Lots of Reasons to Smile

April is all about our guiding principle of laughter. I have a lot to be happy and smiling about these days, as the awards and milestones accomplished by the FAS Division keep coming in.

Another year passed by and I’m proud that our campus won Recyclemania for the sixth year in a row! As you may know, RecycleMania was launched in 2001 as a challenge between two universities to increase recycling on their campuses. It has grown to 607 colleges and universities, spanning 49 states and Canada. This year’s 10-week contest occurred from January 17 to March 27. Our campus claimed the Grand Champion title with a percentage of overall waste recycled of 71.82%. I am proud that recycling has become a way of life at our university not just during this contest period, but throughout the year. Many thanks go to Gary Cinnamon, Ed Johnson, the Facility Services Blue Crew: Cesar Aguilar, Danny Aguilar, Jim Dimartino, Rafael Lopez, Gilbert Munoz, Mike Tili, and Carl Hanson, everyone in Facility Services, and our entire campus community.

I’m sure you have all seen our beautiful new parking structure. It’s almost complete and will open in May. It just received the “Project of the Year” award from the American Public Works Association. Parking Structure 1 will provide spaces for 1640 vehicles, and another 200 spaces in its outside lots. It’s six stories tall, and connects to the campus via a pedestrian bridge. The floors are color coded inside for way finding. Some other fun facts: the structure will provide 30 Alternative Fuel Vehicle parking spaces, has 22 emergency blue phones, four elevators, and 52 security cameras. Many of you assisted with this project including Belinda Garcia, Robert Williams, Brad Fenton, Dora Knoblock, Doug Miller, Linda Leiter (retired Associate VP), and staff from Parking and Commuter Services, University Police Department, Planning, Design and Construction, IITS, and Facility Services. Thank you for your creativity, dedication, and excellent work on this project.

With all our incredible accomplishments, I can’t wait to celebrate at this year’s Spring Fling. I hope all of you join us this Friday in recognizing and rewarding our fine employees for their outstanding contributions to the campus. Candace even promises to wear matching shoes!

FAS - What a Fine Division!

The strength of the team is each individual member… the strength of the member is the team. - Coach Phil Jackson

I don’t have to tell people that FAS has the finest employees around; you all prove it to them on a daily basis. CSUSM was just awarded two very prestigious awards that I need to brag about – The San Diego Excellence in Energy (SANDEE) Award and the Governor’s Employee Safety Award (GESA). These awards not only demonstrate the importance of our labors, but how we have earned the admiration and respect of our community. People want to be like us. We are not the standard; we are what others strive to be. The sense of pride I have to be a part of it is overwhelming.

The objective of the San Diego Excellence in Energy (SANDEE) Award is to recognize outstanding organizations, projects and activities that have achieved significant energy savings and/or contributions toward the goals of the San Diego Regional Energy Strategy 2030, through the implementation of energy efficiency, energy conservation, or renewable energy measures. CSUSM won the SANDEE Award in Outstanding Organizational Achievement.

This award demonstrates the innovative thinking and collaborative efforts of many individuals. As the project manager, Steve Watters ensured the project ran smoothly and stayed within budget. Floyd Dudley took over for Ed Johnson when he assumed the role as energy manager and made sure we met our energy and equipment quality goals. Steve Holbrook, Gerard McQuade, Craig Curtis, David Rodriguez, Larry Russell, and Jim Roscamp all provided contractor support as well as invaluable technical assistance with the mechanical systems. Scott Gorsuch and Ariel Villanueva provided crucial insight before and during the lighting retrofits. In addition, Pat Simpson and Bryan Fisher provided technical support and contractor assistance. Overall, we exceeded our energy goals from 20% to 30%.

In January 2010, California State University San Marcos (CSUSM) was honored as a campus, with a Governor’s Employee Safety Award (GESA) for its exceptional performance in 2008. Our fearless leaders in Risk Management in Safety— Regina Frasca, Bill Thomas, Bruce Bradley, Humberto Garcia, Heather Zarnesky, and Janice Plemons in Workers’ Compensation, provided the tools to empower the campus community to take control of their own risk management and safety. Through their leadership and communication with the campus community, CSUSM faculty and staff performed their work for an entire calendar year without sustaining a lost time injury or illness. This performance was the best in the entire CSU system. A big thank you and congrats to everyone for making this happen.

Are we the best or what? As the finest division there is, we sure have a lot of be proud of.