Main Campus
Landscape Services manages over 500 acres across Main Campus and local satellite facilities. The campus landscape is divided into various zones where maintenance crews use sustainable practices and equipment such as an organic fertilization program, a centrally controlled irrigation system that is constantly monitoring water flow, battery-operated equipment, propane and battery mowers, and top dressing using organic compost. The team also supports various large events each year, for example: Commencement, home football games, Explore UT, and numerous student events.
Dell Medical School
The Dell Medical School (DMS) landscape team manages a diverse site that includes stormwater bioswales (designed to remove debris and pollution out of surface runoff water), green roofs, Waller Creek and wildflower meadows. The DMS landscape team operates an electric fleet of mowers and power equipment and use only organic approaches to soil health, plant health care and weed control. The DMS landscape team also collaborated with DMS to win a SITES Gold Award for sustainable landscape design.
J. J. Pickle Research Campus
The J.J. Pickle Research Campus (PRC) landscape team manages the irrigation and grounds at PRC's main campus and at the West Pickle Research (WPR) property; approximately 365 acres. The PRC landscape team performs a host of activities, from large-area mowing and tree care to various types of landscape construction. They are also integrating the same centrally controlled irrigation system used on Main Campus.
Waller Creek
In 2016 the university launched a project to transform sections of Waller Creek that travel through Main Campus. Landscape Services performed an extensive amount of work to remove invasive, non-native plant and tree species and prune overgrown vegetation. These efforts were directed at immediately improving safety and visibility with a long-term goal to make positive habitat improvements in this heavily urbanized riparian ecosystem. Ongoing efforts include vegetation maintenance, invasive species removal, and creek planting events to help build species diversity and reduce erosion. Take a walk and learn about Waller Creek with this tour created by UT Sustainability.
Meet the Landscape Maintenance Team
Mike Klemmer
Assistant Manager, Landscape Maintenance
mike.klemmer@austin.utexas.edu
Mike has over 24 years of experience in landscape management. Prior to joining the university, he worked at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte as a grounds supervisor II for nearly eight years. Prior to that, he worked at Texas A&M University as a landscape maintenance section leader, and at other institutions as landscape superintendent, manager of community and landscape maintenance, and site superintendent at the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. He is a member of the Professional Grounds Management Society and the Texas Nursery & Landscape Association. He is currently working on gaining his Texas Department of Agriculture pesticide applicator license. He earned a bachelor's degree in sociology from Texas Lutheran University and took graduate-level classes in landscape design at Radcliffe College in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Glenn Griffin
Landscape Supervisor, J.J. Pickle Research Campus (PRC)
glenn.griffin@austin.utexas.edu
Glenn comes to us with over 25 years of industry experience, with three of those years here at UT Landscape Services. Glenn owned and operated a landscape and nursery business in Hawaii for over 20 years. He holds licenses as both a Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) irrigation technician and a Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) pesticide applicator. Glenn has a passion for providing great customer service and is pleased to be working with the PRC campus community.
Justin Hayes
Landscape Supervisor, Medical District
justin.hayes@austin.utexas.edu
Justin has been in the landscaping industry for 25 years. Starting at UT Austin in 2008 as a gardener, he worked his way up to crew leader and eventually supervisor of the SITES Gold certified Dell Medical District landscape. He and his team won the Texas Turf Association's "Best Turf in Texas" contest in 2012 for their work on the campus' University Avenue landscape. He received his National Organic Farmers Association (NOFA) organic land care accreditation in 2017. In addition, he is Grow Green certified as well as level 3 certified through the Native Plant Society of Texas. He runs the compost operation for landscape services, which is also used by several student organizations and makes compost tea for use in the landscape as well as for giving away at student events. He helps to educate many groups on the benefits of native and sustainable landscape maintenance.
John Paul Kelly
Landscape Supervisor, West Campus
john.kelly@austin.utexas.edu
John Paul has been in the landscape profession for over 20 years. He joined the university in 2016, bringing his expertise in tree care and agriculture. He started with Landscape Services as a landscape technician and quickly advanced to crew leader in 2018, then to landscape supervisor in 2020. Prior to UT, John Paul served as the grounds supervisor for Texas Tech Health Science Center-Amarillo. He has been licensed as a pesticide applicator in both Texas and New Mexico, and he has also held credentials as an International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) certified arborist and master gardener in Randall County.
Curtis Robillard
Landscape Supervisor, East Campus and Dell Pediatric Research Institute
curtis.robillard@austin.utexas.edu
Curtis has over 20 years of experience in the horticulture industry. He started out working for a landscaping company when he began college in 1993. After graduating from Louisiana State University with a bachelor's degree in horticulture, he managed/supervised various golf courses for five years. He was the horticulturist for the University of New Orleans for two years before he joined Landscape Services here at The University of Texas at Austin. He has been a landscape supervisor for the east half of campus since July 2007. He is a Texas certified pesticide applicator. He is currently a member of the Texas Landscape Nursery & Landscape Association, Professional Grounds Management Society, Texas Turf Grass Association, and University Landscape Management Association.