BUSY
Tiffany Griffin '02, a communications and psychology major from Springfield, Massachusetts, is this year's Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholarship winner. At a celebration of the award's 20th anniversary, Griffin was cited for her participation in the Jenks Leadership and the International Assistant programs. She has mentored an inner-city high-school student through College Bound and tutored in BC's Options Through Education program. Griffin has also volunteered at the Roxbury Food Bank and the Baldwin Elementary School. The scholarship, given annually to a student of African descent, covers 75 percent of senior year tuition.

Photo: Tiffany Griffin '02. Lee Pellegrini

• Related article from the BC Chronicle: Well-Prepared to Take On the World



YOUNG INVESTORS
A team of five seniors from the Carroll School of Management has won the 2001 Tucker Anthony Big East Investment Challenge. Rachel Byars, Katherine Flynn, Michael Naylor, Robert Pease, and Shane Smith earned three percent on the hypothetical $250,000 they were allowed to invest. None of the other 13 college teams in the competition showed a net gain in the four-month contest. For the victory, Boston College will receive a $30,000 scholarship from the Tucker Anthony investment firm.



SWEET
Under the lights of New York's Madison Square Garden, the men's basketball team celebrates its 79-57 win over the University of Pittsburgh in the Big East Conference Championship game. The victory completed the shortest worst-to-first turnaround in the history of Big East athletics: Last year, BC went 3-13 in Big East contests and finished at the bottom of the conference standings. This year the team posted an overall regular-season record of 23-4 before advancing to the second round of the NCAA Championship tournament.

Coach Al Skinner has received national attention for the Eagles' change of fortune (see "Courtside," below.) Troy Bell '03 was named the Big East Player of the Year.

Photo by John Quackenbos

• Homepage of BC Athletics



CHECKS AND BALANCES
The Board of Trustees has approved the 2001-02 budget, the University's 30th balanced budget in as many years. With rising utilities costs and the addition of new faculty and academic support initiatives, tuition and fees will go up a combined 5.2 percent, to $24,470. Financial aid will rise $4.1 million, or 5.6 percent, to $78.7 million. The University's operating budget next year will total $480 million.



CLARIFYING
University President William P. Leahy, SJ, has been appointed to a committee formed to clarify the relationship between the Church and Catholic academe as set out in the 1990 papal document Ex Corde Ecclesiae. The committee, composed of six university presidents and six bishops, was organized by the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities and is led by Donald Wuerl, bishop of Pittsburgh.

• A related 1999 interview with Father Leahy, from the BC Chronicle: Ex Corde and BC



SPRING FLOOD
Some 1,200 of BC's 8,600 undergraduates spent spring break (March 3-11) volunteering in service to the needy. More than 500 students participated in the Appalachia Volunteer Program, a student-run organization sponsored by the University Chaplaincy.

• Related article from the BC Chronicle: BC Volunteers Will Travel Far and Wide During Spring Break



FOR THE RECORD
Running what head coach Randy Thomas called "a brilliant race," Shannon Smith '01 became the University's first-ever women's national champion by winning the 3000-meter event at the NCAA Indoor Track Championships on March 10. Smith set a school record of 9:11.25, besting by more than 9 seconds the 1997 mark set by Angie Graham '98. Smith, a geology major, is from Fairport, New York.

• Related article from the BC Chronicle: Nothing Run-of-the-Mill About This Champion



COURTSIDE
After a stellar season in which the Eagles went from last place (3-13 in 2000) to first (13-3 this year) in the Big East, men's basketball head coach Al Skinner has been named coach of the year by five national organizations. He received the title from CBS-Chevrolet, ESPN the Magazine, Sports Illustrated, the Sporting News, and the United States Basketball Writers' Association. Skinner has coached the Eagles since 1997.

Photo: Al Skinner. Lee Pellegrini

• Related article from the BC Chronicle: Eagles' Unlikely Dream Season also a Triumph for Skinner



GOING UP
Construction of a new campus building has begun. The 155,000-square-foot structure, located on the Lower Campus below the O'Neill Library, will house the Boston College Police, the Office of Residential Life, Information Technology services, a cafeteria, a bookstore, and offices for the Economics, History, and Communication departments.



UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT
Juniors Amanda Jack and Richard Moriarty have been elected president and vice president, respectively, of the undergraduate student body. To encourage student participation, Jack, an English major from Somerset, Pennsylvania, and Moriarty, a communications major from Rockville, Maryland, plan to reestablish "town hall" meetings between undergraduates and administrators.

Photo: Amanda Jack '02 and Richard Moriarty '02. Lee Pellegrini

• Related article from the BC Chronicle: Jack, Moriarty to Lead UGBC



PROMOTED
President William P. Leahy, SJ, has announced the promotions of 15 faculty members. Named to full professor were Daniel Kirschner (Biology), John Fourkas (Chemistry), Mary Crane (English), Frances Restuccia (English), David Blustein (LSOE), and Penny Hauser-Cram (LSOE). Uzi Segal (Economics) received full professorship with tenure. Eight faculty members were promoted to associate professor with tenure: Scott Miller (Chemistry), Douglas Marcouiller, SJ (Economics), Maxim D. Shrayer (Slavic and Eastern Languages), John Houchin (Theater), Rabbi Ruth Langer (Theology), Robert Muller (CSOM), Barbara Brush (SON), and Patricia Tabloski (SON).

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