About
The goals of the Boston College Association of Retired Faculty (51茶馆ARF) are to provide retired faculty with the opportunity to:
听听听听Serve the retired faculty
听 听听Serve the University
听 听听Serve the community and larger society
听 听听Promote collegiality among retired professors for personal enrichment and active service.
We are also a member of the Association of Retirement Organizations in Higher Education (AROHE).听 You can visit their website听here.
Bob Taggart, President, Elected 2023
Bob was Professor of Finance in the Carroll School of Management from 1989 until his retirement in 2020. He held previous faculty appointments at Boston University and Northwestern University as well as visiting appointments at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Harvard Business School and M.I.T.'s Sloan School of Management. Bob鈥檚 primary teaching and research interests have been in corporate finance and capital markets, and he has taught numerous courses and published professional papers in these areas. He served as Editor of the journal Financial Management for three years and as Corporate Finance Editor of the Journal of Economics and Business for 22 years. He was President of the Financial Management Association during 1989-90. At 51茶馆, Bob served as Finance Department Chair for three years, Interim Dean of the Carroll School for one year and the Carroll School鈥檚 Associate Dean for Graduate Programs for six years. Besides School and University committee assignments, Bob served as Boston College鈥檚 Faculty Athletics Representative and Athletics Advisory Board Chair for 12 years. He was President of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) during 2012 鈥� 13 and a member of the ACC鈥檚 Executive Committee for four years. Bob and his wife Karen have lived in Needham since 1982. They have three grown children, two of whom earned Boston College degrees, and four grandsons.
Joe Burns, Vice President, Elected 2024
Joe Burns graduated from 51茶馆 High in 1963 and Boston College in 1967. He received his PhD in Sociology from Yale University in 1977. In 1975 he joined the Princeton Sociology Department as an Assistant Professor with specialties in Law and Society, Organizational Behavior and Southeast Asia; later becoming Director of Studies at one of Princeton's undergraduate residential colleges. He joined 51茶馆 in the fall of 1985 as Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences. In that role he also oversaw the pre-law advising program and the A&S part-time budget and became a long time member of the Pre-Health Advising committee. the MLK Scholarship Committee and the Aquino Scholarship committee. In 1997 he became Associate Vice President/Provost for Undergraduate听Academic Affairs where he also served as Director of the Teachers for a New Era initiative and Interim Director of Learning Resources for Student Athletes (now SAAS) while overseeing departmental academic assessment programs. He has taught a course on the History of Boston College in the Capstone Program for 25 years and has also offered a Freshman Topic Seminar on Law and Society. He and听his听wife, Moy, live in Needham and his sons, Dan and Chris, are both 51茶馆 graduates.
Jennie Purnell, Treasurer, Elected 2024
As a member of the Political Science Department since 1993, Jennie鈥檚 teaching and research focused on the comparative politics of Latin America, with an emphasis on human rights; race, class, and gender; and the interplay of local and national politics. For the past 15 years she has also served as the Faculty Chair of Intersections, co-facilitating a number of annual writing and contemplative retreats and other programs. She is currently working on a book manuscript dealing with 19th century machine politics in Juchit谩n, Oaxaca. Jennie lives in Harvard with her husband Petri, children Eric and Belle, and daughter-in-law Carmen.
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Maria Brisk, Secretary, Elected 2023
Maria was a faculty member in the Lynch School for 21 years 鈥� after 24 years at BU-- and also听served as chair of the Teacher Education, Special Education and Curriculum and Instruction听department (now Teaching, Curriculum and Society dept) for 5 years. She has authored and co-authored 8 books and 2 second editions and numerous articles in the fields of bilingualism,听bilingual education, social context of education, and teaching writing informed by systemic听functional linguistics (SFL). She received Federal grants to prepare teachers to work with听bilingual students and internal grants to do research related to SFL informed writing. She ran the听International Systemic Functional Congress at 51茶馆 in 2018. In 2016 she developed 3 on-line 1听credit courses to prepare schools to adopt the SFL approach to teach writing. Over 25 schools听have participated and more continue to enroll. She continues to teach these courses after听retirement and has other 6 people offering additional sections. She is currently working on a听second edition of one of her books. She has received numerous awards including, AERA,听Scholars of Color Distinguished Career Contribution Award (AERA 2020) and AERA, Bilingual听Research SIG, Lifetime achievement award (AERA 2016).听听 听 听Maria is originally from Argentina and lives in Chestnut Hill (a stone鈥檚 throw from 51茶馆) with her听husband Bill. They have a daughter and, better still, two lovely granddaughters, one a bilingual听teacher in NYC and the other a marine scientist in the Boston area.听
Michael Clarke, Member at Large, Elected 2024
Mike joined the Department of Chemistry at Boston College in 1976, became a Full Professor in 1985 and retired in 2013.听 He received his B.S. degree from the Catholic University of America in 1968 and his Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1974 with Nobel Laureate Henry Taube.听 His research was in how metal ions react with biologically important molecules such as nucleic acids and vitamins.听 Mike served as a program director for the inorganic chemistry program in the Chemistry Division of the National Science Foundation intermittently on leave from Boston College for seven years.听 He helped to organize the first Gordon Conference in Inorganic Medicinal Chemistry. Locally he has served as a director for the Newton Conservators since 1991 and was President in 1996-7.听 He also served as an alternate member of the Newton Parks and Recreation Commission from 1994 to 2020.听
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Laurie Shepard, Member at Large, Elected 2023
Laurie Shepard is an Associate Professor of Italian, and taught medieval and renaissance Italian literature in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures at Boston College from 1986 to 2022. She received her PhD in Comparative Medieval Romance Literature and Philology from Boston College in 1985. Her research focused on the three great Florentine writers of the fourteenth century: Dante, Boccaccio and Petrarch, lyric poetry in thirteenth-century Italy, Occitanic troubadour poetry, and medieval epistolography and argument. Among other topics, she taught courses on Dante, Boccaccio, Italian poetry of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, Machiavelli, and historical linguistics focused on the development of the Romance Languages from Latin. She published a monograph "Courting Power: Persuasion and Politics" in the Early Thirteenth Century (1999), and co-edited two works: "Songs of the Women Troubadours" with Matilda Bruckner and Sarah White (1995; 2000), and "Shaping Courtliness in Medieval France" with Daniel O'Sullivan (2013). She is currently working on a website dedicated to Italian comedy in the first half of the sixteenth century, comedy that was the precursor to works by Moli猫re and Shakespeare. The recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship, she studied at the Philological Institute in Rome, and she taught for two semesters at Venice International University in Venice. She served as Chair of the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, as Graduate and Undergraduate Program Director, and on many committees. At the university level, she was very involved with the Undergraduate Fellowships Committee. In 2000, she initiated a Public Reading of the Divine Comedy, a program that continues to this day. She has long volunteered as an instructor of English as a Second Language.
Alec Peck, Immediate Past President
Alec was a faculty member in LSOE for 40 years and also served in several administrative positions. He was Associate Dean for Graduate Studies for 6 years and later served for 3 years as Associate Dean for Faculty and Academics. He was also a Department Chair for 3 years and for 8 years served as university-wide Chair of the Academic Technology Advisory Board (ATAB). He co-edited a major journal in his field for 10 years and established and edited an on-line journal for 6 years. He was author or co-author of 2 books and 39 journal articles, book chapters, book reviews, or editorials, and co-editor of 4 additional books.听 He now does pro-bono work assisting families of children with special needs in greater Boston and, after leading student groups to the Jamaica Mustard Seed orphanages for 15 years, he now does pro-bono consulting on behavior problems for that organization.听 Alec enjoys living in Natick with his wife, Pat. They have 2 married sons and 5 grandchildren who live nearby.
Committees are the lifeblood of any organization. 听Without them, the work simply doesn't get done. 听The Association of Retired Faculty currently has 5 Committees. 听They are :
Executive Committee听: the elected leadership of the Association. 听It includes a President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Members at Large. 听Contact : President Bob Taggart at听 Bob Taggart@bc.edu
Nominating Committee听: 听a pro tem group of three members appointed by the president in consultation with the Executive Committee to prepare the ballot and implement the annual elections.听 Contact : Bob Taggart at听Bob Taggart@bc.edu
Banquet Committee听: a group which organizes the Association's annual banquet at the end of the academic year. 听Contact : Paul Spagnoli
Communications Committee听: 听the Executive Committee is progressing from land mailed newsletter and monthly meeting announcements that have offered the yearly calendar, photos and member news to on-line communications. The goal is for members to maintain and update announcements, activities, member news and information of interest to retired faculty including an on-line newsletter. Newsletter听Contact :听Paul Spagnoli听Website Contact:听Peter Olivieri
Grants Committee听: a group which evaluates and makes decisions on 51茶馆ARF research grant proposals.听 Contact : Matilda Bruckner
The links below contain interviews with faculty and administrators who watched 51茶馆 grow throughout the '50s and '60s.
The Oral History Committee involved in gathering the history included:
Standing: l-r: Marjorie Gordon, Rosemary Krawczyk, Dalmar Fisher, Rachel Spector, Joan Jones.听 Seated: Mary D. Griffin, Chair
Click here for :听听A Brief History of the 51茶馆 Association for Retired Faculty.
Video Clip:听听
BYLAWS
Boston College Association of Retired Faculty
ARTICLE I 鈥� NAME
The Boston College Association of Retired Faculty (51茶馆ARF), organized as a non-profit association, is governed by its bylaws.
ARTICLE II 鈥� PURPOSES
The mission of the Boston College Association of Retired Faculty is to maintain an ongoing relationship with the University that will provide retirees with the opportunity to (1) serve the retired faculty, (2) serve the University, (3) serve the community and the larger society, and (4) promote collegiality among retired professors for personal enrichment and active service.
ARTICLE III 鈥� MEMBERSHIP
Regular Members
Boston College full-time faculty members are automatically eligible to become regular members of the Association at the end of the academic year in which they formally retire from active service to the University. Teaching an occasional course or performing another short-term post- retirement assignment within Boston College does not delay this entitlement.
All regular 51茶馆ARF members are entitled to participate in all activities of the Association, to vote for Officers and Members-at-Large of the Executive Committee, and to hold such offices upon election by the membership for the terms, and subject to the total time limit, set forth in Article V of the bylaws.
Honorary Members
Association members may propose to the Executive Committee for approval the names of retired university administrators who have made
major contributions to the University and the 51茶馆ARF. Honorary members may participate in all programs and activities of the Association, but may not vote or hold office.
ARTICLE IV 鈥� ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT
The affairs of the Association are the responsibility of the membership, administered by the Executive Committee, with day-to-day management by its officers.
ARTICLE V 鈥� EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
The Executive Committee includes four elected Officers, two elected Members- at-Large, and the immediate Past President, a total of seven members. The Jesuit Liaison is invited to participate in Executive Committee meetings with voice but without vote. The Executive Committee shall establish such additional Committees as it deems appropriate or necessary. Chairs of committees may be invited to attend Executive Committee meetings as appropriate, with voice but without vote.
Officers are the President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer, all of whom shall be elected to serve for a term of two years and may be re- elected once. The President and Secretary shall be elected in odd years and the Vice President and Treasurer shall be elected in even years.
One Member-at-Large shall be elected annually for a term of two years and may be re- elected once.
Term of Office: The term of office on the Executive Committee shall be limited to two consecutive terms in the same position.
Election of all Officers and Members-at-Large will be held online prior to the Annual Meeting of the Association and the results announced at this final meeting in May each year. The term of those elected commences on June 1 as the outgoing Executive Committee term ends following a transition meeting of orientation. The immediate Past President will serve ex-officio on the Executive Committee.
A Nominating Committee of at least three members recommended by the President, and approved by the Executive Committee, shall nominate candidates annually for each of the positions whose terms are expiring.
Association members may submit nominations to the Nominating Committee for any vacancies no less than two months in advance of the Annual Meeting. To be nominated, a member must have expressed a willingness to actively serve if elected. The slate prepared by the Nominating Committee, along with any additional nominations will be distributed to the 51茶馆ARF membership at least thirty days in advance of the Annual Meeting in order to provide the opportunity for informed voting.
Vacancies occurring for any reason before the completion of a term of office shall be filled for the remainder of that term by an individual who receives a majority vote of the Executive Committee.
The Executive Committee has the power to make and amend rules for its own procedures, as long as they conform to these bylaws. It shall keep a written record of such new or changed procedures.
An Executive Committee member who is absent for more than three consecutive meetings without notice shall be considered to have resigned.
ARTICLE VI 鈥� DUTIES OF OFFICERS AND EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
The Officers are the leaders of the Association and the primary liaison with the University Administration through the Office of the Provost and Dean of Faculties as well as with the Office of the Vice President of Human Resources. The President and members of the Executive Committee will seek varied means to build the Association into an active and vibrant organization of retired academic colleagues of Boston College, focusing on achieving the four purposes articulated earlier in the mission statement in these bylaws. Every opportunity will be
undertaken to nurture and strengthen a mutually beneficial relationship with the University.
Specific duties include but are not limited to the following: The President shall:
- Call and preside at all Program Meetings of the membership and of the Executive Committee.
- Exercise day-to-day management of the Association.
- Appoint Chairs of committees, subject to approval of the Executive Committee.
- Be an ex-officio member of all committees, except the Nominating Committee.
- Recommend candidates of the Nominating Committee for approval by the Executive Committee.
- Perform such other duties as required by the Executive Committee. The Vice President shall:
- Act in the absence of or during the incapacity of the President.
- Accept other responsibilities as may be agreed upon by the President and Vice President.
The Secretary shall:
- Provide the Executive Committee in a timely manner with minutes of meetings of the Executive Committee, annual meetings of the Association and, when requested, other meetings of the General Membership.
- Maintain a current list of all retired members of the Boston College Association of Retired Faculty, including name, and insofar as possible, the address (including phone and email), department or school from which retired, and date of retirement.
- Perform other duties as may normally be part of the office of Secretary or as assigned by the President or Executive Committee.
The Treasurer shall:
- Maintain accurate financial records of the Association, and render periodic financial reports as requested at Executive Committee meetings.
- Maintain an effective liaison with the Office of the Provost and Dean of Faculties to assure adequate financial resources are available to fund activities of the Association.
- Annually prepare a draft budget for the following year for consideration and adoption by the Executive Committee at its last meeting prior to the Annual Meeting of the Association.
- Perform other duties as may normally be part of the office of Treasurer or as assigned by the President or Executive Committee.
The Members-at-Large shall:
Perform such duties as may be assigned by the President or Executive Committee.
The Jesuit Liaison shall:
- Participate in the meetings of the Executive Committee with voice but without vote.
- Serve as liaison between the 51茶馆ARF and the Jesuit Community.
- Represent the 51茶馆ARF and Jesuit Community at wakes and/or funerals of retired faculty whenever possible.
- Serve as coordinator of the 51茶馆ARF program to visit Jesuits at Campion Health Center.
- Perform such other duties as may be assigned by the President or Executive Committee.
ARTICLE VII 鈥� MEETINGS
The Executive Committee will meet monthly, except for July and August, and at others times as deemed appropriate or necessary, for the purpose of transacting the ongoing business of the Association.
The Association鈥檚 Annual Meeting of the membership will be held during May each year. Results of the election of Officers and Members- at-Large of the Executive Committee will be announced, and such other business of the Association as determined by the President and/or the Executive Committee will be conducted. Written notification of the Annual Meeting will be provided to all members at least ten working days in advance of the meeting.
Topical Seminars and Program Meetings of the membership will be held during the university!s academic year. Seminars and Program Meetings will be posted on the Association website, and invitations to the Seminars and Program Meetings will be emailed to all Association members at least one week in advance of a scheduled meeting.
Committees of the Executive Committee may be created as needed. All meetings of the Association are governed by Robert鈥檚 Rules of Order.
ARTICLE VIII 鈥� AMENDMENTS TO THE BYLAWS
The Executive Committee will initiate a review of these bylaws every three years. Amendments to these bylaws may be made by a majority online vote of members prior to an Annual Meeting of the Association. Once an amendment is duly approved by a majority vote, it becomes effective immediately. The results will be announced at this final meeting in May each year.
Approved November 30, 2006
(Revised March 27, 2007)
(Revised May 14, 2009)
(Revised May 16, 2013)
(Revised January 14, 2016)
(Revised April 30, 2016)
(Revised December 10, 2021)