Believe it or not, Harold Golston Jr. does have a desk.
“Yes, I do!” he said with a laugh when asked. (For the record, it’s in the Yale School of Public Health’s Building Operations office at 47 College Street.) It’s where he logs in at 7 a.m. each day to check and respond to emails.
From there, he’s always on the go at one of the dozen buildings housing YSPH offices, labs, and programs. If you need keys or a P-card, everyone knows, “See Harold.” If a classroom needs supplies or has an audio-visual problem, or if it needs to be prepared for the coming school year, see Harold. If a room needs preparation for a special event – Harold. If the toilets or lights aren’t working, Harold coordinates the repairs. If a tent needs to be erected for a special event, Harold navigates the many regulations and knows where to place it.
I hear a lot of people say ‘What’s your title?’ Golston said, in a rare moment of sitting down. “I say I’m the building operations coordinator [he’s also a media technician], but it’s basically anything – access, keys, moves, renovations. I deal with a lot of electricians, the plumbers, the carpenters; anything to do with the buildings, I’m the contact person. So that’s why basically everything comes to me. I just tell them I’m here for customer service. I make sure everything runs.”
And often, he does it with a smile and with a conversation.
“He has more energy than 10 people and is often seen swiftly walking through the hallways,” said Allie Squeglia, YSPH’s manager of operations and Golston’s boss. “But he also finds the time to greet folks and inquire about their day and how they are doing.”
I hear a lot of people say 'What’s your title?’ I say I’m the building operations coordinator, but it’s basically anything – access, keys, moves, renovations. ... I just tell them I’m here for customer service. I make sure everything runs.
Harold Golston Jr.
And that’s not all.
“I can say I have never worked with a more dedicated individual,” Squeglia said. “He has such a strong work ethic; he is diligent in the pursuit of finishing a task and finishing it well. He is willing to go above and beyond to get things done and encourages others to do the same. He takes pride in what he does, whether it’s a small job or a large one. ‘A job well done is something to be proud of,’ he often says.”
Pete Donohue, assistant director of information and research technology at the YSPH Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS (and also the school’s resident AV tech), also has high praise for Golston: “I am so honored to work alongside Harold. Not only is he one of the most reliable individuals at YSPH, but he also happens to be one of the kindest. I don’t think you can ask for anything more from a friend or a colleague.”
Golston has worked at YSPH for 22 of his 31 years at Yale University. Before joining YSPH in September 2001 (a week before 9/11), he worked in the pharmacology tissue culture lab at the Yale School of Medicine, then the YSM stock room, then shipping and receiving. At YSPH, he started as a lab assistant to Nancy Ruddle, professor emeritus of epidemiology, and Diane McMahon-Pratt, professor emeritus of public health, joining the Building Operations staff in 2011. In fact, he still has a hand in all of the above, too.
“I’m doing the lab assistant [work], and I’m still doing the media [in the culture lab], and I’m doing operations stuff, so it’s kind of like three jobs,” he said. “A lot of the lab stuff, if people need help, I’ll train them – like all the equipment and the autoclaves, and how to use them. [Training] the postdocs and the lab people, I still take care of that.”
Golston’s hard work and resourcefulness came in handy when the COVID-19 pandemic closed campus in March 2020. For a year, it seemed like the only people in the YSPH buildings were him, Squeglia, and media tech Joe Magliochetti. Their above-and-beyond work in keeping the buildings running, handling the technical aspects of the conversion to online teaching, and preparing for everyone to return earned them the YSPH Outstanding Staff Award in 2021. It was the second time Golston won the award (which he shared in 2018 with Melanie Elliot, administrative director of graduate student affairs).
“Everything else kept going, you know?” he said. That meant sorting the piles of mail downstairs – processing grant checks, checks from and estates, and P-cards, and fielding correspondence to faculty and other important mailings. It also meant retrofitting classrooms, both with plexiglass and for Zoom lectures, ordering PPE and acquiring freezers for labs, and reconfiguring rooms to accommodate lab space.
“Because at the time, we really didn’t have a process, we had to come up with one on the fly. Everything was basically on the fly,” he said. “It was definitely a crazy time.”
Golston is, in short, a human Swiss army knife – a versatile, multi-faceted go-to person who others in the school view as indispensable. But he doesn’t see himself that way.
“I never think like that,” he said. “If somebody needs help, I’m always going to be the first to jump in and say okay. Like I tell people, I’m always going to give great customer service and all that. But I never think I’m indispensable.”
The lifelong New Haven resident lost several relatives and friends to COVID. He has also seen his share of troubles in his Dixwell neighborhood. But at YSPH, he always tries to remain upbeat.
“You know what? I try to smile and be happy,” he said. “During COVID, I lost so many people. Years ago, if I had a bad day, I’d go over to Smilow [Cancer Center] and just see how blessed I am to get up every day, to walk, to get around. When I would see somebody going into treatment, it changed my whole attitude If I’m like ‘Everything’s going wrong with me, ‘Well, why me?’ I’d be like, you know what? My life is not bad! My life is not bad after all. I can move, so every day, I’m just happy.
“And just count your blessings. As I tell everybody, take every day and live it like it’s your last. Just help whoever you can help, you know?”