Boston College President William P. Leahy, S.J., will host the annual Recognition Reception and Dinner for retiring BC employees on May 31. In April, the University recognized employees who completed 25 years of service during 2022-2023. Here, reflections by and about retiring faculty, followed by a full list of retiring and long-service employees.
Among faculty retiring this year: Richard Clifford, S.J., Sandra Hebert, and Zygmunt Plater
Richard Clifford, S.J.
Joined BC in 2008
Professor Emeritus of Old Testament; founding dean, School of Theology and Ministry; served in various roles (including president, dean, and professor) at Weston Jesuit School of Theology before coming to BC.
“My 55-year teaching career has been spent in three locations, each representing a stage in the formation of ministers in the Catholic church. In my first stage (1964-5), I taught at Weston College in the town of Weston where faculty and students were exclusively Jesuit. In the second stage (1968-2008), Weston College—later the Weston Jesuit School of Theology—moved to in Cambridge where its faculty and student body grew to include members of other religious orders as well as lay women and men, and became a founding member of the ecumenical Boston Theological Institute. In 2008, Weston Jesuit School of Theology joined with the Institute of Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry to become Boston College’s newest professional school, the School of Theology and Ministry. My own interests and horizon have expanded in accord with all three contexts, and I now rejoice to see enlarged resources and opportunities for our students.”
Sandra Hebert
Joined BC in 1990
Associate Professor of the Practice, Music; founder and director of chamber music program and performance ensemble; established and taught in keyboard program; played key administrative role in coordinating the department’s various instrumental ensembles.
“Chamber music programs at other schools tend to be very competitive, which means intermediate-level students usually get shut out; we take them in, although there are significant space limitations. I remember a flute student who wanted to audition for the orchestra, where there were only two positions and theywere both taken. She didn’t get in, but we put her in a group and coached her, and she worked and practiced, went to improvisation class, did all kinds of things. By junior year, she’d made it into the orchestra, and had a chance to play a very difficult piece in a concert. When it was over, she was sobbing: ‘I didn’t know I could do that!’ Today, she’s an administrator for Boston Ballet.
“Throughout my time here, our department’s agenda has been to let students explore, and find a love for, music. And they tell us, ‘The Music Department put me on its back.’”
Zygmunt Plater
Joined BC in 1982Professor, Boston College Law School; expert in environmental protection and property law; chaired or provided consultation for various legal task forces related to environmental disasters, including Exxon-Valdez, Woburn/W.R. Grace toxics; BP Deepwater and Lake Biwa; author of a national casebook and The Snail Darter and the Dam: How Pork-Barrel Politics Endangered a Little Fish and Killed a River.
“Even beyond the remarkable bricks and mortar additions to the campus, or the institutional reverberations of Doug Flutie’s pass, the most encouraging change I’ve seen at BC is the birth and flourishing development of the Environmental Studies Program, and linkages between several dozen affiliated faculty members throughout the University in the field that presents the existential challenges of our era—even more daunting than in any prior. Noah Snyder and Tara Pisani Gareau guided the program to its remarkable present, and our recent acquisition of Philip Landrigan’s many talents have cemented our University’s place on the world stage.
"I’ll miss our students who bring us energy, inquisitiveness, multiple and diverse backgrounds and talents, and challenges. I’ve taught on seven faculties, and BC is a community, more than any others, where many students become our friends for life.”
Karen Arnold (Lee Pellegrini)
Lynch School bids farewell to five
Nearly 160 years of cumulative teaching experience will depart the Lynch School of Education and Human Development with the respective June 30 retirements of Professors Karen Arnold, Marilyn Cochran- Smith, Larry Ludlow, and Maureen Kenny, as well as Associate Professor Patrick Mc-Quillan, who retired after the fall semester.
“This group of retirees has made extraordinarycontributions in research, teaching, and administrative work,” said Stanton E.F.Wortham, the Charles F. Donovan, S.J. ,Dean of the Lynch School. “They have made globally recognized contributions to educational and psychological research, taught generations of Boston College students, and served as deans, department chairs, program directors, and in other crucial administrative roles, providing steady leadership and building new programs, strengthening the school in many ways that faculty and students continue to benefit from. We are deeply grateful for their work and commitment.”
Retiring and 25-year employees
Administrators, faculty, and staff who retired during the 2022-2023 academic year: Karen Arnold, Ann Barry, Frances Bates, Marina Broun, Patricia Callahan, Diane Carey, Edward (Michael) Clasby, Marilyn Cochran-Smith, Maureen Connolly, Sandra Corsi, Leo Croft, Maria DaCosta, Christine Dunn, Mary Durr, John Finney, Scott Fitzgibbon, Paul Flynn, Barry Gallup, Blanca Garcia, Jorge Garcia, Stephanie Green, Kenji Hayao, Sandra Hebert, Elizabeth Hewson, Fr. Kenneth Himes, Christopher Kelly, Susan Kelly-Weeder, and Maureen Kenny.
Also, Liliana Leombruno, Paul Lewis, Cynthia Lubianez, Larry Ludlow, Stephanie Maggiani, John Mahoney, Patrick McQuillan, David Morrissette, Eugenie M’Polo, Robert Muller, Diane Neylon, Luanne Nugent, Santos Perez, Helen Peters, Sarah Piepgrass, Zygmunt Plater, Ken Porter, Harcharan Rai, Norman Reid, Joan Reilly, Alan Richardson, Nancy Samya, Ce Shen, Stephen Shepard, Mark Spiegel, Lori St. Peter, Ana Teixeira, and Susan Tohn.
In April, Boston College recognized employees who completed 25 years of service during 2022-2023: John Berardi, Paul Bonitto, Stephen Buckley, Rani Dalgin, Maria DiChiappari, Marsia Hill Kreaime, Theresa Kachmar, Anne Kenny, Helen Lacouture, Melissa Metcalf, Yasmin Nunez, Patrick Rey, Jennifer Thomas, Tuananh Truong, Modesta Alvarado, Jorge Barillas, Maria Teneus Benito, Kathleen Bailey, Alice Behnegar, David Blustein, Brian Braman, David Burgess, Dominic Doyle, Rhonda Frederick, Colleen Griffith, Peter Ireland, Luke Jorgensen, Christopher Kelly, Arthur Lewbel, Ana Maria Martinez, Marina McCoy, Michael Naughton, Prasannan Parthasarathi, David Quigley, Bonnie Rudner, Dennis Shirley, Min Song, Patricia Tabloski, Edward Taylor, David Wirth, Derrick Anacieto, Heloisa Martins-Colon, Roberto Opico, Maria Pontes, Joseph Reardon, Kristina Ellison, Kathleen Kyratzoglou, and Joan Reilly (retiring).
University Communications | May 2023