Stephen J. Sweeney, LC'57, H'94
On how he decided to come to Northeastern: “I wrote to her [his wife, Genevieve] and said, ‘I’ll go back to school and get an engineering degree.’ And Gen was a teacher, and she said, ‘I’ll continue teaching while you go to Tufts.’ And I said, ‘I’m 24 years old. I’ve got to get a job.’ … Some of the people there work in field engineering and go to Northeastern nights. That sounded like a good idea.”
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On preparing for and serving in the Korean War: “At that time, the Korean War had just started, so clearly I was going to go to that … I went in late December to basic training. I applied for [Officer Candidates School (OCS)], went to OCS, got my condition on the Saturday we got married, and three months later I was in Korea.”
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On working full-time at Boston Edison while taking night classes at Northeastern: “I graduated in 1957. I think that those four years is a blur: work, go to school, work, go to school … It was busy.”
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On a class he took at Northeastern: “We had a lab course. The Edison people I was going with all had the same job I had … We always could find a way in our lab to bring our own things from the office, and do our things and get out of there.”
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Steve with his wife, Genevieve.
On hiring co-ops at Boston Edison, where he worked for 38 years: “That’s the greatest program of all. It really is. I mean, we had a lot of them, and I think the advantage was twofold, for the student and for us. What I insisted on when we hired them was they had to have meaningful work.”
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On his time on the Board of Trustees: “I did enjoy the board. There were nice people, and it was a good working board. You didn’t just come because it was an honor to be on the board—you were there to do something.”
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On why he supports current Northeastern students through scholarships: “I think that the people who have achieved a fair level of success and have a chance to give something back, I think they should … Now these students, they’ll carry that forward.”
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On Northeastern being primarily a residential than commuter school nowadays: “I think you can build up friendships because you’re living with people day to day—day in, day out. To me, that adds more to the college experience … versus like in our group, where there was nothing because we just went there and came home.”
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On being on the Board of Trustees when Northeastern was downsizing: “But then, with [President Jack Curry], came the move to downsize—to downsize and create a campus. I enjoyed that because I think we were creating something that has lasted, and I think that is doing well.”
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This interview is available in its entirety in the Northeastern University Archives. Photos: University Advancement Office. Compiled by Jessica Melanson.
Biography
Steve Sweeney exemplifies the Northeastern tradition of perseverance and hard work: He attended night classes while working full-time and raising a family, graduating in 1957 with an associate’s degree in engineering. Years later, he returned to the university as a trustee and helped guide the transformation from a commuter school into a more residential institution.