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Five alumni who have made generous contributions of loyalty and leadership to the educational advancement of Boston College will be honored at the University’s Distinguished Volunteer Tribute Dinner tomorrow evening at the Fairmont Copley Plaza in Boston.
The honorees and their awards are: Matthew J. Bottica ’72, the James F. Cleary ’50 H’93 Masters Award; Richard J. Canning ’81, the John P. Curley ’13 Award; Courtney Dower ’11, the James F. Stanton ’42 Senior Class Gift Award; Mary-Jane Flaherty NC ’75, the John J. Griffin, Sr. ’35 H’72 Alumni Association Award; and Hugh O’Kane ’00, the Philip J. Callan ’25 Young Alumni Award.
Bottica will receive the Cleary Masters Award – named in honor of the long-serving University trustee and trustee associate who died in February – in recognition of his continued service to Boston College’s advancement efforts “by providing ideas, energy and leadership that elevate fundraising at Boston College to new levels of excellence.” Bottica, a trustee since 2008, has worked as a key volunteer in three University capital campaigns. He and his wife Christine Crowley Bottica are currently members of the executive committee and co-chairs of the Chicago Regional Campaign Committee for the University’s “Light the World” campaign. The couple – whose five children are all Boston College graduates – also served as co-chairs of the Parents’ Leadership Council for three years.
Canning will receive the Curley Award for his commitment of time and resources to the Boston College Athletic Association. With his wife Cecilia Baynes Canning, he has established two scholarship funds, underwriting financial aid for a student-athlete and a student in the Carroll School of Management.
Dower will accept the Stanton prize for her outstanding volunteer service and leadership as a member of her Senior Class Gift Committee. As an undergraduate, she was co-chair of the senior gift committee in addition to serving as a teaching assistant in the biology department, a service volunteer in both Appalachia and Natchez, Miss., and as a member of the Undergraduate Government of Boston College, the Bystander Education Student Team and the Episcopal chaplaincy. A resident of Boston, Dower currently is a staff member in BC’s University Advancement division.
Flaherty, who will receive the Griffin award in recognition of her contributions “to the advancement of the academic mission of higher education in the Jesuit tradition,” has been a member of the Council for Women of Boston College since 2005 and the University’s Alumni Board since 2009. She also helped lead successful efforts to engage graduate school alumni in special campus events and activities, and for her class’s 35th Reunion Gift Committee, and with her husband, William Masella, has supported a scholarship fund for student-athletes and a graduate fellowship fund at the Lynch School of Education.
O’Kane will be honored with the Callan Young Alumni Award for “exceptional leadership, dedication and perseverance on behalf of Boston College Advancement.” He has chaired both his fifth and 10th Reunion Gift Committees, the latter of which broke records for numbers of donors (740) and participation (34.4 per cent of the class.) He has also been and active member of the Maroon & GOLD program for young alumni since its start.