UniPrint, Ohio State University's in-plant printing operation is among the largest

By Dawn Greenlaw-Scully

A Longtime Buckeye Says Goodbye

UniPrint Associate Director Don Roberts retired in June after 51 years with The Ohio State University. Roberts joined Ohio State on December 1, 1958, a month before Alaska joined the United States. In an era marked by the advent of the microchip, the office copier, the Barbie doll and American astronauts, Roberts was hired as an apprentice pressman, training on equipment that was a far cry from modern printing technology.

“At that time, we were not even using offset presses,” he recalls. “We were hand-setting type and using a linotype for letterpress printing.”

Operations were much smaller, too. “We worked on the first floor of the journalism building in a space that wasn’t even a quarter of the size of our present facility,” Roberts remembers. “We moved into our current plant in 1968”—the same year that Ohio State’s football team won its fifth national championship.

Through the years, Roberts worked his way up the ladder, serving as pressman, foreman, plant superintendent, assistant director and finally associate director of what is now UniPrint. He was a longtime supporter of the Big Ten Printing and Copyright Conference, and a 20-year member of the Association of College and University Printers (ACUP).

Roberts, who retired on June 30, measures the success of his career in terms of the in-plant’s advancement and reputation.

“I’m extremely proud of what we’ve maintained all those years, and of what we’ve grown to,” he notes. “The in-plant is well respected by the university and the community. It’s been a great place to work.”

Others are quick to point out Roberts’ personal and professional contributions. “Don’s long-term employment at the university encompassed so many things,” declares UniPrint Director Debby Parks. “He was committed to always providing a top-quality product to our customers, and his enthusiastic commitment to great customer service never faltered.”

“Don Roberts has been a friend and colleague for my 28 years at The Ohio State University,” chimes in Lynn Nickell, director of creative services, University Communications. “He has always been supportive, helpful, and an all-around good guy.”

Roberts reciprocates the respect and affection. “We had and have a great staff here, and I have enjoyed working with them almost every single day,” he emphasizes. Still, he admits his biggest on-campus passion has been watching Ohio State football games.

Parks has been a Buckeye-witness to Roberts’ sports fanaticism. “Not only did he love his job, his trade, his customers, and the university, he also became one of the greatest Buckeye fans ever known,” she laughs. “I am sure that his incredible love of the ‘scarlet and gray’ will carry into his retirement.”

Roberts concurs. Now, he also looks forward to spending more time with his two young grandsons and with his wife, who retired on the same day. He plans to travel more and play plenty of golf.

After saying O-Bye-O to O-H-I-O, Roberts has no regrets. “I really can’t think of anything I’d do differently,” he reports contentedly.

“It’s the end of an era,” Nickell concludes. “He’ll be missed.”

The Ohio State University is big. It ranks among the country's largest colleges (and is sometimes tops) in terms of student enrollment. Its famed horseshoe-shaped football stadium holds and consistently draws more than 100,000 Buckeye fans and rivals to Columbus, Ohio.

The school's in-plant is also a heavyweight among its peers. In-Plant Graphics' December 2009 survey of the largest in-plants in North America lists Ohio State's UniPrint operation as the number-one revenue-producing ($18 million) university shop and as having the fourth-most employees (81).

In-plant Snapshot

The Ohio State University
UniPrint

Employees: 81
Operating Budget: $18 million
Facility: 44,000 square feet

Key Equipment:

• Rampage Workflow for offset
• Xerox FreeFlow workflow
• Avanti Print Management Software
• Kodak computer-to-plate system
• Heidelberg Quicksetter CTP
• Two-color, 14x20˝ Heidelberg Quickmaster
• Two-color, 10x13˝ A.B.Dick duplicator
• Two-color, 10x13˝ Halm envelope press
• Six-color, 20x29˝ Heidelberg with aqueous coating
• Five-color, 28x40˝ Heidelberg
• Two-color, 28x40˝ Heidelberg
• Kodak NexPress 2100
• Xerox 6180
• Xerox Nuvera 144
• Xerox 7000
• Epson 9880 wide-format printer
• Epson 10000 wide-format printer
• EFI RASTEK H700 wide-format printer
• MBO folder
• Heidelberg Stahl folder
• Two Muller Martini saddle binders with cover feeder
• GBC spiral binder
• Duplo 5000 tower collator with booklet maker
• Duplo 645 slitter/cutter/creaser
• Polar cutter
• Ledco laminator
• SECAP ink-jet addressing
• Neopost four-station inserter
• CASS certification and NCOA processing

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