Perkins Award Winners Honored

One of the University’s 2007 Perkins Award winners has spent years helping students, and parents, resolve the problems — personal, medical, or financial — that affect their status at the University. Another took on two jobs to help the department of sociology through an administrative crisis. And every day, the third leaves the Fraunhofer Center for Manufacturing Innovation in better condition than she found it.

The 2007 Perkins Distinguished Service Awards, given annually to nonfaculty members at BU who perform outstanding service, will be presented to Cidalia Cardoso, an evening custodian in the Buildings and Grounds department, Kathleen McNamara, the sociology department administrator, and Denise Mooney, the associate vice president of enrollment and student affairs. Each will receive $500 and a plaque in a ceremony on Tuesday, May 1, at the Castle.

All the nomination letters noted a common trait among the three recipients: each simply does more than is required, or expected, of her.

“In an age in which mediocrity at work is not only far too common, but in which it is all too often rewarded as ‘excellence,’ Katie’s work stands as a clear reminder of what real commitment and achievement look like,” Peter Yeager, a College of Arts and Sciences associate professor of sociology, wrote in McNamara’s nomination letter. “Her service has indeed been distinguished, by both its technical excellence and its great spirit.”

Kathleen McNamara

Photos by Vernon Doucette

McNamara began her career at the University as a part-time administrative assistant in 1998 and quickly became a critical player in the department’s day-to-day functioning. When Yeager took over as chair in 2000, the department had lost both of its full-time staff members, who had resigned to take other positions. That left McNamara to do the work of two people. “It is not too much to say — indeed it is too little — that our operations and my chairmanship would have collapsed in the fall of 2000 had it not been for Katie’s extraordinary dedication and professionalism,” Yeager wrote. “Her very effective work and good spirit buoyed the entire department at the most difficult time of transition in the department’s recent history.” McNamara was promoted to senior program assistant and became department administrator in 2004.

Denise Mooney

Mooney is a veteran University employee, having started her career in the Office of Residence Life in 1984. She has directed the University Service Center — which helps students with personal, medical, or academic leaves and unique or complex problems that may require cooperation among several offices — since it opened in 2000. Loren J. Samons, the chair of the CAS classical studies department and a former associate dean of the college, wrote that in her role as USC director, Mooney has dealt with the University’s most “challenging and bruising” situations with skill and poise. “She and her staff handled the most complicated and difficult problems encountered by BU students, often involving personal problems, grades, withdrawals, leaves of absence, medical conditions, and (the topper) financial aid,” Samons wrote. “I can think of no single case where I felt they had done anything but their very best for an individual student.” Mooney was named associate vice president of enrollment and academic affairs in 2003.

Cidalia Cardoso

Cardoso has had a less public role in her years at BU, but as one of her nominators wrote, “Cidalia represents the best of those who work behind the scenes, giving their all with no thoughts of recognition for their efforts.” A custodian at 15 St. Mary’s St., which houses the College of Engineering department of manufacturing engineering and the Fraunhofer Center, Cardoso’s hard work is a critical part of the center’s success. “The Fraunhofer Center for Manufacturing Innovation is a high-profile company with customers visiting any given day,” wrote Rebecca Livant, the center’s office manager. “The way we present ourselves communicates to our customers the high level of quality we hold ourselves to and directly impacts our success as a business. Ms. Cardoso distinguishes herself with her great attention to detail and the genuine pleasure she takes in doing her job well.”

The annual awards are administered by the Faculty Council and funded by an endowment from the late John S. Perkins, a former faculty member, administrator, trustee, and treasurer. This year’s presentation ceremony and reception will be at the Castle on Tuesday, May 1, at 5:30 p.m.

Jessica Ullian can be reached at jullian@bu.edu.