CAS, SED Staffers Honored for Service to the University
Three named this year’s John S. Perkins Award winners
A general theme played out in this year’s John S. Perkins Distinguished Service Award winners’ nomination letters: each was cited not only for long-term commitment to the University but for ability to creatively troubleshoot, often in ways that go well above and beyond their job descriptions. The awards are bestowed annually on BU nonfaculty members in recognition of their dedication to the University.
The 2016 awards go to Marianne Taylor, senior grants administrator in the School of Education, Lisa Doherty, director of facilities in the College of Arts & Sciences, and Michael Gooley, grants administrator in the CAS chemistry department. The trio will each receive a plaque and $500 at a ceremony tonight, Wednesday, May 4, at the Metcalf Trustee Ballroom.
Taylor arrived at SED in 1978, and with the exception of two short breaks after her children were born, has spent the past 38 years in a variety of administrative posts at the school. She recalls that when she left briefly in 1982, following the birth of her first child, she “borrowed a Selectric typewriter and typed SED students’ dissertations on my kitchen table.” Beginning as a secretary, Taylor became the school’s grants administrator in 1998 and was promoted to senior grants administrator in 2014. In her current job, she helps faculty develop grant proposals and navigate award management processes. In her own words, she “helps them think about what’s needed to fulfill the scope of their project within budget constraints.” She says she especially enjoys working with junior faculty to develop their first grant application.
In one recommendation letter, a faculty member noted that her job is especially demanding because it requires her to know the ins and outs of many more funding agencies than the grant administrators at BU’s other schools and colleges, agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the US Department of Education, the US Juvenile Justice System, and the US Department of Labor. “In large research centers, the complexity of these different funding sources demands three to four specialized grant administrators,” he writes. “At SED, there is Marianne.”
Taylor says she was surprised and shocked when she learned she had won a Perkins Award. “As the distinction of the award has sunk in, I am a bit humbled by the gratitude of the faculty in honoring my work this way,” she says.
In Doherty’s role as director of facilities, she manages the multiple CAS laboratories, classrooms, and offices, as well as a theater and a telescope. “She has overseen facilities during a time of great expansion of faculty and support personnel with no new space, dealing with the day-to-day issue of facilities, as well as those associated with recruiting and settling new faculty and retention,” writes a professor in one of her recommendation letters. “The needs often far outstrip the available space or resources, and while there are constant demands, the seasonality of demand creates unbelievable pressure points with literally scores of people expecting a lot to happen ‘now.’”
Doherty has been at BU for 38 years, in roles that include executive assistant to the dean of CAS and chief of staff for the provost. In 2001, she assumed her current role, where she has the ability to be a change-agent, she says, for facility improvements and space enhancements. She oversees projects from their infancy to final completion.
“The most gratifying projects are those that are for the betterment of our student and faculty community,” Doherty says, giving examples such as classroom enhancements like comfortable, visually pleasing furnishings and smart technology, a lab expansion or renovation, or a simple office renovation that enhances someone’s working environment.
“Methodical,” “vigilant,” and “meticulous” are just three of the adjectives used by one faculty member to describe Gooley’s work ethic and dedication to the chemistry department in his role as grants administrator. “Many of my chemistry colleagues are quite brilliant and have world-renowned scholarly reputations, but without Mike’s attentiveness and attention to detail, the flow of money keeping their personnel and supplies properly funded would simply be a mess,” the professor wrote. Gooley’s grant applications and financial management skills have had a positive impact elsewhere at the University, he added, pointing out that Gooley was one of the first in the department to embrace BUWorks, and he learned the system so well that others soon came to him for help.
“My initial reaction to the Perkins win was complete surprise, followed by feeling deeply honored and grateful,” says Gooley, who has been with the chemistry department for 25 years.
His coworkers say they are the ones who are indebted. One recommendation letter describes him as a “quiet, unassuming asset” to the department and the University, but someone whose “contributions have had broad impact without attracting much attention.” The writer goes on to say: “We think that the legacy of good service that Mike has provided to his colleagues for more than two decades deserves to be noted and celebrated.”
The Perkins Awards are presented by the Faculty Council and are funded by an endowment from the late John S. Perkins, a former University faculty member, administrator, trustee, and treasurer. Faculty nominate candidates, who can be staff members, students, trustees, alumni, benefactors, or members of the administration. Each nomination must be accompanied by at least three letters of support. The Faculty Council’s Awards Committee then reads each letter and recommends four to six finalists. Faculty Council members make the final decision, selecting three winners. Letters are carried forward from year to year so nominees can be reconsidered.
“It was an honor to lead the Faculty Council Awards Committee in review of nominees from across campus, and the committee was deeply impressed and humbled by the quality and dedication of the staff at Boston University,” says Shiela Kibbe, a College of Fine Arts associate professor of piano and associate director of the School of Music. “The choice of finalists is never easy, and this year we are proud to present three outstanding members of the Terrier community.”
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