Lights, Camera, Action! Supporting the Arts

Barbara Korner, Dean of the College of Arts and Architecture, wrote to thank OPP for its sponsorship of the production of Julius Caesar and the Penn State Philharmonic Orchestra concert. "Matt Leah, Connie Brumgard and Jeanne Higgins were all instrumental in the success of this production and please extend my appreciation to them and all others involved from OPP.

"There were at least three miles of cables used, three genie lifts, two generators and two tents, much of those courtesy of the Office of Physical Plant. While we have the talent to pull off these massive productions, they still cost much more than our usual production budget will support and we simply could not have done this without the help of University support and offices, such as OPP."

Chilled Water Cleaning

Several individuals gave up their Memorial Day weekend to handle issues with the Old Main cooling system. The project was completed on Sunday morning and is back to normal operation.  

Steve Oskin wrote that the success of the project was "largely due to the outstanding work of our contractors, G.R. Sponaugle (TJ Bair) and GE Water (Brian Merrill), and Darin Bressler and Mark Gephart of OPP who went well beyond their responsibilities, particularly on a holiday weekend, to complete the work."  

Bill Rittelman, Area 4 Engineer, wrote in to specifically thank Steve Oskin, Darin Bressler, Mark Gephart and the rest of the crew for their work to expedite the cleaning of the chilled water system at Old Main. "Steve is decisive, resourceful and goes full-throttle when resolving a problem. He had a large air/dirt separator delivered in less than 24 hours from Chicago and rounded up 200' of fire hose from the Alpha Fire Company to get the job done right. Darrin and Mark have been on site early and late to get the job done as quickly as possible."  

Meanwhile, a big thank you also goes out to TJ Bair from G.R. Sponaugle, Brian Merrill of GE Water, Matt Bair and Howard McGonigal.

Supporting Education

Gita Talmage, professor of Mechanical Engineering, wrote in to OPP to thank Paul Moser and the personnel at Steam Services for their support of education. "I want to acknowledge Paul Moser and the personnel at the West Campus Steam Plant for their dedication to and support of the education of our students. Mr. Moser had taken many of my junior-level core mechanical engineering classes on tours of the WCSP, allowing those students to better understand the material that they were learning in classes such as thermodynamics and fluid mechanics. In our power plants course, a senior-level technical elective, the operators, mechanics and steam distribution specialists have worked directly with the students by providing on-site visits to ensure that our students saw a functioning real-world plant. My students routinely learned material not found in any textbook but, rather, gained only through years of work in the field. The success of many of our students is due, in part, to the efforts of Mr. Moser and his team at WCSP."

Taking Care of Housing

Tammy Zeiders, assistant housing manager, wrote to OPP to thank the crews for their usual quick response to issues at White Course Apartments. "On Tuesday, April 28, John Morris was doing a maintenance call for a hot water issue in Garban Hall when he overheard the compressor to the sprinkler system turning on every 5-6 minutes, which he knew wasn't right. He went back to OPP and relayed the information to his supervisor as well as the sprinkler crew. The supervisor made arrangements for someone to stay over on OT to shut the system off to avoid the pipe from bursting, which would've caused flooding and the relocation of residents. Kevin Koeck stayed over that evening to ensure everything was shut down.

"On Thursday, April 29 at 7:30 a.m. Mike Coble, Tom Miller and Tom Rothrock were ready to fix the problem. The second shift crew came as soon as their shift began. Tom Myers, Kevin Koeck, Tom Miller and Kurt Holt got the system back up and running. These groups have great communication skills and they continuously look for ways to improve the level of service. Everye one of these workers has excellent customer service skills and always show that they care about their jobs."

Challenges at McCoy Natatorium

Shawn DeRosa, Director of Aquatics, wrote in to OPP to thank the crew who has handled various challenges, included a steam/thermostat issue at the Natatorium. "We've had a difficult start-up this season, with clogged filter pump lines, water softener problem, chemical pumps not working correctly, condensation pumps not working, major water loss from the pool, etc. Each time the guys were very quick to respond and were able to get us up and running without any significant down time. They have been so very supportive and helpful."