After serving 20 years in the United States Navy as a Civil Engineer Corps Officer, Gus Lim was ready for a change.
Lim wanted to continue his work of maintaining, providing facilities services, constructing, and renovating facilities—but in a smaller, more manageable atmosphere. He found it at the University of Oregon.
Lim began working in late January as the new director of housing facilities for University Housing, an adaptation from the Navy he has openly embraced.
“I shifted from wearing a uniform to wearing a shirt and a tie,” he said, “Something I wasn’t used to, frankly, but it was all the things I was looking for. Everyone is really open, welcoming, and passionate about the work they do.”
Lim last served at the Marine Corps base in Camp Pendleton, Calif., comprised of more than 125,000 acres of land and the work place and home to about 100,000 people. With a more manageable staff in Eugene, Lim is looking forward to renovations and modernizations.
“I’m blessed to be a part of such a great team of people,” Lim said, “people who are passionate about their craft and have already worked very hard to make campus such a beautiful place to study and live. I want to carry on these attitudes myself. Besides, we owe it to our residents.”
Lim is considering a plan to provide staff with electronic tablets that would improve communication between students in the residence halls and Housing’s facility staff. Residents would have the opportunity to report a maintenance issue—such as a leaky faucet, a heating problem, or door issues—and facility staff would see the work order, pick up the job and advise residents as to when the job will be finished.
The data for this project is already there, Lim said, and the tablets would improve access to this data while encouraging communication between residents and facility staff.
“It’s not something that would happen tomorrow, next week, or even next year,” Lim said. “There would have to be a lot of preparation for a project like this to happen, but it’s one I think we can get excited about.”
- by Katherine Marrone, University Housing