Parting thoughts

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 they were 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 1982

Professor, 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.”

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 extraordinary contributions 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.”