By Elizabeth Lunday
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 […]
By Cameron Christensen, CEFP, FMP
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 […]
By Monika Urbanski
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 […]
By David Van Hook, MS, CEFP
I became involved in the APPA organization around 2010, when my supervisor approved me to attend my first Georgia Chapter of APPA (GAPPA) conference. Held on Jekyll Island every Memorial Day weekend, GAPPA is a goal for every facility manager in the state of Georgia. I have attended every APPA conference, at every level, that […]
By Jack Rubinger
Kimberly J. Thomas, senior director of services in the Facilities Management Division (FMD), leads a team of 700 facility professionals at the University of Georgia. UGA is the flagship institution for the state and was chartered in 1785. There are 465 campus buildings at Athens’ locations, with 300 residence-instruction facilities maintained by FMD on over 760 […]
By Jacob Olson and Erik Backus
Many of us are now in the business of data. It seems that not a single day goes by when we aren’t buried deep in a spreadsheet. We will ask our business analysts for a report on this or that. Occasionally, we will ask for a new column or two. And more often than not, […]
By Tony Rago, CEFP
Remember yesterday when the roofer you brought in was working on the new Science Center roof? They did a great repair—and neglected to close the roof hatch when they left. And nobody followed up. Damage to the building from the heavy snow that came down last night won’t be noticed for a long time, as […]
By Ernie Beck, CTS-D, WELL AP
If we’ve learned one thing over the course of the pandemic, it’s that understanding how building occupants utilize spaces is important to the health and safety of everyone who walks through your doors. But space utilization isn’t just a component of building wellness, it’s also part of the larger push toward data-driven building operations. The […]
By Dave George
Communicating with personnel was already a challenge for companies with workers in the field, widespread workforces in siloed divisions and office locations, and deskless staff who travel. Now that COVID-19 has all but eradicated traditional in-person relationships and many in-office team members are working remotely, keeping everyone synced is an even more daunting task. The […]
