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Nota Bene

The New England region of the Ignatian Volunteer Corps (IVC) presented its highest honor, the Madonna Della Strada Award, to Fred Enman, SJ, chaplain and special assistant to the associate dean for Student Services at Boston College Law School. Fr. Enman founded and currently serves as executive director of Matthew 25, a nonprofit organization that rehabilitates abandoned houses in Worcester and Boston, creating affordable rental housing for low-income people. The Madonna Della Strada Award recognizes those who embody the Jesuit tradition of direct service to the poor and of working and educating for a more just society.

Boston College Libraries recently announced the winners of Fourth Annual Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Mapping Contest. Awards were based on map quality, use of GIS as a research tool and originality. Special consideration was given to topics depicting social implications of the research such as environmental issues.

Due to the strong response, prizes were awarded this year to both undergraduate and graduate students.

First place ($100 Amazon gift card):

Austin Nijhuis, graduate student in earth and environmental sciences: “Predicting Coastal Dead Zone Size: a Statistical Approach Using GIS.”

Andrew Ireland ’14, biology: “Population Pressures on Tiger Habitat in India.” Second place ($50 Amazon gift card):

Brendan Hildum, graduate student in earth and environmental sciences: “Arsenic Speciation and Groundwater Chemistry Near and Within a Landfill Leachate Plume in Central Massachusetts.”

Licia Tomasi, international student in earth and environmental sciences: “Wind Power in Massachusetts: Conservation and Energy Production.” Third place ($25 Amazon gift card):

 Federico Mantovanelli, graduate student in economics: “The Protestant Legacy. Missions and Literacy in India.”

Kyra Prats ’13, earth and environmental sciences: “Relationships Among Hydrogeomorphology, Wetland Distribution, and Water Levels in Estuarine Environments.” Presidential Scholar.

Amanda Loewy ’15, a member of the Boston College equestrian team, has been selected for the Interscholastic Horse Show Association (IHSA) National All-Academic Award. The IHSA promotes competition for riders of all skill levels, who compete individually and as teams at regional, zone, and national levels. Candidates for the award must have a GPA of 3.8 or above, and ride in at least two IHSA horse shows during the academic year.

Kuong Ly ’08 is one of 30 winners of Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans, which are awarded annually to the most accomplished and promising immigrants and children of immigrants in American graduate education. Ly, born in a refugee camp to Cambodian parents who fled the mass killings in their country, went on to earn Truman and Marshall scholarships. Currently enrolled at the University of California-Los Angeles Law School, Ly plans on a career in public interest and critical race law.

Newsmakers

Writing in an opinion piece for The Tablet, Assoc. Prof. Rev. Kenneth Himes, OFM, outlined reasons for the US and Britain to take a cautious approach in decided whether to intervene in the Syrian conflict, despite is evidence that government forces in Syria have used chemical weapons.

Prof. Ray Madoff (Law) discussed with National Public Radio’s “Here and Now,” the New York Times and BBC Mundo the controversy over the difficulty in finding a burial location for Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev.

Sleep deprivation is a significant hidden factor in lowering the achievement of school pupils, according to a study by Boston College’s TIMSS & PIRLS International Study Center, directed by Lynch School of Education researchers Ina V.S. Mullis and Michael O. Martin. The study was noted by the BCC, the UK Daily Mail and Malta Independent.

Prof. Robert Bloom (Law) was interviewed by WCVB-TV News about the effect of the judge’s rejection of the immunity defense in the Whitey Bulger case.

Assoc. Prof. Gerald Kane (CSOM) offered comments to the Washington Post on YouTube’s announcement of a monthly subscription fee for some of the videos on its site.

Brennan Professor of Education Andy Hargreaves addressed the financial and educational impact of teacher absenteeism, and its relationship to job satisfaction or stress, in an interview with WBZ-TV News.

Assoc. Prof. Robert Murphy (Economics) gave his analysis to the Boston Globe concerning recent national employment figures.

Publications

Prof. Maxim D. Shrayer (Slavic and Eastern Languages) published an interview with Gennady Katsov in Russkii zhurnal and “Vladimir Nabokov’s Son Says Famous Father ‘Was Close to Jewish Culture’” in The Jewish Daily Forward.

Time and a Half

Prof. Maxim D. Shrayer (Slavic and Eastern Languages) presented “Ilya Selvinsky, Witness to the Shoah” at the University of Amsterdam, the Royal Dutch Institute for the Holocaust and Genocide, and the Shoah Memorial in Paris.

Honors/Appointments

Part-time faculty member Raymond Helmick, SJ (Theology), was co-recipient of the Andover Newton Theological School’s Rabbi Murray I. Rothman Award for outstanding interreligious leadership. The school cited his work in international conflict resolution, and his service with organizations such as the Centre for Human Rights and Responsibilities, the Interreligious Center for Public Life, the Conflict Analysis Center and the Centre of Concern for Human Dignity, which he co-founded.