Campus Digest

The psychology department will begin offering a major in neuroscience this fall. The subject “is a means to understand the chemistry of the brain, to make connections between biology and behavior,” said associate professor of psychology John Christianson, who led the committee that designed the major. “And it’s still very much a new field, perhaps fifty years old, so we’re only just starting to crack the code.”  

The latest U.S. News & World Report ranking of graduate schools saw improvements across the board for Boston College. The Connell School of Nursing (ranked 28th), School of Social Work (10th), Carroll School of Management MBA (43rd), and Lynch School of Education and Human Development (22nd) all moved up for 2020, while the Law School held its position at 27.

Sharon Beckman, an associate clinical professor of law, captured medals in twelve events at the New England Masters Swimming Championships in March. Her team in the women’s fifty-five-plus 800 freestyle relay broke the New England record, beating the fastest time in the country last year by twenty-two seconds. Beckman, who directs the Boston College Innocence Program, has also set numerous open-water records and was the first New England woman to swim the English Channel (in nine hours and six minutes). 

Applications for the Class of 2023 rose to a record 35,000. Some 9,500 (27 percent) of applicants were offered admission.  

Carolina Tiru ’20 has been awarded the 2019 Oscar A. Romero Scholarship, named in honor of the martyred Archbishop of El Salvador. Tiru, a psychology major with minors in philosophy and international studies, hails from Puerto Rico. She was recognized for her academic excellence and for her work in Latinix and Hispanic communities. 

The Shack, the small clapboarded structure on the Corcoran Commons plaza, was torn down in February, a quarter century after it was erected. In different incarnations, the kiosk served up visitor information, ice cream, and, since 2014, meatballs. About twenty students held a brief vigil to mourn  its passing.

Sophomores Kaitlin Malley and Patrick McGeoghegan have been named Beckman Scholars. The biochemistry majors will each receive funding for fifteen months to pursue their research. Malley, working with associate professor of chemistry Abhishek Chatterjee, is studying the engineering of unnatural amino acids in proteins. McGeoghegan, with associate professor of biology Michelle Meyer, is working on antibiotic targets known as RNA regulators. 

Fr. Joseph Marchese, who led the University’s First Year Experience (FYE) program for twenty years, announced his retirement. Under his direction, FYE became recognized as a leader in student orientation and formation.

M. Shawn Copeland, the renowned theology professor, retired in May. A two-day conference involving fourteen scholars from across the country was held to celebrate her career. Highly regarded for her work on theological anthropology and political theology, as well as the African and African American intellectual history and religious experience, Copeland is the author of three books, including Enfleshing Freedom: Body, Race, and Being and Knowing Christ Crucified: The Witness of African American Religious Experience. 

Isabel Capeloa Gil, rector of Catholic University of Portugal and the first woman elected president of the International Federation of Catholic Universities, delivered the address at the University’s 143rd Commencement. Honorary degrees were also awarded to Boston College administrator Dan Bunch ’79, SSW’81; former assistant dean and professor Robert Farrell, SJ, MA’58, STM’65; benefactor and former Trustee Thomas O’Malley P’87, P’89, P’00; and the Pulitzer Prize–winning author Marilynne Robinson.

The Board of Trustees announced that tuition for the 2019–2020 academic year will be $56,780. With fees, room, and board included, the cost will be $72,736, an increase of 3.97 percent.  Need-based undergraduate financial aid will increase by 6.9 percent, to $140.3 million. ◽