features THE EMMANUEL EFFECT After earning their diplomas, Emmanuel graduates apply their talents at leading businesses, nonprofits and service organizations, as well as prestigious graduate programs. What accounts for their success? INNOVATORS Entrepreneurship and technological advances are redefining industries and creating new ones. Meet graduates who are embracing the changes­ and opportunities. Cover photo by Len Rubenstein departntents 01 MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT 04 THE BIG PICTURE 06 COLLEGE NEWS 22 ALUMNI 25 CLASS NOTES Robert McDonald Kaajal Asher Michael Caronchi Sam O'Neill Art Director Brian Crowley Emmanuel Magazine is published by the Editors Alexandra Jost Office of Marketing and Communications. Sarah Welch DeMayo Tom Kates Please address all correspondence Scott Howe Alfred Osward to Editor, Emmanuel Magazine, Len Rubenstein Dan Morrell 400 The Fenway, Boston, MA 02115 Contributing Writers Merrill Shea or to [email protected]. Photographers Mission Made Manifest stablishing Emmanuel was like a mountain action in her time, so today Emmanuel continues to that had to be moved. And, then again, it was prepare students to lead lives of purpose and service in ' like a dream." So wrote Sister Helen Madeleine the 21st century. Ingraham, SND, in her Memoirs. Dean of the College from its founding in 1919 through 1950, Sister Helen An Education "Lacking Nothing" Madeleine has long been considered the founder of When St. Julie Billiart established the Sisters of Notre Emmanuel for her leadership in moving the College Dame in 1804, she made education a vital part of the from an idea to a thriving reality. congregation's charism. This commitment was partly Recently, I spoke to the College community about in response to a scarcity of education in France in the Sister Helen Madeleine's remarkable life and accom­ wake of the French Revolution, as well as during and plishments. The address was part of our annual after the Napoleonic Wars. A century later and an Founders' Week, which celebrates the educational ocean away, a simil ar lack of educational opportunity legacy of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. existed in New England. Although the region was Founders' Week is one of the many ways students, home to many colleges atthe turn of the 20th century, faculty and staff deepen their understanding of the there was no Catholic college for women. mission and values at the core of our community-an Once again, the Sisters of Notre Dame responded to endeavor that takes on special meaning as we the need. At the invitation of William Cardinal approach the College's Centennial in 2019. O'Connell, then Archbishop of Boston, the Sisters As I said in my address, Sister Helen Madeleine envisioned a college that would, as Sister Helen provides a fascinating lens through which to view the Madeleine would write, "provide a liberal education early history of the College and the social currents which would lack none of the advantages offered to surrounding it. Her story also unites past and present: women by colleges in or near Boston, which would at Just as she translated St. Julie Billiart's vision into the same time be integrated with Catholic principles." EMMANUEL MAGAZINE Emmanuel's founder, Sister Helen Madeleine Ingraham, SND, served as Dean of the College from 1919 to 1950. During her tenure, she established the College's reputation for academic excellence as well as t raditions that became hallmarks for future gen erations. She received an honorary degree from the College in its Golden Jubilee year, 1969. It was a bold initiative, particularly in Build ing t he Fou ndations light of the mores of t he time. Some Following the Sisters of Notre Dame's purchase in 1912 believed that educating women was of 11 acres of land in the Fenway and the construction nothing short of dangerous, and many of the Administration Building, Emmanuel College actively opposed the growing women's welcomed its first students in 1919. As the first Dean suffrage movement. Not until1920, a year of the College, Sister Helen Madeleine set about after Emmanuel open~d its doors, did women secure establishing programs and traditions that would the constitutional right to vote in the United States. come to define Emmanuel. Building the faculty was a top priority, and she A Spirit to Match the Moment quickly appointed ~ xcellent professors-many of Sister Helen Madeleine and her contemporaries were them Sisters of Notre Dame-who taught exception­ undaunted. For one thing, they possessed a combina­ ally well and who were wholeheartedly dedicated to tion of practicality and perseverance that made them their students. She also sought degree-granting ap­ superb administrators. In a deeper sense, they be­ proval from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. lieved passionately that education was not only Her efforts are reflected in the College's charter, essential to the public good, but also, in the words of which authorizes Emmanuel to grant bachelor's St. Julie, "fundamental to bringing about the reign of and master's degrees, a latitude that would enable God." Their new educational enterprise would liberate Emmanuel to establish Graduate & Professional minds, open doors of opportunity and empower Programs in the 1970s. women to make outstanding contributions to an To create the College seal, Sister Helen Madeleine array of professions, to the Church, and to their fami­ turned to Pierre de Chaignon Ia Rose, a member of lies and communities. Harvard's faculty and a renowned expert on ecclesias­ The history of the Sisters of Notre Dame in America tical and college heraldry. Their collaboration resulted provided further inspiration. After coming from in a seal symbolizing the College's mission, location Belgium to Cincinnati in 1840, the Sisters were invited and heritage. Emblazoned with "Emmanuel" in to Boston's North End by John McElroy, S.J. (who ancient Hebrew, the seal continues to be used today would later become president of Boston College), on diplomas and in other formal contexts. In response where they opened St. Mary's School, the only Catholic to students' desire for a class ring, Sister Helen school in the City at that time. From there, they estab­ Madeleine engaged Tiffany & Co. in New York to lished schools in Cambridge and Somerville and in design the famous lapis lazuli ring, which has been mill towns such as Lynn, Lowell and Springfield, serv­ worn by generations of alumni. ing a largely immigrant population. Sister Helen The influence of this amazing woman is evident even Madeleine knew the stories of the women who had in the name of the College. In her reflection and courageously gone where their vocations led them. prayer, one name rose above all others. "I thought She shared their pioneering spirit, along with their about it very often," she wrote later, "but I never unshakeable confidence in God's goodness. thought beyond my original thought, Emmanuel Sister Helen Madeleine herself had earned a College. Emmanuel, God with us." . bachelor's degree from Trinity College in Washington, D.C., pursued graduate studies at Oxford University and "The Emmanuel Effect"- Then and Now taught for ll years at Notre Dame Academies in Lowell, During Sister Helen Madeleine's tenure as Dean, many Roxbury and Boston-experiences that made her equal of the students at Emmanuel were the first in their to the challenge of founding a Catholic college for families to attend college. Each day, they commuted women in the heart of a historic and vibrant U.S. city. from throughout Greater Boston to 400 The Fenway, 2 SPRING 201 7 1919 an address they saw as a springboard to careers and Emmanuel Opens Its Doors lives that they could only dream of previously. The first Catholic college for women in New During the 1930s, in the midst of the Great England quickly takes its place among other Depression, the College created a Placement Bureau­ rising stars in the Fenway and Longwood neigh­ a forerunner of today's Career Center-to help borhoods of Boston. Harvard Medical School, students and graduates find professional positions, the Museum of Fine Arts, Fenway Park, the fore­ further propelling them to the forefront of new runners of Brigham and Women's Hospital, and opportunities. Graduates found that their liberal arts other future world-renowned institutions and sciences education gave them an edge in the job had recently opened nearby. market . Several of the first woman judges, for example, came from the classes of the 1930s and 1920s 1940s. Students who majored in the sciences in the <l> ·'";:: Graduates Excel in the ~ 1940s went on to work for organizations such as D :.:J RCA, Gen eral Electric and the Massachusetts Liberal Arts and Sciences .?:­ '§ Institute of Technology. At a time when women's educational options are limited, Emmanuel offers a curriculum rooted in -~c The achievements of graduates then-and through­ ::> the liberal arts and sciences. The College's first 29 <l> out the decades that followed-attest to the extra­ ~ :::> ordinary value of an Emmanuel education. As the graduates receive degrees in chemistry, English, E' French, history, Latin, mathematics, political 2"' feature stories in this issue of Emmanuel Magazine ui make clear, the College today continues to act as an science and Spanish. Emmanuel continues to -~ .c add academic programs throughout the decade . ~ engine of mobility for promising young women and <( .?;> .iii men. While they hail from a much broader array of Q; backgrounds, states and countries than did the first 1930s ·c:> ::> students, our current students experience the same Advancing Social Justice "0c profound impact of the ideals that Sister Helen Students' invite activist and journalist "'c 0 Madeleine did so much to advance. .., Dorothy Day to campus in 1933 for lectures u ~ In two years, the College will mark its 100th anniver­ and discussions.