I&S Employee Newsletter - August 2024 | Infrastructure and Resilience

I&S Employee Newsletter - August 2024

VC's Corner

Keeping our campus beautiful

Dear Infrastructure and Sustainability team,

It was great to see so many of you at our summer appreciation picnic! We had 350 people from all our units come out to celebrate. I am especially excited to share that the event was officially “zero waste,” with 93.3% of our waste diverted from the landfill! Thank you all for participating. I’d also like to send a special thank you to those who helped organize the event, those who helped set up and those who helped tear down. I appreciate the teamwork.

Our annual Volunteer Day of Service was yesterday. Thanks to everyone who picked up a piece of trash, planted a tree, painted a handrail and did so much more to beautify our campus! It was wonderful to see everyone come out for a fun day working with colleagues.

I hope many of you are able to join the free event tomorrow. This event is inclusive of families, so please bring them!

I also wanted to follow up on the CU Boulder Today article regarding our new chancellor’s decision to create a vice chancellor for sustainability, who will report to him. Although I don’t yet know all the details, our I&S team will remain heavily involved in the planning and implementation of sustainability and climate projects.

I am looking forward to the start of the fall semester, and hope you are as well. In I&S, our focus is on preparing our campus for the year ahead, celebrating the work we have accomplished, and advancing the ongoing collaboration and initiatives we have in place.

As we prepare for the start of another successful academic year, thank you again for the outstanding work you do everyday that makes our campus shine.

With gratitude,
Chris Ewing, vice chancellor for infrastructure and sustainability

News and Notes

Help with campus move-in

Be a part of the excitement for Fall Welcome by signing up to volunteer! Roles include providing event support, distributing welcome bags, driving golf cart shuttles and more. Please work with your supervisor to ensure coverage prior to signing up to volunteer.

Celebrate the end of summer at the Summer Farewell Fest

All faculty, staff and their families are invited to say goodbye to summer with some fun and sun. The Summer Farewell Fest is Friday, Aug. 9, from 4 to 7 p.m. at Duane Lawn. There will be carnival games, music, food and freebies! Wellness resources for the upcoming school year are available to all CU Boulder faculty and staff. Please bring your Buff OneCard for entry.

Thank you for making the I&S picnic zero waste

Our recent Staff Appreciation event resulted in a 93% diversion rate thanks to the enthusiastic support from I&S employees and event planners. By using reusable dishes and silverware and scraping plates into a “food-scraps-only” bucket, we achieved zero waste. An event, household or operation is considered “zero waste” when 90% or more of its discards are diverted from the landfill.

As you may be aware, changes in acceptable compost feedstock made items like “compostable” plates, napkins and service-ware no longer acceptable. These rule changes made it nearly impossible to host zero waste events on campus for the last couple of years, so this really is a milestone accomplishment for campus. Thanks to all who made this possible!

Extreme Ownership Leadership Series: Register by August 15

Staff are once again invited to sign up for Extreme Ownership, a 12-week leadership development program for those in supervisory or lead positions. (Others can join with supervisor approval.) This program is based on the bestselling book by Ex-Navy SEALS Jocko Willink and Leif Babin, and offers invaluable leadership lessons from their combat experiences.

Space is limited, and registration closes on Aug. 15, so sign up today!

New sunflower bed celebrates CU pride

This year, I&S’s Outdoor Services team planted a new “campus colors” garden featuring the CU red cockeral sunflower. The garden creates a beautiful gateway to campus on the west side of the broadway multi-use path, south of Pleasant Street and west of Hale Science.

The garden design features the university's colors with dark millet and three kinds of rudbeckia: Denver daisy, Indian summer, and prairie sunset. To add contrast, we included Artemisia “Parfum d' Ethiopia” for a touch of silver and “white imp” Bidens for early blooms. We hope you enjoy this vibrant and thoughtfully curated garden!

Sunflowers can also be found in other locations on campus, such as the north side of Regent and in a roundabout near Fleming.

The Operations Control Center has moved

After being located in the Folsom Field stadium for over 20 years, the Operations Control Center (OCC) has moved to the East District Energy Plant (EDEP).

The OCC, which operates around the clock, including on weekends and holidays, serves as campus’s first point of contact for facility-related service calls and other urgent situations. Moving to EDEP puts the OCC team in the same building as the utility plant operators, who also occupy the space 24 hours a day. In addition, this move eliminates the challenges staff have encountered associated with coming and going during large stadium events.

Employee Spotlight

Jessica Morse-Leppek – fleet specialist, Transportation

How long have you been working at CU? As of this July, it has been 16 years.

What is your favorite thing to do outside of work? I love anything I get to do with my two kids, whether we are going out or staying in and being lazy. They are my world. I love going to concerts with my husband and I love the Harley rides we get to go on. I love vacationing! We love TN and getting to see our family there, any beach and anywhere we get to go and see new things or spend time together. I also love artsy and creative things.

Tell us something that might surprise us about you. I have my cosmetology license. I am a CO native but have never been skiing and have no desire to go either. The hula-hoop was my absolute favorite thing to do as a kid. I am not a fan of going to movie theaters.

What do you love about CU Boulder? The scenery!

Are you a die-hard fan of anything? May sound cliché, but my family and friends.

Safety Toolbox

Safety behind the wheel during campus move-in

Our students will be moving back to campus the week of Aug. 19. Move-in is an exciting and new experience for many people, including students who are new to campus and parents who will be turned around while navigating an unfamiliar place.

Please be extra cautious if you are driving on campus either commuting or operating a campus vehicle. Plan your day, be on the lookout for new students, and don’t forget to say hello to our visitors!

FM Safety Committee

The FM safety committee meets the third Tuesday of every month to discuss general safety concerns, review safety reports and on-the-job injuries and recommend training needs and resources. If you are interested in attending a meeting or bringing an issue or idea that is safety related, please reach out to your area representative on the or contact our Safety Specialist Don Fitzpatrick.

I&S IT Tips and Tricks

Subscribe to OIT service alerts

Don't be caught by surprise! for timely email updates on service outages and planned maintenance affecting the CU Boulder campus.

Comings and Goings

New hires

Alex Goff, CBS, custodian
Shanu KC, CBS, custodian
Travor Smith, Transportation Services, transit operations supervisor
Claude Masson, Outdoor Services, arborist
David Kirk, PD&C, CAD/GIS/space optimization technician
Samuel Cave, Utility and Energy Services, utility plant operator
Cydney Petrich, CBS, floor crew
Dayton "Martin" Guillen Blandon, CBS, custodian
Trista Butler, CBS, custodian
Fnu "Chozin" Lhamo, CBS, custodian

Promotions/Transfers

Summer Morrissey, CU System Office, payroll and leave administrator (formerly accounting tech)
Tenzing Sopa, CBS, custodian II/team lead (formerly custodian)
Chime Lama Sherpa, CBS, custodian (formerly custodian with Housing Facilities Services)

Moving On

Phine Sayavong, CBS, custodian
Evrard "Kevin" Louzingou Mayandza, Utility and Energy Services, utility plant operator
Leonard "Lenny" Socolov, Facilities Maintenance Operations, structural trades
Joe Sherman, Facilities Maintenance Operations, pipe shop supervisor
Laurence "Red" Wagner, Transportation Services, campus bus driver

I&S Employee Quick Links

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