Northeastern’s Moakley Scholarships empower city of Boston employees
Thanks to Moakley Scholarships, 15 city of Boston employees are earning master’s degrees at Northeastern University.
Gayana Daniel, a Moakley Scholar who is earning a master’s degree in legal studies from Northeastern University’s School of Law, has already applied what she is learning at school to her job with the city of Boston.
Thanks to a contracts law class, “I was able to contribute meaningfully” when helping to negotiate a contract with a language services vendor at the city’s Office of Language and Communications Access, where she is chief of staff, Daniel said.
“It was definitely an empowering moment,” she said. The student speaker during a Tuesday afternoon celebration of the Moakley Scholars at EXP, Daniel said, “I wasn’t just learning. I was becoming a stronger and more confident leader.”
For more than 20 years, Northeastern has awarded scholarships named after the late Congressman Joe Moakley to full-time Boston city employees seeking master’s degrees.
Moakley had strong ties to Northeastern, helping secure $15 million in federal funding to build the Egan Engineering/Science Research Center, said John Tobin, Northeastern’s vice president of city and community engagement. “Congressman Moakley understood that investing in Northeastern meant investing in Boston.”
Nearly 200 scholars have completed the program since its inception, hosting 15 scholars at any one time, Tobin said.
The recognition ceremony honoring participating city employees “is a chance for us to pause and recognize something really special between the city and Northeastern,” Tobin said.
Current scholars came from different departments across the city, including planning, housing, records, parks and recreation, and the Commission for Persons with Disabilities.
Nicholas Long works in the gardening corps of Boston’s urban wilds program, restoring landscapes outside traditional park settings. He plans to finish up his graduate degree in environmental science and policy this summer.
“I’d love to keep doing public service,” especially helping to manage natural resources, he said.
Victoria Claiborne, assistant director of contracts for the mayor’s Office of Housing, said she is working on completing her master’s degree from Northeastern School of Law in 2027, and plans to apply what she’s learning toward her current position.
Claiborne said the Moakley Scholars program does a good job of accommodating mid-career professionals. Her classes are fully remote but professors and classmates are readily available for help and collaboration.
“My kids have gone off to college,” she said. “I get to do stuff for myself now.”
Daniel Bryan, who works for the Office of Youth Engagement and Advancement, said most of his classes toward a master’s in public policy are in person.
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“It’s working great,” he said. Bryan said that as a resident of Jamaica Plain who works in Mission Hill, adding classes at Northeastern is just “three stops on the Orange line.”
Michael Armini, senior vice president for External Affairs at Northeastern University, emphasized that the university’s connection to Boston, where it was founded in 1898, remains strong even as it has grown over the past 20 years into a global institution with 14 campuses, including “in London, Vancouver, Miami, Oakland and other world-class cities,” Armini said.
“But I like to think of the university as a big tree,” he added. “As our branches grow upward and expand outward, it also means that our roots here in Boston grow deeper and stronger.”
He said the university’s commitment to the city “is unwavering, no matter how much we expand.”
Alex Lawrence, chief people officer for the city of Boston, thanked the students for their hard work and supervisors for accommodating test days and class schedules. “You keep showing up, Northeastern keeps showing up, and we’re so grateful,” she said.
Daniel, who came to the U.S. from Haiti with her mother and sister 10 years ago, praised the Moakley Scholars program as a great opportunity for city employees to invest in themselves while serving their community.
“I care deeply about the work that I do,” ensuring that Boston programs and services are available to people regardless of what language they speak or whether they are hearing or not, she said.
“This program creates a pathway without having to choose between your career and your education, Daniel said.
