Student center post office manager to retire after 51 years

On a Friday at 9 a.m., the L.A. Pittenger Student Center is nearly quiet. A handful of students are eating breakfast at the Tally, and offices around the building have just started opening for the day.

In the post office, the daily routine of checking and sorting personal mail and packages begins. Jerry Ault, the manager at the Student Center post office, is making sure each piece of mail that goes out of the office is properly labeled and correctly sealed.

Ault has worked in the post office for 51 years and has gained a wealth of knowledge throughout the years about mail and the procedures used in a post office. He will retire March 30 after his retirement reception at 3:30 p.m.

Since Ball State started keeping trackable records in 1988, Ault has handled more than 170 million pieces of mail. That number doesn’t include his first 23 years on the job.

Before getting a job at Ball State, Ault worked at Koehlings and Kirk’s Bike Shop and also served in the military. In 1965, he started his Ball State career as a mail clerk at Central Mail, the office that handles all of the mail going to and from campus.

Ault was promoted to mailing service manager 25 years later, where he concentrated on bulk mailing, as well as first-class outgoing mail.

In 2013, he became post office manager for the Student Center Post Office (SCPO), as well, and about nine months ago, Ault transitioned to working only at the SCPO.

“He’s added a lot of degree of experience there,” said Matt Stephenson, the director of business services and special assistant to associate vice president of business and auxiliary services. “He’s come up with some different ideas to add services for students, different things to be able to sell to make mailing easier. It’s such a common function, we don’t really think about mailing and using the U.S Post Office until we have to do it.”

Ault is the first person to receive the Ball State 50-Year Staff Personnel Award, and in 2002, he received the University Meritorious Service Award.

He’s witnessed campus evolve over the 51 years he’s worked here.

"I've seen a lot of changes on campus. When I came here, John Emens was president," he recalled.

He remembers when students would live in trailers, instead of the residence halls, when the library was in the North Quad building and when there were Army barracks from a surplus during World War II where the Cooper Science Building and the Teacher’s College stand today.

Central Mail started out in the basement of the Administration Building, in what Ault described as a closet. He moved along with the office to the Student Center, to West Quad, to Studebaker East, to the storage part of Facilities Planning and Management and finally to its current home north of campus.

In addition to his work on campus, Ault has been involved in many professional organizations. He is active in the National Association of College and University Mail Services and the local Postal Customer Council. He also served two terms as president of the University Mail Management Association and Industry Co-chair for East Central Indiana Postal Customer Council.

Ault will miss the routine of the job and the service he was able to give customers — one of his strong suits.

“Our focus at the Student Center Post Office is customer service and helping the students, giving them the service they want for the least cost,” Ault said. “If there’s another way to do it a little bit cheaper, then we’ll tell them about it. Most of the time, they will change and do it the way we suggest. At least, they have the option.”

Ault was always prepared for students who had never mailed a package before. He would help them in any way he could, so they would be able return their textbooks or send packages back home.

“[Ault]’s very good about taking care of the students when they come up,” Stephenson said. “He’s really good about collecting boxes and having some tape available and be able to provide the service to the student, so that they can get their package mailed.”

Ault said he enjoyed his job because of the people that he worked with — something that he will miss when he retires.

Likewise, Robin Evans said the staff will miss Ault — she was hired by him in 2000 and has been working at SCPO for 16 years.

“A familiar face at the post office is what everyone looks forward to seeing, especially at the Ball State Post Office,” Evans said.

Now that his time won’t be consumed by sorting mail and helping Ball State students, Ault plans to spend more time at his lake house, at Big Turtle Lake, with all of his boats: speed boat, pontoon boat, paddle boats, row boat and jet ski. He will also drive and (mostly) repair his Model-T Ford.

He also will continue to support his two grandchildren Brenna and Brian at their basketball and baseball games.

Stephenson has a son who is also on Brian’s basketball team and notes Ault’s dedication to his grandchildren.

“I don’t know if he’s ever missed an event with his grandkids. He’s an extremely attentive grandfather,” Stephenson said.

Evans said Ault doesn’t like to take all the credit, but she knows that he has a lot of passion working with Ball State's mail for the past 51 years.

“I think that’s a lot of dedication, especially for the university,” Evans said. “He’s been taking care of Central Mail and the Post Office. That’s a long time — 51 years. You don’t find too many people who have just one job for 51 years of their life.”

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