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With the completion of a year-long tour in Afghanistan, Woods College of Advancing Studies faculty member Andrew McAleer ’90, above, is preparing to return to the classroom for the spring semester and resume teaching his crime fiction course.
A US Army sergeant, McAleer, son of the late BC Professor of English John McAleer, served as a combat historian with the 126th Military History Detachment in the Regional Command East in Afghanistan. Fewer than 100 historians are preserving that military branch’s history; McAleer, one of three in Afghanistan, went on missions to remote combat outposts.
“I really missed the classroom, but this deployment reminded me how indebted our nation is to academic freedom,” he said. “It is an honor to serve on the faculty of a leading university like Boston College.”
Since 2003, McAleer has taught The Master Sleuths, which examines forms of detective fiction. A prosecutor for the Massachusetts Department of Correction as well as a Woods College faculty member, McAleer also is a best-selling and acclaimed author, and released his fourth novel, the thriller Fatal Deeds, prior to his deployment.