Published: March 2015
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Classes, visitors, music, and an all-nighter—scenes from the past six weeks.
February 17: Cai Thomas ’16 (left), a communication and film studies double major, was named next year’s recipient of the Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship, assigned annually to a junior for “superior academic achievement, extracurricular leadership, community service, and involvement with the African-American community and African-American issues both on and off campus.” Following the award presentation in the Heights Room, Thomas posed with (from left) finalists Afua Maiga-Laast and Elisa Bushee; guest speaker Valerie Lewis-Mosley ’79, director of religious education at the Church of Christ the King in Jersey City, New Jersey, and co-creator of the term AHANA; University President William P. Leahy, SJ; and finalist Julia Biango. Not shown: finalist Ronald Claude, who is studying in South Africa this semester.
Photograph by Frank Curran
February 19: Civil Rights trailblazer Claudette Colvin (center), the first person arrested—at age 15—in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to follow bus segregation rules, discussed her experiences before an audience of students and faculty in the Heights Room. Following her talk, which was sponsored by the School of Social Work (SSW), Colvin met up with her granddaughter Jennifer Colvin (left), a student in the SSW master’s program, and daughter-in-law Cheryl Colvin.
Photograph by Lee Pellegrini
February 20: Andrea Javel, senior lecturer in French (foreground), and fellow language instructors attended the Romance languages and literatures department’s annual pedagogy workshop, in Lyons Hall 202.
Photograph by Caitlin Cunningham
February 26: Associate professor of biology Mary Kathleen Dunn and associate professor of theater Scott Cummings were among the faculty meeting in O’Neill Library to discuss the innovative core curriculum courses that will launch in Fall 2015. The pair will teach an “Enduring Questions” course that links two distinct classes: Dunn’s “Epidemics, Disease, and Humanity” and Cummings’s “Devising Theater: Disease As Metaphor.”
Photograph by Gary Wayne Gilbert
February 26: Wynnm Murphy ’18 took first place with her rendition of “Baby One More Time” at “Sing It to the Heights,” an American Idol-inspired competition held in Robsham Theater. A panel of three Jesuits served as judges (Campus Ministry’s Michael Davidson and Don MacMillan and Mario Powell ’03, who is studying for his licentiate in sacred theology at the School of Theology and Ministry). The event featured 10 undergraduate performers chosen by audition and raised $6,350 for the music programs at the St. Columbkille Partnership School in Brighton. Sponsors included the Emerging Leaders Program; Office of Governmental and Community Affairs; Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs; and the Robsham Theater Arts Center.
Photograph by Caitlin Cunningham
March 10: “Legally Blind: Law, Ethics, and the Third Reich,” a two-day conference, included a panel discussion in the Heights Room with, from left, Donald Fishman, associate professor of communication; Timothy W. Ryback, cofounder of the Institute for Historical Justice and Reconciliation at Leiden University, the Netherlands; Raymond Helmick, SJ, instructor in conflict resolution in the theology department; and John B. Romeiser, professor of French at the University of Tennessee. Sponsors included the Winston Center for Leadership and Ethics; Clough Center for the Study of Constitutional Democracy; Laura and Lorenz Reibling Foundation; fine arts department/film studies program; Jewish studies program; faith, peace and justice program; Woods College of Advancing Studies; German studies department; Center for Christian-Jewish Learning; and the Center for Human Rights and International Justice.
Photograph by Robyn Gesek
March 11: Novelist Dennis Lehane signed books after delivering a Lowell Humanities lecture in Gasson 100. The Lowell Humanities Series, which brings writers, artists, and scholars to campus, is sponsored by the Institute for Liberal Arts.
Photograph by Justin Knight
March 13: Heightsman Pat Fei ’18 (center) soloed on Alicia Keys’s “If I Ain’t Got You” during the a capella group’s benefit concert to support music director David Goebel ’16 (right) in his running of this year’s Boston Marathon for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The Heightsmen’s show, which was held in McGuinn 121, also featured the campus hip-hop/rock group Juice. It raised $1,550.
Photograph by Christopher Huang
March 15: University provost David Quigley was the featured speaker in Conte Forum at the University’s 64th annual Laetare Sunday celebration marking the midpoint of Lent. A Mass was said by University President William P. Leahy, SJ.
Photograph by Justin Knight
March 20: A group of cancer survivors from the Boston College community led the way at the start of Relay for Life, an annual all-night fundraiser in the Flynn Recreation Complex. More than 1,500 students, faculty and staff, and local community members took part in this year’s walking relay, which raised $151,513 for cancer research. Contributions through the campus Relay exceed $1,000,000 since 2008.
Photograph by Christopher Huang
March 23: A 2014 Tony Award nominee for best actor in a musical, Bryce Pinkham ’05 (far right) delivered a DeVoy Perspectives on Theater lecture in Robsham Theater. Pinkham brought aspiring actors onstage from the audience—from left, Meghan Hornblower ’17, Brandan Ray ’15, and Ryan Cooper ’16—for an acting exercise involving musical chairs.
Photograph by Lee Pellegrini
March 24: The University’s inaugural Commencement Fair in the Murray Room provided graduates-to-be the opportunity to order class rings, yearbooks, and caps and gowns, and to meet with members of the Career Center. Seniors (from left) Genoviva Sowemimo-Coker, Rosmailyn Lantigua, Gabriella Vernace, and Ana Galan visited the Alumni Association table (staffed by Jake Robinson ’16).
Photograph by Lee Pellegrini