Lauren Consalvo (from left), Andrew Abrahamson, and Lori Davis

Accolades

This Year’s Perkins Winners Have a Half Century of BU Service Among Them

Lauren Consalvo, Andrew Abrahamson, and Lori Davis to be honored at annual ceremony celebrating BU community members who have provided distinguished service to the University

Lauren Consalvo (CAS’09, Wheelock’12, Questrom’18) has weathered several crises during her 20-plus years at Boston University (counting four as a work-study undergraduate). An especially challenging one, in her current role as administrator for the College of Arts & Sciences Earth and environment department, came in 2019, when department chair Anthony Janetos died from cancer. 

The passing of Janetos—a vigorous man who advised the United Nations on climate change, stood his ground against climate change skeptics, and played in an adult baseball league—shook his colleagues. Consalvo “stepped up as de facto chair during [Janetos’] health decline, managing daily crises and ensuring smooth operations,” wrote several succeeding chairs in one of the nominating letters that helped Consalvo win a 2025 John S. Perkins Award for Distinguished Service, given annually to BU community members (save for faculty) who have made a significant contribution to the University.

She and this year’s other winners—Andrew Abrahamson (CFA’91) and Lori Davis—will be honored at a ceremony, open to the University community, on Tuesday, May 6, from 5 to 7 pm in the Metcalf Trustee Ballroom on the ninth floor of One Silber Way. Established in 1981, the Perkins Awards are administered by BU’s Faculty Council and funded by an endowment from the estate of John S. Perkins, a late BU trustee, administrator, and faculty member. Each award comes with a $500 honorarium and a plaque.

This year’s winners are:

Lori Davis, assistant dean for strategic initiatives, Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine

During her almost 18 years at the University, Davis has risen from administrative assistant—when she impressed her colleagues with long hours, including weekends—to her current deanship. 

She’s focused now, she says, on “curriculum design, accreditation preparedness, and strategic initiatives, including the development and implementation of SDM’s updated strategic plan. One nominator also mentioned an earlier curriculum review that mapped “where and when content was covered in our broad, four-year, lock-step, predoctoral curriculum that contains about 70 courses. This was a very laborious effort that she initiated and completed essentially as a one-person job.”

The people she works with, and the work she does, fulfill her in her job, Davis says: “I still remember my first interview [at the school], fresh out of college and eager to get started. Like many, I had encountered rejections for not having enough experience, and I recall sharing that it felt like a catch-22: how do you gain experience if no one gives you a chance? Dean [Cataldo] Leone gave me that chance, and it set the foundation for everything that followed. Since then, I’ve worked alongside many kind, collaborative, and knowledgeable individuals.”

As for the work, she says she finds meaning “in contributing to initiatives that strengthen the school and support its future. I try to stay grounded in the details while keeping sight of our shared purpose. That sense of purpose is what motivates me to approach every project with care and intention.”

Andrew Abrahamson, assistant director of educational technology and innovation, Metropolitan College 

“Even the nor’easter cannot stop Andy!” That’s how a faculty member at Boston University’s Metropolitan College praised Abrahamson after a blizzard during 2015’s record winter. The mid-February storm closed BU, but Abrahamson “could recreate virtually every aspect of the in-person meetings with a program accreditation agency,” the faculty member said, with just 12 hours’ notice, wowing the accreditors. “Andy deserves the credit for saving the day!”

Another nominator recalled the switch to remote learning necessitated by the COVID pandemic, when “faculty and students had one week to get acquainted with a new learning environment. In this critical 2020 spring, Andy committed all his knowledge and energy to make not just MET but all of BU a success despite the epidemic… He recognized the urgency of the challenge and offered his time and expertise to anyone interested to learn,” explaining how to conduct online discussion, scheduled consulting sessions for colleagues needing training, and oversaw that training. 

All in a day’s work for Abrahamson, whose department supports educational technologies tailored to MET, innovating and integrating that tech. Abrahamson has been at MET for 13 years, but his BU experience dates to 1996, when he worked as an independent contractor for the College of Engineering, “doing desktop publishing and web development projects—both still emerging technologies at the time,” he says.

“I’ve always been drawn to understanding the tools we use from multiple angles and at varying depths,” he says. “That curiosity gives me a kind of fluency in communicating about those tools effectively to others, regardless of their background, perspective, or specific needs.” 

The main joy of the job, he adds, “is the opportunity to bridge the gap between technology and people—helping others feel empowered rather than overwhelmed.”

Lauren Consalvo, department administrator, Earth & Environment, College of Arts & Sciences 

Having administered the College of Arts & Sciences Earth and environment department for almost 12 years, Consalvo, one nominator wrote, “expertly guided the department” through not just Janetos’ death, but also COVID and last year’s graduate student strike. Amid the former, when the sociology department saw heavy turnover, she provided “daily support and training [for] new administrators,” another nominator wrote. 

One colleague, discussing an opening for a department administrator, told colleagues, “I wish we could just clone Lauren Consalvo.”

“My job includes budget tracking, personnel management, curriculum planning, and a myriad of other duties depending on the day,” says Consalvo, who thrives on “the behind-the-scenes side of department operations, so faculty can focus on their teaching and research, and students can focus on their education. I find it extremely fulfilling that I have even a small role in supporting our department’s mission to better understand our changing planet.”