For so many people of my generation, one of the great joys of the holidays is having your grown-up children back home. But whether you鈥檙e young, old, or in between, this season is very much about happy returns and reunions. And this edition of the聽Carroll Connection聽offers several glimpses into the wonderful benefits of coming back鈥攖o an alma mater, and to a dynamic tradition of learning.
In this issue, you鈥檒l聽read about Chris O鈥橠onnell, Carroll School 鈥�92, the actor best known for his starring roles in聽NCIS: Los Angeles聽补苍诲听Grey鈥檚 Anatomy聽as well as in two Batman movies. He came back this fall to deliver a talk about his personal journey during what is known on campus as 鈥淓spresso Your Faith Week.鈥�
In addition,聽the slideshow here features scenes of the holidays on the Heights聽including Winter Wonderland, a collection of festivities for alumni, family, and friends. There鈥檚 yet another item about a raft of Carroll School and Morrissey College alumni in the real estate business. They offered pointed advice to undergraduate students at聽a forum titled 鈥淟aunching Your Real Estate Career,鈥�聽sponsored by the Carroll School鈥檚聽Joseph E. Corcoran Center for Real Estate and Urban Action.
What caught my eye especially was聽a visit by Ferit 艦ahenk 鈥�89, who sits atop one of the three largest conglomerates in Turkey. He returned in October for a day as the inaugural Global Entrepreneur in Residence at our聽Edmund H. Shea Jr. Center for Entrepreneurship. 艦ahenk told of how he recently pulled out his old undergraduate texts at the Carroll School and started rereading them. The return to fundamental business principles had an immediate impact on his diverse and enormous business.
His story points up another sense in which so many of our alumni are coming back to Boston College鈥攏ot only physically but intellectually as well. It begins when they鈥檙e students. More and more, our seniors realize that when they walk off the commencement stage, the rigorous learning isn鈥檛 over. It has just begun.
Our economy, our society, and our organizations today need people with ideas鈥攑eople who can think deeply, broadly, and creatively as well as within a sphere of specialized knowledge. In fact, one of the feature stories in this edition is about聽a new course offered through the University core curriculum聽and team-taught by our own Spencer Harrison (Management and Organization Department) and Theatre Department Chair Crystal Tiala. The title of the course says it all鈥斺�淐an Creativity Save the World? A Process for Solving Complex Problems.鈥�
Our students and alumni are realizing that a Boston College education is not just for four years. It鈥檚 about cultivating the habits of lifelong learning, a kind of learning that is broad and diverse, in the spirit of Jesuit liberal arts higher education.
Just ask Chris O鈥橠onnell, Ferit 艦ahenk, the dozen alums at the real estate careers forum, and many others. They鈥檙e coming back.
Andy Boynton 鈥�78, P鈥�13
John and Linda Powers Family Dean
Carroll School of Management