A fond farewell
After 16 years of helping ensure the moving parts of Boston College run as well as possible, Vice President for Facilities Management Daniel Bourque is preparing to turn off his office lights and depart the Heights at the end of this semester.
Bourque is capping off a productive and successful career managing the non-academic, infrastructural aspects of higher education that began in 1982 at Northeastern University, where he worked for 26 years before joining Boston College.
As the University’s chief administrator for facilities management, Bourque’s portfolio has included the day-to-day operations on BC’s four campuses and its other properties, such as energy and engineering, landscape services, custodial services, and mail services. The division also encompasses capital projects, trades services, athletic maintenance, sustainability, business service, and support services and University properties.
In other words, Bourque and his team—a word he invokes often—make sure that campus buildings have electricity and heat, doors have locks and keys, mail gets delivered, trash and recycling is picked up and properly disposed of, campus roadways and sidewalks are clear of snow and ice, and plants and flowers are well maintained. If there are repairs or renovations to be done in an office or residence hall or athletic facility—painting, plumbing, carpentry, HVAC; if there is a small intra-campus moving job needed; if a department can use actively managed storage and warehousing space, Facilities Management gets the call.
“I feel incredibly fortunate to have worked with this support team, from department heads to staff, at all levels. This place is basically a city, going 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and you need dedicated people who really care about the job they do, about their coworkers, and most of all, about the students, faculty, staff, and administrators of Boston College.”
One Facilities Management to-do list, from the summer of 2014, included such tasks as constructing the Center for Teaching Excellence in O’Neill Library; installing new playing surfaces in Conte Forum’s Power Gym and the Newton Campus Field Hockey Complex; making improvements to the Eagle’s Nest and Addie’s Loft serving areas; upgrades to Welch and Roncalli residence halls’ student lounges; and work on Brighton Campus sidewalks, the Gasson Hall belfry, and stairways in McElroy Commons and O’Neill Library Atrium.
And if there is a new building or other major form of construction planned for BC, it’s Facilities Management that is responsible for the planning, design, and management of such projects. The division also has been the driving force in devising and implementing sustainable, environmentally-friendly practices and policies in University operations.
Ultimately, somebody has to be in charge of all this, and for the last 16 years it’s been Bourque, who is quick to praise the 388 employees in his division.
“I feel incredibly fortunate to have worked with this support team, from department heads to staff, at all levels,” he said. “This place is basically a city, going 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and you need dedicated people who really care about the job they do, about their coworkers, and most of all, about the students, faculty, staff, and administrators of Boston College.”
Bourque added that collaborating with University President William P. Leahy, S.J., and Executive Vice President Michael Lochhead “has been an honor and a privilege.”
The sentiment is the same for Lochhead: “When Dan first approached me about his decision to retire, I immediately found myself simultaneously feeling happy and a little bit sad. I was, of course, happy for Dan that he will have time to spend with his family and enjoy the fruits of his labor in retirement. I was sad because I have really enjoyed working with Dan for the last 10 years. Dan is a wonderful person who cares very much about his people and advancing the mission of Boston College. He has always performed his duties with the utmost professionalism, humility, and a sense of humor.”
Associate Vice President for Capital Projects Mary Nardone said, “Dan always ‘leads with his feet.’ Whether in the halls of our Hammond Pond Parkway offices or anywhere else at BC, Dan is all about seeing firsthand the campus, the grounds, the projects, and especially the people who make it all happen. I learned early on that if you hitch a ride with Dan to a meeting, be ready to make a few stops on the way.
“Dan’s presence will be greatly missed in Facilities, and on campus.”
Dan Bourque: "I would hope that we have been good stewards of the University’s campus and physical plant, not only for this generation but those to come. That’s what it’s all about.” (Photos by Lee Pellegrini)
Capital projects are just one facet of Facilities Management, but they offer ample evidence of Bourque and his division’s achievements. During his tenure, the University has added—among others—the science facility 245 Beacon Street, which won awards for architecture and sustainability; Stokes Hall, which houses academic departments and classrooms; the Connell Recreation Center; the undergraduate residence hall Thomas More Apartments; the St. Peter Faber Jesuit Community; the Harrington Athletics Village at Brighton Fields; and the Pete Frates Center (which won an engineering award). Other major projects have included the relocation of the McMullen Museum of Art to Brighton Campus; renovations to Devlin Hall, Simboli Hall, and St. Mary’s Hall; and the creation of the Plaza at O’Neill Library.
Bourque compiled a similarly impressive record of achievement at Northeastern, where he started as director of plant maintenance. As vice president for facilities, he was responsible for implementing its 10-year Master Plan, which included more than $650 million in campus development projects and construction of 2.6 million square feet of new residential, academic, and recreational space. He was also credited with creating a customer-service network that focused on responding to the needs of students, faculty, and staff, and improving Northeastern’s environmental sustainability effort.
“I enjoyed working at Northeastern, but when there was a change in leadership, I decided to look for a new challenge,” recalled Bourque, who had worked as a project manager for the Perini Corp. and as an engineer with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Quality Engineering. “I certainly knew about BC: I thought the campus was well managed and looked beautiful, especially the architecture. I talked with [then-Vice President for Human Resources] Leo Sullivan about working at BC, and the more I learned, the more it seemed like an ideal place for me.
“Everyone was welcoming and supportive, and in particular, I appreciated working closely with Fr. Leahy: I saw how much he cares about the community and the campus.”
Another valuable source of BC insights was his brother, Michael, who is BC’s vice president for information technology. The two, who grew up with eight siblings, have a close, loving relationship, and while their jobs haven’t made much time for socializing on campus, they’ve been able to support each other—and, as Daniel notes, indulge in a little brotherly “tweaking.”
“I’m surprised he hasn’t already applied for my job,” quipped Daniel.
“Dan was a pretty competitive guy—he wound up playing college basketball, not because he was a great athlete, but because he had that competitiveness,” recalled Michael. “Yet he really is the ultimate team player.”
“Dan always ‘leads with his feet’... [He] is all about seeing firsthand the campus, the grounds, the projects, and especially the people who make it all happen. I learned early on that if you hitch a ride with Dan to a meeting, be ready to make a few stops on the way.”
The test for any organization is how to handle unforeseen or unique challenges, and Bourque and his team have certainly faced a few, such as the summer 2013 project for the Plaza at O’Neill Library and the related task of refurbishing the walkways between Gasson, Lyons, Fulton, and Devlin halls. Crews had to deal with a tight construction site, the unexpected location and elevation of existing utilities, and a limited timeline, but finished before the academic year began.
“Sometimes you simply run into issues you don’t expect, such as finding utility duct banks or drainage systems not where they were thought to be,” Bourque explained in a 2013 interview with the Boston College Chronicle. “But the team was able to work around it such as by changing some of the grades—and everyone did a great job. And the result is a very attractive, and more usable, open space.”
New England weather is the ultimate wild card for Facilities Management, and severe winters in the early 2010s demanded a lot from its employees, especially those who drove plows, wielded shovels, and spread sand at all hours—including overnight—to keep clear BC’s some 215 staircases, 40 acres of parking lots, and 11 miles of sidewalks. The University administration showed its appreciation to staff from Facilities and other departments for their efforts by feting them at special receptions and, at one point, taking out an ad in The Heights.
“Across the whole University, people have recognized your effort,” said Bourque at a 2011 event. “Whether it was the Higgins stairs, cleaning out around the [Alumni Stadium] ‘Bubble,’ cleaning Linden Lane or the stairs at Hillside, it was a massive effort.”
COVID was another test for Facilities, Bourque said. “This was a whole new territory for us, as it was for the rest of the University. Our staff had to follow the special precautions and procedures in keeping the campus as clean and safe as possible, even though classes were cancelled from mid-March on. They were there on the front lines, even while they, too, were dealing with the challenges of the pandemic at home and at work—but were always here at BC to provide the necessary services.”
While some crises can be especially grueling, Bourque said that the “unpredictability” has been part of the job’s appeal for him. “It keeps you on your toes, keeps you from being over-confident. I never wanted to be tied to a desk—I like going out and about to see what’s happening, ask people what they’re seeing, what needs to be done. You have to stay in touch.”
Looking back at the many projects, big and small, Facilities Management has undertaken during his time at BC, Bourque has a big-picture view: “I would hope that we have been good stewards of the University’s campus and physical plant, not only for this generation but those to come. That’s what it’s all about.”