1. Having served as both Facilities Coordinator and now Assistant Director, how has your role evolved?
In my role as coordinator, I was more of a support person to our departments and the campus. As the assistant director I have been more involved in working directly with our department supervisors to find solutions to problems, planning projects and all things budget. I also now oversee most of the interior furnishings upgrades on campus working with our EVP&COO Kerry Edmonds. From simple desk replacements to entire residential spaces and/or meeting spaces.
2. How does your long-term experience at Hollins shape the way you care for the campus today?
There is something special about this campus and it didn’t take me long to feel a connection here. When I drive in each morning, I look around with pride on how our facilities team keeps everything going inside of buildings and outside. Each of us strives to keep the campus beautiful. How we feel about this campus shows in how hard we work to take care of it. That hasn’t changed in my 26 years here. We want to do our very best for her.
3. Can you share a moment from your many years at Hollins when you felt especially proud of the work you and your team do behind the scenes?
One time that stands out for me would be the commencement of 2021 (after the Covid pandemic). This commencement was held on our soccer practice field instead of front quad and it took so much planning and effort to pull it off. Our buildings and grounds teams and our maintenance team performed so well under the demands placed on them to get the field ready and everything set up and operating correctly for the day.
4. What do you think makes the Hollins community unique?
The smaller size of the campus allows for staff to know and engage with students and faculty. So many of our employees know our facilities personnel by name. I think that is remarkable. I love the unique traditions the students carry forward year to year. Seniors painting messages on The Rock and walking across the grass on Front Quad. Tinker Day is such a special part of this community and very unique for a college campus. And the whole community gets to enjoy the day.
5. What would you like the campus community to better understand about the people who care for the campus every day?
The facilities team can be pretty invisible in the day-to-day operations. We work and touch almost every part of the campus. Just a few examples; bathrooms are clean when students wake up to go shower, offices are clean when personnel arrive for work. Fallen trees are removed, grass is mowed, the soccer field has the lines painted on it for games. Fresh paint greets students in their dorm rooms upon arrival in the fall. Heat and AC keep buildings comfortable. Lights work in all interior and exterior spaces. And most importantly, toilets flush and water filler stations have running water. All of these examples are from our employees who work behind the scenes most of the time. I’m very proud to have been part of this group of employees who keep the campus facilities and grounds clean, beautiful, and all systems running smoothly.
