Published: March 2008
What do Albert Camus’s The Fall, David McCullough’s Truman, and The First Jesuits, by John O’Malley, SJ, have in common? All are on the 2007-08 “Dean’s List,” a group of 27 “recommendations for an evening of good reading,” compiled by William Neenan, SJ, vice president and special assistant to the president. Fr. Neenan, who taught economics at the University of Michigan before coming to Boston College in 1980, serving as the first Gasson Professor, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and then as academic vice president and dean of faculties before assuming his current role in 1998, started issuing the list in 1983. To celebrate its quarter-century milestone, the O’Neill Library has created an exhibit, on display until June. “The Dean’s List is eagerly anticipated by the entire University community every year,” says the exhibit’s program, which notes that the fame of Neenan’s picks extends beyond the University community: “There have been articles about Fr. Neenan and his literary leanings in the Boston Globe, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and the National Catholic Register.” Above, in the library’s Connors Family Learning Center at a February 27 reception celebrating the exhibit, are (l-r) O’Neill Library preservation manager Stephen Dalton, vice president Mary Lou De Long, and Fr. Neenan.