Case Studies College and University

Growing up in Houston, Allysia Kizzee recalls seeing the grandeur of Rice University while passing by—the quads with vibrant green lawns bordered by brick buildings, many connected by covered walkways with majestic arches.   “Looking at it from the outside, it may seem simple,” she says. “When you come inside the hedges, we have a complex, […]

Driving onto the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg campus, one of the first things people see is the new life sciences building. The two-level building is topped by large high plume dilution fans, which are exhaust systems for chemical hoods in laboratories. Fans like this are typically hidden to make buildings more aesthetically pleasing, but […]

Tunnels are the perfect fodder for a host of myths, urban legends or, in the case of Southeast Missouri State University, campus lore. So, in October 2022, with Halloween right around the corner, SeMo students tracked down the campus director of facilities management, Angela Meyer, to debunk the mystery. Meyer, who’s been on campus for […]

Before last year, when students at Fayetteville State University submitted a maintenance request, they didn’t know when it would be addressed. Sometimes, facilities workers would show up when students were sleeping, getting dressed or trying to concentrate on their work, creating an uncomfortable situation for both parties. Tai Davis heard these frustrations from students last […]

Gardens and vegetation are, ironically, not the best way to go green on college campuses. The water consumption alone can be drastic, especially in places like Los Angeles, California, which is in the third year of a historic drought. That’s why Garrett Solomon worked with a design team to plant eco-friendly greenery. In 2015, Scripps […]

They’re not there just to build a dormitory and depart. The folks at University Housing Solutions would rather build long-lasting relationships with their campus clientele. Such has been the case at St. Thomas University in Miami Gardens, where the second phase of a living and dining hall was nearing completion in late winter. Having renovated […]

So why would a facilities director from a college in New Hampshire call Paul Tisch for help with HVAC maintenance in extremely cold weather? As regional director of operations for SSC Services for Education, Tisch oversees the company’s contracted maintenance for the facilities for Texas A&M’s main campus in College Station, an area not known […]

When college students at Vancouver Island University have an issue in their room, say a flickering light or broken heater, they submit a maintenance request to the facilities department. While not all work can be completed immediately, students are typically satisfied if the problem is fixed in a few days, Burke Gulbranson says. However, if […]

Like so many places, the wellness center at the Medical University of South Carolina shut its doors in March 2020. Unlike other buildings, though, this one was converted by the MUSC hospital in just two weeks into a field hospital—300 cots replacing exercise equipment. As James Tomsic recalls, the university’s hospital had seen the state […]

The most successful major college athletic programs use more than just national championships in football and men’s basketball to measure greatness. “We really think that great athletic departments are coach driven, student-athlete centered and administration assisted,” Jamie Breslin says. “We work to live by that every day with the work we do as a team.” […]