Tempering Space - The Final Frontier

I wish I could be profound in the tempered radical change I want to bring about, but my attempt is not very exciting or sexy. Many would raise their eyebrows, but my initial radical idea is to empower my College's departments to be responsible for the space decisions they make. Office space, lab space, etc., is at a premium everywhere, but it seems to be especially true of the College of Science. The College is three years old and have "lived" under a very harsh space autocrat (dictator or czar is a term used around the school). My job is a newly created one; and, I am to help get the space situation tightened up, accurately accounted for and properly utilized. Due to the early way things were done - folks tend to lie, cheat and steal space. Before I came onboard, there was a lot of quid pro quo deal making; punishment for disobedience or whatever personal/academic affronts were perceived - resulting in the loss of space, the forced sharing of space or the moving of staff into inadequate space. It really is a huge mess.

Space issues are found at every school. In fact there is a saying that "faculty will fight over money, but they will kill over space." Unfortunately, a terrible precedent has been set within the College of Science, so I am trying to go about changing the way things are done that - so far, is proving to be challenging. As my husband tells me, I am trying to re-engineer the processes and be a "change-agent."

Without going through the bloody details, when I am informed of a space issue: I always request the issue in writing; I request solutions or suggestions on how to address the situation; ask if the change/request is central to their mission of teaching students or conducting research; and I also make them (this I do enforce) work with EHS (lab safety folks) and Facilities to make sure that the proposed use of the space is appropriate and safe. If there are costs, I make whomever and their department chair look at the cost of work to be done and then ask for ideas on funding (90% of which comes out of my budget - but I want to impress on them the expenses involved).

Now, some of this sounds pretty mundane, but realize that this was never done before (and yes, I work with supposed adults)! My TEMPERED RADICAL goal is to quietly train COS faculty and staff to help be a part of the solution and to realize that their use of space impacts many and involves team approaches, most typically. The efforts are far from sexy or "radical, but the long-term result will be: communication, collaboration, sharing of information on costs; and affirmation of mission. I am also training folks to realize that I will be more of a diplomat on these types of requests instead of using space to yield academic power and control.