STAFF – Director of LSA Facilities & Operations
“I came to the university as a student, in chemical engineering. After I graduated, [I went] to work for a local chemical consulting company, where they had an office of two or three people that focused on energy management. When I interviewed, I interviewed to hire in on the chemical side. By the time I actually started they said they needed help on the energy side. I said, sure thing, if I don’t like it, I know I can go back to the chemical plant and do consulting there. But I found out I loved it. [The] university was the primary client that I had so I actually reported to the university every day and worked with their energy management teams under the ECO program, which was the precursor to Planet Blue. I helped wrap up that program and launched the initial Planet Blue initiative, which was at that point in time called the Planet Blue Operations Team. And we did a building to building roadshow and I got to meet and know a lot of folks across the institution. So when I ultimately came to the university to work proper, I had tons of connections and energy was top of mind with every step of the way from there on.
[When I started] there was a lot of work that I came into that my predecessors and folks had been doing previously. I mean, I think it started off with Wolverine Teams, which was a Facilities and Operations (F&O) Group that brought together tradesmen with engineers of multiple disciplines and actually walked to the buildings and looked at them. You know, in the 90s, I believe it was, we formalized the Energy Star program, a partnership with the government and looked at our buildings a little more systematically through that lens…That evolved into the ECO program, which began the front end of outreach where we actually worked and talked with end users about the buildings. But all of those programs were managed through Central Facilities and Operations. And they were technical in nature. Primarily above the ceiling, behind the scenes. Part of the goal was to not disrupt the operation while making these energy and sustainability improvements.
Planet Blue was the first vision that really put it into the public display [saying] we’re doing things in these buildings, we’re [improving] energy efficiency, we’re going to train you about how to use your building. I mentioned a traveling roadshow– we would go building by building and build a team of key stakeholders. And then take that team and say, ‘Okay, how can we educate the folks in your building about how their building works?’ And what temperature control and lighting systems and other efficiency tools were in there? How can we teach them about sustainability and waste management or composting or bikes and alternative transportation and the various aspects– It was the first time the university in my mind had a strong push of educating the occupant and telling the community what we were doing. And so, you know, the Planet Blue program started there. And then it gained such momentum throughout the institution that it became known as the university’s broader sustainability initiative. [Eventually] the university adopted that as the formal name of Planet Blue and all things sustainable here. And then our team that was doing that roadshow was called the Planet Blue Operations Team at that point, and we kind of had our identity shifted as the university adopted this broader program. So it really pushed all of us to work in new ways that engaged occupants and engaged the community. Whereas before, that was not the primary focus. It was technical in nature.“
“[For me], I think [the sustainability] focus came later. Most of my early focus through my undergraduate years was around pharmaceutical and drug development and so most of what I was focusing on through my Bachelor’s and Master’s was in that realm. I think sustainability, [as far as] doing a lot outdoors while growing up, you know, I appreciated it, but as a career path, I think my passion came later in life. As a youth, I always just had an appreciation of the outdoors: camping and hiking and all of that.
And [going] back to my youth– I have very vivid memories of winter. And, you know, you look at last year, [and] I don’t think there was even a period of time when I could have gone ice fishing, because there was not enough ice on the waters to get out and enjoy winter sports in that way. And so I think you just see this evolution where the things that we could enjoy as kids aren’t available today to our children. When you look at it year over year, you notice, hey, there are these trends that are going on that are not just a one time phenomenon. It is systemic, and year after year. And so climate change has seemed to be very apparent [to me] through that lens of [winter] when I look back, and I say, ‘Well, I can’t do that anymore.’ Or I’ve got to drive hours north to do these same things like skiing, snowboarding, ice-fishing [that] used to be available to me right here. And so I think that’s been my lens, specifically with my kids. I think once I had kids, and I realized that what they have for them is not what I had available to me. It caused a slightly different shift in some of my mentality and mindset.
[In looking ahead], I think the concept that we want everyone to get on board with is that it doesn’t take a policy for people to take action. I mean, I think so many times as an institution or as an individual people look for, ‘where’s the policy that says I have to do this?’ And it doesn’t have to be a policy. I think we can operate with the greater principles of sustainability without someone saying, ‘well, it says here, you have to buy X products, or you have to do this.’ I think we can look across the organization [and] say, ‘okay, our values sit with accessibility, with sustainability, with equity and how do we bring that into our daily operations and incorporate that into our own actions?’ without someone saying, ‘okay, well, here’s the policies that you have to follow.’ I think there’s far more latitude that we all hold as individuals to make choices and set our own actions that can align with these larger initiatives and goals that don’t require the institution to set formal policy. I think that’s why I would want to empower people to take action where they have the ability and not wait for someone else to set a kind of Thou shall policy written in stone. Because I think we can make an impact today. We can’t change the past and how we got to where we are, but we can certainly change how we approach the future. And if we all do that, then [maybe] you can start to gain back some of the things that you feel have changed.“
As part of the LSA Year of Sustainability, LSA Dean’s Fellow Cherish Dean sat down with a range of students, staff, and faculty across the University to illustrate the various relationships people across campus already have to this work, to showcase ways people can get involved, and to highlight the reasons that this work should matter.
To view an abbreviated transcript of Cherish’s full conversation with Dan, click here.
Cherish can be reached at cherishd@umich.edu. To contact the LSA Year of Sustainability Team as a whole, please contact sustainable-lsa@umich.edu .