On the first day of the 2026-27 school year, Kimberly Durham celebrated nearly two and a half decades of service at Miami University – 24 years on Aug. 24, to be exact.
She’s dedicated many years to caring for Miami students, either serving food in dining halls or ensuring residence halls are comfortable and clean.
But it is also two decades worth of building relationships and community.
Since 2002, students have called Durham “Ms. Kim,” while she refers to students as “my kids.” She’s been a listening ear to struggling first-semester students and a safe ride home to upperclassmen from Uptown.
Durham grew up about 20 minutes from Oxford, across the border, in the small town of Liberty, Indiana.
As a child, she enjoyed spending time on Brookville Lake and in the woods with her friends and family. Durham said she valued the connectivity that accompanied her hometown.
Enjoy what you're reading?
Signup for our newsletter
“I love where I grew up,” she said. “It’s beautiful out there. Everybody was in the same clique, so it was a nice area to grow up in.”
Durham graduated high school in 1986, then attended cosmetology school in 1990. She married her husband Shane in 1999. She has three sons: Trynt, Josh and Clay Campbell.
Once they began having children, the pair knew they wanted their kids to attend college. Durham joined Miami’s staff in 2002, largely because of the tuition waiver for full-time employees’ children.
For more than 10 years, Durham worked in the now-closed Haines Food Court in Shriver Center. She’s now a building grounds associate (BGA) for Hepburn and McFarland residence halls.
Each morning, Durham arrives on campus around 6 a.m. She calls this hour her “quiet time,” using it to decompress, watch Netflix or browse social media.
At 7:30 a.m., she clocks in, getting straight to work by taking out the trash and cleaning the kitchen area of her dorms. Next, she heads to her designated floors, the first and the basement.
She tackles the hardest job first: the boys’ bathroom. She refills toilet paper and paper towels then wipes down the countertops and mirrors.
For floors and shower walls, Durham uses her KaiVac, which she’s named “Kyle.” A KaiVac combines the power of a pressure washer with the cleaning capabilities of a vacuum, helping Durham remove deposits from hard surfaces.
“We just get out that machine, spray [the deposit], and suck it up,” Durham said. “We don’t have to come in contact with it, so I love ‘Kyle the KaiVac.’”
Each bathroom requires about an hour’s worth of work, but Durham always adds a little extra. She says her manager often confronts her for buying cleaning supplies with personal money.
"I'm one of those people that if I mop the floors, I want it to smell like the floor had just been mopped.”
Durham also often buys candies and treats for her residents, who she says are her favorite part of the job.
Students and resident assistants (RAs) return Durham’s appreciation by decorating the outside of her supply closet. Durham has over 10 years worth of name tags, thank-you notes and coloring pages on display.
Student relationships with Durham don’t end with thank-you cards. She’s kept in contact with a plethora of students over her 24 years at Miami.
Every few weeks, Durham catches up with Collin Boucher (‘14), a former Miami linebacker. Boucher lived in Hepburn Hall with the football team while Durham was the BGA.
She also regularly speaks with former students Anna Wells and Julien Griffith, calling both girls her “adopted daughters.” Wells (‘22) was an RA in Flower Hall. Griffith (‘19) lived in McFarland Hall.
Wells travels to Oxford once or twice a year to visit Durham. Durham has also traveled to Michigan to reconnect with Griffith.
Durham even formed close relationships with international students from China. In December 2010, Carrot Bu and Rita Ma stayed with Durham and her family before flying to Los Angeles for winter break.
The bond between the trio remains intact as Bu and Ma are both Miami Mergers and have remained in the United States. Durham stays up to date with Bu and Ma’s lives and children through social media.
Cody Powell, associate vice president of Facilities Planning and Operations, says that Durham’s intricate care for her students is not atypical.
“A lot of our custodial folks feel an obligation to look after the students, almost like a parent,” Powell said.
Nanci Jones, building director of Hepburn Hall, has worked closely with Durham for six years now. The pair meets multiple times per week to address issues in the building. Jones has witnessed Durham’s commitment to Hepburn residents firsthand, and said her devotion is unmatched.
“It’s more than doing her routine custodial work,” Jones said. “She really does her job with concern, caring about the state of the hall in which the kids are living, but most importantly, she cares about the kids.”
Durham brightens the halls of Hepburn with her warm greetings, asking students about their classes, organizations and sports. She always tries to find ways she can connect with them.
“I think Kim truly is the heart of Hepburn,” Jones said.
Outside of caring for her residents, Durham also cares for her two grandchildren, Levi, 7, and Lachlynn, 8, while their father, Trynt, works as the emergency dispatcher for Miami University Police Department.
With their grandchildren, Durham and her husband enjoy coloring, swimming and going on bike rides. They also spend time together on Brookville Lake.
With seven more years until retirement, Durham already has plans for her next chapter. She and her husband want to move to Nokomis Beach, Florida to be near her sister and extended family.
Until then, she will continue to care for her students in ways that far exceed expectations.
Read More
Quiet week for Oxford police ahead of students’ return
By Austin Smith | YesterdayBetween Aug. 10 and Aug. 17, police officers responded to seven different incidents, according to the Oxford Police Department report.
Miami removes over 80 majors and programs, focuses on career outcomes
By Abe Hagood | 2 days agoSince the 2019-20 school year, more than 80 majors and programs have been removed, and several department consolidations are underway. Registrar curriculum reports obtained by The Miami Student from the Provost’s office show that removals of degrees, majors, co-majors and concentrations met or exceeded additions for four out of the six academic years from 2019-20 to 2024-25. This data does not include graduate programs, where 20 programs have been eliminated since the fall of 2020.
An unexpected contributor: How AI is shaping class projects
By Shannon Mahoney | 5 days agoA survey, conducted by a team of Miami University professors, showed 92% 0f student respondents reported having used generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), and 88% reported using it for academic work.