5 Insights from a Panel of Higher Ed Facilities Managers

The NY Metro area Society of Marketing Professional Services (SMPS) recently coordinated a panel discussion called “Higher Education Builds To The Future.” They invited three campus and facility planners/ managers from prominent private NYC universities, including New York University, Fordham University and The New School, to discuss new building construction, building renovations and technology installations that they are working on to attract new and retain existing students. While the morning conversation was very helpful for the architects, engineers, designers and consultants who were present, I think that some of the information I came back with is also interesting to technology managers and facilities managers across the country.

It is worthwhile to note the challenges that other colleges and universities are experiencing and how they navigate those challenges. Being able to share information and possibly generalize those ideas to help you develop a solution to similar problems is valuable. It is also one of the reasons why peer-to-peer events such as (my very favorite) CCUMC conference and its frequently utilized list-serve are so popular and continue to offer consistently worthwhile content and communication. It isn’t about manufacturers or service providers telling you what challenges [they think] you have and how they...

• Security is a key stakeholder in ALL building considerations. Now this may sound obvious, but according to the panel this was not necessarily the case ten years ago. While campus wide student, faculty and staff security has always been a priority, the level at which security has a voice in building construction and renovation has increased. Since many security functions (like MNEC) can be rolled into the technology world, all stakeholders must be consulted. That includes AV, IT, facilities and security in all renos, upgrades or new builds.
• Libraries are no longer housing books- I had written about this a bit in my previous post here. Books are largely digitized now or offered through rental/ buy services that will deliver the requested book to your doorstep in 2-3 days. In fact, the facilities manager at The New School in NYC stated that 90% of the library’s holdings are digitally accessible. This means that they are finding other uses for the libraries. Right now, NYU says the library space is only holding special collections. Colleges and universities are increasingly turning these underutilized large buildings into multi-use real estate. Meaning that they become group study spaces or co-working space, viewing areas,