Lookin’ at U – Darren Dageforde

Each Thursday, we randomly feature a medical center employee.

Darren Dageforde

This week, we learn more about Darren Dageforde, manager of utilities and energy engineering in UNMC Facilities Management and Planning.

• Name: Darren Dageforde
  
• Hometown: Hebron, Neb.
  
• No. of years at UNMC:Coming up on 12 years.

What is your best memory from your time at UNMC?

What memories stand apart for me about UNMC is when we are responding to a major campus event, how our campus people pull together and demonstrate our Midwestern values and work ethics.

Our four brand values are leadership, excellence, working together and being a trusted resource. Pick one and tell us a time you it embodied at UNMC.

Working together. A few years ago, I was working with orthopedics and the gross anatomy lab on developing a lightly embalmed cadaver program for practice joint replacement surgery. My role was to design the coolers and storage equipment for cadaver preservation. Through teamwork with primarily the disaster preparedness group as well as numerous other departments, we were able to pull together the funding, design and operational systems to address the multiple similar needs of various departments that would not have been met had each department tried to “go it alone.”

List three things people may not know about you.

• I spent seven weeks in Japan during college on an agricultural rural youth exchange program.
  
• I previously worked at a nuclear power plant very similar to the damaged Japanese plant. I held the equivalent of a plant operator’s license.
  
• I am currently finishing construction of a self-designed and constructed, “net zero” energy home for my family to live in. The home utilizes some traditional green technologies, some cutting edge technologies and some truly new and innovative design concepts. I believe I have demonstrated these technologies can be implemented cost effectively in the current housing market. I hope to inspire others through tours and demonstrations to think “outside the traditional box” and see that there is a way to significantly reduce energy consumption cost effectively without giving up any of the current conveniences of modern lifestyles.