Q&A: Infrastructure Expert to Speak to UK as Part of "see tomorrow" Series

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 16, 2014) — The "see tomorrow." Speaker Series will continue with Leonard Sandridge, former executive vice president and chief operating officer at the University of Virginia. Sandridge will address the UK community at 9:30 a.m. Monday, Oct. 20, in the Lexmark Public Room.

Responsible for overseeing operations of all nonacademic support areas at the University of Virginia, Sandridge is an expert with regard to campus infrastructure. His areas of oversight at UVA included athletics, the architect for the university, student affairs, management and budget, information technology and communication, police, finance and compliance, as well as the financial and managerial oversight of the health system.

Sandridge sat down with UKNow to address a few important issues related to infrastructure in higher education. 

What do facilities say about a university’s priorities and strategic planning?

I believe people often make assumptions about the quality of an institution on the basis of how its facilities look and function.  If they are maintained well, kept clean and in good repair, they are more likely to believe that programs and activities conducted by the college or university are given the same attention and will be of equal quality.  We know that buildings and grounds are an important factor in the first impression students and parents form when they visit a campus.  Equally important, those who teach and do research are more effective if the facilities have modern amenities, are pleasant and are technologically current.  Those who are responsible for the operation of our plant will tell us that we save money when our buildings have good systems and are cared for properly – much like what we know to be true about a poorly maintained automobile.  When I consider these factors, it is easy for me to conclude that the condition of facilities is a strategic issue that must be addressed in our planning and priority setting process. 

Are there particular trends you see in terms of funding for infrastructure or planning?

The same trends that I see for higher education as a whole apply to our infrastructure and the planning we must do.   We are not going to be able to rely on public funds to support our activities as we once did.  We will have to rely more on philanthropic support and new revenue streams.  We will need to look at tactics that not only make our infrastructure more effective but also save operating money.  Clearly there is a huge move toward making our facilities, operations and other infrastructure elements more environmentally friendly and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.  Those who pay the bills (states, students, donors, patients, research sponsors) increasingly will require that we demonstrate that we are using infrastructure efficiently.  I think we can sum it up by saying we will be accountable for how we spend money on infrastructure, how completely we make use of infrastructure and the outcomes we realize for the investment that we make.

You spent your career leading units that support the academic mission. Are there particular ways you think those areas under finance and administration have evolved or changed? 

Your question actually identifies one important part of the answer – our finance and administrative activities have evolved in significant ways as higher education and our environment has changed.  The support operations have become or are becoming more open to doing things differently when an advantage can be demonstrated.  I also think we have become more customer oriented – we understand the faculty to be our customers, students are our customers and, the public, donors and alumni are our customers.  Although some members of the academy do not like to be called customers, I have found it helps those of us in support roles when we are striving to provide high quality, timely, efficient and accurate services to those we serve. Increasingly, our internal operations expect to be compared to their private sector peers. We have become bolder in our investment strategies; we have adopted current business strategies for procurement, human resources management and debt financing – indeed, in many ways we are functioning like well-run businesses.   Those staffing finance and administrative units today are focused on innovation and accountability in ways that are extremely good for our institutions.  They work hard and our colleges and universities are the better for it.  

There’s a lot of concern in higher education right now about its future, given financial pressures and others. How do you feel about the future of public higher education in this country?

There are a lot of pressures on higher education today, especially the public institutions.  Our constituents expect us to keep tuition down, provide access for more students, prepare students to be successful in the job market and graduate school, discover cures to disease and ensure the patients in our hospitals are returned to their homes to enjoy a quality life and do all of this at an affordable cost.  It is a tall order by any measure.  Increasingly, colleges and universities are being asked to address issues that one might say are societal problems as well as higher education problems.  We will have to continue to focus on safety of students, holding down costs, retaining world-class scholars and giving the world’s best health care at costs the nation can afford, just to cite examples.  We will continue to be in the spotlight.  We will make mistakes and we will have to adjust to a world where higher education delivery systems are changing.   There will be some institutions that don’t make it in the form we know them today.  However, I am one who believes the U.S. higher education system will not only survive but continue to be seen as the best in the world.   

MEDIA CONTACT: Sarah Geegan, (859) 257-5365; sarah.geegan@uky.edu