July 2013
Page 5
Graduate Certificate Program in Facilities Maintenance & Operations You may recall reading about a new graduate certificate program in the planning stages at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in this newsletter in January 2012. After years of planning, Bob Dills, past president of AFE Silicon Valley and of IFMA Silicon Valley and Barbara Jackson, PhD, DBIA, Professor, Construction Management at Cal Poly State University are proud to announce that the certificate program has been scheduled for the coming fall term.
Raffy Espiritu, AFE-SV Chapter President said, “This is welcome news! We at AFE need to promote this program to our membership and to our colleagues at IFMA and BOMA.
According to an email written by Dr. Jackson, “the first Facilities Management & Operations (FMO) graduate certificate course is scheduled and the registration process is open on the Cal Poly Extended education website. All six courses are scheduled to be delivered this next academic year – one in fall, two in winter, two in spring, and the final one in summer 2014 to complete the first enrollment and delivery cycle. If demand is present we will deliver the first course again in winter or spring to launch a second cohort. FINALLY - it is happening!”
the “eco system” within the
Bob Dills explained that the courses have been scheduled on Fridays and Saturdays to allow working adults to participate. Although the first session
“The new FMO graduate certificate will complete design disciplines within Cal Poly’s Construction Management department. It includes technical subjects such as HVAC, Roofing, Site Development, Controls, Environmental and Energy, Project Management and Financial Analysis,” said Bob Dills.
beginning in September will be on-campus in San Luis Obispo, future sessions will be a hybrid of online and on-campus and eventually online. Bob also explained that professionals who have earned Bachelors degrees, once accepted into the program, will receive a graduate certificate upon successful completion of the program. However, professionals who do not have degrees are also welcome to enroll in individual courses. They will receive university credit upon successful completion of each course. “The benefit for all is that this program will fill in the gaps in their experience,” said Bob. For example it covers finance for facility professionals, a topic that some facilities professionals may not have mastered. For those without a degree, successful completion of this course will add another level of credibility to their resume. For additional information visit the Cal Poly website at: http://www.catalog. calpoly.edu/
She went on to say that she planned to use the recent GROW Block Party in July “to Cal Poly Facilities Management launch a dedicated and strate- and Operations Graduate Certificate Program gic recruiting effort to attract CM 510 Principles of Integrated Facility Management 1 a more diverse population to Facility Risk Analysis and Project Management a Cal Poly CM/FMO education. CM 511 We would like to discuss how CM 512 Facility Maintenance and Operation Strategies Cal Poly and this GROW group, CM 513 Facility Systems Assessment and Integration IFMA, and AFE could strategiSustainable Facility Management cally partner to support Silicon CM 514 Valley students in their efforts Environmental Health and Safety Management for and opportunities to achieve a CM 515 Facilities quality college education. This could be as incoming freshmen 1 IFMA’s Certified Facility Manager (CFM®) credential may substitute for CM or transfer students from San 510 Principles of Integrated Facility Management. Individuals possessing this credential are only required to complete 5 courses. Jose area community colleges.”