PUBLISHED BY THE BOSTON COLLEGE OFFICE OF UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS
SEPTEMBER 12, 2024 VOL. 32 NO. 2
BC Joins Formative Education Group
Mass of the Holy Spirit
INSIDE 3 Pops on the Heights
Goo Goo Dolls to perform at annual campus event.
BY PHIL GLOUDEMANS STAFF WRITER
4 Events Honor Scholars
Achievements of Fr. Keenan, Schlozman to be celebrated.
8 BC Research
Faculty investigate climate change effect on cranberry production.
University President William P. Leahy, S.J., celebrated the annual Mass of the Holy Spirit with homilist Vice President and University Secretary Casey Beaumier, S.J., director of the Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies, on September 5 in the Plaza at O’Neill Library. Later that same day, another Boston College tradition took place: the First Flight Procession and photo by caitlin cunningham First Year Academic Convocation [see page 8].
Boston College has joined the Coalition for Transformational Education (CTE), a 23-member national association of public and private universities committed to ensuring all college students complete their degrees, but more significantly, benefit from life-altering educational experiences that enhance their well-being, work, and civic engagement throughout their lives, Continued on page 6
Economists’ Role Vital to Life-Saving Program Boston College economists Tayfun Sönmez, left, and Utku Ünver used their expertise to help develop one of the world’s leading liver exchange initiatives.
BY ED HAYWARD STAFF WRITER
photo by ricardo stuckert/pr
New Book Examines Pope Francis’ Vision BY KATHLEEN SULLIVAN STAFF WRITER
For more than a decade, Pope Francis has led the Roman Catholic Church, emphasizing collegiality in ecclesial governance and focusing global priorities on the poor, the marginalized, and the environment. His vision for the Church—and the reluctance by many Catholics in the United States to engage with it—are explored in a new book co-edited by Boston College Joseph Professor in Catholic Theology Kristin Heyer.
Continued on page 5
With the support of an exchange program developed by Boston College economists Tayfun Sönmez and Utku Ünver, the Banu Bedestenci Sönmez Liver Paired Exchange System has rapidly become one of the world’s leading liver exchange initiatives. Located at Turkey’s Inonu University, the program has set new standards by performing the world’s first five-way liver exchange in October 2023, the first sixway liver exchange last January, and the first seven-way liver exchange in July, said Sönmez. These groundbreaking procedures have been documented in a forthcoming paper in the American Journal of Transplantation, the premier scholarly outlet for the field. Sönmez and Ünver, both natives of Turkey, are recognized world-leading experts and developers of matching mechanisms, particularly in the area of kidney exchange and transplantation. Their work in “matching markets” has also focused on how to improve K-12 school choice algorithms and the assignment of cadets to military specialties in the United States Army. In recognition of their contributions, Inonu University honored Ünver and Sönmez with honorary doctorates on July 26, during the ninth Malatya Giessen Transplantation Days conference. The event also
photo by lee pellegrini
served as the platform to announce the world’s first seven-way liver exchange, with participation from Turkish media and officials, including the health minister. The researchers thanked Liver Transplantation Institute Director Sezai Yilmaz, M.D., the program’s surgeons and professors, and medical and administrative personnel, as well as Inonu University Presi-
dent Ahmet Kizilay. “I am humbled and deeply honored with this honorary doctorate,” said Ünver. “However, it is more humbling to know that more than a hundred patients have already benefitted from the University’s liver paired exchange program, receiving transplants that would not have material-
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In order for people to do well with diabetes prevention and management, they first have to have their social needs adequately met. –tam nguyen, connell school of nursing, page 6