Boston College Front Row

Maria Esposito Frank, chair of the department of modern language and cultures at the University of Hartford, presents an analysis and reading of the 14th canto of Dante's Purgatorio. Frank's commentary is in English; the reading from the Divine Comedy is in Italian.

Gerald Grace, Sr. Dale McDonald, and Joseph O'Keefe, SJ-sat down with Ben Birnbaum, editor of Boston College Magazine, to discuss the state of elementary and secondary parochial school education in the United States.

Earle Hitchner, music columnist for the Irish Echo and a contributing music writer for the Wall Street Journal, speaks on the accomplishments of button accordionist Joe Derrane and the role of the accordion in Irish-American music. Derrane, a fixture of Irish-American music scene since the 1940s and '50s, won in 2004 the National Endowment for the Arts' National Heritage Fellowship-America's highest honor in folk and traditional arts. Prior to Hitchner's lecture, Derrane performs two songs on the button accordion.

Boston College's third annual academic convocation for first-year students features a keynote address by John McCain, Republican senator from Arizona, who makes a moral appeal to the students to look above self-interest in their lives and careers. He makes the same challenge to the government, saying the United States is "an unfinished nation" that "must not sacrifice our values in the war on terrorism." In weeks prior to the convocation, McCain had been critical of the Bush administration's interpretation of the Geneva Convention's standards on the treatment of prisoners of war. A fighter pilot during the Vietnam War, McCain was captured and tortured as a POW in North Vietnam for six years.

James Morris, professor of theology at Boston College, situates the McMullen Museum of Art exhibit Cosmophilia: Islamic Art from the David Collection, Copenhagen within the context of Islamic history, art, and literature. Morris emphasizes the importance of repetition and rhythm to Islamic art, which begins from the traditional daily recitation of the Koran. Morris's most recent books include The Reflective Heart: Discovering Spiritual Intelligence in Ibn 'Arabi's 'Meccan Illuminations (Fons Vitae, 2005); Orientations: Islamic Thought in a World Civilisation (Archetype, 2004); and The Master and the Disciple: An Early Islamic Spiritual Dialogue (Institute for Ismaili Studies, 2002).

After a screening of his film WTC View: A Story of New York After 9/11, Brian Sloan '88 speaks on his career as an independent director and author as part of the "Master Class: Alumni in Residence" series. Sloan's films include Boys Life (1994) and I Think I Do (1998); he is currently working on a comedy starring Carson Kressley. Sloan is also the author of two teen novels, A Really Nice Prom Mess and Tale of Two Summers (Simon & Schuster, 2005 and 2006). Sloan is interviewed by John Michalczyk, chair of the fine arts department.

John Christian, an independent geotechnical engineer and member of the National Research Council commission investigating Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, presents the results of his geological research on the causes of Katrina's devastating physical impact on New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. Christian also provides an overview of the work done by four other independent commissions, including the Army Corps of Engineers and researchers at the University of California, with a particular focus on why the levies of New Orleans failed.

Frances Fox Piven, professor of sociology and political science at the City University of New York, gives a talk based on her forthcoming book, Challenging Authority: How Ordinary People Change America (Rowman & Littlefield, 2006). After recounting the current ills of a society biased toward the powerful, Piven highlights the thread of populist resistance in American history from the American Revolution through abolition to the civil rights era. Piven's books include, with Richard Cloward, Poor People's Movements (Vintage, 1978) and Regulating the Poor (Vintage, 1993); Why Americans Still Don't Vote (Beacon, 2000); and The War at Home (New Press, 2004). Piven speaks as part of the sociology department's Distinguished Visiting Scholars Series.

Robert Greifeld, president and CEO of the Nasdaq Stock Market, addresses the BC Chief Executives' Club on recent changes in the global capital market that Nasdaq initiated with its purchase of 25 percent of the London Stock Exchange in early 2006. Greifeld states that a consolidation of global markets is upcoming, and explains the timing of these future mergers and acquisitions. Greifeld joined Nasdaq as its CEO in May 2003 after a 20-year career in electronic stock trading. Nasdaq, started in 1971, is the oldest electronic stock exchange in the world. Greifeld is introduced by Sean Healey, president and CEO of Affiliated Managers Group, after welcoming remarks by Peter Rollins, executive director of corporate and government affairs at the Carroll School of Management at Boston College and president of the Chief Executives' Club of Boston.

Archbishop J. Michael Miller, secretary of the Congregation of Catholic Education at the Vatican, speaks on the educational and religious responsibilities of American Catholic universities.

Eunan O'Halpin, the Bank of Ireland Professor of Contemporary Irish History at Trinity College, Dublin, walks through the recent efforts of his research team to detail every violent death that occurred during and after the Irish War for Independence. To illustrate the discoveries his team has made, O'Halpin reveals details from his own family's exploits during this time period. At Trinity, O'Halpin is also director of the Centre for Contemporary Irish History and a member of the executive committee of the Institute for International Integration Studies. He is the author of five books including Defending Ireland: The Irish State and Its Enemies Since 1922 (Oxford, 1999).

Jake Hyman, Odelia Englander, and Nelly Soudah, youth leaders of the joint Israeli-Palestinian peace movement OneVoice, speak on what they say is the wished for goal of the majority of citizens on either side of the conflict in Palestine: peace through concession and compromise. Englander and Soudah, who grew up on separate sides of the conflict, share stories on how they came to the movement. OneVoice began in 2002 as an attempt to encourage greater civic involvement in the peace process through a call to moderate solutions and grassroots activism. The OneVoice leaders are introduced by Ali Banuazizi, professor of psychology and faculty member of the Middle East and Islamic Studies Program.

In the inaugural Chambers Lecture, Andrew Boynton, dean of the Carroll School of Management, introduces his concept of "virtuoso teams" with a case study of the 1970 Apollo 13 mission. Boynton is the author of Invented Here: Maximizing Your Organization's Internal Growth and Profitability (HBSP, 1998) and Virtuoso Teams: Lessons from Teams That Changed Their Worlds (Prentice Hall, 2005). After his presentation, Boynton is joined in a panel discussion by three fellow Boston College alumni who are benefactors of the Winston Center for Leadership and Ethics: Norman Chambers, president and chief operating officer of NCI Building Systems, Inc.; Charles I. Clough, Jr., founder of Clough Capital Partners LP; and Robert L. Winston, retired senior vice president of American Fund Distributors. Speaker: Andrew Boynton, Robert Winston, Charles Clough, Norman Chambers Date: May 4, 2006 Length: 1:16:34

Biologist Kenneth R. Miller recounts recent political battles over evolution, including his role as lead witness in the 2005 "intelligent design" trial in Dover, Pennsylvania, and argues against the presumption that evolution is inherently antireligious. Miller is a professor of biology at Brown University and author of Finding Darwin's God: A Scientist's Search for Common Ground Between God and Evolution (HarperCollins, 2000). Speaker: Kenneth R. Miller Date: May 2, 2006 Length: 1:33:15

David Shrayer-Petrov reads from his new book Autumn in Yalta: A Novel and Three Stories (Syracuse, 2006), which includes an autobiographical novel set in Stalinist Russia, Strange Danya Rayev. Shrayer-Petrov is a medical scientist and the author of 20 books of prose and poetry in his native Russian and in translation. Shrayer-Petrov is joined by the book's editor and cotranslator, his son Maxim D. Shrayer, professor of Russian and English and codirector of the Jewish Studies Program at Boston College, and two of the book's cotranslators, Arna B. Bronstein and Aleksandra Fleszar, both professors of Russian at the University of New Hampshire. Dwayne Carpenter, professor of Hispanic studies and codirector of the Jewish Studies Program, gives the introduction. This event is a part of "Writers Among Us: Boston College Readings," a series spotlighting recent book publications by Boston College faculty. Speaker: David Shrayer-Petrov and Maxim D. Shrayer Date: May 2, 2006 Length: 1:14:16

Historian Nikhil Singh discusses the role of race in the formation of U.S. domestic and foreign policy since World War II, as part of the New Directions in African Diaspora Research lecture series. Singh is an associate professor of history at the University of Washington and author of Black Is a Country: Race and the Unfinished Struggle for Democracy (Harvard, 2004). Singh is introduced by Davarian Baldwin, associate professor of history, after introductory remarks by Cynthia Young, associate professor of English and director of the African and African Diaspora Studies Program. Speaker: Nikhil Singh Date: April 27, 2006 Length: 1:39:24

Prior to the film version premiere of Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, Harold Attridge, dean of Yale Divinity School, clarifies the book's distortions of Leonardo Da Vinci's art, pre-Christian goddess worship, the development of early Christian doctrine, and the relationship of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. A 1967 graduate of Boston College, Attridge is the Lillian Claus Professor of New Testament at Yale and the author of seven books. Attridge is introduced by Andrew Finstuen, Ph.D.'06, interim assistant director of the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life. Speaker: Harold Attridge Date: April 26, 2006 Length: 1:03:24

As part of the sociology department's Distinguished Visiting Scholars Series, Francesca Polletta discusses storytelling when used as a political campaign tool, including its use in the United States' 2004 presidential elections. Polletta is an associate professor of sociology at Columbia University, and the author of It Was Like a Fever: Storytelling in Protest and Politics (Chicago, 2006) and Freedom Is an Endless Meeting: Democracy in American Social Movements (Chicago, 2002). Polletta is introduced by Matt Williams, Ph.D. candidate in sociology, after welcoming remarks by Juliet Schor, professor and chair of the sociology department. Speaker: Francesca Polletta Date: April 26, 2006 Length: 1:09:01

Brian O'Connor, adjunct assistant professor of Italian at Boston College, presents an analysis and reading of the 12th canto of Dante's Purgatorio. O'Connor's commentary is in English; the reading from the Divine Comedy is in Italian. This program is part of Lectura Dantis, an ongoing public reading of the Divine Comedy organized by the Boston College Department of Romance Languages and Literatures and the Center for Italian Culture in Newton, Massachusetts. O'Connor is introduced by Laurie Shepard, associate professor of Italian in the Romance languages and literatures department of Boston College. Speaker: Brian O'Connor Date: April 24, 2006 Length: 1:05:26

Jonathan Balcombe, an expert in animal behavior, describes the variety of animals that seem to demonstrate pleasure, and pleasure's theoretical origins in evolution. Balcombe is an animal behavior research scientist at the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine in Washington, D.C., and the author of Pleasurable Kingdom: Animals and the Nature of Feeling Good (Macmillan, 2006) Speaker: Johnathon Balcombe Date: April 24, 2006 Length: 58:13