News from the Vice Chancellor
Summer 2013
Digital controls: An easy adjustment
John Paulus, Dennis Luedtke, and
Mark Eickstaedt are men on a
mission. Over the next 2 years, the
Physical Plant employees plan to replace the campus’ outdated temperature-control systems with state-ofthe-art digital equipment—improving
function, enhancing reliability, and
saving energy.
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Digital controls............. 1
Printing changes............. 1
Welcome....................... 2
Recyclemania............... 3
Good news.................... 4
Classified award:
Frank.............................. 4
Classified award:
Borgmeyer...................... 5
News from the Vice Chancellor
is published for ASLS division
employees.
Publisher: Phil Lyons
Vice Chancellor Administrative &
Student Life Services
lyons@uwstout.edu
(715) 232-1683
Editor: Tom Dye
Communication Specialist
dyet@uwstout.edu
(715) 232-1681
225 Administration Building
Menomonie, WI 54751
Fax: (715) 232-1527
The existing pneumatic (air operated) control systems are original
John Paulus at the digital control center
to most buildings and subject to
leaks and failures. They also lack the accuracy
We can regulate
people now expect from modern digital controls.
temperatures more “The industry developed six more generations of
controllers since these went in during the 1950s,
exactly...
‘60s, and ‘70s,” said Paulus, UW-Stout building
maintenance superintendent. “I’m guessing our controllers are among the oldest in the UW System.” (See Controls, page 3.)
“
”
Printing changes
In a collaborative effort aimed at maximizing efficiencies while meeting customer
expectations, the university will transition to
UW-Eau Claire Printing Services this summer. The change was recommended after
a comprehensive review of campus printing
needs indicated that the university would
reap several benefits from the collaboration.
Assistant Vice Chancellor Kim Schulte-Shoberg, who oversees Printing Services, noted
that UW-Eau Claire is particularly well posiPrinting Services’ Jane Heutmaker
tioned to take over printing duties for Stout
faculty and staff. “UWEC recently made a significant investment in new equipment and
an online project-management system,” Schulte-Shoberg said. “Plus, they ramped up
staffing to allow for extended hours, including weekends.” (See Printing, page 6.)
ASLS VICE CHANCELLOR’S OFFICE • 225 Administration, Menomonie, WI 54751 • 715-232-1683
Welcome
Annette Anderson, academic custodial lead, grew up in the Chetek area
and lives in Colfax in a home she designed and built in 2000. She has a
husband and two children: a daughter who is married and living in Las Vegas and a son who lives in Menomonie. In her spare time, Annette enjoys
relaxing near the fish pond she built, woodworking, and visiting the elderly
at a local nursing home, where she works as a CNA on her days off..
Mackenzie Hunter, fitness and aquatics coordinator, earned her bachelor’s
and master’s in Exercise and Sport Science from UW-La Cross. Before joining URec, Mackenzie worked as a personal trainer at Eau Claire’s Momentum Sport Fitness. The Eau Claire resident enjoys spending time outdoors,
being physically active, and reading. A runner, Mackenzie has completed
many half marathons and completed her first full marathon last fall.
Jeremy Janiak joins Physical Plant as custodial supervisor for buildings
north of 10th Avenue. Prior to joining Stout, he worked as a facilities coordinator at Community Health Partnership. A Wisconsin native, Jeremy has
resided in the Eau Claire area for the last 20 years. He and wife Jennifer
have three girls: Hannah (8), Claire, (5) and Paige (1.5). In the limited free
time between kids, sports, and pursuing a Sustainable Management degree at Stout, he remodels the house or works on landscaping projects.
Kyle Kuester, Mail Services and Central Receiving, was born and raised
in Menomonie—graduating from Menomonie High and attending both
CVTC and Globe University. Kyle started working at Stout through the high
school co-op program and later joined Mail Services as an LTE. His hobbies and interests include playing disc golf, playing video games, biking,
watching movies, and eating Taco Johns.
Kathy Larsen, financial specialist, joins Student Business Services after
LTE and project positions. Kathy earned a B..S. in Business Administration from The King’s College in New York. Originally from New Jersey, Kathy
now resides in Menomonie with her husband Aage and two sons Nathan
(18) and Daniel (15). Before joining UW-Stout, Kathy worked at Edward
Jones as a Branch Office Assistant. In addition to spending time with her
family, she enjoys reading, scrapbooking, and flower gardening.
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Samantha Pearson joins Human Resources as an HR assistant. A Washburn native, Samantha lives in Eau Claire with husband Claydon and children Makenna (3) and Jaxton (10 months). Before joining Stout, Samantha
worked at Wellness Innovations & Nursing Services in Altoona and was a
stay-at-home mom. She has a degree in Organizational Communication
from UW-Eau Claire and is pursuing an MBA online through the UW Consortium. A Packer and Wild fan, Samantha enjoys photography, baking,
reading, and movies. She and her family spend their summers camping,
visiting state and national parks, and working on their 140-year-old house.
NEWS FROM THE VICE CHANCELLOR
Controls (continued from page 1)
“We are moving forward,” Paulus continued. “Lots of our system components
are so old we can’t get parts anymore. Back in 2010, we lost a power module
in the main controller for the campus, and I had a hard time getting a replacement.”
Pointing to the dated looking controller, housed in a wall panel in General Services, Paulus said, “The manufacturer doesn’t make them anymore; they don’t
even stock them.”
To operate the old control system, compressors run ‘round the clock, driving
air through the labyrinth of tubes that forms the system’s backbone. With so
many miles of plumbing, there are bound to be leaks; and with the tubing buried in walls, those leaks often prove difficult or impossible to repair.
The system doesn’t just leak air, though; it also leaks money. “The air compressors are energy hogs. To keep the controllers in operation, the compressors run 24 hours a day, 365 days a year—making them some of the biggest
energy consumers on campus,” Paulus said. “By converting from pneumatic
controllers to digital, we can eliminate 85 to 90 percent of the building control
air compressors, which is big dollars.”
Updating the system will also make building occupants more comfortable.
“The pneumatic actuators drift out of calibration, don’t respond to changing
loads well, and are only accurate to plus or minus 10 percent of the temperature set point,” Paulus noted. “So zone temperatures can be off by several
degrees, leaving people too hot or too cold.”
By contrast, the new digital controls are nearly 10 times more accurate than
pneumatics and don’t require continual recalibration, so Physical Plant employees will have much greater success keeping buildings cozy. Plus, they
won’t have to rely on phone calls from shivering or sweating residents to learn
about temperature issues. (See Controls, page 5.)
With digital controls, an application provides centralized monitoring and management
ADMINISTRATIVE AND STUDENT LIFE SERVICES
The results are in for
Stout’s seventh bout in
Recyclemania, the annual
recycling competition between colleges.
In 2012, UW-Stout placed
202nd in the nation. But
after implementating
campus-wide recycling and
composting in January, we
shot up to 115th in 2013.
UW-Stout fared even better
when compared to other
UW System campuses,
placing first in per-capita
compost collection. The
top finish is partly due to a
quadrupling in composting
between 2012 and 2013
(spurred on by a flash mob
that hit the MSC).
In addition, UW-Stout beat
UW-Eau Claire in a local recycling competition
sponsored by our waste
management vendor. As
a result, UW-Stout will be
awarded $1,500 toward
sustainability initiatives.
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Good news
H all director Andrea Fults received a Distinguished Service Award from
the Wisconsin United Residence Hall Association (WURHA) for mentoring
student leaders across the state while serving as the WURHA advisor.
P hysical Plant’s Arlo Frank and Betty Johnson were honored at LGBTQ’s
Rainbow Graduation for the support and acceptance they offer all students.
Classified Employee
Appreciation Award
Arlo Frank, custodial
lead, received the Classified Employee Appreciation Award for April.
His nomination states:
“Arlo shows his commitment to the university
every day. He comes in
and gets things ready for
the recyclers and gets
supplies for the custodians. Whatever we need,
he comes through with it
for us.”
“He has been here and
stayed in the same job;
why? because he is good
at what he does! There
are many people that
depend on him and he
always follows through.
He is a committed person
who gets the job done
and done right. He has
a positive attitude and
cheery outlook on everything.”
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H ealth and Safety’s Tracy Glenz was selected chair of the Bridge to Hope
board of directors. The Bridge is a non-profit organization that helps liberate and empower people affected by domestic violence and sexual assault.
C oach Eddie Andrist was guest speaker and clinician at the Alaska
Basketball Academy Girls Team Camp held in Anchorage.
P rocurement and Material Management’s
Bob Dodge (shown at right with Brent
Tilton and Phil Lyons) and a Physical Plant
custodian, who asked that her name be
withheld, received 2013 Safety Recognition
Awards from the UW-Stout Safety and Worker Compensation Committee.
A meriCorps VISTA volunteers held their year-end presentation on June 11.
A fter 66 years of combined service to the state of Wisconsin, Diane and
Dave Larson retired from the Physical Plant custodial department in May.
U Rec accomplishments included:
• Leading a retreat for 24 student employees in formal leadership roles.
The students assessed strengths, engaged in teambuilding activities,
and discussed leadership styles, tips for supervising peers, and more.
• Sending two members of the waterski club, who qualified for the midwest
all-star team, to the national tournament.
• Supporting the women’s ice hockey club’s return to the Division II national tournament, where they took fourth.
• Helping Stout climbers win the overall team championship at the Wisconsin
Indoor Climbing Series and capture three of the top four individual spots.
• Hosting the annual Poker
Walk as part of Employee
Health & Wellness Day. (At
left, Officer Kevin Goodell,
URec Director Lori Anda,
and a pair of student workers are on hand to deal
with walkers and keep them
shuffling.)
NEWS FROM THE VICE CHANCELLOR
Controls (continued from page 3)
“With direct digital control (DDC), we can monitor temperatures, humidity,
pressure, and air flow remotely,” Paulus said. “DDC will enhance our ability to
troubleshoot, and it will let us collect and save system data. We’ll be able to
detect trends in equipment performance, giving us the ability to identify an
issue before it becomes a problem. We can make corrections without crossing
campus and then see what happens as a result of the changes.”
Moreover, digital control software will enable Paulus and his crew to automate
heating and cooling cycles to meet demand, reducing energy consumption on
weekends, holidays, and overnight. They will also be able to detect whether
certain rooms are occupied and then automatically adjust temperatures accordingly, saving even more energy and money.
“Plus, digital controls support troubleshooting, resets, and common adjustments from home,” Paulus added. “Since about 90 percent of our off-hour
emergency calls just require an adjustment or reset, our technicians will be
able to make corrections without coming into work in the middle of the night.
That will reduce the costs of addressing those after-hour incidents by 50 to
75 percent.”
Of course, installing the new controllers won’t be cheap. Paulus estimates the
cost to complete the first phase of the project will run about $250,000. “That
may sound like a lot,” Paulus said, “but I anticipate we’ll recoup our costs in
two and a half years, which is very fast payback.”
In fact, the conversion to digital controls is already in motion and paying off.
In 2010, the campus replaced the pneumatic controllers for radiant heating in
South Hall. “The new digital controllers are much more accurate than the old
pneumatic ones, so we can regulate temperatures more exactly. Among other
things, that means students aren’t throwing their windows open in the winter
like they used to,” Paulus said. “We’ve already seen a 36 pecent reduction in
condensate return to the Heating Plan and a 41 percent reduction in heating
costs for the building. So the return on investment is well underway.”
Classified Employee
Appreciation Award
Gary Borgmeyer,
academic custodial,
received the Classified
Employee Appreciation
Award for May.
His nomination states:
“Gary does a great job
of making sure Bowman Hall looks and feels
clean both on the inside
and outside. He is concerned for the safety of
the staff, students, and
visitors in the building.”
“He has worked especially hard this endless winter to keep our walkways
and entrances free from
snow and ice. He does
all of this with a cheerful
and friendly attitude and
pursues excellence in all
he does.”
Paulus hopes to complete the bulk of the conversion project by spring 2014.
But the Physical Plant crew won’t stop there. In the future, they plan to ensure
that all applicable new equipment includes digital controls.
Save the date
• ASLS Picnic
August 1
• All-Division Meeting
October 2
ADMINISTRATIVE AND STUDENT LIFE SERVICES
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ADMINISTRATIVE AND STUDENT LIFE SERVICES
People working together for service excellence and innovation.
Printing (continued from page 1)
Snapshots
“UW-Stout’s Printing Services have always struggled financially,” Schulte-Shoberg
said, “because we have a much smaller pool of customers and yet the same level
of capital investment and staffing is needed to accommodate the printing demands of the campus.”
As digital printing capabilities became more sophisticated, UW-Stout’s model became even less feasible. “We found ourselves needing to invest in equipment and
software upgrades to keep up with expectations,” Schulte-Shoberg said. “Given the
pending expenses, as well as the retirement of a Printing Services staffer, the time
was right to evaluate printing options.”
Members of the grounds crew at
work on the pedestrian bridge
To perform the evaluation, the university formed a Printing Services Review Committee, which surveyed campus customers, compared our situation to other UW
System campuses, and discussed possible collaborations. The review also included a financial analysis and a thorough review of external vendors—including
UW-Eau Claire, which proved to be the best fit.
Sharing services with Eau Claire allows greater economies of scale and, as SchulteShoberg points out, is a “great example of how campuses can collaborate and build
off each other’s strengths to improve efficiency, enhance service, and reduce costs.”
Student Employee of the Year
Stephanie Hanrahan with Justin
Krahn, both of Dining Services
The Harvey-JTC move is underway
The collaboration is expected to offer the following benefits:
• Improved print job turnaround: 24 to 48 hours
• .Online ordering—with immediate quotes, project tracking, and digital file storage
• .Continued on-campus help—available via Print Manager Jane Heutmaker
• .Financial savings through reducing overhead, eliminating capital investments,
and eliminating maintenance
• .Freeing campus space and a 102 FTE position
• Reduced job costs, as volumes increase
The change is expected to be transparent to campus print customers, with Printing
Services making changes behind the scenes—submitting print jobs electronically
and receiving print jobs via courier. Departments will continue to submit print jobs
to UW-Stout Print Services using the same processes they use today; however, next
fall, Print Manager Heutmaker expects to roll out the online ordering system. As
Heutmaker notes, “We have high expectations of the kind of services that we, as a
team, can provide our campus clients.”
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ASLS VICE CHANCELLOR’S OFFICE •
225 Administration Building
• (715) 232-1683