Boston College

Think Pink” was the theme of Breast Cancer Awareness Night in Conte Forum on February 18, when the women’s basketball team took the floor against Georgia Tech. In recent years the pink ribbon has become a sign of support for victims of breast cancer, the most common and deadly cancer among women worldwide. The “Think Pink” initiative is a global program, begun in 2007 by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association, “to assist in raising breast cancer awareness on the court, across campuses, in communities and beyond.” More than 900 schools in the U.S. are participating this year. The University’s athletic department sent invitations to attend the Georgia Tech game, along with information about the fight against breast cancer, to area high schools and middle schools. Pink pom-poms were distributed at the door, and the team wore pink warm-up suits before the game. Fans who came wearing pink were admitted free. Some 4,200 turned out—this year’s record attendance for women’s basketball—to take part in the event and watch the Eagles defeat Georgia Tech by a score of 62-53.

Some 400 people attended the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Committee Awards Banquet in Lyons Dining Hall on February 12 at which Eric Asuo-Mante ’09 (above, center) received this year’s Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Award. Congratulating him are his sister Harriet (left), professor Susan Michalczyk of the Arts and Sciences Honors Program (in flowered dress), and Anne Adorsi ’09 (far right). Conferred annually since 1982, the award provides 75 percent of senior year tuition, and is presented to a junior “who reflects King’s philosophy in his or her life and work.” Born and raised in Ghana, Asua-Mante majors in sociology with a pre-med concentration. He is on the executive boards of the AHANA Collective Theater, Dance Marathon, and the African Student Organization. “Eric is a dynamic, passionate young man,” said Michalczyk, who sponsored Asuo-Mante for the award. “He really exemplifies all that the MLK scholarship symbolizes.” The guest speaker at the dinner was Andrea J. Cabral ’81, sheriff of Suffolk County.

On Sunday March 13, 2005, Scott Cummings, a Boston College theater professor, watched a live televised press conference given by Ashley Smith, 26, of Atlanta. For seven hours the previous day, the young widow had been held hostage in her apartment by an armed fugitive who had killed four people while escaping from a courthouse in which he was being tried for rape. As flashbulbs popped, Smith described her night of captivity, during which she read aloud to her captor from the Bible, cooked him pancakes, and showed him photos of her family. Apparently, her faith and respect moved the man to set her free. By Sunday evening, Smith had hired a lawyer in anticipation of book and movie contracts.

For Cummings, a director and the author of seven plays, the press conference was “one of the most astonishing performances” he had ever seen. Inspired, he began writing scenes and vignettes for a work of “collage” theater that would explore, in his words, “crime as entertainment, privacy versus celebrity, the presence of God in everyday life, and the possibility of starting life over.”

Scheduled for performance on the University’s Bond Theater stage February 20–23 by an all-student cast, Ashley’s Purpose explores Smith’s story “almost the way a Cubist painting” might, says Cummings, from multiple angles—including imagined conversations, verbatim interviews, dance, and traditional spirituals (sung by Boston College’s Voices of Imani). More so than for most plays, says Cummings, the script took shape in rehearsal, with students collaborating on assembling its various elements and Cummings directing.

@ BC presents an audio slideshow of photographs taken by Boston College photographer Lee Pellegrini at an early rehearsal on Robsham Theater’s main stage, when some members of the ensemble (see thumbnail photos, below) were considering material for inclusion, blocking out scenes, working with the choreographer, and playing games with a rubber ball to develop rapport among cast members. The soundtrack accompanying the slideshow is a collage of interview excerpts from conversations with Cummings and the students.

David
Bruin ‘09

Megan Green ‘08

Scott Cummings

Amanda Engborg ‘08

Richard Greenwood ‘11

Meghan Hart ‘08

Jessica
Kelly ‘08

Sarah Lunnie ‘08

Laura Murphy ‘08

Patrick Ryan ‘09

Seventeen scholars, 11 men and 6 women, joined Boston College’s faculty this academic year, 15 as assistant professors and two as associate professors. We introduce eight of them in this issue of @BC, including a philosopher who investigates the phenomenology of religion, a scientist who is developing computers that can make sense of complex and cluttered visual fields, and a psychologist investigating the brain circuitry of hunger. We will present the rest of the University’s new faculty in a forthcoming edition.

This August, Anthony Bryk ’70 will take over one of the most powerful positions in U.S. higher education, having been named in January the new president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, one of the nation’s leading education policy institutions. “Carnegie provides a platform for significant change,” wrote Frederick Hess of the American Enterprise Institute shortly after Bryk’s selection. “Bryk is the rare scholar and reformer equal to the opportunities it presents.”

Considered one of the nation’s eminent researchers on school organization and reform, Bryk graduated from Boston College with an undergraduate degree in chemistry before earning a doctorate in measurement and statistics at Harvard. Teaching at Harvard, the University of Chicago, and Stanford, he has been a professor of education, sociology, and urban studies. Most recently, he was Stanford’s Spencer Chair of Organizational Studies, a joint position in education and business. “Tony is a perfect match for the foundation,” said David S. Tatel, chairman of the Carnegie board, in a press release about the selection. “He has a tremendous ability to think and act across disciplines and bring together theory and practice.”

Over the course of his 30 years of working for education reform, Bryk has been honored with the first Thomas B. Fordham Foundation Prize for Distinguished Contributions to Education, and the American Educational Research Association’s highest honor, the Distinguished Career Contributions Award. In addition to his teaching duties, Bryk has formed two of the country’s preeminent educational think tanks: the Center for Urban School Improvement, and the Consortium on Chicago School Research. His Catholic Schools and the Common Good (Harvard, 1993) is considered a classic in its exploration of how Catholic schools aid disadvantaged students.

• “Kudos for Carnegie,” by Frederick M. Hess and Rosemary Kendrick, in the January 15, 2008, edition of The American
• Catholic Schools and the Common Good, by Anthony Bryk, on Google Books
• Profile of Bryk published in November 2004, following his dual appointments at Stanford University, in Stanford Business
• Home page of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching

Ashley’s Purpose, a play conceived by associate professor of theater Scott Cummings (seated, above), is inspired by the real-life story of Ashley Smith—a 26-year-old woman who in March 2005 was held hostage overnight by an armed fugitive. Earlier that day he had killed four people in escaping from the courthouse where he was on trial for rape. Ashley was released unharmed the following morning, and her captor surrendered peacefully. The young woman became a media sensation when she described her night of captivity at a news conference one day later.

For Cummings, author of seven plays, the event was a “springboard for an original piece of theater combining images, actions, and vignettes to explore such themes as telling one’s own story, crime as entertainment, privacy versus celebrity, and finding one’s purpose in life.” He assembled imagined conversations, verbatim interviews, dramatic scenes, and other materials for possible inclusion in the production, and the play’s student performers and theater department staff collaborated over the course of rehearsals to create the final product. Above, at a January 11 rehearsal in Robsham Theater, Cummings and choreographer Amanda Engborg ’08 (right) work with the cast. Ashley’s Purpose, a “collage” of dramatic scenes, dance, and a performance of traditional spirituals by Voices of Imani, will be presented February 20 to 24 in Bond Theater.

Arabic, the most popular non-Romance language among undergraduates, is the fastest-growing language program on campus. In three years student enrollment has jumped from 15 to 160. Atef Ghobrial of the Slavic and Eastern language department, who teaches some 50 beginners this year, says enrollment has risen not only because of a desire to understand Arabic language and culture in the aftermath of 9/11, but also because Arabic skills make students “more marketable.” He reports that private European and American companies, the FBI, and the U.S. Department of Defense have employed his former pupils. Above, Ghobrial teaches a class on January 25 in Gasson 307.

Fourteen students and two faculty members took part in a two-day ”Clowning Intensive Workshop” January 25 and 26, at the Brighton Dance Studio. Taught by Susan Thompson of the theater department, who studied at the Jacques Lecoq International Theatre School in Paris, the program is part of a series of movement workshops created to augment department offerings. Workshop activities included improvisation exercises, nonverbal games of one-upsmanship, and an outlandish fashion show—all designed to sharpen students’ abilities to play the fool in order to establish audience rapport. “It was difficult because we were asked to do things we’re not used to doing,” commented theater faculty member Sheppard Barnett (above, center, in the red vest). “But we got to keep our noses. That was good.”

More than 300 members of the Boston College community attended an ecumenical gathering in the Heights Room on the evening of January 21 to celebrate the “calling and legacy” of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Hosted by Campus Ministry, the program included choral music by the United Voices of Freedom—a choir comprising Against the Current, the Liturgy Arts Group, and Voices of Imani—as well as a presentation by Phaymus, a campus dance ensemble. Former U.S. ambassador to Tanzania Charles Stith, who is director of Boston University’s African Presidential Archives and Research Center, delivered a homily. Two student speakers, Jeremy Marks ’09 and Jacqueline Grant ’08, the current Martin Luther King Scholar, offered reflections. Above (l-r), Benjamin Lee ’08, Ambassador Stith, and Gabriel Shirley ’12 take part in the celebration.

The December 2007 issue of the scientific journal Nature reported findings by a team of University researchers on superconductivity—the transmission of electricity with zero energy loss at very low temperatures. Vidya Madhavan, assistant professor of physics, led a team of researchers whose findings shed light on the “glue” that enables electrons to bind during superconductive transmission, thereby eliminating the resistance that causes energy loss. In the photo above (l-r), Madhavan speaks with Ph.D. candidates Francis Niestemski and Shankar Kunwar on January 11 in their Higgins Hall laboratory, which contains a scanning tunneling microscope and related apparatus that measure the flow of electricity with atomic-scale precision. “If you can understand how superconductors work, you might be able to develop technologies that function at room temperature,” according to Madhavan. Such technologies, she explained, could more than double the efficiency of electricity transmission.

On December 4 the University unveiled a 10-year plan to spend $1.6 billion to strengthen its educational programs and enhance facilities. @BC provides links to the strategic plan that articulates the University’s goals and to related documents that spell out implementation. We also present links, compiled by the Office of Public Affairs, to national and international media coverage of the plan’s announcement.

• Strategic Plan, press announcement [pdf]
• Master Plan, press announcement [pdf]
• Towers of Excellence: The Boston College Strategic Plan
• BC Chronicle Special Supplement: Investment in the Future [pdf]
• 10-Year Campus Map [pdf]

Sampling of media coverage:

• Boston Globe
• Boston Herald
• New York Times
• USA Today
• NPR
• AP: Washington Post, China Post, UK Guardian
• Bloomberg News
• International Herald Tribune
• The Heights
• Heights editorial
• Boston Herald editorial

Although music has accompanied the observance of Christmas since Christianity’s earliest days, the incorporation of hymns and vernacular carols into church celebrations is attributed to St. Francis of Assisi who staged the first nativity play in the 13th century. The custom spread from Italy throughout the world and, except during early Reformation when secular music was forbidden at religious gatherings, music making and musical performances have become integral to the celebration of Christmas.

@BC presents a sampling of seasonal music, recorded last year by the University Chorale of Boston College, the Boston College Symphony Orchestra, and the University Wind Ensemble. In addition to classics by Tchaikovsky, Handel, and Leroy Anderson, we include a carol by English composer John Rutter (b. 1945), a prolific composer of choral music, and a piece for wind ensemble by American Alfred Reed (1921-75), a Julliard-trained composer of instrumental and choral music.

Musical Selections:

University Chorale and the Boston College Symphony Orchestra

• “Trepak” (from Nutcracker Suite), by Peter Illyich Tchaikovsky; Boston College Symphony Orchestra, directed by John Finney (1:31)
   

   

• “A Christmas Festival,” by Leroy Anderson; University Chorale of Boston College and the Boston College Symphony Orchestra, directed by John Finney (6:49)
   

   

• “Candlelight Carol,” by John Rutter; University Chorale of Boston College and the Boston College Symphony Orchestra, directed by John Finney (3:39)
   

   

• “For Unto Us a Child Is Born,” (from The Messiah), by George Frideric Handel; University Chorale of Boston College and the Boston College Symphony Orchestra, directed by John Finney (4:21)
   

   

• “A Christmas Intrada,” by Alfred Reed; University Wind Ensemble, directed by Sebastian Bonaiuto (9:55)
   

In 1985, Clare Dunsford, who is now an associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, gave birth to her son John Patrick (“J.P.”). He appeared to be healthy, but as time progressed he was slow to stand, walk, and talk; he became hypersensitive to light and sound, and easily agitated. Physicians offered a variety of diagnoses, but it wasn’t until J.P. was seven, and in the care of doctor number five, that he was tested and diagnosed definitively with the most common form of inherited mental retardation, fragile X syndrome.

In Spelling Love with an X: A Mother, a Son, and the Gene That Binds Them (Beacon Press, 2007), Dunsford describes learning about J.P.’s condition, sharing the news of his congenital birth defect with her family (several of whom were also found to be carriers of the mutation), and raising J.P., who is now 22. A former adjunct lecturer in English at Harvard and at Boston College, Dunsford quotes the poetry of William Wordsworth, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Wallace Stevens, and Hart Crane in telling her story. “I’ve always looked to literature to understand my life,” she explains.

In a November 9 interview with @BC, Dunsford recalls incidents from J.P.’s childhood and the pain she and her family felt upon learning of the genetic defect they carried. She describes overcoming her reluctance to share personal thoughts and feelings in her book and the evolution of its focus as she worked on it over six years: “It sounds crazy, but I actually thought I was writing about J.P., apart from me, as my child. It ended up being much more of a meditation on who I had been as a child, who I am now, and on who I’ve become by knowing J.P.” The conversation took place one week after the release of Spelling Love with an X, which Boston University journalism professor and award-winning author Mitchell Zuckoff has called “a beautifully written journey of a woman toward understanding—of herself, her son, and the twists of fate and DNA that bind them and all of us.”