Presenting Boston University’s 2026 Perkins Award Winners
Staff members Jamie Companeschi, Cordelia Russell, and Cady Steinberg to be honored for serving BU “with great distinction”
From left, Jamie Companeschi, Cordelia Russell, and Caitlin “Cady” Steinberg
Presenting Boston University’s 2026 Perkins Award Winners
Staff members Jamie Companeschi, Cordelia Russell, and Cady Steinberg to be honored for serving BU “with great distinction”
Three Boston University employees have been named winners of this year’s John S. Perkins Awards for Distinguished Service. The awards are given annually to nonfaculty BU community members who have “served the University with great distinction and [have] made important contributions toward the goals of Boston University,” according to the award’s website. 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 confers a $500 honorarium and a plaque.
The winners, with combined University service of almost three-quarters of a century, are:The winners, who will be honored at a reception on May 5, have a combined University service of almost three-quarters of a century. They are:
Caitlin “Cady” Steinberg (CAS’12, Wheelock’18), administrative manager, African American & Black Diaspora Studies (AABDS) and History, College of Arts & Sciences
A veteran faculty member who nominated Steinberg for this year’s Perkins Award wrote that, while she had worked with many competent BU staff, “none of them matches Cady in her dedication to the college and the University, managerial skill…and talent for building community.” Steinberg, the professor wrote, juggles such diverse tasks as supporting graduate students’ dissertation writing groups and a faculty writing retreat; apprising junior faculty of promotion steps and professional opportunities at and beyond BU; and hiring, training, and supervising undergraduate advisors and program coordinators.
A work-study student at BU who became a full-time employee in 2012, Steinberg says the joy of her job is its “tangible impacts,” including “empowering my team—we have three advisors and two program coordinators between AABDS [and the departments of] history and political science—watching graduate students get hooded, seeing an event come to fruition, and assisting faculty in getting tenured and promoted. But the best part is that I love being part of a community that truly lets me be myself.”
Cordelia Russell (SPH’97), project coordinator, Slone Epidemiology Center
Russell, who has worked at the Slone Epidemiology Center since 1993, coordinates the Black Women’s Health Study (BWHS), a 30-plus-year initiative to better understand and address the higher rates of certain illnesses among Black women. “Her distinguished service in this role,” wrote a nominator, “has supported over 400 peer-reviewed publications and multiple sub-studies based on BWHS data. Her work, and work ethic, have made important contributions towards Boston University’s values of excellence, collaboration, and inclusion.”
“I have had the honor of working with an incredible team of people,” Russell says. “The collaboration, connectivity, and candor, woven together toward an exuberant commitment of excellence within the Slone Epidemiology Center, brings joy to my role.”
Jamie Companeschi, production manager, Department of Film & Television, College of Communication
This is Companeschi’s second BU award in as many months; in April, he won the inaugural Collaboration, Leadership, Innovation, Communication, and Knowledge (CLICK) award from Human Resources. His commitment to his work is such that he earned a master’s degree in television from COM “to deepen his understanding of the curriculum and better serve our students,” a faculty nominator wrote. Companeschi runs BU’s annual Redstone Film Festival, coordinating student film shoots, and teaching workshops and an occasional course. “I have personally sent students to Jamie when their film projects were falling apart and their morale was low,” the nominator wrote. “Jamie lifts their spirits and finds a way to salvage their projects.”
Companeschi, who has been at BU for a quarter century, uses a local colloquialism when describing his work: “The College of Communication’s film and television students are wicked pissah. It is a pleasure for me to support them in telling creative and inspiring stories through the cinematic arts.”