Richard Keeley, senior associate dean for undergraduate programs in the Carroll School of Management and BC ’72, will step down from this position at the end of the semester to entire retirement, according to a memo sent to faculty and staff by CSOM Dean Andy Boynton. Ethan Sullivan, associate dean of the undergraduate program, will take his place on June 1, and Amy LaCombe, a Portico faculty member, will fill Sullivan’s current role.
Keeley spent 43 years working at BC, taking on various roles across the University. He started off his BC career as the inaugural director of PULSE, the for-credit program that requires students to complete eight hours of community service per week, while also fulfilling the requirement for theology and philosophy. In 1991, he joined CSOM as an assistant dean for administration, and later served as the director for the school’s Winston Center for Leadership and Ethics.
“I want to once again thank Dick for his decades of dedicated, intelligent, and impactful leadership at Boston College,” Boynton said.
Sullivan entered his current role in 2008 and has been responsible for providing strategic direction and integration of curricular initiatives in CSOM’s undergraduate program. This includes the freshman-year Portico Program, which he teaches in. LaCombe has taught numerous courses in accounting, in addition to her experience teaching Portico, and has worked at BC for over 18 years.
Keeley told The Chronicle that he is grateful to have witnessed Boston College flourish through a period of immense growth and expansion. The University has enhanced its presence through a number of multi-million dollar projects in the past few decades, from the construction of Stokes Hall at the end of 2012 to O’Neill Library in 1984.
“What I’ve seen is a new confidence and ambition about BC—a refreshing self-assurance about what it can become,” Keeley said. “At the same time, I see continuity. BC continues to draw students of remarkable generosity, who feel the call to serve and share their gifts, through pulse and the Faith, Peace and Justice Program, Appalachia Volunteers, and similar programs.”
He is also a long-time fan of writer and activist Jane Jacobs, and will focus on a project that entails writing a general introduction to her work in his retirement. Jacobs led epoch battles during the late 1950s and early 1960s against New York City’s urban renewal. Keeley encouraged Jacobs to speak at BC as the director of PULSE and ultimately inspired her to make the University the repository of her papers, which now sit in the Burns Library. The papers are looked at as a prime source for several books about Jacobs and her ideas, and the trove is the most visited research collection at Burns.
“I feel very fortunate to have been part of this community, and to have been able to contribute in some way to its progress,” Keeley said.
Featured Image by Taylor Perison / Heights Staff
