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Bike Share Expansion

Posted by: Jennifer Stevens | August 19, 2014 | No Comment |

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The College of Charleston Bike Share was developed by a student-led team, with organizational and planning support from the Office of Sustainability. It’s founded on the idea that bicycling can be a safe, healthy, sustainable, and fun way to get around campus and around Charleston. The program, a collaboration between Sustainability and the Office of Student Life, fully launched on the first day of classes for the fall 2013 semester. It is open to all current students, faculty, and staff members at the College. In order to use the bicycles, participants must sign up for the program, watch an online safety video, and sign a liability waiver. Bicycles can be checked in and out of the Stern Center on George Street during the following rental hours:

Fall and Spring Semesters:

  • Monday-Thursday: 7:00 a.m.- midnight
  • Friday: 7:00 a.m.- 10:00 p.m.
  • Saturday: 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
  • Sunday: 10:00 a.m. to midnight

Summer Semester:

  • Monday-Friday: 7:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Saturday and Sunday: Closed

In order to help accommodate the expected increase in bike commuter traffic due to the classes being offered at Harbor Walk, Sustainability will be expanding the Bike Share program this fall. Currently, the bike share program has 8 3G Isla Vista Beach Cruisers. The total number of bicycles in the fleet will be increased to 16.

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Before moving forward with the expansion, Sustainability had to address a major need – where would the additional bikes be stored? All 8 of the existing bicycles are kept locked up to a bike rack outside of the Stern Center. As of now, Sustainability is looking to acquire additional bike racks outside of Stern so that the program doesn’t limit the availability of bike rack space for students, faculty, and staff members.

Currently, all 16 bikes are ready to go for the fall 2014 semester. For more information about the Bike Share program, visit sustainability.cofc.edu. For more information about Harbor Walk, visit go.cofc.edu/harborwalk.

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MyCougarCampus Project

Posted by: Jennifer Stevens | August 12, 2014 | No Comment |

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On June 30, 2014, the College of Charleston entered into contract with AssetWorks, Inc. for a comprehensive facilities management software solution called AiM that will integrate with existing hardware and software currently in use.

Released in 2005, AiM is an integrated workplace management system software solution that will be built upon the College’s current space database information and will become a unified solution and system of record for space reporting, planning and management, capital project planning and management, contract administration, asset and inventory management, maintenance management and work orders, emergency management, and environmental health and safety.

Since 1991 AssetWorks has emerged as a leading provider of software solutions for infrastructure intensive organizations in government, education, utilities, telecommunications, transportation and the commercial sector. The AssetWorks division of the company has 210 employees, and its parent company and all divisions combined have over 4,000 employees. AssetWorks currently serves approximately 90 colleges and universities or university systems including:  Appalachian State, Auburn, Clemson, George Washington, James Madison, MUSC, NC State, UNC Chapel Hill, UGA, UVA, Virginia Tech and others.

How will it benefit the College?

The primary benefit to the College is that AiM will create a unified building and room data inventory. As with other BATTERY Project programs, AiM will allow staff members to streamline daily operations while realizing efficiencies. Also, departments will have the opportunity to review current business processes and procedures or formalize current practices. Currently, space data is maintained primarily through a homegrown system with other users maintaining their own data files for specific department needs. AiM will meet the College’s need for such things as state reporting requirements, space planning and management, maintenance (i.e. work orders), emergency management, financial audits, and capital projects.

Who will it affect?

AiM is one of the larger implementations of the BATTERY Project. Ultimately, AiM will affect every member of the campus community simply as it will be the way in which work orders are submitted. On a day-to-day basis, the primary department users will include: Physical Plant, Business Affairs, Facilities Planning, Budgeting & Payroll Services, Controller’s Office, Business & Auxiliary Services, Public Safety, Environmental Health & Safety, Information Technology, Institutional Research, Residential Life & Housing, Registrar’s Office, and Procurement.

 

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Division Spotlight: Pat Fillippa

Posted by: Jennifer Stevens | July 10, 2014 | No Comment |

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Pat Fillippa, Controller’s Office

Briefly describe your role.

As Deputy Controller, my role consists of supporting our office and other departments, as needed; maintaining the financial system (upgrade testing, module implementations, troubleshooting, etc.), chart of accounts maintenance and oversight, finance system security maintenance, writing financial reports, tax compliance, financial policy and procedure development and oversight, providing audit support at year-end.

What is the function of your department?

The Controller’s Office provides an array of services to the students, faculty, and staff incorporating best business practices and compliance with financial and tax regulations.  Our office is charged with the responsibilities inclusive of general accounting and financial reporting; developing and maintaining the accounting information system consisting of accounts payable, general ledger and fixed assets; grants and contract administration, tax compliance, and compliance with State and Federal laws as well as accounting standards.

How long have you been working at the College?

In August, I will have been at the College three years.

What brought you to the College?

While living in NC, we had been discussing moving closer to family for some time and heading back to Pittsburgh where my family lives was not in my plans. I love them, but I don’t miss living there (but still follow the sports scene of course, why wouldn’t I, it’s Pittsburgh).  So, when the opportunity to continue my career in higher education at the College presented itself, I was glad to jump at the chance. The work atmosphere, being close to my wife’s family (as long as they don’t just show up too often…), and the Charleston lifestyle has been good for us all.

What do you like most about your job?

I like the people, collaboration, and the fact that people are open and willing to share information and work together.

 What are some of your favorite memories from the College?

I’m still working on memories since I’m fairly new, but I have enjoyed walking around the campus and city at lunch and just taking it all in.

The group lunches in our department are a highlight for sure. They take good care of me with the food, especially the mac and cheese and red rice. I’m still trying to figure out how to get Maddy out of the picture so that I can enjoy her share of the red rice.

What are your hobbies and interests?

My main hobby is hanging with my wife Deirdre, and our boys Aidan (10) and Killian (5).  The boys are a handful (just like their mom…), and thankfully she puts up with all three of her boys, including me.

I enjoy playing ice hockey, listening to music, hiking, and the beach.  It’s tough to beat the fact that I can go to the beach in the morning and play ice hockey that same night.

What is something that your colleagues would be surprised to learn about you?

The main thing that would be a surprise I guess would be the fact that my real last name is not originally Fillippa. Witness protection is touchy about these things and I’ve already said too much…

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Department Spotlight: Grounds

Posted by: Jennifer Stevens | July 2, 2014 | No Comment |

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What is your department?

Grounds

What is the function of your department?

We provide maintenance to all of the grounds at the downtown campus, including parking lots, and Residence life facilities, as well as the grounds at Grice lab at Fort Johnson. We decorate the stages for the commencement ceremonies in May and December. In addition, we make the gate arrangements and hang the wreaths and roping on campus for the holidays, as well as decorate Silcox gym for the faculty/staff holiday party.

How many employees are there in your department?

We have 15 full time employees (10 permanent and 5 temporary) and 2 students who work part-time.

What are the total years of service in your department?

We have over 110 years of service on our crew.

What are some statistics that you’re able to share?

We have put out 2900 bales of pinestraw this past year.

We planted 188 flats (with 15 to 18 cells/flat) of flowers this spring.

We also hatched 10 praying mantis egg sacks and released approximately 2000 praying mantis throughout campus in May.

Are there any services that your department offers that the College community might be unaware of?

We offer two types of mosquito repellent services for events; we have an inexpensive granular treatment that does not have a long residual and then we have a ‘pleasant’ smelling granular that is quite expensive, but lasts about a month. We have not used any aerosol or fogging since 2006.

Are there any additional facts you would like to share?

We try to take a field trip every summer and have visited the botanical gardens at the Riverbanks Zoo, Edisto Gardens, Cypress Gardens, and Pearl Fryar’s Topiary Gardens in Bishopville, SC.

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Office of Sustainability Community Garden

Posted by: Jennifer Stevens | June 26, 2014 | No Comment |

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At the corner of Coming and Wentworth Streets, the Office of Sustainability Community Garden can be found in the Political Science courtyard. Sustainability launched the garden program in 2012, but the now dormant Urban Agriculture Club built the previous garden bed in 2010. With the help of a few offices on campus, and a motivated Garden Program Coordinator by the name of Lexa Keane, the community garden was rejuvenated.

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Keane, a May 2014 Political Science and Environmental Studies graduate of the College, was debating taking a gap year and was craving some kind of hands on experience. She felt like she had reached her capacity to digest information in a classroom setting, and wanted to be empowered in other ways. Keane remembers looking at the old garden bed as a way to fill the void that classes couldn’t satisfy, and began the garden program for the office.

The ultimate goal of the Garden Apprenticeship Program is to integrate farming and gardening into the College’s curriculum – to create solidarity and empowerment around being connected with the earth and our food systems (even in an urban setting). The program, open to students, faculty, and staff, was in the works last summer and fall (2013) and officially started in spring 2014. It was originally formed to facilitate a more fluid and graceful transitioning of garden knowledge among interns, so whoever takes over the role of Garden Program Coordinator can be immersed with the garden program and can be confident in running the program themselves.

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Currently, there are three beds in the Political Science courtyard, all constructed by the Physical Plant carpentry shop. The left bed has purple snap dragon, purple and silver ground shade plant, yellow root, kale, bib lettuce, collards, tomatoes, borage, Genovese basil, and lemon basil. The middle bed contains a very large tomatillo plant, basil (two different varieties, lemon and African blue basil) tomatoes, arugula, lettuce, borage. The right bed contains 3 chamomiles, 2 dills, 1 Charleston cilantro, 1 Charleston tarragon, 3 different varieties of thyme, marigolds, Gullah Geechee corn, red emperor beans, collards, and kale.

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The program emphasizes teamwork rather than a hierarchical experience. There are many components to the program, such as field trips, gardening work days, DIY projects, homeopathic remedies, and community outreach. Sustainability has collaborated with various departments at the College and other Charleston organizations including but not limited to Crop Up LLC, Grow Food Carolina, Gullah Geechee Nation, the Grounds Department, the Physical Plant Carpentry Department, the School of the Arts, the Environmental Studies Department, Alternative Break (Center for Civic Engagement), Compost in My Shoe, Dirt Works farmers, the MUSC Urban Farm, and the Political Science Department. The garden is also tied to Dixie Plantation.

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For more information about the Community Garden, visit sustainability.cofc.edu.

 

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Harbor Walk: UPDATE

Posted by: Jennifer Stevens | June 18, 2014 | No Comment |

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Harbor Walk is a commercial and retail center that is a part of the Aquarium Wharf area of downtown Charleston. The College has leased 45,000 square feet of space at Harbor Walk to support the classrooms, labs, and faculty offices displaced during the renovation of major academic buildings on campus such as the Rita Hollings Science Center and the Simons Center for the Arts. Harbor Walk will also serve as home to the Department of Computer Science.

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Harbor Walk West is comprised of the old IMAX/Hippodrome building. It will house Biology and Physics & Astronomy classrooms, labs, and faculty offices. The building closest to the Cooper River is Harbor Walk East, which will house the Department of Computer Science and a Biology Lab.

Construction is almost complete at Harbor Walk. The Department of Computer Science moved in on June 7. Biology and Physics faculty will move on July 14 so that they have enough time to unpack their boxes and get labs ready in time for the Fall 2014 semester.

Below are some recent photographs of the progress made at Harbor Walk:

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To learn more about Harbor Walk, go to go.cofc.edu/harborwalk.

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Division Spotlight: Marcia Moore

Posted by: Jennifer Stevens | June 11, 2014 | No Comment |

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Marcia Moore, IT Programming and Network Services

Briefly describe your role.

I am the IT Director for Programming and Network Services which means that I manage two of the IT departments. My role is primarily management (personnel, project, and operations), planning, coordination, and assisting these two departments with customer service and effective campus support.

What is the function of your department?

Programming Services teams provide support for the College enterprise and departmental applications systems. This includes programming, testing, research, troubleshooting, needs analysis, design, integrations, conversion of data, helping users figure out how the applications work, serving on almost every implementation team, and general technology application support.

Network Services teams provide support for the campus wired and ireless networks, Internet, remote campus location connectivity, network security, network management, monitoring, troubleshooting, cabling (fiber between buildings and various cable types within buildings), audio/visual design/implementation, broadcast engineering video services, technology infrastructure for capital project (serves on almost every capital project team), strategic planning, and general network support.

How long have you been working at the College?

I started working for the College in February 1983 when Administrative Computing was still in the older section of the Science building before moving to JC Long in 1985 and then to the Bell Building in 1998. At the time, the College connected to USC for their student and finance processing and to MUSC for payroll processing. At that time, there was no Word processing or desktops. I am really dating myself!

What brought you to the College?

Jan O’Neill who also works in IT previously worked with me at Cambar but had left to accept a job at College of Charleston. She encouraged me to apply for an opening. I was excited about the opportunity to work in higher education and return to state employment (I had worked at MUSC for almost 5 years prior to Cambar).

What do you like most about your job?

I have a passion for helping others. My job provides me an opportunity to help departments throughout the campus and to help improve College business processes with technology.

What are some of your favorite memories from the College?

Working with some wonderful people is indeed my favorite memory. My other favorite memory is watching all the technology changes and the impact that they made. The biggest changes came with the implementation of the in-house ERP in 1990-91 and then the ERP replacement a few years ago.

What are your hobbies and interests?

Family is extremely important to me and where I place most of my free time. Anyone who knows me knows that I love to talk about my husband, children, and our many grandchildren. I also thoroughly enjoy my church life. I just finished my 29th year of teaching Sunday School to preschoolers.

What is something that your colleagues would be surprised to learn about you?

I decided to take the fast track through College. I completed my BS Math degree with a minor in Computer Science (no college was offering a major in CS at that time) from Clemson with summa cum laude honors in just a little over 2 years (Aug 1974 – Dec 1976) while working part-time and coming home most weekends to see my now husband who was attending The Citadel.

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North Campus Relocation: UPDATE

Posted by: Jennifer Stevens | June 4, 2014 | 1 Comment |

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Construction is well underway at 3800 Paramount Drive in North Charleston – the new home of the College of Charleston North Campus and Lowcountry Graduate Center (LGC). The brand-new facility will offer modern, flexible learning spaces while ensuring students taking courses at this site feel very much a part of campus life.

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In December 2012, Boeing purchased the building the College’s North Campus and the LGC occupy on International Boulevard by the airport. The building is immediately adjacent to Boeing’s operations, so it was an ideal location for the company to expand. The finalized deal with the SCRA was the College’s official notice to find a new location for the North Campus and the LGC. In January 2013, the College began to define its building programming needs, which then resulted in a lease solicitation in March. After exploring various options, the College decided to move forward with a newly constructed 50,000 square foot building located at 3800 Paramount Drive. The new location will allow the building to be visible from I-526.

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The building has been designed to cover several aspects of a campus. The site will include administrative offices for the operations of CofC North and the LGC and faculty offices for both of these entities. Students will learn in a variety of instructional spaces from traditional lecture-style rooms to flexible learning spaces to lecture-capture rooms. There will also be a library with separate spaces for individual or small group studying and three computer labs. The Center for Student Learning will also have a presence to allow for individual tutoring sessions. The College will also provide a café/student lounge space with grab-and-go options available through a Provisions On Demand (P.O.D.) kiosk, similar to the one in the Education Center. There will be power and data ports throughout the building in recognition that students and faculty use a variety of devices to work and learn.

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The new site will offer a long-term home to the operations of CofC North and the LGC, and most important, provide a true sense of ‘campus’ to students. The opportunity to program a new building is also beneficial to the College in that we will have input on the design and infrastructure to ensure it supports the needs of students, faculty, and staff. The site is accessible via I-26 and I-526 and other local roads.

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All current programs will be relocated to the new site at Paramount Drive. An important driver to increase the size of the facility is the new Bachelor of Professional Studies program that was implemented in Fall 2013. There will also be a renewed effort to increase collaboration with local institutions to offer more graduate courses and programs through the LGC. CofC North expects to increase non-credit courses and programs to meet the needs of local businesses.

The move-in process is expected to begin early August in order to be fully relocated in time for the start of the Fall 2014 semester.

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Division Spotlight: Dee Cole

Posted by: Jennifer Stevens | May 28, 2014 | No Comment |

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Dee Cole, Human Resources

Briefly describe your role.

I’m the Associate Director of Human Resources. I oversee the recruitment, classification, compensation, employee relations, worker’s compensation, performance management, office operations, and data entry areas of the Human Resources office.

What is the function of your department?

To serve the employees at the College of Charleston by providing accurate and timely services associated with benefits, recruitment, training, discipline, evaluation and classification and compensation.

How long have you been working at the College?

I started here in February of 1997, but I attended the College starting in 1977. Additionally, my husband was employed in the Theater department from 1987 until 1998, so I have been a part of the school for a very long time.

What brought you to the College?

My family returned from Germany when my father was stationed at Shaw AFB, in Sumter, SC during my sophomore year of high school. When it came time to attend college I picked the College of Charleston for its size, beauty, reputation and history. As a military brat, I valued the courtesy, stability, and tradition I found here.

What do you like most about your job?

As an English major – I find evaluating, writing, and editing position descriptions satisfying. Position description creation requires interaction with supervisors and employees and gives me an opportunity to use my writing skills to produce an effective and appropriate job description, so that we can hire and/or retain high quality employees.

What are some of your favorite memories from the College?

I like to remember the College from my student days – when the Lightsey Center where I now work was a Sears department store, the Robert Scott Small building was a library, the Addlestone Library was a high school, Craig Dorm was new, the Simons Center was not yet finished, and the New Science Building was my dormitory. We have grown so much.

What are your hobbies and interests?

I am a ravenous reader and I love to walk with my husband in beautiful places like Charles Towne Landing and Magnolia plantation. I hope everyone knows that College of Charleston employees can get into Magnolia Plantation for free with their college ID cards. If you haven’t been to these places you are really missing out on the beauty and history of our area.

What is something that your colleagues would be surprised to learn about you?

Many people would be surprised to know that as a student I was once in a Center Stage Production at the Simons Center.

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Zero Waste at A Charleston Affair

Posted by: Jennifer Stevens | May 20, 2014 | No Comment |

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Over the weekend of May 3, 2014, the College hosted the largest zero waste event in College of Charleston history. What began as an idea originated by the Office of Sustainability resulted in over 2,000 pounds of compost, 3,400 pounds of recycling and just 413 pounds of landfill waste generated during the annual A Charleston Affair (ACA) alumni event. The industry standard for zero waste requires that over 90% of total waste generated by the event be diverted from the landfill.

In order to successfully facilitate the zero waste initiative, the Office of Sustainability worked with both on campus and off campus organizations including Alumni Relations, Physical Plant, Food Waste Disposal, Dining Services, Ice Box, JMC Charleston, and Charleston County.

Jen Jones and Ashlyn Spilis-Hochschild set a goal of a zero waste ACA nearly two years ago. Once the College started composting with Food Waste Disposal at City Bistro, they knew that the College could begin accommodating composting at events. The Office of Sustainability hosted zero waste events during the 2013 Sustainability Week and at that point, they knew there was potential to compost at larger events. Composting expanded out to all other dining locations on campus and the College’s relationship with Food Waste Disposal continued to grow. Last fall, the Office of Sustainability started a “Sustainable Event Guide”.

During the fall, Sustainability realized a zero waste ACA event could be a reality. At this point, Dining Services was already composting all of their pre-consumer (and most post-consumer) waste as well as purchasing all compostable service ware. In December 2013, Jen and Ashlyn were confident that Sustainability could work with Physical Plant, Dining Services, and Food Waste Disposal to do a zero waste ACA. They put together a proposal and pitched the idea to Alumni Relations in January 2014. Jen and Ashlyn worked with Jess Tuckman from Alumni Relations and addressed concerns they had with incorporating composting to the event. Alumni Relations approved the proposal in March 2014, allowing Sustainability to incorporate composting and increasing recycling efforts at ACA.

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One of the first obstacles faced after approval was that the compostable cups Sustainability wanted to use were not shatterproof, one of the requirements Ice Box had for the event. The Office ended up procuring recyclable, shatterproof cups, which made all streams recyclable (all drinks including drinking cups) and compostable (all food, service ware, cutlery).

Another challenge was the number of volunteers needed each night. Beyond the Office of Sustainability interns, Jen and Ashlyn reached out to the College community and found volunteers from the Faculty/Staff Listerv, Masters of Environment Studies Program, students that work with the Sustainability office through the Garden Apprenticeship Program, and the Sustainable Greek Chair Program. Volunteers 21 or older were stationed inside and volunteers under 21 were stationed just outside of the event. The under 21 group opened each bag and made sure there was no contamination between streams of waste.

Successfully achieving zero waste at ACA required planning, collaboration, and hard work. “I think it’s such a great step for the College and really embraces all of the components of sustainability–collaboration, hard work, dedication, adaptability–that I hope we can show that if it can be done at ACA, it can be done virtually anywhere on campus. Waste generated from an event shouldn’t be an afterthought; with planning and prioritizing, we can minimize the impact by changing what we perceive as waste to usable resources!” Ashlyn said. Jen and Ashlyn are excited about the potential for future zero waste events; they have already been approached by multiple people to pursue similar endeavors at their events.

For more information about the Office of Sustainability, visit sustainability.cofc.edu.

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