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Behind Our Scenes

Oakland University's Facilities Management Department keeps our campus on course during challenging winter months

We Are OU goes behind the scenes with some of Oakland University's most dedicated employees. The doers and problem-solvers who work hard to make OU better each day.

Campus Crew

icon of a calendarMarch 7, 2018

icon of a pencilBy Scott Kunselman

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Winter reframes our campus’ landscape, blanketing our hills, valleys and trees with omnipresent snow. Yet, due to the tireless work of our Facilities Management Department, the routes we depend on to take us safely from car to classroom remain largely unchanged.

Each day a dedicated team arrives before dawn to plow the roads and keep our parking lots free of obstruction--whether that be snow or otherwise. This team shifts their schedules and reorganizes their lives for the sake of keeping our campus operating at its best when conditions are at their worst.

In a recent behind-the-scenes video, filmed during warmer days, they are described as “the doers and problem-solvers who work hard to make OU better each day.” During a season as unpredictable as this one, those words couldn’t be more true.

With the help of our Facilities Management Department, we are on track to finish our most anticipated campus projects. Both the new housing structure, Hillcrest Hall, and the extensive renovation of the Oakland Center continue on schedule, despite the challenging weather conditions. 

Each week I am eager to see how the construction’s latest progress adds to the visual scope of our campus. The best is still to come, but the steel girders rising out of the OC’s south addition provide a striking preview until the project is completed this fall.

Considering my realm of responsibilities as OU's chief operating officer, it would be easy to think of our weather, combined with so much construction, as a pure nuisance. And, sometimes, I agree. But when I think of the hardworking team that serves as stewards to our increasingly growing campus, I am grateful that more snow is the least of our worries.

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