MIDDBRIEFS

Author: LIZ CAMPBELL AND BEN SALKOWE

Personnette appointed VP for Facilities Services

Susan R. Personette, previously a project executive for the planning and project management group Genesis Planners, recently joined Middlebury College as associate vice president of facilities services. In her new role, Personette will be responsible for all facilities planning and services on campus. In addition, she will manage both the Maintenance and Operations Offices and the planning, design and construction branch of Facilities Services.

Personette received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Connecticut in 1973 and her Masters of Architecture from Yale University in 1981. Before working at Genesis Planners, Personette was senior project manager for Capital Projects at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where she managed considerable building projects ranging from $30 to $175 million.

These projects included the Sloan School of Management's new East Campus development, the renovation and restoration of the historic Alvar Aalto's Baker House residence, an addition to the MIT School of Architecture's media lab and a new graduate residence.

As project executive at Genesis, Personette oversaw the design and construction of significant architectural projects, including a new emergency department for Lawrence General Hospital in Lawrence, Mass.

With 24 years of experience as a licensed architect and project manager in various leading architectural firms, Personette will bring expertise to the College in several specific areas, including institutional and academic projects, design and construction phases, architect and owner relations and budget schedule and scope alignment.

Personette's skill and experience will be especially instrumental to the development of the facility plans for the College's strategic planning process and to the management of facility operations and maintenance. In addition, she will oversee a $17 million budget to maintain Middlebury's 9,280-acre campus.



Facilities awarded 2005 EPA Energy Star Award

Middlebury College was recently awarded a 2005 Energy Star Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Award by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The College was one of a dozen organizations to receive the award this year that according to the EPA's Web site, "recognizes [CHP] projects that reduce emissions and use at least 5 percent less fuel than state-of-the-art comparable separate heat-and-power generation."

Specifically, the award was in recognition of Middlebury's 1.8-megawatt central CHP plant, developed in part by the Massachusetts-based Turbosteam Corporation, which provides electric power, hot water, heat and air conditioning to the College's facilities. On Wednesday, Michael Moser, the College's assistant director of mechanical, electrical and plumbing utilities, and Sean Casten, president and chief executive officer of Turbosteam, accepted the award on Middlebury's behalf at the EPA's sixth annual CHP Roadmap Meeting in New York City.

The central CHP plant has been College-owned and operated since 1980 and provides power at an incremental fuel-to-electric efficiency of 150 percent by using heat that the College would have otherwise wasted. The system consists of four fuel-oil-fired boilers and three steam turbine generators. The turbines generate as much as 20 percent of the college's electricity, and the remaining steam is recycled to produce hot water, heat and air-conditioning across campus.

According to the EPA, the CHP system operates at over 81 percent efficiency and "requires an estimated 6 percent less fuel than typically-purchased electricity and onsite thermal generation. The operational performance results in estimated annual CO2 reductions of 1,200 tons."

Katrina Pielli, program manager of the EPA Combined Heat and Power Partnership, told the College, "Middlebury College has demonstrated exceptional leadership in both energy use and management."