ACUHO-I News Blog

The New York Times ran a story about Cruiser, an adorable puggle who earns his keep in the bedbug-detecting business. Handler Jeremy Ecker and Cruiser have busy days, since bedbugs  have made a comeback in New York City. Once wiped out by now-illegal pesticides such as DDT, the bedbug population is surging, thanks to more common and frequent international travel and two generations of unfamiliarity with bedbugs and their habits. Some article commentators wonder if bedbugs aren’t a sign of a badly-kept home, or if the bugs can’t be killed by a brief stay inside a plastic-wrapped mattress. As many readers here know, cleanliness doesn’t prevent a bedbug infestation, and the critters (and their eggs) can stay viable for a long time without food.

Ahem. So while Cruiser is most certainly adept, we would like to point out that the Talking Stick, and ACUHO-I in general, scooped The New York Times on this topic. Take that, Gray Lady! In our story, bedbug sniffer Jack–just as adorable and proficient as Cruiser, by the way–was the star. Jack demonstrated his talents at our Business Operations conference last October. See Wayne Walker’s October 2009 presentation on the subject in our library.

For yet another take on bedbugs, listen to the Fear of Sleep This American Life episode. Act two discusses bedbugs, and how intractable they are.

…At least, that’s the plan. Boomers have started to retire, and many more will do so in the next 5 to 10 years. When they leave, these professionals will take years of experience and institutional knowledge with them. (The economic downturn has at least one, bittersweet upside, as it likely delayed some of these retirements.)

Higher education and student housing are experiencing the same trends. Especially vulnerable is the facilities department; the longtime employees there know the quirks of each building; where lines are buried, the unwritten details of the university’s history with a specific contractor. This knowledge isn’t written down; it’s in the facilities’ professionals’ heads, and if they leave, it goes with them. Compounding the issue is a paucity of young professionals in facilities-related fields and trades. For example, The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts the job market will be wide open for electricians, physical plant operators, and HVAC mechanics in the near future, as longtime professionals retire and not enough young professionals are on track to replace them.

What to do? Knowledge databases, mentoring and shadowing are among the solutions institutions are trying. The Chronicle of Higher Education has an article on the topic, and The Talking Stick discussed the subject in 2007: “Replacement Parts” by Dave Sagaser.

What’s happening on your campus? Are succession plans in place? Is there active mentoring taking place already? Share in the comments section.

Community colleges are quite popular lately, as more conventional-age (17-24) students seek them out for a bachelor’s degree–or the first two years toward that goal–and older applicants are using the down economy as an opportunity to bulk up their job skills. (Unfortunately, as the article linked above attests, popularity doesn’t necessarily translate to increased funding.)

Some institutions have noticed a greater percentage of their applicants are in the younger age group. These students often want more of the “student life” opportunities that they would get at a four-year institution, and some community colleges are responding, according to an article in Inside HigherEd. We already have heard about community colleges building residence halls; now there’s at least one building a student center, to better facilitate student group meetings, study groups and the like. The construction was inspired by the administration’s conversations with students regarding what would improve their experience at the school. Student centers are not unheard of at community colleges, but they aren’t common, either.

New York University is building a new campus in Washington D.C.

In this lot.

See? It’ll be in that narrow, 60-foot-wide area just behind the streetlight, between the tan building and the dark brown building. The campus will occupy a 75,000 square foot building (to be constructed) and will be known to the acronym-happy as NYU-D.C. The campus will include five floors of student living space and classroom space. The living area will house 200 students, whose classes will be through the College of Arts & Sciences. History, journalism, politics, art history and economics will be the initial offerings when the campus opens in the fall of 2012. Nesting all the functions for daytime learning and nighttime living was quite a trick for the architects, according to a story in the Washington Business Journal: “It was like putting a little Swiss watch together, but we got it to work,” said architect Laurence Caudle.

There has been another rash (pun intended) of bed bug stories in the media. The latest comes via the CBS Early Show who brought in Richard Cooper to offer advice on prevention and removal of the pests. He’s one of the authors of the invaluable Bed Bug Handbook and has become one of the de facto spokespeople on the subject.

Watch CBS Videos Online

We’ve all heard of green roofs. Well, a new photo feature by National Geographic magazine takes a look at exactly how much room for growth (pun fully intended) there is in this practice. These sprawling images show buildings like Chicago’s City Hall or the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo that are oases in their urban deserts as well as more rural scenes in Switzerland and Germany.

Check out the full photo gallery and then use the comment section to discuss if you’ve implemented green roofs on any of your campus buildings.

Those Golden Gophers from Minnesota are the the first college in the country to use Build America Bonds to help fund new campus constrution projects. According to InsideHigherEd.com, these bonds were created to help state and local governments raise money for building projects by making it significantly cheaper for them to issue taxable bonds.

Among the intended projects listed in the official release from the school, was a new residence hall on the university’s Crookston campus. The article also discusses how the University of West Florida is taking advantage of additional changes in tax law that will open more funding options for their much-needed new residence hall; receiving a $15 million loan that would not have been possible just three months ago.

According to a New York Times article, the School of Visual Arts in the Lower East Side of Manhattan is offering up its freshly-built residence hall for renters until full-time students arrive in August. Since the building wasn’t finished in time for spring classes, the school found itself with an empty hall and some time. Starting at $1,600 a month (this is New York, remember), renters get 24-hour security, utilities, internet, shared bathroom and kitchen facilities, and a continuing education class: specifically Background Essentials for Film History.

There haven’t been any takers yet but it’s still early (and this is New York). The school hopes the renters will consider pursuing a degree after their on-campus experience.

Not a lot of institutions have spare cash lying around, but for those who do–or those who can scrounge some up–now is prime time to request bids for construction projects, according to a Chronicle of Higher Education article. The cost of construction materials are declining, and of course firms could use the business, so prices can be very competitive.

These tight times will mean that some firms will likely cease to exist, as the weak are winnowed from the herd, so to speak. And of course this period will be (one hopes) short-lived, so there are a limited number of schools that can use the downturn to their advantage.

So you’ve probably heard something about a stimulus package that Congress is concocting, and you might have also gathered that some parts of it benefit higher education, specifically renovation of facilities (not new-build) in higher education.

But how can you educate yourself on how this legislation could benefit you and take advantage of these opportunities?  First, pay attention to ACUHO-I’s announcements and e-mails in the coming weeks.  Second, check out these Web sites, which make the legalease a bit easier to digest.

National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities NCEF has put together a great site on how the stimulus package affects school facilities. They neatly explain how the funds are allowed to be used.

Shovel Ready SCUP’s site’s title refers to the tight turnaround required by recipients of federal funds for renovation. Projects you wish to fund must be planned and “shovel-ready,” with only a few last-minute preparations to go. This is not the time to look for a new project. Instead, go through your list of renovation to-dos: energy-efficient windows to replace old, leaky ones; modernizing a building with new technology; or replacing an old roof. The major restrictions won’t affect residence halls much: monies cannot be used for sports facilites that charge admission or for a building in which worship services are held. The money also comes with use-it-or-lose-it time restrictions.

Keep an eye on the Chronicle of Higher Education, for stories such as this: The $7-Billion Patch for Campus Maintenance.

Also, talk to your colleagues through the ACUHO-I Social Network, and share tips and ideas on how to identify projects and get the money to make them happen.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is allowing students to keep cats in designated residence halls, reports the Boston Globe. The cats must be neutered, have all necessary shots, and are not allowed to roam outside the building.

What do you think of this plan? Pets in the halls makes some housing professionals — particularly those in facilities — blanch at the prospect, and that’s understandable. (Cats can make scratch-posts of bed legs and fur coats out of carpets.) But the appeal to students and live-in professionals is also understandable.

Have no idea why the headline is near-nonsense? Check out this, then this.

Whether it is Talking Stick articles or conference presentations, ACUHO-I members know that bed bugs are a major topic of conversation and concern. It’s also one that the ACUHO-I central office fairly regularly gets phone calls about from the “mainstream” press. Recently we’ve seen stories in the USA Today newspaper, as well as the Chronicle of Higher Education.

This morning, the bed bugs hit the big time with an appearance on The Today Show.  Host Matt Lauer introduced a video — complete with the scary violin music from Psycho — on the subject. The video featured, along with concerned students, the University of Florida’s Wayne Walker who discussed treatment and preventative measures campuses can take. Lauer than interviewed Richard Cooper, co-author of Bed Bug Handbook (a popular choice at this year’s annual conference bookstore) who offered some good advice and touted Web site resources as well.

Sure, there are parts of the presentation that make the bed bugs sound like something from a 1950s science fiction movie, but hopefully what people will take away from this is that campuses have identified a potential issue and are prepared to address if, indeed, the bed bugs do begin to bite.

The folks at Unviersity Business decided that if ACUHO-I can have themselves a residence hall competition, they can too, and they’ll use the dreaded “D-word” while doing it.

“Dorms of Distinction” highlights residences with choicey amenities; innovative designs and aesthetically pleasing details. If you need inspiration, this list is a good start. The evaluation team noted the distinctive halls often had several things in common:

Student input heavily informed much of the design, furnishings and amenities of many of the halls. The buildings have a homey feel; many feature furnishings similar to those in private homes; many have private bedrooms and smaller bathrooms that look more like those in houses. Finally, most of the halls have plenty of comfortable and inviting common areas, where residents can gather.

If you’re building, consider hosting one of the 21st Century Project prototype halls.