In our Fall 2016 issue, we asked you to tell us more about this photo showing Boston University Marine Program students conducting research off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. We’re still in the dark about the people in the photo and the work they’re doing—if you recognize them or just want to share your memories of studying at Woods Hole, write to the editor at thurston@bu.edu. And be sure to check out this issue’s archival photo from the first Earth Day.
I am in receipt of your current edition and you continue to allow me to bask in the reflected glory of your superlative product. As a representative and proud member of the Claflin Society, I want to congratulate you for the superlative work you do to keep me up-to-date on my schools and the communities they serve. The diversity and the topical interests that you feature not only entertain me, but educate me and make me homesick.
Thank you so very much, as I am already looking forward to your next edition. Keep up the good work!
—John J. Murray (CAS’71, MET’73)
I enjoyed the article about the work of Jan Seidler Ramirez at the 9/11 Memorial (“Honoring Life,” Fall 2016). Her work is exceptional, the task complex and monumental, the result awe-inspiring!
I was disappointed, however, by your editorial decision to only highlight the names of eight alumni lost that day. I opened the link suggested in the story to view the names of the others who were lost. The list was not so long that everyone couldn't be mentioned in the article; it made me wonder why and how you chose the names to highlight.
Given the nature of the story, “Honoring Life,” I think you missed an opportunity to honor everyone.
—Kerry Garber (DGE’68, CAS’71)
Editor’s note: The article listed only the names of the CAS and GRS alums who died on 9/11. The full list (available at bu.edu/remember/in-memoriam) included members of the broader Boston University community, such as alums of other schools and colleges and family members.
Regarding “A slice of eighties life on the BU Beach” (“From the Archives,” Spring 2016). The lab/field preparation work the students are doing is mapping topography, or something, to scale on plane tables. The skills they are learning are for geology majors. The geology department is in the building behind them, in the basement level. The windows behind them are some of the geology department labs, or one may be the geology department office.
I wish some of the narrative would have asked about the women students, often overlooked in favor of the men in the field. The women geology majors could probably be fairly easily identified by a search of female geology majors in the eighties, not a large number compared to males, as even evidenced here.
The department was welcoming to females when other universities’ geology departments were not, to the credit of BU.
—Bonnie (Hubler, Frimpter) Brunkhorst (CAS’61, GRS’62)
Brunkhorst is professor of geological sciences emeritus at California State University San Bernardino; she received both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in geology from BU.