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How do you define facilities management at a university or college?
In episode 60 of the HigherEdJobs podcast, Winnie Kwofie, who has overseen facilities management teams in public and private higher education institutions, describes the field as integrating people and processes in one place.
Facilities management teams mostly work behind the scenes, she said. You may see a custodian on campus, but you won’t notice the planning, managing, and maintenance plans for the facilities and everything that happens in between.
Kwofie said facilities management teams also ensure universities comply with state and local regulations, keeping you safe on campus.
“That makes it very difficult for most people [to understand] because that’s not what they see,” she said.
Currently, on HigherEdJobs, there are 4,300 open positions listed in facilities management. Kwofie wants to help raise awareness about the field so that more people know about these roles, especially women.
Advocating For Facilities Management
She helped launch “Women in Facilities in the Cal State U” system while serving as associate vice president of facilities development and operations at California State University East Bay. The group aims to increase the presence of women in the skilled trades and offers a leadership pathway for women within all aspects of facilities management.
Kwofie said women are underrepresented in facilities management leadership. According to statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor, women make up a mere three percent of the workforce in facilities management.
The Department of Labor also describes the field as “non-traditional,” which could dissuade some women from applying for these roles. Through her research, Kwofie has seen first-hand how a lack of awareness about these roles contributes to unfilled positions and job seekers still searching for that perfect role.
When you define something as “‘not traditional,’ it means you’re already telling us we are excluded,” she said.
Kwofie said colleges and universities should facilitate discussions with their students about a career in facilities management.
Faculty and advisors could broach the topic at the start of students’ educational journeys.
“If you go [into] engineering, architecture, or math, you [could] have a profession in facilities that will open a whole world for you,” she said.
Read Kwofie’s tips on how to recruit and retain Black women in facilities management.
People, Business Skills Important in Facilities Management
Andy Hibel, podcast co-host and chief operating officer at HigherEdJobs, said the breadth of open facilities management roles is surprising.
“For job seekers who might be interested in this area, what strengths are important in facilities management, including those for leadership roles?” he asked.
Kwofie said that people skills, including being able to communicate well across multiple levels of leadership, and business skills are at the top of her list.
In her research, she found most successful facilities management professionals clearly understood their roles and the business of the organization they were serving.
If you’re working in facilities management in higher ed, you should understand the institution’s academic mission, she said. Consider things like when a class is scheduled to not only do your job but also serve students and faculty.
In addition, you need to be a bit of an activist.
“Facilities, it’s a very hidden profession most people don’t know about,” she said. “I need to be able to advocate [for my team] and ask” for what we need, said Kwofie.
Having this conversation about the profession on the HigherEdJobs podcast is important, she added.
“I’m sharing what facilities management is to the world,” and advocating for people to understand that there is a profession behind everything you touch on campus, said Kwofie.
Kwofie is a licensed civil engineer in the state of California and she recently successfully defended her doctoral dissertation, with an emphasis on educational leadership for social justice. She has held national, regional, and local leadership roles with APPA (formerly known as the Association of Physical Plant Administrators).
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