City College of San Francisco - California Competes

INTRODUCTION | ABSTRACT
nent, full-time project managers and reduce its
prior dependency on construction management
firms for project management services, with the
goal of saving the District tens of thousands of
dollars, streamlining project management, and
improving the overall communications flow.
Under the leadership of the Associate Vice
Chancellor of Facilities Management, a Districtwide
sustainability and green building plan is
being developed, which is leading to more energy-efficient
buildings.
The College has integrated its facilities planning
into its institutional planning process; fostering
a strategic approach to prioritizing the physical
resource needs of its students, faculty, and staff;
and making effective use of the College’s Shared
Governance System, including the planning and
budgeting processes, to evaluate and act on the
District’s priorities. A comprehensive Facilities
Master Plan was developed with the participation
and support of the College’s Shared
Governance Facilities Review Committee. This is
a 15-year plan for building, replacing, and renovating
College facilities and was developed with
the assistance of an outside facilities planning
firm experienced in college master plan development.
The District has multiple assessment
mechanisms for evaluating the feasibility and
effectiveness of physical resources in supporting
institutional programs and services. For example,
it utilizes its Banner administrative information
system to annually review equipment needs, and
an outside agency was hired to conduct an
inventory and assessment of the physical condition
of all buildings. The College has
significantly improved communications related
to facilities across institutional departments and
offices. This has promoted more meaningful
interactions between the Offices of Academic
Affairs and Facilities Planning to assure the quality
of programs and services as well as the health
and welfare of students.
While the 2001 bond funding and the additional
state dollars leveraged as a result of the bond
have made it easier for the College to respond to
the physical needs of the District’s many aging
facilities, the resources are not adequate to cover
the total costs of upgrades and repairs. At this
time, the District plans to leverage additional
state support through the second phase of the
bond. Given the pressures of inflation and escalating
construction costs, the District should
continue long-range planning for the total cost
of ownership for all of the new facilities and
major equipment initiatives currently in the
planning stages for construction or purchase.
Standard III.C: Technology Resources
Since the last accreditation review, the College
has embarked on a major period of technological
development and growth, primarily enabled by
funds from two public Bond initiatives, one in
1997 and the other in 2001. Without these
funds, it would not have been possible to
achieve major improvements in the College
using technology as the tool of opportunity.
During this period, the College engaged in the
following technology-related activities: major
improvements to the College’s network infrastructure,
desktops, and desktop applications;
major upgrades to the College’s enterprise database
system; extensive use of technology in
providing online classes, and modernization of
computer laboratories and multimedia classrooms;
a significant increase in the use of
technology in all phases of day-to-day operations;
the development of an effective planning
process in setting the technology priorities and
matching priorities to its mission that included
all segments of the institution through the
Shared Governance process; and ongoing technology
projects to position the College to use
high bandwidth applications.
While the College has made major progress in its
technology capabilities and the support of programs
and services using technology, significant
ongoing needs for improvement include: completion
of inter-campus connectivity with voice,
data, and video transmission; improvement of
Banner functionality and usage; strengthened
organization, policies/procedures, and support
within the Information Technology Systems
(ITS) Department; expansion and enhancement
of educational technology including online
instruction, video, and labs/classrooms; the procurement
of funding to sustain faculty and staff
training in technology; and updates to the
Technology Plan, including equipment replacement
strategies.
76 CITY COLLEGE OF SAN FRANCISCO