The total assignable area between the two campuses is 4,539,013 square feet:
Office space (faculty, staff, and administrative) totals 915,057 square feet, and is included in several of the categories above. The College of Veterinary Medicine occupies an additional 228,913 square feet of space divided along similar proportions.
In addition to the primary teaching and research campuses, the University owns and operates research farms, forest tracts and auxiliary facilities totaling 90,702 acres, which includes about 1,200 additional buildings and structures (see Facilities Inventory and Utilization Study, State of North Carolina Higher Education Comprehensive Planning Program, 1991, for space-allocation data) [6.4.1].
The rapid growth of the University has inevitably led to space-management problems. Although the addition of the Centennial Campus (1986) increased the size of the campus, the University still needs to address several pressing problems. First, the greater population of students, faculty, and staff has taxed the parking and transportation system. Second, the faculty's success in obtaining research grants (during the 1981-91 period research grants at NCSU grew 333 percent) has expanded pressure for new laboratories. Third, state and government regulations of hazardous wastes and the need for more attention to health and safety issues has required new staff and facilities. But the most severe constraints have been on the University's instructional space.
Recommendation 12.13: NCSU's planning, both facility and budget, should accommodate the needs of current programs and anticipate the requirements of new ones.
Providing sufficient space to accommodate the campus's growing population is only one problem. A second clear problem is space reallocation. As new buildings are built, or old ones remodeled, the University needs to have clear criteria and procedures for reassigning vacant space [6.4.1]. A third consideration is the age and condition of existing facilities. Fully one-quarter of the gross area of campus buildings is over forty years old. In 1991 it was estimated that just over 70 percent of NCSU's buildings were in need of some degree of remodeling to bring them up to current standards for accessibility, use, and safety. The estimated total cost to restore facilities to satisfactory condition was nearly $140 million [6.4.2; 6.4.3].
Recommendation 12.14: NCSU should fund the upgrading of laboratories, laboratory equipment, computer facilities, and media units to make teaching more effective.
Year Number Stations
of rooms Stations per room Area
-----------------------------------------------------
110 Classrooms 1981 281 14,607 52 220,775
1991 246 13,971 57 202,821
1993* 250 14,281 57 208,491
210 Laboratories 1981 193 4,142 21 248,319
1991 226 5,224 23 240,090
1993* 236 5,567 24 255,531
* Through May 1993
Since 1981 both the number of laboratories and the available stations have increased at a rate comparable to that of the student enrollment (station increase from 1981-1991 was 34 percent). Moreover, on the average, the hours of laboratory use have also steadily increased. It is important to recognize, however, that in some key core courses (e.g., chemistry and physics), there is serious overcrowding in laboratories. In addition, space alone does not define the adequacy of these fundamentally important teaching facilities. Much of NCSU's inventory of laboratory equipment is now well beyond its useful lifetime. The modest laboratory fees charged do not adequately address this issue.
Year Day Night Total
------------------------------------------
110 Classrooms 1981 16.0 1.1 17.1
1991 28.1 2.8 30.9
210 Laboratories 1981 8.8 0.8 9.6
1991 10.9 1.2 12.1
Year Occupancy rate
-------------------------------------
110 Classrooms 1981 58.1%
1991 63.2%
210 Laboratories 1981 65.9%
1991 75.8%
Furthermore, the situation with classrooms has been much less satisfactory than the situation with laboratories. The data show a 2 percent loss of seats and a net loss of thirty classrooms. This is despite additions in the College of Textiles and in Caldwell Hall. In Harrelson Hall alone (the largest classroom building on the north side of campus) consolidation, renovation, and reallocation have resulted in a net loss of seven rooms and 165 stations. The major building projects during the last decade, major expansions to the library and gymnasium, additions to Scott and Williams Halls, the construction of Caldwell Hall, all on North Campus, have not added significantly to classroom space. On the south side of the main campus, construction of Jordan Hall and a new wing for Robertson Hall have added only modest amounts of classroom space. On the Centennial Campus only the new College of Textiles complex contains dedicated instructional space.
Although teaching larger classes is not the solution to the problems, the University has been able to compensate for the loss of classroom space to some extent by increasing the efficiency of its room use and station occupation. Tables 12.4 and 12.5 show a dramatic increase in the average hours of use of instructional facilities and workstations, but the increase has not been uniform. Unlike laboratories, many classrooms are used to less than optimum advantage.
Although the University does monitor the use of classrooms and laboratories (enrollment data is assembled to produce utilization indexes for each room for each class period), no systematic use has yet been made of the data to reallocate space to programs where demand has been increasing faster than average. Also, there currently exist no institutionalized standards for establishing how much space any program or department should be assigned [6.4.1.1].
Recommendation 12.15: NCSU should review classroom allocation and use program-by-program, ensuring that space is allocated according to clearly defined criteria.
Recommendation 12.16: NCSU should conduct periodic reviews during which colleges and departments support their instructional-space needs according to clearly defined criteria.
Recommendation 12.17: NCSU's administration should review current space allocations and needs with deans, department heads, and administrative supervisors, and should develop a master plan that consolidates facility use by academic and complementary support units.
The introduction in 1987 of a computerized scheduling procedure was intended to help departments locate open classrooms. Since the procedure is not interactive, however, it has been only minimally successful.
Recommendation 12.18: NCSU should review and modify current scheduling procedures to ensure they make best and most efficient use of facilities.
Finally, NCSU has very few interior lounges where students and faculty can meet informally to exchange ideas and communicate on a different level than in the classroom. While these types of spaces on campus are not assignable to a particular function, the committee feels that they are essential to both the educational experience and to promoting a sense of community among the students and faculty.
Also, since fewer than 25 percent of NCSU students live on campus and dormitory residents are less likely to own network-grade computers, direct wiring to all dormitory rooms, other than Wood Hall, has not been as high a priority as are offices and classrooms. Instead, small computer labs have been added to many of the dormitories. Although there is close to adequate availability of source equipment for current classroom usage, many feel that much of the computer equipment available to students needs to be upgraded. Furthermore, demand for computer facilities is expected to increase. Overall networked computer usage is projected to expand rapidly in the next decade, particularly in the areas of multimedia instruction and access to library and research databases.
Despite advances, many existing classrooms are inadequate even for the most basic audiovisual applications. Overcrowding often limits an instructor's ability to set up equipment and poor lighting controls can affect the readability of the lesson or the students' ability to take notes (due to lack of light).
Finally, NCSU currently has few master classrooms, rooms fully equipped to provide the full range of multimedia options and essential to the development of programs incorporating different levels of instructional technologies.
Because NCSU has no universitywide instructional-technology unit, individual colleges and departments must develop audiovisual facilities and services as resources permit. This system works well for some units, but not for units that have limited fiscal resources. The result is great variability in the provision of state-of-the-art instructional technology facilities and services from college to college, and even within colleges.
Recommendation 12.19: NCSU should develop a universitywide instructional technology service center to provide audiovisual services and to consult with colleges and schools that wish to develop advanced instructional facilities and services.
Wide variation exists among colleges and departments in the need for research space. The majority of Humanities and Social Science departments have no space clearly earmarked for research only. On the other hand, entire buildings on the Centennial Campus have been built for, or are projected to be built for scientific research facilities. In the highest priority category of the University's facilities master plan is a $42 million engineering graduate research center.
Most departments have adequate space to meet their immediate needs, but office size varies widely. Older buildings sometimes have spacious rooms and high ceilings, which are difficult to subdivide. Remodeled facilities usually contain more efficient office units, but they are smaller. There are no campuswide standards for existing office area per faculty member or station, but assignable space standards are used for all new construction and, where possible, in renovations.
Some departments feel the space crunch more acutely than others. In the English and Mathematics departments, a disproportionate number of faculty share offices. It was anticipated a decade ago that a general academic building on the current site of the 1911 Building would allow for consolidation of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, allowing Mathematics to expand onto the vacated first floor of Harrelson Hall. But the general academic building never was funded by the state and is no longer listed on the University's capital-improvement budget request. As a result, tenure-track faculty in mathematics still share very small offices.
This kind of situation sometimes means that departments find it necessary to farm out faculty to separate buildings. Being scattered across campus interferes with the efficient operation of departments. Placing faculty some distance from classrooms, and even from the laboratories they may need to use, is not conducive to achieving program goals.
The most acute example is the dilemma faced by the new College of Management. College of Management departments scattered across several sites were to be concentrated in Nelson Hall, previously occupied by the College of Textiles, but the funds for the new Textiles complex on Centennial Campus did not contain funds to recondition Nelson. The shortage of funds means that the available space cannot be made fully usable fast enough to accommodate the new demands upon it.
Respondents to the Educational Support Services subcommittee's survey expressed serious concerns about quality and availability of faculty office space. Respondents reported extensive use of shared offices (including as many as four and five to an office) in some departments, creating problems for student conferences and faculty work. Other problems were reported with furniture, heating and cooling, computers not being connected for networking, and other limitations in the work environment. In departments where faculty had problems with adequate provision of office space, graduate students had even greater problems.
Most administrative units currently have at least minimally adequate space to perform their functions. Some areas, such as the Budget Office and Institutional Advancement, have a notable shortage of office space. This shortage will be relieved in 1995, when the recently purchased Mission Valley Inn is renovated for a new welcome center and offices for Admissions, University Development, Alumni Relations, and other administrative units [6.4.1].
Priority residence assignment guarantees that all freshmen wanting dormitory space are accommodated [6.4.1.1]. A few special programs (Metcalf Living-Learning) also have space set aside. Each fall up to 200 students are booked into nearby motels until the yearly pattern of cancellations and reassignments allows them to be brought on campus. Starting in fall 1996 an NCAA rule prohibiting the separate maintenance of athletic dormitories will make an additional demand on current space. Included in the University's plan to address student housing shortages is the acquisition of the Mission Valley Inn. In 1994 this additional residence hall will accommodate approximately 600 students.
NCSU's student residences are mostly un-air-conditioned, double-occupancy rooms, most of which were built before 1970, with some dating from the 1920s. At a time when most students seek apartment-style living with kitchens, living/study rooms, and carpeted floors, the University offers only a dreary inventory of institutionally painted, tiled-floor cells. Because of financial limitations, hopes for renovating older units into air-conditioned student apartments have been deferred indefinitely. Available funds are now earmarked for mandatory maintenance projects (such as heating repairs and brick/concrete exterior repairs) and building-code improvements to the recently purchased Mission Valley Inn.
Student services facilities are generally adequate, with some exceptions. The aging health services facility is scheduled for replacement, pending UNC-General Administration and state approval of proposed fee increases. The main dining hall is of high quality, but its remote location from the dormitories on the eastern end of the campus results in students going to the campus convenience stores for many meals [6.4.1].
Recommendation 12.20: NCSU should place a high priority on modernizing dormitories and on providing all dormitory residents with adequate, convenient, and healthy food service alternatives.
Space for the handling of hazardous chemical wastes and low-level radioactive wastes is currently inadequate [6.4.1.1]. NCSU is among the largest generators of waste in both categories in the state. State and federal laws have mandated an extensive program of review, recycle, recovery, and regulation. A single outbuilding near the McKimmon Center is currently the collection point for hazardous chemical waste. An outbuilding near the King Village Apartments is the collection and storage point for low-level radioactive material wastes. A new building has been designed to provide adequate space and facilities to handle these hazardous materials. This building will also consolidate the administrative offices of the Environmental Health and Safety Center into one building. Construction for this facility has begun, and it is scheduled for occupancy in September 1994.
In recent years several building projects on North Campus removed faculty and staff parking space.
This was offset by the construction of the Dan Allen parking deck and the acquisition of smaller lots at Hillsborough Square and Gardner Street. Further relief came with the transfer of the College of Textiles to the Centennial Campus.
The growth of the University cannot be accompanied by an indefinite expansion of parking space alone. The long-range problems of moving students, faculty and staff between the campuses (a rapid-transit system has been suggested) is still being investigated, but the University has begun a contract bus service, Wolfline, to serve students between the main and Centennial campuses, and to bring students and staff from nearby neighborhoods and satellite parking lots. Wolfline operates during the fall and spring semesters, when demand for parking is most acute. Service through the summer sessions will begin in 1994. Carpool matching is offered through the regional ride-sharing program.
Phase 1 concentrated on classroom access and general movement around campus (approximately 1,521 modifications), including curb cuts, entrance ramps, restroom modifications, adaptions of computer tables and water fountains, installation of appropriate signs, and the preparation of a campus mobility-access-impaired map. Phase 2, now being implemented, will provide further modifications to provide access to all areas of the campus. The Handicapped Student Services Office provides individualized coordination of accessibility needs.
At NCSU, the unit primarily responsible for maintenance and repair of facilities is the Physical Plant. This over-700-person operation includes administrative and professional engineering staff, design personnel, business and accounting personnel, safety inspectors, housekeepers, trades people, groundskeepers, and motor-pool staff. Many minor renovations projects are designed and constructed in-house [6.4.2.1].
The Physical Plant also maintains engineering records of all NCSU facilities and has developed computerized base maps for the campus and current building plans. The surveying crew is continually improving the database for NCSU property on the main campus and outlying properties [6.4.2.2].
Regular schedules are maintained for housekeeping and equipment maintenance operations [6.4.2.1]. The housekeeping staff provide a first line of reporting service for building problems, and provide the Physical Plant work center with lists of immediate items that need attention. In addition, each University department has a building liaison who is responsible for reporting building-related problems, and technicians performing routine preventive maintenance report often discover other problems that need to be addressed.
Landscaping services are carried out on an annual plan based upon seasonal landscaping activities [6.4.2.1; 6.4.2.2].
Annual and long-range plans are maintained for deferred maintenance [6.4.2.2]. In 1992 this budget request for renovations and repairs totaled $35,320,900. Depending upon the level of state assistance each year, planned projects may also be undertaken using funds from University overhead receipts. In the 1991-92 fiscal year, approximately $914,500 in overhead receipts went to direct project charges for maintenance and repairs to buildings.
Divisions with operations funded from self-liquidating accounts (athletics, student residences, food service, transportation, etc.) maintain long-range maintenance programs independent from Physical Plant schedules. In some cases, the University engages outside engineering consultants to survey existing facilities and estimate and schedule a long-range maintenance and repair program. For example, in 1989, the Department of Athletics began a five-year $3.2 million repair and renovation program for the Carter-Finley stadium and other major athletics facilities. Since 1988 Student Affairs has spent $5,300,000 in maintenance reserves for projects renovating ten dormitories.
Given its present human and financial resources, NCSU has an excellent maintenance program, but some trends are troubling.
First, many tasks that used to be considered straight maintenance are now handled as special projects. Adequate state funding for renovation of older buildings has not been available, and the University is unable to generate sufficient funds from overhead receipts to cover major renovations. This has caused routine maintenance levels to increase for existing buildings, and, on the user side, has resulted in an increasing amount of space that is not tailored to fit current needs. With the shortages of new buildings, changes in a department's operations often need to be accommodated through minor renovations to existing space. Consequently, the Physical Plant is receiving more and more requests for new walls, change in door locations, and other interior improvements. In recent years such renovations have consumed approximately 25 percent of the work time of the trades shops. The revenues from these types of projects (which come from department budgets), as well as other receipt-funded maintenance activities for fee-supported buildings (residences, athletics, etc.) now account for about $1.8 million in the Physical Plant operations budget.
Recommendation 12.21: NCSU should seek funds at the highest level for appropriate and effective renovation of existing buildings.
Second, lack of funds for renovation means that vacated buildings are under-utilized. In the last few years, approximately 200,000 square feet of existing older buildings (for example, Nelson Hall and David Clark Labs) have been vacated by moves to new buildings. Since capital improvements funds were not budgeted for renovations of these buildings, the Physical Plant trade shops have spent a considerable amount of time on these buildings as special projects, which have diverted resources from more routine maintenance activities.
Recommendation 12.22: NCSU should seek funds at the highest level for appropriate and effective building maintenance.
Third, an increasing amount of time and resources is being spent on worker training and benefits. Although worker training and benefits are important, nonproductive time within the trade shops (training, meetings, breaks, vacation and sick leave, jury duty, etc.) now accounts for approximately 26 percent of the time of each employee. Adding the time devoted to receipts-oriented work, only one half of the trade shops work time is now spent on maintenance and repair of facilities.
Recommendation 12.23: NCSU should review policies concerning worker training and benefits and performance of receipts-oriented work to ensure that work rules are equitable and that employees devote more of their time to maintenance and repair of facilities.
The major units that provide safety and security on campus are Public Safety, and the Environmental Health and Safety [6.4.3.1; 6.4.3.3]. A comprehensive safety and health plan for the campus has been in effect since 1974. A full review, including a reordering of the safety committee structure was completed in 1993 (see Manual for Occupational Safety and Health of North Carolina State University). The stated purpose of this program is to ensure compliance with applicable state and federal standards, most notably the William-Steiger Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970. This act "requires every employer to give employees a workplace free from recognized hazards likely to cause death or serious physical harm. The act requires employers to comply with occupational safety and health standards. Further, employees must comply with standards, rules, regulations and orders that apply to their own actions and conduct."
In addition to describing the numbers of units on campus involved in health and safety, their nominal responsibilities, and their organizational relationships, the Manual for Occupational Safety and Health fully outlines safety and security policies and procedures. Relevant sections will be incorporated into NCSU's Administrative Procedures Manual and Human Resources Manual.
A key change in safety policy has been the restructuring of related committees. Sixteen unit safety committees now carry the implementation of NCSU's safety and security policies to the faculty and staff levels. The former University Safety Council, which had little more than an advisory function, has been reconstituted as the Occupation and Safety Health Council, with membership of the chairs of standing safety committees. This council reports to the chancellor on any functions determined to be necessary for the effective implementation of the State Employees Workplace Requirements Program for Safety and Health.
The territorial jurisdiction of the Public Safety Department includes all property owned or leased by the University and that portion of any public road or highway passing through such property and immediately adjoining it, wherever located within the state of North Carolina. The department is responsible for serving and protecting NCSU's community of over 30,000 people.
Public Safety officers at NCSU enforce state, city, and University regulations; render emergency assistance to those in the campus area; apprehend, detain and interrogate suspects; and arrest criminal offenders. The Public Safety Department also assists other police agencies, conducts criminal and noncriminal investigations, conducts fire-safety inspections, and lectures groups on public safety. In addition, the department monitors and responds to the University's intrusion and fire alarms, as well as to calls for assistance in medical emergencies and other life-threatening situations [6.4.3.1].
The Police Division, with officers assigned to foot patrol, bicycle patrol, mounted patrol, and vehicle patrol, responds to all emergency calls and requests for assistance. Officers are responsible for a full range of public-safety services, including crime reports, investigations, medical and fire emergencies, traffic accidents, and enforcement of all state and local laws, as well as University policies. The regular officers are supplemented by thirty auxiliary staff who assist in crowd control and other activities not involving direct law enforcement.
Public Safety works closely with local, state and federal agencies and cooperates with other campus units to improve safety conditions on campus. In particular, the Crime Prevention unit coordinates with buildings and grounds divisions to improve lighting and landscaping and with Residence Life to secure the person and property of students in living units.
A separate Fire Protection Division works with the local fire agencies. Fire Protection responds to all calls on campus involving local fire and rescue units, conducts monthly surveys of fire extinguishers, assists the North Carolina Department of Insurance in annual safety inspections, contacts all departments to follow up on corrections for safety violations, and establishes and maintains campuswide emergency plans. The division staff consists of two inspectors and a senior inspector.
Current codes require monthly inspections of all safety-related systems by qualified personnel. Visual inspection of all campus fire extinguishers is done by supervised work-study students. The electronics shop of Physical Plant conducts a visual inspection of detectors, alarm systems, and related equipment bi-monthly, with a thorough annual test of all alarm system components. All new construction on campus must satisfy the fire-prevention requirements of the North Carolina Building Code. When annual inspections detect minor or major problems, Fire Protection breaks down the report for individual campus units. If capital improvement is involved, units are referred to the Physical Plant. There is a separate, limited budget for safety improvements. In many instances, colleges or departments have to pay for remediation.
One area of concern is the response to alarms in campus buildings. Generally, procedures for evacuating buildings do exist, but there are no formal plans, posted evacuation route maps, or clear statements of policy for most of the campus. Standards are being developed, however, for building evacuation and exit systems. Housing and Residence Life does have a clear policy, administered through the resident advisors. Experience suggests, however, that evacuation procedures may not be known to building occupants of most of NCSU's buildings and facilities.
The University has established an emergency contingency plan, and that plan is now under review. It is anticipated that an extensive critique, rewriting, and expansion of that plan will bring it into line with all applicable codes.
Recommendation 12.24: NCSU should continue to review its Public Safety program in conjunction with state and local law enforcement agencies to ensure that both safety and funding are adequate and that the responsibilities are clearly defined.
Particular attention should be paid to the responsibilities, funding, and staffing of the Fire Protection Division, including consolidating all inspection-related activities under a simple authority. The University should adopt more aggressive policies for requiring full compliance with all fire codes, and for correcting unsafe conditions.
NCSU campus has an operational research reactor and over 200 laboratories engaged in research using radioactive materials. The University has had an effective coordinated organization structure for receipt, use, and disposal of radioactive materials for many years, but recently established a special Radiation Protection section to ensure that work with radiation-producing equipment and materials is performed safely and in conformity with appropriate federal and state rules and regulations. The section monitors work associated with radioactive isotopes including sealed sources; work with the NCSU's nuclear reactor and related activation products, fusion products, and irradiation services; and work with any other materials or equipment which emit radiation with associated health risk. The Radiation Protections section offers service-oriented programs of consultation, support, and training for users; inventory and control of materials and devices; personnel dosimetry; radiological surveillance of both work spaces and the environment; and waste management.
By federal law, the reactor operation must have an oversight committee to review its operation. At NCSU, this committee is called the Radioactive Protection Council. The RPC regulates all uses of radioactive materials and high-energy, electrical generation equipment at the University. The reactor unit maintains separate staff, including a reactor health physicist, and operates according to the technical specifications approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (last update 1992). On campus, a separate unit of the RPC, the Reactor Safeguards Advisory Group, reviews all safety-related modifications to and procedures for the reactor. It conducts an annual audit of the operations of the reactor. A separate emergency plan is maintained for the reactor unit, which is reviewed annually. Copies are on file in the reactor director's office and in the Radiation Protection Office.
The Radiation Protection Office is the acting unit for the RPC. The staff of this office establishes procedures for handling radioactive materials (Radiation Handbook); provides training for faculty and staff; monitors air, soil, and water radiation levels throughout the campus; receives all shipments of radioactive materials to campus and provides for removal of radioactive waste from campus; ensures compliance with all pertinent state and federal regulations; and responds to any problems associated with radiation.
The Life Safety section of Environmental Health and Safety ensures a safe and healthy work environment for all employees by implementing programs to ensure compliance with all federal and state regulations governing safety, health, the environment and hazardous-materials management [6.4.3.1]. The section particularly targets activity related to industrial hygiene, hazardous-waste management, and safety. It also promotes safety awareness; is a technical resource for health, safety, and environmental issues; develops safety training programs; and manages the University's chemical-waste disposal.
Additional oversight of environmental health and safety activity is conducted by committee, including the Radiation Protection Committee, the Hazardous-Materials Committee, the Biosafety Committee, and the Occupational Safety and Health Council.
Of major concern is the safety of on-campus research facilities, particularly those that use dangerous exotic gases, toxic substances, and biogenetically altered cells.
Although the 1993 laboratory fire in Daniels Hall resulted in accelerated administrative improvements in safety programs, many safety issues are directly related to assignment of appropriate space, an aging campus infrastructure, long-range building renovation needs, and the new construction of modern laboratoriesall of which have been adversely affected by a shortage of capital funds.
Recommendation 12.25: NCSU should ensure that all safety concerns are properly addressed.
Also, as noted in the physical resources section of this report, NCSU's facilities are not fully adequate to deal with the problems associated with hazardous-materials disposal. However, a new building (projected to be completed by October 1994) is intended to cover that deficiency. The new facility will give the University greater flexibility in treating hazardous waste, thereby reducing the substantial quantity that must be shipped off-campus for disposal. Funds for such shipment have been adequate so far, and anticipated saving by on-campus processing will offset future higher disposal costs, alleviating pressure for additional funds.
Recommendation 12.26: NCSU must complete the Environmental Health and Safety building, as scheduled for fall 1994, with adequate space to accommodate NCSU's waste-facilities requirements through the year 2000.
The facility is intended to serve as the cornerstone of an aggressive program to make NCSU a national leader in the handling and treatment of hazardous materials.
This UNC system policy is carried out under the oversight of the NCSU trustees, and specifically, the four-person Trustees' Buildings and Property Committee. This committee meets approximately four times a year and takes committee action on facilities matters, including approving master plans; adopting property-related policy; selecting designers for new facilities; approving leases and purchases; and other property matters.
Within the University, the associate vice-chancellor for facilities directs and supervises the long-range master planning of the University's physical plant. In response to the University's space-planning needs, in 1993 NCSU created a separate Space Planning division within Facilities. The Space Planning unit is now conducting a thorough survey of every space on campus in order to update the extensive facilities and space utilization database so that current information can be included in the master planning process.
The University architect maintains the University master plan, manages area-specific studies, and participates in preparing the biennial Capital Improvements Request. Individual units within the Facilities Division and other divisions contribute to the overall planning. For example, the Physical Plant manages utility and infrastructure improvements, the Telecommunications Office plans telephone and computer wiring networks, the Transportation unit manages road-improvements projects, etc. Because of a separation of funding sources, most projects supported by student fees (residence and dining halls, clinic, student centers, and athletic facilities) are initiated by individual University units and submitted to Campus Planning for inclusion in the master plan for capital improvements [6.4.4.1].
Recommendation 12.27: NCSU's master planning should be based on approved institutional strategic plans, and should consider the appropriateness of existing facilities to user needs, the condition of existing buildings, and established campus master-planning guidelines.
The facilities master plan for the University currently encompasses several documents, each addressing a different level of specificity [6.4.4.1].
Because many years can pass between the time that NCSU projects are initiated and when they are funded, any comprehensive facilities master plan could become outdated. In such an environment, the campus-planning documents describing the master planning process and design guidelines are especially important. But these general documents describe the planning process; they do not describe specific new building or road-improvement plans, and there is no current campus map that shows the collective impact of all of the biennial Capital Improvements Request and campus area-specific master plans.
Recommendation 12.28: NCSU should prepare and continually update a comprehensive planning document that describes the planning process, summarizes the various area-specific master plans, and provides a map that shows the collective impact of all existing campus plans.
Because of the changing nature of campus plans, the format for this document should be flexible, and the focus of the report should be on projects that are achievable within a ten-year time frame.
The biennial Capital Improvements Request is currently NCSU's most important document for describing facility master planning. The report describes the history of each facility problem and the planned solution. It provides cost and square footage details for each project, as well as a campus map indicating the planned location of the capital improvement. Although the document comprehensively addresses campus growth in all sectors, it is, at base, a financial request, and this limits its usefulness as a planning document.
First, the Capital Improvements Request is subject to funding caps imposed by the UNC system. NCSU's biennial funding request is set at a certain limit by the UNC Board of Governors. For example, the 1993-95 request was capped at the 1991-93 level plus inflation.
Second, the Capital Improvements Request is subject to funding limitations imposed by the state of North Carolina. Project funding from state appropriations has been significantly reduced in recent years. For example, of $112 million requested in NCSU's 1991-93 biennial Campus Improvements Request, only $8.6 million (7.6 percent) was funded. On average over the past ten years, only 32 percent of NCSU's biennial Campus Improvements Request has been funded, and often project funding comes years after the initial request. Thus the University's long-range strategic plans are often divorced from a realistic funding schedule.
Third, items on the Capital Improvements Request are prioritized according to seniority, not importance. For certain categories of projects, NCSU is limited by the UNC General Administration to requests for capital improvements projects that remained unfunded from previous years. Experience shows that, to a certain extent, projects that were left unfunded in prior years receive priority treatment at the next funding cycle. Under this system, the University is discouraged from spending internal funds for carry-over projects, preferring instead to wait for possible future state funding of the work. Thus, at times, projects of little importance but long longevity are completed before important projects. Furthermore, the large number of carry-over projects has resulted in an institutional reluctance to envision fresh projects. At the rate averaged since 1982, it would take eleven years for the state to fund just the present requests. Most capital improvements projects undergo a "gestation" period of six to ten years before full funding for construction. This "seniority" priority system makes it difficult for the University to respond quickly to windows of opportunity within the research industry (for example, facilities for biotechnology, environmental research, etc.).
Fourth, items on the Capital Improvements Request are prioritized within ten categories, but there is no formal means of indicating which project(s) in one category have priority over those in another category. The present system appears to handle maintenance and repairs projects in a quota fashion, that is, that a state allotment is made to the UNC system, and funds are distributed to the constituent universities by a formula established by the UNC General Administration. The distribution in 1992 was based on student enrollment at each campus rather than comparative need or age of buildings across the system. Because buildings at NCSU are, on average, older than the buildings on most other state-system universities, this allocation process puts NCSU at a disadvantage.
Finally, the General Assembly does not necessarily follow even the priorities within categories on the Capital Improvements Request. For instance, of seven major new building projects listed for 1993-95, the first priority project was funded for site work only, the second priority project received full funding, and the seventh priority project received $2 million for site work only. In 1986, NCSU received $9 million from the North Carolina General Assembly for a much-welcome addition to the Poultry Science buildingbut this project was listed only on a secondary priority list in the Capital Improvements Budget. With a large backlog of maintenance projects and new academic and research programs needing additional space, unglamorous renovation projects for older buildings are often not even considered.
Recommendation 12.29: NCSU should promote responsible changes to improve the state capital-improvements funding process.
Such changes might include the following: Reasonably obtainable funding levels should be set, and University priorities should be followed more closely. The need to renovate aging buildings should be viewed as equal in importance with plans for new buildings. NCSU should develop and promote a system for prioritizing projects based on strategic University goals, user needs, cost effectiveness of dollars spent, safety and security, efficiency of the overall physical plant, and other criteria as determined by the University's Mission Statement.
An area that calls out for improvement is the link between strategic University planning of academic and research facilities and general campus-planning activities. Although most new and expanding programs are identified and find their way into the long-range planning process, an increased level of communication between University Planning and Analysis and Campus Planning would improve the comprehensiveness of master planning. For example, in 1991 the chancellor appointed an internal academic committee to plan for a new Institute of the Environment, Technology, and Development, to be located on the Centennial Campus.
This initiative did not involve the Facilities unit, and as a result, to date no plans have been made to include the new institute in the master plan.
Recommendation 12.30: NCSU should encourage better communication between units that are engaged in general planning and units that are engaged in facilities planning.
