The Grounds Services section of Facilities Management employs fourteen (14) full-time and up to twenty (20) part-time seasonal employees. This group maintains the lawn care throughout over 300 acres of main campus, 17.5 acres at River Campus, along with additional work performed on the University Farm, Kelso Bird Sanctuary and the Universities technology park. The work performed includes but not limited to the coordination and planning of landscape projects in conjunction with the Campus Beautification Committee, implementing plantings of all new trees, shrubs, plants and flowers and maintains all landscaped areas. These responsibilities include fertilizing, pest control, mulching, mowing, cultivation, trimming, pruning of trees and shrubs, and removal of dead trees and limbs. The Grounds Section also maintains all grass areas, including athletic fields and the band field by mowing, trimming, fertilizing, painting, leveling and reseeding new areas.

We have twelve (12) grounds employees who have studied a 6-week course and passed a written test to become Certified Grounds Technicians. This is training offered through the Professional Grounds Management Society in Baltimore, Maryland. One employee is also a certified arborist and one is a horticulturist. The horticulturist is responsible for over five thousand square feet of flower beds located on campus. The Grounds Section also has one person who is an irrigation specialist who is responsible for all irrigated areas located on campus. This includes six of the seven athletic fields, Carnahan Hall, Dempster Hall, Vandiver Hall, and the new Alumni building.  

Landscaping