Grounds Department and Greenhouse
Grounds Department
The Grounds Department is responsible for the overall maintenance of the University grounds, which consist of approximately 275 acres. Included in this area are 23 acres of high-maintenance irrigated turf, including the academic area of campus, three athletic fields and landscaping at Sternberg Museum. Landscape design, installation and maintenance is taken care of by Grounds personnel.
During the winter, in the wee hours of the morning, employees in this department will be found hard at work to ensure that sidewalks, streets and parking lots are cleared of snow before students, faculty and staff arrive on campus for the day.
This department also takes care of refuse removal for the entire campus. Paper and cardboard items are recycled.
The Grounds crew also assists with moving furniture and other items when offices are relocated to another building on campus. Surplus property is also removed by this department.
As needed, the Grounds employees assist with construction on campus such as sidewalk replacement, irrigation system installations, plumbing projects, etc. Parking lot maintenance and minor street repairs are also taken care of by Grounds department employees.
Greenhouse
A beautiful greenhouse is part of the Grounds Department facilities. This building was erected by FHSU personnel in the spring of 1998. Half of the building is used to propagate the plants and flowers used in campus gardens. The other half of the building is used by the Biological Sciences and Agriculture departments for classroom teaching and research projects.
Plant science technicians, with the help of student employees, maintain all the flower gardens on campus. In addition, when floral arrangements are requested by departments for special events, these are prepared on-campus by greenhouse personnel.