Boston College Chronicle

The Boston College

Chronicle Published by the Boston College Office of News & Public Affairs december 11, 2014 VOL. 22 no. 8

•St. Mary’s reopens with an 8 a.m. Mass, p. 2

•Exploring the works of BC’s most famous composer, p. 2 •CSOM faculty create Consumer Insights Panel, p. 2 •The role of motivation in resolving conflicts, p. 3 •Hargreaves’ research on effective teachers earns award, p. 3

By Jack Dunn Director of News & Public Affairs

Gordon Schmidt, University of Richmond Communications

University Appoints Vice Provost for Enrollment Mgmt.

INSIDE

Boston College has named 1982 graduate Nanci Tessier, vice president for enrollment management at the University of Richmond, as the University’s first vice provost for enrollment management.

In this newly created position, Tessier will be the University’s A Nor’easter brought rain instead of snow this week, but Boston Colstrategy and policy leader in all arlege was in a wintry frame of mind as the 2014 holiday season contineas of undergraduate enrollment, Nanci Tessier ued. On Dec. 6, families enjoyed entertainment, arts and crafts and other working with senior leadership, agement, Tessier brings a proven amusements at the annual “Winter Wonderland” event organized by the Alumni Association. More on page 8. (Photo by Graham Beck ’15) the provost, deans and faculty track record and extensive experito build upon BC’s impressive ence to the position, including admission trajectory of the past six years in her current role at several decades. She will oversee the University of Richmond and the offices of Enrollment Man- seven years at Saint Anselm Colagement, Undergraduate Admis- lege, where she also directed its sion and Student Services, which marketing efforts. three-year effort to renew and While at the University of includes Financial Aid.

By Sean Smith strengthen its undergraduate core Richmond, Tessier oversaw all A nationally respected expert Chronicle Editor curriculum. Earlier this fall, the in the field of enrollment manContinued on page 6 Beginning next fall, Boston CFTF had invited faculty memCollege freshmen can fulfill core bers to submit proposals for incurriculum requirements through terdisciplinary courses that reflect new team-taught or linked cours- criteria spelled out by two guiding es that deal with such topics as documents, “Toward a Renewed Rethink your retirement plans, say BC researchers the global implications of climate Core” and “The Vision Animating “Millions of us will not have

By Sean Hennessey change, genocide and crimes the Boston College Core Curenough money for the comfortStaff Writer against humanity, the social con- riculum.” able retirement that our parents texts of violence, and the chalLonger lives, reduced sup- and grandparents enjoyed,” acThree of the pilot courses to be lenge history and literature face in introduced in 2015-16 are built port from Social Security, and cording to the book’s gloomy aspursuing truth. on the “Complex Problems” mod- insufficient contributions to 401K sessment. “If we do not recognize These and other el: team-taught, plans: just some of the issues that that we are veering off the road new core courses six-credit classes have made the so-called “Golden and take corrective action soon, “When you look at will ask students of around 80 stu- Years” of retirement nothing but millions of retirees will find that the topics and themes dents that address a distant memory. to consider aspects they are too old to return to work of the human con- these courses deal with, a contemporary With more and more Ameri- and have too little in savings – dition – such as the faculty members problem. In ad- cans reassessing how they’ll afford with no one to turn to for help.” war, spirituality or Falling Short takes on three big dition, there are to live during their later years, health-related is- teaching them will be six linked pairs of a new book co-authored by two questions: How did the country’s sues – through a presenting some very courses in the “En- experts at the Center for Retire- retirement system get to the state combination of disinteresting, thought- during Questions” ment Research at Boston Col- it is in? How bad is the problem? ciplines, including category: distinct lege aims to help in navigating And what can prospective retirees seemingly disparate provoking questions that three-credit classes the rapidly changing landscape and the nation overall do about it? pairings such as align with the mission taken by the same of retirement. Falling Short: The “We need more retirement inEnglish and nursComing Retirement Crisis and come because people are living 19 students – each of core renewal.” ing, sociology and taught by a faculty What to Do About It, written by longer, they face rapidly rising –Fr. Kalscheur member from a CRR Director Alicia Munnell, health care costs, and rates of reearth/environmental sciences, or bioldifferent depart- CRR Associate Director Andrew turn are really low so they need a ogy and theatre arts. ment – but connected by a com- Eschtruth and investment con- bigger pile of money,” says MunThe pilot courses, approved last mon topic and set of questions, sultant Charles Ellis, outlines the nell, who is the Drucker Professor month by the Core Foundations and with some shared readings impending retirement crisis while of Management Sciences at the Task Force (CFTF), represent a and assignments. offering a call for new thinking Carroll School of Management. landmark step in the University’s Continued on page 4 and policies on retirement.

Continued on page 5

First Round of New Courses Approved for Core Curriculum •Bristings endow men’s basketball coach position, page 3 •It’s the Pinstripe Bowl for BC, p. 3 •BC Law is 17th in Business Insider rankings, p. 5 •Chemist Kelly finds use for toys in his work, p. 5 •Q&A: Reid Oslin on BC hockey, p. 6

•Obituary: Jonathan TrejoMathys, p. 7 •Welcome Additions: new faculty members, p. 7 •Getting set for “Christmas Reflections,” p. 8

The Long and Short of It

REMINDER:

TODAY

Advancing Research and Scholarship at Boston College “Global Public Health: Policy, Disparity, Disease”

See www.bc.edu/researchday for details

T he B oston C ollege

Chronicle december 11, 2014

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A ROUND

C AMPUS

HAIL! THOMAS HURLEY cred musical pieces – notably his setting of the 9th century hymn “Veni Creator Spiritus,” traditionally performed on the first day of classes at BC and now part of the Mass of the Holy Spirit – as well as popular and comic ditties, among them sardonic tributes to the BC baseball team and the Lake Street trolley cars that ferried the all-commuter student body to and from campus.

McGrann arranged the scores of those three songs for a recording session, and recruited Music Department Administrative Assistant Alexander Wolniak, Katherine Wul-

Jeremiah McGrann rehearsing with (background, L-R) students Christian Nelson, Peter Igo, Mary Aidan Hanrahan and Katherine Wullert. (Photo by Caitlin Cunningham)

Burns Library to collect information.

What started out as program notes became a 13-page pamphlet, Musical Themes from the History of Boston College, a chapter of which was devoted to a key figure in BC’s musical legacy, 1885 alumnus Thomas J. Hurley (1864-1931), a talented singer and composer best known for writing BC’s two most famous songs, “Hail! Alma Mater” and “For Boston.”

Hurley certainly merits the attention, says McGrann: “When we looked through the archival material, Hurley just kept popping up everywhere. He sang in plays and was active in so many things when he was a student: the St. Cecelia Society, which provided music at religious services or other BC events; the Athletic Club, which he helped organize; the BC military drill unit.

“After graduation, Hurley remained devoted to BC. He served on the Alumni Association, and he was the first coach of the Glee Club.

He wrote ‘Hail! Alma Mater’ in commemoration of BC’s 50th anniversary.”

In the course of subsequent research on Hurley, McGrann made an exciting discovery: boxes that contained scores to other Hurley compositions, including many sa-

lert ’15, Mary Aidan Hanrahan ’15, Christian Nelson ’16 and Peter Igo ’15 to sing them, with himself accompanying on piano. The recordings and lyrics are available at http:// at.bc.edu/noteworthy.

Like many a researcher, McGrann has found that “one little project leads to another,” and he believes that somewhere amidst the archives may be Hurley’s handwritten originals of his works. One difficulty he faces is that he doesn’t have any samples of Hurley’s handwriting to use as a reference – although, McGrann notes, since Hurley did work for the City of Boston, his signature would surely be on file somewhere in the city records.

“Hurley was embedded in the Boston College and Catholic communities, and his music reflects that, whether he’s writing a setting of a Latin text or about BC baseball,” says McGrann. “He never considered himself a ‘professional’ musician, and his career was in the public sector, but he never left the music sphere.”

Read McGrann’s piece on Thomas J. Hurley in the current edition of Boston College Magazine at http:// bcm.bc.edu/issues/fall_2014/linden_ lane/tune-full.html.

–Sean Smith

Director of NEWS & Public Affairs Jack Dunn Deputy Director of NEWS & Public AFFAIRS Patricia Delaney Editor Sean Smith

Contributing Staff Melissa Beecher Ed Hayward Sean Hennessey Rosanne Pellegrini Kathleen Sullivan Michael Maloney Photographers Gary Gilbert Lee Pellegrini

Workers were still tinkering outside and around St. Mary’s Hall early Monday morning as a crowd began to gather inside the St. Mary’s Chapel. At 8 a.m., Boston College Jesuit Community Rector Robert Keane, SJ, and Assistant Rector and Administrator Michael Ford, SJ, entered the chapel to celebrate Mass – and in so doing, formally mark the reopening of St. Mary’s after a nearly two-year renovation project.

“We’ve returned to our home,” said Fr. Ford, smiling at the audience as he began the Mass, which coincided with the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

The St. Mary’s project, which began in January of 2013, involved extensive work on both the interior and exterior of one of BC’s oldest buildings, home of the University’s principal Jesuit community. Resident Jesuits who had relocated elsewhere on campus during the renovation began returning this week to the 97-year-old building.

Next month, St. Mary’s will become the new location for the Communication and Computer Science departments, as well as the Woods College of Advancing Studies.

During prayers, Fr. Ford briefly referred to the transitional period ahead and asked that the “move to St. Mary’s be a smooth one.”

A feature examining the renovated St. Mary’s Hall will Michael Ford, SJ, celebrating 8 a.m. Mass on Monrun in Chronicle next month. day in St. Mary’s Chapel. (Photo by Lee Pellegrini) –Sean Smith

CONSUMER-EYE VIEWS The Carroll School of Management has long put an emphasis on hiring high-quality professors who can conduct highquality research. Now the school has added a resource to aid its scholars: the Consumer Insights Panel (CIP), aimed at providing immediate and targeted data in behavioral research.

Organized and managed by Assistant Professors of Marketing Hristina Nikolova and Nailya Ordabayeva, the panel is expected to open the door to more innovative behavioral research and further cutting-edge marketing studies on campus.

The CIP will consist of a centralized system that brings together the Carroll School community: faculty looking to conduct studies and students or staff members who are participating either by taking surveys or completing directed tasks. Because the type of research dictates the kind of assets needed, the CIP is coming at an opportune time for the Carroll School, say the

The Boston College

Chronicle www.bc.edu/chronicle chronicle@bc.edu

Lee Pellegrini

Associate Professor of the Practice Jeremiah McGrann didn’t set out to be the Boston College musical historian, but it’s a role – albeit largely unofficial – he doesn’t seem to mind having taken on.

It began when McGrann was asked to write program notes about the history of music at BC for the University’s Sesquicentennial Concert at Symphony Hall in March of 2013. Assisted by a pair of Undergraduate Research Fellows, McGrann combed through old BC yearbooks, catalogues and other publications and materials at the

Carroll School’s Nailya Ordabayeva, left, and Hristina Nikolova

organizers.

“I look at how consumers visually perceive and respond to product packages and food portions, and Hristina does research on group decision-making and interactions,” says Ordabayeva.

“Both necessitate an organized setting. So we, along with many other Carroll School faculty, will benefit from this streamlined platform that will put tailored behavioral data at our fingertips.”

“This will give us the flexibil-

ity to conduct more interesting kinds of research,” says Nikolova.

“You can always collect data online but that limits the type of work you can do. Furthermore, with the panel in place, we will be able to devote more time to teaching and exploring bigger research questions. It will just make logistics easier.”

The pair adds that the CIP could be a significant factor in attracting new faculty to the Carroll School.

“I think we’re doing this at the right time,” says Ordabayeva. “Because so many of us are interested in doing the type of work that requires a certain degree of organization, we all see the value of the panel.”

The Consumer Insights Panel is now recruiting students and staff to register as panelists, who will be paid $5 in cash for every 30 minutes of participation. To sign up, go to bccsom.sona-systems.com; for more information, e-mail cipggroup@bc.edu.

–Sean Hennessey

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 News & Public Affairs, 14 Mayflower Road, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467 (617)552-3350. Distributed free to faculty and staff offices and other locations on campus.

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T he B oston C ollege

Chronicle december 11, 2014

BC psychologist points to motive attribution as prime factor in conflicts

By Sean Hennessey Staff Writer

Whether it’s American politics or violent conflict in the Middle East, the roots of the vitriol and intractability begin to grow not from a hatred of the other side, according to Assistant Professor of Psychology Liane Young, but from a misunderstanding of that side’s motivation.

A new study co-authored by Young suggests that while this misunderstanding poses a barrier to solutions, it can be corrected through financial incentives.

In a survey of some 3,000 people of opposing views – Israelis and Palestinians in the Middle East, Republicans and Democrats in the US –­ Young and her colleagues found that each side felt their own group is motivated by love more than hate, while claiming that their rivals are driven by hate.

This belief that one’s rivals are motivated by emotions opposite to one’s own, says Young, is called “motive attribution asymmetry.”

The perception is understandable, according to the study, because a group tends to see its own members engaged in acts of “love, care, and affiliation” but rarely if ever observes such actions among rivals since “we only see them during moments of heated conflict.” This makes arriving at possible solutions or compromises all the more difficult, said Young, who co-published an article on the study of motive attribution asymmetry in Proceedings of the National Academy of

Sciences.

“There’s so much research in social psychology suggesting we first think about who we are and what motivates us, and then we tend to apply that to other people.

What we’re seeing here is just the opposite, where I say one thing for me and instead of extrapolating that it would be the same for you, I say it’s just the opposite for you – that you’re motivated by your hatred of my group. That’s pretty striking to me.

“These attributions tend to also track with other sorts of consequences: If you think that the people on the other side are motivated by their hatred of your group, you also are unwilling to negotiate with that group. You tend to think they’re more unreasonable, suggesting that people’s misattributions of other groups may be the cause of intractable conflict.”

When a financial reward was presented, however, a study par-

ticipant would make the correct assessment as to what truly motivated the opposing group.

“We simply told them they would get a bonus for getting the answer right, so they had to buy into this idea that there was a right answer,” said Young. “It seems like we can at least move around people’s judgments, and that people can get it right when they are motivated to get it right.”

While the motive attribution asymmetry makes solutions and compromise unattainable, Young and her research colleagues concluded that there is cause for optimism: “Although people find it difficult to explain their adversaries’ actions in terms of love and affiliation, we suggest that recognizing this attributional bias and how to reduce it can contribute to reducing human conflict on a global scale.”

Contact Sean Hennessey at sean.hennessey@bc.edu

Assistant Professor of Psychology Liane Young. (Photo by Lee Pellegrini)

Bristing Gift Endows Men’s Basketball Coach Position Boston College has received a gift from Boston College Trustee Karen Izzi Bristing ’84, and her husband Steve Bristing, to endow its head men’s basketball coaching position currently held by Jim Christian.

The largest donation ever made to the men’s basketball program, the gift honors Karen’s parents Clement and Elizabeth Izzi. In particular, the Bristings say, it was Mr. Izzi’s love and enjoyment of basketball that inspired them to make this commitment.

“We are most grateful to the Bristings and Izzis for their devotion and commitment to Boston College and especially our men’s basketball program,” said Director of Athletics Brad Bates. “I believe that in the hands of a talented coach we can make transformational differences in the lives of young people and this gift will assist us in attracting and retaining top coaching talent long into the future.”

Karen Bristing, who has served on the Board of Trustees since 2011, grew up in New Hampshire and graduated from Nashua High School. She is the owner of Equinox Equestrian Center in Sun Valley, California.

“This gift recognizes several areas that are important to us personally and to Boston College,” Bristing said. “The importance of a vibrant athletics program, my enjoyment of athletics as a student, the opportunity to honor my parents – especially my father, who is an avid fan – and the chance to create a family legacy all played a role in our choosing to support a University we love.”

Karen and Steve reside in La Canada, Calif., with their son, Matthew. Karen’s son Andrew is a sophomore at Boston College.

“We are overwhelmed with the support the Bristings and Izzis have shown to our basketball program,” said Christian, who is in his first season as men’s basket-

ball coach. “We are committed to building our basketball program into a consistent winner that makes our students, fans and alumni proud. This will require a commitment from many people, and we are certainly grateful for their generosity.”

The gift also supports Boston College’s Light the World Campaign, which has raised nearly $1.3 billion towards its $1.5 billion goal. “The Clement and Elizabeth Izzi Family Head Men’s Basketball Coach” is the third head coaching endowment, a major priority for athletics during Light the World.

Also included among the funding priorities are endowments in support of key positions on BC’s 31 varsity teams, fully and partially endowed athletics scholarships, and current-use funding through the Flynn Fund and facility enhancements.

–Office of News & Public Affairs

Hargreaves Earns Honor for Research on Effective Teachers

By Ed Hayward Staff Writer

Thomas More Brennan Professor in Education Andy Hargreaves has been named a recipient of the 2015 Grawemeyer Award in Education from the University of Louisville for his research into the development of effective teachers in schools throughout the world.

Hargreaves will share the $100,000 prize with long-time collaborator and University of Toronto Professor Emeritus Michael Fullan, with whom he co-authored the award-winning book Professional Capital: Transforming Teaching in Every School. The book examines how successful schools and systems marshal human, decisional and social capital.

“Hargreaves and Fullan explain how teachers can thrive when they are treated with dignity and given freedom to exercise professional judgment together,” said Melissa EvansAndris, director of the Grawemeyer Awards program.

Hargreaves said he was honored to receive the award and humbled to join the ranks of prior recipients, including Linda Darling Hammond and Diane Ravitch.

“The Grawemeyer’s previous holders are towering figures in the education field,” he said, “so my reaction was just to feel incredibly honored – and, to be honest, excited – that Michael and I would be added to the group of distinguished scholars who have received this generous prize.”

Hargreaves’ work has taken him to his native United Kingdom, Finland, Singapore, Canada and the US Pacific Northwest, among other regions.

“My guiding concern has always been why teachers do what they do,” said Hargreaves. “For a long time, I looked at why changes, including worthwhile and well-intentioned ones, didn’t seem to work; why they didn’t get beyond the classroom door.

Then I started to examine changes and systems that were more successful in terms of equity and excellence, to see how they could help explain what was required for educators to perform at their best.”

Hargreaves’ work bridges theory and practice, informing the work of teachers, principals, policy makers

Lee Pellegrini

There Must Be Some Misunderstanding

3

Andy Hargreaves

and researchers, said Lynch School of Education Dean Maureen Kenny.

“Dr. Hargreaves’ scholarship affirms the Lynch School commitment to empowering teachers and school leaders with the knowledge and support to effect school change, while also making clear the social and economic resources that are vital for educators to effectively carry out their work,” Kenny said. “While Andy’s work has a national and international impact, it propels conversations and student learning across the Lynch School community with regard to educational policy and practice.”

Throughout his career, Hargreaves said he’s drawn inspiration from his late mother, Doris, a working class woman who prized the value of education, and his favorite teacher, Mary Hindle, of the Spring Hill Primary School in the town of Accrington, just north of Manchester, England.

Hargreaves said he takes pride that his work helps to advance the mission of Boston College to prepare students to go out into the world and serve others.

“Among Boston College’s many strengths is the great importance accorded professional schools in education, law, social work, and nursing,” Hargreaves said. “These schools, the people they educate, and the research they conduct, provide immediate service to society in a spirit of social justice based on disciplined inquiry.

“This award honors this trinity of values and the professionals who uphold them in a turbulent world that often diverts us from them. In that sense, it honors what Boston College stands for and underlines how fortunate I am to hold the Brennan Chair and contribute to this community.”

Contact Ed Hayward at ed.hayward@bc.edu

Eagles Get Berth in Pinstripe Bowl Boston College will face Big Ten representative Penn State in the 2014 New Era Pinstripe Bowl on Dec. 27 at 4:30 p.m. at Yankee Stadium in New York City.

The appearance for the Eagles (7-5, 4-4 ACC) – its first in the Pinstripe Bowl – will mark its second postseason bowl in a row under second-year head coach Steve Addazio and 14th in the last 16 seasons overall.

The game will be broadcast on ESPN and ESPN Radio. The Boston College IMG Sports Radio Network will also carry the game.

–Boston College Athletics

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New Core Courses Will Make Debut In 2015-16 Continued from page 1 [See separate story for an overview of the pilot courses.]

“I, and the other members of the CFTF, are very happy with how the faculty responded to the call for proposals,” says College of Arts and Sciences Interim Dean Gregory Kalscheur, SJ, who chairs the CFTF. “When you look at the topics and themes these courses deal with, the faculty members teaching them will be presenting some very interesting, thought-provoking questions that align with the mission of core renewal. All through the past few years of the core renewal process, we’ve discussed how central the core is to our identity as a Jesuit, Catholic university, and I’m delighted to see the creativity and thoughtfulness that has gone into developing these courses.”

Fr. Kalscheur noted that a number of other strong course proposals had been received by the task force, but owing to faculty schedules and other logistical considerations, will be considered for implementation in the 2016-17 academic year.

Faculty members teaching the pilot courses next year say they relish the opportunity to bring together teaching and research interests in the context of the undergraduate core curriculum. In some cases, the collaboration was one practically waiting to happen, such as the Complex Problems course on climate change that will be taught by husbandwife team Assistant Professor of Sociology Brian Gareau and Visiting Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences Tara Pisani Gareau.

“We haven’t had the chance to collaborate since we met as Peace Corps volunteers in Honduras, so we are very excited about this course,” says Brian Gareau. “This is an opportunity for us to work together on a theme that is quite important to both of our research trajectories.”

By contrast, the thought of combining academic specialties had never occurred to Associate Professor of Biology Katherine Dunn and Associate Professor of Theatre Scott Cummings. Their interaction was of a more personal nature: Dunn had spoken with him about her son, a theater major at another college, and found Cummings to be “a voice of reason and compassion for a worried mom.”

As the core renewal process unfolded, Dunn wondered how a former course of hers, Epidemics, Disease and Humanity, might fit into the Enduring Questions

format, paired with a course grounded in a humanities-related discipline. Cummings had a concept in mind for a course centered on theatrical creation and the group/individual dynamic.

“The closer I got to proposing my course, the more queasy I became about a pairing that amounted to a kind of academic ‘blind date,’” says Cummings.

But then he and Dunn happened to attend a core renewal planning session. “When Kathy showed up at that meeting, my heart did a little dance and I thought, ‘Epidemiology and theatre? Why not?’”

Adds Dunn, “I think we both had the same thought as we looked around the table and tried to imagine with whom we could form some ‘enduring questions.’ In addition to the biology, epidemics have an obvious social context, and theatre is one venue to explore and reflect on its impact, personally and communally.”

Like Dunn and Cummings, Connell School of Nursing Associate Professor Jane Ashley and Professor of English Laura Tanner represent disciplines that appear to have little common ground. But over the course of a 15-year friendship, the two frequently spoke about their classes, teaching methodologies and students’ thought processes. The core renewal initiative provided a means for them to blend their insights, teaching linked courses on the human body in the Enduring Questions format.

“My scholarly interests have always revolved around the human body and its depiction in literature, so when the call for proposals came out I thought of Jane and her work on the body right away,” says Tanner. “In addition to planning shared evening events for both classes, we hope to visit each other’s classes to get a sense of the students’ experiences. I know that Jane is a fabulous teacher, and I am looking forward to learning from her as well.”

Says Ashley, “I love the idea of pairing English and nursing. What could be better then bringing together skills in appreciation, thinking, creativity and communication with a very practical, hands-on, real world application? I hope that our paired courses will encourage our students to be caring, empathetic people who want to change the world.”

Contact Sean Smith at sean.smith@bc.edu

Chronicle asked faculty members to discuss the new courses that they had proposed for the University’s undergraduate core curriculum, and which will be introduced this fall. [The full article is available via online Chronicle at http://bit.ly/1B8q39w] PLEASE NOTE: The course titles given below are not finalized, and are only being used in this article for reference. Also, certain aspects of the courses may be changed prior to their introduction next fall.

Tentative Course Title: Global Implications of Climate Change Faculty: Brian Gareau (Sociology), left; Tara Pisani Gareau (Earth and Environmental Sciences) Excerpt from Proposal: “Students will come away with an understanding of the science behind climate change, the distribution of natural resources around the world, the effect of climate change on agricultural productivity and international environmental governance.

We will also delve into the ethical dimensions of climate change and our responsibility as moral citizens of the global north.”

Gareau: “BC students are moderately well-informed about climate change issues. They have heard of climate change, heard about the greenhouse effect, they understand that carbon emissions are bad and getting worse. But there is a gap between that level of understanding and recognition of the ways that politics, economics, social conditions, and how we interact with our environment on a daily basis contribute to climate change. Students also are seldom taught about the many negative effects that changes in the global climate are having on the poorest people worldwide.”

Tentative Course Titles: Truth-telling in History; Truth-telling in Literature Faculty: Sylvia Sellers-Garcia (History), right; Allison Adair (English) Excerpt from Proposal: “The courses engage a cluster of questions: Is it possible to know the truth about the past? Is it possible to record or to author truth? What obligations does an author have to tell the truth?...

[English and history] may understand ‘truth’ in different ways, and our parallel courses will work through these disciplinary assumptions by sharing key readings and assignments.”

Sellers-Garcia: “I hope that students will find appealing the way that this course asks a question that is both basic and fundamental: Is it possible to know the truth about the past? Though we will be looking at how published writers answer this question, we are also asking students to think about their own ‘truth-telling’ with regard to the past. When you write about your childhood or how you decided to go to college, how accurate are your recollections? Are there things you forget? Are there things you choose deliberately to overlook? Could it be that you are crafting a particular story thanks to what one historian has called ‘the ordering impulse of imagination’?”

Tentative Course Titles: Spiritual Exercises: Engagement, Empathy, Ethics; Aesthetic Exercises: Engagement, Empathy, Ethics Faculty: Brian Robinette (Theology), left; Daniel Callahan (Music) Excerpt from Proposal: “[An] objective is for students to realize that deeply meaningful experiences – whether of the true, the beautiful, and the good; or of the divine both in the world and in one’s self – often don’t ‘just happen’; rather, such experiences are usually the result of being situated in the right place and time with the right preparation and mindset.

Such experiences are often the result of a type of exercise.”

Robinette: “While I think it’s true that there are more ways than ever to have one’s attention hooked or stolen as a result of gadgets, advertisements, slogans, and social media – our minds these days are like noisy jet skis zipping across choppy surfaces – the challenges to cultivating deep attention is hardly new. Read any ancient text on the good life in theology and philosophy and you’re likely to find calls for awakening from slumber. Perhaps the most fundamental spiritual act is to be attentive, to be awake, to be fully present to what is happen here and now. Ancient and contemporary voices of wisdom are virtually united in this one imperative: Be awake!”

Tentative Course Titles: Power, Justice, War: The Ancients; Power, Justice, War: The Moderns Faculty: Robert Bartlett (Political Science); Aspen Brinton (Philosophy), right Excerpt from Proposal: “These two courses will explore how enduring questions about power, justice, and war have been addressed from within two different temporal horizons: ancient Greek thought and modern political thought.”

Brinton: “I would hope that the most appealing part of the course might be that students could come to a deeper understanding of what war is about, since it is so much in the news and a significant part of the lives of this generation. They have grown up with war as a constant narrative in the background of their lives, and knowingly or unknowingly, this has affected them. The course might help inspire them to understand more deeply the ethical dilemmas, ambiguities, and rationales behind war in general, as well as learn how to think about justice and peace in light of those dilemmas and ambiguities.”

Read more at http://bit.ly/1B8q39w

Photos by Lee Pellegrini and Caitlin Cunningham

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Chronicle december 11, 2014

Continued from page 1 “At the same time that people coupled with ‘auto-escalation,’ start collecting Social Security need more, retirement resources which automatically increases the then, you’ll receive a check that are going down. Social Security amount you save in your 401K is 76 percent larger than it would will provide less relative to earn- each year for a certain period, be if you start collecting Social ings before retirement; the 401K so you’re putting away a higher Security at age 62. system, which could work, has percentage of salary. The escala“You can work longer to cut very modest balances; and down on that retirepeople don’t use their ment period,“ says houses, which is often Munnell. “What a their major asset. So we’re powerful lever that is.” approaching this big misAnother powerful match and people are golever is the equity in ing to be shocked and fall one’s home that can short of their standard of help buttress a shortfall living when they get to of retirement income. retirement.”

“People don’t use In prior generations, their house, which traditional pension plans is the asset through offered seniors a guaranwhich most people acteed income until they “People don’t use their house, which is the cumulate most of their died, but these pensions wealth,” says Munnell. asset through which most people accumulate “We need to have peoare rapidly becoming obsolete in the private sec- most of their wealth,” says Alicia Munnell ple use their housing tor, while the 401K plans (above). “We need to have people use their equity one way or the that have replaced them other – either move to housing equity one way or the other – eiare being underfunded by cheaper houses or take ther move to cheaper houses or take out a workers. And that’s helpout a reverse mortgage reverse mortgage to get at that equity to ing to set up a day of to get at that equity reckoning at retirement to support themselves support themselves during retirement.” because households aged during retirement.”

Photo by Jared Leeds 55-64 with a 401K have The overall goal of an average of $111,000 in those tion might happen around the the book is to serve as a wake-up plans, including any assets they time when your annual raise or call to Americans while educating have rolled over into an IRA. cost of living adjustment kicks in. them about the scope of the chal“The shocking part is going to Again, this feature is something lenge that’s around the corner be, you retire and when you look the individual could opt out of and offering specific solutions. at your 401K plan you may think but it would point them toward “We don’t want anyone in a [$111,000] is a lot of money, and higher saving levels.” position where they feel they have then you figure out how much To handle Social Security’s to scramble,” says Eschtruth. “If you can take out at a 4 percent long-term shortfall, the book people keep retiring before age withdrawal rate – that’s a few proposes a payroll tax increase or 65 and keep saving at the rates hundred dollars a month,” says other measures to raise revenues. they’re saving at now, many of Munnell. “That, combined with “If you raise payroll taxes by a them are going to be in for a rude Social Security, is not going to al- total of 3 percentage points, split awakening. And it’s in a period low people to maintain the same between the employee and the of your life where you don’t have standard of living they enjoyed employer, you’d have more than as many tools to adjust as you before.” enough to pay benefits over the would like, especially if you’ve In the book, the authors say next 75 years,” says Munnell. already started retirement and Americans have just three choicWorking longer is another you’ve gone two or three years es: “The first is to simply accept leg to keep the retirement stool – and all of a sudden you say, that we are going to be poor from tipping over, because it ‘Maybe my nest egg is not as sufin retirement. The second is to shortens the retirement period ficient as I thought.’ It would be save more while working, which while providing more time to harder at that point to get back means spending less today. The save. While age discrimination, into the labor force and, better, third is to work longer, which unwilling employers and com- with hindsight, to have delayed means fewer years in retirement. pany cost-cutting are factors in your retirement for a few years.”

Those are our only options.” corporate America, Munnell and Contact Sean Hennessey at To help save more while her co-authors say that if you can sean.hennessey@bc.edu working, the authors propose ei- delay retirement until 70 and ther an auto-IRA for those whose employers don’t offer a 401K or – for those in companies that do – an automatic 401K, in which workers are enrolled unless they opt out. “Our retirement system will never be complete until all Boston College Law School is ranked 17th on a list of the Top workers have an automatic sav50 Law Schools in America published by Business Insider, based ing option to supplement Social on a survey of legal industry professionals, as well as data on acSecurity,” they write in the book. ceptance and post-graduation employment rates.

“Automatic 401Ks still allow Yale, Harvard, Columbia, Stanford and Duke universities were an individual the opportunity to the five highest-ranked law schools. Others on the list included say, ‘No, I really didn’t want Georgetown (seventh), New York University (10th), Northwestern to be in the plan,’ but this ap(14th), Emory (20th), UCLA (21st), Boston University (23rd), proach is a proven success at Fordham (36th) and UNC-Chapel Hill (43rd). improving participation rates,” The article is available online at http://read.bi/1vKhTDX. says Eschtruth. “This should be

BC Law Appears In New Top 50 Law Schools Survey

Toying With Science, Nature Kelly sees value of gizmos and gadgets in teaching

By Ed Hayward Staff Writer

Growing up in the small farming town of Davis, Calif., in the shadows of World War II, T. Ross Kelly learned early on that fun to be had was fun that had to be made.

As a boy, Kelly’s preferred toys tended toward rocket kits and go-carts — devices that were as fun to assemble, as they were to use. If they produced flames and smoke, all the better.

“When I was a kid, we used to blow things up,” said Kelly, the Thomas A. and Margaret A. Vanderslice Professor of Chemistry.

That love of toys — for lack of a better word — is still evident in Kelly’s Merkert Chemistry Center office. His bookshelves contain almost as many shiny, glittering, spinning and whirling gadgets as they do chemistry texts collected during his 45-year career.

Each gizmo either poses puzzling scientific questions, or teaches a lesson about a law of science or nature. It’s a collection that started out rather innocently 25 years ago when Kelly spotted a toy in a stall in a street market in Italy.

The figurine of a soccer player stands with a soccer ball floating above his head thanks to a flow of air supplied by a whirling fan. It highlights Bernoulli’s principle, which explains how birds and planes fly.

“At the time, in our lab we were trying to figure out how to make a molecule function like a motor, but initially we couldn’t figure it out,” said Kelly.

“Searching for ideas, anytime I saw something operated by a motor, I would buy it.”

Kelly and his team eventually achieved the ambitious end point of their work, and the innovative project results were published in the journal Nature.

Over the years, Kelly’s collection has grown. Some, like his chemically charged miniature cannons, find their ways into his legendary Organic Chemistry lectures.

Now a few new gadgets from the digital age — the Internet, Google and Facebook — have given Kelly the opportunity to share his collection with a broader audience. With the help of pre-med undergraduates Jacy Lundberg ’15 and Omar Khan ’15, Kelly has developed a video

Lee Pellegrini

Retirement Plans May Fall Short

5

T. Ross Kelly

blog he calls “A Scientist’s Curiosity Cabinet” [see http://bit. ly/15SZk6S] – a play on the science-themed showcases that date back to the Renaissance – where short videos highlight certain toys and the lessons they can teach.

There are wooden “walking toys” driven by constantly shifting centers of mass. Inside a glass bottle, centripetal acceleration solves the riddle of how to move a wooden ball past a wooden stick. Egg-shaped gears turn harmoniously despite their toothy imbalance. There are puzzlers where metal spheres and galvanized spikes fit into spaces they seemingly should not.

“With many of these, the answer is staring you right in the face,” said Kelly. “Sometimes it just takes time to stop and think and consider what you’re looking at or holding in your hand.

Sometimes even that doesn’t work. But it’s fun trying.”

His favorite is the Dobereiner Lighter, a two-chambered curio where sulfuric acid and zinc react, producing hydrogen gas which then reacts with platinum gauze and sparks a flame.

“I especially like it because it’s really ingenious and it’s all chemistry,” said Kelly, who, among other honors, is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Kelly hopes the video blog and its accompanying Facebook page [facebook.com/scientistscuriositycabinet] can help science teachers and students at any level and he’s letting 18,000 science teachers know about the site. Science, he notes, is often unfairly viewed as a grind. It does require hard work, but it can and should be fun, he said.

“I would really like to use it to turn kids on to science,” said Kelly. “Science doesn’t have enough fans among young people – at least in the United States. I’d like to help change that.”

Contact Ed Hayward at ed.hayward@bc.edu

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Q&A: Reid Oslin

As the days grow shorter and the temperature drops, the focus of Boston College sports fans invariably turns to hockey. And with the Eagles’ season in full swing, a must-read for hockey aficionados – or anyone with an interest in BC and Boston history – is Tales from the Boston College Hockey Locker Room: A Collection of the Greatest Eagles Hockey Stories Ever Told by former News & Public Affairs Associate Director Reid Oslin ’68, MA ’71, who was also BC’s sports information director for 24 years, and Tom Burke, a sports journalist who also has been the arena announcer for BC hockey for 27 years. Oslin, who retired in 2012, recently talked about his latest book with Chronicle’s Sean Smith. The full interview is available at http:// bit.ly/1yyEjKo. Q: Having published books about BC football [Tales from the Boston College Sideline and Boston College Football Vault: The History of the Eagles], doing one on BC hockey must’ve seemed a logical step.

Oslin: BC hockey is something like Duke basketball, in that they’re always in the conversation for the national championship, and have enjoyed phenomenal success over a long period of time: We’re talking about five national titles, including four in the past dozen years.

And BC hockey has sent many of its players to both the Olympics and to professional hockey, which is certainly a good barometer for a college program.

But this was also an opportunity

Lee Pellegrini

New Book Gives Flavor of Boston College Hockey History

Writing a book about Boston College hockey, says Reid Oslin, “was also an opportunity to learn more about the life and times at Boston College itself, and how the University – not to mention Boston – has changed over the years.” to learn more about the life and times at Boston College itself, and how the University – not to mention Boston – has changed over the years.

Q: College football and college basketball get far more attention from the media and general public, but it seems BC – even as it’s changed over the years – has always had a special connection to hockey. Why is that?

Oslin: Well, hockey has always been a Boston sport, and of course BC was for years “Boston’s college,” with a student population drawn from the city’s neighborhoods and some of the surrounding towns.

BC, in fact, was a pioneer in college hockey. The program goes

back to the 1890s, when students played “ice polo,” using a ball instead of a puck. That changed when “the Montreal game” – hockey as we know it – became popular, and BC began playing it in 1897-98; BC formalized its varsity hockey program 20 years later and began intercollegiate competition.

BC was one of the first colleges to have its own campus rink: first on what is now the location of the St. Mary’s Hall rose garden, and then on Alumni Field – later the “Dustbowl” and now the site of Stokes Hall. But these weren’t indoor facilities; BC would flood the area with water, which froze, and tend the ice by hand – no Zamboni machine in those days.

Q: One of the amazing things about BC hockey is that it almost died out, and was almost single-handedly resurrected by one man. Tell us about that.

Oslin: The man’s name was Bill Hogan Jr., a 1933 grad. I had actually interviewed him in 2012 as part of a Chronicle feature on the University’s Sesquicentennial, and he told me how BC dropped the sport while he was a student but he’d convinced them to start it up again.

So when the opportunity to do this book came, naturally I wanted to hear more from him about this little-known chapter in BC hockey history.

Hockey had been quite popular at BC in the 1920s, but the school suspended the program in the aftermath of the 1929 stock market crash and the subsequent Great Depression. Bill had gone to BC expecting to play hockey, so he was very disappointed about that, but he managed to convince the BC senior administration and Athletics Director John P. Curley to provide limited financial support, and even got the manager of the old Boston Arena, George Brown – who, ironically, is the grandfather of coauthor Tom Burke – to donate practice time in the facility for the team. The players had to use old

football jerseys for uniforms and provide their own skates, sticks and other equipment, but at least the program was back up and running again.

But one of the most important things Bill did was to convince a friend of his, who’d been the hockey team manager at BC and graduated in 1928, to become the volunteer coach: John “Snooks” Kelley.

Q: Kelley is a key figure in BC sports history, isn’t he?

Oslin: I devoted two chapters to Snooks; I could probably write a whole book just on him. He was the “dean” of American college hockey coaches, he headed up the program for 36 years, won BC’s first hockey championship in 1949, became the winningest college hockey coach by the time he retired.

Yet he’d never played organized hockey, and he was a part-time coach who never made more than $3,000 a year at BC; his full-time job was teaching at Cambridge Latin.

[Tales from the Boston College Hockey Locker Room is available at BC Bookstore, Amazon.com and most Barnes & Noble Bookstores in Eastern Massachusetts.]

Read more at http://bit.ly/1yyEjKo

Alumna Tessier Is Appointed as First Vice Provost for Enrollment Management Continued from page 1 aspects of enrollment management, including student recruitment, admission, financial aid and enrollment budgeting and planning. During her tenure, she led efforts that resulted in a 28 percent increase in undergraduate applications, as well as significant increases in SAT scores, AHANA enrollment and socioeconomic and geographic diversity. She also oversaw a financial aid budget of $100 million annually, and founded and chaired Richmond’s econometric modeling group, composed of faculty and staff, that examined the effect of financial aid and admission characteristics on students’ enrollment decisions.

Provost and Dean of Faculties David Quigley praised Tessier as an experienced professional who has distinguished herself in the field of higher education enrollment management and admissions for the past 30 years.

“Enrollment management as a field first emerged here at Boston College four decades ago,” said

Quigley. “As we build on this tradition, and position the University to attract the very best students in the future, I am confident that Nanci Tessier will help lead us to another level of excellence. Nanci is a proud alumna of Boston College who is a national leader in conversations about admissions and college access. I look forward to having her join our team at Waul House beginning July 1.”

Added Kelli Armstrong, vice president for planning and assessment, who served on the search committee, “Nanci is a highly respected leader and has a proven ability to successfully coordinate the increasingly complex areas of enrollment management. As an alumna, she deeply appreciates our unique mission and how much the work of our admissions, enrollment management and student service teams have contributed to BC’s stature in higher education. I believe she will build on this success and help us to prepare for future challenges. We are very much

looking forward to working with her.”

One of 11 children from a “Boston College family” that includes as graduates her father and two sisters, Tessier says she first became interested in admissions and enrollment management as a work study student in the Office of Undergraduate Admission at BC while also serving as a volunteer Admission tour guide.

She graduated from Boston College with a degree in English and political science, before pursuing a master’s in education degree in college student personnel administration from Colorado State University.

She began her professional career as an admissions counselor at Rochester Institute of Technology, before working as an associate director of admission at New York University and Barnard College of Columbia University.

She later served as director of admission at Smith College and Roger Williams School of Law, before assuming vice president

of enrollment management positions at Saint Anselm and the University of Richmond.

Tessier said she is honored to return to Boston College to oversee the enrollment management effort at her alma mater and to work alongside some of the top professionals in the field.

“Boston College is so much more than my alma mater,” said Tessier. “It’s the place that nurtured in me a profound and lifelong respect for learning and intellectual inquiry under accomplished faculty. It’s the place that taught me and continues to remind me that faith and reason are imperative to a balanced and happy life. It’s also the place that prepared me for my very first job in higher education as an admission counsellor. It is a special privilege for me to have an opportunity to return to Boston College as vice provost for enrollment management.”

Tessier’s professional associations include the College Board Colloquium Planning Com-

mittee, and membership in the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers and the National Association for College Admission Counseling.

“My many years of work in higher education have taught me that enrollment management is at the very heart of an institution because it supports in the most fundamental ways every aspect of an institution’s mission,” said Tessier. “I am therefore honored and humbled by the confidence that has been placed in me by the leadership of Boston College. I am fully committed to working alongside the president, provost, trustees, faculty, staff, students, alumni, and Jesuit community in order to build upon the work of all who have strengthened and secured the legacy of this great university.”

Contact Jack Dunn at jack.dunn@bc.edu

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Newsmakers

Assistant Professor of Economics Dongho Song researches such areas as risk management and modeling in economics and finance. His work has examined economic forecasting, ways to improve gross domestic product measurement, and the scope of households participating in the underground economy of North Korea. Song received his doctorate last spring from the University of Pennsylvania after earning his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Seoul National University of South Korea. His research has appeared in the Journal of Business and Economic Statistics, the Seoul Journal of Economics and the working papers of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.

Connell School of Nursing Clinical Instructor Beth McNuttClarke is an advanced practice nurse who specializes in pressure ulcer prevention and wound management.

She previously taught primary health care and community health nursing at the University of Pennsylvania, Villanova University and the University of Toronto. She attended LaSalle University and earned both bachelor and master’s degrees from McGill University in Montreal. She also holds an MBA from Concordia University in Montreal.

Melissa Pérez is a women’s health nurse practitioner and a clinical instructor at the Connell School of Nursing. She works at Boston Medical Center where she monitors and provides obstetrical and gynecologic care for antepartum, intrapartum and postpartum women on a high-risk unit. She also works with emergency medical residents in collaborating patient-centered care to an underserved female population. She earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Villanova University and master’s degree in nursing from Boston College. Pérez has a background in global health care, as well, having made volunteer trips to Honduras, the Dominican Republic and Peru.

–Ed Hayward and Kathleen Sullivan Photos by Lee Pellegrini and Caitlin Cunningham

THE ART OF CONVERSATION

(L-R) Judith Bookbinder, a part-time faculty member in the Fine Arts Department, enjoyed a conversation with freshmen John Hogan, Elizabeth Kopec and Kimberly Glover, and Career Center Associate Director Janet Bates at the Dec. 4 “Professors and Pastries” reception in Stokes Hall.

The series offers students the opportunity to meet informally with faculty, advisors and professionals from selected disciplines; this past week’s event focused on the fine and performing arts. (Photo by Lee Pellegrini)

Writing in the Brookings Institution UPFront blog, Assoc. Prof.

Jonathan Laurence (Political Science) said that for an example of whether an Islamist movement can become a law-abiding player in the affairs of a multi-party democracy, Europe should watch Tunisia, which can already lay claim to the most democratic success story in the uncertain post-Arab Spring period. He made similar remarks in an interview with The Economist.

Perception of the Middle East as a place with a certain culture and language ignores the array of different cultures that have developed over the course of history, said Assoc. Prof. Franck Salameh (Slavic and Eastern Languages) in an interview with NPR affiliate KGOU-Oklahoma.

Interviewed by the Boston Herald about the Eric Garner case, Prof. Robert Bloom (Law) said he found it “troubling” when prosecutors fail to secure indictments in police misconduct cases.

Cansius Professor and Jesuit Institute Director James Keenan, SJ, Jesuit Institute Manager Toni Ross, Assoc. Prof. Andrea Vicini, SJ (STM), and School of Theology and Ministry doctoral student Gregoire Catta, SJ, traveled to Krakow, Poland, this fall for Catholic Theological Ethics in the World Church, a growing network of more than 1,000 Catholic theological ethicists around the world that aims to support and sustain connections among ethicists, especially those in the global south.

Lect. Gregory Stoller (CSOM) discussed the trend of Chinese millionaires’ investing in, or relocating to, Boston in an interview on WBZ “NightSide with Dan Rea.” Forbes magazine profiled Carroll School of Management 2011 alumni Krik Angacian and Ryan Wiltse, creators of ProTings, a startup based on a protein snack chip that is ratcheting up distribu-

obituary

Jonathan Trejo-Mathys, Promising Scholar A memorial Mass was held at St. Ignatius Church on Saturday for Assistant Professor of Philosophy Jonathan Trejo-Mathys, who died Nov. 28 after a long battle with cancer. He was 35.

Dr. Trejo-Mathys, a specialist in social and political philosophy who joined the Philosophy Department in 2011, taught undergraduate and graduate students in courses such as Perspectives, Philosophy of Law and Ethics, Globalization and Critical Theory, among others. His work related philosophy to current issues of globalization and international justice. Though he had been at Boston College a relatively short amount of time, he had already begun to make a mark on the intellectual life of the University, according to many of his colleagues.

Dr. Trejo-Mathys was involved in events organized by the Clough Center for the Study of Constitutional Democracy and the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life.

He led a 2013 Boisi Center event on “Political Obligation in the World Society,” in which he discussed how philosophy can help people to understand our moral obligations in an interconnected global society.

In correspondence with Dr. Trejo-Mathys last month, Philosophy Department Chairman Professor Arthur Madigan, SJ, wrote, “We wish that you could have had many years to continue and deepen that work at Boston College. We would have loved for you to make tenure and promotion and professorship and do a lifetime of good work among us.”

“Jonathan and I co-taught what turned out to be his final course, a

graduate seminar on modern political philosophy,” said Associate Professor of Philosophy Jeff Bloechl. “He was not always well during our Wednesday afternoons together, and got weaker as time passed. But he always pulled himself together as we walked to the classroom, whereupon, to my amazement, he sometimes held forth for a half-hour at a time, leading us into the complexities of modern German thought, contemporary politics and ongoing current events. When I asked him how he did it, he said that teaching calmed him and that our students gave him energy.”

Fidele Ingiyimbere, SJ, a doctoral student in the Philosophy Department, described Dr. Trejo-Mathys as a teacher, advisor and friend. “He was very bright and a very good teacher.

He was always open to discussion and often I would pop into his office. We had a common interest in international justice, not just the theoretical but in a practical way.”

Posted outside Dr. Trejo-Mathys’ office door is an adage from Simone Weil: “Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.”

“As his friend and co-teacher, I saw how much he believed in that idea. He was first of all a husband and father, but he was also a wonderful teacher and remarkable human being,” said Bloechl.

Dr. Trejo-Mathys is survived by his wife Magdalena (Maggie) TrejoMathys, their two daughters, Maya and Micaela, and his parents Jon Mathys and Lera Chittwood.

–Kathleen Sullivan For the full version of this story, see http://bit.ly/1s0qZqX

tion to more than 1,000 stores.

It’s time to stop referring to the Ferguson rioters as “protestors,” delegitimizing countless effective, non-violent protests across America, and to stop treating the

BC BRIEFING disorder as a “black” response, wrote Assoc. Prof. of the Practice Tiziana Dearing (Social Work) in the WBUR “Cognoscenti” blog.

Although some observers might worry that current oil prices are just too good to last, Murray and Monti Professor of Economics Peter Ireland examined factors that suggest otherwise in an essay for Economics 21.

Assoc. Prof. of the Practice Michael C. Keith (Communication) was interviewed by the Washingtonian Magazine on the subject of community radio.

JOBS The following are among the most recent positions posted by the Department of Human Resources.

For more information on employment opportunities at Boston College, see www.bc.edu/offices/hr: Assistant Director for Residential Ministry Assistant Director for Career Counseling, Career Center Acquisitions and Fiscal Assistant, O’Neill Library Assistant Director for Athletic Development, Flynn Fund Operations Program and Outreach Manager, Office of International Programs Fiscal and Operations Administrator, Institute of Advanced Jesuit Studies Staff Nurse, University Health Services Associate University Librarian Faculty Programs Director, Center for Teaching Excellence Grant Administrator, Office of Sponsored Programs

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Check out BC Bookmarks [bcbookmarks.com], a blog about books written by BC faculty, staff and alumni as well as campus appearances by writers.

By Rosanne Pellegrini Staff Writer

Photos by Caitlin Cunningham

“Let the joy, peace, and light of the Christmas season dance within you!”

That enticement to experience the annual Boston College production of “Christmas Reflections,” which celebrates the season in story, music and dance, beckons from its sponsor, the Boston Liturgical Dance Ensemble.

The holiday extravaganza returns to campus for its sixth year, with performances in the Robsham Theater Arts Center on Dec. 19 at 7:30 p.m. and at 3 p.m. on Dec. 20 and 21.

“Christmas Reflections” features choreography by Jesuit Artist-in-Residence Robert Ver Eecke, SJ — affectionately known as “Fr. Bob” and dubbed “the dancing priest.” The show integrates new works with favorites from “A Dancer’s Christmas,” a beloved holiday tradition staged at BC by Fr. Ver Eecke for nearly three decades.

“I can hardly believe that after 28 years of ‘A Dancer’s Christmas,’ I was able to create a dance/ theater piece as charming, delightful and heartwarming as ‘Christ-

Performers going through their paces at a recent rehearsal for “Christmas Reflections,” a production conceived and choreographed by Jesuit Artistin-Residence Robert Ver Eecke, SJ (in photo below).

BC SCENES

mas Reflections,’” said Fr. Ver Eecke.

“Like ‘A Dancer’s Christmas,’ ‘Christmas Reflections’ uses professional dancers, as well as BC students and alumni. One of its distinguishing characteristics, however, is that it is a special gift for children and families. With a cast of more than 20 children and 24 Irish step dancers, it’s a very joyful celebration of the true meaning of Christmas. Audiences of all ages are delighted with the beauty, the spirit and joy of ‘Christmas Reflections.’”

“Christmas Reflections” narrates, sings and dances the story of Christmas through the Gospel Acording to Luke; of an Irish Christmas as related by a storyteller named Seamus; of a contemporary Christmas in Boston; and the tale of “Shep, the Sleepy Sheep,” according to Fr. Ver Eecke.

Some 80 performers comprise the cast, and guest artist Steven Cornwall – a Jamaican contemporary dancer – will once again portray Joseph. Fr. Ver Eecke praises Cornwall as “a spectacular dancer,” who “brings a beauty and strength that is very powerful to watch.”

The production also includes choreography by championship Irish step dancer Helen O’Dwyer ’97, who performed for a number of years in “A Dancer’s Christmas,” and students from her dance school.

General admission tickets are $20 with a group rate (for 10) of $15. For tickets, call the RTAC Box Office at ext. 2-4002; e-mail Box Office Manager Kim Principi at principi@bc.edu or see www. bc.edu/offices/robsham/tickets. html.

Contact Rosanne Pellegrini at rosanne.pellegrini@bc.edu

“Advent Christmas Mass” Dec. 15, 2 p.m.

St. Mary’s Chapel

The Division of Mission and Ministry invites all Boston College employees to join in celebrating the Christmas season with Advent Mass. Refreshments will follow Mass in Gasson Library.

SEASON OF WORSHIP, MUSIC AND CHEER

Caitlin Cunningham

Caitlin Cunningham

With the holiday season in full swing, Boston College was the site for numerous events and activities, including (far left) the annual University Chorale and Symphony Orchestra Christmas concert at Trinity Chapel on Newton Campus; the Alumni Association’s “Winter Wonderland” for families (below left); the Gaelic Roots Christmas concert with Robbie O’Connell and Aoife Clancy in the Cadigan Center (below right); and BC Hillel’s Hannukah party in the Faculty Dining Hall.

Caitlin Cunningham Graham Beck ’15