Fry, Barchi collaborate on new capital projects

With several projects springing up all over campus that place a dual focus on academic and capital planning, University Provost Robert Barchi and Executive Vice President John Fry say their offices are working closer together now than ever before. Due to a recently updated capital planning process -- which utilizes increased surveillance from the offices of both the provost and the EVP -- the two officials have decided to "step up interactions" for campus planning, according to Fry. Vice President for Facilities Services Omar Blaik said his department spearheaded a six-month evaluation of the capital planning process that resulted in the recent changes. Blaik explained that the new process requires the provost and the EVP to evaluate any projects before presenting their results to the Capital Council, an administrative committee chaired by University President Judith Rodin that approves campus projects. Previously, Blaik explained, projects were not evaluated in such detail in the capital planning process. In fact, deans could examine their resources for a project by contacting the Office of the Executive Vice President and taking the proposal straight to the Capital Council. But since that process lacked approval by both the provost and EVP, a project's academic and institutional goals were often left undefined. Now, with the new capital planning process in place, a dean must bring a proposal to the provost, who evaluates the project's academic priorities. Once that part of the process is complete, the EVP evaluates the project's cost and available funding. And only after both departments review the proposed project is it presented to the Capital Council. Citing projects like the upcoming Quadrangle renovations, the construction of a $120 million facility for the Wharton School and the recently announced renovations to Skinner Hall, both Barchi and Fry said their offices are working closely on projects that require academic and financial attention. The relationship between the offices went "from a good [relationship] to a terrific one," said Fry, who oversees campus retail and development projects like Sansom Common. Both officials stressed that all projects ultimately seek to further the academic goals of the University. "Everything we do will have an academic component and an operational component," Barchi said, adding that "it's very difficult to separate what we do academically from what we do operationally." Although their departments clearly play different roles -- with Barchi's falling on the more academic side of the spectrum -- Fry agreed that the "academic mission" is the chief concern of all University officials. "There's an easy misconception that we're somehow divorced from the product," Fry said. "But we love the mission. That's how most of us get our charge." Barchi noted that the Quad renovations epitomize the type of project that utilizes both administrative offices, since they align the "major capital expenditures" of the project with the stated academic goals of the college house system. Fry and Barchi said they meet several times a week to discuss such ongoing planning. Indeed, as Fry noted, he and Barchi are "pretty much joined at the hip."

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