Tennessee Association of Physical Plant Administrators
The TNAPPA Newsletter
October, 2001
FAREWELL FROM THE PAST PRESIDENT
By Larry Wheaton
TNAPPA 2001 is over and as I have time to reflect on how quickly the meeting passed, I question if the majority of expectations were met. Apparently they were based upon the feedback and financial results in the final report. Others and myself questioned if we would make it back in April. However, as the meetings theme suggests, teamwork resulted in a successful meeting ending in the black. Total participants and exhibitors exceeded 400 for Thursday.
I would like to thank all that assisted in hosting the meeting at TTU. I wish to express my appreciation to all those who attended as participant or sponsor. It is my feeling that the people make the meeting, not the host. The host is only highlighting the respective campus. As most of you feel, we are very proud of our campus and enjoyed the hard work of preparation. Some of our workers expressed an interest to do it again next year. Sorry fellows, we will sit back and watch.
I really appreciate the feedback from the conference evaluations. I will have to admit that I have attended meetings that I really enjoyed, but I failed to complete the evaluations at the end. I would encourage all those who have been guilty to correct their ways. The evaluations are extremely valuable in planning the future programs. Yes, there were some negative comments in with the positive ones. However, I hope that this information will be as beneficial to others as it has been for me.
We tried something new again this year with the supervisor training sessions on Friday. Some like the training and requested more. If we are to compete with outside contractors, then we need to make an investment in improving our work force. Trained supervisors will improve the services we are responsible for providing.
Lets all join in and assist Jewell Winn whenever she calls on us to make TNAPPA 2002 at TSU a huge success. I felt we were facing a critical time with the state budget for the 2001 meeting, and it could not get any worse. Now it appears that it may get worse before it gets better. Hosting a meeting is hard enough in good times. If budgets are restricted, travel approval may be hard to get. Please start now in sharing with your upper management the benefits of attending TNAPPA’s Annual Meeting in 2002.
Once again thanks for a wonderful opportunity to be a significant part of TNAPPA. I look forward to continuing to support our professional organization and work with the other fine folks.
LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT
Greetings! It is hard to believe that five months have passed since we were together at the annual meeting networking and gaining valuable information in Physical Plant operations. Larry Wheaton and his staff did a great job in hosting the 2001 conference. In spite of the recent state budget crisis, we are moving forward in planning the 2002 conference in Nashville at Tennessee State University. I am being very optimistic about the budget situation, and since the annual meeting is in state, I think we will be fine.
One of the goals I stated for this year was to have three $200 scholarships awarded to east, middle, and west Tennessee small schools. Oftentimes, schools would like to participate, but the funding is not available. We have formed a committee to develop the criteria and hopefully have everything in place prior to the 2002 meeting to award the scholarships. We will need to set a deadline for scholarship applications prior to the meeting.
Other goals include:
These goals can only be accomplished with the work of dedicated committee and board members. I therefore challenge each of you to become involved in your organization—find a committee to work on. TNAPPA is a great organization but it can only be as great as its members make it. If you have any comments or concerns regarding TNAPPA, please e-mail me at jwinn@tnstate.edu or call me at 615-963-5685.
We look forward to seeing all of you in May of 2002 at Tennessee State University in Nashville, Tennessee.
MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS AT TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY
Tennessee State University, Department of Facilities Management has been doing great things. Listed are some of the fiscal year 00-01 Major Accomplishments:
Productivity:
Professional Association:
Innovation:
Program:
TSU had an overall good year. We look forward to greater challenges in the upcoming fiscal year.
CLASSROOM UPGRADES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE
The University of Tennessee is using one third of the money generated from the facilities fee instituted a little over a year ago to upgrade classrooms on its Knoxville Campus. This past summer 21 classrooms in the Humanities and Social Sciences Building were completely refinished.. The upgrades covered new lights, ceilings, chalkboards, window shades, projection screens, paint, carpet, and floor work as needed. New furnishings included student desks or tables, chairs, and teacher tables. Technology improvements provided ceiling mounted computer projectors, electronic podia with amplifiers, VCRs, speakers, connections for laptops and document cameras, fingertip controls for all of this equipment, and computer ports for internet connection.
Twenty-eight classrooms have been identified for upgrade in year two of the program. Most of these classrooms will get Smartboards instead of the podia and projectors because of their size and use. These classrooms are spread out over nine different buildings.
This program is expected to continue for at least five more years.
CANCER CLAIMS LIFE OF UT PHYSICAL PLANT DIRECTOR
John Parker, Executive Director of The University of Tennessee Physical Plant Department, passed away Thursday, Sept 6, 2001, one day shy of his 70th birthday. He had worked at UT for nearly 40 years. He served as TNAPPA 2nd Vice President in 1999 and hosted the TNAPPA Educational Conference that same year.
"John was one of the best friends anybody could ever have," said Mike Sherrell, UT Physical Plant Associate Director who knew Parker for 20 years. "He had many, many friends. His loss is going to be felt by a lot of people."
Parker was hired at UT in February ‘62 in the Purchasing Department. He transferred to the Physical Plant four years later, where he was named acting director in January ‘78 and permanent director in November.
John spearheaded programs in 1980 at the UT Physical Plant to collect food and clothing for needy families each year during the holidays. "He was a very giving, helping person," said Eleanor Houser, Sr Admin Asst at the Physical Plant and Parker’s co-worker since 1971. "He was particularly proud of those programs."
Survivors include his wife of 28 years, Martha; son Chan of Atlanta; son Brad and daughter Pennye Wilkerson, both of Knoxville; stepdaughter Carol Traub of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; and three grandchildren.
John’s family has established a memorial scholarship fund for family of UT Physical Plant employees. For those of you who may wish to participate, donations may be made to : John C. Parker, Sr. Memorial Scholarship Fund. Mail to: The University of Tennessee / ATTN: Development Office / 639 Andy Holt Tower / Knoxville, TN 37996.
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HELP!
A newsletter serves little purpose without news. Each of us has accomplishments on our campus about which we are justifiably proud. It’s time to do a little crowing. Write an article to share with your fellow TNAPPA members to let us know about those accomplishments. We can also inform each other of lessons we may have learned the hard way so we can learn from each others experiences.
Articles may be submitted as Word or Word Perfect files attached to e-mails to lpedigo@utk.edu , or they may be mailed to: