University of Kentucky faculty and staff whose jobs require them to use vehicles from the College of Agriculture's Fleet Service know the technicians who take care of the vehicles are some of the best in the business. Until recently it was only by reputation, but now it's official. The fleet service was awarded the Blue Seal of Excellence by the National Institute of Automotive Service Excellence.

UK is one of only seven university fleet services to receive the Blue Seal, which means the majority of service technicians are ASE-certified.

The group was also recently added to the 100 Best Fleets in North America, an honor only bestowed upon four university fleets. The others were the University of Minnesota, the University of Oklahoma and the University of Washington. Out of more than 14,000 eligible organizations, 850 applied for the 100 Best in 2008.

"It means a lot to have our services and technicians receive these honors," said Ted Walker, UK fleet superintendent. "We really take pride in our work, and our goal is to keep the university's fleet in top shape using the latest technology and the best technicians around."

In addition, several service technicians received ASE certification this year including:

John Stanhope, ASE-certified Master Automobile Technician, ASE-certified Master Medium/Heavy Truck Technician; Steve Moberly, ASE-certified Master Automobile Technician, ASE-certified Master Medium/Heavy Truck Technician; Andrew Gehring, ASE-certified Automobile Parts Specialist; Richard White, ASE-certified Automobile Technician; Jason Conn, ASE-certified Automobile Technician and Kenny Harrison, ASE-certified Collision Repair Technician.

The fleet center not only services vehicles but various types of farm and commercial equipment. There are more than 1,200 vehicles and equipment active in the fleet program. This includes automobiles, tractors, semi trucks, dump trucks, generators, ditchers, loaders, cranes, forklifts, etc.