Staff Excellence: Purdue Memorial Union

Three people stand in front of the Purdue Memorial Union with balloons.

Purdue Memorial Union team members Victoria Deno, Hannah Krajewski and Lauren Stearns help with events celebrating the campus landmark’s 100th anniversary. (Photo provided)

Purdue Memorial Union (PMU) employees have a lot to be proud of lately, from organizing events for the building’s 100th anniversary to assisting with displaying the College of Liberal Arts’ Degas Collection and opening the doors to The Spa at the Union Club Hotel

These major milestones are more than worthy of praise, but they’re far from the only products of the team’s incredible efforts, made possible by the bold ideas, can-do attitudes and forward-thinking approaches that emerge from its staff each and every day. 

The PMU team includes more than 80 employees across four key areas: Auxiliary Operations, Purdue Conferences and Event Design, Retail Dining and the Union Club Hotel. Each group’s responsibilities vary widely, but they all operate under one primary goal: Ensuring every person who interacts with any one of PMU’s facilities has an exceptional, memorable experience. 

“We see ourselves as the hospitality arm of campus,” says Zane Reif, senior director of the PMU. “We’re the first contact for a lot of people visiting Purdue, so whether you’re walking through the Union, visiting for a conference or parking in one of our garages, we want to make sure you have a really good experience. Customer service is our biggest thing, and our staff take a lot of pride in that.” 

Managing the iconic campus landmark and its sprawling 258,000 square feet of space is a huge undertaking, especially since around 9,000 visitors pass through its ground floor each day. The job falls to Auxiliary Operations, whose efforts include collaborating with facilities and maintenance teams to keep the building running smoothly, setting up areas for events, and identifying any needs that could be considered as part of the university’s capital plan. 

These same staff members are also responsible for maintaining the PMU’s other facilities, like Stewart Center, Krach Leadership Center and the Union Club Hotel. Their work is often critical during the process of visualizing and implementing improvements throughout the facilities, like the Union’s transformative ground-floor renovation, completed in 2022. 

“It was essentially a labor of love to make sure we honored the history of the Union while also implementing modern amenities for the students,” Reif says. “We still have a lot of work to do — mainly on the second floor — to continue modernizing the facility and evolving to meet students’ needs. As an important icon for the campus, we continue to ensure the Union receives the care it deserves and serves our students effectively.”

Housed within the broader Auxiliary Operations group is Purdue Parking Operations, which manages all of the university’s parking lots and garages and offers assistance with parking procedures during special events like basketball and football games. 

Another branch of the PMU team is Purdue Conferences and Event Design, which collaborates with a variety of internal and external partners to help organize campus events ranging from Purdue Road School to the farmers market and the Union’s annual Summer Concert Series. These staff members are crucial in cultivating memorable, unique experiences for all who visit the university. 

“We’re only as good as our last event or our last interaction with the customer,” Reif says. “There’s not a lot of margin of error in our world, and we’ve got to be really good at what we do. We’re not perfect by any means, but we have to strive for perfection because we’ve got a lot of people depending on our services.” 

Student advisory boards routinely offer feedback to each key area under the PMU umbrella, which is something Reif and his team always take into consideration when looking toward the future. PMU staff members try to gather as much data as they can, often from surveys and studies conducted by the Association of College Unions International and the National Association of College Auxiliary Services, to ensure they’re delivering the best services possible to the Purdue community.   

“We really take those to heart,” Reif says. “Each area has satisfaction measures that we keep in tune with, and we look at those and make changes if we need to. We’re all very engaged in trying to make sure that we’re putting services out there that we know will impact students and be beneficial.” 

Though much of their time is spent pouring into the services offered at their facilities, Reif and his team are never too busy to recognize the outstanding efforts displayed by full-time and student employees. Some of the plaques that adorn the walls of the Union include the names of annual award winners, whose work helps enrich the campus and the opportunities it provides. 

The PMU is always bustling with activity, and probably never more so than during the holiday season, when onlookers gather to watch employees hoist the annual Christmas tree into position and ready the Great Hall for a flurry of festive events. 

But even after the needles fall and the tree is squeezed out of the building, Boilermakers can count on a full schedule of activities planned throughout the year. PMU staff work their hardest to ensure there’s an event slated on the calendar every single day, whether it’s trivia, bingo, karaoke, live music or simply just specials offered at the Union Rack and Roll or Boiler Game Mine. Last year, the team successfully hosted over 4,000 different events inside the PMU. 

As a gathering place for Boilermakers to collaborate, study, or simply relax and have fun, the PMU remains a cornerstone of Purdue’s West Lafayette campus. And even with all of its past and future enhancements, Reif and his talented team are dedicated to maintaining its legacy as a student-centered space that supports all corners of the Purdue community. 

“We want students to be aware of the Union, and we’re trying to meet them where they’re at,” Reif says. “We want it to feel like it’s their living room on campus.” 

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