Parting thoughts

Laura Bitran
Joined BC in 1995

Staff assistant, Office of Governmental and Community Affairs; led the Read Aloud Program, which sends BC volunteers to read in local school classrooms; helped coordinate Boston College Community Service Award, Allston-Brighton/Boston College Community Fund, and community cultural events and programs for local residents.

“When I joined the Office of Community Affairs, I learned about the role that this workplace played among the Boston College constituents and how relevant my interaction with them was, including my relationship with other associates, co-workers, and students. I was proud to have become a member of this University—embracing a new undertaking was always exciting and challenging. I was getting involved with campus wide-projects, like the Community Service Award, Neighborhood Night at the Theater, Pops on the Heights, and others, but my allegiance was funneled into the Boston College Read Aloud Program.

“A few months within my initiation in the office, I was asked to coordinate and nurture this project that comprised just about eight people at the time. As the years passed, Read Aloud became a ‘community service magnet’ for countless staff and faculty members. We have served the parochial St. Columbkille School and Thomas Edison, a public school, both located in Brighton. For a large number of academic seasons, we estimated an impressive number of over 60 members, and some of those readers are still counted today as fundamental contributors to the program.

“Recognized by many of our participants, a fringe benefit of the Read Aloud has been the sense of community within the schools, the precious interaction with the children and their teachers, and the camaraderie among the fellow volunteers. The program has been promoted and generously supported by Human Resources, under Vice President David Trainor and Assistant Director Suzanne Lawler.

“Read Aloud has become our own fabric of life among many of our activities. Working with young students of all ‘walks of life’ offers a sense of perspective and renewal. Together, we have paved the way toward improving literacy, one of the most essential staples to foster a healthy generation of youngsters who will, hopefully, make the right choices and aspire to their future leadership roles.

“As I retire, I take this moment to contemplate the impact that all the members of this program have made in the countless classrooms, one page, one story, one reading at a time.  I also reflect on all of you—administrators, school teachers, and past and present Read Aloud friends—and I thank you for your unselfishness and remarkable presence in the lives of the children of our world.”

Brian Braman
Joined BC in 1992

Professor of the Practice, Philosophy Department; Perspectives Program director for 21 years;  author of Meaning and Authenticity: Bernard Lonergan and Charles Taylor on the Drama of Authentic Human Existence, numerous book reviews and journal articles; winner of Phi Beta Kappa Teaching Award, Boston College Excellence in Teaching Award, Mary Kaye Waldron Award, Outstanding Collaboration Award.

“Boston College has become more nationally and internationally known. In addition, the University continues its commitment to true liberal arts education in the tradition of Jesuit education. There is a stronger commitment to formative education that takes seriously that human beings are orientated to mystery and transcendence. And finally, all of this can be placed under the rubric of cura personalis.”

Daniel Coquillette
Joined BC in 1984

J. Donald Monan, S.J. University Professor; dean of Boston College Law School from 1985-1993; credited with guiding the law school into the ranks of the nation’s top 25, securing firm financial and enrollment footings, and nurturing a spirit of faculty collegiality.

“The most obvious change I have witnessed in my 40 years at BC has been the extraordinary improvement in the physical plant, including on-campus housing for nearly all undergraduates, the new library and East Wing at the Law School, the spectacular 245 Beacon Street science building, and the Connell Recreation Center, where I can often be found swimming laps. But even more important has been the steady progress of the University, both in terms of academics and in the composition of our wonderful students, staff, and faculty. What was a strong University when I arrived in 1984 is now a great University.”

Michael Resler
Joined BC in 1976

Served as German Studies chair, playing major role in department’s success in helping German Studies majors earn Fulbright grants—including 13 in 2007 alone; founding director of the University Fellowships Program; earned University’s Phi Beta Kappa Teaching Award in 1997; earned Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.

“I was just 27 years old when, armed with a freshly minted doctorate, I was hired to teach German at Boston College. The Germanic Studies Department (as we were called back then, even though the only ‘Germanic’ language we ever taught was German) was over-tenured, so it was made clear to me from the outset that, as an adjunct assistant professor, my ‘visit’ at Boston College would be a short one—six years max, and maybe a seventh, but only if I’d sign away any claim to tenure.

“Forty-eight years later, things have turned out rather differently, to my immeasurable good fortune.

“In those early years, most students had Irish-sounding names. Now they’re from so many far-flung corners of the globe that it’s often a challenge to pronounce their names correctly. But then again, I’m reminded that even those Irish names weren’t always guaranteed to be easy either: I’ve had several Siobhans and even a Niamh over the years. Sometimes what seems ‘foreign’ is fundamentally not all that different from what’s most familiar.

“When I first started here, I could’ve been an older brother to my students. In fact, several times when I was walking across campus in those early years, I was pulled aside and urged to vote for this or that candidate in the UGBC elections. More recently, I was appalled when one of my former students, now a decades-long friend, reminded me that he’s in his mid-60s. At this point, I could actually be a grandfather (though sort of a youngish one, as I’d like to fool myself) to my current students. From brother to grandfather: In between, so many of my most cherished life-gifts have been cross-generational friendships with former students and their families. And as a married gay man, I’ve twice been deeply touched when former students—both of them straight—asked me to officiate at their weddings. Absolutely inconceivable, on so many different levels, back in 1976.

“Over this long stretch of years, I’ve watched—and as I’d like to imagine, have perhaps contributed in some small ways—as Boston College has emerged from its status in 1976 as a mostly regional college into a preeminent university of truly international stature. Though so many of the externals have changed over this nearly half-century, what’s remained astonishingly constant and unchanged is the fundamental goodness and decency of the people. And that includes all the people: One of my saddest moments in recent times came when I attended the funeral of our longtime custodian in Lyons Hall.

“As anyone reading these words already knows, we are inexpressibly fortunate to be members of this welcoming, friendly, and caring fellowship called Boston College. Which is exactly why I hope to teach an occasional course over the coming years, so as to prolong my own ‘visit’ to this wonderful community.”

Kay Schlozman
Joined BC in 1974

J. Joseph Moakley Professor of Political Science; first woman selected for the American Political Science Association Warren E. Miller Lifetime Achievement Award; co-author of six books, including Unequal and Unrepresented: Political Inequality and The People’s Voice in the New Gilded Age

“When I arrived at Boston College in 1974, course syllabi with smudgy, purple type were produced on mimeograph machines.  Large numbers of undergraduates lived with their parents and commuted to campus.  The most popular major was English.  My median grade in those days was somewhere between a B-minus and a B.  My male colleagues in the Political Science Department all wore coat and tie in the classroom.  I cannot report on what the other women in the department wore because there weren’t any.

“By and large, the substantial changes at BC that I have witnessed in the half century reflect larger processes that have transformed the nation.  Those who remember making collect long-distance calls or delivering a paper copy of semester grades to the registrar will not be surprised that the most obvious change is the revolution in technology, which has had implications for how faculty conduct research; how we plan our classes and communicate in the classroom; how students prepare for class, research their papers, and submit assignments; how they access entertainment; and how they communicate with each other, with their families, and with us.  

“In March 2020, faculty learned that ‘Zoom’ is not just a synonym for ‘to go speedily.’  Pivoting quickly, we learned a new technology and labored to deliver a meaningful educational experience to widely scattered students who were logging in from their parents’ basements.  How could we possibly have managed a pandemic a few decades earlier?

“Other changes in the nation that are reflected on campus are the increase in immigration and the opening of American institutions to previously excluded groups.  Like the American population, the Boston College community—students, faculty, and staff—is much more diverse than it once was on a variety of dimensions, in particular on the basis of race and ethnicity.   While Boston College retains its deep Jesuit and Catholic ties, another American trend that is manifest on our campus is increasing secularism.  Americans—and our students, who mostly come from Catholic backgrounds—are less likely to attend religious services than in the past.  

“Parenthetically, I might mention a change in the composition of Catholic families.  I have made a practice of making appointments with students to come to my office at the beginning of the semester for an informal get-acquainted session.  In my salad days on the faculty, a student might mention, ‘I am the third of 11 children.’  I have not heard that in a long time.

“Over the decades, Boston College has changed in other ways that have nothing to do with trends in the surrounding society, evolving from a regional university to a national one.  In 1974, 53 percent of the freshman class hailed from Massachusetts, compared to 20 percent of this year’s entering first-year class.  Average SAT scores for the 1974 freshmen were 515 Verbal and 548 Math.  The analogous figures for the class of 2023, the last class to apply before BC became test optional, were 692 and 721.  In short, students are now more talented and are recruited on a national basis.  

“With regard to scholarship, the faculty has become more productive and includes more colleagues with national reputations.  In 1974, the university was emerging from a financial crisis and had an endowment of a few million dollars.  Today, it is nearly $4 billion.  In a word: BC has gotten better.

“Fortunately, some things have not changed.  The staff continue to lead off any encounter by asking, ‘How can I help you?’  The University continues to take undergraduate education seriously and interprets its educational mission in terms of educating the whole person.  The students continue to be a pleasure to teach: curious, respectful, engaged, women and men for others.  May these defining aspects of Boston College long endure.”

Dennis Shirley
Joined BC in 1998

Lynch School of Education and Human Development associate dean; inaugural Gabelli Family Faculty Fellow; authored or co-authored 10 books on the history and politics of education; editor-in-chief, Journal of Educational Change; co-launched new Lynch School Department of Formative Education.

“The most significant transformation I observed at Boston College throughout my career has had to do with the increasing level of academic rigor, philosophical sophistication, and interdisciplinary collaboration.  When I came to the Lynch School, it was relatively isolated from other BC units; that situation has been completely overcome to the benefit of the entire institution. I’m grateful for the many ways that strong leadership, inspired collegiality, and genuine intellectual openness have promoted this felicitous development and enriched the free exchange of ideas across all disciplines.”