This is an expanded online version of the Dean's Message originally published in Carroll Capital, the print publication of the Carroll School of Management at Boston College.Ěý.Ěý
The idea of legacy has been very much on my mind as we, at the Carroll School, seek to build on the contributions of so many who came before us. A legacy is an extraordinarily valuable asset, but it’s also, in many ways, an intangible one. It rests on the idea that we’re all part of something greater than us, something that’s going to last forever. We’re here for a moment in time, with the purpose of extending legacies into the present and future.
I speak in the plural because we have distinct legacies at Boston College. There’s our Jesuit, Catholic tradition, which energizes us. There are our alumni, whom we honor for the work they do and the way they engage with their alma mater. There’s also our faculty and the many gifts they have bestowed upon us.
Powers Family Dean Andy Boynton
At this historic turning point for Boston College, I give thanks for our University leadership as well, particularly that of University President William P. Leahy, SJ. His presidency has been transformational, stretching across three decades in which Boston College has risen to the top tier of national research universities while strengthening its Jesuit, Catholic identity. Fr. Leahy now passes on an extraordinary legacy of “Ever to Excel” to his successor, John T. “Jack” Butler, SJ, and to all of us.
At the Carroll School, I can get a picture of our school’s legacy every time I step out of my office in Fulton and walk down the hall. The walls are now adorned with snapshots of Carroll School history since its inception as the College of Business Administration in 1938. We call it the “Legacy Walk,” launched this past academic year.
The display pays special tribute to faculty who served for 25 years or longer and “shaped countless students’ professional journeys while contributing to our school’s intellectual foundation,” as I say in my message on the introductory panel. I think of those who shaped my own journey, especially John J. “Jack” Neuhauser, who died last September.
As Carroll School dean for more than two decades starting in the late 1970s, Jack helped make our school what it is today. After that, as Boston College’s academic vice president, he played an equally pivotal role in the University’s rise to national prominence. Jack was also a guiding force during my formative years, first as a great and peerless computer science professor, and later as a dear friend and mentor.
The Legacy Walk is a tribute to the faculty’s transformative role in the lives of students, past and present.
Like our faculty contributions, our Jesuit, Catholic liberal arts tradition is a gift that drives us forward every day. In our new edition of Carroll Capital, you could read about one of the latest examples, having to do with the bridge we’ve been developing between management and the arts and sciences.
For the longest time, Boston College has exposed management and liberal arts students to each other’s disciplines, though much more so in recent years, with record numbers of students crossing the bridge. Now, we’re bringing all this to a new level with the creation of an overarching curriculum made up of newly designed Humanities, Management, and Sciences (HMS) courses.
During two pilot courses this past semester, students grappled with ideas from disciplines ranging from philosophy and theology to sociology, literature, and, of course, management. These foundational ideas illustrated themes of connection, collision, and combination, drawn from such thinkers as social networking theorists and , technology and innovation scholar , and philosophers ranging from Hegel to contemporary philosopher of science .
Students also dug into case studies that I’ve developed, including one about Thomas Edison’s “invention factory” in Menlo Park, New Jersey. There, a motley collection of chemists, mechanics, glass blowers, mathematicians, and commercial strategists collided to produce momentous inventions, including the incandescent light bulb. Other case studies dealt with the first successful expedition to the South Pole, in 1911, which integrated science with indigenous survival techniques; and how one book, Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, spawned modern environmentalism with a creative mix of scientific rigor and literary power.
“ Jesuit, Catholic heritage, faculty, alumni, and leadership—legacies that keep pushing us to “ever excel” at Boston College. ”
The whole idea is to help students fully integrate what they learn when they cross from Gasson into Fulton or vice versa. The new bridge initiative begins this coming academic year.
Then there’s the legacy of our alumni. So often, I think of my late friend, the legendary Jack Connors ’63, H ’07, P ’93, ’94. He emerges in our Carroll Capital profile of Lisa Wilson ’84, a highly innovative fragrance expert and marketer. When she was an intern at Jack’s global advertising firm, Hill Holiday, he generously mentored her as he did untold numbers of Boston College students and alumni.
Jesuit, Catholic heritage, faculty, alumni, and leadership—legacies that keep pushing us to “ever excel” at Boston College.
