Boston College

At the Law School’s May 22 Commencement, Federal Reserve Board Chair Ben Bernanke’s speech to 266 graduates—254 JDs and 12 LL.M.s—provided “a unique personal window into the Fed chairman’s mindset,” according to the Wall Street Journal. Describing the role of serendipity in his own career, Bernanke reflected on “the unpredictability of our individual lives and how one might go about dealing with that reality.” Stay optimistic and be flexible, he advised. “Look most carefully at those options that will give you a chance to learn new things, explore new areas, and grow as a person.” And he reminded graduates of Louis Pasteur’s comment, “Chance favors the prepared mind.” Prior to the 77th Commencement ceremony, Bernanke (center) attended a reception in the Daniel R. Coquillette Rare Book Room of the Law Library along with Coquillette (back to camera), former dean of the Law School and currently the J. Donald Monan, SJ, University Professor.

On June 7, Boston College will host the eighth “Vision 5K Run and Walk,” which was created by Joseph Quintanilla ’98 to focus attention on the visually impaired. Athletes, world-class runners, and weekend walkers—many of them visually impaired—participate in the annual event, which has raised more than $1 million for training programs and new technologies that enable visually-impaired individuals to lead independent lives. “It’s great to return to campus for the Vision 5K,” said Quintanilla, who is director of development at the Carroll Center for Blind in Newton, Massachusetts. “It is not only a beautiful location, but also a great match because of the school’s commitment to support students with disabilities.”

@BC presents video highlights of a May 21 training session for participants who will wear blindfolds when they take part in the race.

On May 18, some 3,395 undergraduate and graduate students received degrees at Boston College’s 133rd Commencement ceremonies. In an Alumni Stadium address, filmmaker Ken Burns (right) urged graduates to look to history as an “important ally and guide” and to dedicate themselves to “the preservation of this country’s most enduring ideals….To choose the values of enlightened self-interest, but only those interests that lift others along with yourself.” Burns, creator of award-winning documentaries on the Civil War, jazz, and baseball, received an honorary doctorate of fine arts. Also receiving honorary degrees were: Margot C. Connell, Joseph E. Corcoran ’59, Rev. Daniel J. Harrington, SJ, ’64, MA ’65, Carolyn A. Lynch, and Benaree Pratt Wiley. In his introductory remarks University President William P. Leahy, SJ, (left) encouraged the graduates to “use your gifts for the good of all.”

In the preface to Echoes of a University President: Selected Speeches (Linden Lane Press, 2008), a 300-page volume containing speeches he delivered between 1975 and 2005, J. Donald Monan, SJ, writes, “Throughout the 24 years [1972-96] I served as president of Boston College . . . I looked upon public speaking or oral communication to all manner of groups as one of my most important and, if truth be told, enjoyable responsibilities. But if delivering talks was enjoyable, composing them was not.” He spoke about his choice to write his own speeches and read excerpts at the downtown Boston College Club on May 6. At a reception after the talk, Monan (center) signed copies of the book, which is available online via the Boston College Bookstore.

An article in the December 2008 Journal of Lipid Research coauthored by Biology Professor Thomas Seyfried, links cancerous tumors to abnormalities in a complex lipid called cardiolipin. The research reflects new interest among scientists in the work of German physician and biochemist Otto Warburg, who won the Nobel Prize in 1931 for his studies in the field of cell biology. According to Warburg, “Cancer has only one prime cause. It is the replacement of normal oxygen respiration of the body’s cells by an anaerobic [without oxygen] cell respiration.” Warburg’s theory fell out of favor (supplanted by focus on genetic mutation as the cause of cancer) because, says Seyfried, “there was no biochemical evidence that would directly support his theory. Our work provides that evidence.”

Seyfried is part of a research team that includes scientists from Boston College and Washington University School of Medicine. Interviewed by @BC in his Higgins Hall laboratory on April 22, he discussed Warburg, the engines of cell metabolism, and the team’s ongoing work to understand cancer.

After a semester of learning basic graphic techniques and studying a range of styles, from the classicism of the Italian Renaissance to 20th-century German expressionism, students in introductory painting and drawing courses are asked to produce self-portraits. Adjunct Assistant Professor of Fine Arts Alston Conley narrates a slide show of self-portraits taken from a longer show that aired at the 11th annual Boston College Arts Festival, April 23–25. The works were created during the last four years by undergraduates in Conley’s Painting I class and Adjunct Professor Khalid Kodi’s Drawing I. The musical accompaniment is from a 1968 recording of “Where Am I,” performed by Boston College’s Eagles of Sound Dance Band, with guest saxophonist Richie Cole.

Boxing enthusiasts who packed Madison Square Garden’s WaMu Theater on April 17 witnessed what MightyGloves.com called a “slugfest” in which Julie Anne Kelly ‘01 captured the 132-pound amateur women’s title in the New York State Golden Gloves boxing tournament. Kelly took up the sport as a way to get in shape following chemotherapy and radiation for Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which was diagnosed shortly after graduation. The former art history major initially turned to running, with the thought of competing in marathons, but found she “didn’t have the passion.” Three years ago she tried boxing and “fell in love with it.” “It’s kind of a chess game,” she told @BC. “For everything your opponent does, there’s a reaction you should have. What’s so great about the sport is you’re always learning something.”

Raised in Dedham, Massachusetts, Kelly now lives in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, and begins most days at 6:00 a.m. with a three- to five-mile run through her neighborhood. She then heads for Manhattan, where she works as a media project market manager at Hearst-Argyle Digital. Evenings she spends at the boxing school of Francisco Mendez in Midtown, where “there is a lot of hanging out, talking boxing,” she says. “I like to leave the gym each night having laughed so hard my cheeks hurt. I am rarely let down.”

Kelly’s Golden Gloves victory earned her the right to compete in the national Golden Gloves tournament in July, but shoulder surgery will prevent her participation. She has no doubt that she will be back in the ring. “Nothing’s going to stop me,” says the 29-year-old pugilist. “My dream is to be the best fighter I can possibly be. I don’t have to be the best, I just have to be my best.”

Student poets from 25 Boston-area colleges and universities—one per school, by invitation-only—assembled in the Murray Function Room on the evening of April 21 to recite their verse at the Greater Boston Intercollegiate Poetry Festival. This year’s keynote talk was given by poet Gail Mazur, Distinguished Writer-in-Residence at Emerson College, after which each student took a three-minute turn to present one or more original poems to an audience of 160 students, family members, and faculty mentors.

@BC presents a video of the festival, which may be viewed in its entirety or by performer.

The Biology Department’s Undergraduate Research Celebration on May 1 highlighted the work of 37 undergraduates and their faculty mentors. Above, Alexander Lorestani ’09 and Associate Professor Mary Kathleen Dunn discuss his experiments on the influence of a protein called MORN1 on the cell division of toxoplasma gondii, a parasite with links to numerous human birth defects including epilepsy and blindness. The project introduced him to the “craft of science,” says Lorestani. “You don’t get it from reading books and going to lectures. There’s so much collaboration in the laboratory setting—people picking each others’ brains, making mistakes, finding new things—that’s how good science happens.” Lorestani worked with Assistant Professor Marc-Jan Gubbels on this study.

The Theater Department’s Saturday, April 25 performance of the musical Sweet Charity drew an audience of some 500, including alumni who had performed in a Boston College production of the play 40 years earlier. After the show, a group of 20 alumni and spouses gathered on stage with the current cast. Michael Estwanik ’70 (center), who directed the 1969 production, presented this year’s performers with a recording of a 1998 all-star benefit concert of the play. This year’s Robsham production ran for five nights and was one of 75 events and exhibitions presented during the 11th annual Boston College Arts Festival, which took place April 23–25.