April 2000 - University Tackles Space Management Issues

April 2000

University Tackles Space Management Issues
by Daniel Walsch

Space may not be the final frontier at George Mason University, but it is certainly an important one.
Last year, President Alan Merten created a task force on space management that was charged with reviewing the current process for the allocation and utilization of space at the university and with making recommendations that might improve upon this process in the future.
The task force was also charged with recommending guidelines for prioritizing space needs at George Mason, for better integrating the budget process and space management, for space assignment to affiliated personnel and organizations, for funding of space, and for approving space requests.
Lawrence Czarda, vice president for operations, served as chair of this task force. His primary support team included Benn Crandall of the administration, Lori Delio of the Facilities Office, and Michael Wood of Institutional Research and Reporting.
Other members of the task force included Jennifer Murphy of Sponsored Programs, Jim Finkelstein of The Institute of Public Policy, Fred Weintrich of the School of Law, Glenn Cyphers of the Physical Plant, Ken Bumgarner of University Services, Dave Rossell of the Provost's Office, Myra Crosen of University Computing and Information Systems, Tim Sugrue of the School of Management, Martin Ford of the Graduate School of Education, Murray Black of the Institutes for Computational Sciences and Informatics and Biosciences, Bioinformatics, and Biotechnology, and Jim Miller of the Facilities Office.
Following several months of meetings and discussions, the group's recommendations were as follows:

Establish a permanent space administration committee that should consist of representatives from each group of the George Mason community. This committee's primary role would be to prioritize space requests to coincide with the academic plan and the university's master plan.

Establish an office of space management that will serve as an investigative and support service for the space administration committee. This office will consist of a director of space management and two administrative assistants.

Link the university's budget process directly to the space management process. This would include a website as a primary resource tool.

Establish a direct link between the academic plan and space management and the university's master plan and space management.

Adopt a recommended minimum and maximum standard for the administration of space by a unit within the university community.

According to Czarda, once the recommendations are approved, the first order of business will be to hire a director of space management, whose responsibilities will include maintaining a detailed information bank on space at each of the university's three campuses. It is anticipated this person will be hired before the end of the current academic semester.
The members of the space administration committee, to be known as Space Allocation Committee (SAC), will then be secured. Such persons as the university's provost, senior vice president, and vice president for facilities are expected to be among the members of this group. The director of space management will not be a member of this group.
It will be SAC's responsibility to establish and enforce a space allocation formula that will be used to determine how much space is assigned to all areas on campus.
It is anticipated that once in place, the committee will conduct a thorough review of how space at George Mason's Arlington, Fairfax, and Prince William Campuses is currently assigned and will implement any adjustments felt necessary. SAC will also meet on a regular basis, and review and decide upon all future requests for space.
Czarda noted that any future requests for changes in space or additional space should be submitted to the director of space management. This person, he said, will then work closely with each requester to help determine the merits and validity of their request.
"We see the space director as being an advocate for each requester," said Czarda. "This director will accompany each requester as they meet with SAC to have their case heard.
"Ultimately," he added, "it is our intent with the hiring of a space director and creation of the space allocation committee to create a much more orderly and consistent process in all space-related decisions at George Mason. It is our intent to be fair to everyone and to try and make the most effective of our facilities as we can."