Asberry

Fast forward to 2003 and Asberry oversees a maintenance and grounds crew on a campus with 6,400 students and 11 buildings with a 12th—the new library—on the way.

While Asberry is highly regarded for his facilities management expertise, it’s his humble demeanor and unconditional work ethic that have earned him the respect from people campus-wide. That respect and work ethic prompted Bob Snip, director of physical plant operations, to nominate Asberry for IU Southeast’s Distinguished Professional Employee Award. Asberry won that honor in September.

“I think he’s one of the most dedicated and conscientious people on this campus,” Snip said. “And you might want to add hard working. It doesn’t matter what time of day, night, or weekend, I’m able to contact Sam, and he’s willing to come out here to get the problem resolved.”

For Asberry, the rewarding part of his job is being able to solve mechanical or maintenance problems for other people.

“Any time I can help somebody who has a problem and I can visually see and understand how to fix it, that’s rewarding for me,” said Asberry. “I feel like if you’re going to do a job, you’ve got to do it right.”

One of the biggest changes Asberry has seen is the progression of technology in heating and cooling. During the late 1970s, the national energy crisis hit the campus hard, forcing Asberry and other electricians to work long hours to manually regulate temperature controls that are now primarily computer-controlled.

“We were doing everything manually,” Asberry said in describing how they had to shut down the heat in each building to conserve energy, but reactivate it again to prevent freezing.

The extensive conservation measures drew some attention from one important group—the IU Board of Trustees, which met in overcoats in the Hoosier Room because the heat was turned off.

“We caught some flak for that," Asberry recalled. "But they also complimented us for our conservation efforts.”

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