Behind the Scenes at the SPH

The Healthy Turtle wanted to take the time out to let the SPH community know a little more about some of the staff members who work behind the scenes at the SPH.

Adam Shervanian has been a part of the SPH staff since 2004, and is the assistant director of facilities and services for the SPH building.

Shervanian’s main responsibilities include the daily operations of the SPH building, IT support for classrooms and offices, responding to maintenance issues, overseeing building renovations, overseeing the purchasing of equipment, and conducting inventory.

He interacts with other organizations on campus to keep up functionality and positive relationships, specifically with Campus Recreation who shares part of the SPH building’s space.

Shervanian said, for him, every day at work is different.

“There is no typical day in this line of work, facility management in general, there’s things you can plan for, but then there’s numerous things that you can’t plan for that happen throughout the day,” he said.

Part of the unplanned work that pops up throughout the day includes troubleshooting whatever might be wrong in the building that day, he said.

“It seems like any problems that come up that people have with regards to the building, it could be a leak, a noise issue, come to me,” he said.

Shervanian said his favorite days at work are the ones where he can be proactive instead of reactive.

“I really enjoy a day where I can be proactive where I can think about implementing ideas for the building and work on something instead of playing catch up,” he said. “It’s kind of calming being able to sit there and think, what are some procedures that we can implement that will be a little productive.”

Before coming to the SPH, Shervanian worked in athletics facilities management, where his job didn’t vary much from day to day, he said.

At the SPH, Shervanian has been involved with renovations and bigger projects that were not possible in athletics, he said.

During the SPH’s major renovations (completed last Spring), Shervanian worked alongside the university’s project manager to make sure the SPH’s needs were being addressed, he said.

In smaller building renovations, Shervanian said he takes a more involved role, acting as the liaison between the school and the contractor, passing on information from the customer and making sure the project is staying within budget.

“There’s a lot of folks that have important things going on in the building so, to meet their needs, to you have to be there for them and be positive and open-minded about the job,” he said.

SPH faculty, staff and students turn to Shervanian when in doubt, and that’s just fine with him.

“Sometimes it can be a little funny, because people just expect me to know everything,” he said. “I’ll do whatever I can to help them, even if it’s not directly what I do.”