8.11.1 Motivation

Facilities management is something that encompasses a rather broad spectrum of areas that is rooted in the needs and wants of the student body. As any SLC is formed with the intention of representing the students, it is natural that the SLC should be concerned with the facilities and environment where the students work. Knowing that not all student requests and inputs will be included in a final decision should not take away from the fact that a facilities management plan put into effect by a joint effort of students and administration could benefit both sides of the table. The administration and faculty will receive organized feedback, and the students will be able to express concerns in a fashion that increases the effectiveness of the response.

8.11.2 Summary of Survey Results

The survey questions regarding facilities can be divided into three main categories: general facilities; computers and other available technology; and the student area. A student area is simply where each respective lab or centerhas assigned student desks and/or workstations.

8.11.2.1 General Facilities

Many of the centers allow students similar full-access privileges to the "core facility," a library, and perhaps a separate computer lab; no one reported a restriction of scheduled hours. While no student group is charged with the maintenance of the areas they are permitted access to, one school specifically said that they are charged with a "leave it as you found it" rule. No other school reported that they have any such responsibility. This separation of responsibility is also seen on the question of a snack area for students - only one school has a student-run snack area operating in a co-op fashion. Similarly, only three others have externally (not affiliated with the center) operated vending machines, where one of the centers also has a café open during normal business hours. The remaining seven centers have no such feature.
Recycling is also a task that most schools leave to the university, except for one. In this instance, the SLC designates one person to handle recycling and puts the money earned from bottles and cans back into the student-run store.

8.11.2.2 Computers and Technology

Computers and technology are perhaps the most important area in facilities management since they are the focal point of much of the work that gets done in any research center. Quite commonly, a center will have a given number of computers allotted for individual assignment as well as a set designated for general usage. Where schools have set aside computers for individual use, only one school indicated that computer assignments are a joint effort of the SLC and administration. One SLC noted it had little input in the assignment process, while three others said they had no input in the process whatsoever. Irrespective of SLC input, seniority and degree pursued are used as a criterion for computer assignment, which commonly leaves the undergraduate students sharing computers. The number of undergraduates sharing a computer varies greatly, since some centers do not assign undergraduates to a computer at all. Perhaps it is surprising to find that out of 11 centers, only 1 reported that their computer resources are insufficient. This particular school said that their resources are insufficient by 50%. This is also one of the schools where the SLC has no input into computer assignments or the computer selection process.
When it comes to computer updates and maintenance, the SLC is only marginally involved in the upgrades of their individual computers, while network and university computers are left to the administration. One center though, said that the final say for some computer upgrades goes through their SLC. Two of the centers said that student needs are accommodated when possible and another SLC offers input on as "as needed" basis.
The table below summarizes what the centers reported as their available peripheral devices. The answers suggest a standard set of tools, and perhaps additional items tailored to to centers' specific needs. The deviation from this conclusion comes from one center that said computers for data collection are not applicable.

Device	Available?
Lab Computers for data collection	All centers said yes [one N/A]
Printers	All Yes
Digital Cameras	All Yes
Scanners	All Yes
CD Burners	All Yes
Other (Specify)	LCD projector, camera, VCR, scanner, fax, video camera, editing equipment

The selection of peripheral devices for student use falls into the hands of the administration, although three SLCs indicated that they do have input into the process when needed. Of these three, though, two centers said that their input is only "at times" requested by the administration; whereas the third SLC noted that decisions were based on their input. One center also reported that they have a Facilities Director/Network Support Specialist who is in charge of such decisions and will sometimes ask for the input of the SLC.

8.11.2.3 Information Exchange

Also included in the facilities section of the survey was the issue of information exchange among the center students, faculty, administration, and industry partners. E-mail and an Internet website were the most common responses, with almost all schools indicating that one or both were used. Three centers use a file server, and one of the schools listed the file server as their sole means of information exchange. Of particular interest were two centers that use either a restricted website or an intranet service available in-house only. One of the centers that employs an Internet website noted that their SLC maintains their own web page within that core.

8.11.2.4 Student Area Environment

The final major area of facilities management concerns the areas where students typically spend a majority of their time in the ERC. This itself varies greatly across the centers: some schools have one general area where students have their desks and computers; but others have several such areas, some on separate campuses. That being said, this part of the summary of survey results would apply to each individual area or lab, rather than to the center as a whole.

The seating arrangements for the centers reveals that most put the students' office space together, or in close proximity to each other, only three said that this is not the case. One of those three, though, attributed it to a lack of adequate spacing, which the university is working to remedy. The responsibility for desk space and arrangement of lab area workspace varies across the centers. Some schools said that this varies according to department: four centers allow the students to decide or have some SLC input; one center said that this varies per faculty member with no SLC input; and one center said that the students have no involvement.

This raises the question of disputes among the students in shared office space. In all but one of the centers, the students' advisors and/or the administration would handle the dispute, without SLC input. The one center in which the SLC could play a role said that the dispute would be "partially handled by [the] SLC." Also noteworthy here is the fact that some schools simply said that they have had no instances, but did not indicate whether they had made provisions for a dispute between students.

Many centers have a phone system that assigns anywhere from 2 to 10 people per phone in a student area. This type of system requires a method for making sure that people get their messages when they are not personally able to answer the phone. Some centers have given each phone a voice mailbox or answering machine for taking messages, thus eliminating the responsibility and culpability for message delivery, or lack thereof. Perhaps the more common approach relied on a note or e-mail to the person for whom the phone call was intended. Most centers reported that their methods worked satisfactorily.

Aside from e-mail, one of the most common document exchange methods used in industry may be the fax, and as it turns out, this is reflected in the centers' responses. Only two schools have said that they do not have a fax machine in the student area. One of these two schools has said that their SLC will offer input for new peripheral devices and it will be accommodated when possible. The fact that they do not have a fax machine may lead to the conclusion that it is not necessary. Four centers said that each student area has a fax machine, with one center noting that the student fax machine can only receive faxes, and they must go elsewhere to send a fax. One center also noted that while their research wings do not have a fax machine, there are multiple fax machines available to the students during normal business hours.

All but two centers have given their students individual mailboxes. One school has no mailboxes for the students while the other has mailboxes only for their graduate students.

Meetings and presentations are quite commonplace in almost any center; therefore, reserving conference rooms is an important task. Most schools rely on a sign-up schedule or contact a secretary who will note the reservation. Two exceptional methods, though, are to use Microsoft Outlook to set up the meeting and set the room and audio-visual equipment as resources for the meeting, or to use a web-based reservation schedule.

8.11.4 Multi-University Centers

The multi-university section of the survey did not pertain to issues of facilities management, which were instead handled locally at each school.

8.11.5 Best Practices and Conclusions

General Facilities
There does not appear to be a best practice here, unless it is the common practice of leaving maintenance and services in the hands of the university. The center that established a student-run co-op store may have done so as the result of student request and the willingness of their administration to allow them to do so, so long as they took responsibility for running it. This is speculation, but it is clear that the store could not exist without the permission of the administration and a degree of trust of their part for the students.

Computers and Technology
It is universally true that obtaining the best results from one's hard work and effort requires that one use the right tools for the job. It is a given in any center that access to adequate technology is necessary for students to be productive in the lab. Any SLC and any administration will concede this point willingly; the problem arises with the definition of "adequate." Few people will know what the students need better than the students, but among those few would perhaps be the select group of administrators and faculty members involved in the center. It is a good idea for these two groups to discuss together what is needed to maintain or improve the work coming out of their center, rather than having one group dictate these decisions. Although only one center stated that they would need a 50% increase in computer resources to consider them sufficient, the benefits for most SLCs might arise during discussions of upgrading and replacing existing center technology.

Information Exchange
While only one school commented on the use of their method of information exchange (a rarely used file server), it seems that, especially in the case of a multi-university center, a website or file server might be the simplest form of mass information exchange. Only one of the multi-university centers did not list a website (public or restricted) as a method of information exchange. Using a file server or website eliminates the delay associated with waiting for someone to check their email, and creates an easily accessible and convenient method of information storage - if properly indexed, of course.

Student Area Environment
Students must be able to achieve a reasonable comfort level within the center if they are to be expected to work and be productive there. Students who don't find this "comfort zone" may become disconnected from the center, which then creates other problems. The student area environment, then, must be conducive to getting work done anmust be somewhat malleable to meet the needs of the students. This may be primarily a function of student seating arrangements, which was found to be quite similar from center to center. Locating people according to project or department seems to be working very well for each center, as none of the centers cited problems or grievances aside from the one school that is working to acquire needed space.

Mediating issues that arise between students may be something in which SLCs should not get involved, judging by the responses from the centers. Depending on the nature of the dispute and the persons involved, it may not be a matter that the SLC is prepared to deal with. Instances where judgment and decision may leave some or all of the parties involved feeling slighted or resentful is not something that any center wants or needs for its students. The administration may the most impartial, and is probably the best, source for resolution of conflicts that arise between students. However, there may be a role for the SLC here, which could be determined by each SLC as they see fit. This is a matter of quality of student life within the center, and as such the SLC should have some - even if limited - involvement and attention.

While there is no best ratio of telephones to students, the size of the student body within the center and character of the center should be a consideration when setting up the message system. If center students make and receive important phone calls, voicemail may be the best way to relieve people of the pressure of delivering someone's "very important and urgent message" and then making sure someone gets that message. Although no system is foolproof, and messages could be deleted in error, this system also allows the intended receiver to hear the caller's tone of voice, which can sometimes be very important.

There does not seem to be a best practice associated with fax machines or mailboxes, aside from simply making them available to those who need them when they need them.

Conference rooms are always in demand, and it may the case that they are quickly booked when found to be available. Even if this is not the case, making a conference room's schedule of events easily accessible, either by website or Microsoft Outlook, makes planning and coordinating meetings, conferences, and presentations much easier.

Overall Facilities Conclusion
One of the primary responsibilities of each SLC, as noted in Section 8.3.1, is to represent the student body to the administration, and in doing so to communicate the needs and concerns of the students. Allowing the SLC to have some voice in facilities management ensures that they carry out another facet of this responsibility. The most important objective is to ensure that the students at least have access to the necessary technology to be productive. However, one should not discount the other issues raised here as all hold relevance to student life in their respective center.

If you have specific comments and questions on the contents of this site and/or its use, please contact webmaster@erc-assoc.org. To report technical problems, contact techhelp@erc-assoc.org.