Year in Review

Academic Achievement

BC student Koung Ly was named a 2007 Truman Scholar. Ly, the only Massachusetts resident to earn the honor from the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation, was granted the award for his research and involvement in public service. With the support of fellowships and scholarships, Ly has complemented his studies by volunteering with Never Again Rwanda and conducting research on international refugee trauma. He is the seventh BC student to receive the prestigious Truman award in the last 10 years. In addition to being a Truman Scholar, he also was one of 20 students, from a pool of more than 500, to be named to USA Today’s All-USA College Academic First Team for 2008.
Fulbright Scholars – It was a record year for Boston College, with 18 Fulbright undergraduate winners, placing BC in the top 10, tied with Stanford and the University of Wisconsin. Of note, 13 seniors in the German Studies Department were awarded Fulbright Scholarships to study in Germany, the most from one school ever to be sent to the same country.
The Connell School of Nursing developed and launched a program to support nurses interested in re-entering the work force. The RN Refresher Certificate program partners with doctors, nurses, pharmacists, etc., from area hospitals to update nurses’ medical-surgical knowledge as they prepare to return to clinical settings.
BC senior Katherine Adam '07 is co-author, with Prof. Charles Derber (sociology), of the book The New Feminized Majority: How Democrats Can Change America with Women’s Values, published in 2008. The book is based on the honors thesis on gender and politics that Adams wrote in her senior year.
With a 93% graduation rate, the BC football team ranked 3rd in the nation. Over the past decade, BC has consistently ranked higher in graduation rates than any national championship team or contender.

Athletic Achievement

The men’s soccer team defeated top-ranked Wake Forest, 2-1, to capture BC’s first ACC soccer title.
With a 24-21 win over Michigan State in the Champs Sports Bowl, the BC football team extended the nation's longest current bowl winning streak to eight games.
The Eagles defeated Notre Dame, 4-1, to capture their third NCAA men’s hockey championship.
The women's outdoor track team tallied six top individual titles and was crowned New England champions.
The women's sailing team outraced Brown, Yale, and Stanford to earn the 2008 Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) national championship. Three days later, the co-ed team sailed past Brown and Georgetown to also capture the ICSA/APS (Annapolis Performance Sailing) team race national championship.
Quarterback Matt Ryan was selected by the Atlanta Falcons as the third pick in the 2008 National Football League draft, becoming BC’s highest draft pick of all time.
On June 6, 2008, three Eagle baseball players were selected in the Major League Baseball draft.
Three members of the women’s hockey team were named to the U.S. Under-22 Select Team.

Faculty in the News

Professor Lisa Feldman Barrett was one of 16 area scientists to receive the Pioneer Award, a research grant from the National Institutes for Health (NIH). Barrett will use the grant to further her innovative study on the neuroanatomy of emotions such as anger and fear.
Paul Schervish, director of the Center for Wealth and Philanthropy, received a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to study the philanthropy of the wealthy. Schervish’s research will focus on finding ways to increase charitable giving among the nation’s richest citizens.
Michael Martin and Ina Mullis, co-directors of BC’s International Study Center, received financial support from the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) to conduct and publish a global study on progress in international reading literacy. Although BC’s International Study Center conducts many global studies each year through IEA, Martin and Mullis received international attention for their work this year, with eight different newspapers and magazines worldwide publishing a story about their research.
Clare Dunsford, associate dean of Arts & Sciences, wrote a memoir, Spelling Love with an X, about her relationship with her son who has Fragile X Syndrome.
Professor Mary Walsh expanded the BostonConnects program with a $4.6 million grant from the New Balance Foundation. The program reaches out to 15 Boston public schools to coordinate health care, counseling, mentoring, and family services. In addition to the New Balance grant, Walsh also secured $2 million from Strategic Grant Partners and $1 million from the Charles Hayden Foundation.
Professor Eric Strauss, director of the Environmental Studies Program, oversaw a program for 4th and 5th graders from Dorchester’s Russell Elementary School as part of Public Science Day Boston 2008. The students came to campus to study baby diamondback terrapins.

Spirituality and Service

BC established Manresa House, an on-campus house devoted to vocational discernment, in conjunction with the New England Province of the Society of Jesus. Fr. Jack Butler has assumed the directorship of the house, which will work with students considering a life of ministry or looking for spiritual direction. The House will primarily promote vocations in the Catholic Church and will be used by the Province for those seeking a life as a Jesuit, but it will also be open for counseling, quiet prayer, and conversations about God.
BC has launched a new program, Magis (Latin for “more”), for students returning from service and immersion experiences. The program provides a forum for “students, faculty, and staff to debrief on experiences of engagement in communities where poverty and human rights abuses are present.” Students are invited to consider the meaning of their experiences in light of four themes: self-care, theological reflection, political activism, and vocational discernment.
More than 30 BC students participated in “NewtonSERVES,” a day of local community service, in April. The BC students joined volunteers of all ages to complete tasks that benefitted more than 50 nonprofit agencies around the city of Newton.
Ten BC students traveled to Dublin during spring break to take part in the first-ever BC-Ireland Service Week. Service placements included a community center, a Jesuit-based youth organization that serves poor neighborhoods, and the largest support group for the “Travellers” of Ireland, the most marginalized group in Irish society.
Visit the following newsletter link for more information about Magis, NewtonSERVES, and BC-Ireland: http://www.bc.edu/offices/service/meta-elements/pdf/VSLC_Newslettersprin.pdf.

BC in the News

BC unveiled a master plan that calls for a $1.6 billion expansion across all three campuses. At the end of the 10-year plan, BC intends to house 100 percent of its students on campus, the first school in the Boston area to do so.
BC reaffiliated with Weston Jesuit School of Theology to form the new School of Theology and Ministry. BC’s Church in the 21st Century program and Institute of Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry (IREPM) will become part of the School. Weston’s acting president, Richard Clifford, SJ, is founding dean.
BC hosted the Pollack Matters exhibit at the McMullen Museum. Comprising more than 170 paintings, drawings, photographs, and sculptures, the exhibition explored the personal and artistic relationship between famed American abstract expressionist painter Jackson Pollock and noted Swiss-born photographer and graphic designer Herbert Matter. The exhibit also included 24 smaller paintings on view for the first time. These paintings, labeled as works by Pollack when they were discovered in 2002, have since become the center of a debate between scientists and art historians.
Fr. Leahy was keynote speaker at the first St. Paul Catholic School Consortium. The program studied Catholic schools, specifically elementary schools in Leominster, Fitchburg, and Gardner, Massachusetts, and explored how to increase interest and enrollment. Fr. Leahy encouraged a focus on strengthening the programs at these schools and challenged the consortium to be an inspiration to people working in Catholic education.

Notables

Jeanette Walls, author of The Glass Castle, spoke at BC’s freshman convocation last fall. All incoming freshman were given a copy of her book to read prior to their coming to BC.
Chelsea Clinton spoke on campus about life on the campaign trail as the daughter of both a former president and of a 2008 presidential candidate.
Emmy Award-winning and Academy Award-nominated film director, producer, writer, and actor Spike Lee spoke on campus about his life and career.
F.W. de Klerk, former president of South Africa and the man who helped bring apartheid to its end, spoke on campus as part of the Clough Colloquium Series sponsored by the Winston Center for Leadership and Ethics. De Klerk spoke on “Bridging the Gap: Globalization without Isolation.”
Pulitzer Prize-winning author David McCullough addressed graduates at BC’s 132nd Commencement in May. McCullough’s commencement address can be read here.