When walking around campus, people often don’t spend much time thinking about the flyers, aside from a, “maybe I’ll go to that event.” Some might offhandedly wonder where Winona State University gets them or how one would go about printing them. Students who work in departments might be the main students who actually know where those posters come from.
To paint the picture, Somsen has several interesting aspects to it. There’s the Somsen cafe and tech services. But walking down the halls on the first floor of Somsen someone might have walked past an open door with the words “print shop” on the floor. While the general student population probably hasn’t walked through that door for fear of accidentally going into an inaccessible area, the print shop actually does quite a lot for students and Winona State as whole.
Rachel Fredrick, a student who works in the HERS department finds the importace of the print shop in day-to-day life on campus. “I think if we didn’t have the print shop, we would have a much harder time communicating events around campus,” Fredrick said. “Students don’t always check their emails for events or pay attention to social media, so flyers and posters can be a really effective way to spread the word.”
There really are so many things that wouldn’t be possible without the print shop on campus. Patricia Malotka is the supervisor of creative and printing services.
“Because we are right here on campus, most times quicker than off campus vendors and often more cost effective than printing off campus,” Malotka said.
Malotka mentioned that the print team includes herself as well as, “Kristi Gudmundson who is an extortionary designer, Darlene Stetter and Alex Peirson, are [also] in the print shop and do A LOT of high-speed copy work both black and white as well as full color.”
Alex Pierson, lead press operator, said that they “like to say anything that is needed for anybody here,” which Pierson adds could include a variety of things. This can be flyers as previously mentioned, or business cards, class materials, wide format posters and so many other things.
Both Pierson and Setter have numerous responsibilities in the print office that their expertise allows them to take on with success. “Their responsibilities fork off into some specialty categories. Both are well versed in printing and can field any questions that you may have with your project,” Malotka said. “Creative and Printing Services work under the umbrella of the Development Office which is managed by Vice President Jon Olson, who we are grateful for his leadership and support of the growth that we’ve had over the last couple of years with new equipment and duties.”
With all that these people do for campus it’s important to remember that they are people who exist outside their campus responsibilities. For instance Pierson shared that he gets “involved in my church, enjoys outdoor activities such as camping, hiking and biking,” as well as spending time with his wife and dog.
The staff of the print shop chose to work in the print shop because “it’s not so much that I chose it but rather grew into it. It has been a great career, and the work is different every day,” Malotka said.
They can be reached through their service portal at: https://services.winona.edu/ and selecting the Print and Project or Design Services. They are also available in person in Somsen 112 for printing services, and Somsen 205 for creative services.
