Funny Business
The improv troupe My Mother’s Fleabag has kept BC laughing for four decades.
Campus Digest
Happenings from around Boston College.
Summer 2020
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Boston College ranked 10th in Theology, Divinity, and Religious Studies in the 2020 QS World University Rankings, which are based on academic and employer reputation, and global research impact. Boston College was one of only two Catholic institutions among the top 10 schools in the prestigious international survey, along with the University of Notre Dame. 20px/34px
Morgan Healy ’17 received a Gates Cambridge Scholarship, which will fund her postgraduate work at the University of Cambridge. Healy, who will pursue a Ph.D. in education, is one of twenty-eight American students to be awarded the prestigious scholarship so far this year. “Globally, over 40 percent of children in developing countries do not reach their full developmental potential, due in a large part to parents’ inability to receive the support and quality care to which they are entitled,” she said. “I hope that the play-based parenting intervention I design for my dissertation will serve as one of many tools to bring attention to this issue.” The Gates Cambridge Scholarship program was established twenty years ago by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to build a global network of future leaders committed to improving the lives of others.
Séamus Connolly, the former director of Irish music programs at Boston College, was presented with a lifetime achievement award at the Gradam Ceoil TG4 ceremony in Belfast in February. Connolly, a ten-time All-Ireland champion fiddler, is considered one of the most influential traditional Irish musicians of his time.
Tim Carmichael ’78 has about five dozen Instagram followers. But his yellow Lab Molly? She’s attracted nearly 4,000 fans with the account @MollyOnTheQuad, which Bridgette Eagen ’22 started after a chance encounter. In November 2019, Eagen glimpsed eight-week-old Molly running around campus. She snapped a picture of the puppy’s signature smirk in front of Gasson Hall and posted it on her personal page. It was Instagram gold. So, with Carmichael’s blessing, Eagen launched the account for Molly, regularly posting pictures of the dog. For Carmichael, who lives in Chestnut Hill, it’s been a great way to connect with students. The reason behind his pup’s popularity is simple, he said. “Have you seen her? She’s off the cute meter!”
The Boston College women’s ice hockey team welcomed a new recruit in February: 15-year-old Natalia Donnelly of Norwood, Massachusetts. Donnelly is battling a brain tumor and joined the squad via Team IMPACT, a Boston-based nonprofit that connects kids suffering from chronic illnesses with athletes they admire. “We are welcoming Natalia to our team,” Head Coach Katie Crowley said during the signing ceremony. “I know our team is really excited to have you.”
Lucas Levine ‘15 has been named a Knight-Hennessy Scholar at Stanford University, where he will pursue a master’s degree in business administration at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business this fall. “There’s an obvious through-line from BC, grounded as it is in the liberal arts and a spirit of service, to a program like Knight-Hennessy,” said Levine, an International Studies graduate from Lafayette, California. “I couldn’t be more grateful for the academic and personal foundation that BC provided and confident that it prepared me for what lies ahead.”
The Philadelphia company The Fanatics, under the leadership of CEO Doug Mack ’90, switched from making jerseys for Major League Baseball to producing medical masks and gowns to donate to those on the frontlines of the COVID-19 outbreak.
While at home in New Jersey, Isabel Litterst ’21 created Foster a Family, an online service that matches families who are suffering during the COVID-19 pandemic with others who can help. The aid ranges from paying rent or bills to delivering groceries or just making a friendly phone call. “I think especially right now, because people are so socially distant, it’s especially important that we make personal connections,” Litterst told the Boston Globe. After launch, Litterest invited Tiffany Brooks ’21 to join the effort.
Starting this fall, the Lynch School of Education and Human Development will offer an online Master of Education in Jesuit Education in a Global World. The program, the first of its kind in the U.S., will prepare educators to teach in the Ignatian tradition. ◽
