Standard 8. Physical & Technological Resources - Appraisal
- Physical and Technological Infrastructure
- Compliance with Legal, Safety, and Environmental Requirements
- Physical Resource Planning
- Systems Security and Reliability
Physical and Technological Infrastructure
All campus planning is done by the Strategic Planning Committee in consultation with other campus constituencies. In the last ten years, Stonehill's planning has produced significant improvements to the Stonehill's physical and technological resources. In technology, these include the growth in bandwidth and Internet 2, dramatic improvements in infrastructure, and technological equipment in all classrooms. In addition, the College continues to build, lease, and improve its facilities. In the past decade, the College, in conjunction with its long-range strategic plan has made much progress. Major projects include the renovation of Cushing-Martin Hall (the old library), a New Science Center, the new W.B. Mason stadium, a new residence hall, O'Hara Village and Pilgrim Village, the new Gatehouse, the new entrance and roadway, Blessed Basil Moreau Pathway, expanded Parking lot 17, Sungard Banner system, Angel LMS, and the lease of Lorillard Place, a residence hall in New York City (Bronx) that accommodates up to 12 students each semester for a New York City Internship while taking courses at Fordham University. Future projects include a 250 bed residence hall that will allow the College to increase enrollment to 2500 full-time students, renovation of the old science building for administrative use, and extension of the Oshean wireless network to include the Residence Halls.
In all areas of management for the campus's physical environment, we hire competent staff; through regional and national searches, we evaluate experience and use reference checks with previous employers. For key positions, we use search firms to assist the College in identifying talent pools. And once employees join us, we utilize performance reviews for planning and evaluation.
Our physical facilities are in excellent condition. The Berry & Associates report provided detailed data to support a capital renewal and deferred maintenance program. The overall facility condition index (FCI) was a 3.35% which falls in the "Good" category, the highest category in this rating. The Berry facilities audit has informed, and continues to inform the current strategic plan (2006 - 2010) and the development of the College's annual operating and capital budgets.
Compliance with Legal, Safety, and Environmental Requirements
During the past 10 years the College has systematically installed sprinkler systems in every residence hall room on campus. At this time, 100% of all residential rooms are sprinkled. In addition, a majority of our residential rooms are now equipped with a horn and strobe unit that will sound in the case of smoke or heat detection. Rooms without individual horn and strobe units are covered by horn units in the hallways. The smoke and heat alarms broadcast a signal to our Communications Area (switchboard). The sprinkler system, when activated, sends an alert to both the Communications Area as well as to the municipal police department.
Police assistance phones are located at outdoor locations throughout the campus; they have blue lights above them for easy identification. There are currently 18 blue light phones installed on campus. These phones are used to report suspicious activity, crimes in progress, or any emergency situation. The dispatcher identifies the location of the phone being used and dispatches police and other security personnel as necessary.
In order to provide ongoing enhanced safety for the campus community, the College studied, beginning in 2007, arming the campus police force. In considering this move, the College undertook an extensive process of consultation with internal and external groups. We appointed a working group to conduct benchmarking on best practices and to share information broadly. After completing psychological testing and extensive training, sworn police began carrying firearms in Spring 2009.
Additional security improvements include the relocating the Switchboard and upgrading operators to Communication Officers (implementing 911 Emergency Dispatch Training); staffing the gatehouse; adding card access to residence halls; adding a Detective/Sergeant to Campus Police Department to handle investigations; enhancing Bike Patrol Unit for community policing; updating College's Emergency Preparedness Plan, including reviewing policy and procedures for Residence Life and Campus Police; equipping police vehicles with emergency type equipment (roadblock, bullhorn, etc.); implementing Emergency Text Messaging System and emergency notification to all classroom phones and employee phones; adding new campus lighting to recommended areas; and connecting residence hall PA systems to emergency notification system in Campus Police.
In the area of environmental stewardship, early in the last decade, Facilities Management collaborated with Students for Environmental Action, an activist group designed to raise awareness and change habits, to spearhead many conservation efforts, such as an improved recycling program; lighting retrofits and motion detectors in classrooms, offices, and other high use areas; and plumbing updates. Yearly campus-wide audits allow for such updates to be included in the budget cycle. One gallon per flush toilets and sensored metered faucets have been used for the past three years with the intent to reduce water consumption.
In May 2007, the College supported the formation of a cross-divisional Environmental Stewardship Committee. This committee is charged with reducing our carbon footprint by soliciting the efforts of the entire community and making recommendations to Facilities Management or implementation. The Committee sends out periodic community-wide e-mails to bring attention to efforts being made, or actions that can be taken, to help our environment. Initial steps included recycle paper, using reusable containers, reducing both water and electricity consumption.
One large project with environmental impact is the New Science Center, which, while not LEED certified, was designed to be environmentally friendly. One main goal of the building was to make it as energy efficient as possible for all of the hours that it is in operation. In adherence with National Grid's Advance Building Labs 21, a utility campaign designed to improve energy efficiency and environmental performance in laboratories, the Science Center will work toward electrical savings. The obvious features such as spiral fluorescent light bulbs, motion sensors, and programmable thermostats are easily noticeable. Beyond these visible components, the Center is constructed with a high-performance building envelope, meaning that the exterior walls and roof have higher quality and more insulation. Additionally, we installed high performance window glazing and energy efficient air cooled chillers and lighting systems.
Physical Resource Planning
The College effectively maintains and uses its long-range campus master plan for capital growth. This master plan represents the template that has informed, and will continue to inform, our campus expansion plans, including recent projects such as the athletic stadium and fields, redirection of the main entrance roadway, the academic spine, the new science center, and future projects that will include the academic quad on the south side of campus, and the new residence hall.
Systems Security and Reliability
As described above, we have made significant strides in this area that have dramatically improved infrastructure, access to data, consistency and reliability of data, and data security.