Feature Story: Transforming Campuses for Springtime
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As the temperature warms up and the sun shines a little longer each day, our campuses grow even more beautiful. But, transforming the 9 IU campuses for spring isn’t an easy task, and it certainly doesn’t happen overnight! It is a massive logistical and collaborative effort, and while we may not see all the fine details that go into beautifying our campuses for springtime, behind the scenes, there is a skilled team of landscaping, sustainability, and design experts from the IU Capital Planning and Facilities division working diligently and efficiently to make their vision come to life.
Socket reporters Valerie Brenes (Travel), Holly Hooper (Controller’s Office), and Juliet Roberts (Training & Communication) spoke with Tristan B. Johnson, Director of Landscape Services, and Mia P. Williams, University Landscape Architect, to get a behind-the-scenes look at IU Landscaping’s preparations for spring and what it takes to fully transform our campuses to their springtime best.
Question: What does spring preparation and transformation entail for IU Landscaping?
Answer: Spring preparation starts as early as weather allows, sometimes as early as February. We typically focus on getting winter interest foliage cleaned up, which includes ornamental grasses and perennial cutbacks. We then focus on starting our mulching regimen, which carries through all the way to Commencement weekend. Mulch not only helps our campus look fresh and beautiful, but it’s also a critical component to building soil health and keeping future weed growth in control. Our Nursery team is hard at work starting the first week of January, when our spring annual flower crop gets delivered to the greenhouses. We work on growing these up to field-ready condition throughout the early spring months. Our spring pansies typically get installed on campus around spring break week, which is always a sure sign of spring after a long, cold winter.
Q: How challenging is it to transform/maintain such a large campus and regional campus locations?
A: It certainly takes a large team of dedicated, experienced crew members to get the campus transformed and ready for the upcoming spring season. With over 900 acres of manicured turf, 12,467 mature trees to maintain, 100 new trees to plant, and 55,000 annuals that need installed, it is an incredibly busy stretch of time from February to May. Each of our regional campuses have their own dedicated teams that face the same spring rush prior to spring commencement.
Q: How does the Landscaping team work together to efficiently transform the campuses?
A: Our team is divided into several geographical maintenance zones on campus. This allows those teams to really focus on their respective areas and get to know the intricacies of each to make sure they look their best. Each zone has its own unique challenges and their own spring event schedules that need accounted for as we march towards Commencement. We then have a Nursery team that focuses on annual flowers, tree plantings, and landscape installations across campus. Our Arborist team focuses on mature tree care across campus, ensuring our woodland campus canopy remains safe and healthy year-round.
Q: Does IU Landscaping have any noteworthy sustainability initiatives that they’d like to share?
A: We are constantly improving our equipment fleet to more efficient, newer technology when possible. Much of our handheld equipment is being transitioned to battery-powered, including string trimmers, hedge trimmers, and blowers. We utilize utility golf carts for getting a significant percentage of our team around campus, and we are in the middle of switching our last 6 gas-powered golf carts to electric in the coming weeks. In addition, our new greenhouse facility is in its second year of annual production, and it has already shown incredible efficiency improvements when it comes to water and fertilizer use, energy consumption, and employee comfort for annual flower production.
Q: How do spring preparations differ from landscaping transitions to other seasons?
A: While every seasonal transition is a busy time for us, spring seems to be the most intense. Our team takes so much pride in putting forth a nationally ranked campus landscape for students, visitors, faculty, and staff to enjoy. Spring just seems to be the time that we really get to show it off. Graduating seniors and their families are so excited to be on campus anyways, that we want to make sure we pull out all the stops to make sure their graduation experience is unforgettable. They’ll take these memories with them for the rest of their life’s journey, and we’re so proud to help build one small piece of those memories.
Q: What is the ideal spot on campus to enjoy the spring landscaping? (We’d love to hear from a few members of your team, if possible!)
A: This is always a tough question, as there are so many great areas to enjoy spring on IU Bloomington’s campus. Some of our team would say they love the Cox Arboretum, as it’s a prime spot to lay on a blanket and enjoy the first of those warm sunny spring days while reading a book or studying for class. My (Tristan’s) favorite location would have to be the rock garden on the north side of the IU Auditorium. This space has such a rich variety of spring annuals, perennials, groundcovers, daffodils, and other beautiful spring colors, that it takes the top spot for me. As students pass through this space when going to class, they are met with almost a daily changeover of new colors, blooms, and textures that have sprung up seemingly overnight. It never fails to take my breath away when I visit this space.
Mia P. Williams, University Landscape Architect, adds:
Spring on the IU campuses is a special time to me. As the outdoor activity of students increases and the sun starts to bring warmth along with its light, the ground swells upward with emerging foliage. Herbaceous perennials that have no residual woody remnant presence begin to express themselves in mounds of green. Walk through Dunn Woods on these early days of spring and see snow drops (Galanthus) and winter aconites (Eranthis) beginning to display their white and yellow flowers across the forest floor. The potential of spring is all around. Contrast this natural setting with the plantings in our built spaces. The rich colors of the pansy displays across the campus pulse with the vibrancy of spring. It is hard for me to look at a spring pansy and not smile back at the personified pattern of a face found in the colorful petals. At Sample Gates the traditional tulips, now just green leaves of promise, stretch upward with no hint of the red and white to come. The folks on this team are probably some of the only ones on campus who appreciate the value of a cool spring, for its reward is a magnificent tulip display for all those celebratory graduation photos.
Spring is certainly a magical time on the IU campuses, and we’re grateful to the team at IU Landscaping for all of their hard work and attentiveness when it comes to beautifying and maintaining campus landscapes. It is a marvel to walk through campus, especially in the spring, and it’s all possible thanks to the dedication, collaboration, effort, and meticulous planning of their team!
Thank you to IU Capital Planning and Facilities for taking time out of their busy schedules to share a glimpse into IU’s spring preparations.
So, what are you waiting for? Go out for a springtime stroll on campus, and don’t forget to stop and smell the flowers!
From the Desk: Off and Running
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Greetings,
The start of 2025 has been a busy one for the IU Finance team. With procedural changes to critical components around procurement, to the members of the Indiana General Assembly being in session hammering out the state budget, to IU crafting and developing our own budget for the next fiscal year, there is a lot going on!
During January, President Whitten presented IU’s biennial operating and capital state budget request to the Indiana General Assembly. This request for funding directly supports IU’s campuses through funding a portion of our annual operations, funding for ongoing upkeep and maintenance of our buildings across the state, and investment in specific capital projects at our campuses. In addition, our budget request to the state aligns with IU’s 2030 strategic plan and the impact it will have on student success, research and supporting the state and beyond. While this was the start of a long budget process at the state, we hope to see final funding figures by April of this year so we can finalize our own IU budget to be presented to the Board of Trustees in June 2025.
Speaking of our own budget process, the University Budget Office (UBO) has been working non-stop to support the creation and development of the IU annual budget for fiscal year 2026. Since last fall, UBO has been working with campus financial leaders, university administrative offices, and overall university leadership to prepare and review budget plans and needs for the next fiscal year and aligning those needs with resources such as state funding, tuition and fees, contracts and grants, and other revenues associated with our campus functions. As noted above, since this is a state budget year, we are also planning for student tuition and fee rates for all campuses. The UBO will be working through May to finalize IU’s overall budget to present to the Board of Trustees in June for approval. In addition, the Board will be voting on tuition and fee rates for the next two academic years, so this is a busy but important time for the UBO.
Recently, the Procurement Services Office rolled out new micro-purchasing thresholds for units to better align work functions within each unit at IU and the Procurement Services Office. I noted this back in December, but as a reminder, this effort was led by Baris Kiyar and his team to update the micro-purchasing threshold from $10,000 to $50,000 to allow units to better manage their purchasing needs and allow the Purchasing Services Office to operate more efficiently as a team to support all of IU!
Finally, thank you to everyone who attended our Town Hall on March 11. It was wonderful to see all of you and share additional details and updates about the work your teams are focused on this year.
As always, thank you for all the work you do and supporting IU every day! You are greatly appreciated, and we couldn’t succeed without each of your efforts.
Best,
Jason
Jason D. Dudich, VP & CFO
HR Updates & Reminders
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Changes and upcoming deadlines related to IU Human Resources.
Performance at IU: Conversation Reminder
The window to complete 2024 annual performance conversations and 2025 expectation conversations is closing fast. If you haven’t had your conversations, please schedule them soon.
Annual performance and expectation conversations must be conducted by April 30, 2025. Supervisors and employees must complete their attestations by May 15, 2025.
Staff and Leaders can find additional information in the Performance at IU Training and Support Center.
Meet Your Leaders
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"Meet Your Leaders" is a feature that helps IU Finance staff get to know senior management. Each individual is asked the same 8 questions. This issue, we're getting to know Zach Whitesel.
What is your job title and how long have you worked at IU?
I’m currently serving as the Associate University Controller and University Administration (UA) Controller. I’ve been at IU since October 2021.
Where are you from originally and what brought you to IU?
I’m a native Hoosier and grew up in Madison County. I’ve served in finance and accounting roles at several institutions of higher education across the state for the majority of my career including Indiana Wesleyan, DePauw, and Ivy Tech. When the opportunity came available to serve the state’s flagship institution it was a natural fit and I think it was a great decision!
What departments are a part of your unit?
In my role as Associate University Controller, I work with the following units: Cost, Capital, and Gifts & Grants Accounting, Non-Student A/R & Foreign Source Compliance, University Collections & Loan Services, and University Accounting & Reporting Services & Recharge Accounting. In my role as UA Controller, I work with the UA Finance Shared Services team as a partner on accounting and compliance matters. Additionally, I also serve as the policy coordinator for UCO’s university-level policies.
What does a day in the life of your position consist of?
Oh my! It’s definitely busy! I’m typically meeting with members of my teams to assist with moving along the various projects we have going. I also provide guidance inside and outside of UCO on a variety of topics from interpretation of UCO policies to guidance on specific accounting and compliance questions. There’s a lot of daily variety in my role which is something I truly enjoy!
What is your favorite thing about your position?
Hands down it’s the people I have the privilege to work with every day. Our UCO teams amaze me all the time with the level of dedication, skill, and talent they put into their work here at the university. Also, serving an institution whose motto is “lux et veritas” (light & truth) motivates me in my work every day!
What upcoming initiatives or projects are you most excited about?
All of the projects on our list will result in some level of efficiency or improvement to our existing accounting and compliance infrastructure so it’s difficult to choose just a few that I’m excited about. I would have to say that one of the most significant and far-reaching projects is our chart of accounts project. Not only is it meeting an audit deliverable, but it’s also creating guidance, streamlining processes, and setting us up for future success as the chart is woven into just about everything we do.
What shows or podcasts are you streaming when you're "off the clock?"
My favorite types of movies and shows are those that are based on real life events (even if loosely based). Recently I’ve watched The Crown and Turning Point: The Bomb and the Cold War on Netflix. I also really enjoy independent/art house comedies—a couple of favorites in that category for me are Nebraska and Little Miss Sunshine.
What's one fact about you that would surprise everyone?
My first time flying on an airplane was not until I had my first job out of college and I don’t like milkshakes. Oops—that’s two facts!
Thank you, Zach, for sharing a bit about yourself with the rest of the division!
A Look Back at the 2024 Holidays
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Spirits were high across IU Finance last holiday season. Click through the photos below to see how some of your colleagues celebrated.
Healthy IU offers fun, free programs and challenges designed to help improve IU staff’s (and sometimes their spouses who are also on an IU medical plan) wellbeing. The Healthy IU website boasts loads of opportunities across campuses and online. Here are a few online opportunities we’re particularly excited about!
Matthew Odle joined the Office of the Treasurer in early January 2025 as a Finance Specialist. This Treasury position reports to Capital Finance, while performing work for three areas -- Capital Finance, Investments and Financial Analysis (“Investments”), and Treasury Operations. Within Capital Finance, Matthew will serve as the primary backup for multiple financial analysis and reporting functions for which this position may become primary as needed. Within Investments, he will update models, and within Treasury Operations, he will perform various metric and fee updates. Odle previously worked at IU for ten years with progressively greater responsibility. Welcome to Treasury and back to IU!
