In The Spotlight

Myron Wilson

Director, Sustainability Resource Center

The Cathedral in the Desert had a major impact on Myron Willson’s life. Myron visited Lake Powell in the early 1970s as it was filling up after the completion of Glen Canyon Dam. “If they fill this up, it will ruin this place,” he remembers thinking. Now, the Cathedral in the Desert is inundated, except in severe drought.

This vivid memory instilled a love of nature and wild places in Myron, leading him to study urban planning  at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and later architecture at the University of Utah and pursue a career in designing green buildings and healthy communities.

Myron joined the U in 2009 as the director of the Sustainability Resource Center (then the Office of Sustainability). In this role, he helps design, plan, and coordinate campus sustainability initiatives and assists FM with efficiency standards and making campus buildings more sustainable.

In his spare time, Myron enjoys hiking, camping, and sculpting clay (including the photo included here!). He rides his bike to campus most days (except when it is icy).

In The Spotlight

Stacy Hendrickson
Custodial Trainer

In a department as large as and spread out as Custodial Services it is difficult to remember everyone, but Stacy Hendricksen is one person everyone knows.

Hendricksen and Lewis Palmer are the Trainers in the Custodial Department. They interact with all new hires during a four-course training session on topics like chemical safety and floor care.  Over the last 11 years Hendricksen has worked with the department in various roles and is the go-to source for any difficult cleans or complicated techniques.

While Hendricksen and Palmer cover a lot of information during their training sessions, Hendricksen says the most important thing new hires can do is keep learning.

“Learn as much as you can while you are here and remember you don’t learn everything in a day,” Hendricksen said.  “And always remember how important your job is to the school, we keep this little city running.”

“I Love campus,” Hendricksen said. “We get to help so many students, staff and departments it really connects you to the U experience.”

In The Spotlight

Veterans Among Us

This month we take time to acknowledge the veterans currently employed across Facilities Management. There are 34 staffed veterans who are a part of our FM community. We recognize those who served our country for their strong work ethic and valor in service.

Currently, there are over 1.4 million active members of the armed forces. One of those is our own John Palo of Facility Operations who recently returned to active duty with the Navy. He will return to Facilities at the end of his tour.

Facilities has veterans that bring a variety of skills and experiences. They served as radiomen, worked in missile security, and instructed basic training.

To mention a few we acknowledge Dennis Denham, Tom Christensen and Joseph Harman for their time in the armed services.

Next Monday, November 11, is Veteran’s Day. We thank you for your service and sacrifice and we acknowledge all whose lives have been touched by war and conflict.
 

In The Spotlight

Ernie Flynn
Door Closer Specialist

Ernie Flynn has been working for the University of Utah for 20 years in the Carpenter shop. He fixes all the doors on campus so that they will operate properly, and cares about his work as well as entertaining people on the side.  

Ernie started performing as Santa about 14 years ago, specializing in children’s and family shows.  He is best known as Bobber the Clown, a persona where he combines magic, balloon art,  and comedy.  His favorite part of performing is making people laugh and entertaining them.  Because of his performances he has been able to meet some wonderful people.

Looking for Bobber the Clown around town? He works at the Chinese Gourmet located at 4425 South State St. every Monday from 6 to 8 pm. Ernie has performed for children of all ages at birthday parties, church functions, corporate events, and more. Bobber the Clown has been seen in the Days of ’47 Parade, Bountiful Parade, American Fork Parade, and the Wendover Parade.

More information can be found at www.flynnfun.com

In The Spotlight

Part-Time Staff

There are 13 part-time positions in Landscape Maintenance throughout the year. Custodial has around 200 part-time positions in their staff of nearly 350 people. In addition, nearly half of Facility & Construction Operations staff are part-time positions, and those employees help keep our buildings and landscape in tip-top shape. We are grateful and appreciate the hard work from this group of individuals. This group brings a strong energy and level of dedication to their daily tasks. 

Employee Spotlight: Aislynn Schultz

This is part of a series where we hope to feature some of the wonderful and impressive things our employees are a part of outside of their work and this campus.  

Aislynn Schultz has been working for the University of Utah for 2 years in Campus Utility Services in administrative support with 10 years’ experience outside of campus. She is a passionate worker not just on campus but in her personal life as reflected in her participation in volunteering for CAWS (Community Animal Welfare Society). 

Aislynn volunteer’s 64 hours a month with CAWS on average a month. She began to volunteer because she found out Utah is a ‘gas chamber state’.  Most animal shelters in Utah have a gas chamber in them and most of them actively use the chambers to euthanize homeless cats and dogs.  She was upset by this and decided she could not save every animal from this horrible fate, but she could try and save some of them and educating the public about adopting a dog versus the true cost of buying one along with spay/neutering animals is important as knowledge is power and that leads to change.  When people buy a pet from a breeder, online seller or pet store they could be supporting the breeding of more pets, many of whom will wind up in shelters that are already overcrowded.

CAWS is a volunteer-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to work with the community to help animals.  As one of Utah’s oldest Animal Rescues, CAWS’ ongoing rescue, foster, education and adoption programs helps animals whose time is up at shelters, those who are abandoned, and as their resources allow, those whom their owners can no longer keep.  They are a No Kill organization. 

They are part of the Best Friends Animal Society – the largest animal sanctuary in the USA, located right here in Kanab Utah.  As part of the collation CAWS attends all of the Best Friends adoption events.  Our next adoption event is Strut Your Mutt on Saturday, September 21, 2013 at Liberty Park from 8:30am-1:00pm.  If you would like to join the CAWS dog pack and ‘Strut your Mutt’ use this link to register and join the CAWS dog pack: http://www.strutyourmutt.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.team&teamID=6027

CAWS does not have a facility.  We are a 100% non-profit all volunteer organization.  Our rescued cats and dogs live in foster homes.  For example, I am a foster home for a dog.  I take the rescue dog into my home from a Utah shelter and give the dog shelter, food and love.  The dog lives with her until s/he is adopted into its forever home. 

Adopt; Don’t Shop.  Volunteer, Foster or Donate.  If you’d like to make a tax deductible donation to CAWS, please use the following link to donate to Aislynn Schultz’s ‘Strut Your Mutt’ Fundraising Page.  100% of your donation goes to CAWS rescue to assist with homeless animals: http://www.strutyourmutt.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.participant&participantID=13422

CAWS website is:  www.caws.org

Employee Spotlight: Sue Pope

This is the first in a series where we hope to feature some of the wonderful and impressive things our employees are a part of outside of their work and this campus.  

Sue Pope has been working for the University of Utah for 28 years in the Landscape Maintenance Department, 12 years as a greenhouse coordinator and 16 years as the Supervisor of Landscape Maintenance. She is a hard worker not just on campus but in her personal life as reflected in her Ironwoman status.

Sue Pope has been competing in triathlons since 2004.  She started out with Sprint and Olympic distance triathlons which included 1 mile swimming, 24 miles biking and a 10K run.  In 2008 she wanted another challenge and entered the Half or 70.3 Ironman distance which included 1.2 miles swimming, 56 miles biking and a 13.1 mile run.  She has participated in the Boise, Idaho Half Ironman and placed 1st in her age group of 45-49.  This qualified her for the world championship in Clear Water, Florida where she place 13^th in her age group.

 In 2009 Sue dropped down to the Olympic distance triathlons and competed in local and out of state races where she placed in the top 3. Due to an injury she was out most of the season in 2010 and competed in a few local Olympic triathlons towards the end of the season.  2011 found Sue competing in local Olympic distance races, Two Half Ironman races in Boise, Idaho and Oceanside, California.  She placed 1st in Boise and 3rd in Oceanside, California for her age group.  This qualified her for the World Championship in Las Vegas, Nevada where she placed 2nd for her age group. 

 

Next, In 2012 Sue competed in the Oceanside, California ½ Ironman where she placed 4^th in her age group. 2012 also found Sue playing in a National Volleyball master tournament for 2 weeks where she developed a stress fracture in her sacrum. The rest of the summer she biked and swam because of this injury.  In November, she participated in the Florida Ironman where she placed 1st in her age group of 50-54. An Ironman triathlon is 2.4 miles swimming, 112 miles biking and a 26.2 mile run.  This has qualified her for the Kona, Hawaii Ironman in October of 2013 where she will be competing with some of the top athletes in the world. 

 

Sue is currently training 12-15 hours a week which consists of working out 2-3 times a day with longer runs and bike rides on the weekend.  She trains year round and focuses on her weak points in the off season.  Her next race is May 5^th in the 70.3 Ironman in St. George, Utah.  She will spend some time in Kona, Hawaii to acclimate to the weather and heat for the Kona Ironman in October 2013.  

Sue is a great asset to Facility Operations.  We are supportive of her Ironman journey and wish her luck in her races this year.