Year: 2023

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2023 Facilities Management Human Resources News On-Campus Solutions

Mason Custodial Pilot Program Launches at Mason Square Campus

Mason Logo

Mason Facilities is excited to announce the expansion of the Mason Custodial Pilot Program to the Mason Square campus.

In Fall 2022, Facilities launched the Mason Custodial Pilot Program at the SciTech Campus, which has since thrived.  This pilot program is helping Facilities determine whether moving to a Mason-staffed, custodial team is a more sustainable, efficient, and fair use of resources.

Facilities team members who are part of the pilot program have also seen a positive change.  “Working at George Mason University has changed my life for the better. Mason offers a great workplace environment with great benefits,” said Claudia Flores, Housekeeping Supervisor at SciTech.  “This position also offers a life insurance and 401k plan, among other benefits. I feel blessed to have a job here.”

The new, internal custodial members joining the Facilities team will start in late May.  This team will be dedicated to keeping Mason Square buildings up to cleanliness standards.

Please join us as we welcome these new team members to Facilities!

Categories
2023 All Together Green Facilities Management News On-Campus Solutions Stable Partnerships Sustainability Sustainable Innovation

Earth Month 2023 Recap

In April 2023, Mason Facilities, University Sustainability, and their university partners celebrated Earth Month! Here are a few highlights from the events that took place during the month. Remember that you can celebrate the Earth, all year round – not just in April! Thank you for helping us #sustainMASON! 

Earth Month 2023 Highlights: 

  • Planting Pollinators at Honey Bee Apiaries: A University Sustainability and Patriot Green Fund-financed project from the EVPP 480 STAR Sustainability in Action class planted perennial and flowering plants in a campus garden.
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  • Tree Planting behind Peterson Hall: Hosted by Mason Facilities, University Sustainability, and members of the University Arboretum Board, the April tree planting added additional specimens to Mason’s internationally accredited University Arboretum boasting more than 100+ woody plants and trees.
  • The Shape of Water: Multiple waste audits and a campus clean-up contributed an estimated 1,555 single-use plastic items, weighing 58.4 pounds to Celia Ledón’s The Shape of Water installation.
  • Farmer's Market: A Farmer's Market featuring a variety of local and regional vendors, student groups and organizations tabling to educate Mason Patriots about appropriate waste disposal.
  • Gardens and Community for your Health: As part of Spring into Well-Being's Mental Health Day programming, community members learned about the benefits of gardening for creating community and taking care of mental health.
  • Mason's Solar Greenhouse Team: The Solar Greenhouse Student Team posed for a group photo at the Presidents Park Hydroponic Greenhouse.
  • Earth Month Tabling Events: Lakshita Dey, Civic Fellow for University Sustainability, presented on Plastics-Free initiatives throughout the month of April.
  • Sustainable Cooking Event: University Sustainability offered a hands-on, Global Rice and Beans cooking event in April. The Art as Social Action class, taught by Ben Ashworth in the School of Art, hosted the event during their class, made benches, chalk art and more for the event!
  • Weigh the Waste (WTW) Events: WTW is a partnership between Mason Dining, Student Government, and University Sustainability to educate Mason Patriots about food waste, ongoing composting efforts, and overall zero waste action at Mason. 
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2023 Facilities Management News On-Campus Solutions Sustainability

Facilities Spring Campus Cleanup 2023

On Thursday, May 4, 2023, our Facilities Management (FM) team members hosted its annual Campus Cleanup at the Fairfax, Mason Square and SciTech campuses. Mason’s Campus Cleanup occurs on an annual basis – an event to remove trash and debris that has been deposited around the campus grassy and wooded areas. Although keeping the campus clean throughout the year is routine practice, FM finds “hidden” debris that gets trapped in parking lot perimeters and other areas around the university. The objective of the cleanup was to safely remove all trash visible to pedestrians and drivers throughout high traffic/high visibility areas across Mason’s campuses. As a steward of our properties and the Earth, FM strives to keep these areas clean and separate all the materials retrieved into groups: Items to be recycled and those that can be disposed of as waste.

The composition of materials collected at the Fairfax campus are as follows:

  • Trash Total Weight – 285 LBS
  • Recycle Total Weight – 40 LBS
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2023 Employee of the Month Facilities Management News

May 2023 Facilities Employee of the Month – Arnell Burke

 

Celebrating Arnell Burke as the May 2023 Employee of the Month

Arnell Burke, General Maintenance Technician III, was recognized as the May 2023 Facilities Employee of the Month! Burke was nominated by Jose (Ray) Lopez, Zone 3 Supervisor, Facilities Management. “It is a great honor for me to nominate Arnell Burke as the Facilities Employee of the Month. Having worked up-close with Arnell, I can say with certainty that he is always going the extra mile to do his job. Whatever it takes to finish a task, even if it means ordering some parts, Arnell will do that to customer’s satisfaction,” said Lopez.

According to Lopez, the Mason Facilities team member always ensures to complete work orders in a timely manner, collaborating effectively with management. He is a valuable resource to Zone 3 and is always willing to train new employees and take on leadership roles within the department! “When the supervisor is on vacation, Arnell takes over the supervisory roles and handles those responsibilities admirably!” Burke’s recognition as Employee of The Month is well-deserved.

Interested in submitting a GMU Facilities Employee of the Month nomination? Check out the new process here!

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2023 Facilities Management Human Resources News Uncategorized

Outstanding Achievement Awards 2023 Recipients

Mason Human Resources is excited to announce the recipients of the 2023 Outstanding Achievement Awards! In a year where we received a record number of nominations, we want to acknowledge the outstanding contributions of our Mason community and encourage you to continue to focus on faculty and staff appreciation, recognition, and engagement as we “thrive together."

Congratulations to our Facilities Management award winners!

Exceptional Support Award
Erich Miller, Facilities Management

Goldie and Dianne Hattery Award for Excellence
Man-Shik Lim, Facilities Management

Categories
2023 Facilities Management Human Resources News Sustainability

Susie Mueller is Mason’s 2023 Sustainability Hero!

 

Congratulations to Susie Mueller, Mason's 2023 Sustainability Hero!

My Mason working career started as a work study student for the School of Art (2008); while I was working on my BIS in Wellness Studies. I was then hired full time for the Front Desk. Working with artists changed my life. Artists see the world in a big picture, creative way, and they inspired me to do the same.

My MAIS is in Consciousness and Transformation. I was privileged enough to be one of the first graduate students at the Center of Consciousness and Transformation (CCT), which has since morphed into the Center for Well Being. The courses I took encouraged me to look deeply within myself to find my passion and my purpose in life. What I found by going inward was my deep love for nature and that I wanted to be a steward of the Earth.

All roads lead to my current position at Smithsonian Mason School of Conservation (SMSC) in Front Royal. SMSC is located on the 32,000-acre endangered species site owned by the Smithsonian Zoo. Mason and Smithsonian teamed up to create a unique program where conservation students can interact daily with nature. I am privileged to be a part of this wonderful program which focuses being mindful of our impact on the planet.

Susie Mueller

Categories
2023 All Together Green Facilities Management News On-Campus Solutions Stable Partnerships Sustainability Sustainable Innovation

Arboretum Tree Planting

Student volunteers work with University Sustainability to plant trees on the Fairfax Campus. photo by Evan Cantwell/Creative Services

 

In celebration of Earth Week, Mason’s Arboretum Board hosted a community tree planting event at Peterson Hall on Thursday, April 20, 2023. Student volunteers came together to help plant flowering, dogwood trees (Cornus florida), which are native to the region and aid local wildlife and pollinators.  

The trees and supplies for the event were donated by Facilities Management’s Grounds Department in support of the Arboretum’s mission: “To cultivate curiosity, education, and wellbeing through stewardship of its trees, gardens, and other natural spaces.”    

Certified Arborist and Grounds Program Manager, Erich Miller, led the event while teaching students about the arboretum collection and the benefits that tree cover provides to Mason’s campuses. The new trees were planted along University Drive and are visible by the greater community to enjoy.  

This event helps uphold the accreditation of the George Mason University Arboretum - a collection of trees and woody plants, which can be spotted on Mason’s campuses with labeled signs that include scannable barcodes to its online catalogue. 

The event aligned with the second anniversary of the arboretum’s accreditation, which was certified on Earth Day, April 22, 2021.  Since then, the arboretum board - which consists of Facilities staff, campus faculty, and student arboretum interns - meets semesterly to discuss the maintenance of the arboretum collection and to plan engagement events for the campus community.  
 
You can support future tree planting events at Mason by donating or giving your time to help. Reach out to learn more at gogreen@gmu.edu.    

Story: Sarah D'Alexander
Photo Credit: Evan Cantwell

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2023 Facilities Management Human Resources News

Patriot Pathbreaker Awards

Outstanding Achievement Award Ceremony. photo by Creative Services

The following Mason Square employees were nominated and selected for the Patriot Pathbreaker Award in recognition of their collaborative work to activate and promote the Mason Square plaza programming:

Colin Stucki – Facilities/Mason Square Admin Unit
Kenny Darby – Facilities/Mason Square Admin Unit
Molly Duke – Facilities/Mason Square Admin Unit
Sara Hawes – Facilities/Mason Square Admin Unit
Melissa Thierry – University Life Mason Square
Sophie Gorshenin – University Life Mason Square
Cathy Pinskey – Facilities
Toni Andrews – Community and Government Relations

The pathbreakers were recently featured in Mason's, "These pathbreaking teams give a new look and feel to Mason’s public spaces" article. Learn more.

Categories
2023 All Together Green Facilities Management News Sustainability Sustainable Innovation

The Shape of Water: A Collaborative Sustainable Art Installation

Audit volunteer sorting through recycling bags to capture all plastics to support the creation of an art installation. Photo by: Cristian Torres/Strategic Communications/George Mason University

Multiple waste audits and a campus clean-up conducted at George Mason University by Mason Facilities, Student Government, and University Sustainability contributed an estimated 1,555 single-use plastic items, weighing 58.4 pounds to Celia Ledón’s The Shape of Water installation, visible at the Reach (Welcome Pavilion) in the Kennedy Center from March 22 – April 23, 2023. Ledón’s installation was “created from plastic waste, draw[ing] inspiration from the female figure as a personification of mythological deities associated with water,” according to the official page on the Kennedy Center’s website. 

You may have contributed to Ledon’s installation if you disposed of a single-use plastic item at the Fairfax Campus any time before March 14! Students and staff members collected single-use plastics during a Maintain Mason campus clean-up event and three separate waste audits. All items were collected, sorted, and bagged for Ledón to use in the creation of her installation.  

The Maintain Mason campus clean-up event was hosted by Student Government on March 3, 2023. During this event, Colin McAulay, Chair of University Services for Student Government, led volunteers who collected a total of 65 pounds of litter outside of the Johnson Center, the HUB, and the Student Union Building I on the Fairfax Campus. Volunteers contributed 30 single-use plastic items to the installation. 

Three volunteer waste audits were organized by Mason Facilites and University Sustainability to check waste streams for appropriate disposal of items on March 3, 10, and 14. During a waste audit, each waste stream – trash, compost, and recycling – is sorted item-by-item to verify correct disposal. If the compost or one of the recycling streams is too contaminated – as low as an 11% contamination rate – then the entire load is rejected and disposed of in the trash! Mason Patriots can help the university on its zero waste journey by appropriately disposing of their waste using this guidance.  

The three audits contributed more than 1,500 single-use plastic items Ledón’s installation. Audits provide valuable data to inform and support ongoing waste bin standardization efforts. The audits highlighted the importance of standard messaging at the bin and the need to co-locate trash, recycling, and compost waste streams to improve access.  

The results of the compost waste stream audit of the Bigbelly and Max-R zero waste station pilots in partnership with Mason Dining at the Northern Neck Starbucks location were impressive – a very low volume of single-use plastics contamination. The hard work of Starbucks Northern Neck and Mason Dining staff was reflected in the very high percentage of appropriate disposal, more than 90%!  

Once all the single-use plastics were sorted and bagged, a Mason alum James Clark (Biology ‘14), currently a master's student at George Washington University, picked up the single-use plastics and transported them to the Kennedy Center where they were made available for Ledón to use.  

The single-use plastics collected at George Mason University are now incorporated into Ledón’s The Shape of Water installation, visible at the Reach (Welcome Pavilion) in the Kennedy Center from March 22 – April 23, 2023.  

None of the single-use plastics would be featured in Ledón’s installation without the commitment and support of Kevin Brim, Supervisor for Recycle/Waste Management, Facilities. Brim provided expert guidance about the complexities of Mason’s waste system, efficiently navigated administrative processes, and created opportunities for participation from students and staff while ensuring safety. He ensured all volunteers and staff had appropriate equipment to safely complete the waste audits.  

“I enjoy supporting the zero waste goals of the university by working collaboratively with students and staff to host educational and impactful waste audits and campus clean-ups,” said Brim. 

Mason Facilities and University Sustainability continue to lead efforts to advance Mason towards the goal of becoming a zero waste university. Ongoing efforts from the Mason Sustainability Council’s Circular Economy and Zero Waste Task Force, co-led by Amber Saxton, University Sustainability, and Pascal Petter, Operations and Business Services, include the multi-year phase out and replacement of all single-use plastics and polystyrene with more sustainable alternatives, the ‘buy less, buy better’ initiative, improvements to Mason’s waste system, and alignment with Governor Glenn Youngkin’s Executive Order 17.   

Colleen Regan, Zero Waste Specialist with University Sustainability, led the three audits and is actively engaged in ongoing efforts to make Mason a zero waste university as a member of the Mason Sustainability Council’s Circular Economy and Zero Waste Task Force. To become a zero waste university, Mason will need to divert at least 90% of all waste generated away from the trash by reusing, repurposing, composting, or recycling.  

“Contributing to Ledón’s installation highlights Mason's ongoing single-use plastics and polystyrene elimination," said Regan. “Waste audits are hands-on, educational, and provide us with crucial information to make data-driven decisions to improve our university waste system." 

University Sustainability is a proud member of the DC Coalition of Higher Education for the Environment, Resilience, and Sustainability (DC CHEERS). DC CHEERS members who contributed to Ledón’s installation, including Mason, are featured on this StoryMap. DC CHEERS is a network of representatives from DC area universities guided by a shared vision of a sustainable and inclusive future that share knowledge and resources to advance institutional sustainability while collaborating and partnering on events, initiatives, and collaborations that harness the diverse expertise of its members.   
 
The efforts of the following individuals who are not featured in this article were also essential to this successful initiative: Kwame Adomako, recycling worker, Facilities Waste Management and Recycling; Shawn Andrews, recycling worker, Facilities Waste Management and Recycling; Ben Auger, sustainability engagement coordinator, University Sustainability; Josh Pittman, recycling worker, Facilities Waste Management and Recycling; Ky Tran, a current Environment and Sustainability Studies student; Nakki Watanabe, a current Environment and Sustainability Studies student, completing a joint internship with University Sustainability and Facilities Waste and Recycling department; and Student Government’s Colin McAulay and Sebastian Silvestro as well as all the Maintain Mason volunteers.  

Story Credit: Benjamin Auger and Colleen Regan
Photo Credit: Cristian Torres

 

Categories
2023 Employee of the Month Facilities Management Human Resources News

April 2023 Facilities Employee of the Month – Stewart D. Tolentino

 

Celebrating Stewart D. Tolentino as the April 2023 Employee of the Month

Stewart Tolentino, a Structural Trades Technician for Facilities Management, was recognized as April 2023 Facilities Employee of the Month. Tolentino was nominated by Jerry (Jay) Lang, Zone 6 Supervisor. "It [was] my pleasure to nominate Stewart Tolentino for Employee of the Month. Having had the fortune to work with Stewart for almost fifteen years, almost ten in the Utilities Trade Shop and then in the Carpentry Shop, he has shown a vast knowledge of both Trades, as well as professionalism," said Lang. "Having knowledge of one trade is good but to excel in two trades is unique."

According to Lang, The team member's trades knowledge and professionalism has helped the Facilities Department maintain its high standards and mission goals. He goes above and beyond the job to support Mason Facilities in meeting Mason's mission. Ensuring follow-up and education of job-related processes with customers, Tolentino's customer satisfaction skills are top tier.

"Another example of Stewart’s professionalism and work ethic was on display recently when, a call came in about a door that wasn’t working properly, possible entrapment; Stewart cut his lunch time short to accompany me and help fix the door and made the area safe and secure - something that enhances Facilities service to the University," said Lang.

Interested in submitting a GMU Facilities Employee of the Month nomination? Check out the new process here!