News
Be YoU at CPO – Maureen Sullivan
Maureen Sullivan, Assistant Director for Continuous Process Improvement & Special Projects, has been working at BU since 2017, and with CPO since 2018. When asked what she enjoys the most about working with CPO, Maureen says the people are what keep her coming back.
“I have so much respect for the expertise and work ethic that exists across CPO,” she says. “Keeping our campuses running is no small feat. I love coming to work every day.”
Maureen is passionate about diversity, equity, and inclusion for one big reason: family. Both sides of Maureen’s family are Irish immigrants. She remembers stories of her maternal grandmother raising seven children in a new country, a task she undertook alone, as her husband had passed not long after they arrived in the United States. Understanding the challenges her grandmother faced helped Maureen to understand the importance of accepting everyone, no matter their background.
On her father’s side, Maureen remembers getting increasingly frustrated with her grandmother, who lost her hearing when Maureen was young. As a self-proclaimed selfish teenager, Maureen found it easier to avoid conversation with her grandmother, rather than yell or repeat herself. It wasn’t until her second child, her eldest son, also faced hearing issues that Maureen truly understood how isolating it can be to live with a disability.
When Maureen’s eldest son turned five, he began rapidly losing his hearing. The family doctor told Maureen that, eventually, he would lose his hearing altogether. Maureen’s initial reaction was fear. Would the world treat her son the same way she had treated her grandmother? Would he fit in?
At the age of nine, Maureen’s son received a cochlear implant that allowed him to 'hear' by translating sounds through electrodes implanted in his cochlear. Now, he often jokes that he is “100% deaf” but can still hear better than Maureen, who is unashamed to say that she is “officially hard of hearing” and wears hearing aids on a regular basis.
After reflecting on how prejudice and disabilities shaped her family’s story, Maureen encourages others to constantly strive for acceptance.
“Don’t wait until an issue impacts you directly to care about it,” she says. “Listen to people, learn from their experiences. Accept and celebrate yourself and others not for what they can’t do, but what they can do. Meet people where they are.”
As of September 1, 2024, Maureen has moved to the Fiscal Analysis & Analytics team, a team that supports all of Operations at BU, not just CPO. However, not one to let go of something she loves, Maureen will still be working closely with her colleagues at CPO and will remain a member of the CPO DEI working group.
If you would like to share your own story, please contact us.
Be YoU @ CPO – Sonia Richards
Sonia Richards began her career in construction, a famously male-dominated industry, almost 42 years ago. At the time, the job site secretary was usually the only other woman on site. Sonia, a field engineer, was the target of off-color jokes and insults, and even saw her name included in scribbled comments on the walls of the job site Porta Potties.
However, some colleagues supported her and performed incredible acts of kindness for Sonia as she made a place for herself in the industry. It was those colleagues who strengthened her resolve, making her work harder to prove herself and make it clear that she was worthy of that support and kindness.
“Those experiences instilled in me the desire to always treat people with respect, no matter what their position or role was on the job. It also led me to being a mentor for other women who joined me in the industry.”
Now the leader of Planning, Design & Construction, Sonia uses her experiences, positive and negative, to shape how she approaches her work and her team. To her, this means accepting every person for who they are, and recognizing the value they bring to the University and her, personally. When asked what advice she would give to those with similar experiences to her own, Sonia encourages respect, especially for oneself.
“Sadly, we will always run into people who want to bring us down. I believe that many of these people suffer from their own insecurities and lack of self-esteem. We should never encourage this behavior, and we should certainly stand up for ourselves. But always remember to treat others with the respect that you want and deserve.”
If you would like to share your own story, please contact us.