Facilities and operational excellence
UW-Green Bay continued to develop and enhance campus facilities and infrastructure during 2009-10. Core principles are support of student success, and pursuit of operational excellence through flexible, responsive and cost-efficient means. Among the highlights:
- Crews are nearing completion of our newest Residence Life facility, an $8 million, 126-bed apartment building being constructed by University Village Housing Inc. on our behalf. This will boost our student housing capacity to more than 2,100. A creative land swap with the private developer made the project possible. The three-story building is our first residence hall with poured-concrete walls; energy efficiency should be a benefit;
- In the area of health and safety, the University inaugurated use of GB Alert – text messaging — as an emergency warning tool to subscribers;
- A June 2009 fire to one of our original 1970s apartment units, Building 109, tested our emergency preparedness. While the building was unoccupied and no one was injured in the early-morning fire, our housing staff, summer-camp counselors and Public Safety division reacted swiftly and professionally to evacuate K-12 summer campers staying in other buildings nearby as a safety precaution. In the aftermath of the fire (undetermined in origin but likely electrical), staff in Residence Life moved efficiently to re-book other fall-semester lodging for undergrads who had been scheduled to live in 109. Facilities Management oversaw cleanup and insurance issues and worked with UVHI to coordinate the rebuilding of Building 109 (actually, unit 3334 Walter Way). By January 2010, the two-story unit with 60 beds was up and running at full capacity.
- Our computing and Human Resources staffs report smooth progress in preparing for migration to the new HRS software being installed Systemwide;
- In July of last year, staff members completed the exhaustive and exhausting process of awarding a new food services contract to A’viands. In the process they navigated, with patience and professionalism, precedent-setting issues with regard to Regents approval and employee-contract transitions;
- The new director of our Cofrin Library authorized a “facelift” for the highest-traffic areas of our primary academic building, at virtually no cost to the taxpayer. By tapping friends-of-the-library donations for a limited amount of new furniture, and replacing traditional floor-to-ceiling stacks with half-shelving, library staff opened up our principal reference-and-student-study area to be more inviting and user-friendly… and more in tune with learning trends involving group projects, internet usage and the like;
- Our new institutional webmaster took leadership of our conversion to the CommonSpot content-management system for the web. Greater efficiency, with easier updating of information and reduced costs for maintaining accuracy across campus, should be outcomes;
- We invited our Marketing and University Communication Office to take stronger leadership in enforcing the University Style Guide, with informational presentations to key constituency groups. Better adherence to the Guide not only strengthens our core brand, it will reduce time and money misspent in designing and promoting non-standard logos and marks;
- Finally, in the words of the late Edward Weidner, founding chancellor, “Every Great University has a Carillon.” UW-Green Bay has one now, the Edward W. Weidner Memorial Carillon, which was built with private donations and dedicated in June 2009. It is located just outside the University Union.
...in the words of the late Edward Weidner, founding chancellor, “Every Great University has a Carillon.” UW-Green Bay has one now...
