With the start of a new school year comes new faces on campus. On Aug. 3, IU Southeast welcomed new Physical Plant Director Jim Wolfe.
A Bosse High School graduate from Evansville, Ind., Wolfe has worked in the field of physical plant management for nearly 20 years.
In the U.S. Air Force, Wolfe worked as a facilities maintenance technician at the Little Rock Air Force Base in Little Rock, Ark. While there, Wolfe was assigned to maintain Titan II nuclear missile silos.
“Safety was highly important because of the equipment we were working around,” Wolfe said.
For 10 years Wolfe also worked on the grounds of the Sisters of St. Benedict monastery in Ferdinand, Ind.
While there, Wolfe gained experience working on an academic campus, although the monastery’s girls’ high school, Marian Heights Academy, had only approximately 100 students enrolled at the time.
Before joining the IUS Physical Plant, Wolfe worked for American General Finance, a loan company based in Evansville, Ind. After two years in the facilities management department of AGF, the opportunity to work on a college campus brought Wolfe to IU Southeast.
“It seems like colleges are a busy place to be. It’s always challenging and there’s always something going on,” Wolfe said.
He is currently a member of the Association of Physical Plant Administration. The APPA is an organization specifically designed for college physical plant directors.
The responsibilities Wolfe faces now are similar to those he experienced working for the monastery, although there are a few differences.
“Here there is a larger staff and more buildings,” Wolfe said. “There, buildings were older, from the 1900s. Buildings were built differently then.”
Physical Plant employees are responding well to the change in plant directors.
“Things are going very smooth,” Jerry Clemons, maintenance staff employee, said. “[Wolfe] is learning our ways and we’re learning his.”
As far as future plans for the IUS campus, Wolfe also said he expresses high hopes.
“The Physical Plant has a quality group of people working here,” he said. “I want to provide them with silent leadership so they can continue operating at a high standard.”
By DESIREE SMITH
Staff Writer
demismit@ius.edu