September/October 2020 • volume 36, number 5

A Profile of President Jim Jackson

APPA President Jim Jackson is Tested, Resilient, and Ready

By Ruth E. Thaler-Carter

Between the coronavirus pandemic, national civil rights demonstrations, and upcoming changes in APPA governance, the newly installed 2020-21 APPA President faces a daunting new world full of challenges for society, higher education, and the association. Jim Jackson, associate vice chancellor (AVC) for university operations at the University of Nebraska Lincoln (UNL), is ready for all […]

Feature

Broadcast Maintenance or Zone Maintenance: Which Is Best for Your Grounds Organization?

By Brandon Rux

The landscape of a facility, be it a university, hospital, or elementary school, is often the first thing visitors see when they arrive. An unsightly landscape can greatly influence guests’ perception of how the rest of their visit will be. The presence of trash, weeds, and unkempt areas can give the impression that there is […]

Feature

The FM Family: How Facilities’ HR Managers Cope with COVID

By Anita Blumenthal

This article is based on discussions with three facilities management (FM) human resource professionals about how they have tailored their managerial techniques to deal with today’s unprecedented pandemic conditions—and how the pandemic has shaped some new approaches as well. Interviewed were Jenna Elmer, the University of Arizona’s director of human resources, facilities management; Michelle Frederick, […]

Facilities Digest Sep-Oct 2020

By Anita Dosik

A Focus on Planning, Design, and Construction (PDC)

By Book Review Editor: Theodore J. Weidner, Ph.D., P.E., CEFP, AIA

New Products

By Gerry Van Treeck

Index of Advertisers Sep/Oct 2020

By Anita Dosik

From the Editor

A New Digital Look for FM…and a New APPA App!

By Steve Glazner

We are pleased to announce the release of two new efforts from APPA to our members. The first is the totally revamped format for Facilities Manager magazine, which you are reading right now. In 2019 we ceased publication of a print magazine but retained the traditionally designed and formatted magazine “look” for FM. We published […]

From the Immediate Past President

Presenting the 2020 President’s Awards

By Ruthann Manlet

This is a time for recognition and celebration. Associations are in the business of supporting their respective professions by providing quality education, research, and recognition. As APPA’s 2019-20 President, I was honored to work with and learn from a tremendous group of volunteer members. I presented the following individuals and teams with the President’s Award […]

Membership Matters

APPA Membership: It’s All About Growth

By John Papandreos with Timothy Dobson

My first year as the Membership Chair for Rocky Mountain APPA (RMA) has been very interesting. Learning about the Membership and Community Engagement activities and navigating the current pandemic have been challenging. This is my first article for the Membership Matters column, and I consulted with previous RMA Membership Chairs on various topics. What follows […]

Perspective on the Profession

It’s a Brave New World: How to Leverage Contact Tracing to Navigate the New Normal in the Facilities Industry

By Steven Seiden and Nader Fathi

Recent Reopenings Have Brought New Risks As cities across the country continue to reopen we have seen an acceleration of the spread of COVID-19. Like the mandate for masks, we need to have a mandate for contract tracing to reduce the spread. For employers and facility managers tasked with the responsibility of enabling employees to […]

Technology + Trends

Vulnerability and Threat Assessments for Higher Ed: What Are They and Why Do I Care? I Have a Pandemic to Deal With!

By Scott Ondik, P.E., CPP and Randy Riley, PSP

Security Consultants Scott Ondik and Randy Riley sat down for a conversational interview concerning the topic of vulnerability and threat assessments for higher education campuses. Topics included what areas of vulnerability are critiqued during the assessment, why these assessments are particularly important to college or university settings, which key members within an institution are involved […]

Facility Asset Management

HVAC Maintenance in the Age of COVID-19

By Richard Boothman

The world changed on March 11, 2020, when the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Since then, the massive disruptions caused by the virus have left millions of people without work, and their normal lives have been transformed. Everyone, it seems, is asking questions as to what needs to be done to stay safe […]

Code Talkers

Informatics Next Steps: A Journey to Better Knowledge

By Markus Hogue and Erik C. Backus

At the APPA 2019 conference, the Facilities Informatics Working Group (FIWG) cochairs presented on the current issues that the working group is seeking to answer. The most prominent issues are a) inconsistency of definitions on terms and, b) differing data formats between software vendors. The biweekly working group meetings have engaged different business enterprise software […]