Wayne State University is like a city within a city with 7,700 employees and more than 27,000 students, accounting for a total campus population of nearly 35,000. In an effort to learn more about our faculty and staff; their passions, hobbies, and personal history at the university, Today@Wayne will regularly feature stories about employees in a column titled “Getting to Know.”
Wayne State University looks a bit different than it did when Bruce Langley was hired in August 1984.
Langley, who has been a carpenter and locksmith with the university for 32 years, remembers a time when residential homes were used as classroom buildings and streets ran through the heart of campus.
He’s worked during the administration of five university presidents and seen the creation of three new colleges, several residence halls, the Mort Harris Recreation and Fitness Center, the Welcome Center, TechTown and more.
“The campus has certainly changed a lot,” Langley said. “We’ve gotten much bigger — in size and reputation.”
He’s seen many buildings come and go — and it’s likely he’s worked in them all at some point.
As a second-generation WSU carpenter and locksmith, Langley is part of the Maintenance Trades team within the Department of Facilities Operations and Maintenance, which services all of the campus buildings. The team includes nine carpenters who routinely repair the doors, locks, hinges, ceilings and floors of almost 100 buildings.
Langley’s father, Wayne, worked as a carpenter at Wayne State for 36 years before retiring in 1983. Growing up in northwest Detroit, Langely remembers visiting his father on the campus of what was then Wayne University. He takes pride in their shared contributions to Wayne State’s buildings.
“What makes our campus so special is that, through the years, we’ve maintained its historic buildings,” Langley said. “They don’t make buildings with this kind of character anymore. Repairing when possible instead of replacing helps.”
Langley played a special role in the 1996-97 renovation of Old Main, which is his favorite campus building.
“I got to be part of the team that used a crane to put a 14-foot bow on the renovated building’s clock tower for the opening — in my time here, there’s yet to be a dull day,” he said.
The lack of dull days is something Langley likes about his role. He also enjoys the people.
“I like the people I work with and I like the people I work for. The students, the professors — everyone, really — at Wayne State are good people,” he said. “This campus has been a consistently great place for me, through good times and bad.”
(If you would like to nominate a Wayne State employee for a future “Getting to Know” feature story, please send your recommendation to media@wayne.edu.)