Online via Zoom, 10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
Presenter: Erick Berrelleza, SJ

As the new two-year residential college of Boston College, Messina College will offer an Associate’s degree program grounded in the excellence of one of the nation’s leading universities. Beginning in the 2024–25 academic year, Messina College will enroll 100 students annually in a supportive, small-school setting on the new Brookline Campus. After the two-year program, Messina College will prepare first-generation and financially under-resourced students to transfer into a Bachelor’s degree program or launch their careers.

Named after the first Jesuit school founded in Sicily in 1548, Messina College offers a rigorous educational program that urges students to reflect deeply on who they are and how they want to live their lives.

Online via Zoom, 10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
Presenter: Philip Landrigan

Plastics have conveyed great benefits to humanity and made possible some of modern civilization’s most significant advances. It is now clear, however, that plastics are neither safe nor cheap. Current patterns of plastic production, use, and disposal are responsible for significant harms to human health, the economy, and the earth’s environment and for deep social and environmental injustices. These harms extend far beyond beach litter and microplastics. Many of them are invisible. Until now, the extent of these harms has not been systematically assessed, their magnitude not quantified, and their economic costs not counted. This presentation will comprehensively examine the full range of plastics’ harms across the entire plastic life cycle. It will offer guidance for development of a Global plastics Treaty.

Online via Zoom, 10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
Presenter: Brad Harrington

The goal of attaining greater gender equality is one that society and organizations have been pursuing for many years. While women have made great strides in professional roles in many organizations, there is still a notable lack of progress for women at senior levels among large employers in the U.S. The “gender pay gap” has also persisted and the latest data suggests women are paid 84 cents for every dollar that men earn. Research continues to show that women still carry the major responsibility for caregiving and housework on the home front, doing significantly more housework and caregiving than their male partners/counterparts. This lecture will summarize the latest research on this disparity and what might be done about it.

Online via Zoom, 10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
Presenter: Yi Ming

As the defining environmental issue of our time, climate change touches upon almost every thread of our social fabric. Therefore, humanists, social, and natural scientists must work closely in formulating a holistic response. The Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society plays a lead role in fostering innovative climate education and research across schools and departments at Boston College. As a core Schiller faculty member, Professor Ming has been involved directly in a number of initiatives at the nexus of physical climate science, impacts, mitigation, adaptation, and environmental justice. This lecture will provide a progress report on these new exciting opportunities, and offer a vision of how they may continue to evolve as society demands more actionable climate information.

Online via Zoom, 10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
Presenter: M. Shawn Copeland

The Feast of All Souls prompts us to recall those who have stood at crossroads facing paradox and possibility in the effort to bring our church and society closer to the possibility of achieving justice. This effort calls for relational responsibility or solidarity and may be grounded in human terms: as human beings, members of the same species (the one human race), our very existence requires engagement with others of our kind, with other human beings. But as Christians, we may appeal to our Baptismal calling: What might it mean for us in the fractured and polarizing society in which we live, to pursue justice together as followers of Jesus? Are we, too, not at a crossroad?

Online via Zoom, 10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
Presenter: Odette Lienau

The challenges to the rule of law in the U.S. and overseas, dislocations of COVID-19 and climate change, and ongoing struggle over racial and economic injustice have made the centrality of law and lawyers clearer than ever. Join Odette Lienau, the inaugural Marianne D. Short, Esq., Dean of Boston College Law School, as she explains how the significant challenges ahead also bring real opportunities. Dean Lienau will share where she sees legal education going in the future and outline her vision for how BC Law can position itself for future growth, working hand-in-hand with the university to solidify its place as one of the nation's very best law schools. The school’s mission delivers exactly what today's students are looking for, and its graduates will be uniquely positioned to address the world's greatest problems.

Online via Zoom, 10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
Presenter: Karen Kiefer

The Advent season calls us to prepare for the coming of the Christ child while marking the start of a new liturgical year. What a wonderful time to seek out new opportunities to grow in faith and learn more about the rich resources that define the work of the Church in the 21st Century Center at Boston College over the past 20 years. If you are interested in deepening your prayer life, discovering programs that offer a community of friends to engage in faith conversations, or learning more about other resources that share the treasures of Catholic intellectual tradition and Catholic spiritual practices, please join in the discussion.

Online via Zoom, 10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
Presenter: Thomas Barnico

Federal and state attorneys general play important roles in American public law. In 43 States, the people elect their state attorney general by statewide ballot. These officials possess a measure of independence from their governors in deciding how to define and pursue the legal interests of their States. The Attorney General of the United States, in contrast, is appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. He serves at the pleasure of the President as part of a so-called “unitary” executive branch. Thus, while each attorney general is the “chief law officer” of her respective government, state and federal attorneys generally differ in a crucial respect: the degree, limits, and consequences of their independence from their chief executive.