Case Studies College and University

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 […]

Imagine a 93-year-old dorm—which has seen everything from parties to panty raids—that’s succumbed to waves of incoming freshmen over the decades. Warren Whitesell of DePauw University knows firsthand what effect college-age students can have on a dormitory—after all, he’s the father of five children himself. Ah, youth. That’s one of the reasons why Whitesell—as the […]

An arborist at heart and a campus facilities director by profession, Andrew Freeman finds the two endeavors complementary in his role at Ohio University Zanesville and Zane State College. “Trees enhance the campus environment,” he emphasizes during a December interview with Blueprint. “Sometimes, however, they have to be relocated, and that has been an ongoing […]

On any given Monday, L. Gerry Von Ville likes to take a walk. But not just any walk, and it doesn’t have to be Monday. Von Ville pokes around Concord University, the public university in Athens, West Virginia, where he serves as Director of Physical Plant. He might key his way into Marsh Hall, adorned with […]

It may not be the most original line, but it seems to stand the test of time. “Just when you think you’ve seen it all, you are reminded that you have not,” remarks Maria O’Callaghan-Cassidy, who’s seen a lot in her 23 years in the facilities and operations end of The Wharton School at the […]

What culinary student wouldn’t like to learn how to learn how to cook under the eyes of a master chef in a world-class educational setting? (As long as it isn’t Gordon Ramsey of Hell’s Kitchen?) But that is just one of many options for hospitality students at Auburn University’s forthcoming $95.4 million culinary center approved […]