Case Studies College and University

There is a particular kind of person who, upon finishing a long week of managing four performance venues, overseeing a $2.5 million instrument collection, and coordinating a major construction project, chooses to spend the weekend responding to fire calls. Kathy O’Leary is that kind of person. A volunteer firefighter for 37 years, she has never […]

Inside the athletic facilities arms race, few leaders have navigated as many competitive landscapes as Kortne Gosha. Now serving as senior associate athletic director for capital planning at the University of Nebraska, Gosha sits at the center of one of college sports’ most consequential questions: how do you modernize iconic venues, protect a self-sustaining financial […]

Modern post-secondary school students have many options when deciding where to attend college. Sure, some universities with specific programs are rated higher than the average institution, but that many choices mean colleges and universities need to do more to attract new students and maintain or increase enrollment.   That gives Kendall Jones many options regarding his […]

Municipal zoning questions about construction projects rarely make for exciting conversations, even as they determine what will be built and where. Kyle Hardie’s work as director of design and construction for Indiana University Health involves zoning, but it’s often the spatial zoning—what’s inside those facilities—that occupy him, particularly as he assists the system enter a […]

For Alabama native Kevin Hudson, instilling value in every encounter with his team has become a hallmark of his career in construction—a way of giving southern hospitality a new meaning. After graduating from Auburn University in 2008, Hudson got his start working with a small contractor out of Nashville, Tennessee, before pursuing opportunities back in […]

McKinley Avenue once wove its way through Ball State University’s North End on a gentle curve approaching and crossing the bridge over Duck Pond. Now that curve has become a traffic circle fronting new residence and dining halls, buildings that are just part of the growth at Ball State, notes Kelly Knable, the university’s director […]

As Ken Pearce tackles a massive capital project at UNC Greensboro, there’s no shortage of logistical issues to account for. The frontline workers must be updated on whatever direction the evolving health and safety rules might take. Zoom meetings have replaced face-to-face, and a complex inspections process must also be done remotely while some sensitive […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]