New leadership for PULSE program
Associate Professor of the Practice in Theology Joshua Snyder has been named the new Cooney Family Director of the PULSE Program for Service Learning at Boston College, beginning in June. Snyder succeeds longtime director Meghan Sweeney, a professor of the practice in the Theology Department, who is stepping down after stewarding the program for the past 12 years.
“The PULSE Program truly embodies the Jesuit mission of forming students to become people for and with others, and I couldn’t be more excited to contribute to its legacy,” said Snyder. “I’m looking forward to building on the foundations set by the previous directors, and figuring out what the next 50 years will look like.”
Snyder has taught in the Theology Department since 2018, and is also the director of the Faith, Peace, and Justice minor. For the past six years, he’s taught Person and Social Responsibility, the PULSE Program’s yearlong core course that combines classroom learning with community service at one of more than 75 nonprofit partners in the Boston area. Every week, students spend 12 hours in direct contact with marginalized populations or social change organizations, while also reading and discussing classic and contemporary works of philosophy and theology.
“PULSE is a key formative learning experience,” said Snyder. “It brings together self-reflection, academic discussion, and direct service in a unique way that no other program does.”
More than 20,000 Boston College undergraduates have participated in PULSE since its founding in 1970 by BC students and alumni, contributing more than four million hours of service at storied organizations like the Pine Street Inn and Women’s Lunch Place. In 2015, PULSE increased its annual enrollment capacity to 416 students and introduced new electives on topics like mass incarceration and immigration, taught by Theology and Philosophy faculty. More recently, it expanded to serve students at Messina College, Boston College’s two-year residential program.
Snyder will succeed Meghan Sweeney, who is stepping down after having led the PULSE program for 12 years. (Caitlin Cunningham)
The program has also encountered challenges, most notably during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, when in-person service halted abruptly, forcing administrators into uncharted territory. Sweeney recalled emergency meetings held over Zoom designing virtual service opportunities with longstanding partners as well as new ones like the Cotting School in Lexington and the award-winning journalism project, Missing Them, in New York City.
“It was extremely challenging for many reasons,” Sweeney said, “but I’m proud we stayed. We heard from many of our community partners that when other service learning or volunteer programs bailed from their agencies because of COVID, PULSE didn’t. We created ways to make it work.”
Over the past several years, Sweeney has worked to expand PULSE’s reach by engaging first-year and transfer students as well as the Messina College community. Snyder plans to build upon those efforts moving forward, potentially reaching students in the Woods College of Advancing Studies as well.
More than half a century old, PULSE remains more relevant than ever, he said, offering students a valuable framework for understanding and combating social injustice.
“In 1970 you had all sorts of divisiveness within society and a group of Boston College students decided to double down on theology and philosophy and service,” said Snyder. “That should give strength to our current students, who are thinking about this current moment, what’s happening in the world, and wondering how they can continue to be agents of change.”