As an undergraduate student at Boston College, Richard “Dick” Keeley took part in the newly-launched PULSE, a for-credit program combining human services fieldwork and the study of philosophy and theology, under the direction of Professor of Philosophy Patrick Byrne. He served on the first PULSE organizing council in 1972 before graduating with his BA in philosophy. In 1975, Keeley returned to Boston College to serve as director of PULSE, which he developed into a more robust and stable program. By the time Keeley stepped down from PULSE in 1991, some 4,500 students had participated in the program. More than 200 undergraduates were taking part each year, serving placements in 36 area social service agencies and organizations. During his time as director of PULSE, Keeley invited writer and activist Jane Jacobs to speak, and through the resulting long-standing correspondence, convinced her to attend a symposium on ethics and economics at Boston College in 1987, and eventually to deposit her papers in the archives at Burns Library. In 1991, Keeley joined the Carroll School of Management as an assistant dean for administration and as director of programs for its Winston Center for Leadership and Ethics. He eventually became director of the Winston Center (2006-2019), and senior associate dean for undergraduate programs (2008-2018). Keeley retired from Boston College in 2018.

Sources:

Bole, William, “Dick and Jane - and Boston College: an urban story,” Carroll School News, December 1, 2016. https://www.bc.edu/bc-web/schools/carroll-school/news/2016/dick-and-jane.html

Dady, Cole, “CSOM Associate Dean Richard Keeley to Retire,” The Heights, June 1, 2020. https://www.bcheights.com/2018/05/11/csom-assoc-dean-keeley-retirement/

Smith, Sean, “From PULSE to Portico,” BC News, June 4, 2018. https://www.bc.edu/bc-web/bcnews/campus-community/announcements/richard-keeley-retires.html

Jane Jacobs (née Butzner) was born on May 4, 1916, in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the daughter of John Butzner, a physician, and Bess Robison Butzner. After graduating from Scranton's Central High School, Jacobs briefly trained to become a stenographer before taking a position as a reporter with the Scranton Tribune. In 1938, she moved to New York City and attended Columbia University's School of General Studies for two years. In the years that followed, she held a number of writing and editing jobs. In 1944, she married Robert Hyde Jacobs, Jr., an architect, with whom she had three children: James Kedzie (1948), Edward Decker (1950), and Mary Hyde (1955).

In 1952, Jacobs became an associate editor at Architectural Forum magazine, where she was introduced to the topics of city planning and rebuilding. She wrote a book sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation that focused on American cities; The Death and Life of Great American Cities was published in 1961 and went on to become Jacobs's most well-known book. In addition to her writing, Jacobs was also an activist. She was arrested in 1968 after she disrupted a public meeting about the Lower Manhattan Expressway, a project she opposed.

Jacobs moved to Toronto with her family in 1969 in part due to her objection to the Vietnam War. She quickly became an influential figure in Toronto and soon after her arrival helped to stop plans for the construction of the Spadina Expressway. Jacobs became a Canadian citizen in 1974. She continued to write on topics including urban issues, Canadian cities and sovereignty, and economics. Jacobs was nominated to the Order of Canada in 1996 for her work on urban development. Her last book, Dark Age Ahead, was published in 2004. Jane Jacobs died on April 25, 2006, in Toronto.

Sources:

Allen, Max, ed. Ideas That Matter: The Worlds of Jane Jacobs. Ontario: Ginger Press, 1997.

Jacobs, Jane. Architect's Journal. November 22, 1961.

"Jane Jacobs." In Contemporary Authors Online. Accessed 2006.