Glenn Smith, APPA's Vice President for Professional Development, had the honor of introducing the closing panel discussion at APPA's annual conference in Boston last July--a discussion centered on the theme "Inventing Our Future." Previous general plenary sessions and related breakout sessions had explored the challenges people face in these…

Reports on a conference of college facility managers at which facilities professionals identified forces affecting the profession's future in five areas (information technology, resource scarcity, societal changes, government role in education, environmental deterioration) and six important roles for the manager (operational efficiency expert,…

Describes the incorporation of nature into Asia's urban areas and discusses the philosophy of Jens Jensen, a landscape architect who advocated use of native plants and small, scattered parks. Explores implications for campus facilities managers. (EV)

Argues that the overall and continuing decay of the nation's public school facilities suggests a greater formal relation is needed between K-12 school physical plants and the Association of Higher Education Facilities Officers (APPA). APPA's efforts to study and prepare for this task while also supporting APPA strategic objectives are discussed.…

Reports research on trends in computer-aided facilities management using the Internet and geographic information system (GIS) technology for space utilization research. Proposes that facility assessment software holds promise for supporting facility management decision making, and outlines four areas for its use: inventory; evaluation; reporting;…

Campus planning is affected by changing facility needs, transportation issues, emergence of satellite campuses, piecemeal development and funding, and shrinking budgets. A tool for reshaping college image is the campus assessment, which evaluates the campus character, condition, and maintenance and helps bring them in line with institutional…