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10 Steps to Lead an Education Facility Capital Construction Project to Success

Every capital construction project presents a unique set of challenges and variables, regardless of its size. Whatever the difficulty may be—stakeholder disagreements, material delivery delays, project coordination problems, or issues within the onsite workforce—snafus are bound to arise. Whether you are a K-12 or higher education facilities manager who regularly oversees construction projects, or whether […]

A Holistic Design Approach for Campus, Community, and Planet

DLR Group is fortunate to design educational environments for some of the most innovative, forward-thinking institutions across the globe. Working collaboratively with colleges and universities and their stakeholders, we approach each project with a holistic mindset, focusing on solutions that positively impact the campus and local community, and contribute to a healthier world. By embracing […]

AASHE Publishes 2021 Sustainable Campus Index

The 2021 Sustainable Campus Index (SCI), produced annually by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), recognizes top-performing colleges and universities overall by institution type and in 17 sustainability impact areas, as measured by the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS), a voluntary framework used by hundreds of colleges and […]

AASHE Publishes 2022 Sustainable Campus Index

The 2022 Sustainable Campus Index (SCI), produced annually by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), recognizes top-performing colleges and universities overall by institution type and in 17 sustainability impact areas, as measured by the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS), a voluntary framework used by hundreds of colleges and […]

Addressing DEI in Facility Management Operations

Editor’s Note: Two dozen higher education leaders met in March 2022 for a facilitated discussion of diversity, equity, and inclusion as part of APPA’s annual Thought Leaders Series. This article is excerpted from the 2022 APPA Thought Leaders report, From Thin Words to Thick Action: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, available at no charge to APPA […]

All Are Welcome Here: Syracuse University’s Schine Student Center Renovation

Integrating today’s changing trends and expectations into renovations can be daunting. Doing so means not only transforming physical spaces, but also changing the way students engage through the lenses of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Syracuse University faced this challenge as they approached the substantial renovation of their campus student center. By bringing three key design […]

An Introduction to Total Cost of Ownership

How can a facility owner or project manager determine which product is best for the job, and for the budget? “Total cost of ownership, or TCO, is a holistic approach that allows owners to make the best decisions,” says Ana Thiemer, associate director of planning and project services at the University of Texas at Austin. […]

APPA Launches Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Journey

Background and Charge As APPA continues to prepare for every future, the Board recognizes that it is time for APPA to formalize its past and current practice around equity and inclusiveness for the association. With the formation of a task force to focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), APPA demonstrates a sustained and comprehensive […]

Breaking Down Silos by Building Internal Expertise

“A silo is a part of a company, organization, or system that does not communicate with, understand, or work well with other parts.” — Cambridge Dictionary Online We all know that silos impede good work and generate waste, yet they are pervasive in many bureaucratic organizations. This article discusses how low expertise within an organization […]

Changing the Facilities Backlog Conversation in Higher Education

Background Deferred renewal backlog is an old subject for higher education facilities leaders, but one that, in our current reality, requires new emphasis. In April 2021, APPA released an estimate that higher education as a whole is facing urgent deferred renewal of more than $112 billion. That estimate is a brand new impetus for reviving […]

Collaborative Learning through Customized Assessments

Collaborative learning with peers has proven to be one of the most effective means of learning and discovery. As engaged facilities and business practitioners, we have used the relationships we have built through APPA and its regions to seek advice and guidance on the common ground issues and challenges we share. Whether your organization is […]

COVID Continuity: Best Management Practices for Face-to-Face Operations

COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) has forced many higher education institutions to adjust operations across campus. The impacts of SARS-CoV-2 are seen everywhere on campus and felt within every department. When the pandemic began, many facilities management organizations (FMOs) pivoted to ensure safe and healthy facilities while maintaining continuity of service. As FMOs began to prepare for the […]

Effective Risk Management Strategies Used in College Athletic Facilities

In a survey, 113 athletic facility managers across all three National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) divisions reported on how they perceived the effectiveness of Pantera et al.’s (2003) recommended risk management strategies. However, inconsistent with Pantera et al. (2003), the respondents from this study did not agree that all of these strategies are effective, at least not all of the time.

Highlighting Recent Campus Construction and Renovation Projects

From a new chiller plant, natatorium, and centers of innovation, to renovated teaching laboratories, student centers, and campus support facilities, APPA member colleges and universities are exhibiting an exciting array of construction styles, designs, and purposes. The following compilation — 26 new and recent projects from 15 campuses across the U.S. — shows a tremendous […]

Improving Ourselves, Improving Our Staffs: Professional Development in 2021

Personal and professional development are staples of a continuous improvement regimen that can propel us in our leadership within our organizations, or detract from our progress if we fail to nurture the knowledge that we and our staffs need to thrive. The three sections that follow can be read on their own or as a […]

Incorporating Green Chemistry and Safety into Laboratory Culture

While safety and sustainability offices in higher education institutions are often seen as two separate entities with completely separate charges, in reality they are two sides of a single coin. Both groups are charged to protect people, planet, and profits, and the goals of safety are 100% aligned with the goals of a serious campus […]

Kent State University Expands Solar Capacity

Kent State University (KSU) installed nearly 4 megawatts of ground- and roof-mounted solar panels in the last year and has plans to add up to 6 additional megawatts in the coming year. KSU’s commitment to alternative energy improves its microgrid capabilities, diversity, and reliability, positioning it for manageable utility costs over the next 25 years. […]

Leading Our Team: The Impact of Work Alienation

Leading our teams is no easy task. Each team is made up of individuals with different motivations, communication styles, and values. It is our job as leaders to shape the values of our team, understand their motivations, and communicate with them in the best way possible. Work alienation is one of the ways we can […]

New Board Chair, New Structure, New Processes: Dave Irvin Is Prepared for APPA’s New Day

As International APPA stretches its systems, techniques, and programming in new ways following a major governance restructuring, Dave Irvin, associate vice president for facilities at Florida State University (FSU), is the first APPA volunteer leader to serve as Chair of the Board of Directors under the association’s visionary strategic framework, Preparing for Every Future (see […]

Pandemic Lessons Learned at CU Boulder: Space Optimization and More

The realization began setting in for University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder) leaders in early April 2020 as the chaotic early days of the COVID-19 pandemic finally allowed for an opportunity to look forward: How, in just four months, would we be able to bring students back to campus in the fall amid physical distancing […]

Performing Arts Facility Management

Educational campuses have frequently been compared to and described as “small cities.” They have offices, classrooms, residences, dining facilities, sports arenas, parks and athletic fields, gyms, roads, sidewalks, traffic, power plants, sewage distribution, solid waste collection—and performing arts centers. Facilities professionals who work in educational settings need to have an eclectic understanding of how various […]

Preparing for Every Future: APPA’s New Governance Plan Aims for Strength, Agility, and Organizational Capacity

Over the past decade, higher education has been dealing with rapid change at an ever-increasing rate. Regulatory issues, student debt, escalating costs, mounting expectations, international competition, technology, and declining student populations are hitting colleges and universities from all directions. Most recently, COVID-19 has been added to the mix, further depleting resources. Recognizing the pressing need […]

Productive, Smart Buildings: Pilot Program Results

APPA’s Productive, Smart Buildings (PSB) initiative has taken on the challenge to assist facilities managers to leverage smart technologies to continuously monitor, measure, and improve the built environment to improve the productivity of its occupants. PSB is a free self-assessment decision-making framework to optimize human productivity by investing in the built environment and smart technologies. […]

Reevaluating and Reimagining Building Assets

The construction industry is enduring its most significant challenges in a generation. Escalating costs and supply chain issues are crippling timelines and siphoning cash flow from carefully detailed capital improvement plans. As the industry continues to wrestle with these realities, it might do well to look at a promising alternative. A recent Fast Company article […]

Rethinking the Framework for Collaboration

By reimagining the framework for collaboration among business, facilities, and planning communities, we aspire to create a broader institutional conversation about the existing and future challenges facing the business of higher education, with a specific focus on the campus and how to creatively serve students through its physical assets. A team of industry veterans* was […]

Shaping Space, Place, and Connection

Over the past year, the disruption caused by the pandemic has revealed that forming connections is at the very heart of the postsecondary experience. At the same time, the COVID-19 crisis has created opportunities for shaping campus spaces and places to meet emerging challenges in connecting students, faculty, and staff. “More than ever, the pandemic […]

Skills and the Future of Work

The need for reskilling and upskilling in facilities management is critical given the myriad complexities and accelerating changes we face. We have an aging workforce, we have difficulty recruiting and retaining skilled trades, and we are losing many frontline staff to other local employment opportunities. Yet, there is an ongoing need for professional staff at […]

Space and Place in K-12 Educational Facilities

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced the closure of K-12 campuses across North America, education became disconnected from schools. This was unprecedented—and challenging. Families had to support their children as they learned online, teachers had to use unfamiliar technology to work in entirely new ways, and students had to cope with isolation, anxiety, and the loss […]

Succession Planning

Succession planning is a deliberate, continuous process in which the leader identifies key positions in the department and develops a plan for replacing staff in anticipation of loss (retirements, separations, and mandated force reductions). The succession planning process itself is flexible. It consists of steps or phases that include assessing the need within the department, […]

Sustainable Partners: Sustainable Labs and Better Buildings

We know we can’t do it alone, whatever “it” may be in our campus sustainability efforts. The facilities department is responsible for building, operating, and maintaining the built environment for educational and research purposes and generally has a large staff with which to do it. But you can be most effective when you are working […]

Taking Our Temp: How Has FM Fared?

As we approached the one-year anniversary of the campus shutdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we asked several APPA members to share with us what they learned from the experience, how the pandemic affected their institution and their staffs, how they responded, what was lost, and what glimmers of hope and positive outcomes they perceived […]

The Facilities Management Evaluation Program

“The unexamined life is not worth living.” Socrates is noted for this statement that he made as a farewell to his students in 399 BC. He had been found guilty by the Athenian court for his teachings and accused of corrupting his students. He was sentenced to death and committed suicide by drinking hemlock. Socrates […]

The Impact of Color in the Built Environment

Color and the feelings it evokes have long played an integral role in designing innovative and engaging spaces. The strategic use and placement of warm and cool tones, coupled with complementary patterns and textures, creates opportunities to silently promote messages or elicit a certain emotion. Architecture and design firms are continuing to peel back the […]

The Living Facilities Master Plan: Is It Possible?

I have started to wonder something: Why do we engage in periodic facilities master planning efforts? The question is not why we do master plans. That is obvious. There are many important strategic reasons for doing these plans and they provide immense value to our institutions. The question is, why do we only do them […]

Think Managing a Campus is Tough with COVID-19? Just Add a Presidential Debate to the Mix!

They happen only every four years: presidential and vice-presidential debates. This year, three debates were held on university campuses: Donald Trump-Joe Biden at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) on September 29 in Cleveland, Ohio; Mike Pence-Kamala Harris at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City on October 7; and Donald Trump-Joe Biden at Belmont […]

UTHealth Facilities Energy Conservation Plan Saves Millions

In October 2017, the UTHealth Facilities, Planning, and Engineering (FPE) department submitted its Energy and Water Management Plan (EWMP) to the State Energy Conservation Office (SECO) with an aggressive new 5% campus energy-consumption reduction goal to be reached by the end of FY 2021. By the end of FY 2020, total energy consumption decreased by […]

Ventilation as a Tool to Protect Against COVID-19

When COVID-19 began, it was clear that people held a wide range of differing ideas about the nature of the disease. Some believed it was “a great plague,” while others said it was “just another flu.” Even among professionals within the built environment, we didn’t quite know what to make of it and the steps […]

What Opportunities for Change Have Emerged from the Pandemic?

We have certainly experienced a great deal of change. Much of it we had no experience, or muscle memory, to manage. From the reaction of immediate school closures in March 2020, to the pivot to online learning modalities and planning protocols and processes for fall 2020 and spring 2021 semesters, educational facilities professionals were front […]

Why Does It Cost So Much? Understanding the High Cost of Building a Better University

Planning, design, and construction organizations in higher education perform our services on the forward edge of an ever-changing world. We provide increasingly complex facilities under shortening timelines and proliferating code and regulatory requirements, while we address emerging technologies, expanding concerns about indoor air quality, and growing demands for the use of sustainable design and construction […]

Why Productive, Smart Buildings?

Did you know that Americans spend more time inside buildings than some whale species spend underwater? In fact, humans spend 90% of their time inside buildings. Taking this into consideration, who is more important to the well-being of our employees, students, visitors, and faculty—their primary physician or their facilities manager? As we adapt to the […]