Case Studies College and University

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted every industry, from sports and entertainment to health care and hospitality. It’s had a profound impact on education and construction, the two areas where Erik Backus makes his mark. Backus is the head of the construction engineering management program at Clarkson University—his alma mater—where he’s responsible for planning all coursework […]

The corner of 12th Avenue and Marion Street in Seattle is not what it used to be. Once at the heart of an industrial district that was also known for its auto dealerships, the intersection is part of a gentrifying neighborhood where single-story buildings are being replaced with condos, high-end retail—and, since it’s Seattle, more […]

What do a football stadium in San Diego, Tesla batteries in Long Beach and a science building in Sacramento have in common? All are projects recently completed—or currently underway—within the California State University system, where Director of Construction Management Kevin Laut says the variety of work and the collaboration with contractors has made his shift […]

For many colleges and universities, summer is when the hustle and bustle of student life give way to an almost eerie calm, where the loudest sound may be the wind in the trees. That is, until you take a walk across the Grand Valley State University campus in Allendale, Michigan. There you’ll see the dozens […]

It’s a sentiment that was shared with Kirsten DePersis last year when she successfully interviewed to be director of facilities for student housing and dining services at the University of California, Davis. With the projects in progress slated to add around 6,000 beds to the school’s housing stock over the next few years, DePersis was told, in no uncertain […]

Mark Griffin has a lot of history at Broward College. He prefers to talk about its future, though. “The people I work with are all kind of bored with my stories about what things used to be like in the early days of Broward College,” says Griffin an alumnus who’s now the school’s associate vice […]

Since opening its doors 189 years ago, Georgia’s LaGrange College has produced many memorable alums. There’s Dean W. Young, creator of the nationally-syndicated “Blondie” comic strip from the 1960s; Dwayne Shattuck, an Emmy-award winning producer of “Mad Men” and renowned novelist Terry Kay—awards and accolades abound. The other thing it’s produced: an annual utility bill […]

It’s a side of the process he didn’t have to deal with while working at an architectural firm during the early and mid-2000s. Back then, when Frank Cunha III would be handed a project, much of the legwork would have been complete, the clients specifying their needs and allowing him to focus on execution. Now […]

The parallels between developing facilities projects for the U.S. Air Force and a university system are not as disparate as one might think. Just ask James Rosner, associate vice chancellor at the University of Denver, who became steeped in facilities planning during active duty in the military. As an engineer who built facilities and infrastructure […]

Kendall Jones sure knows his way around Florida A&M University’s Tallahassee campus. As a student, he slept in the beds, sat at the desks, read the books in the library. Now 34 years later, as the school’s executive director of physical plant, Jones has also found his way around the odd corners, cubby holes and […]