Summer months remain busy for many employees
Staff members across campus will stay busy this summer as preparations for summer events and the 2014-15 academic year are already underway.
In June, campus will come alive when hundreds of elementary, middle, and high school-aged students from across the region will attend many different sports and academic camps. In addition, several professional and academic conferences will be held on campus over the next three months, and students and faculty will be on campus for Summer Session Summer I and II, May 27 to Aug. 16.
In addition to routine maintenance projects, grounds crew employees will work to paint cross walks and other markings on campus roadways. Now that classrooms and other heavily used spaces will have a bit less traffic, housekeeping crews will spend time waxing floors and facilities employees will spend catching up on painting projects.
At the South Main Street location, Printing Services staff are gearing up to print course materials, new business cards, specialized parking passes, and other materials needed by academic departments or for new student orientation.
In addition to delivering the mail sent to students attending overnight camps, Mail Services employees will see the volume of packages increase significantly in June as departments order equipment and supplies before the end of the fiscal year. And they will handle thousands of additional packages in August when student textbook orders flood the mail room.
While the new Signature Engineering Building will open this summer, construction will start or continue on Davidson Hall, the indoor athletic practice facility, and the Corps of Cadets residence hall. Work will also continue at Kentland Farm where employees are preparing the site for the relocation of the Dairy Program currently located on Southgate Drive.
Human Resources professionals are recruiting to fill open positions and preparing to bring several hundred new employees on campus and through orientation in July and August. Among those new employees is President-elect Timothy D. Sands who will begin on June 1.
Recreational Sports employees will be training more than 500 student employees they have hired for the 2014-15 year. The student employees will manage several recreational sports facilities and teach various group exercise classes across campus throughout the year.
A small team of people, including a few students, will be farming at the Catawba Sustainability Center participating in the Small Farm Incubator and Growers Plots program. Likewise, about 15 Dining Services employees will spend the summer working at Kentland Farm to grow and harvest food used in the dining halls.
Student Centers and Activities staff members are busy upgrading and improving Squires and Johnston student centers. Both facilities will receive new lounge and meeting room furniture. In addition to cleaning and stocking all 10 dining facilities across campus, employees are in the midst of hiring and training 600 new student employees and another 240 hourly employees.
Employees working in the University Bookstore, Dietrick Convenience Store, Squires C-Store, Stadium Hokie Shops, and Volume Two bookstore are already busy stocking their shelves with a variety of back to school items including everything from drinks and snacks to textbooks, computers, and school and office supplies as well as spirit clothing and gifts. Dozens of employees are also working on a new retail space and Starbucks Coffee shop that will open at the North End Center in July 2014.
The Office of the Provost will again offer new faculty welcome sessions and new academic leaders training sessions as the start of the academic year begins.
And with the start of the academic year also comes the start of the football season. Facilities and Athletics Department employees will prepare Lane Stadium for the first home game set for Aug. 30 against William & Mary.
