Education for Service

It happens every year. The ecstasy, and then . . . not the agony, but something far from ecstasy.

The ecstasy happens on Friday morning at UMass Boston’s commencement. The opposite occurs the next day, Saturday around 5 p.m.

BEFORE 

AFTER

The transformation from one state to another is utterly complete. Friday’s shimmers of pride, glistening here, with toddlers clutching their mother, the “graduate;” glistening there, through a multitude of stoles standing at attention on their black graduation robes, brilliantly representing a nation, a cause, a hope for something great; or a literally glistening magnanimous blue ocean, stretching forth from the commencement lawn and stage. Each wave whispers to those commencing the new era of opportunity that their UMass Boston education will afford, “look out at your future — wide, deep, — boundless.”

A few hours more than 24  I peer out of the the ballroom-side windows of the Campus Center and view desertion. The only detectable movement is the elongated spots of white inching slowly across the harbor. And a sea of chairs, crumpled, strewn, empty.

Things remind us of things. The chairs remind me of match sticks, used, tossed, done. The thousands of gray plastic pieces with their sharp angles seem as if they swallowed and then spit out the preceding day’s jubilation.

It has become a privilege to experience these extremes — the widest smiles on one day —  the saddest chairs the next. Perhaps, more so this year.

After taking in this view, I about face and enter the ballroom to meet the members of the State College at Boston Class of 1963. They share celebrating “commencement” with the preceding day’s graduates, but in the opposite direction. Fifty years since they crossed their Huntington Avenue campus court yard to receive their diploma.I feel unusually connected to this group. I was born the year they graduated. Their 50 is also my 50. We both share five decades of passage.

“Her first assignment? Roxbury. An elementary school on Ruggles Street. Seventy children representing every stripe of educational maturation. Go to it. Teach.”

When our guests have been seated for dinner, I find a spot at one table. Three affable former teachers are relishing the renewal of their friendship and telling me how much they enjoyed their years as educators, one in elementary school, another teaching middle school math, a third as high school French teacher for forty years. “I loved every second of being a teacher,” said one of them. “But I didn’t love every day.” Somehow I understood that. My mother was a public educator too, and would have been just about these retired teachers’ age.

A more reticent woman sat to my right. She had a walker and her voice quivered. Professor Ann Gavin Deplacido ’51. She was one of three former Boston State College professors who joined the party. During the speaking program, two others had come to the podium to receive  bouquets of flowers, so I was surprised that she also was a former professor.

Professor Gavin — as she was know to her former students —  a trail blazer. After graduating from Emmanuel, her first job was as an interpreter for a government agency in Washington. But a nagging desire to be a teacher wouldn’t quit, so she enrolled at Teachers College of the City of Boston to pursue a master’s degree. Her first assignment? Roxbury. An elementary school on Ruggles Street. Seventy children representing every stripe of educational maturation. Go to it. Teach.

She did.  There was the boy who would steal his classmate’s chocolate Devil Dog every day. And the clever mother of that classmate, who filled her son’s Devil Dog with mustard. Justice.

“Now an octogenarian, Professor Gavin’s tales personified the college’s motto, ‘Education for Service.’

In the 50’s there were few women with doctorates in education. Dr. Looney, then the president of Teachers College, encouraged Ann to pursue her PhD. She went to B.C. and became the only Teacher’s College education professor with a doctorate. She taught generations of future teachers, like the energetic and positive alumni who filled the ballroom.

Teachers retire really well I thought. Not monetarily necessarily, but they dwarf other professions in the fulfillment category.  They love to learn and love to help others love to learn. That’s what they did day in and out for decades, they stayed open to ideas and experiences, and had almost unparalleled capacity to nurture human connection.  After they leave the classroom they continue to coast confidently atop the waves of what there’s still to learn.

What good  fortune to sit next to these retired teachers, and their professor, not only an alumna, but someone who is a pillar of the Boston State College legacy. Now an octogenarian, Professor Gavin’s tales personified the college’s motto, “Education for Service.”

But unlike her peer professors in the room, she hadn’t received flowers. Her brother and escort, seated nearby, whispered to me, “the other two got flowers. Not to make a big deal, but we were wondering why Ann didn’t get flowers. There’s a bouquet still near the podium and we were thinking, well maybe its for her.” I went to find out. “No rush, no rush, please. . .”, Ann said.

My colleague told me that indeed they were for Professor Gavin. They couldn’t locate her earlier.

The author/blogger presents flowers to Retired Professor Ann Gavin Deplacido ’51 

Precious moments. They come only once in awhile. And here one was. I got to present Professor Ann Gavin Deplacido ’51 with a small token of UMass Boston’s gratitude.

My new friend radiated appreciation. From the matchstick chairs to this marvelous moment, things felt complete.

Graduates go forth to start careers, build lives and the university empties; but that vacuum is filled by new generations who embrace the ultimate gift — learning. And on a hot Saturday evening in June, UMass Boston saw the result of its mission return.

In this university’s unique history, through the legacy of Boston State, these graduates not only flourished because of what they received on Huntington Avenue five decades ago, they became the pulse of public education by educating generations of citizens for Boston and the world.

___________________________________________________________

The Graduates of the Class of 1963 presented their Class Gift to Chancellor Motley at their reunion dinner.

It will support the Boston Teachers College Scholarship Fund, which is nearing its $500,000 goal. The scholarship supports UMass Boston students preparing to be teachers in the College of Education and Human Development.

To support the fund, you may make a gift online here>

Nan Cormier is director of advancement communications

alumni.umb.edu

State College at Boston  50th Reunion Dinner 

Welcome by  Len DeAngelis, June 1, 2013 ©

Len DeAngeles Welcomed his classmates to their 50th Reunion.

As our reunion committee representative, Welcome, welcome to the celebration of our 1963 graduation.
Seeing you is a cue for “Tonight, We are young.”

Friendship, the defining characteristic of our class, got us through academic challenges, and gets us through life challenges. When the Beatles sing, “I get by with a little help from my friends,” we inspired them.

Katharine Graham, who took over the WASHINGTON POST after her husband’s suicide, said in her eulogy of friend Meg Greenfield:

”Death should come sooner rather than later, with as little pain as possible, while we still have all our marbles.” Join me in a moment of silence while we remember friends who have gone sooner, yet, maybe serving Someone else, somewhere else.
Thank you.

William Saroyan, wrote, “In the Time of Your Life, live…” Living means giving, giving money and giving time. Students attending our university today leave with more than we did. Most have the burden of tuition loans that as friends, we can help ease. While we managed to find the $100 a semester, and most graduated without tuition debt, “The Times Are [have] a Changing.”

My granddaughter thinks money is a boring gift, and when asked what she wanted for her 6th birthday replied, “Will you come to my party and slide down the slide at Scooter’s Jungle?” At her young age, she values time more than money. If a monetary donation is a challenge, donate time; as we “Live” Give” for our friends who, when we “call out my name…come running” into our memory, and in so doing feed our motto, Education for Service, that is part of our DNA.

Embodying that motto, we inspired Carole King to put our actions into lyrics. Regardless of personal challenges, we “got up every morning with a smile on y[our] face and show the world all the love in y[our] he“art”[s].” The love in our heart, was “art,” the “art” of teaching and learning, the “art” of exemplifying, “You Got a Friend,” for our students, and the current students of this university. Whatever we have accomplished, our graduation from what is now UMass, was our “start.”
When asked “Who will serve?” and a hand rises, often alone, it isn’t a muscle spasm we need to excuse, but an example, like our class mate and friend, Hank Mahoney, who came from military service to serve us four years as class president, making history then, and serving as an example now.

Albert Schweitzer said, “I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I do know: the only ones who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.”
Fast forward fifty years, we went from studying history to being history, and our opportunities for “service” continues: Inspire, and exemplify our motto. Does any act make you feel more “beautiful” than when you do for others? Get up every morning with a smile on your face because you are, and you’ve got, a friend.

Peace,
Welcome!
Welcome home.
Welcome to UMass.
Welcome to Boston!

Boston Strong!
Boston, what?
Thank you!

REACHING A NICE MILESTONE: Former standout runner and track coach Billy Squires was honored for his 80th birthday on November 24, 2012.

Original source: Herald.com>

In 1951, Woburn High standout Dave Ryan twice finished second in both the Middlesex League outdoor mile and in the league cross country championships. Both times, Ryan was beaten to the tape by a gangly, blond-haired youth from Arlington High named Bill Squires.

“That was a long time ago, but he was a class act. He was the best runner in our area. The best,” the 78-year-old Ryan said of Squires. “He was one of the best runners in the East. He went out to Notre Dame, but he would have been real famous if he had stayed here because he would have won more titles around here.”

Squires did go on to fame as a distance running coach, most notably with the Greater Boston Track Club. And Saturday, on the occasion of his 80th birthday, Ryan and a host of Squires’ colleagues and former runners will gather at Boston College’s Corcoran Commons to honor the man who has been a success at the high school, college and international level.

In addition to the Greater Boston Track Club, Squires has coached at Wakefield High, Boston State College, Liberty A.C. (the nation’s oldest women’s running club), SISU (Finnish for perseverance/determination) and UMass-Boston. While at Boston State from 1965-1978, he directed the so-called “Squires Flyers” to 49 team titles, producing 16 All-Americans. With GBTC from 1974-80, Squires guided Bill Rodgers, Alberto Salazar and Greg Meyer to a combined six men’s open division titles at the Boston Marathon.

In honor of Squires, event planners hope to establish a fund called, “RunStrong . . . RunSmart,” to help support the academic and athletic endeavors of young runners.

“For us in the GBTC or one of the other groups he coached, he helped us all to rise to a national or world level and he did it while having fun,” Rodgers said of Spires. “He opened our minds to the possibility. It all came about because of his background as a top-level runner. He was also unique because he had a unique way of phrasing things, too. He was just different as so many great coaches are. It comes out of personal experience.

“Squires coached so many to a high level and that’s the difference. It was not just one, two or three runners. He coached so many to world or national class, and that’s what is so unique.”

During a stellar college career, Squires established Notre Dame records for both indoor and outdoor miles and was a two-time All-America in cross-country in 1954 and 1955.

Notre Dame teammate Dale Vandenberg, who captained the Irish to the NCAA cross country title in 1957, said Squires was a bit of a pioneer.

“Bill was really the first big star that (coach) Alex Wilson had, in my mind. He was the building block of that program. He was a trendsetter,” Vandenberg said of Squires. “You could always depend upon him even if his tongue was hanging down around his knees.”

Former BC mile star Jack McDonald, a founding member of the GBTC, said the Squires imprint on the running community is unmatched.

“He reshaped the lives of a lot of individuals, myself included,” said McDonald, now the athletic director at Quinnipiac. “He kind of ignited the running boom in the greater Boston area, which affected the world.”

Boston University coach Bruce Lehane, who earned All-America status under Squires as a middle-distance runner at Boston State, pointed to Squires’ personal manner.

“Bottom line, the single-most thing that stands out is (Squires’) respect of athletes,” Lehane said. “There wasn’t any instance where he did not give you support no matter how you did, and he always had success. The other thing was the fun we had. I can remember always coming home with a smile on my face.”

UMass Hall of Fame runner Randy Thomas, who now coaches the BC women’s cross country team cited the coach’s generosity.

“Many times he took money out of his own pocket to buy books for students at Boston State,” Thomas said. “He had an extremely positive influence, not only on my coaching but, as a person later in life. It makes you want to give back like he did.”

Thomas set a world record for the 30 kilometers (1:30:44), under Squires’ guidance. Thomas noted that the National AAU cross country championship was the one elusive team title that Squires wanted to win desperately. Finally, in 1979, the GBTC and an all-star crew of Rodgers, Salazar, Meyer, Thomas, Bob Hodge and Dan Dillon won, placing five runners in the top 12.

“He couldn’t enjoy it. He was sick as a dog with gallstones,” Thomas said of Squires. “We wheeled him from the hotel to the course. He watched us win and then we wheeled back to the hotel and put him to bed!”

For more information on the birthday celebration, go to www.coachsquires80th.com.

Connect with Boston State College
through UMass Boston

by Marvin Pave

View Article at Boston.com>

Carol DeSouza, 2012 Boston State College Education for Service honoree (right) stands with (after Carol right to left) Chancellor J. Keith Motley, and fellow honorees John G. Flores ’71 and Selma Sax ’63.

Former Boston State College employee Carol DeSouza recently received the 2012 Boston State College Education for Service award. Here she reflects on that institution’s legacy.

This celebration each year gives us all the opportunity to renew our memories — and I certainly do not have as many years of memories as most of you…  It also gives us the opportunity to celebrate a living legacy —and keep the Mission and Memory of BSC alive…  and this is where I do want to spend a few minutes this evening…

View Ceremony Video>

My experiences at Boston State came at a critical time… and it gave me perhaps the unique opportunity to see the expressions of pride, the fight, the reasons for the arguments, the history — to relive some of the legacy.
I saw firsthand the spirit of togetherness — togetherness in crisis perhaps… but nonetheless, the opportunity for many faculty and students who may not have expressed such feelings about the place, to suddenly come forth and express appreciation and candor…

But tonight I would like to highlight another part of this community — namely the administrators and staff who many times are overlooked in describing or praising or remembering an institution and a legacy…  Beyond the faculty and students are the folks behind the scenes who support the institution, who are committed, who successfully handled many changes through the years…

In 1979, I shared an office with Linda Perotta in the Office of Grants and Contracts under Ray Rothermel…. And I wrote with the team of people who developed grants for federal and state, corporate and foundation funding… and we were very successful in this endeavor, despite the times and uncertainty..…  some of the programs are still in operation to this day… some have become even degree programs here at UMB.

One such grant was under the guidance of Leo Hanley and Carol Nectow to develop a Reading Clinic and Afterschool program in Roxbury— which is still in some form of operation at this time… BSC was certainly an important member of the community in which it was located…

As I worked, I listened to the ideas of many faculty members (Jack Looney, Terry Mortimer, and Marty Quitt) so as to write the grants and fill in the chapters…

•    I heard reasons why BSC was such an integral part of the community…
•    I heard about the history of that place…
•    I saw the enthusiasm of the faculty…
•    I saw the commitment to improve things …
•     and do what was needed to get more monies to support expansions…

These were the reasons our grant proposals were so successful — they expressed — not just answers to survey questions in an RFP…  but rather the heart and soul of an institution   We were able to put on paper the “legacy” of an institution, and one that was struggling to keep its legacy alive… to stay with an established, powerful identity while striving to influence a new structure and prepare for the uncertain future…

From my own very unique perspective —

•    I was almost on the outside looking in
•    I had no allegiances (I was being paid by Harvard not the state)
•    I had no agenda, no ax to grind…

I was not feeling the pain myself, so others were able to use my shoulder to cry on …  to express their uncertainty, to share their grief about their pending loss… to worry about the travel to another institution in higher education somewhere in the state..  But while the faculty members were worried about such things, the staff members had more to be concerned about…

•    Were there enough secretaries over at the Harbor or downtown at Park Street?

•    Were there enough people working in the Registrar’s Office (Kevin Radley)?  How about Financial Aid? Mary Mahoney and Ed Zaleskas asking about Admissions

•    How do they run the Counseling and Advising activities over at the Harbor? What about Continuing Ed (Reca Quarles)

•    Do they have a full staff in their library?  What about IT?

•    How many are in Facilities?  Do they need plumbers and electricians?

•    What about that Institute for Learning and Teaching — what does that mean for the College of Education?

•    What about John Silber’s objections to the continuation of the Nursing School?

On the Monday after Thanksgiving in 1979, we placed in the mail the proposal for the Title III Federal grant — one that was completed the Thursday before in Ray Rothermel’s den while his wife Donna was finishing the turkey and stuffing in their kitchen…  Linda Perrotta, Marty Quitt, and others were involved…

I was told in Washington D.C. when the proposal was eventually funded that it was one of the best works of fiction they had ever read — you see Title III is for Strengthening Developing Institutions — we asked for $3 million for an institution started in 1852 , not one just developing — but in the turning of the regulations, we scrambled to rewrite some portions and we made it a grant for an institution developing into a new institution, a new model.

Some programs which were developed from the Title III monies are still influencing this institution today (e.g. Instructional Media Lab is now a Master’s program In Instructional Design… the Student Support Services program is alive and well… and thanks to Ellie Kutz, was one of the perfect scoring proposals of its time!)

But I don’t want to paint those years as all “peaches and cream”  —  far from it…
I personally found it most hurtful in the graduation ceremony in June 1982, sitting in the Clark gym in the bleachers holding my cap and gown — you see I was told that only faculty members march in with the students — very different from our “family celebrations” at BSC…. especially after a semester of moving trucks, and resettling furniture which did survive on the upper floors of the Tower Building!

Then of course some of you may remember the “Walled Off Astoria” — the new home of the College of Education on the third floor of the Science building… with “walls” made by carefully placing the file cabinets… well not so carefully – some of them came crashing down!

Fast forward to 2006 — On January 24th as I approached Darryl Byers in the Advancement Office and said what are you doing next year at this time… and I told him he would be celebrating the 25th Silver Anniversary of the merger with Boston State… and would be Reviving that legacy which for many years had been kept under wraps… we would be celebrating again…   I am very glad I pushed this agenda!!!

I have recently retired after devoting my entire almost 45 year career to public service — the last 33 years of which were initiated at Boston State College.. and I am very happy that I have this opportunity to … as I said earlier…

………celebrate a living legacy — and keep the Mission and Memory of BSC alive…

Distinguished members of the Boston State Community have preceded me in receiving this award — from scholars of military history to outstanding educators in Early Childhood Education, to leadership in the State College system…

You have given me the opportunity to celebrate my achievements as a staff member at BSC… and remember BSC as a community of tremendous educators, learners and achievers.. and a most talented group of staff to support all of them!

On behalf of the many others who worked from behind the scenes… who may have been more vulnerable than the faculty… but who had to fit in… I gratefully accept this award only if you allow me to share it with many..

—As my name goes up on the plaque in the BSC Room, please read it and remember the names of the many administrators and staff it represents…. Also I would ask that Harry Brett include all administrators and staff members of BSC who are here tonight in the photo..

We… together…  thank you very much… we are humbled and grateful for this honor!

This speech was given by Ursula Tafe, the granddaughter of Dr. William Looney, former president of Boston State, at a portrait unveiling on June 5, 2010. Tafe is a political science lecturer at UMass Boston. The portrait hangs in the UMass Boston Boston State Room at the Campus Center.

Thank you Chancellor Motley for your kind words of introduction, and for your constant and genuine efforts to keep the memory, spirit, and mission of Boston State College (and its predecessor institutions) alive and well at the University of Massachusetts Boston.

We are here tonight to celebrate Boston State College, and its first president, my grandfather, Dr. William F. Looney. I grew up hearing stories about Boston State College, and I was always proud when I heard my grandfather/papa, addressed as “President Looney.”

I learned in my youth, as all his 17 grandchildren did, that Papa had worked his whole life as a teacher, and that the proudest accomplishment of his career was the creation of Boston State College. When the decision was made to close Boston State, and incorporate it into UMass Boston, I remember my grandfather was sad, but I don’t remember him being angry. And while I know now — that the decision was controversial at the time, and perhaps to some it so remains, my experiences — after eight years of teaching here — make me see the relationship between Boston State and UMass Boston as a union, one which like a marriage, made each partner stronger.

The union of Boston State College and UMass Boston is, to this day, a union of flesh and blood; from the University’s Provost, Winston Langley, to Jack Looney, whose efforts were so central to making this evening possible, to my own colleague in the Department of Political Science and the McCormack Graduate School, Professor Robert Weiner — the halls and classrooms of UMass Boston continue to be filled by those who knew my grandfather, or were part of the Boston State College Community.

But the best, and the truest reflection of the ‘more perfect union’ created when Boston State and UMass Boston were joined — is its students who now number 15,000 strong. I consider myself unbelievably lucky to spend my days surrounded by exactly the kinds of hard-working and dedicated students for whom my grandfather dedicated his life, and worked so long and hard to make Boston State College a reality.

My grandfather understood, from his own experiences and from those of many others, that the opportunity for a quality higher education was not a privilege bestowed only upon those with the proper pedigree or economic means; higher education was not the exclusive domain of those of a particular race, religion or national origin. My grandfather believed — to his core — that the opportunity for a first class college education is a right. A right should be made accessible to any man or woman, of any race, religion or national origin — who is able and willing to put forth the effort that is required to achieve it.

The mission — and passion — that drove my grandfather throughout his professional life, was to make sure that those who were prepared to work hard to achieve their dreams would have an opportunity to do so. This is the same mission — and the same passion — that is found at the University of Massachusetts Boston. The same mission and passion that the Chancellor, the Provost, and all the faculty and staff here strive to fulfill each and every day.

UMass Boston is an institution of higher education that welcomes students who might otherwise have give up on their dreams; students, who in their youth may not have live up to their potential get a second chance, and sometimes even a third, at UMB; students who may have delayed t heir dreams of going to college so they could serve their country in the armed forces, and now, having returned — often after experiencing war — are eager to begin the next, hopefully, more peaceful, stage of their lives; students who chose first to work and raise a family, but now are able to dedicate energy to their own dreams of going to college.

These are the students of UMass Boston; through decades removed from my grandfather’s career, and from the brick and mortar of Boston State College, they are the same students my grandfather adored, believed in, and helped to build a college to educate. These are the students that all of us at UMass Boston continue to adore, believe in and help to educate.

There is a moment every year, when the missions of Boston State College and UMass Boston are joined and witnessed by thousands: it’s during my favorite part of the commencement ceremony, when the Chancellor asks all those seniors who are the first in t heir families to graduate from college to rise; with those words, a wave o black gowns and mortarboards — adorned with golden tassels — sweeps across the campus lawn and is met by a flood of applause.

It is in this moment, that the “ripple effect” of education is on full display. Each of these seniors who is the first in their family to graduate from college will have opportunities in life that would never have been possible otherwise — their children, will have high expectations of themselves and further opportunities made available to them, and so on and so on.

My grandfather knew that this is the true power of education. He witnessed the reality and force o this power in his own family. As the first in his family to graduate from college, my grandfather passed the expectations of working hard in school and taking advantage of opportunities that come your way, onto his children: Bill, Jr., Ursula and Anne. each of whom went on to gain advanced degrees and enter professional careers in education law. They, in turn, passed the same — and perhaps more demanding–expectations onto their children.

Whether my siblings and cousins decided to follow their parents into education or law, as many of us have, or ventured on their own paths in: social work or business, carpentry or music, advocating on behalf of those with substance abuse problems, becoming a pastry chef or homemaker, whether they chose to join the Peace Corp or join the circus . . . each of my grandfather’s grandchildren has been a beneficiary of the choices and opportunities that were made possible, almost a century ago, when he took advantage of the opportunities for high education that were made available to him.

My grandfather was an educator his whole life, in the classroom and beyond. From teaching his grandchildren to drive, to agreeing to a third grade show-and-tell display when one of his grandchildren was asked to bring in an item from the 19th century; to hold us all mesmerized during those dark days, when the wicked curse of the Bambino still hung heavy over Boston, of Red Sox World Series Victories!! He never stopped teaching; this was, for him, the purpose of his life. I want to conclude my remarks-which I’m afraid have gone on too long — by thanking Chancellor Motley again for his presence here this evening. And, in recognition of his continued support of my grandfather’s beloved Boston State College, his children — Bill Looney, Ursula Tafe, and Anne Paulsen, along with their spouses — Larry Tafe and Fred Paulson, would like to make a donation to the university, to be used for whichever purpose you believe to be most worthy.