Taking a look at the different ways workers help maintain the campus at WSU Vancouver through the year.
If you frequent campus as the sun rises or sets, you have likely seen groundskeepers and campus police scurrying in the background to keep the campus pristine. A lot of work is put into maintaining the campus and facilities services perform their often demanding work behind-the-scenes of campus life.
Multiple departments operate under facilities services, all specializing in different operations of campus maintenance. The facilities services department includes:
- campus grounds maintenance,
- building architecture maintenance,
- mechanical, electrical and plumbing maintenance,
- events,
- environmental health and safety,
- custodial services and more
While some of these jobs could be outsourced to private contractors, Associate Vice Chancellor for facilities services Bill Hooper sees value in having a team of hired employees that know what they are doing and the special needs of where they are doing it. “There’s great value in having people here that are invested in the campus, know the systems and can respond quickly because [they are] familiar,” Hooper said.
Jeannette Hurt, the night shift campus police officer, has been working closely with the facilities services department throughout her 21-year employment with WSU Vancouver. “When you have a campus of this size, things can happen. You have to be able to come in on things and deal with them together, even if it’s not something traditionally law enforcement would deal with,” Hurt said.
Hurt recalls a scenario several years ago when classes had been canceled in fear of falling trees and branches due to a windstorm. While students were off campus, Hurt and facilities employees dealt with the debris that fell.
“There’s a bit of comfort after so many years of knowing I know what I need to do, I’ve been through this before,” Hurt said. “We all have a responsibility to make sure this campus is safe for all of our students, we’re all here to serve our students, we all pitch in.”
She remembers when WSU Vancouver’s campus consisted of only three buildings. Because the campus started so small, Hurt said there has always been a “culture of pitching in.”
Andre Blanco, a campus groundskeeper, is often seen edging turf, cleaning leaves and planting new trees. Blanco has been helping maintain the campus for four years and takes pride in his work.
“I start at 6 a.m. in the morning. I tend to cover the campus grounds: leaf patrol, cleaning pathways, making sure we got a nice entrance for when folks enter the campus,” Blanco said.
Blanco said even though the work on campus never stops, each project he completes is satisfying. “That’s just one thing down and onto the next. If we complete a project, that’s two thumbs up for us and sometimes you might even want to give yourself a pat on the back if it looks real nice,” Blanco said.
Facility services and their contributions can be observed just about everywhere on campus, even if they are not always noticeable. Their most recent project has been replacing all the lights in the library to energy-efficient LED lights. “We’re doing these things to make ourselves more efficient,” Hooper said.
Hooper mentioned that students and staff are considerate of the grounds because VanCougs take pride in their campus. He noted a section of grass near a busy walkway that remained untrampled. “That grass doesn’t get worn out. People treat it nicely here and that’s helpful to us.”
Hooper encourages students, staff and community to treat campus like your home.
Brody Voge is a junior at WSU Vancouver studying strategic communications.