Louis Hengesbach
Accountant I
As a 2010 graduate of Michigan State University, Louis began working at the Physical Plant about a year and a half ago.
Can you tell me a little bit about what you do?
One of my main tasks at the Physical Plant involves the purchasing process. I reconcile five warehouse accounts between the Kuali Financial System and the Physical Plant billing system. I also run daily purchasing audits for the interface between both systems. I have been involved in the MSU Way – ECOS project and the Cognos Query Studio project. Currently, I have been working on year end labor reports and campus building data, which is now at 530 buildings and over 22 million square feet.
What brought you to your job at MSU?
Starting at MSU my freshman year I never thought about who maintained the buildings, classrooms, sidewalks, utilities, or landscape on campus. And I definitely didn’t know that a majority of that was handled by one division. However, about half way into my freshman year I was lucky enough to have a chance for an interview for an open student position at the Physical Plant. Now it’s been almost five years and I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to work in this office and to continue learning about this division.
What do you love about working at MSU?
I love the work environment and campus as a whole. After graduation I debated other career options, but the experiences I gained here as a student and getting to know other employees at the Physical Plant as well as around campus made my decision extremely easy. Work is much more enjoyable when you have great coworkers and know that everyone takes pride in making our campus better.
Can you tell me a little about the benefits and challenges of working at MSU’s Physical Plant?
I’d say one of the main challenges is communication between departments, as well as outside customers. Reaching out to customers so that they have a full understanding of projects happening around campus, as well as understanding the issues they might have can be difficult. As a way to help this communication, two quick links have been added to the Physical Plant webpage (pp.msu.edu). One link provides information on Construction Updates around campus and the other is the online service request form which allows users to track the processing of their requests online. With such a large campus it can be hard to keep everyone on the same page, but I believe that having the online options to track projects can be a huge advantage.
What do you like to do when you are not at work?
Outside of work I enjoy playing and watching sports. This past December I bought a house and got married, so it’s been a pretty busy year! But spending time with my wife and working on the house is what I like to do most.