Facilities Operations

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Mon, 06/23/2025 - 15:22

A pilot with Picasso Restaurant Group is paving the way for a new campus composting site, which will reduce the university’s climate-warming emissions and help students learn about soil science.

Executive Chef Dak Zorn has been helping collect food scraps from Picasso's restaurant in the Renick University Center. Right now, the material is composted offsite. But it will soon be composted on campus. Photo by Annie Barker

Remembering John Kaszewski

stuxbury — Mon, 02 Jun 2025 11:29:04 +0000

Remembering John Kaszewski stuxbury Mon, 06/02/2025 - 07:29

There’s a Siberian husky calendar on the wall in the Facilities Operations building. Every year, John Kaszewski — a 50-year 51��Ƶ-Dearborn employee who delivered mail across the university — replaced it with an updated edition. Even after he retired earlier this year, Kaszewski would come back to the office to see his friends and flip the calendar page.

“John loved dogs. John had an American Eskimo and, most recently, a Siberian husky. There wasn't a day that went by that he didn't show a picture or two or talk about them. He would share stories, pictures or videos,” says Mail Services Manager Bonnie Southerland, who worked with Kaszewski for 40 years.

But, in June, Southerland changed the month. Kaszewski, who retired as Mail Services’ motor vehicle operator in January, died May 9, aged 68.

“This has to be one of the hardest things I've ever had to do,” Southerland says when talking about Kaszewski for this article. “I just wish John could have enjoyed his retirement. We are sure going to miss John greatly.”

Kaszewski started at 51��Ƶ-Dearborn in September 1974 when he was 17, graduating high school only months before. He first worked in the university cafeteria and, not too long after, shifted over to work as the Mail Services motor vehicle operator in the Facilities Operations department.

“John never looked back. This was his forever job,” Southerland says. “John handled the shipping and receiving and deliveries on campus. Over the years, he delivered so many packages that he knew how to identify things by heart. He would sometimes announce what the package was to the surprise of the recipient before he even handed the package over to them. John was an all-around good guy — always pleasant, kind, sincere, smiling and willing to lend a helping hand.”

Last November, Kaszewski was honored for his 50 years of service at the Chancellor's Staff Recognition Awards. The audience gave him a standing ovation.

Kaszewski was one of the first people Southerland met at 51��Ƶ-Dearborn when she began four decades ago. She says he was a wealth of information at that time and his campus knowledge only grew over the years. “Many times when someone new was hired, John would give them the history of the buildings or would just tell them something he saw in his time here,” she says. “John never wanted to take time off as he loved his job and was just that dedicated. He enjoyed the campus atmosphere and people he worked with over the years. I miss John. We all miss his warm heart and smile.”

Outside of work and his huskies, Kaszewski loved being an uncle and great uncle, as well as fishing and watching rocket launches and air shows.

Here is a link to his obituary — it’s straightforward and family-focused, just like Kaszewski’s nature — for people who may want to share a memory.

Article by Sarah Tuxbury

Faculty and Staff

Off

Mon, 06/02/2025 - 11:27

Longtime staff member John Kaszewski, who retired in January after 50 years at the university, passed away May 9. He was 68.

John Kaszewski, left, was honored at the Chancellor’s Staff Recognition Awards Ceremony in November, where he received a standing ovation. He is pictured with then-Chancellor Domenico Grasso. Photo by Annie Barker

Facilities teams made progress on some big picture upgrades this summer

lblouin — Mon, 26 Aug 2024 12:55:19 +0000

Facilities teams made progress on some big picture upgrades this summer lblouin Mon, 08/26/2024 - 08:55

Summer is typically a time when facilities teams are sprinting around campus, trying to complete a laundry list of projects and upgrades before the start of the busy fall semester. But Executive Director for Facilities Carol Glick says this summer had a little different rhythm. “We’ve actually been working on a few big projects rather than a lot of smaller ones. And these are projects that really represent a sort of culture change that’s happening at the university, so that makes it a lot more exciting,” Glick says.

The biggest of those projects is the ongoing first floor renovation of the Renick University Center, which, along with the Mardigian Library and the outdoor space between the two buildings, is being reimagined as a central hub for campus in the new comprehensive campus plan. This summer, crews tackled some of the unglamorous heavy lifting for the project, including ripping up floors, installing new underground plumbing and pouring new concrete. Glick says walls have also been demoed and new walls are going up to create the improved floor plan, which includes several changes to office footprints, a large meeting room for hosting orientation groups and a new public lounge area with a fireplace. Though the scene right now is a construction zone, Interior Designer Sally Hamilton is already working on some of the finishing touches for that space, including ordering furniture and fabrics. Hamilton says the challenge of the moment is “picking out the right maize” to match some of the interior finishes, which lean heavily on the university’s signature colors.

The first floor of the Renick University Center is a total construction zone right now. But Executive Director for Facilities Carol Glick says the project is currently on track to be completed by the end of February 2025.

Glick says they haven’t run into major hurdles — a pleasant surprise in any renovation — and the project remains on track for a late-February reopening of the first floor. One area that’s already complete is the Bookstore, which now has a smaller footprint and a new manager, Lulu Owens-Berry, who started this summer. New features include a concierge textbook area, where students can ask about materials needed for their courses, and lots of new 51��Ƶ-Dearborn-themed merchandise.

The Bookstore is stocked with lots of new 51��Ƶ-Dearborn merchandise this fall.

Lulu Owens-Berry is the Bookstore's new manager.

This summer, facilities teams also started some early design work for the College of Education, Health and Human Services’ and College of Business’ moves to the main campus in 2026 and 2027, respectively. COB’s new home will be the Social Sciences Building, while CEHHS will be housed in a portion of the Administration Building — two older campus structures that will get some renovations prior to the move. SmithGroup, the university’s architectural partner on the Comprehensive Campus Plan, is currently working on the redesign for the SSB, while Neumann/Smith Architecture, the university’s partner for the RUC renovation, is working on the AB.

Other summer upgrades to check out: Chancellor’s Pond got some new plumbing and a new skimmer, and the concrete basin color is being updated from blue to beige to give it a more natural appearance. The Bikeable Campus initiative also scored some progress, with new signage, sharrows and bike racks, plus resources on the university website to help bike commuters plan their routes. Facilities teams installed new electric absorption chillers in the Mardigian Library, which will help reduce the building’s carbon footprint. And with the final bulbs and fixtures going in CASL classrooms this summer, facilities teams completed a multi-year LED lighting retrofit across the entire campus — a project that’s expected to save the university more than $140,000 annually in energy costs.

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Story by Lou Blouin

Campus Life

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Mon, 08/26/2024 - 12:48

The renovation of the Renick University Center’s first floor is on track, while the plan to consolidate operations on the main campus took some early steps.

The Renick University Center is currently undergoing a major renovation of its first floor, including upgrades to the university Bookstore, which are now complete. The full renovation is expected to be finished early next year.

The Renick University Center renovation is kicking off next month

lblouin — Mon, 18 Mar 2024 13:20:21 +0000

The Renick University Center renovation is kicking off next month lblouin Mon, 03/18/2024 - 09:20

Last summer, the university announced a new comprehensive campus planning effort to rethink how we use physical spaces on campus. The centerpiece of that plan is a vision for making the renovated Renick University Center, Mardigian Library and the outdoor space between the two buildings a new central hub for campus, particularly for student-focused activities and services. Executive Director for Facilities Operations Carol Glick says this will be a multi-year, multi-phase project, but she’s excited that the first stage — a major renovation of the RUC’s first floor — will begin next month.

The renovation will focus on the east (parking lot) side of the building, where several core student-facing offices will be getting new or updated spaces. Director of Planning and Construction Emily Hamilton says one of the fun parts about this renovation is working with staff to design around their specific needs, many of which have changed substantially post-pandemic. For example, staff in the One-Stop, the student-facing hub for enrollment-focused services, have embraced hybrid scheduling and office sharing. Hamilton says this, along with new, recently adopted guidelines for more compact offices, enabled the facilities team to create additional spaces within the same physical office footprint. “By having smaller offices and shared offices, along with more efficient furniture styles, we were able to create a whole new flexible workroom space that has a TV on the wall, and you can push the tables together for meetings, or break them apart to eat lunch or have a conversation,” Hamilton says. “So they’re getting more useful space in the One-Stop without adding any square footage.”

University Unions and Events is also getting a new suite on the first floor, which gives staff a location nearer the meeting rooms that UUE manages, like Kochoff Hall. The renovated first floor will gain several smaller meeting rooms, as well as a large meeting room for hosting tour and orientation groups. The Student Advising and Resource Team, or START, will be moving down to a new first floor location and will be sharing a suite with Career Services, which is moving over from the Fairlane campus.

One of the biggest transformations is happening along the east end of the building, where the bank of transaction counters will be removed and replaced with a large open lounge area. Furnished with cozy furniture and a multi-sided, walk-around fireplace, this space is intended to create the welcoming living room the campus has never really had. “This building is the center of the campus, right? So this is prime real estate,” Hamilton says. “We realized having rooms that store years and years of student documents wasn’t the best use of that space. We want every inch of that prime space to be focused on serving students.”

The renovated One-Stop office will feature a much more open floor plan. Credit: Neumann Smith Architecture

Another view of the new open One-Stop office. Credit: Neumann Smith Architecture

A more efficient office design made this new flexible work space in the One-Stop possible. Credit: Neumann Smith Architecture

University Unions and Events' new flexible workspace. Credit: Neumann Smith Architecture

The new work room in the suite shared by START and Career Services. Credit: Neumann Smith Architecture

The renovation project is currently out for bid, and Project Manager Kal Haddad expects construction crews will start prep work in early April. Starting March 18, offices impacted by the renovation began temporarily moving to various locations. The One-Stop will relocate to the SSB building. The UUE info desk will shift to the northwest corner of the RUC, outside Kochoff Hall. The Office of International Affairs will move to the second floor of the RUC. Kochoff Hall and meeting rooms 1225 and 1227 will remain open for scheduling. Picasso and the credit union will be unaffected by the renovation. The Bookstore will be downsized and renovated. Glick expects the first floor to fully reopen sometime during the first quarter of 2025.

Work on the Mardigian Library, as well as the outdoor space between the RUC and library, is not part of this initial round of design and construction but is expected to begin in the next few years. Work on the larger comprehensive campus plan is also ongoing and scheduled to be finalized in May. A forum will be held to review the data collection and evaluation process, share findings and address questions from the campus community.

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Learn more about the comprehensive campus plan. Story by Lou Blouin

Campus Life

Off

Mon, 03/18/2024 - 13:11

The plan to make a renovated Renick University Center and Mardigian Library the new central hub of campus is taking some big steps.

This artist rendering is the inspiration for the renovated east side of the Renick University Center. Credit: Neumann Smith Architecture

Campus Colleagues: Jay Crofton

lblouin — Mon, 08 Jan 2024 17:48:08 +0000

Campus Colleagues: Jay Crofton lblouin Mon, 01/08/2024 - 12:48

For Michiganders, the end of the holidays marks the real start of winter: those long, cold, gray months that compel many of us to find any excuse we can to stay toasty inside. Custodian Jason “Jay” Crofton, on the other hand, looks for every opportunity not only to get outside, but to stay there. Just sitting. For hours. But he’s got a good reason: he’s an avid ice fisher.

Sundays are a different story. That’s when Crofton can be found heating things up as a drummer, bassist and vocalist in the band at Christ Temple Baptist Church in Ypsilanti. If you happen to work in the Administration Building, you may get to hear about these pursuits as Crofton goes about his afternoon shift there. For the rest of the campus, here are some highlights.

U-M is a family business

Crofton was part of the Environment, Health and Safety team at 51��Ƶ-Ann Arbor for a decade, primarily working at U-M Hospital and the Cardiovascular Center, before transferring to 51��Ƶ-Dearborn in 2020. He was a baggage handler at Detroit Wayne-Metro Airport before that, but U-M seemed like his destiny: Both his grandmothers, as well as his father and several aunts, have all worked at the university — his paternal grandmother for 38 years.

He has a longtime connection on the Dearborn campus as well. At John Glenn High School in Westland, Crofton played tight end and defensive back on the state champion-contender football team, defending quarterback Justin Berent, now a sergeant with 51��Ƶ-Dearborn’s Department of Public Safety.

His grandmother — and silver bass — got him hooked on fishing

Crofton has his maternal grandmother to thank for his interest in fishing. She started him on easy-to-catch species when he was a kid. “Both sets of my grandparents liked to fish, but my mom's mom is the one that got me involved,” he explains. “When I was a kid, we would use cane poles, you know, with a bobber, and we’d catch bluegills and stuff like that. And you would catch a whole bunch of those. Then, she would take me silver bass fishing down on the river when they would run and she’d say, ‘You're gonna catch one.’ As a kid, you’re guaranteed to catch one every time.”

Jay and a smallmouth bass on Ford Lake (Photo courtesy Jay Crofton)

These days, Crofton is more interested in the more contemplative aspect of the sport. When he worked the late shift at U-M and needed to wind down before going to sleep, he’d go to the river and fish in the dark. “It’s literally like a time-to-think, time-to-reflect deal,” he says.

His best friend, who he met working at U-M (and who happens to be Canadian), introduced him to ice fishing, something he’d been eager to try. “I think it's more of a challenge,” Crofton says. “Open water, if I'm in a boat or if I'm on shore, I’m casting here, I’m casting here, I’m casting here. They call it fan fishing. Trying to find where they’re at.”

Fishing on frozen water takes things to a whole new level: “I’m drilling the hole, and now I’ve got to take my fish finder and walk around and see if I can find them and then, once I find them, that doesn’t mean they're going to stay there.”

Crofton says he and his friends are “hardcore” and have been known to stay out on the ice for up to eight hours. Sounds cold, right? “Yeah,” he agrees. But with the right gear and a shanty to duck into, “it's not as cold as people think.”

He got the funk

Sundays almost always find Crofton indoors, playing drums, or sometimes bass, and singing in the church band. The largely self-taught musician also DJs at private parties. He gets his love of music from his father and shares his dad’s preference for ’70s artists like Ambrosia, Michael Franks, Steely Dan, Chicago, Parliament-Funkadelic and Earth, Wind & Fire. He describes his DJ style as “all over the place,” but his favorite era typically gets a nod with artists like George Benson or Bill Withers alongside contemporary musicians, like Lizzo. “With DJing, you always have to stay current,” he says.

He also runs sound for other musicians at churches and clubs around town. So if he’s running sound late into Saturday nights and then jamming at church on Sunday mornings, when does he sleep? Crofton laughs as if the answer is obvious. “When you get done,” he says.

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Article by Kristin Palm

Faculty and Staff

Staff Senate

Off

Mon, 01/08/2024 - 17:44

The custodian, who’s worked in the U-M system for over a decade, has two very cool pastimes.

Campus got some big infrastructure updates this summer

lblouin — Mon, 21 Aug 2023 17:15:30 +0000

Campus got some big infrastructure updates this summer lblouin Mon, 08/21/2023 - 13:15

Summer is the facilities team's time to shine, even if no one’s looking. Taking advantage of the lower population density on campus, crews typically dig into dozens of projects, big and small, that would be too dusty, dirty and noisy for the heart of the school year. This summer was no exception, and in fact, Executive Director for Facilities Operations Carol Glick says this was a particularly big season for critical infrastructure projects, including a new roof for part of the Renick University Center and a major stormwater management project that’s helping keep campus’ most vulnerable buildings flood-free. We’ve rounded up some of the headline improvements below, plus a few teasers for a big project that’s jumping into the design phase this fall.

LED lighting, a new roof for the RUC and more

Compared to past years, Glick says many of this summer’s upgrades aren’t particularly showy. But they’re important nonetheless, especially in the context of some of the university’s long-term goals. For example, 51��Ƶ-Dearborn is currently planning a major renovation of the Renick University Center (more on that below), but before that project gets underway, Glick wanted to address the building’s aging roof, which has been on the deferred maintenance list for several years. This summer, crews replaced half the roof on the RUC, which will clear the way for interior renovations. The facilities teams also completed work on a years-long lighting project, which replaced old lighting fixtures and lamps with highly efficient LEDs in almost every campus building. To Glick’s point, maybe new lights don’t sound real flashy. But the savings — and environmental impact — have been huge. Also on the sustainability front, Glick says we’ve begun design work to update the cooling system in the library. The current absorption chiller runs on steam, which is produced with natural gas. After a retrofit, the chiller will run on electricity, lowering the carbon intensity of the system. It will also use a technology called thermal energy storage, which harnesses non-peak-time electricity to economically create and store thermal energy at night for use later during the heat of the day.

New stormwater infrastructure for the Fieldhouse and CASL Building

Along with an effort to reduce the campus’ dependence on fossil fuels, flooding is probably the other big way climate change is currently impacting 51��Ƶ-Dearborn. With our proximity to the Rouge River and flat topography, the campus is already vulnerable to flooding, and the more intense storms brought on by climate change are only increasing our risk. A prime example: In June 2021, a historic precipitation event dumped six inches of rain in 24 hours — the third 100-year-storm in the last 10 years — leading to major flooding in the Fieldhouse and CASL Building. As a result, Glick’s team redesigned the stormwater mitigation system around these buildings, starting with the Fieldhouse, which was a particularly tricky challenge given that the gym is, like a basement, well below grade. Led by project manager Emily Hamilton, crews completed a new pump system which collects excess water underneath the gym floor and then transfers it to large pipes in the nearby parking lot. As a last line of defense, crews also installed an emergency barrier system, which features quick-to-install locking metal panels to keep water from getting through the most vulnerable exterior doors. The CASL Building is getting the flood prevention treatment next, though Glick says that’s a far easier project. It will mainly involve enlarging several stormwater pipes that led to bottlenecks during the 2021 flood.

An overhaul for the campus recycling program

Recycling is likely one of the most ubiquitous sustainability activities, but it’s also one of the most problematic, especially when it comes to plastics. Single-stream recycling — where you throw all your recycling in one bin — is convenient for the consumer, but it introduces major issues downstream. Recyclable items often get contaminated, different materials have to be separated from each other and non-recyclables have to be removed. The sad reality is that much of what you put in the recycle bin actually ends up in the landfill. “We don’t just want to say we’re recycling and then just count the number of bags that we’re putting into our recycling containers,” Glick says. “We really want to understand how much is actually being recycled and diverted from the waste stream.” This summer, Sustainability Programs Coordinator Grace Maves led an audit and redesign of the campus recycling system, which among other things, yielded new, easier-to-understand signage indicating what can go in the recycling bin and what should go in the trash. You might find some of the tips surprising, like the fact that compostable plastics actually shouldn’t be put in with recyclables (though there are other ways to deal with these items). It might be painful to throw them away, but this will help us reduce contamination, which yields recycling that can actually be recycled. Look for the new “what goes where” signage this fall.

New light pole banners

One non-infrastructure project to look out for this fall: New light pole banners that are going up this week. The banners feature the university’s new brand tagline “Dreams in Practice,” which was developed as part of a branding research campaign completed in 2022. The photos on the banners highlight diverse examples of practice-based learning, a campuswide initiative you can read about in the new issue of Legacy magazine. Other banners feature the latest class of Difference Makers and student-athletes.

What’s on deck

While this summer’s updates might not have been super glamorous, what’s coming next is. Glick says this fall, her team is beginning the design process for the major renovation of the Renick University Center and Mardigian Library, the flagship project of the new comprehensive campus plan which we wrote about earlier this summer. The goal is to transform the RUC and library into a central hub for all core student and academic services. Both buildings will also get several new social spaces where students, faculty and staff can hang out, work and collaborate. The plan also calls for a transformation of the underutilized space between the buildings into a parklike setting for studying, socializing, relaxing, eating, tabling and community events.

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Story by Lou Blouin

Nature or Environment

Off

Mon, 08/21/2023 - 17:15

A stormwater upgrade to protect key buildings from flooding, a new-look recycling program and more LED lighting retrofits were among the updates facilities teams hustled to complete this summer.

In June 2021, a 100-year storm flooded the CASL Building atrium, pictured here. This summer, facilities crews were hard at work on upgrades to the stormwater system that will protect the CASL Building and the Fieldhouse from future flooding.

51��Ƶ-Dearborn is developing a new comprehensive campus plan

lblouin — Tue, 11 Jul 2023 09:54:05 +0000

51��Ƶ-Dearborn is developing a new comprehensive campus plan lblouin Tue, 07/11/2023 - 05:54

Executive Director for Facilities Operations Carol Glick says developing a new 10-year plan for the 51��Ƶ-Dearborn campus, sometimes referred to as a master plan, has been on her team’s radar for the past seven years. But a series of events prompted them to hit the pause button a few times. Back in 2017, Dan Little announced his retirement as chancellor, so Glick said it made sense to wait until the new chancellor, Domenico Grasso, could weigh in. Soon after starting at 51��Ƶ-Dearborn, Grasso spearheaded a campuswide strategic planning effort, so again, it was advantageous to wait on the comprehensive campus plan so we could build around the strategic plan’s core themes. Then COVID hit. Then the University of Michigan got a new president — who is now overseeing a strategic planning and campus planning effort in Ann Arbor, with hopes that we can sync our campuses’ visions, especially when it comes to sustainability goals.

Now, though, all the stars have finally aligned for Glick to dig into a task that’s a “dream project” for her and her team’s architects, designers and project managers. In the end, she says all the delays were fortuitous, because so much of the broader visioning that informs how we design spaces has already been completed as a result of 51��Ƶ-Dearborn’s strategic planning process. “We’re really looking at this campus planning as an outcome of the strategic plan,” Glick says. “Our campus community has come up with all these ideas and goals and now it’s a question of how we can best design our physical spaces to achieve those goals. And because we engaged extensively with our campus stakeholders in the strategic planning effort, we can build the plan around their vision and their voices.”

So what can you expect in the new campus plan? Glick says look for two themes to take center stage. First, her team will be focusing on establishing a new center of gravity for campus around the Renick University Center and the Mardigian Library, which will both get extensive renovations in the coming years. The goal for both buildings is to consolidate core student services that are currently somewhat scattered across campus. Continuing a theme we’ve seen emerge over the past few years, the RUC will become the hub for everything related to student life, university events and enrollment services, including the One-Stop, student organizations, the food pantry, Student Government, Global Engagement, International Affairs, Veterans Affairs and Experience+. The library will become the center for core academic services, including Academic Success, Disability and Accessibility Services, ITS, as well as typical library access services. Both buildings will get several new social spaces that Glick calls “living rooms,” where students, faculty, and staff can hang out, work and collaborate.

One of the other cool parts of this project is a plan to transform the underutilized space between the buildings into a parklike setting for studying, socializing, relaxing, eating, tabling and community events. Glick says this outdoor renovation — plus a brand new main library entrance facing the RUC — will help connect the two buildings, giving the campus a central hub it’s never really had before.

The second major theme of the campus plan revolves around the changing nature of work and education. With more hybrid and online classes, as well as hybrid and remote work, Glick says we’re simply not using as much space as we used to, and the general approach for the plan is to consolidate uses into a denser footprint. Glick says this has two major payoffs. First, half-empty buildings still demand full-time heating, cooling and maintenance, so consolidating spaces helps the university’s fiscal and sustainability goals. “Also, when we spread our population around a larger space than we’re occupying, our campus loses that sense of vibrancy and activity,” Glick says. “And I think all of us want a place that feels engaged and energized by a community.”

Glick is plenty aware that talk of consolidating spaces can be a tricky subject for a workplace. “What we’re talking about really is a massive cultural shift. How we work and learn is changing dramatically,” she says. In general, Glick says they’re planning to develop space in ways that align to current and future needs rather than history. If you’re a staff member whose role demands being on campus every day, then you might not see anything change. But if you only come in three times a week, you might expect to share an office and coordinate schedules with a coworker. If you only come in once a week, your “office” might be a pack-in, pack-out hoteling space. In addition, she says buildings that house multiple units will have more shared communal and meeting spaces, to accommodate days when a supervisor wants everybody in the office on the same day. “The idea is that we’d have space so units could ‘peak’ on certain days, but not all units in the same building would peak on the same day,” Glick says.

One thing that’s a little different about this campus plan is that it’s being developed in a time of uncertainty. COVID taught us new ways to work, but what work looks like now is still something universities and workplaces are sorting out. Appetites for hybrid, remote, asynchronous and project-based courses continue to evolve too. And, of course, most Michigan universities are expecting to face enrollment challenges for many years due to a variety of factors, including shrinking classes of graduating high school seniors. As a result, Glick says her team is building the plan with more flexibility than they might otherwise. “We’re actually planning for multiple scenarios. So if we get a few years down the road, and we’re seeing more of a trend in a certain direction, we can adjust as needed,” she says.

"Campus planning is an essential process for any campus to examine the physical footprint, identify priorities and strategies, and develop long-term plans,” says Bryan Dadey, 51��Ƶ-Dearborn’s chief financial officer and vice chancellor of business affairs. “The campus plan is a key component for long-term financial management of the university to understand the campus needs balanced against our financial resources.”

Glick says the planning process is now in the data-gathering phase. There’s also a new campus planning website that will keep the campus community informed about the progress of the planning efforts and provide opportunities for community input. The goal is to have a final, regents-approved version by spring 2024.

Mardigian Library

Off

Tue, 07/11/2023 - 09:53

The changing nature of work and education are prompting the university to rethink ways to optimize its physical spaces.

Recent renovations in the Renick University Center are a preview of what's coming in the new comprehensive master plan.

Meet Grace Maves, 51��Ƶ-Dearborn’s sustainability programs coordinator

lblouin — Mon, 27 Mar 2023 16:38:51 +0000

Meet Grace Maves, 51��Ƶ-Dearborn’s sustainability programs coordinator lblouin Mon, 03/27/2023 - 12:38

Grace Maves traces her passion for environmental issues to a childhood spent outdoors, though her vision for how she wanted to make a difference has always been people-focused too. In fact, when she started college, she was initially interested in a career in healthcare. She only later turned to environmental science after an urban studies course helped her see how she could stitch together her interests in helping both people and the environment heal. For Maves, humans are not only critical to the process of safeguarding the living world, we also stand to benefit from learning to live more sustainability. That’s a perspective that’s serving her well in her new role as our campus’ sustainability programs coordinator, where she’s wasted no time spearheading efforts like Zero Waste events. Recently we chatted with Maves about her vision for promoting sustainability on campus and why she’s not giving up on humanity getting its act together.

So what brought you to 51��Ƶ-Dearborn?

I was working at Wayne State’s Office of Campus Sustainability, and I loved that job, but it was a temporary position. So when this position came up at 51��Ƶ-Dearborn that felt like a carbon copy, it felt like a no brainer. The thing about having an environmental science degree is you’re a jack of all trades, but kind of a master of none. You take a hodgepodge of courses in urban studies and biology and geology, and you don’t have a specialty. But that’s kind of what sustainability is all about: You have to have a broad understanding of a lot of things to be able to analyze complexity and come up with interesting solutions.

What kinds of projects did you do when you were at Wayne State?

The biggest project I worked on was the composting program. Right off the bat, I was tasked with working with three “compost warriors” and launching the actual physical operations of the composting program. It was a great project because I’ve always been interested in working with the community very closely, and we had this partnership with this farm/community center called Georgia Street Community Collective. We would collect compostable materials from the cafeterias and all the restaurants on campus, and then we would deliver them three times a week to their urban farm. We also collected all the leaves from campus, and the farm would do the processing so we could use the finished compost in garden beds across campus. So it was this really awesome demonstration of a circular economy and partnering with the community. If we can figure out a way to do something similar here, that would be really exciting.

So here on our campus, what would you say we’re doing well, and where do you see opportunities for improvement?

A big part of my job is creating this cultural change through the Planet Blue Ambassador program so people are more focused on their environmental impacts, and I’d say compared to Wayne State, the culture for caring about sustainability is already here. The challenges mostly seem to have to do with staffing and coordination, which is what my position is supposed to help with. But the interest is already there. I mean, I have people coming to me rather than feeling like I have to pitch it to everybody else. In terms of opportunities, I’d say the Environmental Interpretive Center does amazing work and we could do a better job of connecting what they’re already doing with the larger university community. Another thing we’re starting to work on is improving our recycling program. This is something that all large institutions have struggled with due to some shocks in the recycling system dating back to around 2018, when China stopped taking recycling from the U.S. In many ways, the recycling processing infrastructure in the U.S. is still being built. So we’re trying to take steps to reduce contamination and track how much we’re recycling. In fact, I’m applying for a grant that I got when I was at Wayne State to improve the recycling program, which can help us standardize the bins and signage.

And any news you can share on the carbon neutrality front? I know we have some active projects, like the LED lighting retrofit. But can we look forward to some bigger strategy decisions and tracking off our carbon neutrality goals?

The Facilities Operations team will be working with ITS to develop a public display of 51��Ƶ-Dearborn’s progress towards carbon neutrality. The idea is to display this information in a way that anyone can follow and make sense of. We’re also planning to provide options to click on specific metrics that will lead to more technical details for those who are interested in learning more. As far as projects, in addition to replacing older lighting with LEDs, we’re also looking at ways to reduce energy use, like adaptive lighting that can change in response to daylight or room occupancy and adjusting HVAC sequencing. And for the Scope 2 emissions, where our commitment is to achieve carbon neutrality for purchased electricity, there was recently an RFP out for all three campuses to help us achieve that goal. Across all three U-M campuses, we are also planning to install on-campus solar to help eliminate Scope 1 emissions by 2040.

It’s easy to get pretty gloomy about this stuff, especially when it comes to climate change and personally wanting to do more, but feeling like you have limited options. Do you have any advice or perspective you can share for keeping the dark thoughts at bay?

First off, I think it’s natural for people to struggle with this, especially when you’re wrestling with how much each person’s individual actions actually make a difference. I don't remember the exact source of the quote, but the idea that often brings me hope is that we don’t need a handful of people doing sustainability perfectly, we need a lot of people doing it imperfectly. And I think that’s true. Even if some of the people I interact with end up taking action, then they’re going to bring that same enthusiasm to their families and friends, and you get that waterfall effect that can lead to broader change.

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Have a sustainability question for Grace Maves? You can reach her at gmaves@umich.edu. Interview by Lou Blouin.

Staff Senate

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Mon, 03/27/2023 - 16:38

Maves joined the university’s Facilities Operations team last semester and is already making a splash.

Photo courtesy Grace Maves

51��Ƶ-Dearborn hosted its first public ‘Zero Waste’ event

lblouin — Wed, 25 Jan 2023 19:05:07 +0000

51��Ƶ-Dearborn hosted its first public ‘Zero Waste’ event lblouin Wed, 01/25/2023 - 14:05

The opening of the new exhibition at the Mardigian Library’s Stamelos Gallery Center looked much like past opening nights. But if you looked closely, you’d have noticed a few noteworthy differences. The hors d'oeuvres menu was carefully planned to exclude packaging, like cupcake wrappers and dessert cups. Public trash bins were nowhere in sight, though recycling and compost receptacles were abundant and clearly marked. Hovering near each of those bins, six volunteer “waste goalies” stood guard to help folks direct their food scraps and recyclables to the right spots.

These subtle upgrades were part of an effort to make the exhibition opening the very first public Zero Waste event on campus. 51��Ƶ-Dearborn’s new Sustainability Programs Coordinator Grace Maves notes that Zero Waste events typically aren’t as absolutist as the name suggests. Understanding that a small amount of waste may not be recyclable or compostable, the target is often to divert more than 90 percent from the landfill. Even hitting that mark requires some careful planning. For the exhibition opening, for example, Maves, Art Curator and Gallery Manager Laura Cotton and Library Director Jean Song, who’s been looking for creative ways to make the library more sustainable, started by auditing all the consumables they’d have at the event. They picked menu items that emphasized fresh rather than prepackaged foods. They worked with the university’s longtime catering partner, Picasso Restaurant Group, to make sure they were covered on compostable cutlery, dinnerware and wine glasses. They double checked that the cream for coffee would be served in reusable pitchers rather than individual, unrecyclable creamer cups, and that the wine they chose had recyclable metal caps instead of corks. They even verified that the specific brand of dinnerware at the event could be handled by the compost facility they had contracted with. Song says the fact that Picasso already emphasizes reusable and compostable items made planning a breeze.

Maves says the other big part of pulling off a Zero Waste event is making sure that the waste that people are producing throughout the night ends up in the right spot. “Publicly accessible compost bins are not very common, so a lot of times, people may just not know what items are compostable and which are recyclable,” Maves says. “So, for example, compostable forks, those feel like plastic, so most people want to automatically put that in the recycling.” To help folks out, they made announcements at the event and included lots of educational signage. The waste goalies were the last line of defense. “I would say our volunteers were absolutely necessary,” Maves says, noting that folks needed direction “pretty much every time” they headed toward the composting and recycling bins.

Maves gives the first Zero Waste event high marks. The team succeeded in diverting 96 percent of the waste away from the landfill, and they didn’t run into any unexpected snags. Coming off that success, she hopes to support several more public Zero Waste events on campus this year, and produce a “how-to kit” for campus units that, say, want to make their next office party Zero Waste. Maves notes that food-based events present an especially good opportunity, as food scraps that end up in landfills break down to form methane, a greenhouse gas that’s 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

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Want to learn more about making your next campus event Zero Waste? Sustainability Programs Coordinator Grace Maves would love to hear from you. If you’re interested in other things you can do to make campus — and your life — more sustainable, you’ll also want to check out the Planet Blue Ambassador program, which recently launched on the 51��Ƶ-Dearborn campus. Story by Lou Blouin.

Mardigian Library

Stamelos Gallery Center

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Wed, 01/25/2023 - 19:04

The recent exhibition opening at the Stamelos Gallery Center diverted 96% of total waste from the landfill.

51��Ƶ-Dearborn’s new Sustainability Programs Coordinator Grace Maves (center) was part of the team that organized the first public Zero Waste event on campus. Photo by Rudra Mehta

A cross-campus team is reimagining spaces in two key buildings

lblouin — Mon, 23 Jan 2023 17:18:29 +0000

A cross-campus team is reimagining spaces in two key buildings lblouin Mon, 01/23/2023 - 12:18

If you had visited the student organization space on the second floor of the University Center on an average day in 2018, Dean of Students Amy Finley expects the head count would have been “about two.” It’s not that we didn’t have lots of energetic students planning events, activities and service projects. They were just doing it elsewhere. The problem was the space. Tightly packed with gray cubicles and a few work tables, the student organization area looked more like the drab setting from the movie “Office Space” than a place where students could get together, discuss ideas, laugh and organize. Not surprisingly, when Finley and her team began rethinking how to better tailor some areas in the UC to student needs, this space was at the top of the renovation list. Based on student feedback, the student organization space was reborn in summer 2022 as the Wolverine Commons — a student lounge with an open floor plan, cozy and flexible seating, and lots of places to spread out. Visit during lunchtime today and Finley says you’d see the average headcount has surged to about 50 students.

The Wolverine Commons example provides insight into a key socio-architectural truth: Our spaces can either be a hindrance to how we work, live and communicate or they can facilitate exactly what we want. The tricky part for planners and designers is that our needs often change more quickly than our spaces. Indeed, how we work, study and communicate has changed radically in just the past three years due to the pandemic experience. To cite an obvious example: We have more hybrid classes, so students and faculty are coming to campus less frequently — as are staff, who are more likely to have hybrid work schedules. This creates new opportunities to redesign our rooms, buildings and offices to best match today’s needs. (By the way, this is also a hot topic for our Future of Work working group, which we hope to cover later this semester.)

Updating spaces at a university is a nearly continual effort, but two of our most important communal campus buildings are about to get a big rethink. In order to better serve the needs of today’s students, faculty and staff, a new cross-campus team is leading an effort to revamp key spaces in the Renick University Center and Mardigian Library, as well as the outdoor space between the two buildings. As a first step, a design firm is helping organize focus groups to collect up-to-date information about what students, faculty and staff need and want. They’ll then organize that feedback into a phased renovation plan that includes options for improvements ranging from “minor to major.” “You’re always trying to make the most of student tuition dollars, so ideally, we want to identify things that will make a big impact without a lot of cost,” says Executive Director for Facilities Operations Carol Glick. “For example, if you look at some of the recent changes we’ve made to outdoor spaces, Adirondack chairs and outdoor games do not take a big capital investment, but they can make a big difference in terms of quality of campus life. Moreover, we want to identify different phases of projects, so that as funds become available, including for capital projects, we have a blueprint for how we would want to proceed.”

What improvements the plan will include depends a lot on feedback from the campus community, but Finley and Jean Song, the new director of the Mardigian Library, say some needs are already apparent. In the library, Song says access to power is a big issue. “We have an older building that has electrical outlets that were basically designed to be able to vacuum the space,” Song says. “We’ve jury-rigged a lot of things to make power more available where people need it, but our students and faculty would definitely benefit from a space that’s designed for the ways people want to power their devices.” Another observation: With the rising ubiquity of Zoom and hybrid classes, Song has noticed people doing something that would have once been taboo in a library: talking openly on their phones. “How much sound leakage is now considered OK? If I’m taking a hybrid class and I’m doing it in the library for whatever reason, is it OK to just be blaring it off my device? So our norms and behaviors are changing, and we don’t really have spaces that are set up for these new needs.” Song says Zoom rooms could really help address this challenge. Another area on her radar: specially tailored spaces that serve students with unique needs. For example, she thinks a family study area, where children could play or do homework alongside a caregiver, could be a huge help for multitasking students.

Next door in the University Center, the revamp is already underway. In addition to the Wolverine Commons renovation, Enrollment Services is staffing a new One Stop in the UC, a sort of in-person triage center for handling common student questions. In 2021, Finley's team also launched the new Campus Involvement Hub, where students can do everything from check out board games to get information about student organizations. They’ll also be creating a vision for the outdoor space between the buildings — as well as the “prime real estate” of the UC’s east-facing first-floor corridor.

As mentioned above, the team will be collecting lots of feedback to make sure the improvements best match the current needs of students, faculty and staff. They’ve already been dialoguing with student government, and starting this month, they’ll be sending out surveys and holding focus groups with all three key constituencies, as well as prospective students. They also plan to hold meetings specifically with library and UC staff, to better tune workspaces to today’s needs. After that, the design firm will put together different options, eventually yielding an exciting new adaptation plan for some of our most well-trafficked spaces.

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Want to help with the UC-Library renovation project? The team would love to hear your ideas for how we can make these spaces better. Please fill out the faculty-staff survey. Story by Lou Blouin

Enrollment

Student Success