WVU Student Life leader helps make ‘magic’ at popular campus hangout spots

Chris Schmoldt, executive director for WVU Student Unions and Operations, leads the team responsible for making hangout spots on campus feel like home. (WVU Photo/Jalyn Lamp)

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When West Virginia University students step into the Mountainlair or Evansdale Crossing this semester, they may not notice the newly waxed floors, fresh paint, or other results of months of preparation behind the scenes.

What should be clear is just how much staff and faculty like Chris Schmoldt care about creating a welcoming experience in the facility.

As the executive director for Student Unions and Operations in the WVU Division of Student Life, Schmoldt and his team provide the behind-the-scenes "magic" that keeps both sites functioning as hubs on campus.

Schmoldt's day includes a wide array of tasks like managing furniture layouts and construction projects in many of the common areas throughout campus. (WVU Photo/Jalyn Lamp)

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Between May and July, when the busy hum of Morgantown goes quiet for the summer, Schmoldt and his team of 12 full-time staff are already preparing for the new year - which includes a lot of facility maintenance, deep cleaning, policy revisions, and strategic planning.

"Every student isn't interested in everything in the building," Schmoldt said, "but what we always say is there's something for everybody to do."

Schmoldt has been with the University since 2019 and has served in his current position since March of this year.

Although programming through both facilities isn't directly handled by Schmoldt or his staff, his team does manage and maintain the space where events are held, which can look very different on a day-to-day basis.

"WVUp All Night is a critical program that happens in the Mountainlair every Friday and Saturday night from 10 p.m. until 2 a.m., and it's pretty much every single weekend of the academic year," Schmoldt said.

Schmoldt and his staff work many long nights with tight timelines preparing campus for the return of students and events each fall. (WVU Photo/Jalyn Lamp)

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"It's a heavy lift for our staff and the students enjoy it, but we do have to turn around sometimes and flip the building from 2 a.m. until 7 a.m. when we open for an event or an open house. Getting the building cleaned and prepared every Friday into Saturday morning and Saturday into Sunday morning takes an enormous effort, and I don't think that people realize how much goes into it."

Giving credit to his "amazing" team for the long nights and tight turnarounds, Schmoldt shared details on some of the major renovations he and his crew began this summer that wrapped up at the start of August.

In the Mountainlair this year students will find updates and renovations to new food concepts and the addition of Huntington Bank. Evansdale Crossing has added more office space in The Hub, while the third floor is now welcoming the Career Services Center and a new testing center.

"It's unique to see how students utilize the space, and a lot of the things that we do when we make changes reflects what we see," Schmoldt said.

Schmoldt says one of his favorite things about his position is having the opportunity to watch students make campus feel like a home away from home. (WVU Photo/Jalyn Lamp)

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"I have noticed that there's are places that people have made a lounge area, or like to hang out, so how do we make more of those areas in the building more accessible more often to students? Because that's what they want."

According to Schmoldt, charging accessibility for electronics is another factor students, faculty, and staff look for when searching for welcoming spaces on campus.

"The one thing I want people to understand is we really take feedback into consideration when we make our decisions and how we do things," he said. "There are certain aspects of the facility that we can't change, but those things that we can control, we try our best to get feedback from the students and really watch their patterns and behavior."

-WVU-