When given a few vague prompts, ChatGPT spits out this generic, if grammatically flawless, Convocation speech to be delivered at Endicott: “As you stand on this beautiful campus overlooking the sweeping views of the Atlantic, you are not just in Beverly, Massachusetts. You’re at the starting line of one of the most transformative journeys of your life. Endicott is not just a place; it’s an experience, a challenge, a community, and from today—it’s your home.”

Semahagn Abebe hasn’t been able to set foot in Ethiopia since 2007 when he was forced to seek political asylum. For nearly two decades, the Associate Professor of International Studies has tirelessly advocated for Ethiopian human rights from abroad while giving undergraduates the opportunity to gain real perspectives on international law, advocacy, and African politics...

What you might not realize is that back before she made it big as an author, Moreno-Garcia was first a Gull, majoring in communications, working her way through college as a Resident Assistant at Endicott’s very own haunted house, Winthrop Hall, which legend says is stalked by the ghost of the Pink Lady. “There’s a door in the stairwell that goes nowhere, but I can confidently say that while patrolling the halls at night as an RA, I never saw anything other than students trying to trick each other into believing they’d seen a ghost,” said the 2003 graduate from the Vancouver, British-Columbia, townhouse she shares with her family. Is it possible that the idea of the Pink Lady subconsciously came up in her latest book, Silver Nitrate, in which a vision of a main character’s dead, mangled girlfriend visits him in a claustrophobic hallway after midnight? Perhaps, but Moreno-Garcia said bluntly, “I don’t believe in the supernatural—and I especially don’t believe in the supernatural in that dorm.”

“From the time I got my first computer I was selling things online,” said Isa Wang, BFA ‘11. He and his partner, Vincent Frano (who holds a certificate in Illustration from SMFA), co-own Small Victories, a studio selling plantable greeting cards, original prints, pronoun badges, and accessories that promote sustainability, equity, and inclusion...

Art won’t last forever. Heather Cox. MFA '98, would argue that artists often make their art intending for it to die one day. In fact, it’s Cox’s job as Executive Coordinator of the Conservation Department of the Whitney Museum of American Art to interpret artists’ wishes when it comes to the care and feeding of their greatest works...

In Colombia, approximately 60 percent of gold extraction originates from an informal sector known as artisanal and small-scale gold mining. Among them are “las chatarreras,” women who arrive early in the morning at the mines to scavenge and collect rocks or tailings discarded by male miners. Through a project launched in 2020, MIT D-Lab is working with these women to help them build a labor movement focused on reducing gender-based violence and environmental degradation...

One of Wentworth’s most beloved and dedicated alumni, Keith Blackey EE ‘73, passed away at age 78 in North Las Vegas on July 8, 2023. Although he lived on the West Coast for four decades, Mr. Blackey made a regular pilgrimage to the university to attend the Annual Veterans Luncheon. For weeks before each year’s event, Mr. Blackey, a veteran himself, would painstakingly cut out all 50 individual stars from retired American flags. These would then be handed out to each guest with a handshake...

The co-captain of Endicott Cheerleading, Erin McDermott ’24, has been flying through the air since she was just a preschooler cheering in curls and bows in her hometown of Abington, Mass. The sport is her life. “I love the feeling of being thrown ten or 20 feet into the air. I’ve always thrived off the pressure of performing in front of a crowd,” she said. These days, the math major can be found either on the football field or at the head of the class doing just that...

Milind Agtey (MBA ’79) learned early on in his career that making the right gut decisions can save lives. As an officer and, later, a captain of a ship in the Indian Merchant Navy, he was stationed aboard cargo ships and oil tankers 24-hours a day, seven days a week, circling the globe three times each year — sometimes through dangerously rough waters. From the instant a sailor falls overboard in freezing water, he explained, you have just 10 seconds to rescue them before hypothermia sets in...

Empowering the Teachers (ETT), a program launched at MIT in 2011, is helping to change the face of engineering education in Nigerian universities. The program brings talented Nigerian academics at the postdoctoral level to MIT for a semester-long immersive experience, then sends them back out into the field to teach, research, and grow into influential leadership roles in their higher education system. So far, 96 fellows have participated in the program. Amir Bature, a fall 2019 MIT-ETT fellow, is one of them...

At U.S. colleges and universities, men are twice as likely as women to major in economics. But a team of three Wellesley economists has concluded that among students admitted to Wellesley, those who ultimately enrolled at the College were 94% more likely to receive an economics degree than those who chose to study elsewhere. The National Bureau of Economic Research recently released the team’s findings in a working paper: “Women’s Colleges and Economics Major Choice: Evidence from Wellesley College Applicants.” “At the College we often say that Wellesley encourages women to go into fields that they might not have had access to if they had gone to another school,” said Kristin Butcher, Marshall I. Goldman Professor of Economics and one of the paper’s co-authors. “[We] set out to see if that was really true.”

One 2022 Jeopardy! clue read, “Feminist Mary Wollstonecraft, who died shortly after giving birth, and this daughter, are the subject of Romantic Outlaws.” Who is Mary Shelley? And also, who is Charlotte Gordon—National Book Critics Circle Award-winning author of Romantic Outlaws—and Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at Endicott College?

When Haydée Hernandez, M.Arch'23, logged onto Zoom from her home in San Antonio, Texas, a Boston Architectural College black commencement gown, purple hood, and black beret were pressed and hanging on her closet door in the background. The next week she would venture to Boston for the first time in her life to attend her BAC commencement, walk across the stage to the applause of the 158 other Class of 2023 graduates, and receive her Online Master of Architecture degree. For the 55-year-old single mom who had worked her way through the BAC while parenting a teenager through the Covid-19 pandemic, there was a tremendous amount to celebrate...

Founded by Aspen Golann CF ’19, the Chairmaker’s Toolbox is determined to give everyone the skills and inclusive environment needed to craft their own seat at the table. There is an old photograph of Aspen Golann CF ’19 standing in the back of a woodshop in 2019, her hands clasped over her mouth as she peers into a cardboard box and screams with joy. Inside, is a toolbox. The image foreshadows Aspen’s launch of The Chairmaker’s Toolbox (CMT), a project that works toward more equitable access to chairmaking skills and tools across the United States and Australia...

At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, when many hospitals ran out of beds and ventilators, the fingertip pulse oximeter — a $20 neighborhood drugstore purchase — became a primary arbiter of whether a patient was “sick enough” to gain admission to an emergency room. This spring, surrounded by antique telescope models in a classroom tucked inside the MIT Museum, 10 students bent over a square-shaped seminar table. They were building basic pulse oximeters from low-cost do-it-yourself (DIY) kits...

In a practical exercise, she runs classes through a series of activities including, one student sitting in a borrowed wheelchair, while others observe as they simulate everyday tasks like boarding the "T", accessing a public bathroom stall, or just ordering a coffee. Simple activities are either impossible or take a frustratingly long time due to a lack of thought in the surrounding built environment...

“A few weeks ago, everything was in pieces, and nothing was complete,” Yu-Wen Wu says from the artist co-op where she lives and works in Boston’s Fort Point Channel neighborhood. Work in progress hung from the ceiling, covered every table, and lay in disarray on the floor. “But now everything has come together.”

Last spring, Associate Professor of History Elizabeth Matelski made national news when she uncovered a disturbing truth hidden in plain sight on the College’s scenic Mingo Beach. She discovered that the beach was named for Robin Mingo, an enslaved man who lived in Beverly in the 1700s...

Octavia Pinckney, M.Arch'23, has seen, “Minorities in this country have been hit disproportionately hard by environmental disasters.” Growing up in Texas, Octavia’s own family was seriously impacted by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. “I understand firsthand what not being prepared for a disaster can feel like,” they say. Katrina’s chaotic aftermath, which left so many people unhoused, motivated Octavia to build a mission-driven career in architecture...

For Melanie Casey, jewelry making started out as a hobby but turned into a dream come true. She took a leap and launched her own eponymous company in Andover, Massachusetts, and her handcrafted jewelry line sales grew exponentially in just a decade. In 2020 and 2021, Inc. Magazine named Melanie Casey as one of the fastest-growing private companies in America...