Facilities Management Hosts Regional Conference, Shares Innovations in Sustainability, Reorganization at University of Arkansas

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Sustainability issues shared the schedule with supervisor training, workshops on topics like “Humor in the Workplace” and a facilities management “makeover” when the University of Arkansas facilities management department hosted the seven-day Central Association of Physical Plant Administrators training symposium and business exposition held Oct. 18-24. More than 200 facilities professionals attended from higher education institutions in the eight central states and the province of Manitoba, Canada. In addition, representatives from some 75-80 businesses exhibited, with sponsored events available to discuss the latest products on the market to meet the new demands on those responsible for maintaining and improving campus infrastructure and operations. The conference brought nearly 400 visitors to downtown Fayetteville and the university.

The event included a four-day, toolkit course for first-time supervisors, two days of CAPPA committee meetings, two days of professional workshops and three extended time periods to visit with exhibitors. There were also numerous opportunities to tour the University of Arkansas campus, visit northwest Arkansas from Altus to Eureka Springs and sample the restaurants and night life of Fayetteville.

“We definitely made an economic impact for our city while also providing a quality learning/networking experience for our visitors,” said Mike Johnson, associate vice chancellor for facilities and the chief organizer of the event. “We calculated that the conference provided almost 1,000 room nights for the Cosmopolitan and several other local hotels, and it turned out that 70 to 80 percent of the people who attended had never visited Fayetteville or northwest Arkansas before. So, in addition to the business of the conference, it was also a great opportunity to show off our campus, our city and this special corner of our great state.”

The workshops also gave the facilities management department a chance to talk about what the University of Arkansas has done to “makeover” its entire operation, as well as the steps being taken to create a sustainable campus.  Sessions on pollution prevention, energy conservation, “green cleaning” and the Presidents Climate Commitment were among the sustainability topics covered. The university was among the first 100 institutions in the country to sign on to the Presidents Climate Commitment last February. Johnson said that facilities management was looking at conservation, sustainability and other “green” issues prior to that.

“We’ve found that we’re in the top third of schools when it comes to sustainability issues, possibly higher among the bigger state institutions. So we have a lot of information to share. But many campuses are also looking at ways to reorganize their facilities management departments, refocus on more business-oriented approaches and they were very interested in the 're-engineering process’ that we went through over the past seven years, and the lessons to be learned from that experience.”