PPD - PPD News Rabon Chilled Water Plant Dedication

PEDER WINKEL AND HIS SON PEDER WINKEL HONORED AT HSC

Peder Winkel and his son, Peder Winkel were both honored at the HSC Service Pen ceremony. MORE>>

LACY C RABON JR CHILLED WATER PLANT DEDICATION

Friends and family of Lacy Rabon gathered at Building 473 on the UF Campus on May 23rd to dedicate Heat Plant #2 as the Lacy C. Rabon, Jr. Chilled Water Plant. Dave O’Brien welcomed Lacy’s widow, Jenny Rabon, and their two daughters, Lynn Patton and Gayle Kozinski to share in the occasion. In his opening remarks, O’Brien gave a little history about Rabon. He started working at PPD in 1962 and spent 45 years working in and leading the Building Steam, HVAC, Chilled Water Plants, Steam Distribution and Controls & Alarms shops.

O'Brien said that he believed that Lacy knew more about the campus infrastructure than anyone else. His dedication to UF and to PPD was amazing, and he was recognized throughout campus for his ready response to any type of emergency. "Lacy was much more than a technician or a supervisor," O'Brien said. "He was a trusted friend, advisor and teacher to many people at PPD."

Vice President Ed Poppell said that he was present for the occasion to "speak from the heart." Poppell pointed out that this event was special among building dedications at UF because this had come about not because of a "monetary donation, or because he scored a lot of touchdowns," but because Lacy was being recognized for the work he did for the University.

The idea for re-naming Heat Plant 2 came from Lacy's friends and co-workers in the Systems Department. They put together a petition which was presented to VP Poppell and then to the UF Board of Trustees. A plaque honoring Lacy and his work at PPD has been installed inside the Rabon Building, and as part of the dedication ceremony, Dave O'Brien presented a replica of that plaque to Mrs. Rabon and her daughters.

XERISCAPING

Physical Plant's Grounds Department is constantly searching for ways to reduce the amount of water necessary to irrigate the thousands of plants on campus. To that end, Grounds employs a strategy called xeriscaping to help cut down on water usage. MORE>>

RECYCLEMANIA COMPETITION

The University of Florida, along with more than 400 other institutions of higher learning across the nation, is participating in the 2008 RecycleMania competition. RecycleMania is a yearly competition which began in 2001, and aims to provide “friendly competition among college and university recycling programs in the United States that provides the campus community with a fun, proactive activity in waste reduction”, according to their website. UF’s involvement in the competition is being spearheaded by the UF Office of Sustainability, in partnership with Physical Plant’s Solid Waste Management Office, the O’Connell Center, Gator Dining, Inter-Residence Hall Association, and other campus organizations. MORE>>

GREEN CLEANING AT BUILDING SERVICES

As part of Physical Plant's continuing commitment to the University of Florida and President Bernie Machen's vision of a sustainable campus, PPD Building Services has established environmentally-friendly policies for their cleaning products and services. The new initiative is called Green Cleaning, and it is beneficial both to the environment and to the customers which Building Services serves. MORE>>

LOWE GARDEN

The former site of Johnson Hall, which burned to the ground in 1987, is now home to a beautiful outdoor garden space named the Lowe Family Garden. The garden, located directly west of Dauer Hall, is the result of a PPD Architecture and Engineering project, and was funded by donations from its namesake, the Lowe family of Gainesville. MORE>>

PPD R.E.A.C.T. AWARD WINNERS

The R.E.A.C.T. award, created as part of PPD's Employee Recognition program, seeks to recognize employees who "Recognize an Event and Act to Correct in a Timely manner".