This season, a coordinated effort led by Facilities Management’s Arboretum and Public Garden and Building Maintenance Services teams is giving building entrances across campus a much-needed refresh, with a combination of pressure washing and landscape touch-ups.
We’d like to introduce one of our dedicated team members from the Building Maintenance Services sector of Facilities Management (FM): Don Petty, Electrician for Construction! With an incredible 27 years of experience at UC Davis, Don has played a vital role in keeping our campus powered, safe, and adaptable to the needs of our ever-changing community.
Introducing Nathan Plitt, our new supervisor of Plumbing Projects and Fire Protection. Nathan has worked with Facilities Management (FM) for 2 years and previously worked as a plumber with FM!
Recently, Facilities Management launched a new initiative to monitor emergency showers across multiple campus buildings in order to prevent water damage and improve response times when emergency showers are activated. This project marks the first time FM has taken steps to monitor on-campus showers and represents an important step toward making our campus safer and more efficient!
Facilities Management, or FM, is constantly working behind the scenes to maintain and enhance our campus, ensuring it meets the highest standards of safety, functionality, and aesthetics. One of FM’s recent successes was a collaborative effort with Building Maintenance Services and the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine to revitalize the barns at the William R. Pritchard Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital, or VMTH. This critical project was completed in preparation for the hospital’s Fall 2025 Veterinary Accreditation program.
Managing such an extensive portfolio of buildings requires balancing budgets and lean staffing year round, with intensified demands during the rainy season on our roofing team.
Building Management Services (BMS) is always working on new projects around campus. We sat down with Refik Smlatic, Inspector, Planner, Estimator for Facilities Management (FM) BMS, to delve into the background and details of an impressive project that has led to a complete overhaul of Hoagland Hall’s lighting system and aims to increase campus efficiency as a whole.
Our sheet metal, weld, and machine shop team at Facilities Management works diligently to maintain, build, and install all HVAC systems on campus. These systems are integral to ensuring suitable temperatures for vital research and academics, making their work incredibly important to our campus community. The team has over 250 years of combined experience and is made up of 9 members, listed below:
Supervisor: Al Bacchini
Sheet metal shop: Manuel Preciado, Greg Turben, Ryan Montoya, Chris Meyer, John Eldeen
Elevators play a vital role in ensuring our campus remains accessible for all students, staff, and visitors. While essential for navigating campus buildings, they often go unnoticed until they stop working. Campus elevator foreman Aimee Spivey knows all about the intricate mechanisms that make these transportation devices function and works daily to make sure that they are operating at the highest level possible. We sat down with Aimee to learn more about a long-term elevator modernization project currently underway on campus.
