The crime novel series featuring private investigator Dermot Sparhawk continues with the release of Murder in the Charlestown Bricks. The novel is about Sparhawk’s search for the person who murdered a woman who was like a second mother to him. Dermot Sparhawk is the creation of Tom MacDonald, a Boston College alumnus who also teaches in BC’s Woods College of Advancing Studies. MacDonald is a computer programmer-turned-novelist who directs a food pantry in Boston. He first introduced readers to Sparhawk in his novel The Charlestown Connection. Read more about MacDonald in The Charlestown Patriot-Bridge.
Dermot Sparhawk
What would President Niebuhr do?
R. Ward Holder and Peter Josephson, both from St. Anselm’s College, will discuss their new book, Reinhold Niebuhr in Theory and Practice: Christian Realism and Democracy in America in the Twenty-First Century on Feb. 13 at noon at an event hosted by the Boisi Center. The authors explain the collapse of the Niebuhrian renaissance in public life and consider the possibility of a distinctly Niebuhrian public intellectualism and political practice in the wake of the 2016 election. Advance registration is required for the event.
Posted in Guest Authors
Tagged Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life, politics
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Martha C. Nussbaum
Martha C. Nussbaum, the Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago, will present “Fear, Anger, Democracy: Our Need for the Liberal Arts” on Feb. 13 at 7 p.m. in Gasson Hall, room 100. A highly regarded philosopher and public intellectual, Nussbaum is the author of numerous books, including The Monarchy of Fear: A Philosopher Looks at Our Political Crisis, Creating Capabilities: The Human Development Approach, Cultivating Humanity: A Classical Defense of Reform in Liberal Education, and The Fragility of Goodness: Luck and Ethics in Greek Tragedy and Philosophy, among many others. She has been honored with the Kyoto Prize, Japan’s highest private award for global achievement; the Berggruen Prize, a worldwide prize in philosophy; the Don M. Randel Award for Humanistic Studies from the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and more than 60 honorary degrees. Co-sponsors: Lowell Humanities Series and the Institute for the Liberal Arts.
The gender gap in computing
Linda J. Sax, a professor of higher education in the Graduate School of Education & Information Studies at UCLA, will present “The Gender Gap in Computing: How Some Universities are Moving the Needle” on Feb. 7 at 2:45 p.m. in Fulton Hall, room 117. Sax is the author of The Gender Gap in College: Maximizing the Developmental Potential of Women and Men. Her research focuses on gender differences in college student development, with an emphasis on women in STEM fields. Sponsor: The Institute for the Liberal Arts.
Posted in Guest Authors
Tagged computers, gender, Institute for the Liberal Arts, technology
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Depression: The Secret We Share
Andrew Solomon, author of The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression, will give a lecture on “Depression: The Secret We Share” on Feb. 7 at 7:00 p.m. in Gasson Hall, room 100. Drawing on his own struggles with depression, Solomon examines the personal, cultural, and scientific aspects of the illness. A worldwide bestseller available in more than 20 languages, The Noonday Demon was winner of a National Book Award and a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize. Solomon is also the author of award-winning book Far From the Tree: Parents, Children & the Search for Identity, an examination of families in which children are very different from their parents for which he interviewed more than 300 families. He is a contributor to NPR, The New York Times, and other publications and a professor of clinical psychology at Columbia University. Sponsor: Park Street Corporation Speaker Series.
Posted in Guest Authors, Park Street Corporation Speaker Series
Tagged depression, families, mental health
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Melville and the Aesthetics of Radical Democracy
Wake Forest University Associate Professor of English Jennifer Greiman will present “Ruthless, Militant, Round: On Melville and the Aesthetics of Radical Democracy” on Feb. 6 at 4:30 p.m. in Devlin Hall, room 101. Greiman is the author of Democracy’s Spectacle: Sovereignty and Public Life in Antebellum American Writing and the co-editor of The Last Western: Deadwood and the End of American Empire. Her current book project is Melville’s Ruthless Democracy. Sponsor: Clough Center for the Study of Constitutional Democracy, with support from the English Department.
Candlemas Lecture
Werner G. Jeanrond, a professor of systematic theology at the University of Oslo, will present the Candlemas Lecture “Hopes, Hope and Radical Hope: Christian Hope and the Praxis of Love” on Feb. 6 at 7 p.m. in Devlin Hall, room 101. Jeanrond is the author of A Theology of Love, Theological Hermeneutics: Development and Significance, and Call and Response: The Challenge of Christian Life, all of which have been translated into multiple languages. Co-sponsors: Lowell Humanities Series and the Theology Department.
Nurses in retirement
Approximately one million nurses will be retiring in the next five to 10 years, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. For those nurses wondering what follows after retirement, a book by Connell School of Nursing Associate Professor Patricia Tabloski and co-author Joanne Evans offers ideas for a way forward. Redefining Retirement For Nurses: Finding Meaning in Retirement (Sigma Theta Tau International) presents stories from 26 retired nurses who have continued to contribute to society and leveraged their talents in their post-retirement life. The authors state that they hope these stories inspire newly retired nurses or those planning for retirement to see how the skills and experiences gained in their nursing career can form the foundation for a meaningful life as a retiree. Tabloski talks about her book in this video from BC Libraries.
Changes to Title IX
Due to the government shutdown, the U.S. Department of Education extended its original Jan. 28 deadline for educators to submit comments on its proposed new rules on sexual harassment and assault. O’Neill Professor of American Politics R. Shep Melnick, author of the book The Transformation of Title IX: Regulating Gender Equality in Education, writes on the topic for Education Next and the Brookings Institute. | Read more about Melnick’s book in this BC Bookmarks post from 2018.
Prayer, praise, protest
Ashon Crawley, an assistant professor of religious studies and African American and African Studies at the University of Virginia, will present “In the Flesh: Prayer, Praise, Protest” on Jan. 29 at 6 p.m. in McGuinn Hall Auditorium. Crawley is the author of Blackpentecostal Breath: The Aesthetics of Possibility (Fordham University Press). Sponsor: African and African Diaspora Studies Program.
BC Bookmarks 