Story and photos by Lindsay Semple

Linda Herman: President’s gatekeeper
In her desk drawer are 18 erasers, mostly of the pencil-top kind. Linda Herman, assistant to President Carol Cartwright, uses them to change appointments in Cartwright’s schedule book.

“All of President Cartwright’s appointments are in pencil because her schedule gets changed so often,” Herman says.

Herman says Cartwright’s appointments may vary from a 7 a.m. meeting in Cleveland to a 10 p.m. event on campus in the span of a day, so standing appointments are impossible.

Herman makes and breaks Cartwright’s appointments, talks to parents, CEOs, presidents from other universities and deans on campus.

“I wear a lot of hats,” she says. She works with correspondence, problem solves, trouble shoots and keeps Cartwright informed of new technology.

Mail is also Herman’s responsibility. Every day, 50 to 75 pieces of mail for Cartwright pour in. Herman categorizes them according to importance and says Cartwright responds to every personal letter.

Herman also plays “gate keeper” to the open-door policy of the executive office.

“I have been known to get up out of my seat and say, ‘Wait a minute,’ when an angry student or parent comes rushing into President Cartwright’s office,” Herman says.

She and Cartwright still manage to find time to be friends.

They share not only their love for M&M’s and Good & Plenty but also stories of their families.“We have a good relationship,” Herman says. “We can share outside-of-the-office things.”

Groundskeepers: Plant people
Grass grows by the yard and is killed by the foot.

And if it’s on campus, it’s the responsibility of the university groundskeepers. They are responsible for growing grass, mowing grass, planting flowers, pulling flowers, planting shrubs, pruning shrubs and basically anything that needs to be done outside, says Hal Lehman, a 17-year veteran who supervises the Kent State crew.

This semester, they are pulling the ivy off 29 buildings on campus, Lehman says, and must occasionally tend to crumbling sidewalks, work on drains and build retaining walls. In September they laid sod in the new softball field near Dix Stadium.

To work efficiently, groundskeepers are allowed to drive anywhere — through the Student Center plaza, over curbs, down sidewalks and onto the grass.

But to drive certain tractors, large mowers and some other vehicles, the operator must have a commercial license. Mike DeLeone is a 19-year veteran in university groundskeeping and has attained Equipment Operator II status, the highest rank before supervisor.

Equipment operators also are responsible for plowing snow and patching roads.

With all of this work to be done, the department as a whole is overwhelmed, DeLeone says.

“We know each other’s limitations, and that is why we get along so well,” Lehman says. “We have got to work together and get through it, whether it is 30 degrees below or 95 degrees.”

Robin Ruth: Character creator
A naked dress form stands lifelessly in the corner of the narrow room stuffed with yards of extravagant material, thousands of pins and several artsy masks of elephants and horses lining the walls.

All the sewing machines are quiet. The only sound is the swish-swish of a washing machine, hidden by the spools of ribbon and scraps of material.

A day in the costume shop is about to begin.

Today, like all others, Robin Ruth will create a character out of cloth. The costume shop supervisor for the School of Theatre and Dance will dress mannequins in shoes, tights, socks, hats, scarfs, dresses and jackets.

But first, the students must design the costumes. Those designs are developed into patterns and then into wardrobe for the mannequins. Dressed mannequins become characters.

Ruth’s job is to supervise the creation of these characters until they make their onstage appearances.

She relies on experience gained while working toward her theater design degree from Ohio State University and working for Broadway and Radio City during the 14 years she lived in New York.

“I dressed the Rockettes,” Ruth says. “Not too many people can say that.”

Maintenance crew: Fix-it men
If it’s broke, they can fix it.

“They” are three men who work for All Campus Preventative Maintenance.

“We’re the jack of all trades on this shift,” supervisor John Walsh says. “We know a little about everything until the daytime cavalry comes in.”

During the day, there are separate crews for electricity, painting, masonry, carpentry and other tasks.

But from 3:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. the second shift crew is responsible for the entire campus in all areas of maintenance.

“It is always pretty interesting because we never know what we’re going to be doing,” worker Jim Shupe says.

Walsh says the crew gets calls for things varying from picking up dead squirrels to getting people out of elevators.

“If we are unable to fix the problem, we at least make it safe until it can be fixed,” worker Steve Simmons says.

Denise Evans: Letter lady
By 10:30 a.m. the 20 students employed by Kent State’s Mail Service are to have picked up all the mail for on-campus addresses and delivered it to the Administrative Services Building off Horning Road.

That’s where, in a 6-foot by 6-foot room, Denise Evans sorts about 15 trays of letters. Each tray holds approximately 300 letters for a total of 4,500 pieces of mail.

The library and schools of Journalism and Mass Communication and Business Administration receive tremendous amounts of mail daily, Evans says. The library usually fills two bags of mail everyday.

“Keeping up with the mail as it comes in is very important,” Evans says.

Jim Kish: Climate controller
Under Kent State’s twin smoke stacks, inside the power plant on front campus, sit a few men dressed in filthy work clothes and steel-toe boots.

Jim Kish, the boiler operator, is one of them. He monitors the facility, which heats and cools all of Kent State, from the control panel.

There, he records temperatures and numbers from colored gauges: red for steam flow in the boiler, blue for gas flow and green for water level.

“I maintain the steam pressure,” he says. “I monitor the amount of steam produced per hour.”

When he gets bored, Kish works a crossword puzzle. Even then, he has to stay alert or the pump could explode.

The enormous boiler remains in operation continuously for 361 days of the year. It is only turned off for four days, just after spring graduation.