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News
Ken Weeks Named as USU's CEA Employee of the Year
Ken Weeks has been named USU's CEA Employee of the Year. He has worked for USU Facilities for the past ten years in the HVAC shop as a tech IV. He has serviced the Chemistry, USTAR, Maser Lab, Widtsoe, and LARC buildings. Prior to his employment at USU, he worked as a technician for Wangsguards for 24 years.
Ken has also served on the Recommissioning Team for two years, as well as the Customer Focus team for three years. As a member of the Recommissioning Team, he was responsible for analyzing building maintenance and making repairs, as needed. On the Customer Focus Team, he was responsible for encouraging employees to be more customer-service oriented and making sure customers were satisfied with their experience.
Ken was born in Rigby, Idaho; however, he was raised in Logan, Utah. He is the oldest of eight children. He and his wife, Debara, have been married for 40 years, and they have four children (two daughters and two sons) and six grandchildren.
In his free time, Ken likes to hike, camp, and be in the mountains. He enjoys scouting and was a scoutmaster for 10 years. He says he is a workaholic. In addition to his service at USU, he works part-time for his younger brother, Jerry, at Four Seasons Heating.
Boyd Crookston Named as USU Facilities 2013 Employee of the Year
USU Facilities is proud to honor Boyd R. Crookston as the 2013 Employee of the Year. Boyd truly exemplifies the Vision, Values, & Mission of Facilities.
After thirty-five years of service to Utah State University Boyd continues to strive for excellence in everything he does!
Boyd is known for his great attitude. He has a friendly demeanor and excellent work ethic. Boyd continues to set the standard for his peers!
Congratulations on this well-deserved recognition and thank you for your dedication to Utah State University!
Facilities 2013 Director's Awards
USU Facilities is proud to honor Brandon D. Hansen, Kenneth G. Weeks, and Justin J. Williams with the 2013 Directors Awards.
Ken exemplifies the Vision, Values, & Mission of Facilities. He is a member of our HVAC crew. He’s been with the university for ten years.
Ken’s ability to absolutely delight a customer is something we should all strive to achieve. He is an excellent example of a model Facilities Employee. He quietly does what needs to be done.
Ken has been awarded as the Classified Employee Association’s (CEA) Employee of the Quarter. He’s had numerous letters of recommendation from customers.
Ken cares for the USTAR Building at the Innovation Campus; he knows the building inside and out.
Congratulations on this well-deserved recognition and thank you for your dedicated service towards USU’s HVAC needs!
Justin and Brandon exemplify the Vision, Values, & Mission of Facilities. They serve as Event Management.
During the past year Justin and Brandon successfully acquired management of Event Ushering from the Athletics Department. They knew taking on this new responsibility would greatly increase their workload. But they also knew that by so doing they would be able to improve the customer experience during events. Through their self-developed training program they have brought a renewed professionalism to the Ushering Staff. They have implemented a text-in program that allows patrons to text their comments or concerns to the Event’s Staff, without having to leave their seat. This has enabled quicker response times for customers. As a result of Justin’s and Brandon’s efforts there have been many compliments received both from customers and Athletics.
Congratulations on this well-deserved recognition and thank you for your dedicated service to Event Patrons!
Daniel Ferris Appointed as the New Utility Systems Director for Facilities
Dan Ferris has a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering from the University of Mississippi and a Master of Engineering from the University of Idaho. He is also a certififed Energy Manager and Carbon Reduction Manager through the Association of Energy Engineers.
Dan comes to USU from Oklahoma State University. Prior to OSU he was in the Air Force and had served in Wichita Falls, Texas and at Hill AFB. He will be responsible for senior administration of utility production and distribution systems for USU.
Bryan Arnell Appointed as the New Business Services Director for Facilities
Bryan Arnell has been named as the new Business Services Director for Facilities. Bryan had been working in the College of Agriculture. We welcome Bryan and wish him the best of luck in his new position!
Thermal Energy Storage Tank Nearing Completion

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| Jeff Turley in the new Thermal Energy Storage Tank. |
| View the article by the Herald Jounal |
Mark Holt Named USU Facilities 2012 Employee of the Year
Mark Holt truly exemplifies the Vision, Values, & Mission of Facilities. After eighteen years of service to Utah State University, Mark continues to strive for excellence in everything he does.
View the announcement concerning his award
New College of Agriculture Building-LEED Certified
The New College of Agriculture boasts the largest solar energy system in Cache Valley.
RecycleMania 2012
USU has kicked off its 2012 RecycleMania
Doug Dawes Leaving USU
Valley City State University in North Dakota has named Douglas Dawes to the position of Vice President of Business Affairs. Dawes brings a background that combines higher education and private industry experience in finance, operations, capital budgets, human resources, information systems, facilities management, and project management.
View the letter from Charles Darnell, Facilities Associate Vice President
Read the announcement from VCSU
CEA Employee of the Quarter
Kelly has worked for Facilities for six years. He quickly moved into a supervisor position working in the HPER cluster and is currently a Facilities Maintenance Coordinator. Before coming to USU, Kelly worked as a self-employed painter for several years. He also worked for Moore Business Forms operating a collator for 18 years. He also worked at Transport Diesel as a parts manager and clerical assistant. Kelly was born and raised in Lewiston UT on a dairy farm where he acquired a strong work ethic which has benefited him and his crew. He has spent his entire life in Cache Valley and he loves the valley and its people. Kelly enjoys spending time with his son Nicholas and his daughter in law Cassie. They love to spend time cooking out, camping, target shooting, hunting, golfing, 4-wheeling, and skiing. Kelly has a great relationship with his work crew and would like to express his thanks to all those he has worked with, both past and present. Kelly and his team work well together and always enjoy a good joke or laugh. Kelly's philosophy is that a happy team gets the work done, does it well, and goes home happy.
Congratulations Kelly, you are very deserving of this award. Thanks for all you do for our campus community!
Stanley Kane Recognized as Library Advocate
The Merrill-Cazier Library celebrated its 6th birthday on Wednesday, November 16th. Every year in conjunction with the Library's birthday, an awards ceremony is held to pay tribute to departments and USU faculty that support and are advocates for the Library. This year the Library Recognition Award went to Stanley G. Kane, Director of Operations & Maintenance in Facilities. The Library Faculty Award went to Paul M. Jakus, Professor and Department Head of Applied Economics. Congratulations, Stan, on this award!
A Message From Our New Associate Vice President, Charles Darnell
I want to express my deepest thanks for the warm welcome I have received from Facilities staff since my arrival on
November 14th. Since starting work for USU I have been balancing my time between touring campus buildings, visiting
individual Facilities' work centers, and being introduced to the many academic and operational departments on campus.
I am very impressed with the USU campus and the high quality of our Facilities personnel. Hopefully, I will soon be
able to visit all Facilities units to introduce myself and to meet each of you. Again, I am excited to be part of
the USU Facilities department and I look forward to sharing a productive and enjoyable working relationship with you,
as with all other campus departments within the USU community.
Charles Darnell












