Boston, MA – October 26, 2007 – Wentworth Institute of Technology Professor Suzanne Kennedy was honored with the Educator of the Year Award from the International Facilities Management Association (IFMA) at the World Workplace Conference in New Orleans on Friday, October 26. This award recognizes excellence in developing curriculum and instructing students in subjects related to facility management at a college, university or institute. The award recipient must have gained prominence in his or her field by writing and publishing papers, making presentations to professional organizations, mentoring an IFMA student chapter, and maintaining high quality teaching.

Wentworth’s facilities management program becomes the first program to have two facilities management faculty members honored with the Educator of the Year award. Victoria Hardy, Department Head of the Design and Facilities Department, won the award in 2001.

Wentworth design and facilities student Mallory Prentiss was also honored. She was awarded with this year’s Lee Forrest Scholarship, which includes a $1,500 grant and an all expense paid trip to attend the World Workplace Conference and Expo. The award recognizes Ms. Prentiss’ academic achievement and her participation in professional activities as part of Wentworth’s IFMA student chapter.

Professor Kennedy and Department Head Hardy presented their research findings on emergency planning, evacuations and alternate operational locations. “Exploring Emergency Measures Since 9/11” highlighted the feedback from 100 facility executives as they responded to questions related to emergency evacuation procedures, disaster recovery plans, evacuation drill rehearsals, evacuation training sessions, and the availability of back-up locations.

The findings of the 9/11 Commission Report related to the validation of evacuation procedures of the World Trade Center Towers provided the impetus for conducting the research on emergency planning since September 11, 2001. Research was conducted in May 2007 and respondents were located in Boston, Atlanta, Pennsylvania, and Michigan.

The researchers were most interested in the negative responses to survey questions, which they believe reflect the percentage of facilities that are more vulnerable to certain events. Key findings include:

• 13% of respondents said “no” to having emergency evacuation procedures
• 30% of respondents said “no” to having a disaster recovery plan in place
• 18.4% of the respondents do not conduct evacuation drills
• 40.4% responded that evacuation training is “not scheduled on a regular basis”
• 27.8% of respondents indicated that they do not have a back-up location in the “case of a catastrophic event.

The findings are intended to reveal the importance of emergency planning for facilities managers and serve as a warning to significant potential problems.

Professor Suzanne Kennedy, design and facilities student Mallory Prentiss, and department head Victoria Hardy at the World Workplace Conference in New Orleans.