The institution operates and maintains physical facilities, both on and off campus, that appropriately serve the needs of the institution’s educational programs, support services, and other mission-related activities.
SACSCOC Off-Site Committee’s Response
Non-Compliance
LSU reports that it manages and operates 539 buildings comprising 12.7 million gross square feet of classroom, laboratory, office, auxiliary and other space on over 2,000 acres.
The Office of Facility Services is responsible for the operation and maintenance of existing campus facilities, utility services, campus planning, design and construction, custodial services, and grounds maintenance.
The institution developed and published a campus master plan in 2003 and updated it in 2006. Additional district master plans have since been created including a Traffic and Transportation Master Plan (2005)], South Campus Master Plan (2009)], a Campus Wayfinding Master Plan (2010), the Hill Farm District Master Plan (2011), and the Nicholson Gateway Master Plan (2013).
The institution has invested significantly in capital construction, with approximately $200 million in construction projects being completed in 2012-2013 alone, providing additional classroom, faculty office, and laboratory space. More than $445 million in construction projects have been completed or are scheduled to be completed on campus from 2011 through 2015. Recently completed major capital projects have added approximately 475,000 gross square feet of facility space. The current Capital Outlay 5-year plan request for fiscal years 2014 through 2018 include three emergency projects totaling $7.2 million, and four self-generated projects totaling $173 million.
LSU monitors space utilization of classrooms and laboratories and compares themself to other system institutions. The institution’s Office of Facility Services Planning, Design & Construction maintains space inventory using a Facility Database system. Annual updates are made to the system. A plan is currently being developed to centralize the scheduling of space so space efficiency can be improved.
The institution’s Office of Facility Services, Facility and Utility Operations (F&UO) has 442 full-time employees and coordinates maintenance and operations of buildings and grounds. They also outsource some maintenance services such as elevator maintenance, repair, and inspections. The institution manages preventive maintenance duties for various types of equipment using the Maximo computerized work control system. The department recently began surveying students, faculty, and staff to gauge their satisfaction with maintenance of facilities and grounds and to benchmark the performance of the department. The department employs a professionally licensed staff of architects, landscape architects, engineers, and interior designers to work with campus departments.
The institution also maintains that it owns, operates, and maintains several satellite locations in the Baton Rouge area and within the states of Louisiana and Colorado. However, the institution did not document the adequacy and condition of physical resources at the satellite locations.
LSU A&M’s Response
The SACSCOC Off-site Committee notes the following:
LSU reports that it manages and operates 539 buildings comprising 12.7 million gross square feet of classroom, laboratory, office, auxiliary and other space on over 2,000 acres.
The Office of Facility Services is responsible for the operation and maintenance of existing campus facilities, utility services, campus planning, design and construction, custodial services, and grounds maintenance.
The Off-Site Committee however stated that
The institution also maintains that it owns, operates, and maintains several satellite locations in the Baton Rouge area and within the states of Louisiana and Colorado. However, the institution did not document the adequacy and condition of physical resources at the satellite locations.
LSU operates and maintains physical facilities on-campus and in satellite locations that adequately serve the needs of the institution’s educational programs, support services, and other mission-related activities. The conditions of the on-campus and satellite locality facilities are monitored and surveyed by Facility Services staff and the users of the facilities.
In 2004, Louisiana’s state Office of Facility Planning and Control hired international consulting firm VFA to assess facilities and help plan capital renewal programs. The Boston-based firm was to evaluate all state-owned buildings in Louisiana, including LSU, but did not evaluate LSU satellite locations. The VFA report prioritizes on-campus buildings based on how much repair they need and outlines how much it would cost to fix each issue or to bring buildings up to current standards. While the VFA annually updates the cost aspects of the report based on regionalized price increases, the building assessments have not been updated since 2005 due to a lack of state funding. Since the VFA report is outdated, unfunded, and does not include satellite locations, Facility Services began the process of annually auditing all campus facilities, including satellite locations, in January 2014. The initial audits of the physical conditions of the satellite facilities are included with this report.
Facility Services also developed the LSU Preventive Maintenance Guide [1] which lists the necessary maintenance schedule for various types of equipment located in on-campus and satellite facilities to certify that the equipment is being properly maintained on a regular basis. The guide illustrates the preventive maintenance to be performed for each area and includes the job plans from Maximo software that detail every task to be performed. Preventative maintenance services ensure that all facilities and grounds are maintained and are fully operational (e.g., air-conditioning systems, elevators, fire pumps). Building occupants in on-campus and satellite location facilities utilize the Maximo software system to create work orders to address emergency and routine maintenance issues [2].
Baton Rouge area and Colorado satellite locations
There are several off-campus facilities in the Baton Rouge area and in Colorado that LSU uses to enhance the space available for its academic, research and service mission. Conditions of these facilities are being continuously monitored by the Office of Facility Services. 2013-2014 audits [2] of the physical conditions of the satellite facilities were performed for Center for Advanced Microstructure and Devices [3], South Campus [4], the Hilltop Arboretum [5], Burden Research Center [6], Carrol L. Herring Fire & Emergency Training Institute (FETI) [7], Oyster Hatchery Operations Center [8] and the Geology Field Camp [9].
Center for Advanced Microstructure and Devices (CAMD)
The J. Bennett Johnston, Sr., Center for Advanced Microstructures and Devices (CAMD), located at 6980 Jefferson Highway in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is a synchrotron radiation research center [10]. The mission of CAMD is to provide infrastructure for research and education in synchrotron-based science and technology.
The facility, built with a $25-million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, is currently operating with an annual state-provided budget of $4 million. The heart of the facility is a 1.5 GeV electron storage ring that was built exclusively to provide synchrotron radiation. Research in basic sciences and micro fabrication is conducted by scientists and engineers from Louisiana universities, along with distinguished scientists from national and international institutions.
CAMD works closely with the faculty and students of Louisiana State University and Louisiana's other Ph.D.-granting institutions to assist in the development of strong scientific and technological programs at the facility. This involvement covers a wide range of fields including chemistry, physics and electrical and mechanical engineering.
South Campus
LSU South Campus is a 200-acre technology and business park located at 8000 GSRI Road in Baton Rouge [11]. The site, which has 14 buildings, was donated to the university by Albemarle Corporation to facilitate LSU’s economic development mission. The site is designated by Louisiana Economic Development as a qualified research park and by the federal government as a HUB zone; therefore resident companies are eligible for numerous research and development tax incentives and credits, as well as other state incentive programs.
Renamed LSU Innovation Park, this site provides faculty and students with a broader avenue for intellectual enrichment and technological discovery by partnering scientific investigation and business enterprise under one umbrella. By helping researchers bring new technology to market, the LSU Innovation Park creates high-quality jobs, benefits the community, and enhances the image of Louisiana.
Innovation Park Tenants
Baton Rouge Speech and Hearing Foundation (BRSHF) is breaking ground at the park for its new facility that will be called The Emerge Center for Communication, Behavior and Development. The Emerge Center will offer clinically-effective therapies to Greater Baton Rouge area and southern Louisiana children and adults with communication difficulties, regardless of their ability to pay. The mission-driven purpose of the Baton Rouge Speech and Hearing Foundation is to increase its clients’ capacity to reach optimum levels of independent communication and social interaction, through research-based best practices, the use of leading technology, and highly-trained professionals. Existing tenants include the following:
In 2005, the Louisiana Business and Technology Center (LBTC) at the LSU Ourso College of Business relocated to South Campus. LBTC provides office, lab and assembly space for its incubator tenants.
In 2009, Southwest Architects created and the LSU Board of Supervisors approved a Master Plan and Design Code for South Campus that provides guidance regarding the planning vision, architectural character and appropriate architectural detailing that is required to be incorporated into the design, as well as improvements to the LSU South Campus site.
Since obtaining the site in 2005, LSU has renovated and reroofed Building 3005 and renovated Building 3010.
Hilltop Arboretum
Emory Smith donated his Hilltop property on 11855 Highland Road in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to Louisiana State University in 1981 [12]. There is a stipulation that the 14 acres be managed and maintained by the LSU Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture and remain an outdoor laboratory for the study, display and enjoyment of native plant communities displayed in their natural habitats. Hilltop is an integral part of LSU through use of the arboretum in research, teaching, and service activities.
Stewardship of Hilltop is shared by the LSU Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture and the Friends of Hilltop, a non-profit organization that works in close partnership with LSU to maintain and enhance the arboretum and work toward the implementation of the master plan developed for the site. The Friends of Hilltop organization is committed to the preservation and development of Hilltop as a natural preserve of native southern trees, shrubs, and wildflowers and encourages its free and effective use by the community.
A $1.28 million expansion project completed in 2013 added the Imogene Newsom Brown Education Facility-the first LSU building to be registered with the U.S. Green Building Council for possible Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. This building hosts educational events and stands as the final piece of a 1999 building plan that includes the existing administrative building, library, and open-air pavilion designed by award-winning Lake Flato Architects of San Antonio, Texas.
The Bert Turner Courtyard, designed by Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects of New York, anchors the education facility, including the Beverly Brown Coates Auditorium, to the existing open-air pavilion. The courtyard provides an important demonstration area for best practices and for developing outdoor living space that extends the indoor space into the landscape and works in concert with natural systems to utilize water and plant resources in a sustainable way.
Burden Research Center
The Burden Research Center, officially rebranded the Burden Museum & Gardens in September 2013, and the adjacent Rural Life Museum are located at 4560 Essen Lane in Baton Rouge, Louisiana [13]. The Burden family began donating the property to the LSU Agricultural Center and LSU Agricultural & Mechanical College in 1966, with the final parcel donated in 1992. Thanks to strict guidelines for land use, the land at the Burden Center will never see the effects of urban development.
At the Burden Center, the LSU Agricultural Center manages approximately 420 of the 440 acres. As one of its 20 statewide experiment stations, it has been assigned the role of providing office space and headquarters for East Baton Rouge Extension Offices.
The LSU Agricultural Center plays an integral role in supporting agricultural industries, sustaining rural areas and encouraging efficient use of resources through research and educational programs conducted by its experiment station and extension service. The Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station is responsible for research in agriculture and resource development; forestry, wildlife and fisheries; home economics; food science and related areas. It seeks to enhance the quality of life for people through basic and applied research that identifies and develops the best use of natural resources, conserves and protects the environment, permits further development of new and existing agricultural and related enterprises, and develops human and community resources in rural and urban areas.
The Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service is responsible for statewide, off-campus, informal teaching of agricultural and natural resource technology and management techniques, as well as other programs focused on family and consumer sciences, youth development, overall improvement of the state's economy, and efficient use of community and personal resources. The Extension Service helps the people of Louisiana – both rural and urban – improve their lives through an educational process that uses research-based knowledge focused on issues and needs. The facility plays an important role in the LSU AgCenter extension and research programs that support the state’s nursery, landscape, and fruit and vegetable industries; wetlands and coastal restoration; and forestry industry. The Botanic Gardens also serve as an integral part of undergraduate and graduate education for the LSU College of Agriculture and numerous horticulture-related organizations.
The Burden Center is composed of three destinations and points of activity that reflect the past, present and future of agriculture in Louisiana. The LSU Rural Life Museum represents the 18th and 19th century plantation era in Louisiana history. The LSU AgCenter’s Botanic Garden represents present day horticulture through its display and demonstration gardens, and the LSU AgCenter Ornamental & Turf and Food & Fiber Plant Research Facilities seek to discover a sustainable agricultural future.
In 2009, the LSU Agricultural Center and the LSU Foundation hired the Portico Group, a firm of landscape architects, architects, and interpretive planners, to provide an aesthetic vision and a master plan for the Burden Center that emphasizes the research, extension and education components of the Burden Center in combination with the public garden spaces [14].
Carrol L. Herring Fire & Emergency Training Institute (FETI)
The Carrol L. Herring Fire & Emergency Training Institute (originally the LSU Firemen Training Program) is one of the nation’s top state fire training programs [15]. It was created by the Louisiana Legislative Act 84 of 1963 "to equip, operate, and maintain an in-service Firemen Training Program." Act 32, passed in 1970, gave the training program one-fourth of one percent of all fire insurance premiums paid in the state, with the money to be used "solely for the expenses in connection with the in-service Firemen Training Program and the necessary facilities in connection therewith."
FETI, a member of the Stephenson National Center for Security Research and Training, is located about six miles from LSU's main campus on LSU property at 6868 Nicholson Drive Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The training center is situated on 80 acres of land south of the main LSU campus, with training grounds designed to offer a large variety of fire, rescue and emergency response training. FETI has six classrooms, a fire extinguisher building, a burn building and several burn props. Each classroom is equipped with audiovisual training aids.
Veterinary Animal Holding Facility
This facility was utilized by Veterinary Medicine students for research until it was heavily damaged by Hurricane Isaac in August 2012. Research that was being conducted in the building was moved to other Veterinary Medicine facilities on campus. Due to unstable walls and other safety issues, the building was completely demolished after the initial SACSCOC report was sent by LSU. There are no current plans to rebuild at this site.
Oyster Hatchery Operations Center
The LSU Sea Grant department’s bivalve hatchery has both research and commercial-scale larval rearing capabilities [16]. It is the largest oyster hatchery along the Gulf coast of the U.S. that is based on larval rearing capacity. The hatchery serves as a research, production and demonstration facility for the Gulf of Mexico region. Destroyed by both Hurricanes Katrina and Gustav, hatchery operations were rebuilt at the new Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries’ Marine Fisheries Laboratory. The Operations Center, located in Grand Isle, Louisiana, was completed in June 2012 at a total project cost of $349,300.
The facility’s capabilities include the following:
Types of research conducted at the hatchery include
Geology Field Camp
LSU maintains a rustic camp facility in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains south of Colorado Springs, Colorado [17]. The site has been used for field geology courses since 1928 and was purchased by LSU in 1954.
The field camp gives Geology and Geophysics students, as well as Petroleum Engineering students, the opportunity to take their learning experience beyond the classroom; to explore the complex natural structures and mechanisms which form the blueprint for planet Earth. In addition to its priceless quality as a teaching environment, the field camp also serves as a critical recruiting tool for LSU’s science and engineering programs.
Thanks to the generosity of a donor, the field camp now has a perpetual source of funding for the future. This return will be used each year to pay for operating expenses, facility improvement and staff salaries for faculty who work at the camp. In May 2013, student cabin renovations and construction of additional cabins was completed at a total project cost of $490,500.
Through the use of annual building audits, Facility Services regular and preventative maintenance, master planning, facility renovations and capital construction projects, LSU is operating and maintaining physical facilities on campus and in satellite locations that adequately serve the needs of the institution’s educational programs, support services, and other mission-related activities.
![[1] LSU Facility Preventive Maintenance Guide](https://w.taskstream.com/Content/css/Global/Images/Icons/attachment.gif){kind=icon}
[1] LSU Facility Preventive Maintenance Guide
[2] Satellite Location Work Order Samples
[3] Systems Assessment Audit for Physical Condition of Center for Advances Microstructure and Devices
[4] Systems Assessment Audit for Physical Condition of South Campus
[5] Systems Assessment Audit for Physical Condition the Hilltop Arboretum
[6] Systems Assessment Audit for Physical Condition of the Burden Research Center
[7] Systems Assessment Audit for Physical Condition of the Carrol L. Herring Fire & Emergency Training Institute (FETI)
[8] Systems Assessment Audit for Physical Condition of the Oyster Hatchery Operations Center
[9] Systems Assessment Audit for Physical Condition of the Geology Field Camp
[10] Center for Advances Microstructure and Devices
[11] LSU South Campus Master Plan
[12] LSU Hilltop Arboretum
[13] LSU Burden Research Center
[14] LSU Burden Research Center Master Plan
[15] LSU Carrol L. Herring Fire & Emergency Training Institute (FETI)
[16] LSU Oyster Hatchery Operations Center
[17] LSU Geology Field Camp
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