Parking Patrol: Debra Young

Working at Virginia Tech since: May 1, 1989

Each year Virginia Tech hosts hundreds of events that each bring hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of visitors onto campus. These waves of visitors might threaten to put a strain on parking availability on campus, but Debra Young and her team of parking enforcement officers work tirelessly to facilitate the smooth operation of the parking process

Young and her team are also responsible for making sure that parking spaces are available to permit holders by issuing citations to drivers who have illegally parked. It’s not a glamorous job, but Young takes pride in knowing she and her team are protecting the rights of permit holders by issuing citations to those who are breaking the rules.

Q: What do you do on a day-to-day basis?

A: I do whatever needs to be done as a supervisor of parking enforcement officers – performance plans, evaluations, time sheets. I also go out with the guys and issue citations.

Q: How did you come to work here?

A: I grew up in Blacksburg, but then lived out west for a while. When I moved back here, I started working at Virginia Tech, and now here I am. I wanted to become a police officer, and working in parking enforcement was how I started to get my foot in the door with the state. I’ll have been here 27 years this April. I enjoyed what I was doing and I've stayed here ever since.

Q: What do you like to do in your spare time?

A: I like to fish in my free time. And I like listening to music, mostly rock-and-roll.

Written by Steve Barnett, a 2015 multimedia journalism graduate currently studying public relations.
First published: April 12, 2017