SRAPPA President’s Message, October 2009 – October 2010
First of all, thank you to the 2009 Conference Host and Planning Committee at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University for a wonderful event this past October. We learned, we shared, we made new friends, and we had fun.
I will do my best over the next several months of my term as SRAPPA President to serve you well, and I look forward to a productive year. That said, I am also looking forward to capping off the year at our 2010 Conference being hosted by the University of Alabama.
Welcome new Board Members, Committee Chairs and Representatives, and congratulations to those that have moved up in the chain of advancement. A special thanks to Marion Bracy for his many years of service to SRAPPA. Marion completed his six year journey with his final year of service as Senior SRAPPA Representative to APPA. Marion was an inspiration to me when I first became involved in SRAPPA about five years ago, and although I know he will remain active within the SRAPPA community, his presence and insights at Board Meetings will be missed.
As we look back on this past year under Larry Blake’s leadership, we had four supervisor tool kit training sessions with a total of 90 attendees, and ended up with seven fully qualified trainers. That is a terrific accomplishment and so important to developing facilities management leaders. The success of that program within SRAPPA is also a credit to Tony Yamada and his Supervisor Took Kit team. With trainers in place, we plan to hold five or more additional sessions this year with only a nominal cost to SRAPPA. With trainers in place, the sessions are able to essentially pay for themselves through tuition which is timely in light of our current economic climate.
These economic times have also encouraged us to look into alternative opportunities via the internet for folks that cannot travel to benefit from our Annual Conferences. The details of how this may be offered and what may be included have not been worked out, and this option will likely not be available for the 2010 Conference in Alabama, but making progress in developing this concept is one of our goals for this year.
We will continue to support APPA leadership training through our scholarship program. Folks interested in learning more about this program can click on the scholarship tab on our SRAPPA web page.
We will update our web page this year, and plan to publish three news letters over the course of the next several months. The first will focus on highlights from our 2009 Conference, the second will preview our 2010 Conference, and, with input from SRPPA members, our third newsletter will be a collection of stories and photographs of interest to folks within our region.
We will continue to encourage the establishment of additional state chapters within our region. South Carolina intends to join the ranks of FLAPPA (Florida), GAPPA (Georgia), LAPPA (Louisiana), TNAPPA (Tennessee), and WVAPPA (West Virginia) this year. We look forward to welcoming SCAPPA as our newest recognized state chapter.
At our Board Meeting prior to our 2009 conference, the Board voted unanimously to demonstrate our commitment to APPA and to furthering professional development by sponsoring a chapter in the APPA Body of Knowledge, BOK, for the next three years. The chapter we sponsored is “Roadmap for Campus Environmental Sustainability.
Before I close, I must mention the well deserved Award Winners from our region recognized at the 2009 APPA Conference. The Award for Excellence, APPA’s highest institution honor, was awarded to the University of North Florida and the University of West Georgia. Robert Hascall, Emory University, was the recipient of the Meritorious Service Award. David Gray, Middle Tennnessee State University, received the Unsung Hero Award. And the Rex Dillard Award for best Facilities Manager Article, “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Brick”, was presented to Fred Gratto from the University of Florida. My congratulations to all.
Finally, I am asking those of you within the SRAPPA region for your thoughts on what other things SRAPPA should be focusing on this year and in the years to come. Send me an email, and I will respond. My mail address is listed on the SRAPPA web site.
Let’s be reminded that we provide an essential service to our respective institutions and that we have a terrific network of experienced counterparts to interact with when needed. Let’s give our institutions our best effort, and let’s make a difference.
John Malmrose
President
