During her college years, construction manager Christine Keville went to Harvard—but not the way most people do. To help pay tuition at North Adams State University, she joined Laborers Union Local 151, and an early job was on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s Red Line extension to Harvard Square.
Her father, Francis Keville, director of construction for MBTA at the time, had taken her to visit construction sites with her sisters when she was growing up, and he knew how much she loved the field. When she didn’t like the cooking part of her job at a local golf club, he mentioned that the union was looking for women. “All he had to do was tell me what the rate of pay was!” Keville says.