The Boston College
Chronicle
october 5, 2006-vol. 15 no. 3
Enrollment Trends
Sciences Continue Surge
Finance now second
most popular major
among undergrads
By Stephen Gawlik
Staff Writer
LIFTING HER VOICE—Former “American Idol” contestant Ayla Brown ’10
performs with the Boston Pops Orchestra at last Friday’s “Pops on the
Heights” concert in Conte Forum. The annual event was one of several
highlights of Parents’ Weekend. More on page 4. (Photo by Rose Lincoln)
While communication continues to be the most popular major
at Boston College, the number of
students majoring in the natural
sciences is at its highest level in
five years.
In addition, for the first time
in memory, a concentration in the
Carroll School of Management is
the second most popular area of
study at BC: finance, with 805
students.
These trends are among the
highlights of the annual statistical
snapshot of student enrollment
compiled recently by the Office of
Student Services.
When the fall 2006 semes-
AT A GLANCE
By Greg Frost
Staff Writer
A look at the Class
of 2010 (page 4)
Persevere founder Bill Driscoll Jr. ’05, right, and his father Bill Sr. with 2006 BC
grads (l-R) Jen Marsh, Marianne Tierney and Beca Howard.
Robsham Theater fall
slate (page 8)
COMING UP@BC
TODAY: “Guantánamo: How
Should We Respond?” 10
a.m., Law School
FRIDAY: “A Political Constitution for a Pluralist
World Society” 4 p.m.,
Devlin 008
SUNDAY: “Music at St.
Mary’s,” with Claudio Astronio, organ and harpsichord,
3 p.m., St. Mary’s Chapel
See page 8 for more
rather choose concentrations in
particular fields.]
In the Lynch School of Education, secondary education, with
175 majors, is at a 25-year high
while human development (306)
and elementary education (223)
are again the most popular majors.
The Connell School of Nursing has 377 majors, up from 230
in 2001.
Also hitting quarter-century
highs in enrollment are art history
(66), classics (37), Slavic and Eastern languages (34) and German
Studies (27).
Director of Student Services
Louise Lonabocker cautioned that
the enrollment figures represent
a picture taken at a single point
in time and that the numbers
are typically quite fluid over the
course of the school year.
“I am sure that if we did this
Continued on page 4
Bedell Takes Research Post
St. Columbkille’s partnership
flourishing (page 3)
What’s so funny? asks
Paul Lewis (page 6)
ter enrollment period closed last
month, 966 undergraduates had
declared majors in the sciences:
biology (641 students), biochemistry (127) chemistry (97), physics
(62) and geology and geophysics
(39). The numbers represent a
steady increase since 2001, when
690 students declared science majors.
According to Student Services,
communication (945 students)
continues to attract the highest number of majors overall, as
has been the case for the last six
years.
The other most popular majors at BC are political science
(777) English (770) and history
(618), all in the College of Arts
and Sciences.
In CSOM, marketing (386)
and accounting (316) represent
the most popular concentrations
after finance. [Carroll School students do not declare majors, but
Alum’s Relief Effort in
Gulf Coast Takes Root
With helping hands
from fellow grads, he
hopes to do more
By Greg Frost
Staff Writer
When Bill Driscoll Jr. ’05,
headed to the Gulf Coast more
than a year ago to help with hurricane relief efforts, he planned
to volunteer for three weeks before returning north to pursue
his dream of working in film and
television production.
Thirteen months later, the
Milton, Mass., native is still on
the bayou and still hard at work.
Only now he has been joined by
three members of BC’s Class of
2006: Beca Howard, Jen Marsh
and Marianne Tierney. Togeth-
er, they make up the operations
staff of Persevere Disaster Relief, a non-profit organization
that Driscoll launched earlier this
year to rebuild shattered lives and
landscapes that Hurricane Katrina left behind.
Driscoll was inspired to start
his own non-profit after spending his first six months on the
Gulf Coast with Hands On USA,
a small relief organization that
maximized its resources while
keeping red tape to a minimum.
After Hands On USA concluded its Biloxi, Mississippibased hurricane relief efforts in
February, Driscoll decided to stay
on. He moved further east along
the coast to some of the Mississippi communities hardest hit by
Katrina – Pass Christian, WaveContinued on page 5
Rourke Professor of Physics
Kevin Bedell has been named
to the newly created post of
vice provost for research, Boston College Provost and Dean
of Faculties Bert Garza announced.
Garza said Bedell’s scholarly achievements, outstanding
leadership of Physics and other administrative experiences
made him an ideal choice for
the new position.
“Professor Bedell brings the
ideal combination of skilled
researcher, experienced academic administrator, wonderful teacher and mentor, and
unquestionable commitment
to Boston College,” Garza said.
“I have every confidence that
he’ll be great for BC’s research
programs.”
Garza added that the new
position and the reorganization
of which it is a part are designed to strengthen the ties
between administrative support
of research activities and the
University’s academic goals.
“Professor Bedell’s record
of accomplishment and experiences will serve this goal exceedingly well,” he said.
Bedell has served as chair of
the Physics Department since
1995. In that period the department has nearly doubled its
faculty and boosted participation between its applied and
theoretical physicists.
Kevin Bedell
But perhaps more importantly, Bedell has helped the
department bolster its research
activities while adding to the
number of undergraduates majoring in Physics – a trend
he would like to see replicated
across the University.
“Building up the BC’s research side can be done without
losing sight of the fact that we
are an educational institution,”
Bedell said. “I’ve long believed
that research and teaching is
one activity, not two separate
things.
“In Physics, for instance,
we’ve focused on building the
research side of the program
while also increasing the number of undergraduates and the
quality of our undergraduates,”
he added. “We did it, and I
think others can do it.”
In the new role of vice proContinued on page 4
T he B oston C ollege
Chronicle
October 5, 2006
AROUND
AROUND
CAMPUS
Neighbors all
Fall is a time for new beginnings, especially when it comes to
college, so with that in mind some
Boston College students sought to
start off the academic year on a
positive note with their off-campus
neighbors.
On Sept. 21, BC held a “Come
Meet Your Neighbor Night” in the
Kirkwood and Radnor roads area
of Brighton. Some 200-250 people
— including students and residents
as well as BC administrators — attended the event, which featured a
Texas-style barbecue and a DJ.
“It was a great turn-out, and just
a really terrific evening overall,”
said Director of Community Affairs William Mills. “Some of the
neighbors in attendance were people who have had concerns about
BC in the past, and they seemed to
feel the event was quite successful.
There was a lot of mingling going
on — it wasn’t just everyone off in
their own groups.”
The event was organized as part
of the Campus Community Partnership Initiative, a program designed to strengthen the working
relationship between local universities and their host communities.
Helping to break the ice were
activities such as a scavenger hunt
which required participants to find
out certain information about each
other, Mills noted. “Everything
from ‘someone who was born the
same month as you’ to ‘someone
who speaks more than one language’ to ‘someone with the most
unusual pet.’”
There also was a trick question,
Mills adds: “’Find someone who
has been or is an elected official.’
Nobody fit that description.”
—SS
Sweet talking
Who says talking with a faculty
member or academic advisor has to
be a staid, stilted affair? Certainly
not the University’s Academic Advising Center, which today is kicking off “Professors and Pastries,” a
series of informal gatherings with
representatives — BC and non-BC
— from academic or professional
fields that will feature casual conversation and, yes, pastries.
Each event in the series, which
the center is co-organizing with
academic departments and other
advising resources, will be geared
around a broad theme, such as today’s “Life Sciences and the Health
Professions” chat from 3:30-5:30
p.m. in Gasson 100. Others will
include “Living Ethically and
Contributing Socially,” “Studying,
Working and Living Abroad” and
“The Study of Humanities and
Preparing for the Law.”
“These events are not intended
exclusively for first-year students,”
says Academic Advising Center
Associate Director Rory Browne,
“but we do want to reach them as
a group which would particularly
benefit from continuing opportunities to become better acquainted
with the resources, particularly of
people, here at BC. The conversations should be helpful to any
students who are trying to decide
on their future classes, majors, minors, potential career paths and
volunteer activities.”
Browne says the invitation also
is open to other faculty and BC
colleagues interested in the subject
matter of a specific “Professors
and Pastries” event.
As for the aforementioned delicacies? “The Italian pastries are truly delicious and their consumption
highly conducive to student-faculty conversation,” affirms Browne,
who notes that at the insistence
of Academic Advising Center Director Elizabeth Nathans, “we’ve
added chocolate-dipped strawberries to the menu.”
For more on “Professors and
Pastries,” go to the Academic Advising Center Web page at www.
bc.edu/offices/acadvctr/.
—SS
Stepping up,
and forward
BC and four other area universities pledged $10 million in funds
and services to help 10 of the city’s
underperforming public schools
improve test scores and increase
the number of students going to
college.
Through a five-year plan titled
“Step Up,” BC, Boston University,
Harvard, Northeastern and Tufts
will provide teacher training, lend
teaching assistance such as tutoring, and may advise schools on
their curriculum design. They also
will help with student issues, including dental and general-health
screenings.
Correction
A photo caption in the Sept. 8 Chronicle misidentified the grandson of Dr. Eugene McAuliffe: His name is
John Dobrowski ’08. Chronicle regrets the error.
CNBC “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer makes his way through the audience during a taping of his popular show on Sept. 20 in Conte Forum. The program aired
later that night. (Photo by Justin Knight)
IT Outages, Early Closing Reminder
The Boston College community
is reminded that the campus will be
affected by two significant events
occurring this month: scheduled
outages of some information technology resources beginning tomorrow through Columbus Day, and
the early closing of University offices next Thursday, Oct. 12, due to
the nationally televised BC-Virginia
Tech football game.
The interruption of IT services
this weekend — which will affect
e-mail, Agora and voicemail and
other systems — and Oct. 20-22
are necessitated by the relocation
of the University’s Data Center
and Information Technology Services personnel to a new location
on Brighton Campus. See www.
bc.edu/unplugged for more details.
Because of the need for campus
preparations, and to ease any parking and traffic congestion, for next
Thursday night’s football game at
Alumni Stadium, all vehicles must
be removed from campus as close to
3 p.m. as possible. Parking needs for
faculty and students attending late
afternoon classes will be addressed
by the Office of the Provost.
United Way time
The annual Boston College United Way Campaign begins on
Oct. 17 with its traditional kick-off breakfast in Gasson 100, featuring remarks by University President William P. Leahy, SJ, and guest
speaker Kenneth Hamberg ’68, vice president and chief financial
officer of the Home for Little Wanderers.
More than 70 BC employees will serve as United Way representatives for this year’s campaign, which will run until Nov. 21. In the
years since it began holding an annual United Way campus drive,
BC has been at the top of local academic institutions in terms of
employee participation.
BC campaign chair Anita Ulloa, director of employment in the
Human Resources Department, said the United Way is focusing in
particular on preventing youth violence and childhood obesity.
“The United Way of Massachusetts Bay is working towards a
vision of making the Greater Boston region the best place for children in the country by 2015,” she said. “This means investing in
childhood development, building youth opportunities and ensuring
sustainable employment and ensuring affordable housing.
“At Boston College we are dedicated to learning and also to making this world a better place. The United Way is one way to contribute towards a better future for our children. When we improve the
environments in which they grow up, the community benefits. An
investment in their future is an investment in future citizens who can
and will give back.”
Raffles will be held each week of the campaign, Ulloa notes, so
those who contribute donations early have a better chance of winning a prize.
For more information, see www.bc.edu/offices/unitedway.
—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
Boston College, with editorial offices
at the Office of Public Affairs, 14
Mayflower Road, Chestnut Hill, MA
02467 (617)552-3350. Distributed
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and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: send address changes to
The Boston College Chronicle, Office of Public Affairs, 14 Mayflower
Road, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467.
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
October 5, 2006
Partnership with Catholic
School Paying Dividends
By Reid Oslin
Staff Writer
Boston College’s newly minted
partnership with St. Columbkille’s
School in Brighton and the Archdiocese of Boston has produced
some immediate dividends as a
revitalized student body returned
this fall to the 105-year-old urban
Catholic school to find improved
facilities, an updated curriculum
and financial stability.
University administrators predict that the unique partnership
will produce even greater rewards
as the BC-St. Columbkille’s alliance establishes a model for the
survival and growth of urban Catholic schools across America.
“What we are doing and what
we will do in the future benefits
the children of St. Columbkille’s
today,” notes Lynch School of
Education Dean Joseph O’Keefe,
SJ, “and as a University, it is going
to provide us with insights and a
better understanding of what can
really work effectively in urban
elementary schools.”
To commemorate the partnership, on Sunday, Oct. 22, Boston Archbishop Cardinal Sean
O’Malley, OFM Cap., will join
University President William P.
Leahy, SJ, Fr. O’Keefe and St.
Columbkille’s Church pastor William P. Fay in a concelebrated
Mass of Celebration at St. Columbkille’s at 11:15 a.m.
The Mass is open to all members of St. Columbkille’s Parish,
the Boston College community
and the general public.
Three years ago, said Vice President for Governmental and Community Affairs Thomas Keady, St.
Columbkille’s desperate situation
was evident: a large financial deficit, a shrinking student body and
facilities badly in need of major
repairs.
The grim outlook went beyond
St. Columbkille’s, he adds: Two
other Catholic elementary schools
in adjoining neighborhoods facing similar problems were forced
to close.
“St. Columbkille’s is the last
remaining Catholic school in the
Allston-Brighton community,”
Keady says. “Fr. Leahy stepped in
at that time and helped financially
and with some other BC resources.
He then made a proposal to the
Archdiocese that resulted in the
partnership that we have today.
Without him, this does not happen.”
The partnership, which was announced in the spring and formally signed on Sept. 8, brought
experts from the Lynch School and
a number of other Boston College
departments to St. Columbkille’s
throughout the summer to join
with parish, diocesan and community representatives to address the
elementary school’s critical needs.
“We did some serious renovations for the pre-school and kindergarten grades, like new lighting,
carpeting, new equipment and furnishings,” Keady says, “We purchased a new security system, did
some needed cleaning, got new
computers and helped put in a new
curriculum.”
As important as the physical
improvements were, the infusion
of people and resources via BC
has been critical say administrators.
BC students are teaching, tutoring
and volunteering in the school,
Barbara Doty on a recent afternoon at St. Columbkille’s School with her K-2 class. All items in the classroom, including rugs, furnishings and educational materials, were donated by Boston College through its partnership with the school. (Photo by Lee Pellegrini)
and the University has established
a program in which current St.
Columbkille’s teachers can take
graduate level courses at BC tuition-free in exchange for an extended teaching commitment at
the elementary school.
“We also hosted two open
houses that were well-attended by
the students, their families and parishioners. There are 282 students
enrolled this year – a significant
increase over previous enrollment
figures,” Keady says.
“What’s really positive here is
that the pre-kindergarten and kindergarten classes have 82 students.
That’s a very encouraging sign for
the future.”
Boston College contributions
are not limited to traditional
classroom activities. After-school
recreation and enrichment programs, SAT enhancement classes
and English as a Second Language
classes for adults have been es-
Projects Target Usage in
Residence Halls, Garages
ning. “In addition to the financial
benefits, the 352,000 fewer kilowatts used by the lighting each
year reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 222 metric tons. That’s
the equivalent of taking 48 passenger cars off the road each year.”
For public safety reasons, Manning said the lights in both garages
must remain lit 24 hours a day,
making a more efficient system
necessary.
On another front, Manning
predicts that the installation of
electric meters in nearly every
campus residence hall will help
facilities administrators better
manage the buildings and make
students aware of the energy their
dorms use. The meters, she said,
can provide better, and more
timely, information about how
much electricity is being used and
when.
“You can’t manage what you
don’t measure,” said Manning.
“We can use that information to
better determine our infrastructure needs as the university ex-
the rash of Catholic elementary
school closings — more than 250
throughout the US in the last two
years alone.
“One of the critical contributions that Catholic universities can
provide nationally is reaching out
to the needs of the local diocese,”
he says. “The best way to be a
‘church’ in our contemporary society is to work together.
“We hold that this will become a model nationally. In the
long term we are looking at the
success of how we implement the
partnership, how we design the
collaboration between the diocese,
the parish and the university, how
we are able to provide resources
that both develop curriculum and
look at facilities, how we do that
in a way that can be transportable
to other dioceses and how we can
provide leadership and consultation to other Catholic universities
who are looking for these opportunities.”
Former Connell School
Administrator Donelan Dies
Campus Energy Conservation Update
One project aimed at conserving electricity in Boston College
parking garages and another designed to measure usage in residence halls are the latest components of the University’s on-going
energy conservation effort.
Following the campaign’s successful debut year in 2005-06,
during which the University saved
close to $2 million, BC administrators are at work implementing
new and creative programs to help
reduce energy consumption, ease
pollution and save money.
“This is an on-going effort
that’s ultimately going to reduce
BC’s costs while doing our part to
improve the environment,” said
Utilities Manager Deirdre Manning.
Manning said a new project initiated last week to replace lights in
both campus parking garages will
result in more illumination while
reducing the amount of electricity
drawn by some 40 percent.
“The savings will pay for the
retrofit in three years,” said Man-
tablished. University administrators have assisted in applying for
Catholic School Foundation grants
and the Brighton school can now
join BC in soliciting bids for such
services as snow plowing and trash
removal, Keady says.
“It’s the laboratory model, really, that I think is important,” says
Fr. O’Keefe. “We will work with
the local community and build
that school around best practices
and best possible education and
then find ways to disseminate that
information through publication
research.
“It is for the children at St.
Columbkille’s,” adds Fr. O’Keefe,
“but it is also for the bigger world,
both Catholic schools and public
schools.”
Michael James, executive director of Boston College’s Center for
Catholic Education says the St.
Columbkille’s partnership could
have national ramifications, given
pands and to help identify inefficient equipment.”
The meters also offer the possibility of continuing a program begun last year on Newton Campus
in which residence halls compete
for prizes based on how well they
conserve energy. The winner was
the Hardey-Cushing residence
hall, which cut usage by nearly 11
percent.
“We believe that students, once
made aware of the amount of
energy they use and the impact it
has on the environment, will be
interested in helping us conserve,”
said Manning.
“We’re making progress, but
there’s still much to accomplish. It
is crucial that students, faculty and
staff realize it is the responsibility
of everyone on this campus to do
his or her part to conserve.”
—Stephen Gawlik
Susan Donelan, former assistant
dean for administration in the Connell School of Nursing, died on
Sunday, Oct. 1, after a long battle
with cancer. She was 51.
Ms. Donelan, who joined the
University in 1987, was diagnosed
with breast cancer in 2003. She
learned a year later that the disease
had metastasized to her liver, and
in the fall of 2004 took a leave from
CSON.
Colleagues mourn Duhamel,
Shahabuddin (p. 7)
Interviewed by Chronicle shortly
before her departure that year, Ms.
Donelan discussed her determination to lead an active life in spite of
cancer, and spoke of the love and
support she had received from her
BC colleagues.
“At first I was angry,” she said,
“but like any problem you face in
life, you deal with it. Sometimes all
you can control is your attitude.”
Ms. Donelan had cited her
nephew’s battle with cancer some
years before as an important factor
in her understanding of her own
life. In October of 2004, she wrote
a letter to her colleagues and friends
describing her experiences and her
feelings about the struggle ahead
of her.
“I truly love my husband, my
family, my friends and colleagues
and I feel your love and concern
back for me every day. I can never
adequately express how much this
means to me. Some people live to
be 100 years and they don’t have a
fraction of the happiness and contentment I have experienced.
“...I’ve been thinking quite a lot
about what life after death might
be like and I do not fear it. I’m
convinced that what we are experiencing now on earth, as glorious as
it can be, is really just the tip of the
iceberg of what we will ultimately
experience. I think we go on to
a higher, more amazing plane of
existence. We also live on in the
minds and hearts of those who have
loved us.”
Ms. Donelan is survived by her
husband, Jim Boggs, and parents
Mr. and Mrs. William C. Donelan.
A celebration of her life is planned
for a later date on campus.
—Office of Public Affairs
T he B oston C ollege
Chronicle
October 5, 2006
Sciences, Finance Among
Most Popular Majors
Continued from page 1
study at the end of the year we
would have a different picture,”
said Lonabocker.
One year’s totals do not indicate student interest in a particular
field over time, adds Lonabocker.
“There are cyclical trends over the
course of a decade: For example,
history has seen an upward climb
over a long period while political
science has been steady for many
years.”
Still, Lonabocker termed finance’s rise to second among BC
majors — representing 40 percent
of CSOM undergraduates — as
“a notable event,” given that most
of CSOM’s nearly 2,000 students
don’t declare their concentrations
until sophomore year.
CSOM Associate Dean for
Undergraduates Richard Keeley
said the rise in finance majors is
the fruit of a “virtuous circle” of
renowned faculty raising the stature of a department from which
employers want to pluck talented
graduates.
“Recent finance graduates have
done very well in the job market
and there’s an extraordinary BC
presence on Wall Street and in
the Boston financial community,”
he said, noting that the recent
establishment of the Center for
Asset Management and its corporate membership speaks to the
high regard in which the faculty
is held.
“Better students and exceptional faculty draw more of the same,”
said Keeley.
Finance Department chair
Prof. Hassan Tehranian noted the
profession’s emergence as “an innovative and cutting edge career.”
“The mutual fund industry has
at least doubled in size in last
decade, investment banking has
grown substantially, the hedge
fund industry has mushroomed by
a factor of 10 to more than $1 trillion in the last decade,” he said.
BC science faculty hailed, but
were not surprised by, the enrollment trends.
Vice Provost for Research Kevin Bedell, a member of the Physics Department, said the figures
may reflect a reversal of a trend
observed several years ago, when
many of the smartest science students wanted to be computer scientists and cash in on the dot-com
craze.
“Of course, we know that many
of the dot-coms became dotbombs, and so the science students
came back to biology and chemistry and to a lesser extent physics
and engineering,” said Bedell.
Prof. Michael Naughton (Physics) said the Physics Department
- which has nearly doubled its enrollment in five years – has worked
to communicate with students and
prospective students about the
work that’s being done at BC
and beyond. He noted that most
— and last year, all — BC physics
majors have found employment
or are accepted to graduate school
within a year after receiving their
degrees.
“Hopefully people are starting to see the renewed value of
physics. It isn’t about balls rolling down an incline, it’s about
things like nanotubes and retinal
implants, it’s about the integrated
work we’re doing within other
fields,” he said.
Biology faculty cite the research opportunities offered to
students and the prospect of regular collaborations with professors
as major factors in the major’s
popularity.
Prof. Clare O’Connor said
families seem to appreciate that
BC research labs are small enough
for students to actually play a substantive role in research projects.
“Increasingly, we’re seeing students who have also had some
research experiences as high school
students and would like to continue them in college,” she said.
Adj. Assoc. Prof. Robert Wolff
(Biology) said students’ growing
interest in applying to medical
school was another likely reason
for the rise in science majors.
“I think the strengthening of all
our science departments in general
has also made our Premedical Program more attractive to potential
applicants, and this has probably
also influenced biology enrollments,” said Wolff, who serves as
the program’s director.
Student Services data supports
Wolff’s comment: The number of
students enrolled in the Premedical Program (1,261) is well above
the 2000 total of 900.
At least one BC student also
agrees with Wolff.
“BC students have a strong
acceptance rate to medical school
and that was certainly a draw for
me,” said Kathleen Brennan ’07,
a biology major from Portland,
Me., planning to apply to medical
school following graduation next
May.
Other highlights of the Student Services fall 2006 enrollment report:
*History (159), International
Studies (157) and Hispanic Studies (99) are the most popular
minors.
*The number of undergrads in
the College of Arts and Sciences
is 5,919, followed by the Carroll
School of Management (1,997),
Lynch School of Education (727)
and Connell School of Nursing
(377). The Woods College of
Advancing Studies undergraduate
enrollment is 729.
*Graduate students number
4,632, which combined with all
part-time students brings the
total University enrollment to
14,381.
*BC undergraduates come from
49 states (Mississippi is the only
unrepresented state), with 50 students from Puerto Rico and two
from Guam. The undergraduate
population includes 200 international students.
Boston College welcomed to campus the
families of undergraduates for Parents’
Weekend Sept. 29-Oct. 1. Many of the visitors attended classes with their matriculating children, and in the case of Susan
Forte of Monument, Col., at right in photo
above, watched her daughter Sophie ’07
describe her science project during a
poster session in the Higgins Hall Atrium.
James Daley ‘07 also listened in.
BC also offered special presentations for
parents, including a panel discussion in
Robsham Theater, “Making Scientists
of Us All: A 21st-Century Requirement,”
(right) which included Asst. Prof. G. Michael Barnett (LSOE).
Photos by Lee Pellegrini
Freshmen Seem Ready for Challenges
Many have taken AP biology
or multi-variable calculus, scored
among the best students in nation on their SATs and navigated
the increasingly selective admission
process.
But for members of the Boston
College Class of 2010, the biggest
challenge they face now at college
may be each other.
“Every day I meet someone new
who was all-world in something,”
said Frank Trager ’10, a Carroll
School of Management student
from suburban Chicago. “I just met
a kid who’s a sponsored wind surfer.
I’ve never met anyone like that.”
Trager is one of 2,284 members
of a freshman class that, by many
measures, is the most talented BC
has ever accepted – and that talent
has been exhibited both within and
beyond the classroom walls.
Inside the classroom, the Class
of 2010 — chosen from an applicant pool of 26,584, BC’s largest
ever — has composite middle 50
percent SAT scores ranging from
1900-2100 and almost 36 percent
of its members were accepted via
early action.
Outside the classroom, the Class
of 2010’s excellence may be difficult
to quantify, but administrators say
it is abundant.
“We have people who have
excelled in many different things:
people with great musical ability,
people with student government
experience, people with great athletic ability,” said Director of Undergraduate Admissions John Mahoney. “We’ve built a community
that will enrich the quality of life for
everyone on campus.”
For some members of the Class
of 2010 gathered for lunch at Carney’s in McElroy Commons recently, Mahoney’s words ring true.
“BC is definitely a work hardplay hard kind of place,” said freshman Elizabeth Sherry of Chester,
NJ. “It’s really a competitive atmosphere.”
Filip Stosic of Lincoln Park, NJ,
agreed, but said that BC’s reputation as a strong academic institution
— as well as its proximity to Boston
— was what attracted him, and
many of his fellow freshmen, in the
first place.
“This school has a lot to offer at
every level,” said the finance major.
While there’s no telling how the
academic success of the class will
manifest itself in other areas, observers say it’s fair to assume that
academic success goes hand-in-hand
with success in other ventures.
“I think for a few years now
we’ve been seeing students come
in with a high levels of talent
and all sorts of experiences before they’ve even started college,”
said Associate Dean for Student
Development Paul Chebator.
“We have students who have traveled abroad and held leadership
positions throughout high school
in areas like student government,
student newspapers and yearbooks.
These are very talented students.
It is a real challenge for us to respond.”
.
—Stephen Gawlik
Bedell Is Vice Provost for Research
Continued from page 1
vost for research, Bedell will incorporate the responsibilities of
Physics colleague Prof. Michael
Naughton, who had served as
interim associate vice president
for research since Aug. 1 of
last year. Naughton replaced
Graduate School of Arts and
Sciences Dean Michael Smyer,
who had been associate vice
president for research for more
than a decade.
Although Bedell will relinquish his chairmanship of the
Physics Department, he will
remain a faculty member and
continue to contribute to the
department through research
and graduate student advising.
A search is under way to replace
Bedell as Physics chairman.
T he B oston C ollege
Chronicle
October 5, 2006
Geologist Snyder Hails
‘Incredible Opportunity’
ACC research program
made summer trip to
Southeast Asia possible
By Reid Oslin
Staff Writer
Asst. Prof. Noah Snyder (Geology and Geophysics) joined an
Atlantic Coast Conference “team”
this past summer for an undertaking that had nothing to do with
the league’s traditional athletic
competition.
Snyder was part of an 11-member faculty group representing
eight ACC schools that conducted
water resources research in major
watersheds in Southeast Asia, notably China and Vietnam.
This first-time research endeavor, known as the Atlantic
Coast Conference International
Academic Collaboration, brought
together faculty members from a
variety of academic disciplines to
focus on a research topic outside
of the United States. The ACCIAC will be continued in 2007,
when a research trip to Africa is
planned, and in future years.
Snyder, a fluvial geomorphologist, (“Basically, I study how rivers shape the earth’s surfaces by
eroding, transporting and depositing sediments,” he explains) was
joined by hydrologists, environmental chemists, biologists and
environmental policy-makers on
the three-week project that focused on environmental concerns,
risks and consequences affecting
Southeast Asia’s Yangtze, Red and
Mekong rivers.
The research leaders of the trip
were Stephen Klaine of Clemson University’s Biological Studies Department and E. Michael
Perdue, a faculty member in the
School of Earth and Atmospheric
Sciences at Georgia Institute of
Technology.
“It was an incredible opportunity to travel around with 10
other professors who were all interested in different aspects of one
big topic,” Snyder says. “There
is a constant stimulation and a
constant source of conversation
and the informal interaction that
we had together as a group was really valuable, and a really unusual
experience.
“I now know a group of people
that I can call upon when I have a
question in their particular subject
discipline.”
Snyder says the international
aspect of the project also provides
an additional academic dividend.
“Part of the stated goal of the
program is to introduce people to
new parts of the world. I had never been to Southeast Asia. When
we got to meet with academics
there we found it is very easy to
interact with these people because
we share a common profession
and inherently a common set of
experiences.
“It’s a great entry into a new
culture.”
Snyder says the ACCIAC is of
particular value to faculty members from Boston College – the
newest member of the 12-school
conference. “It’s important for
Boston College to participate in
these sorts of things, because we
are sort of geographically separated from the rest of the conference. The core of the ACC is in
the Carolinas and a lot of the
people seemed to know each other
because they go to regional science
meetings and the like.
“That’s all the more reason
we should be sure to always have
a participant or representative in
these types of things,” Snyder
says. “Hopefully, we will make
the ACC even more than a sports
conference.”
Additional information on ACCIAC and applications for faculty
participation are available at acciac.org/facultygrants.htm.
BC Alumnus Driscoll Vows to Persevere
Continued from page 1
land and Bay Saint Louis – and
founded Persevere, modeling it
on the nimble, effective system he
saw work at Hands On USA.
“They had a get-it-done mentality that we’ve translated into
our business model with Persevere,” Driscoll said in a recent
telephone interview.
It is that can-do attitude and
flexibility that impresses local residents like Karen Aderer, a 15-year
resident of Bay Saint Louis. Aderer got to know Persevere’s crew
when they helped rebuild a shelter
for abused and neglected children
where she serves as director of
program services.
Aderer says Persevere is among
a group of small non-profits that
have been the “saving grace” of
the Gulf Coast, whose residents
otherwise generally feel let down
by the government, the insurance
companies and even the bigger
non-profits.
“Groups like Persevere are willing to do the dirty work and keep
the bureaucracy to a minimum,”
she says. “They don’t say ‘fill out
these forms and we’ll get back to
you in three weeks.’ They show
up and ask what needs to be done.
We need more people like them.”
Persevere’s main task these days
is removing the second round of
Katrina’s massive tree slaughter.
The first round comprised the
thousands of trees uprooted by the
hurricane’s winds. But by flooding large swaths of coastal land,
Katrina laced the soil with salt
water that has killed many more.
Persevere has so far removed
some 500 trees that posed a danger to people or buildings, but
many more need to come down.
“We’re in a race against time,”
says Driscoll during a break from
performing maintenance on his
fleet of chainsaws. “We’re dealing with people who have lost
everything and are now living in
FEMA trailers. They can’t afford
to hire a service to come out and
remove their trees. That’s where
we come in.”
Persevere’s efforts don’t stop
at trees. Driscoll and his BC crew
also offer plumbing and sewer
repairs, debris removal, and they
even build sandboxes to give Gulf
Coast children a safe place to play
away from the potentially hazardous silt and mud left in Katrina’s
wake.
“We tend to get projects that
fall through the cracks,” says Tierney, who along with Howard and
Marsh joined Driscoll in June,
shortly they graduated.
The three women had come
to know Driscoll during a Gulf
Coast volunteer stint in January
and had kept in touch over the
spring. When he asked them to
commit to Persevere for a year,
they immediately signed on.
“We’re here out of a sense of
wanting to set the world aflame,”
says Tierney, echoing the words
of Jesuit founder St. Ignatius
of Loyola. “There’s still a lot of
clean-up work that needs to be
done, and our program was set up
to be versatile and to meet a mix
of changing needs.”
Driscoll says in addition to
the invaluable contributions of
Tierney, Marsh and Howard, one
of Persevere’s biggest assets is his
own father: Bill Driscoll Sr., a
Boston-area plumber and contractor who has made nearly two dozen service trips to the Gulf Coast
since Katrina hit last year.
Looking forward, Driscoll
says he and his staff plan to stay
until next June, at which time
he will assess whether Persevere’s
services are still needed. If they
are, Driscoll wants to recruit the
next class of volunteers from BC’s
ranks.
In the meantime, however,
Driscoll is seeking more shortterm volunteers and donations
from the Boston College community. For more information, visit
www.perseverevolunteers.org.
Asst. Prof. Noah
Snyder (Geology
and Geophysics),
with camera at right,
joined a group of
faculty from Atlantic
Coast Conference
schools to research
water resources in
areas of Southeast
Asia, including the
Yangtze River (above)
in China.
USA Today: BC Athletics
on Top in Academics
Boston College’s combined athletic and academic success on the
football field and basketball courts were lauded in the Sept. 28 edition
of USA Today, which reshuffled this week’s football top 25 and last
year’s final men’s and women’s basketball top 25 according to academic
success rate.
Boston College was the only school in the country with its football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball teams all ranked in the
nation’s top 10 academically and athletically.
USA Today used figures from a recently released study by the, which
NCAA tracked more than 93,000 athletes, most on scholarship, who
entered school in the four-year period from 1996-99 in computing its
Graduation Success Rates. In their second year of use, the numbers are
considered more accurate than federally computed rates that penalize
schools for players who transfer or leave for such other reasons as early
entry in a professional draft.
With this data, USA Today reorganized its weekly ESPN/USA Today Top 25 football (coaches’) poll as well as the final 2005-06 men’s
and women’s basketball polls.
In the reshuffled poll, the football Eagles, ranked 25th in that week’s
coaches’ poll, ranked number one in the country with a 96 percent
graduation rate. Notre Dame (95 percent), Nebraska (88), Florida (80)
and TCU (78) rounded out the top five academic-athletic programs
in the country. BC also was ranked number one in the country when
the newspaper reorganized its final top 25 poll at the end of the 2005
regular season.
In men’s basketball, Boston College (73 percent) ranked sixth in the
country when USA Today reshuffled last season’s final top 25 poll. The
women’s basketball team, with a 92 percent graduation rate, tied for
seventh in the newspaper’s modified poll.
“As always, we are very proud of the accomplishments of our student-athletes in the classroom, on the field and on the court,” Director
of Athletics Gene DeFilippo said.
—Boston College Athletic Association
T he B oston C ollege
Chronicle
October 5, 2006
Lecture Friday on politics
and pluralism
The Philosophy Department will present a lecture tomorrow at 4 p.m. in
Devlin 008 by author and critical theorist
Jürgen Habermas titled “A Political Constitution for a Pluralist World Society.”
Habermas is a professor of philosophy
emeritus at the Goethe University of
Frankfurt, Germany, author of Knowledge and Human Interests and The
Theory of Communicative Action, and is
regarded as one of the foremost thinkers on critical theory, social and political
theory, epistemology, communication,
legitimation, and the concept of the
public sphere.
For more information, call ext.2-3847 or
e-mail mccoyma@bc.edu.
Catholic Charities President
Fr. Hehir to speak Tuesday
Rev. J. Bryan Hehir, president of Catholic Charities, will present the lecture
“From John Paul II to Benedict XVI: The
Social Ministry of the Church” on Tuesday, Oct. 10, at 7 p.m. in Gasson 100.
Fr. Hehir is a former faculty member at
Harvard Divinity School and an expert in
Catholic social ethics and religion’s role
in world politics and American society.
His appearance is sponsored by the
Church in the 21st Century Center and
the Institute of Religious Education and
Pastoral Ministry. For information, call
ext.2-8057 or e-mail lambmb@bc.edu.
“New Directions” series
begins Oct. 18
The African and African Diaspora Studies Program will open its 2006-07 New
Directions Lecture Series on Wednesday, Oct. 18, with a talk by Harvard
University faculty member and author
Tommie Shelby titled “Class, Poverty
and Shame.”
Shelby will discuss how class differences among African Americans make
it difficult to build black solidarity and
a progressive politics. He is the John L.
Loeb Associate Professor of the Social
Sciences and of African & African
American Studies at Harvard.
The series continues on Nov. 8 with
“The African Diaspora and Black
Masculine Performance,” presented by
Michelle Stephens, a professor at Mt.
Holyoke College who teaches American, African American, and Caribbean
literature. She will explore the gendered
meanings inscribed in current notions of
diaspora and the prescriptions governing
black masculine performances and racial
narratives.
Both events take place at 4:30 p.m. in
Higgins 300. For more information, call
ext.2-3238.
Upcoming campus concerts
This Sunday, Oct. 8, at 3 p.m. in
St. Mary’s Chapel, the “Music at St.
Mary’s” series presents a concert of
music on organ and harpsichord by Claudio Astronio, a regular guest performer
— as soloist and conductor — at some
of the most preeminent organ and early
music festivals in Europe and the United
States.
The following Saturday, Oct. 14, the
University Wind Ensemble will perform
at 8 p.m. in Gasson 100. The concert
features “Fantasy Variations on a
Theme” by Nicolo Paganini and “Symphonic Metamorphosis on Themes” by
Carl Maria Von Veber.
On Monday, Oct. 16, at 4:15 p.m. in
Gasson 100, there will be a performance
of Johannes Brahms’ “Quintet for Clarinet and Strings, Op. 115,” with Richard
Shaughnessy, clarinet; David Siegel,
violin; Anne Squire, violin; Frank Grimes,
viola; and Nancy Hair, cello.
That’s Funny - Or Is It? Asks Humor Scholar Lewis
By Stephen Gawlik
Staff Writer
Do real and fictional personalities like Norman Cousins, Hannibal Lecter, Rush Limbaugh, Beavis
and Butt-Head, and Bill Clinton
have anything in common? Yes
they do, says Prof. Paul Lewis
(English).
As Lewis explains in his latest book Cracking Up: American
Humor in a Time of Conflict, they
are all joke tellers who use humor
to do much more than simply
amuse.
And that’s the punch line, says
Lewis: In a culture that both enjoys
and quarrels about jokes, humor
expresses the most nurturing and
hurtful impulses, informs and misinforms, and exposes as well as covers up the shortcomings of political
leaders.
“Insofar as jokes can convey information, provide entertainment,
and offer relief from stress, so they
can highlight areas of anxiety or
concern,” he said.
Stephen Vedder
Postings
Prof. Paul Lewis (English)
Cracking Up calls attention to
and raises questions about humor
that seems fraught, explains Lewis,
as reflected in the popularity of
fictional killer-jokers like Freddy
Krueger (“Nightmare on Elm
Street”) and Hannibal Lecter (“Silence of the Lambs”).
“Is humor,” he asks, “really the
‘best medicine’?”
Lewis will read selections from
Cracking Up on Wednesday, Oct.
18, at 7:30 p.m. in Devlin 101 as
part of the “Writers Among Us”
series spotlighting faculty authors.
Exploring topics that range from
the mockery of Abu Ghraib prison
guards to jokes ridiculing the possibility of global climate change to
the activities of hospital clowns,
Lewis demonstrates that over the
past three decades American humor has become increasingly purposeful and provocative.
“The strains of intentional humor I follow - including sadistic
humor in popular culture and the
positive humor movement - are
not uniquely modern or American,
though they gathered momentum
here over the past 30 years,” said
Lewis.
He said his motivation for the
book dawned after finishing an earlier study of literary humor, Comic
Effects: Interdisciplinary Approaches
to Humor in Literature. Seeking to
move beyond the ethical frames
under dispute in debates about
political correctness, Lewis began
to follow controversial and edgy
jokes, joke cycles, and parodies.
“I began to identify specific
strains of humor used deliberately
to do more than amuse: to cure,
terrify, educate, motivate, persuade,
inform and misinform,” said Lewis, who recently wrote an op-ed on
the use of humor by politicians in
The Philadelphia Inquirer.
While scrutinizing forms of humor can sometimes lead to over
analysis, Lewis says, it is important
to study a joker’s intent.
“Because some jokes, improvs,
sitcoms, political speeches, and radio broadcasts use humor to do
something to, or for us, becoming aware of this helps strengthen
the ethical sensibility we should
not abandon just because someone
implies that he or she is ‘only kidding.’”
“Writers Among Us” is sponsored
by the Office of the Provost, Boston College Magazine and the BC
Bookstore. For more information,
call ext.2-4820 or e-mail courteje@
bc.edu.
Boisi Event Studies
Pledge Issue
Center for Irish Programs Executive Director Thomas Hachey speaks with (L-R) former Irish prime minister Garret FitzGerald,
State Sen. Steven Tolman and Burns Librarian Robert O’Neill at a reception held to mark publication of Britain & Ireland:
Lives Entwined II. (Photo by Joan Seidel)
BC Hosts Launch of Book on Anglo-Irish Relations
Boston College was the setting
late last month for the official
launch of a new volume of essays
exploring the complex relationship between Britain and Ireland.
Dignitaries including former
Prime Minister of Ireland Garret
FitzGerald and former Secretary
of State for Northern Ireland Paul
Murphy gathered at Connolly
House on Sept. 21 to mark the
publication of Britain & Ireland:
Lives Entwined II.
The book — a follow-up to last
year’s well-received volume of the
same name, and to a 2004 report
on young Irish people’s attitudes
toward the United Kingdom —
contains writings from politicians,
scholars, journalists and other observers from Britain, Ireland and
the United States. Contributors
include European Union Ambassador to the US John Bruton,
Boston Globe writer Kevin Cullen,
Northern Irish civil rights activist Bernadette Devlin McAliskey,
Irish Echo editor Ray O’Hanlon,
Dublin political leader and commentator Liz O’Donnell and Ed
Moloney, author of A Secret History of the IRA.
FitzGerald,
Murphy,
O’Donnell and Cullen attended
the reception and participated
in a panel discussion chaired by
BC Centre for Irish ProgrammesDublin Director Michael Cronin.
BC Center for Irish Programs
Executive Director Thomas
Hachey, who co-organized the
book launch and offered a welcome at the event, said last week:
“This book contains a fresh and
contemporary perspective of the
subtle but profound ties that bind
the Anglo-Irish relationship despite a millennium of strife and
division. These essays represent an
informed and compelling analysis
of the elements and/or issues that
continue to shape what every arguably has been one of the more
enigmatic and contentious relationships within the international
community.
“We at the Center for Irish
Programs were therefore very
pleased to be able to help mark
the release of this book, which we
hope will strengthen the AngloIrish dialogue.”
Along with Hachey, Center for
Irish Programs representatives at
the book launch included Irish
Studies Program co-director Robert Savage and co-founder Assoc.
Prof. Kevin O’Neill (History),
Irish Institute Director Mary
O’Herlihy and Burns Librarian
Robert O’Neill.
—Sean Smith
Michael Newdow, a California
lawyer and physician who has led
efforts to remove religious references from the Pledge of Allegiance and American currency,
will be part of a panel discussion, “Religious Freedom and the
Pledge of Allegiance,” on Wednesday, Oct. 18, from 6-7:30 p.m. in
the Fulton Debate Room (Gasson
305).
Joining Newdow on the panel
will be Prof. Alan Wolfe (Political Science), director of the Boisi
Center for Religion and American
Public Life, the event’s sponsor;
lawyer and social critic Wendy
Kaminer; and Tufts University
Assistant Professor Vincent Phillip Munoz MA’95, a scholar of
political philosophy and American
constitutional law.
Newdow attracted national
attention when he took the Sacramento school district to court
because it mandated students,
including his daughter, must recite the Pledge of Allegiance. He
claimed that the presence of “under God” in the Pledge violated
the separation between church
and state and was therefore unconstitutional.
A California court upheld
him, but the US Supreme Court
ruled against Newdow, largely on
the grounds that he had no legal
standing to bring the case, as he
had never married his daughter’s
mother and was in the midst of a
custody battle.
Newdow brought the case
again to the court in 2005, this
time with other parents. He also
has filed a legal challenge to the
national motto “In God We
Trust.”
For more information, call
ext. 2-1860, or see www.bc.edu/
bc_org/research/rapl/events/abstract_20061018.html.
T he B oston C ollege
Chronicle
October 5, 2006
Newsmakers
• Prof. Harvey Egan, SJ (Theology), was quoted by the Los Angeles
Times regarding spirituality and
the use of counterculture drugs in
cancer patients.
• Center on Aging and Work Codirector Michael Smyer spoke with
the New Orleans Times-Picayune
about older Americans adapting to
new technologies.
PEOPLE
lims and Jews in Greater Boston
over construction of a mosque in
Roxbury. Also, his op-ed on the
consequences of religions becoming
exclusive clubs was published by
Science & Theology News.
• Prof. Joseph Steinfield (Law) was
quoted by the Boston Globe regarding libel laws.
• Prof. Walt Haney (LSOE) was
quoted by the Sacramento Bee regarding ninth-grade dropout rates.
Today, the Cleveland Plain Dealer
and by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance
Magazine on various aspects of
retirement planning.
Honors/Appointments
• Center on Wealth and Philanthropy Director Prof. Paul G. Schervish (Sociology) has been elected to
the Board of Directors of the Smith
Barney Charitable Trust, Inc.
laborative Research: Research on
Strongly Coupled Plasmas.”
•Prof. Ziqiang Wang (Physics):
$80,000, U.S. Department of Energy, “Disorder and Interaction in
Correlated Electron Systems.”
•Assoc. Prof. Alan Kafka (Geology
and Geophysics): $41,362, New
Bedford Public Schools, “InquiryBased Learning Through Recording Earthquakes in the Classroom:
Inviting Students into the World of
Science Research.”
•Prof. Judith McMorrow (Law)
was quoted by the Boston Herald on
legalities surrounding Boston’s Big
Dig construction debacle.
• A Boston Globe “City Weekly”
story included Graduate School of
Social Work student Najiba Akbar
‘07 as among those joining the first
collaborative effort of three area
organizations to host a dialogue
between Muslims and Jews in their
20s and 30s.
• Center for the Study of Testing
Evaluation and Education Policy
Research Associate Damian Bebell
was interviewed by the Berkshire
Eagle regarding a technology-in-theclassroom laptop program in local
schools.
• Adj. Prof. Raymond Helmick,
SJ (Theology) was quoted by the
Boston Globe for a story on efforts
to mediate a dispute between Mus-
• Prof. Sandra Waddock (CSOM)
was quoted by the Atlanta JournalConstitution regarding the ethics of
Wal-Mart.
• Assoc. Prof. Michael Russell
(LSOE) offered remarks to the Fort
Worth Star-Telegram regarding the
scoring of standardized test essays.
Grants
•Lynch School of Education faculty
members Prof. Ina Mullis and
Research Prof. Michael Martin:
$300,000, International Association
for the Evaluation of Educational
Achievement, “Design, Manage and
Implement TIMSS 2007.”
• Assoc. Prof. Richard McGowan,
SJ (CSOM) was quoted by the
Boston Herald regarding the planned
expansion of the Mohegan Sun
casino.
• Prof. G. Robert Meyerhoff
(Mathematics): $184,218, National
Science Foundation, “FRG: Understanding Low Volume Hyperbolic
3-Manifolds.”
•Prof. Avner Ash (Mathematics):
$33,706, National Science Foundation, “Cohomology of Arithmetic
Groups and Galois Representations.”
• Drucker Professor of Management Science Alicia Munnell,
director of BC’s Center for
Retirement Research, was featured
by the Boston Sunday Globe, in a
Q&A on retirement issues. She
also was quoted by ABC News,
by the Los Angeles Times, USA
•Prof. Lisa Barrett (Psychology):
$119,946, National Institutes of
Health, “Emotional Granularity: A
View From Multiple Levels.”
•Assoc. Prof. Kathleen McInnisDittrich (GSSW): $25,000, New
York Academy of Medicine, “Practicum Parternship Program.”
• Distinguished Research Prof.
Gabor Kalman (Physics): $83,992,
National Science Foundation, “Col-
•Prof. Krzysztof Kempa (Physics):
$25,000, University of Massachusetts, “Coaxial Nano-Optics for
Solar Energy Harvesting.”
Biologist Shahabuddin Dies
Funeral services were held
Sept. 22 for Mohammed Shahabuddin, an assistant professor
in the Biology Department who
died Sept. 21 after a long illness.
He was 46.
Dr. Shahabuddin, a native
of Bangladesh who joined the
Biology faculty prior to the
2003-04 academic year, was an
expert in disease transmission
by insects. His research focused
in particular on identifying crucial parasite and mosquito molecules that could be targeted to
develop effective strategies for
blocking transmission of malaria, which afflicts more than 500
million people, and kills nearly
two million people annually,
many of them children.
In 2004, Dr. Shahabuddin
and DeLuca Professor of Biology Marc Muskavitch developed
an Insectary in Higgins Hall to
aid their study of insect-borne
infectious diseases.
That same year, Dr. Shahabuddin was a presenter at
the Boston Malaria-Mosquito
Encounter, which offered a setting for an informal exchange of
ideas among malaria and mosquito researchers in the Boston
area.
As an investigator in the National Institute of Allergy and
Infectious Diseases’ Laboratory
of Parasitic Diseases, Dr. Shahabuddin and colleagues identified a part of the insect immune
system that naturally attacks
malaria parasites. The research,
detailed in a 2000 article he
co-authored for Science, lent
hope for the development of
transmission-blocking vaccines
and mosquitoes engineered to
be parasite-resistant.
Dr. Shahabuddin held
bachelor’s and master’s degrees
from the University of Dhaka
in Bangladesh, and earned his
doctorate from the University
of Edinburgh.
He is survived by his wife,
Shahinoor Begum, and sons
Maysarah and Muntasir.
Nota Bene
EagleEyes, the Boston College project that enables people with severe
physical disabilities to perform various tasks using eye-controlled computer
technology, has been named a 2006 “Technology Award Laureate” in education by the Tech Museum of San Jose, Calif.
The Tech Museum Awards honor innovators from around the world
who are applying technology to benefit humanity, and seeks to inspire other
such efforts. Awards are given in areas such as education, equality, environment, health and economic development through the use of technology.
A collaboration between the Carroll School of Management, the Computer Science Department and the Boston College Campus School, the
EagleEyes Project also has developed application programs to work with its
technology and thus expand its usefulness. EagleEyes has a licensing agreement with the Opportunity Foundation of America of Salt Lake City to
build miniature EagleEyes devices and distribute them for free.
The Tech Museum Awards will be presented Nov. 15.
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dean Michael A. Smyer has been
appointed to the Advisory Committee on Graduate Education and American Competitiveness of the Council of Graduate Schools. The committee,
composed of higher education and business leaders, will assist in developing
a policy paper that focuses on the specific roles of universities, government
and business in ensuring that the nation’s graduate education capacity is
nurtured and advanced in the next decades. The committee will participate
in a legislative conference in Washington, DC, next April.
Honors Program Co-Founder
Albert Duhamel, 86, Dies
By Reid Oslin
Staff Writer
Prof. Emeritus P. Albert Duhamel, who taught English at Boston College for nearly 50 years and
was a founder of the University’s
Honors Program, died Oct. 1. He
was 86.
“Al was one of the giants of the
Boston College English department
in the 1950’s and 1960’s,” said Vice
President for University Mission
and Ministry Joseph A. Appleyard,
SJ, who studied under Prof. Duhamel as an undergraduate. “He inspired many of his students – myself
included – to follow in his footsteps
in the study of the history of English
literature.
“In founding the honors program at Boston College, he set a new
standard for intellectual excellence,”
Fr. Appleyard said. “Appropriately,
he spent the last happy years of his
teaching career introducing freshmen to the great literature of the
past.”
In addition to his teaching, Prof.
Duhamel for several years was book
editor at The Boston Herald and
hosted a weekly television show on
WGBH-TV, “I’ve Been Reading,”
for which he interviewed a wide
range of authors and other guests,
ranging from professional baseball
players to best-selling novelists.
One of his guests was Julia
Child, who in 1962 cooked her first
television meal – an omelet – on his
show. A number of viewers contacted the station to express their
interest in the cooking segment, and
Child launched a pilot for her own
show on WGBH shortly thereafter.
A graduate of College of the
Holy Cross, Prof. Duhamel earned
a master’s degree in English at Boston College and added a doctorate
at the University of Wisconsin.
Prof. Duhamel joined the Boston College faculty in 1949. He
was later appointed to the English
department’s Philomatheia Chair,
which he held until his retirement
in 1995.
In 1958, College of Arts and
Sciences Dean William Van Etten
Casey, SJ, appointed him director
of Boston College’s new Office of
Special Programs. There, Prof. Duhamel joined fellow faculty members Walter Langlois and Joseph
Sheerin to select academically talented students for the University’s
inaugural Honors Program.
Residents of Bedford, Prof. Duhamel and his wife of 63 years,
Helen (Stowell) Duhamel, delighted in travel and spent many
summer vacations visiting unusual
places around the globe, according
to their daughter, Mary Kramer. In
addition to his wife and daughter,
Prof. Duhamel is survived by two
grandchildren.
In keeping with his lifelong
dedication to education, Prof. Duhamel willed his body to a medical
school. The memorial service will
be private. Donations in his name
may be made to the University of
Wisconsin Foundation, P.O. Box
8869, Madison, Wis. 53708 for the
support of that school’s Helen C.
White Library.
•Connell School of Nursing Dean
Barbara Hazard: $39,769, L.G.
Balfour Foundation, “Boston College/Pine Manor College Nursing
Partnership.”
• Burns Librarian Robert O’Neill:
$15,000, 21st Century ILGWU
Heritage Fund, Oral History
Project.”
• Vanderslice Millennium Professor of Chemistry Amir Hoveyda:
$5,000, Merck & Co. Inc., “Merck
Summer Undergraduate Research
Fellowship Program.”
• Kearns Professor of Education
Mary Walsh: $1,999, City of Boston, “Boston Connects.”
Jobs
• Receptionist/Secretary, University Advancement
•Temp Office Pool Walk-In
Hours, BC Temps
•Research Associate, Center for
Corporate Citizenship
•Assistant Manager, Dining
Services (2 positions)
• Lead Cashier/Line, Dining
Services
• Training Communications
Specialist, Information Technology Services (2 positions)
• Senior Systems Programmer,
Information Technology
•Bioinformatics Programmer,
Biology Department
•Web Producer, Office of Marketing Communications
•Associate Director, Office of
Marketing Communications
•Director of Administrative Services. Information Technology
For more information on employment
at Boston College see www.bc.edu/bcjobs
T he B oston C ollege
Chronicle
October 5, 2006
LOOKING AHEAD
READINGS•LECTURES•
DISCUSSIONS
Oct. 5
•“Guantánamo: How Should We
Respond?” 10 a.m.-7 p.m., East
Wing 115A, Law School, Newton
Campus, call ext.2-1968, e-mail:
kingei@bc.edu
Oct. 6
• “A Political Constitution for a
Pluralist World Society” with Jürgen Habermas, Johann Wolfgang
Goethe University of Frankfurt, 4
p.m., Devlin 008, call ext.2-3847,
e-mail:mccoyma@bc.edu
Oct. 11
•”White Privilege: Really a Privilege? 10 a.m., McElroy Conference Room, call ext.2-8532.
• “What Does a Judge Do When
the Law is Wrong?” 3:30 p.m.,
Law School, Newton Campus,
East Wing Room 120, email:
frenchj@bc.edu.
Oct. 13
• Meet Your Colleagues: University Historian Thomas H.
O’Connor, noon, McElroy Conference Room, call ext.2-8532,
email: employee.development@
bc.edu.
Oct. 18
•”It’s a White Thing: The Impact
of Gender and Race on Parental
Responses to Male Child Sexual
Abuse” with Prof. Shawn McGuffey (Sociology), 12 p.m.,
Lyons 301, call ext.2-3238, email:
mcateerm@bc.edu.
MUSIC•ART•PERFORMANCE
Oct. 8
•Music at St. Mary’s, Claudio Astronio, organ and harpsichord, 3
p.m. St. Mary’s Chapel, call ext.26004, email: concerts@bc.edu
Oct. 11
•Irish music and dance ceilidh,
6:30 p.m., Gasson 100, call ext.20490.
The 2006-7 hockey season begins this
month for coach Jerry York and the
top-ranked Eagles.
Oct. 13
“An Experiment with an Air
Pump” 8 p.m., Robsham Theater,
call ext.2-4002, email: principi@
bc.edu. Program repeats Oct. 14.
Oct. 14
•“An Unknown Future: The
Body, Biotechnology, and Human
Nature” a panel discussion immediately following the matinee
performance of “An Experiment
with an Air Pump” 4:30 p.m.,
Robsham Theater Arts Center,
call ext.2-9296, email: winston.
center@bc.edu
•“Variations, Metamorphoses,
and Paraphrases” University Wind
Ensemble, 8 p.m., Gasson 100,
call ext.2-3018, email: bowesk@
bc.edu.
Oct. 17
“Heroes and Saints in Islamic Art
and Literature” 7 p.m., Devlin
101, email: andrewma@bc.edu
ONGOING EXHIBITIONS
• “Cosmophilia: Islamic Art from
the David Collection, Copenhagen, hours: Monday-Friday 11
a.m.-4 p.m., weekends: 12 noon
to 5 p.m., for more information
call (617)552-8587 or email
artmusm@bc.edu.
• “Francis Xavier: Jesuit Missions in the Far East” in the Burns
Library, through Dec. 3., hours:
9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through
Friday, call ext.2-3282.
• “Bridging the Chasm - An
exhibit on international higher
education, collaborative research
and global development”, through
Oct. 15, weekdays, 8 a.m. to 1
a.m., Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 10
p.m., Sunday, 10 a.m. to 1 a.m.
• “My Monster is in Safe Keeping:
The Samuel Beckett Collection
at Boston College” Irish Room
and Fine Print Room, through
Jan. 31, 2007, hours: 9 a.m. to 5
p.m. Monday through Friday, call
ext.2-3282.
ATHLETICS
Oct. 10
• Men’s Hockey: BC vs. Northeastern, 7 p.m., Conte Forum.
Oct. 12
•Football: BC vs. Va. Tech, 7:30
p.m. Alumni Stadium.
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 information on campus
events, see events.bc.edu and www.
bc.edu/bcinfo
BC SCENES
Flagging Interest
Boston College organizations filled the Campus Green Sept. 19 for the annual Student Activities Day. Above, Nancy Khalil, a
graduate assistant with the Global Proficiency Program, chats with (L-R) freshmen Allegra Borghese and Cristina EspinosaDaSilva and sophomore Sarah Kearney. (Photo by Lee Pellegrini)
Robsham Fall Season
Begins with ‘Experiment’
The 2006-07 Robsham Theater fall season, which includes classic works
by Shakespeare and Sophocles and the staging of a popular “cult” 1970s
musical, will open next Friday, Oct. 13, with a joint Robsham-Theater
Department production of Shelagh Stephenson’s “An Experiment with an
Air Pump.”
Directed by Adj. Asst. Prof. Patricia Riggin (Theater), the play, based on
actual historical figures and events, offers a provocative perspective on the
interplay of science and art, and the ethical issues concerning the pursuit
of both.
Robsham and the Theater Department also will collaborate for a production of “Antigone” from Oct. 18-20, directed by Robsham Associate
Director Sheppard Barnett. Written by Sophocles in 442 BC as the final
play of his Oedipus trilogy, this tragedy incorporates such universal themes
as conscience-versus-law, individual-versus-state, the conflict of power and
passion, and the complex nature of pride.
Another Shelagh Stephenson play will be featured at Robsham’s Bonn
Studio from Oct. 26-28, when the Boston College Dramatics Society
presents “The Memory of Water.” Three sisters, reunited after the death
of their mother, struggle over who remembers which events more clearly.
They find that individual memories and experiences can become fuzzy, and
family stories told over and over again can be re-shaped and detailed until
they surpass the actual memory.
Bonn also will be the setting from Nov. 2-4 for the Contemporary Theater of Boston College production of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”
Created by Richard O’Brien (who played the character “Riff Raff” in the
film version), this rock’n roll-flavored spoof of old horror movies — among
other things — has been a success on screen as well as stage, and is famous
for its audience participation.
The tone shifts dramatically for the Robsham-Theater Department
staging of “Macbeth” from Nov. 16-19. This enduring Shakespearean tale
of evil, ambition and treachery is directed by Robsham Director Stuart
Hecht.
From Nov. 30 to Dec. 2, the Boston College Dance Ensemble will
present its fall show at Robsham. The BCDE is a student-run organization
on campus, providing opportunities for students to both choreograph and
perform. All proceeds from BCDE performances benefit the Boston College Campus School. [For more information on the ensemble, see www.
bc.edu/bc_org/svp/st_org/dance/]
Robsham’s fall season concludes with “A Dancer’s Christmas,” appearing for the 26th year at Robsham (and 27th overall) with a series of
performances Dec. 8-10 and 15-17. This retelling of the Christmas story,
widely loved by people of all ages throughout Greater Boston, is known for
its expressive dancing and colorful costumes and sets. “A Dancer’s Christmas” features original choreography by Jesuit Artist-in-Residence Robert
VerEecke, SJ, and a company of professional dancers accompanied by BC
alumni and students.
For more information on the fall Robsham Theater season, see the Robsham Theater Web site at www.bc.edu/offices/robsham or call ext.2-4800.
—Sean Smith
BC Among the ‘Fittest’
Colleges, Survey Says
Men’s Fitness Magazine has named Boston College one of
America’s 25 fittest colleges in its annual ranking that appears in
newsstands this week.
BC was named the third fittest college, behind Dickinson College in Pennsylvania and Colgate University, based on a survey of
12,500 students at 115 colleges and universities.
The rankings are determined by student responses to 17 questions about their diet, lifestyle and exercise habits on campus.
“It is a common-sense study,” said Neal Bouton, editor in chief
of the popular fitness magazine. “We take a look at the kinds of
food offered in college cafeterias, the range of exercise opportunities available on campus, how much alcohol students consume,
etc., and formulate our rankings based on students’ input. The
top schools offer a range of nutrition and exercise choices and provide a very balanced lifestyle within which everyone can exist.”
The student survey questions covered topics such as how many
hours per week students exercise, whether the schools offered
services such as nutrition counseling and extended gym hours,
the availability of healthy food in dining halls and the amount of
alcohol consumed by students.
Boston College improved eight points from its 11th place
ranking in last year’s debut listing in Men’s Fitness. The magazine
is working with The Heights to help identify BC’s fittest students,
with the prospect of placing them on the cover of the magazine
this fall.
—Office of Public Affairs