Elon’s physical plant director has been promoted to assistant vice president for facilities management and director of physical plant.
Buchholz’s promotion was announced by Gerald Whittington, senior vice president for business, finance and technology.
“Robert has shown outstanding leadership and management in one of the most important areas of the campus,” Whittington said. “Under his leadership his unit has successfully adapted to an increase in the number of buildings and square footage on the campus, and the increasing complexity of the university’s operations, while providing excellent service to the Elon community.”
Buchholz, a professional engineer with more than 33 years of facilities management experience, joined Elon as director of physical plant in 2008. He supervises a physical plant staff of more than 170 and is responsible for the operation and maintenance of a campus that encompasses about 600 acres with more than 2.1 million square feet of building space.
He previously was associate vice president at Temple University and managed installations and facilities for the U.S. Navy and for a variety of private firms, holding positions in Guam, Spain, Lebanon and the Philippines.
Buchholz is a registered professional engineer, with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from North Carolina State University and a master’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Washington, Seattle.