MIT Reports to the President 1999–2000
This second year of my tenure at MIT marks a kind of completion. Working with colleagues across the campus, I have filled key vacant positions and created and filled new positions necessary to execute the ambitious initiatives of the Institute. Working from experience and with key advisors, I have realigned people into organizational structures which co-locate necessarily related roles and clarify who has authority and responsibility for what.
This second year also marks a kind of beginning. And as I think about the coming years and the transformative campus projects that will redefine community and the built environment of MIT, I keep coming back to one basic question: how to enhance the utility, quality and efficiency of administrative services? Or in the words of Professor Paul Joskow, how to make MIT administration hum.
We are working on a few key themes which, if truly made operational, will change the way we work together. First and foremost is client orientation. We need to listen to and understand the service needs of our colleagues in the departments, labs and centers. We have an educational role, as well, to make sure everyone understands our central offices’ institutional responsibilities which can sometimes complicate administration. And then we need to work together to resolve problems and streamline processes. Administration is a means to academic ends. We need to remember this every day, and act accordingly.
Administration at MIT is also many silos, reinforced by unintegrated systems and databases. Complex business processes break down when confronted by silo walls. The silos need to come down through cultural exchange programs and development of integrated systems and databases. Collaboration, through teamwork, boundary-blind business processes, and open sharing of common information is, thus, our second theme. The emerging framework for the Human Resources/Payroll project is client-oriented and collaborative by design. If successful, it will define our new approach, and integrate five separate unintegrated administrative (software) systems into one. Data and process silos will fall.
As we enter a decade of unprecedented capital construction, with ambitious design standards and heightened aesthetic awareness, we are turning our attention to renewal of MIT’s older facilities and the overall attractiveness and cleanliness of the campus. Standards for cleanliness, maintenance, and frequency of facilities renewal are in the making. Rising to higher standards through intention, persistence and judicious allocations of resources is our imminent challenge. Longer term, our challenge is staying the course: sustainability is thus our third theme.
Accountability is necessary to hold everything together, but accountability exists only when we measure deviation from standards, obligations, and commitments, and when it is both organizational and personal. A necessary condition for accountability is clarity of roles and responsibilities. A second necessary condition is that we in fact measure and provide the feedback that forces correction at worst, and promotes continuous improvement at best.
Measuring our deviations from local (MIT) standards is not enough. Professional standards and best practices in many areas–from accounting, to audit and risk management, to investment performance, to technological prowess to capital project management–are evolving rapidly. In some areas we need to reach currency; in others, we are leaders. We should strive for leadership across all the professions which define us beyond our roles at MIT. Professionalism is the fifth theme.
In subsequent reports to the president, we will present our annual reviews in these thematic terms and measure the extent to which we are making all five operational.
Areas of focus in this past year were:
A major focus of this year was establishing the administrative infrastructure that will support the Institute’s most ambitious building and renewal program in more than 30 years. Within the Department of Facilities, the management of the Capital Projects Group was reconfigured, and MIT hired both a Director of Capital Development (Deborah Poodry) and a Director of Capital Construction (Paul R. Curley). These two highly qualified staff members are responsible for ensuring that the flow between project development and construction is a coordinated, disciplined, and smooth process.
A related and important aspect of preparing for the increasing volume and complexity of construction and renovation projects was a reorganization of the Planning Office functions. The needs that led me to this decision included not only integrated management of the construction program but also closer coordination among siting design, permitting, and construction activities that affect the complex and cutting-edge new facilities that MIT will build.
Members of the Planning Office staff were reassigned to align their technical expertise more closely with the departments and business processes that rely on them. Activities that now reside in the Department of Facilities include capital project planning and program development, the campus plan, planning infrastructure, and support to the Building Committee. Planning functions around student residences, enrollment planning, and space issues in the Office of the Deans of Student Life and Undergraduate Education have been moved to that area. Support for academic planning and institutional research has become part of the Provost’s Office. Parking issues that formerly were handled in the Planning Office have been moved to the Parking and Transportation Office, which already reported in my area. The former Director continues as Special Advisor to me.
This year saw the coalescence of the Town and Gown team, also known as the TAG team. This group strives to balance academic, investment, and community-relations goals of the Institute and to speak with a consistent MIT voice. I was particularly pleased that the TAG team also has forged working relations with Harvard University’s planning and real estate offices as well as its vice president for government relations. Exemplary of its new team approach, a subgroup of TAG orchestrated by Catherine Donaher has worked intensely with the Cambridge Growth Management Advisory Committee and Harvard to assure that institutional zoning interests are balanced with the interests of the City.
The TAG team and the Capital Projects Group in Facilities are currently paving the way for a concerted effort to seek approval from the City of Cambridge for a number of building permits early in the next fiscal year. Broad campus planning efforts continue under my direction and that of the Campus 2000 Steering Committee, with significant input from landscape architects Laurie Olin and Associates.
In July, the Environmental Programs Office (EPO) was created to take responsibility for overall environmental, health, and safety (EHS) management at the Institute. Jamie Lewis Keith, Managing Director for Environmental Programs and Risk Management and Senior Counsel, heads the EPO. The offices charged with providing services and oversight to the MIT community on EHS issues were reorganized into a single team reporting to Ms. Keith. This reorganization should result in clearer accountability and responsibility for all regulatory programs that govern MIT’s work.
Other positive EHS initiatives included the expanded recycling and green procurement effort, the Green Building Task Force, and the discovery process for the EHS management system.
Another change this year was transferring the management function for workers’ compensation claims from the Safety Office to the Benefits Office in Human Resources in order to consolidate all injury-related and other paid-leave benefits in one office.
Additional important steps were taken in our ongoing effort to streamline administrative operations. For example, the Financial Review and Control team studied existing policies and procedures for financial reconciliation and made recommendations to simplify and improve this process Institute-wide. After testing in several pilot departments, the new procedures will be put in place during the next year.
The Human Resources/Payroll discovery project recommended that MIT implement the HR/Payroll module of SAP, and a core project team has been appointed. The Lincoln Laboratory Fiscal Office has reviewed enterprise resource planning systems to determine their requirements and has evaluated SAP for use at the Laboratory. The opportunity is at hand to collapse five independent systems, which are now necessarily related through complex custom interface programs, into one integrated system.
Planning and budgeting also are becoming more integrated, and the fiscal year 2001 budget was developed through an increasingly open process that is consistent with the 10-year financial model developed with the Executive Committee of the Corporation.
The upgrade to version 4.5b of SAP was successfully completed in November. I was pleased that this upgrade included the participation of community members from departments, labs, and centers who assisted with integration testing and evaluation of training plans.
Work continues on improving our processes for financial reporting. The Data Warehouse came into its own as the source for financial data and analysis. Efforts to create consistency of terminology and data between the Institute’s budget and the Report of the Treasurer simplified both documents. New reports were developed for MIT’s gifts and endowments, details on telephone usage, support for the streamlined reconciliation process, and reports on open purchase orders and requisitions.
The Procurement Office’s overall eBusiness strategy has been recognized as a model nationally, and acceptance by MIT’s user community has been outstanding. This year saw dramatic increases in the use of the VIP procurement card, the electronic catalog for purchases from partner vendors, and use of SAP/SAPweb (rather than paper) requisitions.
We initiated a project to create a centralized administrative services group for Audio-Visual Services, Campus Police, the Copy Technology Centers, and the Parking and Transportation Office. The goal is to identify, analyze, and consolidate like processes of the four departments that will result in more effective use of technological and human resources.
In addition to Ms. Poodry, Mr. Curley, and Ms. Keith, other major appointments this year included Laura Avakian as Vice President for Human Resources, and Deborah Fisher as Institute Auditor. In my office, Sharon Pinksten was hired as my Executive Assistant, and Anna DiMaria joined us as Administrative Assistant supporting Patricia Brady, Stephen Immerman, and Janet Snover
Following are the individual department reports.
John R. Curry
The MIT Audit Division continues to deliver audit services through a risk-based program of audit coverage including compliance assessments and financial, operational, and technology reviews and audits. These efforts, in coordination with MIT’s external auditors, provide assurance to Institute management and the Audit Committee that policies are being adhered to as intended, adequate internal controls are being maintained, and assets are properly safeguarded.
A key event during the year was a management transition, prompted by the departure of Charles A. Shaw from the position of Institute Auditor at the close of the previous fiscal year. Following this departure Divisional leadership was provided by the Audit Manager and two senior members of the audit staff who comprised a transition team pending placement of a new Institute Auditor. Deborah L. Fisher assumed this position in February 2000. The transition team shared responsibility for daily management and supervision of staff, and notably completion of the audit plan as scheduled in December. It is a tribute to these individuals, and to the high performance standards maintained by the Audit Division as a whole, that audit objectives for 1999 were achieved.
Individual academic, research, and administrative units play an important role in the overall systems of internal control of MIT. Recognizing this, the Audit Division devotes a substantial portion of the audit plan to review of these areas. Audits of financial controls exercised within these units are conducted on a semi-continual basis. During the past year, coverage included the School of Humanities, the Provost’s Office, and Offices of Vice President for Research and Dean of Graduate Education, among others. A fairly consistent level of compliance with Institute guidelines for internal control was noted. Additionally, a new program of auditing the administration of sponsored programs commenced with the Chemistry Department and the Division of Comparative Medicine, focusing on compliance with various terms and conditions of contracts and grants.
In similar fashion, the Information Technology audit team has designed a methodology for benchmarking control practices for local area networks (LANs). The initial review was completed for the Media Lab, with five other areas planned for the coming year. Practices in the areas of security, recoverability, reliability and other factors are rated on a three-point scale, with recommendations for improvements of practices where it appears some benefit may accrue.
The Audit Division has made successful use of strategic partnerships with outside audit firms to "co-source" audits of the Treasurer’s Office and of a major campus renovation project (Building 33). Plans to continue these relationships will help the Division maintain effective audit coverage, particularly for the large volume of capital construction activity scheduled for the next several years.
The audit team is often called upon to assist management with special reviews or investigations. A powerful combination of audit skills and knowledge of Institute practices resides within the Division, providing an "on-call" resource when the occasion arises. Division personnel also have been valuable contributors to Institute initiatives regarding control improvements. Audit Manager Michael Bowers led the Authorization Process Implementation Team, a group formed to study and recommend an efficient and effective process for maintaining Institute-wide system authorities. The Division also participated in developing revised guidelines for DLC review of financial activity, which will incorporate concepts such as risk-based testing. Involvement in efforts of this nature demonstrate the Audit Division’s willingness to foster positive change as part of a management team, in addition to the traditional role of independent assessor.
The theme of audit-as-business-partner will continue in the upcoming year. The new Institute Auditor is a member of the Executive Vice President’s Senior Management Team and of the Administrative Systems and Policies Coordinating Council (ASPCC), and other members of the Division function in an advisory capacity to various projects and initiatives Institute-wide. In this way, the Division remains up-to-date with regard to changes taking place and can maintain a clear focus on the risks that confront MIT.
As the year progresses, the audit management team will compare internal administrative practices for audit plan development, audit methodology, and uses of technology, to "best practice" standards, and consider ways in which existing resources can be better leveraged. And, in accordance with long-standing practice, audit personnel pursue professional development opportunities through education and affiliations with industry peers, as well as obtaining of professional certifications.
More information about the division can be found on the World Wide Web at http://web.mit.edu/audiv/www/.
Deborah L. Fisher
The Financial System Services department (FSS) coordinates the development, delivery, and maintenance of financial systems for the Institute. Our mission is to support the ongoing implementation of SAP; ensure that the software increasingly meets the needs of departments, laboratories, and centers (DLCs); keep MIT current in terms of installing the appropriate new version of SAP and other related software; and work to further integrate MIT’s business processes.
The upgrade to version 4.5 of SAP was successfully completed in November 1999. FSS broadened the testing phase of the new version beyond just the central offices, which had done the testing in the past. With the new release, community members from a variety of DLCs were invited to help with "integration" testing. The purpose was to ensure that simultaneous use of the system across applications would provide stable, predictable, and accurate results.
In response to requests from users, email "event notification" capability was added to SAP in June 2000. Users are now able to receive email messages notifying them of changes to the status of SAP requisitions that they create.
The SAP user group continued to be a valuable forum for communicating with users about new SAP and Data Warehouse capabilities and receiving their comments on anticipated changes. To provide an additional communications vehicle, staff members from FSS, the Controller’s Accounting Office, and the Office of the Executive Vice President began publishing the Financial Systems Update, a Web-based newsletter with updates on new financial and reporting tools in use at the Institute.
FSS personnel participated on the Financial Review and Control team, an interdepartmental team formed to review existing policies and procedures for financial reconciliation. The team recommended that the Institute reduce requirements for documentation and records retention; develop new tools for review of charges; find a new way to indicate that the review is complete; and allow reviewers to use a risk-based analysis of charges focused on areas where risk of error or loss is greatest.
An initial effort to investigate the use of the SAP Fixed Assets module focused on depreciation processes related to academic buildings and space changes. These processes, formerly handled with spreadsheets and databases, were converted to SAP in the spring of 2000.
The Human Resources/Payroll Discovery Project, completed in March 2000, recommended that the Institute implement the SAP Human Resources/Payroll module. Early planning began in April 2000, and a core project team was appointed in May 2000 to support the planning and startup activities. A formal project kickoff, project announcements, and ramp-up to a full complement of staff are expected in the coming year.
Lincoln Laboratory personnel, with the assistance of FSS, began developing a business case for implementing SAP at Lincoln Lab. The effort focuses on accounting, purchasing, inventory management, plant maintenance, project management, and human resources/payroll. A financial analysis of several implementation alternatives will be performed. The business case, with resources and time lines, will be presented to senior management in late summer 2000. In addition to serving as the replacement for several aging Lincoln Lab systems, the SAP implementation would permit the consolidation of human resources and payroll business operations; allow for joint purchasing opportunities; and build expertise in SAP modules under consideration for future use.
It is anticipated that a routine upgrade to SAP will commence in the fall of 2000 to support the use of SAP components for increased Web capabilities; the upcoming implementation of the SAP HR/Payroll module; electronic commerce; and the expected migration of Lincoln Lab to SAP. This upgrade also will provide the MIT community an improved SAP graphical interface.
SAP’s Internet Transaction Server, the backbone for the new modules that comprise SAP’s Internet strategy, is being deployed to support the implementation of new human resources/payroll employee self-service and "business-to-business" applications, and to satisfy the community’s request that they be able to verify credit card transactions and create journal vouchers on the Web. Development should be ready for central department pilot testing by the end of August 2000.
In July 2000, all FSS personnel will move to building W92 (304 Vassar Street).
Charles A. Shaw
The mission of the Office of Budget and Financial Planning (OBFP) is to support MIT’s goal of continued excellence in education and research by providing senior management with accurate and timely financial analyses, projections, and recommendations. The Office is responsible for monitoring the Institute’s financial position and the likely impact of anticipated internal and external changes; developing the Institute’s strategic financial plan under the leadership of senior management; and managing MIT’s planning and budget information through development of innovative budgeting, modeling, and analytic tools. Continuing goals of the Office of Budget and Financial Planning are to oversee the evolution of the budget process to make it more efficient and effective, and to enhance responsiveness to the emerging needs of the Institute. Budget Office leadership and staff work closely with the MIT community in developing and providing resources to manage the Institute’s financial assets.
During fiscal year 2000, the Office of Budget and Financial Planning continued its substantial role in supporting long-range planning and the definition of strategic goals at the Institute level. The 10-year planning model, first introduced in 1997, has evolved into a comprehensive financial planning tool that focuses on the long-term financial consequences of strategic investments in programs and facilities. Planning and budgeting are progressively more integrated, and the fiscal year 2001 budget was developed through an increasingly open planning process, consistent with the current 10-year financial model developed with the Executive Committee of the Corporation. The fiscal year 2000 and 2001 budgets were balanced within these parameters, at specific approved levels of additional need for endowment.
In addition, OBFP continues to develop and refine its comprehensive, multi-year capital plan. The capital plan, which is used to manage and analyze funding options for capital needs and to support external borrowing requirements, is integrated with financial planning and is now presented on a recurring basis to the Executive Committee to support resource allocation decisions. The most recent plan shows new construction needs of
$861 million, including the Stata Center, the new undergraduate dormitory, and other major projects highlighted in the Financial Plan.
In April, the Office of Budget and Financial Planning published the Budget Book for fiscal year 2001. The Budget Book, published yearly since Fiscal Year 1998, presents the annual operating budget to MIT executive and corporate management. The budget is the culmination of a defined budget development process and provides detailed support for the revenue and expense items reported for Fiscal Year 2001 in the Financial Plan.
In fiscal year 2000, OBFP completed the implementation of the NIMBUS budget system and its successful integration with SAP. NIMBUS, which is the system of record for Institute budgets, maintains and feeds budget information to SAP and the MIT Data Warehouse nightly. The NIMBUS web front end (http://web.mit/budget/nimbus) was operational for the fiscal year 2000 budget cycle. A graphical user interface for maintaining and analyzing budget data was completed in fiscal year 2000. NIMBUS replaced the legacy system, which was not Year-2000 compliant and was inconsistent with the SAP financial architecture.
Significant future plans of the Office of Budget and Financial Planning for fiscal year 2001 include evaluating the use of its systems to support changing pre-submission budget processes for departments, laboratories, centers and central support units. Budget Officers will continue to establish close working partnerships with client units and to serve as focal points for financial information flow. OBFP goals also include ongoing and evolving enhancement of financial, capital planning and resource allocation, management and reporting tools.
Stefano Falconi
The Office of the Controller consists of the following groups:
The Controller’s Accounting Office provides general accounting services to the Institute including accounts payable, accounts receivable, travel, sponsored research accounting, general ledger, financial reporting, payroll, and retirement plans accounting.
The Procurement Office assists the MIT community in the procurement of goods and services–providing advice and services that ensure favorable prices, protective terms and conditions, and compliance with MIT and federal policies and procedures.
The Property Office responsible for the accounting and asset management of more than 100,000 items of equipment that are both MIT- and sponsor-owned.
The Lincoln Fiscal Office provides accounting, payroll, cashier, cash management, and property control services to MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory.
Extensive work on Year 2000 readiness in all of the Controller’s Office financial systems paid off in fiscal year 2000, as we successfully crossed the boundary into the year 2000 with no disruption to users. As part of the Year 2000 compliance project, the Lincoln Fiscal Office updated the General Ledger and all systems that feed the General Ledger, and version 3.4.20 of the Lincoln Executive Information System (LINEIS), which was done in partnership with Group 68 (Computer and Telecommunication Systems.)
In other systems projects, we participated in the November 1999 upgrade to the SAP financial software, implemented a new SAP fixed asset accounting module, and worked with Financial Systems Services and the user community on a number of incremental enhancements and improvements to the SAP system. In the SAP procurement module, improvements included: enhancement of the web Display Purchase Order function to permit viewing and printing of the entire purchase order; development of an electronic mail purchase order notification system and the capability to fax purchase orders to vendors using SAP, both of which are now in pilot.
Sponsored Research Accounting (SPNA), the unit responsible for funding and financial reporting for all sponsored research contracts and grants, made several enhancements to the SAP sponsored billing process, two of which were major upgrades. One allows us to bill sponsors in advance, based on a negotiated amount and schedule entered into the contract. The other upgrade allows us to transfer systematically, via SAP, revenue drawn through various letter of credit mechanisms to the appropriate WBS project, on a monthly basis.
A Human Resources/Payroll discovery team was formed in collaboration with other relevant MIT organizations, and work began on defining the requirements for a new SAP-based Human Resources/Payroll system. The Lincoln Fiscal Office participated in an enterprise resource planning discovery process at Lincoln Laboratory to determine requirements and evaluate SAP for use at the Laboratory.
We continued streamlining accounting processes and procedures. A team completed the first phase of a project to make detailed definitions of MIT’s General Ledger accounts available to users and to eliminate duplicate and unused general ledger accounts. A Financial Review and Control project team was formed to evaluate the current financial statement reconciliation process and develop recommendations for a simplified process, which is now being tested in several pilot departments.
Reporting of MIT financial activities was improved in fiscal year 2000 through development of monthly reports split by type of activity–general, fund, and research. This was an Institute-wide effort that required input from both end users and financial staff. These reports required changes to our financial software as well as to master financial data. Created to help manage MIT, these reports are provided to senior management and will continue to be improved based on management needs.
In addition, the Institute and Enterprise Reporting group, working collaboratively with departmental staff, the Data Warehouse group, and Financial Systems Services developers, continued making enhancements to financial reporting from SAP and the Data Warehouse. New warehouse reports were developed for a variety of purposes, including: reports on MIT’s gifts and endowments, detailed reports on telephone usage, reports to support the streamlined reconciliation process, and reports on open purchase orders and requisitions, to name a few.
The Procurement Office was instrumental in developing an overall eBusiness strategy which is fully integrated with SAP, utilizes Web-based technology, and provides a true Business-to-Business front-to-backend eCommerce solution that facilitates the procurement process for the MIT community while helping to achieve MIT’s overall procurement strategy. The programs we helped to develop–SAPweb requisitioning, the ECAT electronic catalog, and the VIP procurement card–are state of the art and were recognized this year at higher education and professional meetings, including the international SAP Higher Education User Group, the SAP America User Group, and the National Association of Purchasing Managers.
In Procurement, new temporary help contracts were negotiated with Adecco and Total Clerical Services. In conjunction with the Managing Director for Environment Program’s office, Procurement took an active role in promoting recycling and green procurement. In fiscal year 1999, Procurement assumed responsibility for reviewing all Facilities construction orders over $500,000 and all Stata Building orders over $25,000. Organizationally, personnel who support sponsored subcontracts were transferred to the Office of Sponsored Programs, and a team was created in Procurement to deal with the more complex, but non-sponsored procurements. Procurement began working with Facilities on the relocation of the solvent stockroom from the Chemistry building to east campus. Procurement also is currently working closely with Harvard to possibly form a consortium for purchasing commodities such as audiovisual supplies; bottled water; and maintenance, repair and operating supplies.
Acceptance by the user community of the VIP procurement card and other new procurement methods has been outstanding. Paper requisitions were down from approximately 27,500 in fiscal year 1999 to 12,200 in fiscal year 2000. SAP/SAPweb requisitions increased from approximately 20,200 in fiscal year 1999 to 41,500 in fiscal year 2000. There were approximately 24,000 transactions using the new Web-based electronic catalog for partner vendors (ECAT). The VIP card transactions increased to 69,200 in fiscal year 2000 from 28,600 the prior year. Now that implementation of the new procurement systems is complete, distribution of the paper ("blue copy") purchase order was discontinued.
In Travel, three new hotel openings (in Philadelphia, London, and Chicago) were added to the Club Quarters hotel chain contract, which allows MIT travelers to stay in Washington, D.C. and other major cities at significantly reduced rates compared to other hotels. A new contract with greater discounts was negotiated with Delta Airlines, and the Budget Rent-A-Car and Alamo contracts were renegotiated to add government and special rates, respectively.
In the Property Office, the annual indirect cost study for the equipment and building pools was conducted in conjunction with the Office of Cost Analysis. The scanning cycle of the equipment biennial physical inventory was completed and the reconciliation cycle was begun. Fifty-seven capital projects were begun during the year. The costs of capital space changes, major renovations, and new building construction continue to be tracked. Conversion of the building capitalization data from worksheets to the SAP Asset Management module has begun and will be used for the fiscal year 2000 closing.
Retirement Plans Accounting (RPA) is responsible for the accounting and reporting for the MIT Basic Retirement Plan and the MIT Supplemental 401(K) Plan. RPA maintains records for more than 19,000 members (active, terminated with vested rights, retired, and disabled) and disburses retirement benefits. In Retirement Plans Accounting, major initiatives started in 1999 to meet record keeping requirements of the Basic Plan and outsourcing of the Supplemental (401k) Plan were substantially completed. These included modifying the Pension Accounting system, streamlining administrative processes, and implementing new financial reporting systems and controls to
monitor activities of the Supplemental (401k) service. At year end, an investigation of alternatives to MIT’s underwriting of Supplemental (401k) annuities was completed, which will provide the basis for annuities to be issued by insurance carrier partners in the future.
The Lincoln Fiscal Office (LFO) supported Lincoln Laboratory in preparing for and obtaining the new Air Force five year contract, through the proposal system that provides five year historical data in order to project expected expenditures for the next five years. LFO also provided support for audits including the Defense Contract Audit Agency auditors’ (DCAA) audit of A-133, DS-1, and related operational audits.
This past year the LFO Property Office has complied with new requirements and outstanding requirements from prior periods, specifically in the areas of physical inventories, subcontractor control, financial reporting, fabrication of test equipment as well as the movement, utilization, storage, and disposition of government property. In addition, the DCAA started a special audit of all government property at Lincoln Laboratory that will support the US federal government’s financial reporting.
Using the SAP system, fiscal year 1999 closing was successfully completed by July 31, 1999. SAP and related improvements in our closing process reduced the amount of time it took the PricewaterhouseCoopers auditors to complete the annual audit.
In the human resources area, Accounts Payable and the Procurement office participated in a pilot of the new competency-based human resource system.
More information about the Office of the Controller can be found on the World Wide Web at http://web.mit.edu/cao/www/, http://web.mit.edu/purchasing/, and http://web.mit.edu/property/www/.
James L. Morgan
The Office of Sponsored Programs’ mission is to conduct the centrally organized administrative, business, and financial functions related to grant and contract administration and to assist faculty, principal investigators, and their administrators in the identification of resources for and the management of individual sponsored projects consistent both with MIT's academic and research policies and with the stewardship requirements of and obligations to external sponsors.
For fiscal year 2000 the total volume of sponsored research performed on campus was $383,988 (all numbers rounded to nearest thousand). This increase of $8 million represents a modest increase of 2.1 percent in total volume compared with the fiscal 1999 volume of $376,047. The breakdown by sponsor is shown in the table below.
(in thousands of dollars)
|
1991 |
1992 |
1993 |
1994 |
1995 |
1996 |
1997 |
1998 |
1999 |
2000 |
|||||
|
FEDERAL |
||||||||||||||
|
DHHS |
59,025 |
60,177 |
64,882 |
60,192 |
61,066 |
58,211 |
57,215 |
58,938 |
58,246 |
65,905 |
||||
|
DOE |
60,625 |
57,355 |
57,325 |
63,180 |
67,114 |
59,588 |
70,753 |
70,281 |
63,138 |
57,000 |
||||
|
DOD |
49,104 |
48,539 |
66,769 |
61,601 |
55,866 |
59,997 |
67,858 |
64,776 |
65,718 |
65,686 |
||||
|
NSF |
37,953 |
36,574 |
38,008 |
39,574 |
38,564 |
35,837 |
36,347 |
36,264 |
35,352 |
35,669 |
||||
|
NASA |
22,755 |
25,889 |
32,324 |
37,449 |
41,291 |
39,190 |
36,947 |
30,227 |
27,301 |
22,734 |
||||
|
Other |
8,647 |
9,773 |
8,899 |
8,722 |
9,641 |
8,721 |
7,232 |
9,115 |
7,409 |
6,753 |
||||
|
Subtotal |
238,109 |
238,307 |
268,206 |
270,718 |
273,542 |
271,544 |
276,352 |
269,601 |
257,164 |
253,747 |
||||
|
NON-FEDERAL |
||||||||||||||
|
Industry |
48,360 |
53,578 |
62,068 |
59,117 |
56,120 |
67,164 |
75,194 |
74,062 |
74,325 |
73,609 |
||||
|
Nonprofit |
23,751 |
24,920 |
25,593 |
23,666 |
26,430 |
25,926 |
28,952 |
36,197 |
42,214 |
50,970 |
||||
|
Other |
5,599 |
5,461 |
5,487 |
6,173 |
5,597 |
5,649 |
7,382 |
6,495 |
2,344 |
5,662 |
||||
|
Subtotal |
77,710 |
83,959 |
93,148 |
88,956 |
88,147 |
98,739 |
111,523 |
116,754 |
118,883 |
130,241 |
||||
|
TOTAL |
315,819 |
322,266 |
361,354 |
359,674 |
361,689 |
370,283 |
387,880 |
386,355 |
376,047 |
383,988 |
||||
One of the most significant developments over the past year has been the increased focus of federal agencies (particularly the National Institutes of Health) on the issue of compliance. In June 2000, NIH announced a requirement for education on the protection of human research subjects for all investigators who intend to submit competitive NIH applications and for a similar education requirement prior to establishing funds in the Institute’s accounting system for non-competing awards. Additionally, during fiscal year 2000, MIT revised its financial conflict of interest policy for individuals with awards or pending proposals at NIH and/or the National Science Foundation (NSF) to require full disclosure of financial interests that meet the NSF/NIH thresholds. For both of these policy changes, the Institute is developing secure Web-based systems to record and track the appropriate information. In addition, the Institute is beginning to develop a Web-based training program for human research subjects, which may be extended to other types of compliance activities.
The Institute addressed a variety of costing issues during the past fiscal year, ranging from cost sharing and effort reporting policies and issues to negotiation of Facilities & Administrative rates for future years. Items of particular interest are described below.
The Presidential Review Directive (PRD) report has identified cost sharing and effort reporting as a significant issue with respect to the research efforts of institutions of higher education. With the adoption of changes to OMB Circular A-21 in recent years and the incorporation of cost accounting standards in that document, the emphasis on accountability became, in large measure, on precision of cost accounting, not on research outcomes. The PRD report has clearly stated "The principal measure of accountability must be research outcomes" and has concluded that accountability and accounting are not the same. MIT has been active in working with federal agencies, the Federal Demonstration Partnership, and the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) in proposing ways that accountability can be achieved with less burdensome administrative and cost accounting requirements.
MIT successfully completed negotiations with our cognizant agencies, Defense Contract Audit Agency and Office of Naval Research, to establish F&A rates on a fixed with carryforward basis for fiscal years 2000 and 2001 at 63.5% MTDC (the same rate as for fiscal year 1998 and fiscal year 1999) and on a provisional basis for fiscal year 2002 at 65.5% MTDC. Employee benefit rates were negotiated for fiscal year 2001 at rates which were substantially lower than those rates for fiscal year 1999.
One of the significant A-21 changes in 1998 was the adoption of a review process to ensure the reasonableness of facilities costs for research facilities costing over $10 million, of which 40 percent is expected to be used for federal research. There is a requirement for additional documentation for buildings costing greater than $25 million with more than 50 percent allocated to federal research. MIT has developed a formal process to meet these requirements and has created a standardized template for identifying types of costs and determining the reasonableness of those costs in comparison with appropriate peer data. This process is being utilized for the Stata building and will eventually be used for all new construction at the Institute.
The audit conducted annually as required by OMB Circular A-133 was successfully completed in May 2000 with an unqualified opinion, no identified material weaknesses, and a determination as a low-risk entity.
For fiscal year 2000, MIT adjusted its policy with regard to supporting graduate research assistants, wherein MIT elected to provide support for 65 percent of the academic year tuition for each graduate research assistant and 100 percent of the tuition for the summer semester. Although this changed the distribution of Institute support between stipend and tuition categories, it did not materially change the total support provided by the Institute to graduate research students.
Deployment of the post-award component of COEUS continues to departments, laboratories, and centers of this system. This will permit Institute personnel to access the database, and will provide the capability to produce standard and custom reports quickly and independently. The testing phase of MIT’s electronic proposal system has been completed, and deployment of the electronic portion of COEUS is currently proceeding. In addition, MIT continues to work with NSF and NIH, and later with other federal agencies, to allow submission of the entire research proposal in an electronic format to federal agencies. By October 2000, faculty and other researchers may prepare research proposals electronically, and OSP will either send the electronic version to the sponsor, or print the proposal for paper submission. This will enable any researcher at MIT using the technology already available in the researcher’s office or laboratory to electronically create research proposals and submit them electronically to federal agencies that can accept the electronic version.
MIT was the first institution to receive electronic awards in a standardized format from ONR and was one of the first institutions to successfully transmit electronic proposals using a standardized EDI format to several federal funding agencies. We are continuing our activities in these areas, with the goal of accepting electronic awards from all federal agencies and establishing accounts for these awards automatically into MIT’s computerized database system (COEUS), thus speeding the processing and establishing of awards for faculty and other MIT researchers.
More information about this department can be found on the World Wide Web at http://web.mit.edu/osp/www/.
Julie Norris
Audio Visual Services is dedicated to meeting the Institute’s needs for presentation support for a wide variety of activities, including classes, special events, and cultural programs. Through the use of audio, video, and computer projection and amplification systems, the department works with students, faculty, and staff to produce daily classes, seminars, conferences, and concerts, reaching thousands of people each year, both on campus and at remote sites around the world. Over 10,200 individual requests for service were filled this year, resulting in total income over $1,200,000. More than $270,000 of this billing was related to system installations in classrooms.
Supporting the Institute’s educational activities comprised 65 percent of the department’s work orders in the past year. The operation of audio visual equipment for daily classes and weekly support for seminars and colloquia continue to be the largest area of business for the department. Members of the department perform over 120 calls for service daily during the school year.
Production of special events continues to be another focus of the department. Complex computer projection and audio systems were designed and operated by department technicians for the following events: weekly Media Lab colloquia, Media Lab Sponsor Week, the new student Orientation program, satellite teleconferences hosted by the Enterprise Forum, digital video presentations by NASA astronauts, Commencement 2000, and Technology Day events.
Direct involvement in audio visual systems design for classrooms and lecture halls continued this year. Completed projects include the installation of computer and video projection and sound systems in Rooms 34-101, 2-105, 14E-310, 26-100, E52-175, and 6-120. These installations will allow presenters easy access to projection equipment for computers and other video playback devices. The second phase of the Building 1 classroom renovation project was developed with design input by the department. Four new classrooms will be equipped with presentation technology systems by the beginning of the fall 2000 term.
A major upgrade in distance learning technology in the Bechtel Lecture Hall (1-390) was planned and executed. Members of the department participated to assure that the needs of the local audience and presenters were met. All projection and control equipment has been replaced and a touch screen interface has been designed to allow for a wide variety of media to be displayed both to local and remote audiences. The control system will allow technicians to monitor and control room systems from remote locations, allowing the implantation of a help desk for technology classrooms.
To provide staff with continuing education opportunities, four department staff members attended the 2000 Infocomm International Conference in Anaheim, CA in June. Infocomm is a showcase of communications technologies and a series of workshops designed to inform and educate industry professionals in the latest equipment and procedures to support presentations. As part of Infocomm, two department members participated in a three-day class entitled Facilities Design for Universities. This course will allow the department to take a greater role in the design of systems and facilities for the Institute. Six members of the department attended a local two-day school hosted by Extron Electronics, a manufacturer of computer interfacing equipment. Three technicians attended weeklong training classes at Crestron Electronics in New Jersey. With this training, department staff members will be able to upgrade and create classroom control systems. A weeklong course on Barco computer/video projectors was taught at MIT to five department staff members, allowing us to perform a higher level of service to the Institute in technology classrooms with this projection equipment. Several members of the department also took advantage of on-campus computer training opportunities held at MIT’s Professional Learning Center, becoming better trained in software necessary to operate the department.
Further developments on the department-created workorder database occurred, with the incorporation technician time recording and expanded billing modules. Representatives from Information Systems and the Controller’s Accounting Office continued to assist us to make MIT Audio Visual Services a fully compliant Internal Service Provider for the Institute.
Further information about Audio Visual Services can be found on the World Wide Web at http://web.mit.edu/av/.
Louis W. Graham, Jr.
The MIT Campus Police continued to commit itself to providing services to the Institute through community policing partnerships that reduce crime, create a safe environment, build trust, and enhance the quality of life in the academic community. The department remains committed to delivering quality service to the community in an effective, responsive, and professional manner.
The number of crimes against persons increased slightly over 1998. The 1999 total was 34 incidents. There were 89 incidents of theft of Institute-owned property compared to 156 in 1998. Computers and computer components were, once again, the most frequent type of Institute-owned property stolen. There were 465 incidents of theft of personal property reported at sites other than residences compared with 256 last year. The majority of items stolen were wallets, laptop computers, and backpacks. We had the same number of thefts occur from inside residences this year as we did in the previous year with a total of 57. Again, the most frequently stolen items were bicycles and electronic equipment. There were 15 motor vehicle thefts this year resulting in a slight increase over the total of 13 in 1998. The theft of bicycles increased with a total of 121 bicycles stolen as compared to 99 stolen in 1998.
Campus Police also supplemented Safe Ride when early morning operations ceased by providing 562 personal safety escorts to members of the community.
The Campus Police department provides 24-hour emergency medical services to all members of the community as well as to Draper Laboratory and the Whitehead Institute.
The total number of patients transported by the Campus Police decreased in 1999 by 33 percent from 1998. The 1999 total was 1,607.
The Rape Aggression Defense (RAD) self-defense program continued to be a popular course. Since the program began in 1994, a total of 488 MIT community members have been trained.
More information about this department, its services, operations and campus crime can be found on the World Wide Web at http://web.mit.edu/cp/www/.
Anne P. Glavin
The goal of this organization is to provide the community with the highest quality copier and copier-related services. We continually strive to maintain a balance of providing new technology at reasonable costs. To achieve success, we pledge to institute creative programs of efficiency and quality controls while maintaining sound business principles. We hold the customer at the center of our efforts and their satisfaction as our mission.
The CopyTech Express Center in Building W20 enjoyed a well-received first year of operation. The busy center’s popularity has grown steadily because of its extended hours and diverse mix of services. It appears evident that the new center will continue to be a student favorite for "on the run" day or night services.
The Copy Technology Centers were enthusiastically involved in a new initiative to increase Institute participation in recycling and green procurement efforts. Working with various representatives of the MIT community, the group has made a major impact on the issues of product choices and disposal methods. Our department has welcomed an active role in many of these new initiatives and looks forward to further involvement in the coming year.
The past year has seen significant increases in participation in a number of departmental service programs. The most dramatic involved the following:
These programs have shown an ability to remove labor-intensive functions from department responsibilities. By design, these programs have provided the Institute with efficient and cost-effective solutions to specific needs.
The most ambitious highlight of the past year was the two-phase installation of a new networked digital production environment. The integration of new digital devices with a new document management system was finalized in June 2000. This project, two years in research and one year in implementation, will significantly upgrade our ability to receive, produce, manipulate and deliver images using the latest technologies.
The Copy Technology Centers redesigned and updated our web site in the past year. Carefully re-examining the content, updating all services and pricing, and reformatting the site were the set goals of the undertaking. The new site is clearer and easier to navigate through. Pricing is included to allow Institute customers to estimate job costs for SAP purposes. The new site also is prepared for a number of Web submission initiatives that are planned, including electronic job and copyright submission.
The Copy Technology Centers participated in a coalition of MIT departments and service groups that examined paper recycling and other related issues. The Copy Technology Centers successfully tested and recommended recycled papers for Institute usage. As a result of this effort, our department also made the switch to using recycled paper in all of our operations. Our department purchases approximately 35 million sheets of white paper annually and the switch to recycled has provided a positive impression on any lingering concerns by Institute users. We will continue to participate in the coalition and will seek other ways to improve on environmentally related issues in our department.
The first year of the CopyTech Express Center in W20 has shown the successful concept of service specialization for a specific customer base, in this case, the MIT student population. The center is an evolving work in progress as hours of operation, service choices, and delivery are continually evaluated and refined. The success of the concept will be invaluable towards analysis of future site locations.
The major focus of the past year revolved around our plans for a new digital production environment. The early part of the year saw the selection and installation of new document management software. The new software replaced an older more restrictive system that was in place. New peripheral devices also were acquired resulting in a significant upgrade of a rapidly growing service. At the same time, a number of analog production copiers were replaced with new networked digital copiers. The first six months allowed for comprehensive testing and training of our staff. In June of this year, the final phase of the changeover took place. The installation of a new high capacity, networked digital copier along with additional smaller devices completed the hardware changeover. The new device represents state of the art technology and finalizes a new direction for the centers. Our department has been transformed from a network print service restricted to one center and two copiers, to a non-proprietary system that can choose from nine output devices in three locations. The completion of this project equips us with enhancements in the areas of quality, flexibility, and features. This new system has not only propelled us to a new level of service capability today, but also has prepared us for future innovations ahead.
With technologies constantly changing and improving, we will seek to stay on the very edge of advances in all of our service delivery areas. We will strive to enhance needed services all the while looking for ways to utilize breaking technologies. We will seek ways to operate cost effectively and maintain the commitment of quality to our customers. We will entertain carefully selected partnerships to enhance the delivery of services to the community and continually introduce improved methods, as they become available. Some specific goals are to :
More information on this department can be found on the World Wide Web at http://web.mit.edu/ctc/www/.
Steven M. Dimond
The department achieved a $240,000 positive cash flow in fiscal year 2000 reflecting a 20 percent increase over the previous year. The continued development of business in all sectors along with new ventures generated a revenue increase of 18 percent. Continued efforts in facility renovation, targeted marketing, operations focus, and staff commitment were the primary contributors.
MIT bookings in fiscal 2000 equaled the previous year with revenues increasing by 17 percent as the events were larger in size and longer in duration. Bookings totaled 427 events of which 101 were MIT, a total booking increase of 12 percent. External business revenue contribution increases reflect our aggressive rate position.
Marketing efforts, spearheaded by Conference Center Consulting Group, played a key role in achieving the department’s financial objectives. Strategies for developing new MIT bookings and additional external clients consisted of targeted mailings, local advertisement, and direct sales calls. Additionally, Endicott conducted a number of promotional events including the NEMICE event at the World Trade Center, MIT Meeting Planners Luncheon, Administrative Officers’ presentation, Meeting Planners International Reception, corporate client luncheons and our third exhibit at the New England Flower Show.
Reinvestment in the property also has played a vital role in business growth. Over the past three years monies in excess of $600,000 have been invested in the property. Fiscal 2000 capital improvements included major renovations to the lecture hall, property irrigation system expansion, kitchen refrigeration upgrade, new furniture for meeting rooms, renovations of seven guestrooms, and function space remodeling. The department considers continued capital investment essential in maintaining self-sufficiency. In that effort a 10-year plan has been developed allocating between $150,000 and $200,000 annually.
We know that client satisfaction continues to be notably positive because of our business growth through a sustained high ratio of repetitive bookings. Each event is measured through client evaluations, sales debriefings, and on-site. Thus far responses reflect high marks for facilities and services but the responses also have identified areas requiring attention. Key areas of focus in Fiscal 2000 were service enhancements, staffing increases, professional development and training, along with capital planning. The dedication and commitment of Endicott House employees has proven an essential element in client satisfaction.
Through continued business growth the department anticipates revenues exceeding $3,000,000 in fiscal year 2001, thus yielding a positive cash flow for a fourth consecutive year. The department’s strategic plan for fiscal 2001 is for growth in overnight conferences and new business services.
Michael Fitzgerald
As steward of the Institute’s physical plant, a prime concern of the department is the maintenance of its infrastructure. For several years, Facilities has maintained a facility audit of MIT’s buildings and in February, published volume three of its renewal program activities report. A recent infrastructure renewal effort is the renovation of the undergraduate dormitory, Baker House. The department was pleased and honored to receive an award from the Cambridge Historical Commission for the restoration of this 50-year old building designed by Alvar Aalto.
Facilities was its own client when several of our offices were relocated due to the renovation of Building E18 office space for expansion of the Center for Learning and Memory. The administrative offices, including the director’s area, moved to NE20 and the Design and Construction staff moved to Building 45 where its co-location with the newly defined Capital Projects Group will enable close coordination as the Institute enters a period of increased construction activity.
The department has several initiatives underway with other areas at the Institute including a Green Building Design Task Force with the Environmental Management Office. The general idea behind creating "green building design" is that lower energy use results in less pollution. This effort has huge significance to long-term sustainability both environmentally and financially.
Facilities is also working closely with the EMO in its recycling initiatives. Outreach to the community was provided at the Vendor Fair in October and during IAP at a joint session with EMO and the Housing Office.
With the restructuring of the Planning Office, Facilities assumed additional responsibilities for planning projects at all levels. One of these has led to a collaboration with the Publishing Services Bureau to provide the MIT community with up-to-date maps of the campus.
During this past year, Facilities took a leadership role in the Institute’s extensive building program. After an initial setback last summer, the department reconfigured the management of its Capital Projects Group and hired both a director of capital project development, Deborah Poodry, and a director of capital construction, Paul Curley. These partners are responsible for ensuring that the flow between project development and construction is a coordinated, disciplined, and smooth process.
The directors are currently hiring specialists in all aspects of large-scale capital projects. In addition, they are developing policy and procedures that establish guidelines for reporting on all aspects of a project including planning, design, schedule, and costs. Another aspect of tracking that the group is working on is to extend the link between their project cost control and budget control systems to SAP. Among other things, this will integrate with cost projections and track commitments with contractors. The Capital Projects group also is developing a five-year construction logistics plan in order to ensure smooth pedestrian and vehicular access to campus. This plan includes parking options on campus as well.
In order to keep the MIT community informed of the progress of the building program, the department has moved forward on several initiatives including hiring a manager of communications for capital projects. In addition, the director of Facilities made several presentations both on an off campus promoting the building program. The department also began a regular feature in Tech Talk and The Tech called "Campus Construction Updates," that features activities that will have an impact on the community. A web site including these updates as well as additional information is in development and will be online in the fall.
Among the projects in design and construction are:
Additional information on the building program can be found at on the world wide web at http://web.mit.edu/president/communications/Building.pdf.
A project managed by DCS, the Triad at MIT, a distance learning facility, won the American General Contractors Award as part of its Build Massachusetts Award Program. Several staff members accepted the award along with representatives from the Center for Advanced Educational Services. Since its completion two years ago, the facility has provided a fundamental technical and facilities nucleus that is enabling high-end distance learning to take root at MIT.
The departmental staff has continued to support the Committee for Review of Space Planning (CRSP) in defining a new approach to scoping space change projects. This process has enabled DCS to provide estimates early in the development of the project which, in turn, allows CRSP to consider complex space moves with minimal design effort.
In addition to the specific projects noted below, the department completed approximately 60 space changes, both large and small, as well as numerous smaller interior design projects that primarily involve furniture selection and installation, and a number of ADA accessibility upgrades across the campus.
Highlights of the year included:
Throughout the year, the Finance and Accounting area developed more efficient ways of working in the SAP system. These include improvements to customer access to billing for sales work, mechanisms for tracking labor allocation, and streamlined access to detailed financial records online. These developments were made possible by thorough questioning of records, ongoing system testing and adjustment, and strong communication with other administrative departments engaged in development and maintenance of SAP and related systems. Substantial strides to improve our electronic reporting and record maintenance systems were achieved and more work on this process will continue in the coming year.
An inclusive approach to establishing business unit budgets, begun with the fiscal 2000 budget cycle, was continued for the fiscal 2001 budget request and allocation processes. This unique methodology not only resulted in an increased level of fiscal awareness, but also created a much higher level of communication, cooperation, and efficiency among managers.
Finance and Accounting completed its first full year of a new initiative to improve existing campus infrastructure through a systematic program of capital renewal. In addition to accomplishing a variety of projects, Finance and Accounting spent this year refining a selection process to enable balanced yet speedy use of resources that complements existing programs and institutional objectives. For example, through the infrastructure fund, the Institute developed a five- to seven-year strategy to improve life safety systems in campus housing. Some infrastructure funds to study future projects will be set aside each year, thus improving the ability to effectively allocate resources.
Thanks to an infusion of new funds and the benefit of adding a systematic program of infrastructure renewal to the work underway in our department, the Major Repair Operation (MRO) was able to substantially increase its efforts to eliminate mid-sized repair needs on campus.
The I/T group implemented several of the recommendations in its strategic plan including the addition of new team members and a reorganization of the team’s interface to the customer. The team will continue to implement the recommendations of that plan in fiscal year 2001.
A major upgrade of Maximo, an I/T system to track work within the Repair and Maintenance process, was begun. This upgrade will be completed in August 2000 and should provide significant additional functionality to its users.
Several enhanced PC and Macintosh programs were developed for use by Facilities employees. The development and maintenance of CAD facility drawings of campus-wide and internal building systems also continues.
The department prepared for and completed a smooth transition into the year 2000 for all of its I/T systems. The I/T group participated significantly in the department’s move from Buildings E18/E19 to NE20 and 45 and continues to work with the central I/S group to address networking issues related to the move to NE20 (3 Cambridge Center).
The group continues to deploy desktop computers for use by all members of the organization and to provide significant I/T training.
The operational units in Facilities, Buildings Services and Grounds, Mail Services and Repair and Maintenance, are benchmarking with a number of institutions within the Boston area and comparable institutions around the country. Operations will determine how its work processes and costs compare to others and look to develop more effective and efficient work practices.
The campus recycling program was enhanced to include mixed paper as well as white paper, aluminum, plastic and glass. Additional collection sites were established throughout the campus, both within buildings and outside to promote ease in recycling. In addition, a program to recycle CRTs, grounds waste, certain metals and food preparation waste was begun. The goal this year is to divert 30 percent of the Institute’s waste stream to recycling.
Operations has a $650,000 initiative underway for campus beautification. Work to be performed includes improvements to address selected pavement, landscaping, and structural needs.
The process of producing labels for campus mailings was transferred from Human Resources to Mail Services. This transfer of responsibility results in faster turnaround time and therefore quicker and smoother delivery of on campus bulk mail. In addition, Mail Services is in the process of researching and purchasing a package tracking system that will enhance its ability to trace the route of parcels around campus once they are received at the MIT loading docks.
The operational areas corrected and/or solved all Y2K deficient mechanical systems and made a successful transition to the year 2000.
A new solid waste contract was developed, bid, and awarded to State Wide Carting. The former contractor for trash removal was BFI.
Utilities completed several projects and started others to improve reliability and safety, increase production capacity, reduce plant emissions, and enhance resource conservation.
Among the energy initiatives is a new 2000 kW emergency generator to service the main group and Central Utilities Plant (CUP) that was installed and tested in time for the Y2K changeover. Another energy improvement is a major distribution expansion, the first phase of which was started in the railroad right-of-way behind the power plant. This will ultimately expand steam, chilled water, electric, and telecom distribution in the railroad right-of-way and municipal and private utilities in Vassar Street for the full length of the campus. In addition, construction of chiller number six is well underway with foundations, building steel, and major equipment in place.
Life safety measures taken this year include the installation of the first portion of the West Campus Fire Protection Loop, including fire pump and standby generator in Johnson Athletics Center and underground piping to Baker House. The five-year Residential Life Fire Safety Project installed interim fire alarm equipment in East Campus a year ago, and this June commenced full construction of sprinklers, alarms, and emergency power and lighting in East Campus and Random Hall.
Among the energy initiatives implemented was the installation of a newly developed software by ABB in the gas turbine that will optimize environmental performance over the full range of ambient temperatures, humidity, and load. A water reclamation system was commissioned that captures process water in Building 13 for reuse in the CUP, saving 6.3 million gallons of water annually.
In addition, new metering in the CUP will facilitate $250,000 to $300,000 in potential savings annually in sewer charges by recording water that does not flow to the sewer.
Organizationally, Utilities added a full-time environmental manager to deal with all Facilities environmental compliance matters, and a full-time environmental engineer dedicated to the CUP. An aggressive program of staff training is underway and reporting, record keeping, and inspection systems are in development.
Another organizational change is the establishment of 24 hour/7 day per week supervisor coverage of CUP operations responsible for environmental compliance, reliability efficiency, and personnel supervision.
The department continues to promote diversity through its Learning and Performance section. In the fall the department hosted an exciting program on multiculturalism with Dr. Maura J. Cullen. In addition, Facilities has developed a new employee diversity training program based on the videotape "You Make the Difference" from the Griggs Productions Valuing Diversity Series. The goal is to help people become more sensitive to cultural, gender, and other differences and to promote better working relationships between all employees. This program is a requirement for all new employees in the Department of Facilities.
Again this year, the department suffered the loss of a long-time employee, Neil Tomlinson. Neil started in Repair and Maintenance in April of 1977 as an electrician and was promoted to a supervisory position in 1989. He was known for his outstanding technical skills and for his dedication and commitment to Facilities and MIT. Neil will be greatly missed by all of us.
In the spring Robert Long, the Controller’s Accounting Office (CAO) representative in Facilities, announced his retirement. Gregory Billington transferred from Financial Systems Services to become the new CAO representative in Facilities.
Two promotions of note occurred this year. Michael Sherman was promoted from analyst programmer III to manager of the application and desktop services section of the I/T Group. Jennifer Combs was promoted from environmental coordinator to environmental manager, underlining the department’s dedication to government compliance and improving environmental initiatives on campus.
An open position in the department’s human resources remains following the departure of Karen Nilsson, formerly the assistant director for HR. In December, she returned to the housing area, the department where she started at MIT, as associate director for operations in Residence Life and Student Life Programs. A search committee is currently in the process of reviewing that position.
The department continues to work in conjunction with the special assistant to the vice president for equal opportunity and affirmative action programs to identify and attract minority candidates. The development of minorities and women within Facilities continues through training and education.
More information about the Facilities department can be found on the World Wide Web at http://web.mit.edu/facilities/.
Victoria V. Sirianni
The Environmental Programs Office (EPO) is a new office created in July 1999 by the Executive Vice President to take responsibility for overall environmental, health, and safety (EHS) management at the Institute. During its first year, EPO reorganized the offices at MIT with overlapping responsibility for EHS issues to create clearer accountability and responsibility for each of the many complex regulatory programs that govern MIT’s work, and to provide more effective service to the MIT community. As of February 2000, three offices report to the EPO and form a cohesive EHS team. They are: the Environmental Medical Service, the Safety Office, and the newly created Environmental Management Office (which was broken out of the Safety Office). The new EHS team is focused on service to departments, labs, and centers and on leading the development of a more systems- and service-oriented approach to EHS management. Several of EPO’s overarching philosophies include:
To create clearer accountability and responsibility for all of the regulatory programs governing MIT’s work as well as for positive EHS initiatives, the new EHS team identified over 200 unique programs, 187 specific federal, state and local regulations, and many positive EHS initiatives, and produced a matrix that assigns responsibility for each to a single position. A few programs that had not been fully accounted for in the past were identified in this process and addressed. The first two of several Human Resources-facilitated retreats were held to build an integrated organization.
With a clearer sense of accountability, the members of the EHS team are poised to support each other’s efforts, cross-train in high priority programs to broaden professional competency, and generally improve client service and program management. The team initiated a cross-training program that will ultimately prepare staff across EHS departments to extend the scope of certain basic work, such as laboratory surveys, beyond that of their principal areas of expertise to a full range of the most important EHS issues.
The workers’ compensation claim management function was transferred from the Safety Office to the Benefits Office of Human Resources to consolidate all injury-related and other benefits in one office.
An EHS Capital Project Design and Construction Group, comprised of experts in a variety of EHS disciplines, was established to provide EHS advice on capital projects that is expert, timely, and sensitive to overall project objectives. The EHS Group is led by a senior EHS staff member, who is integrated in each Facilities department capital project team to more fully appreciate project objectives and be better able to exercise good judgment concerning the relative importance of EHS issues and other project objectives. A method to facilitate the resolution of difficult issues also was established.
The EPO convened an Environmental Programs Task Force, comprised of representatives of Facilities, Custodial Services, Campus Activities Complex, Dining Services, the Executive Vice President’s Office, Student and Residential Life, Conference Services, the Copy Center, Procurement, Publishing Services Bureau, the Planning Office, and students (many of whom are members of SAVE), to undertake positive campus environmental initiatives. Working together, the Task Force achieved results that would have been impossible if departments had worked in isolation. The Task Force’s major accomplishments are:
In January 2000, recycling receptacles for mixed paper and for commingled goods (plastics numbered 1 through 7, aluminum, and glass) were installed next to most indoor common area and outdoor trash receptacles. Desk-side recycling was expanded from white paper only to mixed paper (including cardboard, newspaper and magazines, and white and colored paper). A new recycling contractor who is capable of and committed to keeping accurate records of recycling rates was procured and will be serving the entire campus and residential life’s recycling needs. Recycling, as a percent of total waste generated, increased from approximately 5% to 17% in a five-month period. There is a 30% goal by January 2001. Work began and is underway to promote recycling of appropriate construction debris by the Institute’s construction contractors. The EPO funded the purchase of a recycling truck for the Facilities department, which will assist the custodial staff in collecting recycled goods and allow us to make better use of campus facilities.
With support from the Task Force and from many departments across the Institute, the Procurement department and the Copy Technology Centers led a conversion to the use of high recycled content (30 to 50%) process chlorine free paper by most high volume paper users. Office Depot was asked to feature recycled products in its on-line service. Recycled goods were featured at several vendor fairs. Conversion to the use of other more environmentally responsible products, such as reusable toner cartridges, is underway.
With support from the Task Force, Dining Services initiated a food composting project at Walker Memorial, composting approximately four tons of food waste monthly. The pilot was successful and the food composting project is ready for wider implementation in large dining venues.
The Managing Director for Environmental Programs and the Director of Facilities cosponsored, with participation by Professors Leon Glicksman and Leslie Norford, the creation of a Green Building Task Force. The Task Force is comprised of Facilities, Capital Projects, Utilities, and EHS staff, faculty, and a graduate student funded by EPO and Facilities. It began work to develop performance-based sustainable design guidelines for consideration, along with other project objectives, by designers on MIT’s capital projects. Long-term objectives will be established and the guidelines will be tied to achieving these objectives.
The Discovery Process commenced and made significant progress in defining the possible automated components of a comprehensive Environmental, Health, and Safety Management System for MIT that will integrate positive initiatives, education, and compliance. As a result of the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s May 1998 campus inspection, MIT will implement an environmental management system. Work began to define a process for involving faculty, researchers, staff and students in the management system design process to ensure that the system works well for the community it is intended to serve.
A new program was mandated by Congress to address potential bioterrorism actions. It requires the identification and strict control of certain biological agents and toxins used at the Institute. Lincoln Laboratory has been successfully registered under this new regulation. Efforts are underway to register the main campus. These agents will be controlled in essentially the same way as radioactive materials with strict oversight by the Biosafety Office. Other EHS team members took a training course to increase their capacity to address a bioterrorism emergency.
The handling and disposal of sharps, animal/pathology, and hazardous chemical wastes were improved to ensure regulatory compliance and decrease costs with a minimum impact on the research community.
The Institute system and facilities that store hazardous waste were improved by implementing a data tracking system. The central hazardous waste storage area in Building 12A was improved with a new air handling system and a floor sealing containment system. Various emergency and preparatory plans were upgraded and updated as well. The Institute now has a significant supply inventory that can deal with reasonably expected spills and other hazardous materials incidents.
The delivery and content of EHS training was enhanced by two new web based training courses with a third in the beta-testing stage. Over 200 people have successfully completed the Chemical Hygiene hypercourse. The Hazard Communication and Hazardous Waste hypercourses are now being implemented. These materials will provide good models for the development of the EHS Management System’s educational component.
In collaboration with Facilities, the EHS team supervised the initiation of a procurement process to more expertly contract with qualified and cost effective environmental consultants for a wide range of services. A standard form of environmental consulting contract was developed as well. Proposals have been received and are being evaluated.
The EHS team hired a 13-year veteran of Camp Dresser McKee, who is a professional engineer and a Licensed Site Professional under the Massachusetts Superfund Act regulations. This highly qualified professional supervised the response to releases and discoveries of regulated materials on campus, an increasing phenomenon as MIT embarks on its expanded capital program.
Progress was made in discussions with the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regarding its 1998 multimedia inspection of approximately 25 percent of MIT’s labs and centers as well as certain facilities. At EPA’s request, the Director of the Office of Environmental Management spoke about the inspection at two EPA conferences on EPA’s University Initiative. EPA conducted a Toxic Substances Control Act inspection in the past year and found no violations. The EHS team worked with the Office of Community and Government Relations in support of EPA’s Clean Charles 2005 Initiative.
$25,000 settlement was reached with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and Attorney General’s Office regarding an enforcement action against MIT. The action concerned inaccurate data reporting from the Central Utility Plant caused by faulty software. There was no damage to the environment.
Two formal complaints were made to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), one from E19 concerning possible exposure to asbestos and odors and blocked egress, and the other concerning possibly improper storage of gas cylinders. Both were handled by letter to OSHA’s satisfaction and as a result no inspection was conducted and no violations were issued.
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health performed two radiation inspections (totaling five days on site), which resulted in one minor violation each time and no monetary penalty.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspected the Nuclear Reactor on three occasions, with each inspection lasting five days. There were no notices of violations and no other adverse findings.
Biennial training for the Cambridge Fire Department Hazardous Materials Response team was conducted for radiation safety, nuclear reactor safety, chemical hygiene, air sampling and biological hazards. Members of the EHS team worked with the Fire Department on emergency planning procedures.
Several members of the EHS team participated as members of the Cambridge Local Emergency Planning Committee.
Testimony was provided to OSHA on the proposed ergonomics standard.
Testimony was provided to the Department of Energy (DOE) on the proposed Beryllium standard.
Members of the EPO played prominent roles in several national organizations. Over 20 presentations were made at the national level. At least 10 articles/books were published. This year the Radiation Protection Office hosted the 17th biennial North American Campus Radiation Safety Officer Conference with 160 professionals from the US and Canada in attendance. The Managing Director was appointed to an Advisory Committee of the Commissioner of the Massachusetts DEP.
The new position and Office of the Senior Counsel, reporting to the Executive Vice President, was created in the last year. The Senior Counsel is also the Managing Director for Environmental Programs and Risk Management. This position is responsible for all legal services for departments reporting to the Executive Vice President. The Senior Counsel is also responsible for developing and administering the Institute’s general legal budget for outside legal services, for generally evaluating the cost-effectiveness and quality of legal services to the Institute, for evolving a more systematic and business-like approach to legal services, and for otherwise providing legal services to the Institute as needed. The following lists the Office of the Senior Counsel’s principal accomplishments in the past year.
A standard retainer letter agreement was developed and executed by many of the firms that perform substantial legal services for MIT, including MIT’s primary outside counsel, Palmer and Dodge. The retainer letter establishes discounts for many types of services (many at the 10 to 15 percent level, and some at higher discounts), allowable and prohibited reimbursements, accounting and reporting controls to track costs, and processes for establishing budgets and approving the qualifications and numbers of lawyers working on matters. With these retainer letter agreements, MIT saved $100 to $150 per hour on services performed by two firms, compared with the rates MIT has been paying for many firms, and saved 10 to 15 percent on most other services performed by firms under retainer letter. One firm provided a 10 percent discount for billings over $1 million, and agreed to consider revisiting the issue. Legal bills were for the first time distributed to the primary clients across the Institute for review before payment, to ensure that clients received the services being billed and were satisfied with the quality and value of such services.
With assistance from the Controller’s Office and the Data Warehouse, a legal services general ledger account was created in SAP to ensure that legal costs could be tracked for the first time. A reporting format on the Data Warehouse was also created to provide for legal cost reporting sorted in a variety of ways. Much of the cost tracking work for the past year had to be done by hand until these systems were complete. However, the Office of the Senior Counsel will be able to track and report on legal expenditures for the coming year in SAP.
The Senior Counsel led a team of administrators that supported Chancellor Lawrence Bacow and Professor John Vander Sande in the negotiation and documentation of the Cambridge-MIT Institute, which will bring $80 million from the UK government to MIT for joint research, professional practice programs, and undergraduate student exchanges with the University of Cambridge. These complex negotiations involved representatives of the UK government and Cambridge University. Highly effective support from outside counsel, focused on protecting MIT’s corporate interests, was obtained for a very reasonable budgeted cost.
The Senior Counsel provided legal services and oversight in the development of standard forms of design, construction, and environmental and other consulting contracts for MIT. The Senior Counsel also provided legal services and oversight of the permitting process for major capital projects. She worked with the Managing Director of Real Estate and the Director of Capital Project Development on issues relating to regulation of MIT’s campus and projects by the Historical Commissions of Massachusetts and Cambridge, and on proposed revisions to the Cambridge zoning ordinance. She also is overseeing the litigation challenging the IPOP special permit that was granted for the Student Residence project.
The Senior Counsel represented MIT before federal and state environmental regulatory agencies.
The Senior Counsel provided guidance and oversight in connection with major litigation, including several cases in the Technology Licensing Office and Insurance Office. She developed a form of Artist’s Contract for the List Gallery that can be used in connection with acquisitions, including those relating to capital projects. The Counsel and Director of Insurance provided legal services in connection with a cafeteria contract, litigation and other matters. The Senior Counsel developed oral history gift and consent agreements for the Archives and provided other advice to the Archives. She counseled the Dean’s Office, the Registrar’s Office, the committee that addressed the Census, the Committee on the Use of Humans as Experimental Subjects, Information Systems, and various other Institute offices. She also has increased the coordination of work among other Institute attorneys to best serve the overall interests of MIT.
The new Managing Director for Environmental Programs and Risk Management is also responsible for enterprise-wide risk management at MIT. The former Office of the Director of Legal Services and Insurance began reporting to the Managing Director this year. That Office’s legal functions were incorporated into the new Office of the Senior Counsel. The remaining Office of Insurance focused on providing appropriate insurance coverages for risks at the Institute. The Business Continuity Management team also began reporting to the Managing Director. The following principal initiatives were undertaken in risk management and insurance.
The Managing Director for Environmental Programs and Risk Management and the EHS team led two major initiatives relating to emergency response systems at MIT.
First, the EHS team led two reviews of the Institute’s existing fire, chemical release, explosion, and confined space Emergency Response Program, one by a task force comprised of the EHS team, Facilities, and Campus Police and the second by an outside consultant. Recommendations are being developed to improve the program, primarily using existing resources. Interim program improvements included an increase in available EHS expertise in off-hours and expanded training for emergency responders.
With assistance from Human Resources, the Managing Director for Environmental Programs and Risk Management and the Director of Enterprise Services led a multiple-department initiative to map and record existing emergency response protocols of the Campus Police, EHS team, Facilities, and Residential Life and Student Life Programs office and to encourage a more systems-oriented approach to emergency response. Connections between various departments’ protocols were drawn where appropriate, and the roles and responsibilities of each department in different categories of emergencies began to be defined. Work is continuing with the goal of producing a comprehensive written emergency response guide that can be used by emergency responders and other members of the MIT community. An expanded group that includes the task force as well as the News Office, Registrar’s Office, Dean’s Office, MIT Medical, Business Continuity Management team, Athletic Department, Government and Community Relations, and Conference Services is working on improving front-line emergency response communications.
Members of the EHS team worked on the Y2K team to address MIT’s needs. The Managing Director monitored progress for the Executive Vice President.
The Managing Director met with a number of members of the MIT community and developed an agenda of the most compelling risk management issues at the Institute, in addition to the ones relating to EHS issues. Among those consulted were the Institute Auditor (out-going and incoming), the Vice President and Dean of Research, the Institute Archivist, an Ombudsperson, Dean’s Office and Residential Life representatives, Director and staff of Facilities, various inside and outside lawyers, students and faculty. The Senior Counsel/Managing Director began working with the MIT community on a number of the agenda items, including various student life issues, capital projects contracting, and interim sanctions. In some cases working with the Institute Auditor and others at MIT, the Managing Director is prepared to proceed with a number of the agenda items in the coming year.
The Insurance Office, working closely with the Senior Counsel and Capital Projects Office, initiated a new program to cover construction contractors’ insurance for major capital projects through an owner’s controlled insurance program (OCIP). Under the OCIP, MIT has purchased the workers’ compensation, general liability, and excess liability coverage for contractors working on MIT’s major capital projects. After careful analysis of the economic, administrative, and project management merits of the program, coupled with the significant volume of construction projected over the next five years, MIT committed to the OCIP under a guaranteed cost structure. The program includes a number of risk management approaches, including a drug testing program for construction workers and the requirement that contractors prepare detailed safety plans. If modeling to forecast savings (to include expected losses, projected payroll) is proven reasonably accurate, the Institute should realize savings of approximately $2 million. Costs and savings will be tracked throughout the life of the program to evaluate its effectiveness.
The first phase of a comprehensive review and analysis of MIT’s property and casualty insurance and risk management program was completed by Aon Risk Services, Inc. of Massachusetts with substantial support from the Office of Insurance. Initial findings, including recommendations for higher levels of coverage for catastrophes and higher retentions with lower premiums for basic liability coverages, were presented at Barton Insurance Ltd.’s annual Board of Directors’ meeting. Follow-up work is underway to benchmark recommended coverages and approaches against those of peer institutions, and to examine the potential cost savings, and overall costs and benefits, of alternative methods of structuring MIT’s insurance program.
Premiums for most lines of insurance remained fairly level for fiscal year 2000. Due to the high frequency of claims against the Educators Legal Liability Policies (ELL), particularly employment-related claims, increasing defense costs, and consistently high damage awards across the nation, our ELL insurer raised minimum retention levels from $100,000 to $150,000 to $250,000 (depending on whether insurer-approved counsel is retained). Market conditions for other liability lines have allowed MIT to realize 7 to 20% savings on premiums in excess, umbrella, publisher’s liability, and nuclear liability coverages.
Under ongoing property loss claims, MIT recovered an additional $300,000 from its property insurer for fiscal year 1997 cogeneration losses, in connection with disputed costs. In July 1999, the same insurer reimbursed MIT $108,000, for damages resulting from the heavy rainstorm in June 1998.
Several liability claims were favorably resolved during the year, including several employment-related claims, a fraternity-related claim, and a claim arising from a contractor dispute at Lincoln Laboratory. However, a number of matters remain in active litigation. They include several employment-related claims, several claims arising out of alleged alcohol-related incidents at fraternities, as well as the remaining procedural claims in a case in which a jury in November 1999 found MIT to be not liable for claims related to research conducted at our nuclear reactor in the 1960s.
Jamie Lewis Keith
The Parking and Transportation Office (PTO) is responsible for the operations of the following:
The director of Parking and Transportation provides day-to-day management of the department, and the rest of the staff are employed by Standard Parking. There are presently 30 full-time employees working under the auspices of Parking and Transportation.
The PTO is committed to providing a high level of customer service to those within the community as well to those from outside of MIT. PTO also provides effective planning to ensure the maximum usage of all parking facilities. This also includes consideration for facility placement, construction, and repairs.
MIT is required by the Federal Clean Air Act of 1973 to provide parking to no more than 36 percent of the MIT commuting population. Due to this restriction, parking permits are not available to all who would like to have one. The total annual number of available parking permits is determined via an allocation system by the Parking Office each July. These allocations are distributed to each department for assignment. The local assignment of allocations provides a more flexible distribution system that accounts for special circumstances within that department.
There are currently 5,536 members of the MIT community with parking privileges, accounting for 6,985 stickers. There are 15 different parking permit types; 12 for employees and 3 for students. Parking allocations are done annually and take effect around September 15 of each year. All parking permits are valid from September 1st through September 15th of the following year. This means that the Parking Office issues nearly 7,000 parking stickers between August 15th and September 15th annually.
MIT has four parking garages and 23 open parking lots. The parking garages are the Albany Garage, the West Garage, the East Garage, and the Hayward Garage. All of the facilities have maintenance needs, including capital repair projects. The PTO coordinates these projects while maintaining a level of service needed to serve the Institute.
The allocation process distributes parking permits throughout all of our parking spaces on campus. For this reason, the intensity of use of each location is predetermined. In most parking locations, each space is over-allocated by a factor of .1 to .5 depending on intensity of use. The PTO also must accommodate the Institute's visitors and the occasional parking users using the same spaces. Due to the uncertainty of how many visitors and occasional users will come in each day, the lots will fill up from time to time. Overall, this approach has provided the maximum use of space possible, with minimal inconvenience to our customers.
All of the parking facilities east of Massachusetts Avenue are at or near 100 percent occupancy during the school year. Most of the facilities to the west of Massachusetts Avenue operate well below capacity. This is largely due to the concentration of office locations in Main and East campus, but the supply of parking spaces to the western parts of campus. Parking lots like the Pacific Annex and the West Lot are holding places for future buildings. As buildings are erected in the western part of campus, these unused spaces will then be needed. Should MIT remove parking spaces without relocation elsewhere, the City of Cambridge could consider them permanently removed from our inventory. MIT will need to replace all parking spaces lost due to building projects or risk a loss in the level of service enjoyed today.
The Campus Police as well as the PTO issue MIT motor vehicle violations on campus. There are 13 different motor vehicle violations.
|
Violation Type |
12 Mos. Issued |
Fee |
|
Parking Over Time Limit for Zone |
306 |
$20 |
|
No Permit for this Area |
7,478 |
$20 |
|
Parking in Area Not Marked for Parking |
610 |
$20 |
|
Blocking Roadway, Driveway, Entrance or Crosswalk |
94 |
$30 |
|
Parking in a No Parking Zone |
811 |
$30 |
|
Parking or Driving on Sidewalk or Lawn |
84 |
$30 |
|
Blocking Fire Lane or Hydrant |
106 |
$40 |
|
Parking In Reserved Space |
234 |
$40 |
|
Blocking Loading Zone or Dumpster |
151 |
$50 |
|
Parking in Area Reserved for Handicapped |
70 |
$50 |
|
Blocking Wheelchair Ramp |
33 |
$50 |
|
Driving to Endanger |
5 |
$50 |
|
Speeding |
7 |
$50 |
There were 10,206 violations issued during the 12 months ended May 1, 2000.
MIT’s subsidized MBTA Pass Program provides $10 off of a monthly pass for students and employees. Employees must be eligible for payroll deduction and must not have a full MIT parking permit to participate. Students must be registered and cannot have an MIT parking permit. The amount MIT subsidizes each Tpass will increase next fiscal year. The new subsidy amount will effectively be 50 percent of the face value. This in turn should increase participation in the program as well.
In April 2000, there were 3,407 participants in the Tpass program. Of these, 1,735 were students and 1,672 were employees.
The Saferide shuttle program operates from 6 pm to 3 am, Sunday through Wednesday and from 6 pm to 4 am, Thursday through Saturday. There are currently five passenger vans, three of which are 12 passenger, and the other two are HP accessible and can seat 10 passengers.
The vans operate on fixed routes each day of the year. There are two routes that serve Boston (East and West) and two routes that serve Cambridge (East and West). The last van is put into service during heavy demand or when one of the other vans is out for service.
All members of the MIT community are eligible to use the Saferide service. However, the vast majority of passengers are students going to and from their living quarters. The service times and routes are determined by the location of student residence houses.
Use of Saferide has increased significantly in the past few years. There has been considerable discussion to upgrade the service to accommodate the increased demand.
The Tech Shuttle was designed to provide daytime transportation to all members of the MIT community. The route operates in a loop from Kendall Square via the MBTA stop to Audrey Street by the Tang and Westgate residences. The shuttle runs from 7 am to 7 pm Monday through Friday.
The shuttle bus is owned and operated by Paul Revere, and coordinated by the Charles River Transportation Management Association (CRTMA). The PTO works with the CRTMA to determine the schedule, routes, and headway's for the shuttle. MIT provides 100 percent of the cost of this shuttle that serves 200,000 passengers per year.
More information about this department can be found on the World Wide Web at http://web.mit.edu/parking/www/.
John M. McDonald
I begin this report with the very painful news that in March of this year, Executive Vice President John Curry informed me of his decision to dissolve the Planning Office and to disperse its staff to other organizations. The Planning Office was created during the administrations of Chairman James R. Killian and President Julius Stratton in 1958 in order to provide and maintain a long-range plan for MIT. It has been my privilege to serve five presidents as the leader of the Planning Office since my appointment in 1960.
I believe the office has made a real difference for this community and deeply regret the dissolution of an organization devoted to providing creative, thoughtful and coherent plans and policy initiatives to MIT in a number of spheres, internal and external. It is worth noting a few of its achievements. During this time the campus plan has guided the growth of MIT from four million square feet to more than nine million square feet. Large areas of the campus that were parking lots and archaic industrial buildings are now occupied by handsome buildings and green spaces. The Planning Office played a central role in the defeat of a proposed eight lane, double-decked inner belt highway that would have passed through the campus.
Among its many achievements, the Planning Office played a key role in the redevelopment of the former industrial district that is now Technology Square and Cambridge Center. It conceived of and saw to fruition the new location of the Kendall/MIT MBTA station and the MIT timeline that decorates its walls. The Planning Office developed one of the first university computerized facilities management systems and we developed a still state-of-the-art tactual map for the blind. The reach of the office’s accomplishments is international in scope and is a source of pride for all of us.
In spite of this unsettling event, I want to record that the talented and dedicated members of the staff produced an impressive record of accomplishments this year.
The Campus Development and Landscape Plan being prepared by Laurie Olin and Associates, landscape architects, occupied the energies of Michael Owu and Jennifer Marshall, who provided primary planning support and analysis for this effort.
The Institutional Research Group led by Lydia Snover and her associates Bea Frain and Wojciech Beltkiewicz continues to produce a prodigious variety of reliable and valuable planning information and policy analysis that serve the President’s Office, faculty committees, visiting committees, academic departments, Alumni Association, and students. This planning group responded to hundreds of surveys sent to MIT from public agencies and a variety of outside media organizations. The Institutional Research Group is MIT’s key link to organizations such as the Association of American Universities (AAU) data exchange, which provides MIT with valuable comparative data. It made it possible for the Planning Office to continue to provide the President and the MIT Washington office with accurate and reliable MIT data and comparative analysis used in congressional briefings.
Among the group’s achievements this year was the administration of a new alumni survey jointly with the Alumni Association and Dean for Student Affairs. The staff also conducted the surveys necessary to support Associate Provost Phil Clay’s work on the proposed expansion of childcare services, and it provided the data and research support for the Faculty-Administration committee on retired faculty. The group was asked to create a database on faculty, instructional and research staff, and has begun that effort. It took on the responsibility for maintaining data on earned doctorate degrees and has established a Web site that provides public access to institutional data. President Vest and former President Gray have both written letters in praise of Ms. Snover’s efforts on MIT’s behalf.
Planning for new academic facilities continued, with efforts focused on changes in the Stata Center project, which will now include a major parking facility. We explored the site options for the new Neuroscience program, the expansion of the Media Laboratory, a siting study for the nanovation technology project, and development options for the Schools of Management and Humanities and Social Sciences.
Transportation and parking continue to be key issues for MIT’s future. Mr. Owu and Ms. Snover, working with the Strategic Parking Committee, developed alternative means of meeting MIT’s parking needs. Major efforts were invested in seeking ways to expand the bus shuttle services. The Planning Office received an award on behalf of MIT from the state’s Caravan program for its efforts to encourage ride sharing. Support for the Committee on Transportation and Parking was provided by Ms. Snover, Ms. Frain, and Mr. Owu. The key issues this year dealt with parking service levels, parking costs, and alternative transportation modes.
The Planning Office continued its efforts to work with the City of Cambridge and the Metropolitan District Commission to resolve the pedestrian safety problems on Memorial Drive and Massachusetts Avenue. The Institute, in view of the lack of public funds, committed itself to installing traffic signals at Endicott and Wadsworth streets to improve safety for pedestrians crossing Memorial Drive. The Urban Ring project, which will have a major impact on MIT, continued to move forward. I serve as a member of the Working Committee appointed by the MBTA on this project, and will continue to monitor and report on its progress.
Housing planning and enrollment management policy were key responsibilities of Robert Kaynor. The sensitive relationship between enrollment policy and housing was dramatized this year, as planning for the required residence of freshmen on campus draws closer. Working with the Dean’s enrollment management group, Mr. Kaynor developed a number of scenarios, which ultimately produced a recommendation to the Academic Council.
New strategies for developing and paying for graduate housing were developed by Mr. Kaynor for the proposed graduate residence at 224 Albany Street. This plan was approved by the Building Committee and is now moving forward.
The undergraduate residence has moved through the community review and public approval process but is now delayed by litigation brought by a neighboring property owner.
This year we lost the services of Eric Novak whose expertise in housing development was invaluable to the Institute’s housing programs. He is missed.
Mr. Owu provided planning staff support and studies for the Office of the Dean for Student Affairs and Undergraduate Education. This included studies for the Admissions Office, Registrar’s Office, Athletic Department, and service on the Athletic Board.
The growing regulatory environment in Cambridge required substantial effort from the Planning office staff this year. Mr. Owu provided the zoning analysis for all new capital projects. He coordinated the presentations to the Cambridge Planning Board for special permits and prepared (for the Cambridge Historic Commission) the necessary documentation required for the demolition of buildings in the way of new capital projects. In addition, he provided the ongoing analysis of proposals coming forward from the City-wide rezoning efforts and maintained close working relations with the Cambridge Public Works Department. At Mr. Curry’s request, I ended my service as representative for MIT on the City-Wide Growth Management Committee.
The staff of the Planning Office was active in public and professional service this year: Mr. Owu served on the Cambridge Pedestrian Committee and on the Professional Development Committee of the Society of College and University Planning (SCUP). Ms. Snover represented MIT at a national workshop on graduate student support at the National Science Foundation and served as a member of the special task force on indicators that supported the AAU Membership Committee.
Mr. Kaynor served on program development committees of the National Association of College and University Business Officers and of SCUP. He also presented a paper on inter-institutional data sharing at the European Association of Institutional Research in Lund, Sweden. Concurrently, he completed a research paper on the impact of a new university space and facilities management law that now governs Swedish universities.
Recognition for professional accomplishments and contributions has often been won by members of the Planning Office. This year I received the Society for College and University Planning Distinguished Service Award.
I regret that this will be my last report to the President as the Director of the MIT Planning Office. In this report, however, I would like to salute the many fine people who have served in this office, both professional staff and students. Many have gone on to make exciting contributions to the field of university planning. Their creativity and good works have given luster to this institution. Many of the pioneering planning techniques and methods developed here are now in use at other institutions both here and abroad.
I also would like to thank the 10 generations of students, the hundreds of faculty members, and the many mentors and colleagues in the administration that I was privileged to serve and to work with. A special note of thanks to Phillip Stoddard, retired Vice President, for the opportunity to make a contribution to this very special place.
In closing this report, I would like to take note of the "Eulogy for the Planning Office" written by an alumnus, Jeremy Scher, and published in The Tech, April 14, 2000. It describes our hard work and cooperation, our passion for the idea that MIT is a family where we learn from each other and care about building and sustaining an environment where "living communities encourage spontaneity and fun–in short, an Institute ready to flourish in the coming century."
One can have no greater satisfaction at this place than having a student speak such words. It makes it all worth it.
O. R. Simha
MIT Reports to the President 1999–2000