go to hell so that he proselytizer in
cluding to Hong
the realm of agactually looks forward ing and elderly
Kong [“I’ve spent
three unplanned
issues, an aspect
to the trip.”
overnights at airof social work
ports already this
that is taking on
year”].
increased impor“Every state’s sittance. In fact,
uation, their politics, their culture, Mahoney’s experience provides
their delivery system, is different,” valuable backdrop for his courses,
he says. “You have to know what such as this semester’s class on
you’re dealing with, and the best Research Methods: For one recent
session, he invited Ellen to discuss
her studies on problems and strategies involved in bathing patients
with Alzheimer’s.
Mahoney believes a focus on
gerontological social work is vital
for the future needs of the profession, to say nothing of society itself. “There are still so many MSW
candidates who come in interested
in working with children,” he explains. “The students who want to
work with elders tend to be those
who have already had experience
with them. So, perhaps what we’re
doing through the center, and
C&C, will spark more interest in
aging issues among people considering human and social services
careers.
“One thing is for sure: Given
the growth we’ll be seeing in our
elderly population over the next
decade or so, there’ll be plenty
of need for creative, dedicated
people.”