IN PRAISE OF THE DOERS

sometimes in the mornings, when the canYon breeze unrolls the scent of damp annual flower beds like a blanket over the Quad, we stall our frenetic paces for a moment just to breath it in. Later, within countless tidy classrooms and gathering commons, we sometimes recognize our own physical settlings, that curious ability to better focus somehow, to dive into new ideas, or to listen — really listen — to an old friend. Sometimes we secretly wish for more days when the Greatest Snow on Earth in sudden, burgeoning volume, shuts everything down to send us on our individual, improvised ways. But in truth, we know, that rarely ever happens here, even where in a blink, a Prius can poof into powdered passing. And sometimes, upon polished panels of glass and steel, we catch the reflections of the faceted spurs on the Bear River Range and are reminded to turn around and humbly gawk — again. There’s something about this place; we can see it and we can feel it. Stories have been told and students have been sold on Utah State University’s essence and presence. Of course that’s just exactly how some 230 full-time employees

IN PRAISE OF of USU Facilities would have it be. Moving about unnoticed, both in their routines and in emergencies, ingrained in their incomprehensible culture of labors. THE DOERS Over night and through the weekend they continue, a highly trained army of capable technicians and resident professionals representing every imaginable trade, from high-voltage electricians to horticulturists, engineers to maintenance folk, architects and planners to finishers and receivers and recyclers and waste management thinkers and risk management experts and painters and major building systems heroes and business servicers and locksmiths Every Trade. and central distributors and surplus shufflers and buffers and shiners and carpenters and Oh WOW! This is one vast and varied, trained and re-trained, cutting-edge force! Every Effort. And maybe only they themselves really know just how early those flowers are started from seed, or just how those classrooms receive their daily polish, or just how acre upon acre The Men and of sidewalk and road are magically shoveled before classes begin on a freezing February day. Still they are fueled by a spirit of doing, confident there is no job they don’t have the collective

Women of USU expertise to do. If one shop is short-handed and about to be devoured by deadline, another just steps up — to do. Facilities Charles Darnell, Associate Vice President of USU Facilities knows about all the other stuff. He can tell you about the elevators and the HVAC systems and USU’s co-generation plant with its 4.5 Megawatt turbine that produces around 50 percent of the energy campus consumes per year. He can tell you his army of experts is able to extract steam from that Stories and photos by process to then warm campus and about the 5,000 tons of chilling capacity and about the Jared Thayne ’99 $1 million or so co-generation saves USU annually. He can detail major water and electrical distribution and dual feeds and response times and substations and design standards to reduce maintenance costs and increase building longevity and land and water acquisition efforts and speak of an orderly transition of campus growth and oversight and about mind-boggling deferred maintenance burdens. Or, he can tell you what someone told him all those many years ago when he himself stood on the brink of a career in just doing: “You won’t get rich at it, but it’s intensley satisfying.” Happy customers; palpable, physical progress; minimal turnover; the impassioned pleas to never ever, under any circumstance, remove that one special employee from a given building or area — these are the paydays for Darnell and his managers. Here we hope to add maybe one payday more in the name of their heart-zinging employees — by shining the light on a paltry six USU Facilitators, while understanding each one of them probably represents some three dozen more. Of course, you could thank them yourself … and you surely should … the next time you venture off behind the scenes.

Gilbert Young: Area Coordinator for Innovation Campus, where he oversees all Utah State University landscaping needs north of 1400 North in Logan. (Think lily babies around the fountain.) And no, he can’t take winters off, because he also handles snow removal for the same area. Has worked in botanical centers and public gardens up and down the California coast and is deemed indispensible by peers for his riveting knowledge of all things green. Way beyond just the Latin names, he also has stories about where a given species thrives — geographically and environmentally — which plants are prehistoric in their genetic makeup and which (even non-drug plants) can be problematic due to U.S. government restricted species laws and regulations after 1970. Ten minutes in you’ll know he is indeed THE MAN when he starts pointing out all the trees he’s planted and nurtures just because, “We don’t see a lot of those in these parts.” Earth-moving Gilbert.

Mike McBride: Senior Carpenter, USU’s living, breathing definition of doing it all. Working on the cupolas of Old Main one minute, 30 minutes later is custom-framing windows at LAEP’s recently refurbished Murphy House. Would just as soon not have another photo taken, thank you very much, mostly because it cuts into hanging sheetrock and tacking baseboards and leveling cabinets and any other needful thing. But mostly too, because he still hasn’t gotten even with the guys who “turned me in,” for Employee of the Year. That’s right, meet the Mike McBride: Utah State University’s legendary and revered Facilities Employee of the Year, 2015.

Jordy Guth: Assistant Director of Facilities Planning, Design and Construction, architect and campus planner and current impassioned chair of USU’s Sustainability Council. Product of the western Cascades, bachelor’s in architecture, one-time intern for several firms in Oregon, Washington and Idaho before earning her license to practice architecture. Continues building on what is now a 14-year stint at USU, which has also included cementing a master’s degree in Bioregional Planning, an interdisciplinary program focusing on integration of human and natural systems for the development of sustainable communities. So yeah, Jordy knows her stuff. As for thrills? Raising two young sons with her husband, travel, yoga, art and just about any activity outdoors — especially when a bike is part of the plan.

Sarah Elliott: Locksmith II,

yoga, gardening, cooking, home-hockey rink and Zamboni do-it-yourselfer. (Seriously: cement forms, PVC pipe, a splitter on the washing machine for hot water, a wood frame and towel for ice smoothing — brilliant!). And what a joy to work with, says everyone who ever has. EVERYONE. The job is a bit of a grind right now, though. Literally. She’s making keys for a new academic year. And if you ventured a guess you’d be wrong: there are 20,536 doors on Utah State University’s Logan campus, which means 54,123 keys to manage. And so, Smiling Sarah Zamboni continues the grind.

Alexi Lamm: Sustainability Coordinator, which means everything from promoting a culture of campus recycling to teaching a sustainability practicum in the S. J. and Jessie E. Quinney College of Natural Resources. Plans and tracks it all through the Sustainability, Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS), in which USU is a silver-rated institution. Directs Energy Wars, RecycleMania and our National Bike Challenge efforts, among myriad other pursuits and programs. Sings sustainability in all new construction on campus, where USU shines in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) ratings at the Silver level or higher. And yes, that’s Alexi on her bicycle — EVERYWHERE.

Kalilou Fofana: endlessly grateful, excessively cheerful and the proudest father of two you’ll ever meet. “Look at my daughter,” he says pulling out his phone. “She started kindergarten today! I can’t believe it! And here is my one-and-a-half-year-old son. Look at that hair!” Originally from Mali, now officially a citizen of the United States, coordinator of the crew that scrubs and sweeps and polishes and buffs and washes down and sanitizes the HPER, gyms and locker rooms included, every night, top to bottom. “The President of the university could probably leave town for a couple of days and maybe not too many would notice,” he says, “but if we miss one spot on these floors, one night, we’re going to hear about it — I promise.” As an employee, has already earned a half-tuition bachelor’s — he’s eying a master’s degree in Human Resources, too — and the sincerest respect of his bosses, clients and team. The ever-smiling Kalilou.