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When students at ���Ͽ� enter a classroom, lab or residence hall, or head to the student center for lunch or a show, they know they can count on bright, orderly spaces awaiting them.

That’s because a group of employees dedicated to their well-being and career success has taken care of it for them. At ���Ͽ�, 54 custodians keep 32 buildings and 2.24 million square feet of space clean and ready for learning and living day after day, semester after semester.

The team’s innovative approaches to problem-solving and dedication to serving students, faculty, staff and campus visitors haven’t gone unnoticed. On Sept. 26, Custodial Services received the University Staff Excellence Program Award from the Universities of Wisconsin during the Board of Regents meeting at UW-Parkside in Kenosha.

“The custodial team is an amazing group of dedicated employees essential to upholding our mission as Wisconsin’s Polytechnic University and supporting the success of our students and our university,” said Chancellor Katherine Frank.

Frank attended the meeting and award ceremony along with custodial leads Bob Cook, Facilities Management academic/service buildings; Aimee Lipke, University Centers; and Brad Mengeling, University Housing; and their respective supervisors, Zenon Smolarek, Darrin Witucki and Justin Fults. Also attending were Erik Guenard, vice chancellor for Business, Finance and Administrative Services; Glendalí Rodríguez, provost and vice chancellor for Academic Affairs; and Dean of Students Sandi Scott.

Meanwhile, about 20 members of the custodial staff gathered in Merle M. Price Commons at ���Ͽ� to see a livestream of the award ceremony. They celebrated with a cake.

Cook, who has been at ���Ͽ� for 41 years, spoke on behalf of the custodial team.

“Custodians play a critical role in students feeling welcomed, and sometimes it is the custodian who notices something about a student and can refer them to someone who can help them on campus. While cleaning is an important part of our job, ultimately, we are about creating successful students,” Cook told the Board of Regents.

“It’s about the students and the staff and keeping everyone safe and healthy,” Cook added.

Scott nominated the team for the award. “Our custodial team is comprised of dedicated, hard-working and long-serving individuals who are professionals and who take great pride in maintaining and servicing our facilities across campus,” Scott said.

“Custodians know they do more than keep our buildings clean,” Scott said. “They provide daily care and services for spaces that provide and support living, dining and learning both in and out of the classroom. They create first impressions for recruitment, and the care and cleaning of the campus spaces that they take such pride in contributes to retention. Daily, their work helps us live out our polytechnic mission.”

It's the second consecutive year ���Ͽ� has won the program award, with University Dining honored in 2023. Two individuals from UW also are honored each year, including ���Ͽ�’s Jo Johnson, Human Resources, in 2022.

Taking care of campus

As Wisconsin’s Polytechnic University, with a focus on applied learning, business and industry partnerships, and career outcomes, ���Ͽ� has three times more labs and studio spaces than classrooms, creating challenges for the custodial staff.

Extra and sometimes special cleaning efforts are required. 

For example, in a charcoal drawing studio with more than 20 easels, in the band room with dozens of chairs and elsewhere, the staff recognized that using an electric leaf blower would be more efficient to “sweep” the floor around the many obstacles rather than trying to go around or displace objects with a broom or vacuum. Debris is quickly blown to one spot and then swept up.

“Using the leaf blower is an adaptation as a staff and a way to make things easier,” said Brad Kupczak, Custodial Services program manager for academic buildings. “Efficiency and productivity are critical in our custodial operations. Our staff has come up with several creative ideas to make the job easier, while still maintaining facility cleanliness and a focus on our primary customers, the students. The staff members are definitely unsung heroes.”

Custodians adjust to class and event schedules each day. Academic custodial, for example, begins work on weekdays at 3:30 a.m.; a second shift wraps up at 11:30 p.m.

The custodial team supports major campus events that draw large crowds, such as the biannual Career Conference, Stout Game Expo, Fashion Without Fabric, commencements, plays, Blue Devil Athletics, art and design Senior Show, Research Day and art exhibits.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the team was cited for its efforts to clean and remove furniture for social distancing; adapting to ever-changing cleaning protocols; and managing COVID housing. During COVID, the team helped replace flooring, saving ���Ͽ� almost $100,000.

Earlier this year, ���Ͽ� was named a 2024 Green Ribbon Award winner by the U.S. Department of Education. Custodial efforts contributed significantly to the honor, including waste reduction efforts, winter salt management, chemical controls and reduction, indoor air quality efforts, as well as custodial membership on several campus sustainability committees.

For nearly a decade, the team has used four primary “green” chemicals for nearly all cleaning functions. The system replaced 26 previously used chemicals and resulted in $45,000 in annual savings, a 67% reduction.

The award comes with $7,500 for staff professional development.

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