Sam Houston State University (SHSU) has adequate physical facilities and resources, both on and off campus, that appropriately serve the needs of the institution’s educational programs, support services, and other mission-related activities.
SHSU is committed to providing and maintaining appropriate and adequate physical facilities by continually assessing needs, monitoring quality, and improving operations and maintenance. Reporting to the Vice President for Finance and Operations, the Associate Vice President for Facilities Management directs the day-to-day operations and has administrative and strategic planning responsibility for preventative maintenance, resource management, facility alterations, new construction, and master planning [1]. Facilities Management [2] [3] works effectively and efficiently, providing an environment conducive to learning, research, and service. Facilities Management works collaboratively with administrators and staff across divisions as the University prepares for future growth.
The University exercises appropriate control over all its physical resources. Methods employed to maintain this control include the University’s master plan [4] [5] and property inventory. In addition, the University employs an internal auditor [6] that reports to the Texas State University System (TSUS) office.
The Campus
The campus is composed of seven colleges: Business Administration, Criminal Justice, Education, Fine Arts and Mass Communication, Health Sciences, Humanities and Social Sciences, and Science and Engineering Technology. In fall 2017, the SHSU main campus [7] contained 147 buildings encompassing over 3,841,643 gross square feet of space [8]. The Office of Facilities Management maintains inventory of all buildings, currently totaling 242, both on and off the main campus [9].
The total acreage of the University is approximately 2,835.52 acres [10], of which 344.56 acres are considered improved and maintainable [11]. Although most of the buildings are located on the main campus just south of downtown Huntsville, SHSU also has an observatory facility (2 acres) north of the campus off State Highway 19; the Gibbs Ranch (1,605 acres) north of the campus off of State Highway 75; University Camp (345 acres), a recreational facility off of State Highway 19; the Agricultural, Sports, and Educational Center (33 acres) off of Avenue M and bordering along the Interstate 45 North access road; the Center for Biological Field Studies (247 acres) off of Fish Hatchery Road on the northern edge of the city limits; Raven Nest Golf Club , an 18-hole golf course (157 acres) along Interstate 45 South across from the Agriculture Center; and The Woodlands Center, a 7-acre site on the Lone Star College Campus where SHSU has constructed a 143,904-square-foot educational building, a 743-space parking garage, and a 189-space surface parking lot to serve the student population to the south of Huntsville [12].
Physical Facilities
In fall 2017, the SHSU campus contained 242 buildings encompassing more than 4,636,540 gross square feet of space [9]. Of these structures, 102 buildings, valued in total at $497,513,000, are dedicated to educational and general functions. The remaining 140 auxiliary buildings are valued at $519,749,000. A campus map is included in the supporting documentation [7].
In fall of 2017, SHSU had 1,277,906 assignable square feet of Educational and General (E&G) space [13]. E&G space includes teaching, library, research, office, and support space. Based on record growth, a space deficit of 462,236 assignable square feet (ASF) was projected in the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) Fall 2016 Space Model [14] [15]. The University recently completed the Fred Pirkle Engineering Technology Center [16], adding 31,946 ASF earlier this year. The University is finishing construction of a new biology laboratory building, to be opened in fall of 2018, which will add an estimated 58,783 ASF [17]. Additionally, the new Art Complex, presently in the design phase, will add an estimated 43,428 ASF [18] [19]. This will reduce the deficit by an estimated 134,157 ASF.
With regard to classroom and laboratory space, SHSU reports room utilization data to the THECB and is provided a Space Utilization Efficiency (SUE) score comprised of the following variables: Facilities Demand, Current Utilization Rate, and Percent Fill. The SUE score is meant to comprehensively and effectively identify space need and actual use. In the fall 2017 semester, SHSU scored at the State average for overall efficiency of classroom and laboratory usage. Percent fill for classroom and laboratory rooms were calculated at 68% and 73%, respectively [20].
To supplement the institution-owned ASF, the University holds classes at various off-site locations. Classroom space at these off-site locations can be rented or provided temporarily, free of charge, by various educational entities. SHSU works closely with local K-12 school districts in the delivery of its undergraduate and graduate education degrees. As a result, K-12 schools and administrative school district offices often temporarily allocate classroom space to SHSU. These classroom facilities are comparable to those found on the main SHSU campus and are maintained by the respective school districts.
Newton Gresham Library
The Newton Gresham Library [21] serves the research and educational needs of the SHSU community. The library holds over 1.3 million books, bound periodicals, and government documents and a variety of formats, including multimedia, digital collections, microforms, microfiche, phonograph records, videotape, and newspapers. Other groups of materials housed in the Newton Gresham Library include paperbacks for recreational reading, current periodical issues, new books, and a children's literature collection. A multimedia lab, music listening room, study carrels, a small lounge area furnished with vending machines, and a copy center, including a public fax machine, are provided for the convenience of students and faculty.
Residence Life
SHSU has nine residence halls, 15 small houses (occupancy of 30-46), and one apartment complex [22]. In the fall of 2017, the University opened Piney Woods Hall, a new 238,000-square-foot residence hall, which accommodates an additional 684 beds. The combined capacity of existing facilities is 3,877 students. Included in these facilities are 15 small houses reserved for student groups, such as Criminal Justice majors, Honors College students, Terry Scholars, Smith-Hutson Scholars, Bearkat Learning Community students, FAMC students, and students in other living-learning cohorts such as Pre-Law, Agriculture, Education, Health Sciences, ROTC, and First Generation. Security for all halls and houses is provided via a card-access system, the exceptions being Bearkat Village apartments and White Hall, in which rooms open directly to the buildings’ exteriors. All facilities receive 24-hour maintenance coverage and are inspected and repaired as required on a continual basis [23]. An in-house 15-person team handles maintenance for these facilities. The University’s Facilities Management staff or outside contractors occasionally provide assistance. Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant rooms and apartments are available for students requiring special facilities. A private contractor provides custodial services for the facilities. Students are encouraged to provide feedback regarding their living situation via an annual student housing survey [24].
Recreational Facilities
SHSU operates and maintains a variety of recreational facilities that enhance the educational mission of the institution. It maintains one 150,000-square-foot recreation facility comprised of basketball courts, an indoor running track, racquetball courts, multipurpose rooms, weight and conditioning rooms, locker rooms, [25] and an outdoor swimming pool [26]. The University also maintains a 100,000-square-foot coliseum used for both recreational and academic purposes [27]. Outdoor recreational facilities include six outdoor multipurpose sport fields [28]; a one-quarter of a mile jogging/running track [29]; two outdoor sand volleyball courts [30]; eight lighted tennis courts [31]; a 345-acre camp used for outdoor pursuits, new student orientations, student leadership development programs, and other university initiatives [32]; and Raven Nest Golf Club, a 6,943-yard, 18-hole golf course [33]. All facilities are ADA compliant and are open to the University population seven days per week throughout the academic school year.
Lowman Student Center
The Lowman Student Center (LSC) [34] serves as the “living room on campus” for SHSU students. This facility contains the Kat Klub [35], offering a wide range of student entertainment options, including two HD video walls, eight full-sized billiard tables, gaming consoles, ping-pong tables, air hockey, pinball, and retro arcade games. The LSC also contains the University Bookstore [36]. The LSC is currently undergoing expansion and renovation to meet the needs of SHSU’s growing student population [37].
Student Health Services Facilities
SHSU has dedicated facilities to help promote student health, well-being, and academic success. The Student Health Center [38] is an ambulatory clinic serving the needs of SHSU students. The range of services provided include the following:
In addition, the Student Health Center also houses the SHSU Counseling Center [39], which provides individual, couples, and group therapy to students enrolled at SHSU.
Dining Service Facilities
The University contracts with Aramark Higher Education to provide dining services on campus [40]. The University has two all-you-care-to-eat dining facilities, Old Main Market and General’s Market; both locations are Fresh Food Company concepts. Constructed in 2011, Old Main Market seats 600 patrons with an additional 80-seat meeting room space. General’s Market was constructed in 2017 and seats 620. General’s Market has both inside and outside dining available, as well as music throughout the dining rooms. Aramark also offers two fast-food facilities: Paw Print and South Paw. Paw Print, located in the LSC, operates four national brands and two proprietary brands. The South Paw location houses two national brands with a grab-n-go section on the south side of campus. Satellite concession operations serving drinks and snacks are available in five locations across campus. In addition, a convenience store is located at The Woodlands Center, and the University Golf Course offers the Raven’s Nest Clubhouse Grill.
Operations and Maintenance
Facilities Management is responsible for the operation and maintenance of all facilities at SHSU. In the case of residence halls, the Office of Residence Life is responsible for all operation and maintenance of residence facilities. The goal of Facilities Management is to provide safe, clean, attractive, and energy-efficient buildings that are conducive to teaching, research, living, and recreational activities. Facilities Management uses a software program, branded as Famis, to record, track, and complete all customer requirements for maintenance or building improvements.
The preventive maintenance (PM) program begins with a list of tasks prepared by each shop for building equipment or components under their responsibility. Each shop task may have one or more buildings or pieces of equipment included in the task. The tasks are automatically generated by the Famis system according to the period of recurrence established for each task. The PM program is considered high priority as the philosophy of a good preventive maintenance program is to reduce unscheduled repair work orders. Implementing a strong preventive maintenance program reduces building and equipment failure, extends the life expectancy of buildings and supporting infrastructures, and maximizes the availability of campus facilities for the support of the SHSU mission. PM work orders receive the highest priority for shop scheduling after emergency repairs. After-hours call-outs and overtime for repairs and replacement of parts are minimized by maintaining a good preventive maintenance program.
The Facilities Management Office of Space Planning maintains and updates all the space and room inventories across the campus and provides this data to the THECB as changes occur. The accuracy of the inventory is confirmed on an annual basis by November 1 through THECB reports [41].
Property Management
The SHSU Property Coordinator receives and reviews purchase orders to determine if items purchased are capital assets. The Coordinator assists departments across campus, purchasing, and accounts payable to assure property inventory requirements are met. The Coordinator is also charged with maintaining automated property and real property accounting records using the Statewide Property Accounting (SPA) system from the State Comptroller. The Coordinator is also charged with maintaining automated property and real property accounting records using the Banner Finance System following policies set by the Texas State Comptroller.
SHSU inventory is maintained within the Banner Finance Accounting System. The University’s Property Office is responsible for maintaining the electronic records of all SHSU inventoried items and property. The Property Office receives notification of each purchase eligible to be recorded in the inventory records. In addition, the Property Office coordinates the annual inventory of SHSU equipment. Each year, every department performs an annual inventory of its items. Any items appearing on the inventory list that cannot be located are reported to the Property Office. Items found in the department that are not listed with the Property Office are also reported. SHSU Policy FO-PUR-23 describes departmental responsibilities relative to departmental property [42]. Items costing $5,000 or more and having an expected life of one year or more are tracked in the Property records.
Internal Audit
Thefts of inventory are investigated by the University Police Department. Thefts and significant amounts of unexplained missing inventory are reviewed and investigated by the Internal Auditor.
The SHSU Internal Auditor [6] reports directly to the TSUS’s Director of Audits and Analysis, a process designed to provide positive support to the Board of Regents, the Chancellor, System Administration executive management, and the Components in the effective discharge of their responsibilities. The system-wide internal audit function is coordinated through the System’s Director of Audits and Analysis, who reports directly to the Finance and Audit Committee of the Board of Regents. It is the responsibility of the auditor to examine and analyze accounting records of the University and prepare reports concerning its financial status and operating procedures. The Internal Auditor conducts independent protective and constructive audits for management to review effectiveness of controls, financial records, and operations.
Technological Infrastructure
SHSU manages and supports a sophisticated and scalable technological infrastructure in order to make adequate and suitable provisions for the purposes of delivering quality distance and face-to-face education [43]. The various technology solutions and services managed and/or administered by SHSU are appropriate to the nature and objectives of the University’s academic education programs and courses delivered via a fully face-to-face, a fully online, and/or hybrid modality.
Some of the most prominent components of the technological infrastructure include the Learning Management System (LMS), a university-wide proctoring solution, various web/video conferencing options, including Blue Jeans, Blackboard Collaborate Ultra, Go To Meeting, Go To Assist, interactive television (iTV), Kaltura, a recording studio, and a host of third-party applications that augment the online and face-to-face teaching and learning environment by providing rich options for engagement, learning, and assessment in educational programs. These components will be discussed in greater detail in the following paragraphs.
In addition to the general provision of an adequate, sustainable, and scalable technological infrastructure, SHSU also manages the safeguarding of data as it relates to the teaching, learning, and testing experience for faculty and students. Working together, Information Technology (IT@Sam) and SHSU Online make every effort to secure academic data amassed through course modalities.
All University-owned properties are part of the same computer network and domain, which allows the computing experience to remain the same at the Huntsville campus or The Woodlands Center. Both facilities have classrooms equipped with technology, as well as academic computing laboratories that are used for face-to-face lectures and lecture capture. For off-site location contracted spaces or remote access, local non-SHSU resources are used to support the core desktop computing functions. SHSU students, faculty, and staff can access a majority of SHSU computing resources through the SHSU website or by establishing a remote desktop connection to SHSU. Additionally, SHSU has partnered with software vendors to provide academic discounts to our students on commonly used software titles.
Learning Management System (LMS)
SHSU Online manages the installation of Blackboard Learn. A managed hosted environment, the Blackboard Learn platform provides a state-of-the-art, robust course delivery system fully capable of supporting the technological requirements of all fully online and hybrid courses for SHSU. Utilizing a combination of redundant security protocols, the managed hosted platform also provides a safe and secure online environment for students, faculty, and staff across the institution, offering database security, multiple server redundancy, administrative accounts, and roles management through the institutional hierarchy system, privilege management, and vulnerability management. Additional security measures include the provision of (a) the Security Awareness Training Program [44], (b) Policy Compliance IT-00 [45], and (c) the System Administrator Account Usage [46].
Additionally, in conjunction with IT@Sam’s Centralized Authentication Service (CAS), the Blackboard Learn platform employs Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) utilization (cryptographic keys) and user authentication with single sign-on. SHSU Online also employs a full-time system administrator for the LMS, ensuring the ongoing maintenance, support, and administration of the LMS on behalf of the University.
University-Wide Proctoring Solution
As part of the technological infrastructure provided, managed, and maintained by SHSU Online is the utilization of a University-wide proctoring solution. ProctorFree is an academic support software solution designed to employ cutting-edge technology for student identity verification and exam proctoring. ProctorFree authenticates students’ identities using a sophisticated facial recognition algorithm and maintains continuous identity verification throughout the exam. By leveraging a fully customizable, secure browser, ProctorFree allows students the flexibility to access certain webpages or applications throughout the duration of an exam, provided that such access has been allowed by the instructor. Additional security features provided by ProctorFree include (a) recorded testing events; (b) government ID authentication; (c) facial recognition; (d) lockdown browser; (e) no copy, no print, no download; and (f) algorithm to detect anomalies.
Web/Video Conferencing Options
SHSU Online also manages and supports the creative utilization of remote software solutions—including Blue Jeans, Blackboard Collaborate, Go To Meeting, and Go To Assist—as part of the technological infrastructure supporting distance education for SHSU. These web/video conferencing solutions provide distance education faculty ample choices to create collaborative, engaging, and rich educational experiences in extended learning environments.
iTV
SHSU Online also maintains iTV as part of the technological infrastructure supporting distance education efforts at SHSU. Providing state-of-the-art panoramic cameras, large projection and television monitors, and intuitive sound equipment, iTV classrooms allow for two-way communication between locations.
Recording Studio and Lecture Capture Software
SHSU Online employs a full-time Video Production and Technologies Team, whose members produce state-of-the-art lecture recordings, student recordings, and on-site videos for a variety of educational purposes. In addition to the Video Production and Technologies Team, SHSU Online provides a complete physical facility for a recording studio on the main campus, as well as a van for the transportation of video equipment to be used for academic recordings in support of distance education courses and programs.
For remote faculty who do not have geographical access to the studio, SHSU Online provides management and ongoing support for the lecture-capture software, Kaltura, which is used across online and hybrid courses to introduce engaging multimedia to the online learning environment.
Third-party Applications
As part of the overall technological infrastructure supporting distance education, SHSU Online also manages the overall processes that govern the effective usage and application of abundant third-party learning technologies, which are utilized to create efficacious online learning environments for students and faculty and to promote an awareness and understanding of the impacts of technology on learners and organizations. These third-party educational applications include, but are not limited to, (a) Respondus Campus-Wide, (b) Respondus LockDown Browser, (c) Turn-it-in, (d) Enterprise Surveys, (e) Adobe Presenter, (f) Articulate, (g) Skype, (h) Dropbox, (i) GoogleDocs, (j) Turning Point 5, and (k) various web 2.0 tools.
Campus Planning
As a part of SHSU’s efforts to plan responsibly for campus growth, the University has adopted a Campus Master Plan, which was updated in 2013 [4]. The campus utility infrastructure master plan was initiated in 2012 and updated in 2017 by EEA Consulting Engineers and MWM Design group [5].
Capital project planning involves the collection of projects originating from both the Campus Master Plan and the Strategic Planning Process. Following the procedures outlined in the campus policy FO-FM-07 – Building Modifications [47], projects are forwarded to the Facilities Management Office of Facilities Planning & Construction, where they are retained in a database for future capital planning. Each spring, the projects are reviewed and coordinated with the campus administration, resulting in a list of projects approved for submission to the Board of Regents and, if necessary, to the THECB.
Each spring, as part of the campus planning process, the University submits a Capital Expenditure Plan (MP1) Summary Report to the THECB [48]. The report includes any proposed project greater than $1,000,000 and property purchases for any amount that may be submitted within the next five years to the Board of Regents, regardless of funding source.
In October of each year, deferred maintenance is reported to the THECB via the Campus Condition Index Report (CCIR) [49]. Deferred maintenance is broken into two components: Critical Deferred Maintenance (CDM) and Deferred Maintenance (DM). CDM is defined as a physical condition of a building or facility that places the occupants at risk of harm or the facility at risk of not fulfilling its functions. DM is described as existing or imminent building-maintenance-related deficiency from prior years that needs to be corrected or scheduled for preventive maintenance tasks that were not performed because other tasks funded within the budget were perceived to have a higher priority status. The THECB goal for CDM is zero dollars. SHSU currently has CDM of zero (no projects). In 2017, SHSU was budgeted to spend $4,300,000 in DM, which is under 5.0% of E&G replacement value, the goal established by the THECB.
Every May, at the corresponding quarterly Board of Regents meeting, SHSU submits a 5-year Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) to the board for approval [50]. Thereafter, SHSU follows the CIP as a roadmap for construction, renovation, maintenance, and demolition projects for the next year. The CIP is updated annually at a quarterly meeting of the Board of Regents.
The Facilities Management Department oversees the execution of all campus improvement projects and maintains a detailed status record of each project over $5,000 in a report titled the E-builder Maintenance, Renovation, and Construction (MRC) Report [51]. Approximately $31,972,615 in projects are assigned to project managers for completion in the 2017 E-builder MRC report.