Steve Thweatt, director of design, engineering and construction services for CU-Boulder聮s Facilities Management department, has been named interim director of Facilities Planning, Design and Construction for the department, according to Jeff Lipton, executive director of Facilities Management.
Thweatt聮s appointment is effective immediately.
Although construction and engineering services will continue to report to Thweatt, his primary initial focus will be in the facilities planning area, Lipton said.
Thweatt had been director of design and construction since July 1994. In February 2000, engineering was added to his responsibilities.
The functions of facilities planning and construction and engineering will become more closely aligned to better improve service levels to the campus and to provide better focus and resources within the department, according to Lipton. For the first time, the campus will be able to fully integrate the process of the planning, design and construction of its physical facilities.
"We will evaluate the effectiveness of this changed structure after April 2001 and decide on a permanent organizational structure," Lipton said.
"I have decided to reorganize the facilities planning, construction, design and engineering functions of the department and to consolidate these units under a single umbrella of management responsibility under Steve聮s direction," Lipton said. "I also have asked Steve to propose a subsequent reorganization of this merged division for the future, including a recommendation on how facilities planning could best be structured."
The announcement follows an unsuccessful search for a new director of facilities planning, which ended in June when the selected candidate first accepted, and then declined, the position.
The search had taken nine months to complete. Lipton said he decided an interim reorganization would be preferable to another lengthy search, which would cause uncertainty about the direction of the facilities planning function.
With campus construction continuing at a steady pace and more new building proposals in the works, improved coordination among the units is increasingly important, Lipton said.
"We believe that these changes will make for a more customer-friendly capital development process and improve our ability to deliver new construction and renovation projects within established budgets."
In another personnel change, Mike Barden will become acting assistant director for the construction services portion of design, engineering and construction services, reporting to Thweatt. Barden has been a construction administrator with design, engineering and construction services.
Campus Architect Bill Deno will continue in that role, reporting to Lipton and working with Thweatt on campus planning issues and architectural development and review.