Behind the scenes: Workers recognized
- by Kari Lewis: Staff Writer

On March 4, 2004, Harold Robinson was having a normal day at work as the director of Physical Facilities. He had a meeting scheduled that day at the Duncan Higher Education Center. The only thing out of the ordinary about this day was the weather.

“It would rain for a little, then, stop,” he explained. “The wind was extremely strong.”

Weather reports for that day noted that the wind was dangerously strong.

Robinson said the weather was so peculiar that he actually considered canceling his meeting in Duncan because of the drive, but he didn’t.

“I was on Highway 7, and when I got to the Duncan bypass the wind and rain really hit,” Robinson said. “I called back to Cameron to see how things were going and how bad the weather was there, and they told me that I wasn’t going to believe what had happened.”

Robinson headed back to Cameron immediately. When he arrived, he was in shock. There were cars with windows out; some cars were so badly damaged they were impossible to drive. The football stadium concession stand was destroyed, debris covered the campus, and Nance Boyer was missing a large section of its roof.

“I asked myself, ‘where do we start?’” Robinson said.

For the rest of the day and many days to follow, Robinson and other members of Physical Facilities assisted students and faculty with their vehicles, removed debris and worked on many repairs.

Although Physical Facilities may sometimes go unnoticed and unappreciated, faculty and students know that without it, CU would simply be someplace for students and faculty to dread. Without the Physical Facilities personnel, damages from storms and other natural disasters would take more time to repair.

The Physical Facilities staff has many responsibilities. According to Keith Mitchell, vice president for University Advancement, the university’s land, buildings and vehicles are valued at approximately $94 million, and it is the duty of Physical Facilities to maintain them.

“This is no easy feat in light of the age of the buildings and the degree of maintenance that’s been deferred over the years because of insufficient state funding,” Mitchell said.

The department is nested between the stadium and the tennis courts and is comprised of almost 30 buildings. According to Mitchell, one of the buildings dates back to the era of the Great Depression.

“The staff is made up of experts in a variety of fields: carpenters, electricians, plumbers, groundskeepers, maintenance engineers and auto mechanics,” Mitchell added.

Robinson has been at Cameron for 22 years. He still remembers his first look at the campus.

“Most of the grounds were vacant on campus,” he said. “There was little landscaping, fewer buildings and few focal points.”

According to Robinson, the Physical Facilities Department boasts a crew of 78 workers.

An important responsibility of the facilities is to deliver mail. This is the duty of Dennis Mosal, Cameron’s mail courier for 14 years. Mosal is in charge of sorting, bundling and delivering mail.

“I deliver mail to 63 offices twice a day,” Mosal said. “Remembering who, what, where and when everything goes is the hardest part of this job. The easiest part is the hours and that I get to stay clean,” Mosal laughed.

Mosal enjoys working at Cameron and says there is never a dull moment.

“I also get to work with two great student workers,” he said.

Gabriel Vidal, computer science junior, is one of the student workers.

“I’ve been working here for two years, and I really enjoy it,” Vidal said. “I’ve learned a lot about the university and the faculty side of each department.”

Mosal started out at Cameron in 1987 working as a custodian supervisor. He then moved on to grounds and then to become a mechanic. In 1991, he moved to the mail department and has been enjoying it ever since.

Another very important part of the facilities is carpentry. Lumber, saws, paint buckets and paint brushes are strategically placed everywhere. This may sound like a workshop, however this is the building of Terry Hacker, the carpenter foreman.

“We have several responsibilities here on campus,” Hacker said. “We replace and install windows, doors, flooring and ceilings – just to name a few.”

Hacker has been at Cameron for 21 years and believes it’s a great place to work.

“I like working here because of all the good people I work with,” Hacker said.

He believes working on a collegiate campus is not like regular construction because of weather situations.

“If it’s raining, we can work inside,” he said. “We can always work.”

Examples of projects completed include installing backstops on the baseball and softball fields and windscreens at the tennis courts.

“We’ve worked with the athletic director on many occasions,” Hacker said.

Sam Carroll, CU’s athletic director, appreciates the work of the Physical Facilities personnel.

“Physical Facilities is important in the support of our athletic programs,” Carroll said. “They are good to work with and continue to work with us in the daily maintenance of our facilities.”

Some other responsibilities of the carpentry department include the installment of signs, with or without brail, upkeep on all sidewalks, driveways and parking lots, and they are currently making bathrooms handicap accessible.

“We stay busy all year round,” Hacker said. “When students are on break from classrooms, we are working.”

While the carpentry works on the inside of the buildings, John French, the grounds foreman and a six-year veteran at CU, is working outside. Lawnmowers, weed-eaters and other landscaping tools fill his office.

“Our primary goal is ground maintenance. This encompasses the grass, flowers, shrubs and trees,” French explained.

Some other responsibilities include trash pickup, street signs, sprinkler system maintenance and providing labor when faculty is moving offices or when furniture needs to be replaced.

Professor Don Aguilar of the multimedia department has had an experience with moving offices and furniture.

“Physical Facilities remodeled our office from two smaller offices to four,” he said. “They also helped us move the old furniture out and the new furniture in,” Aguilar said. “I appreciate so much what they do. They are very helpful and very service-oriented.”

French believes the best part of his job is the payoff.

“Since the outside of the campus is the first thing that students and faculty see, the way the campus looks is the best part of my job,” French said. “Getting everything covered is definitely the hardest part of my job.”

French works with four crews to get everything done: a mowing crew, a flower bed crew, a crew that works on specific parts of campus only, and a one-man crew that mows the big fields that Cameron owns.
The grounds department has won many awards. One award was the five-year Environmental Quality Improvement Award. This award was received in 1999.

“This was awarded by the City of Lawton Environmental Community for the Unity Gardens,” French explained.

Some current projects French’s crews are working on include placing ivy beds and ornamental grass on the north and south sides of the cafeteria, redoing flowerbeds and putting up signs.

One of the most important duties of the Physical Facilities belongs to Ed Burris, the physical plant engineer at CU since 1996.

“My main priority is to manage the everyday maintenance of environmental control and water works,” Burris said.

Even though he is on call 24/7, 365 days a year, Burris has “no complaints.”

“We’re here for the employees and students. We want the campus to be as safe as we can make it,” Burris said. “I wouldn’t work anywhere else.”

Mary Stevens, the Shepler Hall director, works very closely with Physical Facilities and is appreciative of the department.

“They always respond in a timely manner to all of our requests,” Stevens said.

Barbara Pickthorn, the assistant director of the Library feels no different.

“Physical Facilities always gets everything done that needs to be done,” she said.

Adam Calaway, assistant director of Government and Community Relations, also expresses his gratitude.

“The Physical Facilities department is the unsung hero at the Cameron University family,” Callaway said. “They work diligently to provide Cameron students with a safe, clean and attractive campus, and they do it with little fanfare. We all owe them a special thanks.”

Robinson, French, Hacker and Mosal are just a few of the people that deserve thanks.

May it be damage from a storm similar to the one on March 4 of last year or a leaky faucet in the bathrooms, the staff of the Physical Facilities has it covered.