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Contact UsTo provide a pleasant outdoor environment for visitors, students, faculty, and staff, Landscaping & Grounds manages and maintains campus landscaping and outdoor hardware through the coordination of several teams, including the mow crew, detail crew, flower crew, mall crew, irrigation crew, general utility crew, chemical application crew and greenhouse operations. They produce all seasonal color in the greenhouse from seed, as well as all mulch and compost from debris collected across campus. After a storm, the team removes fallen trees and debris; after ice or snowfall, they apply sand and ice-melt to campus streets and walkways.
Landscaping & Grounds
Preparing for Commencement
During commencement, The University of Texas at Dallas becomes a beautiful backdrop for priceless memories as thousands of graduates’ family members, friends and classmates pour out of the commencement ceremonies and onto the mall for photos. The Landscaping & Grounds crew works behind the scenes to prepare our campus for this special day.
Jose Ortiz, grounds maintenance foreman, says his crew starts mowing, planting and hardscaping a minimum of three weeks before graduation ceremonies begin.
“We mow and detail all the turf and outdoor landscaping. This includes repainting cross walks and fire lanes around the buildings hosting commencement exercises and receptions,” Ortiz said.
“If weather is bad, our contingency plan requires coming in an hour before the schedule starts, working late and sometimes on Saturday if we must,” Ortiz said.
Landscaping & Grounds employs 21 workers who help plant flowers, bulbs and other ground cover that are raised from seed in the University’s greenhouse, where all campus color is grown.
Ortiz said that his department contracts for hardscaping, which includes cleaning the reflecting pools, pressure washing the mall’s concrete and natural rock surfaces, planters and other hard areas outside.
“Really, it’s our job to make sure everything looks good. We put our greatest attention and focus on areas around the Activity Center, the Naveen Jindal School of Management, the mall and reflecting pools, Engineering & Computer Science West and Engineering & Computer Science South,” he said.
“It’s a challenge for everyone in our department. And it seems we learn new things every year. But graduation is part of our job, and we try to provide our best quality work for this event,” Ortiz said.