The Screaming Eagles Marching Band was one of 60 bands chosen from among 2,807 applicants to take part in the Presidential Inaugural Parade on January 21. It was a first for the band, which played “For Boston” on the 15-block march. In early January, St. Mary’s Hall closed for interior and exterior renovations. The 96-year-old building—second oldest after Gasson—will be shuttered for two years, during which the resident members of the Jesuit community will reside in a University-owned apartment complex on Commonwealth Avenue and Gasson Commons will serve as a temporary chapel. Economics professor Uzi Segal, who delves the fields of decision theory and social choice, was elected a fellow of the Econometric Society, and mathematics professor Avner Ash was named to the first class of fellows of the American Mathematical Society. Ash’s colleague G. Robert Meyerhoff will spend a semester as a Simons Fellow, researching hyperbolic 3-manifolds. The Office of Undergraduate Admission announced that applications for the Class of 2017 declined from some 35,000 to 25,000, apparently due to a requested additional 400-word essay. Admission director John Mahoney noted that this year’s applicant pool set new records for academic achievement, adding: “It seems that we’ve lost the ‘Why Not?’ applicant.” The American Psychological Association awarded its 2013 International Humanitarian Award to Lynch School professor M. Brinton Lykes, associate director of the University’s Center for Human Rights and International Justice. Seven theology department faculty joined two past U.S. ambassadors to the Holy See, the head of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, and others in signing a letter to Catholic members of Congress urging tighter gun regulation. Athletic director Brad Bates held a town hall meeting with students, alumni, and other season ticket holders to discuss the football game-day experience. Suggestions included opening parking lots earlier for night games and bigger jumbotrons. The Heights student newspaper won an Associated Collegiate Press Pacemaker Award for general excellence and outstanding achievement. Graham Beck ’15 placed fourth in sports photography. Islamic Arts, a book by fine arts faculty members Jonathan Bloom and Sheila Blair, was chosen by the National Endowment for the Humanities for the Muslim Journeys Bookshelf, a collection of 25 books on Islamic art and culture that will be distributed to libraries across the country. Boston College will host the five-day National Jesuit Student Leadership Conference in July of 2014. Student leaders from all 28 Jesuit colleges and universities will attend. Lynch School professor Joseph M. O’Keefe, SJ, was appointed interim director of the University’s Center for Ignatian Spirituality, replacing Michael Boughton, SJ, who departed for a post with the New England-New York-Maryland Province. The Fall 2012 edition of Elements, the undergraduate research journal of Boston College, published the work of eight students, including senior Sam Kent’s “Rickert’s hiatus irrationalis: an epistemological approach to empirical reality.” On December 29, men’s hockey coach Jerry York earned his 925th victory (a 5–2 win over the University of Alabama-Huntsville Chargers), becoming the winningest coach in college hockey history; and the tally continues to rise. The Chronicle of Higher Education reported that in 2012 Boston College ranked 13th among U.S. research universities in Fulbright fellowships, with 18 recipients. The chess club was revived last year after a nine-year hiatus and held its first tournament in early November. Club organizers aspire to hold a “Beanpot of chess.” Boston College, which offers more than 300 social media accounts ranging from the Boston College Facebook page to BCPD on Twitter, placed ninth in a Mashable.com ranking of college and university social media presences, as measured by audience participation. Aditya Ashok ’12, who won a Harry S. Truman Scholarship in 2011, was awarded a Marshall Scholarship in November, for graduate study in the United Kingdom. The Connolly Book of Hours, a 15th-century illuminated manuscript in the Burns Library collection, has been digitally captured and released online. The “Best 2012 Books About Justice,” compiled by the Atlantic‘s Andrew Cohen, included at number 4 Law School professor Daniel Kanstroom’s Aftermath: Deportation Law and the New American Diaspora. The Core Curriculum renewal committee announced the selection of Continuum, a consulting firm whose clients include the MIT Media Lab and the National Institutes of Health, to help in its deliberations. Burns Library expanded its permanent collection with the addition of a quartet of bronze busts celebrating Ireland’s Nobel Laureates (Yeats, Shaw, Beckett, Heaney). The works, which reside in the Thompson Room, are by Irish artist Rowan Gillespie. They were commissioned by Brian P. Burns, former University Trustee and longtime library benefactor. The inaugural Student Organizations Volleyball Tournament drew 26 teams. In the final, the Chinese Student Association spiked BCTV.

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