It is a beautiful and sunny Monday morning. The smell in the lower cafeteria is that of fresh baking, and it fills the entire space. Today’s special is hollandaise made in-house on top of a full breakfast, and students are thrilled.

“Good morning Nandine,” a student wearing an automotive onesie says, smiling gingerly. “How are you today?”

A university campus includes about a dozen divisions besides academia. The cafeteria and culinary, maintenance, library, administration, security, financial aid and awards, and student housing are just a few of the many departments that contribute to the success of students at VIU.

Students are often too busy with the school workload and personal lives—it’s easy to overlook many departments and individuals that tirelessly work behind the scenes to keep our campus running well.

With over 2000 staff members, VIU was listed as one of BC’s top 100 employers in 2023 and the years prior, making a positive impact on Nanaimo employment rates.

Support staff are the ‘glue’ of VIU, assisting students and employees with everyday actions.

Delia Ronkainen, a lifelong Nanaimo resident born and raised in the historic Pine neighbourhood of the city, is one of the sweet and friendly faces you can find in the upper student cafeteria. Ronkainen’s parents immigrated from Portugal and she grew up speaking English and Portuguese in her household. She has been with her husband since 1987, and they are high school sweethearts.

Her fur babies are two dogs—a Frenchie named Lily, and a Pomeranian named Lucy—and two cats—Kitty Mumu and Luna.

Ronkainen is an avid pickleball player and enjoys the hiking Nanaimo provides. She attends most of her nieces and nephews hockey games, and watching them grow is a big part of her sense of family and community.

She started working at VIU in 1999, providing 27 years of dedicated service on our campus! She shares that VIU is a great place to work, and it’s her coworkers who make it truly special.

Ronkainen’s favourite part of the job is the students, and her eyes sparkle when she says so. “Watching them find their careers, seeing them transform from being scared on the first day to four years later, [and] knowing what they want to be,” she says.

When asked to consider her favourite dishes on campus, Ronkainen talks about the soups made from scratch on campus. “They’re the best comfort food, and are very popular.”

In recent years, the upper cafeteria has become quiet, and Ronkainen misses seeing the groups that used to come to hang out and socialize.

Prices in the cafeteria are always a topic of discussion. Ronkainen hopes that we can return to more reasonable prices and mentions the lower cafeteria, which focuses more on affordable breakfast and lunch.

Ronkainen encourages first-year students not to be afraid to ask questions or for help from any staff member on campus, as most of them are parents themselves.

Ronkainen says the road to success is through climbing the stairs. You cannot take an elevator—you have to do the hard work, as more often than not, there are no shortcuts.

Over at the Library, Luke McLeod is a VIU Learning Commons Librarian. You might recognize his voice from VIU Library’s tutorial recordings. Admirably, he is a VIU graduate and did his Master’s in Library and Information Studies at UBC.

McLeod is another born and raised Nanaimo-nite, who grew up in Cedar and Yellow Point, attending Cedar Secondary.

McLeod and his husband are parents to an adorable tuxedo cat whom they named Sir Peanut Von Fluffenboots. He is spoiled rotten.

The library provides research help, and McLeod jokes that “sometimes it can feel a little bit like a research therapy.” He understands that a lot is going on in students’ lives and that can feel overwhelming.

As we speak, he points at Ibn Khaldun’s famous book The Muqaddimah, and shares that the section at the end always makes him think of the cyclical nature of life, explaining:

“…democracy dies when the people become too preoccupied with the luxuries that democracy has given them. They start paying more attention to the things they love, and they’re not paying attention to the political sphere enough. That’s when democracy will shift back into some kind of authoritarian government structure.”

There are different aspects to working at the library: working with archives, cataloguing, managing back-end systems, working directly with people, and negotiating contracts with vendors.

McLeod’s favourite part of the job is helping students with research and teaching classes about building relevant skills. Keeping his lessons light-hearted and fun, he often uses research papers on topics like Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

As you may recall from our Issue No. 3, the Library promotes Studiosity (debatedly), an AI program with some humans to help students with their assignments. “Students are guinea pigs for the tech industry at this moment in time,” McLeod says. “Are you using it in a way that you’re kind of bypassing [the] thinking you’re supposed to be doing on your own?”

Everyone is aware of deadlines and the affordability crisis, but using AI to write assignments is like paying someone to work out for you and expecting to get fit.

McLeod emphasizes the importance of human academic help and urges students to seek out the professional staff at VIU for assistance.

In addition to in-person services, there are tons of equipment you can rent from the Library too. Take out a clicker for your next presentation or even a blender for margarita night! The Library offers GoPros, laptops, DSLR cameras, board games, cooking supplies, and loads more.

Just this month, another $20k worth of equipment was sent into procurement to be added to the collection. The entire catalogue and the booking system are available online at library.viu.ca under “Spaces and Technology.”

A large department that helps VIU function is the Facility Services, managed by Joshua Crucil. This department deals with parking, budgeting, custodial services, shipping and receiving, and fills many other gaps.

Crucil is from the Port Alberni area and attended VIU for a year before moving to Victoria and working in public sector facilities for almost a decade. Crucil began managing last summer and currently lives in Ladysmith.

He shares that “VIU is in such a time of change and growth and kind of renaissance right now. So it’s a very interesting time to be here. Lots of challenges to overcome.”

One of the best things and most important aspects of his job is his team. They “bring such a positive and great attitude,” he says.

No day looks the same for this department. While there are things to work on and a list of priorities to refer to, new challenges surface all the time.

Today, Crucil tells me, the shipping and receiving clerk told him that the lift gate on one of the school’s heavy equipment trucks was broken. “If shipping and receiving breaks down, it starts to impact campus operations,” he says.

There are four full-time members of the VIU groundskeeping team, and the custodial services are contracted out.

We spoke about safety as a priority, since Crucil’s team members operate in higher-risk and higher-impact work. The Occupational and Safety Office oversees risk management, health and safety, and emergency prep procedures.

Crucil has a long-haired miniature dachshund named Wilbur, who is a year and a half now. “He is the light of my life,” Crucil says. “He generally goes to work with my husband; rides along with him in the truck all day and they have a good day.”

When asked about his family life, Crucil shares, “My husband and I got married in August last year. My grandmother moved to Ladysmith to be with us, which is really nice.” His favourite activities are hiking, cycling, and being in nature.

If you have a sweet tooth or you are a sucker for puff pastry, the next department is right up your alley. I spoke to David Nolan, who is a Pastry and Baking Instructor at VIU. He grew up in Branford, Ontario, and went to Niagara College for his culinary degree.

Chef Nolan started working in the kitchens as a dishwasher in his hometown when he was 14-years-old, making $2.75 an hour. Over the years, Chef Nolan has travelled around the world, working in places like the Caribbean, Jamaica, Virginia, and our own capital, Victoria. He’s been featured on culinary television programs and participated in master classes with celebrity chefs.

Chef Nolan says that the best part of being a baking instructor is:

“Watching students come out of their shell, watching them grow. Many come in and they are a little bit reserved, but then they blossom.”

“Your life is short. Jump on it, try it, take it,” he says. “You gotta take chances sometimes. You wanna be a baker? Do that. You want to be a tour guide for a cruise company? Go ahead. If you want to do something, you should find a way, because there’s always a way.”

Chef Nolan has a wife and a daughter, as well as four rescued huskies. Their names are Moon, Storm, Rayna, and Bryn, and they were all rescued from California from euthanasia lists. The oldest is 12 years old.

When asked about any funny or amusing stories, he shares the instances of students misreading measurements and recipes. Once, a student used 2000 grams of salt instead of 20 grams, and another student tried to count 800 blueberries by hand instead of using 800 grams.

He wishes students would read more culinary books instead of mostly watching videos, as there are many excellent volumes out there.

Chef Nolan is proud of all of his graduates. Some of them are business owners, some of them find themselves in a different career, which is just a part of life. Everyone has a different destiny. All that matters is that they are happy.

Making wedding cakes, working with chocolate and sugar, as well as shaping baguettes are some of Chef Nolan’s favourite skills to practice. “I’ve done thousands and thousands of baguettes now, but I still feel like I can be better at it.”

Despite chatting with four support staff at VIU, there are hundreds more people and dozens more departments that go an extra mile to keep this campus functioning smoothly, and many go unnoticed every day.

Each staff member has their own life experience and talents that they bring to important roles, and it has been so rewarding to get to know a few of them.