Commencement Support

From: Bob Reuning
To: All-FM
Subject: Commencement Support

Good Afternoon FM Team,

Last week at our All Hands meeting, I thanked you in advance for your efforts to support Commencement. After our meeting, FM made some amazing contributions to Commencement, which I must highlight.

Last weekend, in between rain showers, Bob Pils, his B&LM team, and our contractor partners executed an emergency road striping project on Campus Drive and Regents Drive with less than 48 hours notice. As a result, our roads were made safer for the thousands of faculty, staff, students, and families who attended graduation events.

On the day of Commencement, we suffered a major power outage on Electrical Feeder 9, which feeds (among other buildings) the Xfinity Center and the control room for the primary video board at SECU Stadium. The outage occurred around 3 p.m. and Commencement at the stadium was due to start at 7 p.m. Through the Herculean efforts of Kristy Long and her OM&U team, the CRC and other FM professionals, power was restored to the control room for the video board before Commencement, as well as to the Xfinity Center, so that graduations there could continue the next day. Special thanks to UMPD for providing escorts to get our people around campus.

It's these kinds of FM triumphs that remind me of the quote; "The Difficult We Do Every Day, the Impossible Takes a Little Longer". Instead, we should create a new quote; "FM does the Impossible Every Day".

My sincere thanks and appreciation to these heroes and to all of you; each of you supports our institution in similar extraordinary ways.

Bob Reuning