The Boston College
Chronicle
february 15, 2007-vol. 15 no. 11
Use of New Technology
in Teaching On the Rise
WebCT to wikis,
more BC faculty are
embracing technology
By Stephen Gawlik
Staff Writer
A BANNER NIGHT—La Giostra, a troupe from Sulmona, Italy, presented a program of medieval dances and
songs as well as exhibitions of sword fighting and flag throwing on Feb. 6 in the Vanderslice Hall Cabaret
Room. The event was sponsored by BC’s Italian Club. (Photo by Suzanne Camarata)
AT A GLANCE
Undergraduate Research
Symposium debuts (page 3)
Swimmers don’t water down
their exercise (page 4)
Reaching Out, Making
the BC Connection
Campus events
underscore value of
alumni networking
events was nearly 300 students.
Administrators and event organizers note that alumni networking opportunities are plentiful on campus — for example,
the Career Center also sponsors
networking events with alumni in
the science, communications and
arts fields — and with good reason: They affirm Boston College
as a university whose alumni develop keen professional and personal insights worth sharing with
the next generation of graduates.
“These programs might involve high-level executives, or
simply people who made a successful transition from college to
By Reid Oslin
Staff Writer
COMING UP@BC
TONIGHT: Eavan Boland
reads her poetry, 7:30 p.m.,
Connolly House
TONIGHT, FRIDAY: BC vs.
Maine, Conte Forum
FRIDAY: “Rewind to Remind,”
Chinese, Korean culture show,
7 p.m., Robsham Theater
SATURDAY: BC vs. UNC,
9 p.m., Conte Forum
See page 8 for more, or
go to events.bc.edu
Continued on page 4
Frank Curran
Heights of Excellence:
Judith Vessey (page 5)
Boston College’s growing
emphasis on alumni-assisted
networking to aid future grads’
career plans was in the spotlight
last week, with two high-profile
events taking place on campus
the same night.
On Feb. 6, six alumni executives representing a variety of
career fields in the technology
industry came to the Corcoran
Commons Heights Room for
a panel presentation and small
group discussions on future employment options, sponsored by
the Boston College Technology
Council in cooperation with the
Carroll Graduate School of Management Career Strategies Office
and the University’s Career Center.
A short distance away, in the
Yawkey Center’s Murray Room,
the Council for Women at Boston
College welcomed 25 female former BC student-athletes — also
reflecting a wide array of career
paths — to speak with their current undergraduate counterparts.
The Technology Council
event was open to MBA students
as well as upperclassmen from
all undergraduate schools, while
female junior and senior studentathletes attended the Council of
Women presentation. The combined turnout for the networking
Angela Crowder ‘96, a former BC women’s basketball player now with Fidelity Investments, spoke with current BC
student-athletes at “Eagles2Eagles,”
sponsored by the Council for Women of
Boston College.
Chalkboards and printed textbooks are still very much a fact of
academic life, but new technologies are playing an increasingly significant role in teaching at Boston
College, according to University
administrators.
In 2001, only two percent of
courses employed some type of
new technology — such as Webbased audio-visual materials — to
enhance the educational experience
of BC students. Now that figure is
more than 60 percent, says Associate Academic Vice President for
Technology Rita Owens, who estimates that more than 95 percent of
all BC students are taking classes in
which the faculty member utilizes
new technology.
“Technology in teaching is now
woven into the fabric of Boston
College and it’s here to stay,” she
said. “BC faculty members are
adapting so many new technologies
into teaching that it has becoming
part of the culture.”
Owens and other administrators
credit faculty members for their
willingness to take the lessons and
instruction they have spent careers
cultivating and deliver them in
new and creative ways, using such
technology as content digitization,
social networking and real-time
feedback systems. For example:
•Biology Assoc. Prof. Clare
O’Connor’s Genetics course employs a “personal response system,”
in which students use a device similar to a television remote control
to log answers to multiple-choice
questions she poses on a projected
image from her computer to a large
screen at the front of the room.
A receiver registers each student’s
response and immediately tallies
the results that are revealed after all
students respond.
•For his Computers in Management course, Asst. Prof. Gerald
Kane (CSOM) makes use of wikis
— Web sites that allow visitors to
easily add, remove, and otherwise
edit and change available content
– and requires teams of students to
develop their own wikis based on
Continued on page 4
Fathers’ Involvement Is
Focus of LSOE Researchers
Fathers who do not live with
their children nevertheless can play
a key role in helping them avoid
delinquent or destructive behavior,
according to a new study by Lynch
School of Education researchers.
The study, which appears in
the January/February issue of the
journal Child Development, found
that when nonresident fathers are
involved with their adolescent children, the youths are less likely to
be caught up in drug and alcohol
use, violence, property crime, and
school problems such as truancy
and cheating.
Assoc. Prof. Rebekah Levine
Coley and LSOE doctoral candidate Bethany Medeiros, the study’s
authors, looked at a representative
sample of 647 youths who were 10
to 14 years old at the start of the
study and their families — who
lived in Boston, Chicago and San
Antonio — over a 16-month period, gathering information from
the adolescents and their mothers.
The families were primarily African-American and Hispanic, and
most lived in poverty.
Taking into consideration adolescents’ demographic and family characteristics, the researchers
found that when nonresident fa-
thers were involved with their children, adolescents reported lower
levels of delinquency, particularly
among youth who showed an early
tendency toward such behavior.
Coley and Medeiros found that
adolescent delinquency did not
lead fathers to change their involvement over the long term. But
in the short term, as teens engaged
in more problem behaviors, fathers
increased their involvement, suggesting that nonresident fathers
may be getting more involved in
an effort to stem their children’s
delinquency.
This finding was most prevalent
in African-American families and
contrasts with the pattern in twoparent, middle-class, white families,
where parents often pull away and
become less involved in the face of
adolescent delinquency.
“Nonresident fathers in lowincome, minority families appear
to be an important protective factor for adolescents,” said Coley.
“Greater involvement from fathers
may help adolescents develop self
control and self competence, and
may decrease the opportunities
adolescents have to engage in problem behaviors.”
Continued on page 4
T he B oston C ollege
Chronicle
february 15, 2007
AROUND
CAMPUS
“Voices” carry
Four student groups performed at the Battle of the Bands, sponsored by the Undergraduate Government of Boston
College, on Feb. 7 in Lyons Hall’s “The Rat.” (Photo by Frank Curran)
Eagles abroad
Boston College alumni, faculty, staff, students and friends can
get an education while they visit
other parts of the world, thanks
to the Alumni Association’s newly
launched Travel Learning Program.
Through the program, selected
BC faculty members will act as
guides for travel groups, offering
their insights and expertise on the
destination’s culture and history.
Starting off the program will
be “Village Life in the Dordogne,” from April 12-20, with Prof.
Ourida Mostefai (Romance Lan-
Return of the Chariots
In what has turned into a successful and fun annual tradition,
students from Boston College will
face off Feb. 27 against students
from the Massachusetts Hospital
School in a sled hockey game,
proceeds of which will benefit the
sled hockey program at the Canton school for children and young
adults with disabilities.
Connell School of Nursing students will join members of BC’s
women’s ice hockey team to play
guages) leading a tour through
France’s picturesque southwestern
region and its prehistoric caves,
medieval castles and charming village squares.
Also on tap for 2007 are excursions to Rome with Prof. Franco Mormando (Romance Languages), the Danube River region
with College of Arts and Sciences
Honors Program Director Marc
O’Connor and Ireland, Greece
and Turkey with Alumni Chaplain Rev. William McInnes, SJ.
“This is an exciting venture
that has been favorably received
by our alumni and friends,” says
the Chariots, Massachusetts Hospital School’s sled hockey team.
The annual contest, which began
in 2004, will take place at 6 p.m.
in Conte Forum.
The Massachusetts Hospital
School provides medical, rehabilitation, recreational and educational services to children and
young adults with disabilities. All
proceeds from the evening will
benefit the Chariots. In addition
to the game, the event will feature
raffles and a bake sale. Donations
Alumni Association Director of
Travel and Special Projects Gail
Darnell. “Plans for 2008 are already under way. We hope to host
both domestic and international
itineraries with a variety of price
points. I’m exploring the potential for trips that include spiritual
journeys, culinary tours, cultural
experiences, service opportunities
and more.”
Darnell adds that she welcomes
destination ideas and can be contacted at gail.darnell@bc.edu. For
more on the Travel Learning Program, see www.bc.edu/friends/
alumni/travel.
—SS
will also be accepted. Tickets for
the event are $10, $5 with a BC
ID.
Since its inception, the BC sled
hockey game has raised more than
$6,000 for the Chariots to fund
new equipment, tournament participation and accommodations
for players attending out-of-state
tournaments.
For more information about
the event or making a donation,
contact Nanci Peters at 617-7335199 or via e-mail at nanci.peters.2@bc.edu.
—KS
Vincent and Mary Alice Stanton
browse selections at the Feb. 9 opening reception for the McMullen Museum of Art exhibition “A New Key:
Modern Belgian Art from the Simon
Collection.” A public celebration
of the new show was held Tuesday
night. (Photo by Frank Curran)
Boston College playwrights will
seize the stage at Robsham Theater Feb. 21-25 for “New Voices
2007,” the second presentation of
original one-act plays written by
BC undergraduates.
This year’s productions are “No
Child Left Behind” by Megan
Green ’08 and “The Storykeeper”
by senior Patricia Noonan, both
of whom already have some experience in staging their works:
Green had a 10-minute play included in last May’s Boston Theater Marathon, an annual event
organized by the Boston Playwrights Theater which involves
professional companies from all
over New England; Noonan,
meanwhile, has had a short play
of her own performed at the prestigious Kennedy Center American
College Theater Region I Festival
(KCACTF).
“These two women are not
only great writers, but also accomplished actors with major roles in
campus theater productions yet to
come this semester,” says Assoc.
Prof. Scott T. Cummings (The-
That lovin’ feeling?
Valentine’s Day has come and
gone, leaving thousands of loving
hearts gladdened. But the theme
of an upcoming BC Art Club exhibition seems to suggest that all
this romance in the air might just
be clouding our better judgment.
“Lust and Heartbreak” opens
Feb. 27 in the Bapst Library Art
Gallery, featuring student works in
a variety of mediums, from paintings to photography to sculpture,
that “focus on the dangers of passion and intimate love,” according
to club officials.
“It’s a response to Valentine’s
Day,” explains Danielle Ralic ’09,
public relations director for the
Art Club. “Now that the roses
have faded and the chocolates
have been eaten, the harsher realities of intimacy show their true
colors.”
There will be a reception to
mark the exhibition opening
from 5-7 p.m. Refreshments will
be served — but no word as to
whether these will include leftover
candy hearts.
—SS
Correction: Survey
Story Headline
The headline for the Feb.
1 Chronicle front page story
on two recently completed
surveys of the University
community should have read:
“Employee, Student Surveys
Show Overall Satisfaction
with BC.” Chronicle regrets
the error.
ater), who will direct the shows.
“Their two plays share a similar
theme. Both are centered on
families, but they are very different in tone and style: ‘No Child’
is more of a biting comedy, while
‘Storykeeper’ is more of a lyrical
drama.”
Cummings notes that the two
plays in the first “New Voices”
production, “Swimming After
Dark” by Emily Dendinger ’05
and “Zoe” by Richard Lawson
’05, were later restaged at the regional Kennedy Center festival.
“These productions of original
student work are part of a blossoming playwriting community
at BC,” he adds. “At the recent
KCACTF Region I festival, three
out of the six plays showcased
were by BC student playwrights:
Patricia, Ian Stoker-Long ’07 and
Aimee Delaporta ’09. And later this semester, a small campus
group called After Hours Theater
will produce a late-night evening
of 10-minute plays.
“There’s a lot going on with
new plays around here and it gets
very exciting.”
—SS
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
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
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www.bc.edu/chronicle.
T he B oston C ollege
Chronicle
february 15, 2007
University Holds First Undergraduate Research Symposium
By Greg Frost
Staff Writer
More than 40 Boston College
students participated in the University’s first annual Undergraduate Research Symposium Feb. 2,
showcasing their research projects
in a series of film, poster and panel
presentations.
Provost and Dean of Faculties
Cutberto Garza saluted the creativity, initiative and hard work
of the student-presenters in his
welcoming remarks.
“Individually, you represent
among the best at Boston College and are wonderful examples
of why Boston College alumni
are so often welcomed throughout the world,” Garza said. “Collectively, you are yet even more
inspiring because of the depth and
the breadth that is evident in your
talents, and in the commitment
that you have to make the world a
better place.”
Among the student participants
in the symposium was Kristin
Knopf, a senior who has served
as an undergraduate research fellow for Asst. Prof. Angela Amar
(CSON). Knopf, whose research
project focused on depression,
spirituality and social networks
among black female college stu-
dents, said her experience at BC
has demonstrated the value of research to the nursing profession.
“Coming in as an undergraduate I didn’t realize the importance
of research to nursing,” Knopf
said. “But through its emphasis on
evidence-based practice, BC and
the Connell School have prepared
me well for graduate work.”
Many of the presenters were
recipients of Advanced Study
Grants or had their work selected
for publication in Elements, BC’s
undergraduate research journal,
the University’s bioethics journal
Ethos, or Dialogue, Boston College’s academic essay journal.
Prof. Donald Hafner (Political
Science), who organized the symposium with the help of University
Fellowships Administrator Linda
Mackay, credited the pioneer spirit
of those involved in the event and
called it a major success.
“It points to the real importance of getting undergraduates
connected to the research experience early in the game,” Hafner
said, adding that planning was
already underway for next year’s
symposium.
The event also served as a recruitment tool for prospective BC
students who have been given early-action admission into the Col-
Connell School of Nursing senior Kristin Knopf discusses her project with a group of prospective students at the Feb. 2 Undergraduate Research Symposium. (Photo by Kris Brewer)
lege of Arts and Sciences Honors
Program. Many of those students
were visiting campus the day of the
symposium, and Hafner estimated
that at least a third of audience
members at the various sessions
were early-action students.
Adj. Prof. Mark O’Connor,
director of the A&S Honors Program, said he was impressed not
only by the range of topics presented – from global poverty to
Campus Energy Conservation Update
University Looks to Build
on Successful Campaign
A competition that encourages
undergraduate residents to reduce
electricity usage and a state-of-theart control system that uses the
Internet to help monitor building environmental conditions are
two of the latest components of
Boston College’s ongoing conservation effort.
A year after the campaign’s
successful debut, through which
the University saved close to $2
million, BC administrators are
at work implementing new programs and technologies to help
reduce energy consumption, ease
pollution and save money.
“There are a number of reasons
to conserve including avoiding
costs and therefore allowing us to
spend more directly on academic
or student programs, and being
good stewards of our environment,” said Executive Vice President Patrick Keating.
Energy conservation, Keating
adds, is a challenge for an institution like BC, which owns approximately 6.5 million square feet of
space in 128 different buildings
that range from residential-style
houses to sophisticated laboratory
and teaching environments.
“The energy situation is different in each of the facilities. In
the long run we intend to invest
in equipment and systems that
will increase the efficiency of our
energy use and allow us to reduce
costs.”
Administrators warn that the
University community needs to
remain vigilant about energy con-
sumption, so as to build on — and
not jeopardize — the gains made
last year.
“Over the past two months
we’ve used more electricity than
we did at this time last year,” said
Utilities Manager Deirdre Manning. “Lower energy prices and
the warm winter may have made
people a little more complacent.
The sense of urgency is no longer
there.”
Manning reiterated some of
the more common, and effective,
energy conservation measures:
turning off computers at night,
shutting down monitors, switching off unused lights and unplugging unused cell phone chargers.
“Seemingly small tasks when
replicated by thousands of people
on campus every day really make
a difference,” she said.
BC’s energy campaign will get
a boost today when the University
reprises last year’s successful competition to promote conservation
among students living on campus. Residence halls will compete
against each other to see which
group can incur the lowest percentage of electricity usage on a
per student basis through April
15. New meters that were installed in every campus residence
hall provide data on how much
electricity is being used and when,
said Manning.
Last year’s contest, held on
Newton Campus, was won by
Hardey-Cushing residence hall,
which cut usage by nearly 11
percent.
“We believe that more students
will want to help us conserve
once they are aware of the impact
their usage has on the environment,” said Manning, noting that
a screening of the documentary
“An Inconvenient Truth” last fall
drew crowds of several hundred
students.
Meanwhile, the implementation of an Internet-based system
that allows managers to get climate readings in every campus
building is underway. The “direct
digital control” system — now in
use in about half of the campus
buildings — allows facilities managers in St. Clement’s Hall to get
a real-time graphic representation
of the floor plan of any building as
well as a status report that includes
a climate reading.
In addition, new lighting to
be installed shortly in McGuinn
and Campion halls will reduce
energy consumption by 45 to 50
percent, improve color rendition
and increase illumination. The
500,000 kWh conserved each year
is the equivalent of 661,260 lbs of
avoided greenhouse gases. A similar project undertaken
in the campus parking garages resulted in increased lighting quality
and a 40 percent drop in electricity usage — the equivalent of taking 48 passenger cars off the road,
said Manning.
–Stephen Gawlik
the Classics to teen bullying – but
also by the number of professors
from different schools within BC
who turned out.
“This kind of event that draws
the various faculties together this
way is itself a terrific plus for BC,”
he said.
Former AVP Neuhauser
to Lead Saint Michael’s
Lee Pellegrini
Former Academic Vice President and Dean of Faculties John
J. Neuhauser, currently a University Professor at BC, has been
appointed president of Saint Michael’s College and will assume
his new position effective July 1.
Neuhauser, who also served
for 22 years as dean of the Carroll School of Management, will
be the 16th president of Saint
Michael’s, a liberal arts residential Catholic college in Colchester, Vt.
“While I very much look forward to the new challenge of
Saint Michael’s, leaving Boston
John J. Neuhauser
College will be the hardest thing
I have ever done,” said Neuhaus- barrier in each of Neuhauser’s
er last week. “My friends and five years, and saw an increase
my kids are largely in the area in prestigious post-graduate feland this is an institution I have lowship awards to BC students
spent a lifetime coming to know. — including the University’s
One just does not pick up stakes first-ever Rhodes Scholarship
and head out of town. Most winners in 2003.
As CSOM dean, Neuhauser
of what I have learned — and
some would say not much —I’ve was credited with raising the unlearned on these old stones from dergraduate program to top-40
faculty, administrators and staff, status among American business
for all of whom I have great af- schools and recruiting distinguished faculty members — infection and respect.
“It has been a great blessing cluding Alicia Munnell, Edward
to be able to walk across campus Kane and Wayne Ferson — to
and always know a person com- hold endowed chairs. He is also
ing in the opposite direction, to credited with helping to establish
find myself at an alumni event the Boston College Chief Execuand have had a large number of tives’ Club, recognized as the top
the individuals in class, even to speaking club for business execuattend a budget committee meet- tives in the United States.
Neuhauser first came to Bosing with old and wise friends in
attendance. I’ve learned a lot ton College in 1969 as an assistant professor of computer
here; I hope it is enough.”
During Neuhauser’s tenure as science, and held several posiAVP from 1999 to 2005, BC tions within CSOM. He was the
strengthened its place among the founding chair of the Computer
top 40 national universities as Science Department and became
ranked by US News & World CSOM dean in 1977.
—Office of Public Affairs
Report. The University also recorded dramatic rises in external
funding for research and spon- Fr. Giulietti appointed
sored projects and undergraduate Wheeling Jesuit president, p. 7
applications, breaking the 20,000
T he B oston C ollege
Chronicle
february 15, 2007
Pooling Their Resources
For two BC employees,
the quest for a healthy
life is going swimmingly
By Greg Frost
Staff Writer
About 25 BC female athlete alumnae came to speak with current student-athletes at
the Council for Women at BC event in the Yawkey Center. (Photo by Rose Lincoln)
Alumni Networking
Continued from page 1
a career in a particular field,” says
Career Center Director Theresa
Harrigan. “But the common factor is, they are also Boston College
graduates who want to give something back to students. It helps
to create that great feeling of BC
community.”
Diane Coletti, CSOM ’81, the
founder, president and CEO of
Prestonwoods Associates, an executive search firm, and a member of the Technology Council
was chair of the Tech Council
program.
“The vision that we are trying
to bring to the students is connectivity and the understanding that
you don’t have to be an engineer
to work in technology ventures,”
she said. “Our panelists show all
of the different avenues of career
pursuits and how successful these
people have been in the field with
their degrees in finance, fine arts,
marketing and others.
“We are not necessarily scientists or engineers, but we all are
business people who have accomplishments in helping technology
companies grow and thrive and
sell and get funded,” she said.
“There is a path in the technology
world if you choose to go that
route.”
Sally Driscoll ’89, a former
BC golfer and hockey and soft-
ball player, and Suzanne Troy
Cole ’84, who lettered in lacrosse,
served as co-chairs of the Council
for Women’s networking connection program, “Eagles2Eagles.”
“We wanted to establish a relationship between female alumni
and current female student-athletes so that we could help them
transition into post-graduation
life,” she said. “That means a lot
of things to different people - it’s
career, it’s family, it’s your power
of influence and it’s how to be
happy doing all of these things.”
“We brought together about
25 graduate student-athletes,”
added Cole, “who were so excited
to come and meet these young
women. This is a chance for us to
take one step further in helping
these undergraduates so that when
they go out into the workforce
they too will want to come back
and share what they have done
and learned over the years.”
Kia McNeill ’08, a human development major in the Lynch
School of Education and a member of the Boston College soccer
team, said that the event was a
great help in planning her future
after graduation. “We don’t have
a National Football League to go
to, so we are up in the air right
now about what we want to do,”
she said. “This is a wonderful opportunity.”
LSOE Studies Role of Fathers
Continued from page 1
According to Coley, the study
included children whose parents
were divorced or separated and others who had never lived with their
biological fathers. The analyses controlled for the presence of a stepfather or maternal cohabiting partner
in the adolescents’ households, as
well as for whether or not they had
an adult male who acted as a father
figure to them.
The extent and scope of the
fathers’ involvement was based on
mothers’ and adolescents’ reports,
Coley said, with adolescents reporting on the frequency of contact and
communication with their fathers,
while mothers described how much
responsibility fathers took for the
adolescents’ care and discipline.
“Involvement was defined as a
continuous rather than a dichotomous variable — meaning that
rather than a yes/no categorization,
involvement was viewed as a continuum,” she said. “These measures
were combined into a total scale of
father involvement.
“Clearly,” Coley added, “this
measure does not tap into all potential aspects of parenting that might
be important to youth.”
The research was funded, in part,
by the W.T. Grant Foundation, the
National Institute of Child Health
and Human Development, Office
of the Assistant Secretary of Planning and Evaluation, Administration on Developmental Disabilities,
Administration for Children and
Families, Social Security Administration, and the National Institute
of Mental Health.
An online version of Child Development is available at www.blackwell-synergy.com/loi/cdev.
—Office of Public Affairs
Last semester, Controller’s Office staffer Mary Pohlman waded
into the pool at the Flynn Recreation Complex and swam from
Boston all the way to Maine. Her
colleague, Barbara Holmes, swam
to New Hampshire.
Huh?
Both women belong to the
RecPlex’s Swim Incentive Program,
which gives swimmers an extra kick
by translating their cumulative pool
laps to real-world distances.
Caitriona Taylor, aquatics manager at the RecPlex, introduced the
program several years ago as a way
to motivate swimmers by fostering
friendly competition and alleviating
the tedium of swimming laps.
“When you swim in a pool,
you’re just going up and down, up
and down – sometimes it can feel
like you’re not going anywhere,”
says Taylor. “But the Swim Incentive Program allows you to map out
your progress, so it feels like you’re
actually going somewhere.”
Last semester, the program took
on a New England theme and gave
swimmers 10 different target cities
around the region, from Waltham,
to Lewiston, Me. This semester,
swimmers will be taking a virtual
tour of lighthouses along the Outer
Banks.
Between 10 and 20 members of
the Boston College community take
part in the program each semester,
and none is more formidable than
Pohlman, a business system support
analyst in the Controller’s Office.
Arriving on campus at around
6 a.m., she is routinely one of the
first people in the pool. She averages between two and three miles
a session.
It is that kind of determination
that allowed her to cover 185 miles
last semester, putting her well past
her target of Lewiston.
“I wanted to go all the way to
Bar Harbor but the pool broke,” she
lamented. (It has since been fixed.)
Pohlman has spent a big chunk
of her life in and around pools. She
put in countless miles on her high
school swim team, and for the past
27 years she has coached the New-
As a resident of Plymouth, Holmes leaves her house at 4:50 a.m.
each day to make it to the Plex by
6.
“My one hour of swimming is so
important to me,” she says. “That’s
my time, and it’s why I love the
Swim Incentive Program – it gets
me moving and it makes it fun.”
Last semester, Holmes set Portsmouth, NH, as her goal. She ended
up swimming more than 75 miles
– easily surpassing the 51 miles between Boston and Portsmouth.
Holmes says swimming also
helps protect her body from the
effects of osteoporosis, which has
caused her a few broken bones in
Barbara Holmes, left, and Mary Pohlman in a familiar setting: the Flynn Recreation
Complex swimming pool. (Photo by Lee Pellegrini)
ton Recreation Department Swim
Team.
Holmes, on the other hand, is
relatively new to the sport. An accountant in the Controller’s Office,
Holmes took up swimming three
years ago as a way to get in shape
and carve out some personal time
in her busy day.
recent years.
Still, there is a downside to all
those laps in the pool.
“I have these new biceps that get
in the way — I can’t wear my old
jackets because of these,” she says,
flexing her arms with a chuckle.
“Oh well. I must be doing something right.”
Faculty Make Commitment to Technology
Continued from page 1
assigned topics. Kane says the technology is based on the philosophy
that a crowd is, in some conditions,
smarter than an individual.
•Assoc. Prof. Rita Olivieri
(CSON) utilizes course management application WebCT to offer instruction to nurses seeking
post-master’s degree teaching certification. The course is offered
completely online and much of the
interaction between Olivieri and
the 18 students who have taken
the course has been through the
Internet.
•In the Lynch School of Education Assoc. Prof. Alec Peck is converting the on-line journal TECPlus
that he edits to podcasts. Peck, an
expert in technology for people with
disabilities, is hoping the podcasts
are as popular as the journal’s more
traditional format.
For their part, BC students
are coming to campus increasingly skilled, knowledgeable — and
equipped – to make use of some
technologies which are an increasingly ubiquitous part of their lives
both inside and outside the classroom.
Owens says many of these developments are the result of long-term
University investments aimed at
readying BC to accommodate everchanging technologies. Projects such
as the development of a campus
wireless network and the upgrade
and renovation of most classrooms
to accommodate laptop computers,
projectors and other technologies
are now paying dividends, thanks to
the efforts of Information Technology Services.
Similarly, an investment in services has provided faculty with support needed to enhance the use of
technology in teaching. The development of Instructional Design and
eTeaching Services, an initiative of
the University Provost, is aimed
at assisting instructors who integrate technology into their teaching
through consultation, training, research, and project management.
“Right now we are doing about
20 to 40 projects per year to help
faculty use technology in teaching,” said Instructional Design and
eTeaching Services Director Elizabeth Clark, who noted that about
60 percent of BC faculty members
make use of WebCT.
Instructional Design and eTeaching Services has enabled BC to lend
further support, as well as promote
faculty education and recognition,
through a series of events such as
the annual “eTeaching Day” and
the regularly scheduled “eTeaching
Luncheon” series, as well as annual
summer workshops. Faculty members who demonstrate particularly
innovative use of technology are selected by students to receive “Teaching with New Media Awards” each
year.
Owens said BC’s use of technology in teaching has been aided by a
grant from the Davis Foundation,
which was used to underwrite a
program in conjunction with the
College of Arts and Sciences Honors Program on enhanced pedagogy
and technology.
Owens stressed that while technology is certainly worth the investment, it is only a means to a more
important end: a productive, meaningful higher education experience.
“The faculty and students will
always be of primary importance,”
said Owens. “Technology is just a
tool to help us enhance that relationship.”
T he B oston C ollege
Chronicle
february 15, 2007
HEIGHTS
OF
EXCELLENCE
Photos by Lee Pellegrini
In the Bully Pulpit
CSON’s Judith Vessey has built her career around helping kids
who need extra care. Now she’s taken on a new challenge: bullies
By Kathleen Sullivan
Staff Writer
during the late 1970s and early 1980s, worked on
the re-settlement of Southeast Asian immigrants.
These accomplishments earned her a service award
from the American Red Cross.
Vessey will not soon forget the last time she was
called into action as a disaster nurse — Sept. 11,
2001. She was en route from Boston to New York
City by rail when news of the first attack on the
World Trade Center literally stopped her train in
its tracks as it neared the city. Vessey and her fellow
passengers watched the second airplane hit the other
twin tower.
She and the others were eventually led into
an evacuated Penn Station under heavy security
— “That’s when it became frightening,” she acknowledges. But her nursing instincts kicked in and
she started getting ready for a day of triage. Unfortunately, Vessey recalls, the mortality and morbidity rates at the World Trade Center on 9/11 were
reversed from more “typical” disasters. The fatalities
far outnumbered the injured persons.
Her experiences with disaster preparation and
relief are why her basement contains a two-week
supply of provisions for herself and her beloved cats,
Macavity and Allergen.
Judith Vessey, one of the country’s top nursing
researchers in pediatrics, has a confession to make:
As a nurse in training, she hated her pediatrics rotation.
It wasn’t the kids she didn’t like, she is quick to
explain, but the way that health care was delivered
to children, especially those in hospital settings.
“There was no good pain management for children and parents’ involvement was very limited,”
says Vessey, who is Lelia Holden Carroll Professor at
the Connell School of Nursing. “The whole set-up
was rigid and very regimental. I felt something was
wrong with the system.”
Children and their families can be glad Vessey
stuck it out in pediatrics, for her distinguished career
has been dedicated to the care and well-being of
children, especially those with chronic conditions.
Vessey says an estimated 30 percent of children
have chronic conditions that require constant monitoring and care, from illnesses such as diabetes to
behavioral conditions such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, to developmental conditions
like autism. The motivating force behind all her
work as a nurse researcher is the quest to “keep kids
No Rite of Passage
with chronic conditions the healthiest — physically,
Vessey wants to make it clear that she’s not out to
psychologically and socially — they can be.”
completely alter human interaction. Good-natured,
Now, Vessey has set her sights on another all-toolight-hearted teasing, she says, has always been part
common scourge of childhood: bullying. Through
of life, whether in school, at the playground or the
her work, which has included heading up a national
workplace.
study on children who are particularly vulnerable
But society, Vessey says, needs to get the mesto harassment, Vessey is determined to send the
sage that bullying is not simply a childhood rite of
message that constant taunting and aggravation is a
passage and that without intervention, bullying can
threat to healthy development.
have a lasting impact on children’s development.
“You know the saying, ‘There are three kinds
Vessey says there is a significant difference beof people: Those who make things happen, those
tween bullying and what might be considered norwho watch things happen, and those who ask what
mal aggressive behavior among children. Bullying
happened?’” says Assoc. Prof. Rosanna DeMarco
involves a child deliberately and persistently exerting
(CSON). “Judi is someone who makes things happower over another, with intent to cause physical or
pen. She’s a leader.”
emotional harm.
A certified pediatric nurse practitioner, Vessey
is co-editor of the award-winning book
Primary Care of the Child with a Chronic
Condition and last year was honored by
the Society of Pediatric Nurses with the
Excellence in Nursing Research Award
for her body of work in the field of developmental pediatrics.
For all her professional and research activities, friends and colleagues say, Vessey
readily embraces her role as a teacher.
“Judi is an amazing mentor,” said
Vessey’s former Undergraduate Research
Fellow Katelyn McGowan, CSON ’06,
who co-authored a book chapter with
Vessey. “She really cares about her students and wants them to excel. I have
never had a teacher [who] has wanted me
to achieve success and [who] believed in
me the way Professor Vessey did and still
continues to.
“Judi is an amazing mentor,” says a former student of Vessey. “She is the essence of
“I would have never received the opcaring professionalism.”
portunities that I did if I hadn’t worked
with Judi,” continued McGowan, who landed a job
While physical bullying is more obvious, emoin the Medical Intensive Care Unit at Brigham and
tional bullying is more common, says Vessey. ShunWomen’s Hospital. “She not only helped me learn
ning the victim, spreading rumors, name-calling or
about research but she helped me to be a more conmaking threats are all forms of emotional bullying.
fident person in the work place. She is the essence
Because bullying does not usually happen in front
of caring professionalism. I can never repay her for
of the teachers, Vessey says, all other school-related
all that she has done for me.”
personnel — from bus drivers to custodians to cafPediatrics is not Vessey’s only area of expertise. A
eteria workers — need to be educated about the
Wellesley resident, she is working with local officials
problem and involved in preventing it.
on that community’s response to emergencies, a task
“No-tolerance policies on bullying don’t work.
to which she brings task more than 20 years of expeIt drives the problem underground,” said Vessey.
rience as a volunteer disaster nurse for the American
“Kids don’t want to report other kids for minor inRed Cross. She has aided victims of house fires and,
fractions because the punishment is seen as too high
of a price to pay. Parents who are concerned about
their kid’s behavior won’t ask the school for help.
“A lot has changed since Columbine. Before the
school killings in Columbine, a lot of schools did
not have formal policies on how to handle bullying.
Now most schools have rules and try to follow the
best practices guidelines for bullying prevention.”
This facet of Vessey’s work is part of her wider
concern for the overall health of all school-age children. “I worked with [Former US Surgeon General]
Jocelyn Elders when I lived in Arkansas. She has a
great quote that I love: ‘You can’t educate a child
who isn’t healthy, and you can’t keep a child healthy
who isn’t educated.’”
In 2005, Vessey put that motto into practice
when she helped to create the Massachusetts School
Nurse Research Network (MASNRN), a collaborative of the Massachusetts School Nurse Organization, the state’s Department of Public Health’s
School Health Unit, and the Connell School. It is
the first practice-based research network dedicated
to school nursing, and one of only a few nurse-led
practice-based research networks, in the country.
MASNRN has about 75 members representing
some 60 school districts statewide.
“The network has been very positive,”
said Marie DeSisto, director of nurses for
Waltham Public Schools, which have been
involved in MASNRN projects on student
asthma, bullying and influenza vaccination.
“School nurses are very isolated. They don’t
work in facilities where there are medical
libraries, and access to nursing research and
evidence-based practice methods, although
very much desired, is something that just
wasn’t available.”
“The network lets me bring my loves,
research and school health, together,” Vessey
said. “Massachusetts is a leader in school
nursing. This network can help school nurses maximize their level of practice. School
nurses are so important. When so many
children do not have health insurance or
adequate health care, school nurses are the
great equalizers.”
While serving as a research consultant for
the National Association of School Nurses, Vessey
contributed to “Stop Bullying Now,” a national
campaign that provides information about bullying and bullying prevention. Students, parents and
school personnel can visit the campaign’s Web site
to read a question-and-answer column about bullying and watch videos that depict bullying scenarios
followed up by questions for the viewer.
One growing concern, says Vessey, is cyberbullying, where youngsters use the Internet or camera
phones to send harmful images or text, e-mail
and instant messages, and post hurtful or untrue
Continued on page 8
T he B oston C ollege
Chronicle
february 15, 2007
Judaica expert Jospe presents
lectures Feb. 19
Raphael Jospe, a professor of Jewish philosophy at Bar Ilan University in
Israel and chair of the Jerusalem Rainbow Group — the city’s oldest Christian-Jewish dialogue group — will
present a pair of lectures dealing with
interreligious collaboration on Monday,
Feb. 19.
At 4 p.m. in the McGuinn Fifth Floor
Lounge, Jospe will speak on “Religious
Pluralism without Relativism.” He will
follow with a talk at 7:30 p.m. in Higgins 300 titled “The Significance of
Jerusalem in Judaism, Christianity, and
Islam.”
For more information, contact the
Center for Christian-Jewish Learning at
ext.2-4495 or cjlearning@bc.edu.
African and African Diaspora
Studies head to give talk
Assoc. Prof. Cynthia Young (English),
director of the University’s African and
African Diaspora Studies Program, will
present “Black Ops: Terrorism, Pop Culture, and the Raced Body” on Feb. 21
at 12:30 p.m. in Lyons 301.
Young is author of the recently
published book Soul Power: Culture,
Radicalism, and the Making of a US
Third World Left. Her most recent projects deal with black British and black
American cultural politics and popular
culture after 9/11.
For more information, contact mcateerm@bc.edu.
Workshop explores diversity,
Ignatian tradition
The Boston College Employee Development Program will sponsor a
workshop, “Diversity and the Ignatian
Tradition,” on Feb. 21 from 9-11 a.m. in
the Corcoran Commons Boston Room.
Participants will learn about the
importance the Society of Jesus has
placed on diversity throughout its history, and how the Jesuit vision was
transformed by interacting with other
cultures, embracing new knowledge
and welcoming new colleagues.
For more information, call ext.2-8532
or send e-mail to employee.development@bc.edu.
Boisi Center hosts discussion
on “Theocons”
The Boisi Center on Religion and
American Public Life will sponsor “’The
Theocons’ in American Public Life,” a
discussion with Damon Linker, author
of The Theocons: Secular America
Under Siege, and Prof. Jorge Garcia
(Philosophy). Boisi Center Director Prof.
Alan Wolfe will moderate the discussion.
In The Theocons, Linker argues that a
group of Catholic “theoconservatives”
has actively sought for several decades
to undermine the distinction between
church and state in this country.
Call ext.2-1860 or send e-mail to richarsh@bc.edu for more information.
New C21 Online offerings
C21 (Church in the 21st Century)
Online has announced two new online
courses. The first is “Encountering
Mark, Matthew and Luke: The Synoptic
Gospels,” featuring text by Center for
Christian-Jewish Learning Executive
Director Philip Cunningham and Prof. Fr.
Michael Himes (Theology), beginning
Feb. 19 and running for six weeks.
The second course, “Spirituality Matters,” also featuring Fr. Himes, begins
March 5 and lasts for four weeks.
For registration and other information,
see www.bc.edu/c21online or contact
c21online@bc.edu.
Lynch Is New Head for 10-Year-Old Irish Institute
By Reid Oslin
Staff Writer
Niamh Lynch presented some
impressive credentials for her new
job as director of the Boston College Irish Institute: A native of Ireland, she earned her undergraduate
and doctoral degrees in history at
Boston College, taught history at
the college level, and even served as
interim managing director of BCIreland’s office in Dublin.
Yet Center for Irish Programs
Executive Director Thomas E.
Hachey sees still more strengths in
his newest hire. “She understands
both the Anglo-Irish and the IrishAmerican issues we confront today.
Among all the candidates, I firmly
believe that Niamh [pronounced
“Neeve”] was the one who decidedly had the clearest acquaintance
with the ‘players’ in Dublin, Belfast, and Washington, DC.”
Such knowledge is essential for
a director of the Irish Institute,
which designs and implements political, educational and corporate
exchange programs in the United
States for leaders from Ireland and
Northern Ireland as a means of
helping build lasting peace and
prosperity. The institute — observing its 10th anniversary this
year — holds conferences, seminars and meetings, supported by
funding from Congress, and in
collaboration with the US State
Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
Lee Pellegrini
Postings
Niamh Lynch
Lynch formally accepted the
post as institute director last month,
succeeding Mary O’Herlihy, who
had recently resigned when family
interests mandated a move to the
San Francisco area.
Born in rural County Cavan,
Lynch and her family moved to
New Hampshire when she was in
the eighth grade. She chose to attend BC, she says, because of the
University community’s “friendliness and willingness to help right
from the beginning,” a characteristic she feels is “still true today.”
Lynch earned her bachelor’s degree in history in 1996 and this
past May completed her doctorate
in history, with help from Irish
Studies and History faculty members Prof. Kevin Kenny and Assoc.
Prof. Kevin O’Neill who, she says,
“taught me not to be afraid of
starting with an idea and building
something concrete around it.”
While completing her postgraduate studies, Lynch served a
year as the Center for Irish Programs’ interim director of the BCIreland office in Dublin. “That was
a rewarding experience. Boston
College obviously has a wonderful
connection to Ireland, but I think
that the BC-Ireland office is a very
visible show of the University’s
commitment to being a genuinely
international university.”
To commemorate the institute’s
10-year milestone, the Center for
Irish Programs will sponsor a twoday “reunion” program on April
13 and 14 at Dublin Castle where
the institute’s 700 alumni will be
invited to hear presentations on
leadership, government, education,
philanthropy and media/communications.
“The aim of the program is to
bring people together and to have
that professional collegiality sustained,” Lynch says. “This reunion
is a chance to measure just how
successful that has been and to
celebrate the on-going process of
learning that has gotten underway
during the past 10 years.”
Hachey will host the conference
on behalf of the center, Lynch
will design and implement the
workshops and Prof. James Cronin (History) and BC-Ireland Programs Administrator Thea Gilien
will oversee logistical support and
local hospitality.
“We have been especially fortunate,” says Hachey, “that the
United States government continues to have the Irish Institute serve
as the agency of choice in promoting this peace initiative enterprise
through an academic venue. We
are the only academic institution
which conducts the specifically targeted leadership programs which
the Irish Institute sponsors.”
Hachey says the institute will
continue to promote “peace and
reconciliation” for Northern Ireland but has also demonstrated
the potential to undertake other
initiatives.
“My hope is that the institute
will build upon the kind of programs that are not supported by
a federal grant, at which Mary
O’Herlihy did such a splendid job
in cultivating.” This success, he
adds, would enhance BC’s international profile while affirming
the Irish Institute as one of the
Center for Irish Programs’ widely
acclaimed initiatives, which along
with BC-Ireland includes the Burns
Library Irish Collections and the
Irish Studies Program.
“That objective was uppermost
in my mind when I was interviewing the finalists for the Institute
position,” Hachey said. “Niamh
came across convincingly as the
person most likely to effectively
expedite this goal, and to take it to
the next level.”
Intersections Program Expands Faculty, Staff Offerings
Intersections, the popular
program that helps BC students
discern possible vocation, has
boosted its offerings with a series
of advanced seminars for faculty
and staff.
Burt Howell, director of Intersections, led nine BC professors and administrators in the
first advanced seminar last fall.
The group met weekly in Hovey
House to explore specific topics in
the area of student formation.
Howell said the advanced seminars are designed to build on the
tradition of Intersections seminars
for faculty and staff that began
in 2001 and have so far attracted
some 350 participants.
The first advanced seminar was
a success on many levels, he said.
“There’s a real opportunity in
these types of programs to reconcile differences that might exist
between faculty and staff because
you’re relating to each other as
people – all around the same table,
sharing experiences, engaging in
an ongoing conversation,” Howell
said. “That’s really healthy for
the institution and it was demonstrated beautifully by the people
involved last semester.”
Howell said student formation
is becoming an increasingly important part of the University mission as BC charts out its strategic
plan for the next 10 to 15 years,
and it therefore made sense for
the advanced seminar to discuss
the topic.
But the event featured more
than just talk: Participants were
required to generate proposals for
pilot projects that would translate
reflection about student formation into concrete programs in
student life and academics.
A review board considered all
proposals from the group and decided to fund two.
The first proposal, devised by
Associate Dean of Students Paul
Chebator, Assistant Director for
Student Formation Christopher
Darcy and Associate Director of
Residence Life Justin Price, would
reach out to first- or second-year
students who are considered “at
risk” of disciplinary and other
problems.
The program would send the
students on a retreat where they
would interact with trained BC
faculty or staff members who
would help them think about making more responsible life choices
in the future. Another component
would set up a potential mentoring relationship between students
and BC volunteers.
The second proposal to be
green-lighted came from Assoc.
Prof. James Weiss (Theology),
who is also director of the Capstone Program. He proposed an
annual series of public lectures
at BC aimed at presenting differences of viewpoint as essential to
University life and not as disruptive to community.
Chebator said he came away
from the Intersections advanced
seminar with a renewed sense of
enthusiasm about student formation at BC. Specifically, he said he
relished the opportunity to discuss
the topic with faculty members
and hear about their involvement
with students.
“It’s clear from having been
part of this group that the majority of faculty do care and are willing to work with students outside
the classroom in their academic
mission,” Chebator said. “That
validated the concept of BC educating the whole student.”
—Greg Frost
BC Enjoys Leading Reputation
Boston College is the leading
institution of higher education in
Massachusetts in terms of overall
reputation, according to a new
survey released by a local reputation management and public
relations firm.
The recent study, commissioned by Morrissey & Co. of
Boston, polled the region’s top
200 business leaders and asked
them to rank the Bay State’s leading private and public enterprises
on the basis of reputation, products and services, place to work,
degree of social responsibility,
ethics and corporate governance
and financial stability.
Boston’s Brigham & Women’s Hospital finished first among
the 74 universities, businesses and
hospitals included in the survey,
followed by Dunkin’ Donuts
and Children’s Hospital. Boston
College was fourth in the overall ranking, but highest among
all higher education institutions.
Other top 10 finishers included
Tufts University (5), Boston University (6), Harvard University
(7) and Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (9).
“Being recognized in this way
is important to us,” said Associate Vice President for Human
Resources Robert J. Lewis. “We
feel this reflects well on our Jesuit,
Catholic tradition and the values
that we as an employer and a
community try to live up to as we
go about our business of educating young men and women.”
Although several factors contribute to the University’s high
standing, Lewis said, “I believe
that it is largely attributed to our
competitive pay and benefit offerings and perhaps just as important, but not as tangible, that as
a community we appreciate and
respect the contributions that all
employees make in order for Boston College to be successful.”
­—Reid Oslin
T he B oston C ollege
Chronicle
february 15, 2007
PEOPLE
Newsmakers
•Cleary Professor of Finance
Edward Kane offered remarks to
Bloomberg News for a story on
the resignation of a Federal Reserve
official.
•Research Assoc. Prof. Eric Strauss
(Biology), director of Boston
College’s Environmental Studies
Program, was featured in the Boston Globe for his work in bringing
environmental science to schools.
and University Historian Thomas
O’Connor were interviewed by
New England Cable News about
the legacy of the late Rev. Robert
Drinan, SJ, a former dean of the
Boston College Law School.
•Monan Professor of Higher
Education Philip Altbach, director
of BC’s Center for International
Higher Education, was interviewed
by Nature for a special report on
short-term faculty employment
patterns around the world.
•Center on Wealth and Philanthropy Director Prof. Paul Schervish
(Sociology) was interviewed by the
Richmond Times-Dispatch regarding
charitable giving.
•Prof. Sharlene Hesse-Biber (Sociology) spoke with the Christian
Science Monitor regarding the “glass
ceiling” in corporate America.
•Research Prof. Irwin Blumer
(LSOE) was quoted by the Boston
Globe regarding rising compensation for Metro West school administrators.
•Boisi Center for Religion and
American Public Life Director
Prof. Alan Wolfe (Political Science)
spoke with the New York Times
about a writer’s controversial essay
linking liberal Jews and Anti-Semitism.
•Prof. Ellen Winner (Psychology)
was quoted by the Wall Street Journal regarding child prodigies and
teen golfer Michelle Wie.
•Flatley Professor of Catholic
Theology David Hollenbach, SJ,
Rev. Julio Giulietti, SJ, director
of Boston College’s Center for Ignatian Spirituality, has been named
eighth president of Wheeling Jesuit
University in West Virginia.
Fr. Giulietti, who will assume his
duties in Wheeling in mid-August,
oversees a number of spiritual enrichment and formation programs
at BC, and also has more than
25 years of experience in working
with international programs and
higher education. He has taught in
the Theology Department, helped
design the inter-departmental academic minor in Faith, Peace and
Justice and prepared and placed
graduating students for two years
of service in South America and
the Middle East through the Boston College International Volunteer
Program.
He has also coordinated the popular “Intersections” programs that
have introduced the history and
mission of the Jesuit educational
tradition to hundreds of BC students, faculty and staff members.
Vice President for University
Mission and Ministry Joseph Appleyard, SJ, said, “Having worked with
Julio for the past five years, I know
how well he deals with people, how
File photo
Fr. Giulietti Is Choice to
Lead Wheeling Jesuit Univ.
•Prof. Marc Landy (Political Science) offered his assessment of
the Bush Administration in interviews with Bloomberg News
and New England Cable News in
advance of President Bush’s State
of the Union address.
•The Weston Observatory was
featured in the spring edition of
Wellesley/Weston Magazine.
Publications
•Assoc. Prof. Jeffrey Cohen
(CSOM) published “The Effect of
Perceived Fairness on Opportunistic Behavior,” in Contemporary Accounting Research and “The Impact
of Roles of the Board on Auditors’
Risk Assessment and Program
Planning Decisions,” in Auditing:
A Journal of Practice and Theory.
Grants
•Drucker Professor of Management Sciences Alicia Munnell:
$2,678,400, Social Security
Administration, “The Center for
Retirement Research at Boston
College – Annual Work Plan Fiscal
Year 2006.”
•Prof. Zhifeng Ren (Physics):
NanoLab, Inc., “PbTePbS Thermoelectric Nanocomposites for
Cooling.”
•Prof. Kevin Mahoney (GSSW):
$799,923, Department of Health
and Human Services, “Cash
and Counseling: Next Steps”;
$251,004, Institute for Rehabilitation and Research, “National State
to State Technical Assistance Program for Community Living.”
•Center on Wealth and Philanthropy Director Prof. Paul Schervish
(Sociology): $5,000, Chevy Chase
Trust, “The Washington D.C.
Metropolitan Area Wealth Transfer
Study.”
•Vanderslice Millennium Professor of Chemistry Amir Hoveyda:
$250,959, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, “Design and
Synthesis of Chiral MO-based
Catalysts.”
•Lynch School of Education faculty members Prof. Ina Mullis and
Research Prof. Michael Martin:
$150,000, International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement, “TIMSS
Advanced (2008).”
•Prof. Marc Landy (Political Science): $126,289, National Endowment for the Humanities, “Encountering John Adams: Braintree
and Boston.”
•Prof. Michael Graf (Physics):
$60,118, Howard University,
“Study of Fermi Surface of Biemuth Nanowires.”
Forum on Catholic Women Feb. 26
Rev. Julio Giulietti, SJ
thoughtfully he articulates the principles of Ignatian spirituality, and
how deeply he is committed to
social justice. I can see why these
qualities would make him an attractive candidate to Wheeling Jesuit
University.
“The many friends he has made
among faculty and staff at BC will
miss him as a colleague but I think
they will understand why he is
drawn to the challenge of leading
Wheeling Jesuit in its distinctive
mission.”
—Reid Oslin
Nota Bene
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dean and Center on Aging and
Work Co-Director Michael A. Smyer has been named to the American
Psychological Association Committee on Aging (CONA). The goal of
CONA, a six-member committee of psychologists with substantive professional expertise in aging issues, is to advance psychology as a science
and profession and as a means of promoting health and human welfare
by ensuring that older adults — especially the growing numbers of older
women and minorities — receive the attention of the APA.
University Chancellor J. Donald Monan, SJ, will be honored for
his contribution to inner-city education on March 13 at the annual
scholarship dinner and benefit auction for the St. Aloysius School, a
pre-K through 8th grade archdiocesan Jesuit-style school in Harlem.
Comedian Mo Rocca will be emcee at the dinner, which is being held
at The Hilton New York.
The panel discussion “Called to Be Catholic: Religious Practices that
Nourish Women’s Spirituality,” part of an ongoing series on the role of
women in the Catholic Church sponsored by the Church in the 21st
Century Center of Boston College, will be held Feb. 26 at 5:30 p.m. in
the Heights Room of Corcoran Commons.
Panelists will be Asst. Prof. Nancy Pineda-Madrid (Theology), a
faculty member in the Institute for Religious Education and Pastoral
Ministry, Campus Minister Sister Mary Sweeney, SC, and IREPM
alumna Kate Carter.
For more information, see www.bc.edu/church21/programs/seriesonwomen/ or call ext.2-0470.
•Clare Booth Luce Professor of
Computer Science Xingxing Yu:
$116,768, Computer Science,
“Clare Booth Luce Prefessorship.”
Time and a Half
•Prof. Ana Martínez-Alemán
(LSOE) presented “Gender, Faculty Productivity, and the Corporatization of American Higher
Education” at the Gender and
Women’s Studies 25 Anniversary
Speaker Series at Grinnell College
in Grinnell, IA.
•Brennan Professor of Education
Andy Hargreaves delivered “The
Persistence of Presentism and the
Struggle for Sustainable School
Improvement” at the London
Institute of Education in England.
He also led a team for the Organization for Economic Cooperation
and Development to Finland to
investigate the relationship between
leadership, school improvement,
and educational performance. The
report from Hargreaves’ team will
be published later this year.
•Asst. Prof. Jamel Bell (Communication) presented the keynote address for the Illinois State
University Black History Month
kickoff event.
Deaths
•Former Assistant Budget Director Pearl Mottram ’76, died Jan.
27 in Brooksville, Fla. Donations
in her memory may be made to:
Hernando Pasco Hospice, 12260
Cortez Blvd., Brooksville, Fla.
34613.
Documentary on Dorothy Day
Will Be Screened on Feb. 28
The life of one of America’s
most famous, and unusual, Catholic social activists is chronicled in
the documentary “Dorothy Day:
Don’t Call Me a Saint,” which
will be screened Feb. 28 at 4 p.m.
in McGuinn 121.
Day, a journalist for Marxist
papers and member of the Industrial Workers of the World,
became embroiled in various social issues and controversies of
the 1920s, often winding up in
jail as a result. In her mid-30s,
she converted to Catholicism and
cofounded the Catholic Worker
newspaper that spawned a movement for social and economic justice, notably through its Houses
of Hospitality program for the
poor.
The film was a 14-year undertaking by director Claudia Larson,
its title a reference to Day’s famous comment, “Don’t call me a
saint. I don’t want to be dismissed
so easily.”
Participants from the Catholic Worker movement will be on
hand for a discussion of the film
and Day’s legacy. This event is
sponsored by the Institute for
Religious Education and Pastoral
Ministry and Campus Ministry.
For more information, call ext.28057 or send e-mail to lambmb@
bc.edu.
—Office of Public Affairs
Jobs
-Research Associate, Center for
Retirement Research (2 positions)
-Associate Director of Reunions,
Law School -Architectural Designer, Facilities
Management
-Science Librarian/Bibliographer,
O’Neill Library
-Third Cook, Dining Services
For more information on employment at Boston College, see www.
bc.edu/bcjobs
T he B oston C ollege
Chronicle
february 15, 2007
LOOKING AHEAD
READINGS•LECTURES•
DISCUSSION
Feb. 15
•“White Privilege: Really a Privilege?” with Learning to Learn Director Dan Bunch, and Learning
Skills Specialist Dacia Gentilella,
10:00 a.m., McElroy Conference
Room, call ext.2-8532, email:
employee.development@bc.edu
•“Career/Life Planning” with
Center for Work and Family
Director Brad Harrington, 10:00
a.m. Newton Room, Corcoran
Commons, call ext.2-8532, email:
employee.development@bc.edu.
• Poet Eavan Boland reads from
her work, 7:30 p.m., Connolly
House.
Feb. 16
• Catholic Women’s Discussion
Group, 12 p.m., Women’s Resource Center, McElroy 141, call
ext.2-3489, email: wrc@bc.edu.
This event repeats each Friday.
• Bradley Lecture Series: “On
Hobbes’s Hope Regarding Religion,” presented by Prof. J. Judd
Owen, Emory University, 4 p.m.,
McGuinn 121, Buffet dinner and
discussion follow, RSVP by February 12, call ext.2-4144, email:
geesh@bc.edu.
Feb. 19
• “Secularism and Cultural Shift
in Contemporary Ireland,”
presented by 2006-2007 Burns
Scholar Tom Garvin, of University College, Dublin, 4 p.m.,
Connolly House, email: elizabeth.
sullivan.3@bc.edu.
• “Religious Pluralism without
Relativism” with Raphael Jospe,
Bar Ilan University, Israel, 4 p.m.,
McGuinn 5th Floor Lounge, call
ext.2-4495, email: cjlearning@
bc.edu.
• “The Significance of Jerusalem
in Judaism, Christianity, and
Islam” with Raphael Jospe, Bar
Ilan University, Israel, 7:30 p.m.,
Higgins 300, call ext.2-4495,
email:cjlearning@bc.edu.
Feb. 23
•Bradley Lecture Series: “On
Friendship and the Polis,” presented by Claudia Baracchi, New
School University, 4:30 p.m.,
Higgins 300, email: kellynm@
bc.edu.
MUSIC•ART•PERFORMANCE
Feb. 16
• “Rewind to Remind” Chinese
Students’ Association and Korean
Students’ Association 7th Annual
Culture Show, 7 p.m., Robsham
Theater, email: moony@bc.edu
Philip Jenkins will present “Believing
the Global South” Feb. 22 as part of the
Lowell Lectures Humanities Series.
Feb. 20
•“Asking Deeper Questions” with
John P. Murray, S.J., Internal Consultant for Ignatian Spirituality,
9 a.m., Boston Room, Corcoran
Commons, call ext.2-8532, email:
employee.development@bc.edu.
•“The Future of Iraq” a panel discussion with Anatol Lieven, New
America Foundation, and Boston
College faculty members David
Deese, Marc Landy, Seth Jacobs,
and Nasser Behnegar, 7 p.m.,
location TBA, email: madormo@
gmail.com
Feb. 21
•“Black Ops: Terrorism, Pop
Culture, and the Raced Body”
with African and African Diaspora Studies Program Director
Prof. Cynthia Young (English),
12:30 p.m., Lyons 301, email:
mcateerm@bc.edu.
Feb. 22
• Lowell Lectures Humanities
Series: “Believing in the Global
South” with Philip Jenkins, Pennsylvania State University, 7:30
p.m., Gasson 100, call ext.2-0470,
email: church21@bc.edu. Cosponsored by Church in the 21st
Century.
Feb. 17
• University Wind Ensemble
presents “Dance!” 8 p.m., Gasson 100, call ext.2-3018, email:
bands@bc.edu.
Feb. 18
• Boston College Symphony
Orchestra, 3 p.m., Gasson 100,
call ext.2-6004, email: concerts@
bc.edu.
Feb. 21
•“Schubertiade - A Celebration of
Franz Schubert” 4:15 p.m., Gasson 100, call ext.2-6004, email:
concerts@bc.edu.
•“New Voices 2007,” by selected
student playwrights, directed by
Assoc. Prof. Scott T. Cummings
(Theater), 7:30 p.m. Robsham
Theater Arts Center, call ext.24002, email: marion.doyle.1@
bc.edu.
Feb. 22
•Film: “La Promesse,” 7 p.m.,
Devlin 026, call ext.2-8100,
email: artmusm@bc.edu.
ONGOING EXHIBITIONS
•“We Are Still Here” O’Neill
Library Lobby, through Feb. 16.
•“A New Key: Modern Belgian Art
From the Simon Collection” McMullen Museum, through July 20.
For more information call ext.28587 or email artmusm@bc.edu.
Music Department to
Present a ‘Schubertiade’
He was only 31 when he died, but during his career Franz Schubert
composed more than 950 works, approximately 600 of them songs, including the Great C Major Symphony, the “Wanderer Fantasia” sonata
and the quartets in A minor — with its variations on the well known
“Rosamunde” theme — and D minor, “Death and the Maiden.”
The Boston College Music Department will offer a Schubertiade,
or celebration of Schubert, on Wednesday, Feb. 21, at 4:15 p.m., that
features an all-undergraduate ensemble: David Heighington (violin);
Louise Rabbitt (viola); Catherine Yoo (cello); Sekayi Edwards (double
bass); Aengus Kerrin (piano) and Eileen Walsh (vocals).
“A ‘Schubertiade’ was the name coined by Schubert’s friends for
concerts of his music organized on his behalf — especially toward the
end of his life when he was ill,” says part-time faculty member Sandra
Hebert (Music), who is director of the ensemble. “His birthday was Jan.
31, so this is an appropriate time of year for such an occasion.”
The centerpiece of the concert, Hebert notes, will be a performance
of Schubert’s famous “Trout Quintet,” the popular name for his chamber music piece that he based on an earlier song composition of his,
“Die Forelle,” set to a poem by Christian Friederich Daniel Schubart.
—Sean Smith
Reynolds Family Visits Campus
for a Night of Irish Music Feb. 28
The Gaelic Roots Music, Song,
Dance, Workshop and Lecture Series will welcome to campus Boston’s “first family” of Irish traditional music, the Reynolds family,
for a concert on Feb. 28 from 7-9
p.m. in Connolly House.
Led by fiddle player and radio personality Larry Reynolds, a
County Galway native who emigrated to Boston in 1953, the Reynolds family has been integral to
the popularity of Irish traditional
music in New England. A mainstay
of Boston’s storied Irish dance hall
era, Larry Reynolds has for decades
played a strong leadership and organizational role in the Irish music,
song and dance scene. Larry’s sons
Larry Jr. (accordion), Michael (accordion, vocals, guitar) and Sean
(fiddle) have become major contributors themselves, thus helping
ensure a bright future for the Irish
tradition.
For more information, call ext.23938, or e-mail irish@bc.edu.
—Office of Public Affairs
ATHLETICS
Feb. 15
•Men’s Hockey vs. Maine, 7 p.m.,
Conte Forum.
Feb. 16
•Men’s Hockey vs. Maine, 8 p.m.,
Conte Forum.
Feb. 17
•Men’s Basketball vs. North Carolina, 9 p.m., Conte Forum.
Feb. 18
•Women’s Hockey vs. Providence,
2 p.m., Conte Forum.
Feb. 22
•Men’s Hockey vs. UMass-Lowell,
7 p.m., Conte Forum.
Feb. 23
•Women’s Basketball vs. Virginia
Tech, 7 p.m., Conte Forum.
WEEKLY MASSES
• St. Joseph Chapel (Gonzaga Hall
– Upper Campus) 5 p.m. and 9
p.m.; Trinity Chapel (Newton
Campus) 5 p.m. and 9 p.m., St.
Ignatius Church, Lannon Chapel
- Lower Church, 9 p.m., Heights
Room, 10:15 p.m., St. Mary’s
Chapel (Spanish Mass) 7:30 p.m.
For more on BC campus events,
see events.bc.edu or check BCInfo
[www.bc.edu/bcinfo] for updates.
Vessey Believes Bullying Shouldn’t Be Accepted As Part of Childhood
Continued from page 5
information on websites, blogs or
chat rooms. Cyberbullying is insidious, say researchers, because it
can occur day or night and images
and messages can be sent to large
numbers of people anonymously
and instantly.
“With the technology today,
kids can ‘Photoshop’ someone’s
face onto another image or make a
nasty message or posting seem like
it originated with another person,”
explains Vessey.
A major part of Vessey’s research
on teasing and bullying centered
around her role as principal investigator for the National Institute
of Nursing Research-funded project “The Development of CATS:
Child-Adolescent Teasing Scale.”
The team studied middle schoolage children in a variety of settings
across the country and developed
a measure for identifying children
and adolescents at-risk for chronic
teasing and bullying.
Creating “A Happy Place
for People”
Recently, Vessey learned of
powerful example of the success of
her resiliency program in one local
community. A parent of a middle
school child with a physical disability contacted Vessey to tell her
that her child had been the victim
of bullying during a soccer game.
Her child’s teammate intervened
and told the opposing player/bully
to stop his behavior. Then the
child’s teammate approached the
opposing team’s coach and told
him what was going on.
The parent wrote to Vessey:
“My son told me that it felt great
to have other teammates surround-
ing him and being on his side. I
can’t think of anything that would
make me prouder than to have a
son like [the teammate who intervened] who would take this kind of
leadership. It demonstrated caring,
responsibility and true friendship. I
hope that you will share the results
of the study with the other schools.
It’s working!”
“Judi has shown a lot of leadership and a lot of courage [in helping to form this network]. It is totally new and different. No one else
in the country is doing anything
like this. We have created a blueprint for other states to model,”
said DeSisto, who noted that the
MASNRN will be the subject of a
presentation given at the National
Association of School Nurses’ annual conference this June.
“She is not a guru up on a
pedestal,” added DeSisto who was
familiar with Vessey’s research before the network began. “She is
very approachable, very sharing.”
Sharing. It’s a word often used
to describe Vessey.
Vessey is a homey type of person who dotes on her cats and
enjoys gardening, cooking, sewing
and, more recently, knitting. “I
Vessey, says a colleague,
“is not a guru up on a pedestal. She is very approachable, very sharing.”
Says another: “Judi
connects with people in
a thoughtful way.”
do some type of needle work every
night,” revealed Vessey, who even
incorporated sewing into her doctoral dissertation project.
“Judi is someone who can orchestrate a party in a nanosecond,”
said fellow knitter DeMarco, who
has attended arts and crafts evenings at Vessey’s home. “I have
never met anyone who has her level
of work and busyness as an endowed chair who can also get down
to that level of making things fun
and playful. She enjoys creating a
happy place for people.”
Vessey is as thoughtful as she
is fun, added DeMarco, who cites
Vessey’s support — from a casserole to companionship — when
DeMarco’s father passed away last
year. “Judi connects with people in
a thoughtful way.”