Storyteller Series: Behind the Scenes at the Union
The latest Storyteller Series recognizes the hard work by students and staff that goes on behind the scenes at the Union.
As students, we come to the Wisconsin Union with the expectation that it will be ready for us. We come to the Union to study, to eat dinner with friends, to listen to music, to relax, to work, to attend concerts and lectures, and to participate activities and clubs. The Union is a place that we consider comfortable, that we consider open, that we consider safe; but we may not consider how it comes to be that way for us each and every day. We may not notice all that happens behind the curtain, but trust me when I say it’s a busy backstage act. The Union has quickly evolved from a campus-focused “living room for students” to the second most-visited destination in Dane County.
With dining, facilities crew and students all working together, you can be sure that our Union is always ready. Facilities teams provide the services necessary for the 24/7 operation of the Union, making it a safe, clean, healthy and exciting place for the UW community. With a largely local staff of more than 250 full-time employees, the Union operates with the help of painters, carpenters, a cleaning crew and electricians along with many other positions. This local staff adds to the ethos and integrity of the Union, “It is important to employ local staff because they are invested in, and proud to be a part of, the Union. This is a large part of why we are so successful,” said Union Director Mark Guthier. With local staff and students our Union is always ready for us, but what is all that hustle and bustle that we don’t get to peek in on? “It is really a 24-hour operation. We may close our doors at midnight, but there are still people behind those doors working to get the Union ready for everybody, every morning,” Guthier said.
Open nearly 350 days a year, 20 hours a day, the Union’s doors are almost always open for students, staff and the community, “In order to be ready every morning in both buildings we have a third shift crew,” Guthier said. This crew’s efforts allow the Union to keep up the integrity of our buildings through maintenance, cleaning, repairs and conservation. They also work tirelessly to prepare for events which take months and hundreds of people to pull off. But most importantly, this team is comprised of a cross-section of students and staff.
As with every aspect of the Union, students have always been the key to the way the Union functions. Over 1,000 students are employed to help operate the building and many hundreds volunteer. Working in dining, facilities, external relations, graphics, event planning and marketing, and participating in the Wisconsin Union Directorate (WUD) and Union Council, students are the largest and most important part of the operations at the Union. Students are the life and the purpose behind the mission, “Students are central to everything we are about, and you feel that every time you walk into either building,” Guthier said. From the 1950s and ’60s to this very day, dining operations like the Rathskeller and Babcock ice cream remain central to the Union’s brand and to the taste buds of Wisconsinites.
The Union acts as a hub for activities with events at the Union planned by WUD, registered student organizations and university departments. “Campus student organizations come to the Union to have activities and part of our job is to communicate behind-the-scenes processes to them as well,” said past Union Director Ted Crabb. The Union is the primary place for all of these organizations to hold their events. “Before there was a Union there were very few places on campus where you could hold events,” Crabb said.
The Wisconsin Union has filled hearts and stomachs for years–from the hub of dining at the Breese Terrace Cafeteria in the ’50s and ’60s to Tripp Commons, one of the last formal dining places in the Memorial Union, to the Badger Markets, cafes and dining facilities around campus today. With more than 30 dining units across campus, Wisconsin Union Dining Services not only distributes food and drink to convenient locations but also prepares all of the food in-house. “We are really proud of our own food preparation internally in our dining units. We have really talented dining staff, chefs, caterers and servers,” Guthier said.
The Union is effort, it is planning, it is behind-the-scenes work that makes it the place that we know, that we love, and that we cherish. “The Union is what students want and need, styles go around and come back and the Union evolves with those styles, and it is always here for the students,” Crabb said. The Union staff is truly the heart of what makes the Union great. Take a look around next time you’re grabbing some ice cream, playing trivia in The Sett or attending an event–you might get a glimpse behind the curtain.
