J. 约瑟夫·伯恩斯(Joseph 伯恩斯)用一个经典的体育比喻来形容他在太阳城网赌平台(Boston College) 36年的职业生涯:“我就像一个棒球场上的全能球员,” chuckled 伯恩斯 during a recent conversation. “Whatever position they needed me to play, there I went.”
But one colleague uses a different, and more complimentary, sporting phrase to sum up 伯恩斯’ tenure at BC.
“Joe is a team player, a very humble, kind person,” said Michael Davidson, S.J., director of the Thea Bowman AHANA and Intercultural Center. “你给他提个建议，如果是为了让学生更好，他就会同意. There’s been no task too high, or too low, for him.”
乔•伯恩斯 addressing attendees at an August 12 retirement event in his honor. Beside him is a 3D printed replica of Gasson Hall. (Justin Knight)
伯恩斯, a 1967 alumnus who also graduated from Boston College High School, formally retired from BC this summer, more than three decades after returning to the Heights as an administrator. His full-time, 他的官方职位是文理学院副院长(1985-1998)和负责本科生学术事务的副教务长, but 伯恩斯’ tenure included numerous other jobs and undertakings, among them acting director of the University’s Pre-Health Program and BC’s Learning 资源 for Student Athletes office; member/chair of the committees for the Martin Luther King Jr. and the Benigno and Corazon 阿基诺 scholarships; and Athletic Advisory Board member.
He also oversaw a major Carnegie Corp.该项目名为“新时代的教师”(Teachers for a New Era)&S and the Lynch School of Education; led undergraduate program assessment efforts; spearheaded the creation of the Commencement Day processional; helped establish the Academic Advising Center; and was BC’s delegate to the New England Association of Schools and Colleges accrediting body. In 2006, 伯恩斯 received the Mary Kaye Waldron Award, which honors administrators, 教师, 以及对太阳城网赌平台学生生活产生积极影响的工作人员.
伯恩斯’ ties to BC go beyond employee and alumnus: His father, J. Joseph 伯恩斯, M.D., was the University's first director of student health, long-time chief physician for the athletic program, and a member of the BC Athletic Hall of Fame; and his sons, Dan ’03 and Chris ’04, are both graduates. 这些观点为伯恩斯对不列颠哥伦比亚省的学术发展提供了广泛而深刻的见解, formational, and spiritual elements, 他在为凯普斯通项目开发和教授的太阳城网赌平台历史课程中分享了这些内容. But appreciative as he is of its past, colleagues say, 伯恩斯 played a key role in helping the University move to the future.
“近40年来，他一直致力于为他的学生和教职员工提供服务, 乔与太阳城网赌平台家族的几代人都是朋友，并在学术事务和其他领域留下了自己的印记,” said Provost and Dean of Faculties David Quigley. “ I wish him a joyous retirement and thank him for all that he's done for BC.”
Explaining his decision to retire, 伯恩斯 said his enthusiasm for working at BC was by no means on the wane. “I loved what I was doing. 但我想到了过去几年发生的所有与大流行有关的事情, and now that BC is essentially starting over, I just felt this was the right time to step away.”
“Joe is a team player, a very humble, kind person. 你给他提个建议，如果是为了让学生更好，他就会同意. There’s been no task too high, or too low, for him.”
As a BC undergrad commuting from home, 伯恩斯主修了两年化学，然后转到社会学——当时一门相当新的学科——并在约翰·多诺万等教员的指导下蓬勃发展, Severyn Bruyn, and Ritchie Lowry. After graduating, 伯恩斯 joined the Peace Corps, eager to see more of the world and learn about other cultures. He spent two years in the Philippines working on, among other things, (“我认为你找不到太多社会学专业的学生必须上种植水稻的课程”)，同时建立了延续至今的友谊.
但在和平队训练期间的一次小组讨论中，伯恩斯有一个令人大开眼界的时刻:他谈到了他在波士顿老社区的一些密友, when another volunteer asked, “Do you have any friends who aren’t Irish?”
“That really hit me,” said 伯恩斯. “I realized how small a world I’d been living in—I loved it, 当然, 但那时我就知道，认识与自己背景和经历不同的人是多么重要. I feel that lesson has stayed with me.”
After earning graduate degrees in sociology at Yale University, 伯恩斯 accepted a 教师 post at Princeton University in 1975. Teaching at an Ivy League college might seem an enviable landing place, but 伯恩斯 found himself growing more interested in the administrative domain, 特别是在课堂之外有机会吸引学生的地方. In 1983, 他被任命为普林斯顿大学伍德罗·威尔逊学院(现在的第一学院)的太阳城官网主任, which appealed more to his evolving career path.
Still, 伯恩斯 wasn’t quite satisfied. “Princeton was wonderful. The quality of education, the standards they held for the students—all of that was very impressive to me. But it never really felt like ‘my place.“在我的内心深处，我一直在想，如果能回到不列颠哥伦比亚省该有多好.”
In 1985, he got his wish, accepting the position of A&S associate dean. 伯恩斯说:“从一开始，我就想看看大学的不同方面是如何运作的. “I was very fortunate to have that chance. 我很高兴能够更好地了解学生运动员学习资源(现为学生运动员学术服务办公室)所做的伟大工作。, for example, 并通过“新时代的教师”计划，更多地了解K-12教育和林奇学校.”
One of his earliest, and most rewarding, BC affiliations was with the MLK Memorial Committee, 它支持和赞助了一些项目，包括每年的奖学金，这些项目促进了马丁·路德·金关于社会正义和平等的理想，并关注对非洲裔美国人重要的问题
community, at BC and beyond. He later served on, and chaired, the committee for the 阿基诺 Scholarship, which honors student contributions to the Asian American community.
当时，英国广播公司正在建立一个全国性的、越来越国际化的形象, said 伯恩斯, 诸如此类的委员会和倡议强调了认识到一个更加多样化的大学的需要的重要性. While not necessarily comparable to the experience of an AHANA student, 伯恩斯, 作为东南亚的美国人和常青藤盟校的爱尔兰天主教徒, knew something of feeling like an outsider.
“很明显，不列颠哥伦比亚省必须帮助学生从其他文化过渡到高地的生活,他说. “We’ve seen many AHANA students achieve great things at BC, and the MLK and 阿基诺 scholarships are an indication of that. I’m happy to have played a role in both.”
“当你谈论一个希望AHANA学生成功的人时，乔就是那个人。. Davidson, who worked with 伯恩斯 on the MLK Committee. “他非常清楚来自弱势群体的学生进入高等教育面临的挑战. To me, Joe has
been as much of a welcoming presence for BC as Gasson Hall.”
伯恩斯还能列举出在他任职期间不列颠哥伦比亚省的其他变化——作为一个太阳城官网机构的成长，以及在校园和课程中对艺术的日益重视, to name two—but one constant has been the University’s Jesuit character.
“The Jesuits have shown continuing commitment to BC in so many ways,” said 伯恩斯, noting that the MLK, 阿基诺, 和大主教罗梅罗奖学金都是从BC耶稣会社区的资助开始的. “不列颠哥伦比亚省耶稣会的核心仍然是坚实而强大的，特别是它对反思的强调. Our students get to examine the Jesuit ideal, 这是不列颠哥伦比亚省的核心使命，不仅在课堂上，而且在宿舍和太阳城网赌平台的其他领域都是我们的指导方针.”
伯恩斯不会完全离开校园:他计划明年春天在太阳城网赌平台教授历史, stay in touch with the Pre-Med Committee, and remain active in the Cornerstone Seminars program for first-year students. 他承认，离开一个对他意义重大的社区是很困难的.
“There are so many people I’ve loved working with over the years: Jesuits, administrators, 教师, 工作人员, graduate and undergraduate students, 校友. And what they’ve all had in common is their commitment to making a difference, for BC and its students.”
Sean Smith | University Communications | August 2021