Chapter 4
Resources

4.4 Physical Plant Infrastructure

The University Campus Master Plan, last updated in 2000, has guided the development of the campus and serves as a reference for future development considerations. SVSU has a relatively modern $300 million physical infrastructure that supports the university’s mission. The campus plant provides a safe, secure, and comfortable learning environment for students, staff, and visitors.

As noted in Chapter 1, the total square foot area of campus facilities has doubled in the last 10 years and nearly tripled in the past 15 years. The new facilities have provided greater functionality to the campus. Over the past year the following new facilities have opened, totaling $62.5 million and 289,000 square feet (an increase of 19%):

Though the northwest quadrant of the campus, which houses the newly completed Regional Education Center, has sufficient room to accommodate significant expansion in the future, as mentioned previously, the University expects to reach a student enrollment of about 10,000 students by 2005-2006. The current physical plant has been constructed for this size of enrollment; to grow beyond this point would require a significant investment for new facilities.

Currently, SVSU is in transition from a period of major facility construction to an environment which will focus on enhancing physical plant organization and performance and planning for deferred maintenance. A five-year deferred maintenance project plan was developed recently as a result of a facilities assessment performed by an external engineering/consulting firm. As a result, the university has begun to systematically budget funding for deferred maintenance requirements and plans to update the facilities assessment in the future. Advancements have also been made in the areas of process improvement, new facilities, number of classrooms, campus environment, capital and master planning, and staff development initiatives.

Thus there has been significant advancement since the last accreditation visit in terms of facilities expansion and administration of physical plant infrastructure and operations. The current organizational structure for physical plant operations (now designated as Campus Facilities) reflects a combination of what previously had been two distinct units – Physical Plant and Engineering Services. The 2001 combining of these two units into one department has led to a more strategic and coordinated physical plant administration. As part of the restructuring, a new position of Director of Process Improvement was created, with a primary responsibility of identifying operating efficiencies for the institution. This change has resulted in the development and implementation of a web-based work order system, coordinated energy savings initiatives, safety training programs, and the use of assessment tools to measure performance.

Strategies are now in place or under consideration that will allow this unit to continue providing critical support to the university in a period of level or declining resources. The efforts of Campus Facilities are now being directed to revise work processes, manage costs, improve quality control, and enhance the performance of both supervisory and support staff. These efforts, if successful, will allow the university to operate its expanded campus without significant additional cost and should result in service improvements. Staff representing all Campus Facilities employee groups have been involved in much of this work. SVSU’s physical plant employees remain committed to providing a high level of service, emphasizing departmental self-improvement processes, and continuously measuring performance.

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