Portland Magazine
October 21, 2020
IT’S NOT EASY to track down UP’s heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) guru, Ron Scott, who has kept each and every campus heating or cooling contraption running or at least limping-for-now these past 38 years. Ron finally took our call on his work phone and, as it turned out, we interviewed him while he was checking an air handler on the roof of the Clark Library—just another mission out of thousands he’s logged in his long career on The Bluff.
Starting in summer 1982 as a part-time grounds crew roustabout, Ron worked his way through campus boiler rooms, steam plants, anything that required mechanical prowess and ingenuity. From clunking, hissing, ancient steam radiators to state-of-the-art LEED-certified industrial heat pumps, Ron has been the one to call when rooms are too hot or too cold, from the president’s suite to the cavernous Chiles Center down to the humblest dormitory study room. He’s as busy as ever in times of COVID-19 and the dense wildfire smoke, which enveloped the mostly empty UP campus this fall.
“Oh, I’ve seen it all,” he says now. “One time the AC died in Buckley Center, and Billy (Vandervelden) and I had to run it by hand with me straddling that crazy thing. Back then we had to squeeze every bit of life out of those machines. We’ve done some, how should I say it—constructive construction around here! We made things work that shouldn’t have.”
One of the things he loves most about his job is the often solitary nature of his rounds, clambering over and under campus buildings. “That’s where the heating and cooling machines are,” he says. “I like working by myself and being left alone to do my thing.” But don’t get the wrong idea—Ron is a consummate team player and enjoys the company of his coworkers. “I do love working here. HVAC is cool! Something new every day. Once I get all the buildings figured out, they put up a new one! Keeping up on all this crazy technology is fun.”
University of Portland
5000 N. Willamette Blvd.,
Portland, Oregon 97203-5798
503.943.8000
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