Alaskan Triumph: From Deficit to Expansion

Kim Stanford

Kim Stanford, director of General Support Services (GSS) at the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA), is the kind of employee every organization hopes to hire: eager to take on challenges, grow professionally, and make a difference. Overseeing UAA’s Copy & Print Center, she’s dedicated the past 13 years to improving the in-plant’s services.

She joined UAA in 1990 as a summer temp and quickly fell in love with the higher-education work environment. In her 34 years, she’s advanced in administrative roles and earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business administration. In 2011, she stepped into the GSS director role.

During her time with the Copy & Print Center, she’s grown its wide-format printing offerings, dug the in-plant out of a fund deficit, and found new revenue opportunities — all while also overseeing the Seawolf Postal Express, Surplus & Relocation, and Recycling. She attributes much of her success to her supportive team.

Kim Stanford stands high above Eklutna Lake on one of her many Alaskan hiking trips.

“They’ve been very gracious in teaching me details about how things operate in their specific areas so I could learn more,” she says. “I tried to learn as much as I could to support them because … my role as leadership is to support them so they can do their job to the best of their abilities; provide them with the resources that they need, the guidance they need, and hopefully the budget they need; and to insulate them from the things they don’t need to deal with.”

The Copy & Print Center team includes a supervisor, Rich Little, whom Stanford says has been an asset to the in-plant’s success; two production technicians; a graphic designer; and a customer service representative.

As director, Stanford manages budgets, helps her team realize their career goals, and ensures the in-plant runs like a business. Because the in-plant is a “recharge center,” it doesn’t receive any general funds from the university, so it must generate whatever money it spends. This means cutting costs where possible, adjusting pricing, comparing vendor prices, fine-tuning print systems, and focusing on quality control.

“That being said, if there are envelopes to be stuffed or stamps to be put on something or other work to be done, I’m more than happy to dig in and help wherever,” she adds.

ACUP’s Impact

Thinking about transformative times in her career, Stanford says in 2012, shortly after becoming director, she attended her first In-plant Printing and Mailing Association Conference and met Donna Horbelt.

At ACUP 2016, Donna Horbelt of UTHealth; Kim Stanford of the University of Alaska, Anchorage; and Tammy Elliott of the University of the South talk in between sessions.

“She was with UT Health at the time, in Texas,” Stanford recalls. “We’re talking about our shops, and I said, ‘I really want to learn more about copy and print, and this is an area I need to learn more about so I can help better support this in-plant in bringing in revenue and building the shop.’ And she said, ‘Have you ever been to an ACUP [Association of College and University Printers] Conference? Do you know about ACUP?’”

That pro tip from Horbelt would shape the next several years of her career. In 2014, Stanford attended her first ACUP conference and was immediately hooked, attending every one after that.

“The networking has made a huge difference, not only in leadership of the Copy & Print Center as an in-plant but in my professional growth as well,” she shares.

Kim Stanford accepts the ACUP+ Achiever award from Tom Lydon.

She’s met many amazing people, she says, who have willingly shared how they tackle problems and processes in their in-plants, which she’s applied to other areas in GSS, not just print.

An avid ACUP attendee and networking pro, Stanford earned a seat on the ACUP board. She started out on the membership committee, then moved to secretary of the board, and eventually became vice president.

Her goal while serving was to figure out ways to make membership better and put on a great conference while keeping rates affordable for in-plants. She termed out roughly one year ago after seven years of service. With the great connections she’s made over the years, she can’t imagine completely walking away, and hopes to remain a retiree member when she leaves UAA.

Talking milestones, when Stanford took the position, the UAA Copy & Print Center had a negative fund balance. Within her first year, the in-plant broke even. During that time, she addressed the low-hanging fruit — overtime, cost of materials, and basic business checks and balances. Since then, the in-plant has carried a positive fund balance for the majority of her time as director, which proved critical during the pandemic. Because the in-plant wasn’t deemed an “essential” business, she had to put together a proposal for employee furlough hours. She gave her employees training to do, manuals to work on, and anything suitable for working from home to avoid 100% furlough.

The healthy fund balance not only paid employees, but it kept the in-plant from going into a deficit again. Much of that fund balance came from the margins that wide-format printing brought. Without investment in equipment, like a latex printer and cutter, she says the in-plant may not have had that cushion during the pandemic.

“I think building that large-format area was a very meaningful direction for us to go in,” she adds. “I’m pleased that I caught on to that very early and started moving the department in that direction.”

For in-plants that haven’t yet explored wide-format printing, she has some advice: “You need to do it,” she says. “Don’t think about it as a five-year plan. This is like six months from now. You need to have equipment in your shop. It’ll start making you money, for sure.”

Looking Ahead

With a soft retirement date of December 2026, Stanford hopes to have everything running smoothly for her successor. She wants to maintain the in-plant’s reputation for timeliness and quality that she’s built during her time, while also balancing the team’s workload.

Right now, Little is the primary graphics installation person, but with demand for adhesive vinyl graphics increasing, Stanford knows it’s important to cross-train. She’s also considering hiring another production technician or someone well-versed in installation.

“The large-format graphic installations around campus have been growing exponentially,” she says.

With the purchase of a new Gravotech IS6000 router/engraver (with the ADA-compliant braille kit), the in-plant can begin tackling interior signage and braille needs across campus, as well as explore untapped products. The new machine adds to the in-plant’s robust 32-piece lineup of printers, cutters, mail prep machines, and finishing and bindery equipment.

A Popular Addition

Once everyone’s trained on the new engraver, the in-plant plans to host an open house in the spring and hand out samples. Stanford predicts the new machine will be very popular among Athletics, Advancement, Alumni Relations, and the Seawolf Store, which handles all the merchandise for campus.

With a passion for leadership and a genuine interest in wide-format printing and new ways to bring in revenue, Stanford is set to leave the Copy & Print Center better than she found it.

Outside of work, Stanford enjoys spending time outdoors — winter and summer hiking with her dog Nuka, bike riding, gardening — in addition to visiting with her mom and stepfather. She also dedicates time to supporting UAA Athletics, and holds season tickets for university hockey and basketball games.

When asked what winter hiking in Alaska is like, she says: “Well, it depends on the winter. It could be post holing, which means you’re walking along and all of a sudden you have snow up to your mid thigh ... and it can be a little bit slippery. So generally, I like to start early in the day; it’s usually a little bit chilly. Definitely wearing a lot of good layers and having good gear and poles and spikes — micro spikes for your shoes.”

For those up to the challenge of hiking in Alaska, Stanford shares some parting advice: Watch out for moose.