Faculty and Syllabi

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Professor James Weiss is Director of the Capstone Program. A native of Chicago who lived many years in Germany, Weiss founded the Capstone Program in 1990 as an outgrowth of his interest in spirituality and personality development.

Weiss serves as an Episcopal priest in two diverse parishes, one in Boston’s inner city, another in the Back Bay. He also offers individual spiritual direction.

A love of travel led him to work with BC’s International Programs as a liaison to foreign study sites that focus on social justice in South Africa, Ecuador, and Nicaragua.

He enjoys mountain hikes, baking bread, and music of Brahms and Enya.

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Dr. Karen Arnold is Associate Professor of Higher Education at the Lynch School of Education. Best known for her longitudinal studies of talented students, Karen is the world’s foremost and only expert on high school valedictorians. More recently, she has used audio diaries, Instagram, and text messaging to study the experience of students who are the first in their family to attend college. In all of her work, she looks at transition points in early adulthood and questions standard definitions of achievement and success. 

Among her pre-BC jobs, Karen was Head Usher at Wolf Trap Farm Park for the Performing Arts and Vice President for Student Services at Reed College. Her educational path took her from degrees in piano performance and French literature, at Oberlin College and Conservatory, to graduate degrees in Higher Education at the University of Illinois. Karen is still an active musician, as is her husband Jeff (trombone and guitar) and her daughter Sarah (cello).  After finishing a 13-year section hike of the Appalachian Trail under the trail name of “Walkabout,” she continues to backpack the good parts with Jeff (“Long Haul”) and Sarah (“Mountain Goat”).       

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Fr. Casey holds a Ph.D. in United States religious history from Boston College where he focused his dissertation on the development of Jesuit education in the 20th century. He serves as vice president and secretary of the university and is the director of the Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies at Boston College. He lives in Fenwick Hall on upper campus. He comes from North Dakota and is the sixth of nine children in his family. For him, pilgrimage has been an important metaphor, in addition to an important physical endeavor, for the way to interpret human life. The course is meant to help BC students ponder how pilgrimage might be a way of framing the journey of life.

UNCP550101: Capstone: The Courage to Becoming

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Originally from Grosse Pointe, MI, Biz Bracher is a 1991 graduate of Boston College who majored in Human Development in the Lynch School of Education. While an undergraduate, Biz was a member of the women’s Varsity Lacrosse team for which she served as a captain her senior year. After graduating from BC, she worked for FAO Schwarz in Boston and later for the Etruscan Foundation in Siena, Italy before returning to the Heights in 1995 to earn her MA and Ph.D. in Applied Developmental and Educational Psychology in the Lynch Graduate School of Education. Since 1996, Biz has worked in the Office of First Year Experience, first as a graduate assistant and then moving up in the ranks to be the Assistant Director, the Associate Director, and most recently was the Interim Director. In FYE she oversaw and facilitated BC’s Student/Parent Orientation, First-Year Academic Convocation, The 48HOURS Retreat Program, and taught in the Courage to Know First-Year Seminar Program (CTK). In 2017, Biz moved into the Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences, bringing the CTK program with her and she now serves as the Director of the Cornerstone Seminar Programs including the First-Year Topic Seminars as well as some sections of First-Year Writing Seminars and Perspectives I. Biz also serves on the University’s PreHealth Advising Committee.

Biz and her husband Troy (CSOM ’91 and CGSOM ’98) live in Newton, MA with their three sons Jack (BC ’22), Christian (BCH ’21) and George (7 th grade). When she isn’t in the bleachers of their baseball, basketball, or hockey games, you can find her playing tennis, running, or working her way through an ever-growing stack of books. She loves to cook and share meals with friends. A highlight of each semester is having her classes over to her home for a festive dinner and a competitive game of salad bowl!

UNCP 5505: Life and Career Planning

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Dr. Robert Capalbo began his career as a faculty member teaching Political Science, then accepted the opportunity to become a college administrator, a Dean of Men, and a Dean of Students, while continuing to teach part-time.

Capalbo returned to BC, his Alma Mater, as Director of Housing and Director of Residential Life. He now holds the position of Associate Director, Stewardship and Donor Relations in the Development office, raising funds for student financial aid, faculty research, and University initiatives.

He brings a deep knowledge of BC to the students enrolled in his courses, not only from his service in residential life, but also in his role as a Faculty Fellow to the Shaw Leadership Program, and a member of the Mays Mentoring Program.

Capalbo loves to travel and has driven across the United States twice. He has visited Istanbul, Turkey, four times within the past seven years. He loves Native American and African art, Japanese pottery, and collects Presidential Inaugural Medals.

Catherine Cornille is Professor of Comparative Theology.  She specializes in the dialogue between Christianity and Hinduism and Buddhism, as well as more general questions of interreligious dialogue and Christian attitudes toward other religions.  She grew up in New Zealand and Belgium, and has spent considerable time in India and Japan.  She is married to Jeffrey Bloechl of the philosophy department and they have three children, two of whom graduated from Boston College.  Her hobbies include playing tennis, cycling, knitting, learning languages and cooking for friends. 

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UNCP551901/PHIL541901: Capstone: A Life Well Lived

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Deborah De Chiara-Quenzer is an Associate Professor of the Practice in the Philosophy Department. Over her years as a college professor, she has enjoyed teaching courses in her area of specialty, Ancient Greek Philosophy, especially Plato and Aristotle, and also courses that span the history of philosophy from the Ancient Greeks to the Twenty-First Century. Presently her interests are focused on using Aristotle’s moral categories from the Nicomachean Ethics as a lens through which to evaluate the moral dispositions of substantial figures in ancient Greek literature (e.g., Achilles in Homer’s Iliad and Oedipus in Sophocles’ Oedipus Tyrannus). Of late, Prof. De Chiara-Quenzer has also been teaching more personally-reflective courses (e.g., Courage to Know and now Capstone).

As an ex-New Yorker, Prof. De Chiara-Quenzer has enjoyed living for many years with her husband and daughter in Massachusetts. When occasionally asked by family members scattered throughout New York and Connecticut whether she would ever come back home, the answer has been no. Her response is that Massachusetts, with its politics, life-style, wonderful seasons, and of course creative drivers, is the place that she calls home. When not catching up on sleep, one can find her buried in reading various newspapers or running in her town (she is often referred to as the Forest Gump of the neighborhood).

UNCP 5512: Mindful First Gen Success

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Dacia Gentilella came to Boston College to pursue a graduate degree in the English Department 34 years ago, and never left. She teaches classes in the English Department core, as well as ELL literature, and mentors graduate students who teach the First Year Writing Seminar. Her field is multi-cultural literature, with a particular interest in Native American literature.

She is a first generation college student and applied to both her undergraduate school, Dickinson College, and then Boston College without first visiting either campus. While these experiences turned out to be very positive, she is drawn to helping first gen students navigate the unknowns in their undergraduate lives. Dacia began teaching a Topic Seminar focused on first gen students this fall. She taught in the BAIC Options Through Education program for 14 years and has worked for the Learning to Learn Program for more than 25 years.

Dacia is very interested in mindfulness studies and is currently working to make mindfulness and stress reduction programing more readily available to students at Boston College. She is a certified Life Coach and Reiki Master and works to achieve balance in her life and in the lives of those around her. Dacia divides her time between her home in East Boston and Cape Cod, where she finds calm in and around the ocean and loves to cook and eat great food.

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Ali Bane Hammond serves as the Director of Parent Development in University Advancement - a role she has held since 2022. However, her BC story dates further back - to childhood, really - going to BC hockey games with her dad as a young girl. Ali attended BC and graduated in 2007 with a B.A. in Theater and Communication. After spending the better part of her twenties in some jobs (and relationships) that were a wrong fit, Ali found her way back to the Heights in 2014 to take a role in BC's Office of First Year Experience - a department that significantly shaped her own undergraduate journey. After 8 years in FYE, she transitioned to University Advancement and has found a lot of joy in serving BC's mission in new ways through her current role. Ali has a Ed.M. in Higher Education Administration from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a Ph.D. in Applied Developmental and Educational Psychology from BC's Lynch School.

Ali lives in Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA with her husband, Luke, and their two children. You can catch her at her happiest when she is by the ocean with her family and friends. In her beach bag, you will find a non-fiction book that touches on psychology, parenting, leadership, spirituality, personal development - or something of the like. Despite her optimism in bringing the book, she will not get to read it at the beach because... #toddlers. Though, she will read it eventually - and if it's really good, it may end up on the syllabus. Ali previously taught Courage to Know in BC's Cornerstone program and looks forward to learning from and with BC seniors through the Capstone program.

UNCP 5562: Finding and Following Your Calling

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Dr. Brad Harrington is the Executive Director of the Boston College Center for Work and Family (CWF) and an associate research professor in the Carroll School of Management. CWF is the country’s leading university-based center that assists employers in their efforts to improve the lives of working people and their families. Prior to coming to Boston College, Dr. Harrington was an executive with Hewlett-Packard for 20 years, serving in business unit and global leadership roles in the US and Europe.

Harrington’s work has always focused on fostering more democratic leadership in organizations and helping people find greater meaning in their lives and their work. He is the lead author of Career Management and Work/Life Integration: Using Self-Assessment to Navigate Contemporary Careers (Sage Publications, 2007) and The New Dad: Caring, Committed and Conflicted (2011). His research on fatherhood has garnered international media attention.

Harrington is a graduate of Stonehill College and has completed graduate studies in psychology, human resources, and organizational behavior at Boston College and Boston University. He is married to Dr. Annie Soisson, Associate Director of the Tufts University Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching. They are the proud parents of Maggie, Hannah, Dillon, and Chelsea (the family dog). His passions are traveling and spending time with his family, deeply appreciating Celtic music and all things Dickens, and playing tennis (but unfortunately never to his full potential).

UNCP 5521: Surviving Life with Humor

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Dr. Jayasundera obtained his B.S. (UMass), M.S. and Ph.D. (Yale) degrees in Biophysical Chemistry, as well as an M.B.A. from the Carroll School of Management at Boston College. He also completed two Postdoctoral Research Associate positions before joining Boston College: one at St. Jude Children’s Cancer Research Hospital and the second at Brown University, and is now the Director of the Magnetic Resonance Center, one of the Core research facilities of the University. 

Apart from his Capstone course on Surviving Life with Humor, Dr. Jayasundera teaches two electives for the Chemistry Department at BC. Next to teaching, his interests include food, sleep, music, and long road trips through the country that have spanned the lower 48 states.

UNCP 5517: Love and Indoctrination

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Tom Kaplan-Maxfield received his PhD from BC in 1993 and as a full time professor has taught writing and literature courses in the English department here ever since. He is a novelist and sometime friend of the writer Lawrence Durrell. His latest book, Belongings is a fictionalized recounting of his time spent with the famous writer in the south of France in the 1980’s.

He writes a series of novels that are set on the BC campus, called Adventures on the Heights, the latest of which, Satanas Mysterium concerns good and evil, featuring the Devil in residence on the Heights. Other novels include the award-winning Memoirs of a Shapeshifter (a treasure hunt for a brooch hidden on main campus is tied to the novel) and Hide and Seek, a murder mystery in reverse. He has worked as a book editor, reporter, and political activist.

In his third life he is a licensed building contractor, and is most dedicated to teaching at the intersection of practical lived life, writing and love. His Litcore on Love has been a perennial favorite of Freshmen, and Capstone, in connecting theory with practice, is a natural extension of his interests. He is most passionate about connecting with students in all his courses via challenging talk—and food. At home he plays flute, cooks with his wife Ellen, writes with his cat Pepper asleep on his lap, and builds houses on his days not teaching.

UNCP 5569: How We Decide

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Jef Lamoureux is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience. He grew up on a Vermont dairy farm and then spent 16 years in North Carolina studying and teaching learning theory and neuroscience at Duke University, while visiting as many BBQ joints as he could find. He serves as the Director of Undergraduate Studies for the Psychology and Neuroscience majors, and continues to devote substantial time working with students in the classroom, laboratory, and as an academic advisor. A frequent member of the PreHealth Committee, Lamoureux spends his non-working hours at his home in Newton with his wife and two children, Cyrus and Hazel, most often kicking a soccer ball around or riding a mountain bike though the woods.

Mindfulness and Storytelling

Paula Mathieu came to Boston College in 2001 after completing a doctoral degree in Language Literacy and Rhetoric at the University of Illinois in her hometown of Chicago. At BC she teaches courses homelessness and literature, nonfiction writing, and rhetoric as cultural study, while also directing the First-Year Writing Program and the Writing Fellows Program. She is author of Tactics of Hope: The Public Turn in English Composition and co-editor of three essay collections. She is currently writing two projects: one about the connections between mindfulness and teaching; and two, a study of Hobo News and the rhetorical power of dissident press. She began working with homeless writers in 1997 in Chicago, where she founded a writing group and learning center for homeless vendors of StreetWise newspaper. For three years she was Deputy Chair of the International Network of Street Papers.

Paula lives in Lexington, MA where she spends time with her husband, Alex; daughter, Delia; and adorable mutt, Penny. She enjoys drinking coffee, biking, taking piano lessons with her daughter, and playing on a co-ed softball team. Delia and Penny like visiting BC, and may show up at a Capstone course from time to time.

Paul McNellis, S.J., taught political philosophy and social ethics at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, Italy, before coming to Boston College to teach in the Perspectives program.

His most formative experience was growing up in Minnesota as the oldest of nine children, which proved to be an excellent preparation for two later challenges in life: military service in Vietnam and entering the New York Province of the Society of Jesus.

As for the latter, being the sole Midwesterner among NY Province Jesuits, a special mission fell to him. He reminded native New Yorkers that the term "the city," as in "Let's go to the city," could have a referent other than "New York." One could, for example, have in mind Minneapolis, Chicago, Seattle, Omaha, Cleveland, or even Duluth.

Before entering the Jesuits he worked in Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia, as a soldier, journalist, and refugee relief worker. Since 1995 he has periodically taught in Vietnam and Cambodia.

His pastoral work as a Jesuit includes prison ministry, Project Rachel; and The Sons of St. Patrick, a group of Christian gentlemen at Boston College.

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UNCP 5509: Capstone: Your Future, Your Choice

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After teaching for almost 30 years at Boston College, Professor Susan Michalczyk still believes that there is always something new, creative, and memorable to discover with each course she teaches. During her undergraduate studies at BC, as well as throughout her doctoral studies at Harvard, she pursued her main interests in comparative literature, language, art and film. In 1992, she returned to Boston College, as a member of the A&S Honors Program faculty, and continues to share these interests through her teaching.

Her publications include essays on the impact of the autobiographical narrative/memory experience as it relates to art, film and literature. She has been a partner with her husband, John Michalczyk, also a professor at BC, in both teaching and film production for over twenty-five years, focusing on issues of social justice and human rights.

Beyond the classroom, Susan currently serves as faculty advisor to The Gavel and the College Democrats, and as a member of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Committee, and was honored to serve as president of the BC chapter of the American Association of University Professors, and Vice-president of the national AAUP, for many years. At home, when not correcting papers, Susan enjoys spending time with her husband, kids, kids-in-law, and five grandkids, and can sometimes even find enough time for creativity, with her writing, gardening, needlework, and baking.    

UNCP 5533: Desire and Discernment

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Timothy P. Muldoon is a philosopher, theologian, and author of many books in the areas of Christian theology and spirituality. His research interests in both Philosophy and Theology include the thought of Bernard Lonergan, SJ, particularly as his work sheds light on reversing cultural decline; and the history and practice of Christian spirituality, particularly in the Ignatian tradition. He held several administrative and teaching roles at Boston College since 2005, and joined the Philosophy Department in 2020. He has held visiting professorships at LaSalle University, the Catholic University of America, and Washington Theological Union, and has lectured widely in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Prior to coming to Boston College, he was the Chair of the Department of Religious Studies, Philosophy, and Theology at Mount Aloysius College in Cresson, Pennsylvania. His current work involves the philosophy of community and the promotion of flourishing communities.

UNCP 5511: The Balancing Act

Scott Olivieri, Ph.D. is Director of Web Services at Boston College. As part of a talented team in the Office of University Communications, Olivieri is currently leading the redesign of more than 200 websites. In 1991, Olivieri and his father developed a unique computer video system for the Boston Red Sox that helped players and coaches predict tendencies. After travelling with the team for 4 years operating the system, Olivieri shifted to advertising as a founding member of Hill, Holliday's Interactive division. Following six years as a web developer at Fidelity Investments, Olivieri returned to his alma mater. Olivieri holds a B.A. in English, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration from Boston College. His doctoral dissertation focused on diversity on higher education websites. Olivieri enjoys watching his beloved New England Patriots, triathlons, and visiting national parks with his wife and two grown children.

UNCP 5527: Your Roaring 20s (And Beyond)

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Prof. Tracy L. Regan is a Professor of the Practice in the Economics Department. She is  originally from Denver, CO and her family moved to Phoenix, AZ where she attended high  school. She grew up playing a variety of sports but focused on the non-contact sport of tennis  in high school. Tracy played piano for eight years and bought a full-sized keyboard a few years  back that is sadly currently collecting too much dust in her apartment. Tracy always loved art  and in a different life she might have focused on that. Instead, Tracy studied Math and  Economics in college but did spend a summer painting in Guanajuato, Mexico. She completed her Ph.D. in Economics at the University of Arizona. Her first job was at the University of Miami  where she promised and (somewhat) successfully completed classes in scuba diving, sailing,  salsa dancing, and Spanish. Tracy arrived to the Heights in 2013 and has taught a variety of  courses and involved herself in many committees and organizations. In addition to regularly  teaching ECON1101, she has taught both a Complex Problems and Enduring Questions class  that focuses on health care. One of the highlights of her career is teaching a class abroad that  compared the health care systems of France and the UK to the US. During the summer Tracy  can be found at Crane’s beach on the weekends and during the fall she enjoys day trips across  New England. She’s learned how to dress properly for the Boston winters so she can continue  to recreate outside during the winter and fall. Additionally, Tracy enjoys cooking, reading, and  going to the theater as well.

UNCP 5522: Creativity and Self

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Sue Roberts has been teaching in BC's English Department since 1988, first as an adjunct, and full-time since 1994. She teaches literature, creative writing, poetry, and courses in poetics. She's been teaching in the Cornerstone program for more than 20 years. Her interests include the intersection of spirituality and creativity as well as meditation and mindfulness. Her poems have been published in tiny journals over the years and she's in an active poetry group with three other writers. She hopes to one day retire to a plot of land where she can raise pygmy goats and rescue dogs.

UNCP 5514: Growing Up Ethnic In America

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Akua Sarr is currently Vice Provost for Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

Originally from New York City, Akua earned a Bachelor's degree in English from Dartmouth College, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in African Languages & Literature from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

A former Fulbright Scholar, Akua has published two books: The Histories, Languages and Cultures of West Africa: Interdisciplinary Essays (2006) and Black Women Writers' Contributions to Contemporary Feminist Discourse (2003). She would also like to write her first novel. Her research interests include West African literature and film, African retentions in the Americas, and representations of Africa in contemporary African-American literature.

Akua enjoys yoga, Pilates, and spending time with her husband and two daughters.

UNCP5518: Working, Playing, Being

David Storey received his BA in Philosophy from Boston College. He got hooked on philosophy as a freshman by the course he now teaches--Perspectives on Western Culture--and never looked back, going on to receive his PhD from Fordham University in 2011, which focused on environmental ethics.

At BC, he also teaches courses on the ethics of climate change, the philosophy of technology, and philosophy "as a way of life," which invites students to not just read and discuss philosophical texts, but to do "spiritual exercise"--practical experiments to try out living like a Stoic or a Buddhist--in order to become more intentional about their own development.

Along these lines, he led the "Camino course"--Self-Knowledge and Discernment--in Summer 2019, in which students spend a semester studying the philosophy and spirituality of pilgrimage and hike 100 miles of the Camino de Santiago in Spain. He is also a certified teacher of Koru Mindfulness, a meditation course designed for college students that he offers for free to BC students.

David is the host of the podcast Wisdom at Work: Philosophy Beyond the Ivory Tower, where he interviews people who studied philosophy and went on to successful careers outside the academy in business, government, and a wide range of fields. He is a dog lover, a political junkie, a meditator, a runner, and an author, and he blogs about politics, culture, technology, and the environment on Medium.

UNCP 5565: The Moral of the Story

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Ethan Sullivan is the Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Curriculum in the Carroll School of Management. In this role since 2008, he is responsible for providing strategic direction and integration of curricular initiatives in the undergraduate program, including the Portico Program, in which he teaches two sections per year. In addition to working in the Carroll School, Sullivan has also worked in First Year Experience at Boston College, as well as at Harvard University, Boston University, and New York University. Prior to entering academia, he was a brewer of craft beers in the Pacific Northwest. Dean Sullivan received his Ph.D. from Boston College and his M.A. from New York University. He was an English and Philosophy major as an undergraduate at Boston College and these majors greatly contributed to his love of reading.

Ethan lives in Needham, MA with his wife, Jennifer, and their four children. He is very involved in coordinating and coaching youth sports in Needham, and trying not to tear an Achilles while playing soccer, hockey, basketball, lacrosse, and baseball with his active children and their teammates. His work as a parent and coach intertwines beautifully with his teaching, all roles informing and enhancing each other. Teaching in Capstone is a microcosm of this pursuit—the pursuit for meaning and a life well-lived.

UNCP 5548: Leadership and Mindfulness

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Dr. Waddock is a professor in the Carroll School of Management, where she teachers about corporate responsibility. She is one of the founders of the Leadership for Change Program, in addition to being the coordinator of the Organizational Module. Her research and teaching revolve around issues of individual and organizational leadership and responsibility.

Waddock has a personal mindfulness practice and a passion for folk music—singing and playing badly.