Back in the private sector after a productive five years with the Houston Housing Authority and one of that city’s independent school districts, Kedrick Wright figured he’d be around for a while as a project manager for the local affiliate of the civil engineering firm of Lockwood, Andrews & Newman. Career-wise, he’d have everything to […]
Case Studies Education
Kent Marsh – University of Colorado – Colorado Springs
When two halves amount to more than the sum of their parts, the effects can be powerful—even transformative. Case in point: the symbiotic public-private partnership between the University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS) and the city that shares its name. Separately, the two entities suffered from traffic congestion and deficits in construction funding. In the […]
Britain Jacobson – EVERFI
Even a digital schoolhouse needs a brick and mortar home. However, EVERFI, the Washington, D.C.-based provider of digital online educational content, does not need chalkboards, erasers or old school audiovisual equipment to help its customers learn; it just needed more space. Planning for the move from its old location to the new one began in […]
Richard A. Yeager – University of Massachusetts-Amherst
There’s got to be some more “there-there.” Richard A. Yeager laments the phrase, but concedes its wisdom. Especially in his role of the past year as director for campus planning at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. While he’s quick to acknowledge the more than $1.5 billion of capital improvements and new buildings over the past 15 […]
Hector A. Dietsch – Seminole State College of Florida
The rewards, at least the tangible ones, were greater in some of his previous posts, but Hector A. Dietsch wanted more out of his professional and personal life. For he had been logging 10- to 12-hour shifts, six, sometimes seven days a week in his native Dominican Republic, supervising high-stakes renovation for construction companies. A […]
Jeffery A. Vinger – University of Arkansas
It’s the Cherokee term for “from the woods,” which makes Adohi the ideal name for new student housing scheduled to open late this summer at the University of Arkansas. For it’s the woods where the primary construction material originates, though it was processed in Austria by the Holzpak Corp. One of just a handful of […]
Rick Fechter – School District of Menomonee Falls
You sound like a football coach, Rick Fechter is told during a midsummer interview with Blueprint. The approachable but demanding facilities director of the Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, school district takes it as a compliment. He concedes there’s no room for subpar performers on his NFL-sized team of around 45. Especially with the start of the […]
Georgia Diacumakos-Kyrifides – Rutgers University
As the campuses of Rutgers University grow and expand throughout New Jersey, school officials hope the locals take notice. It’s certainly hard to miss the new RWJ Barnabas Health Athletic Performance Center, a $108 million complex located at the heart of the school’s Piscataway, New Jersey campus. Encompassing 125,000 square feet, the four-story facility combines […]
Dan Zalkow — Portland State University
A $100 million construction project is hard enough for any one builder, even with the best of plans. Now try it with four vested stakeholders in the project, three of them viewing it as crucial to the future of the educational opportunities they offer. Such is the case in Portland, Oregon, with 4th & Montgomery, […]
Randall F. Hoppe – National Management Resources Corp.
Its physical plant costly and in need of upgrade a few years ago, a private college in New Jersey called upon the National Management Resources Corp., a Georgia company that’s become the go-to source for getting campus facilities up to par. Some broken steam pipes would be removed with others repaired, and campus buildings would […]
