Campus space optimization is the second Kansas Board of Regents goal that Emporia State University is aligning itself to meet. Today, Cory Falldine is being promoted to chief information officer and vice president for infrastructure at ESU. He reports directly to Interim President Ken Hush.
“The Kansas Board of Regents has asked all universities to optimize the use of their campus spaces,” said Ken Hush. “This includes using a data-driven approach to drive strategic decisions about what physical improvements might need to be made. The answers to these questions, as well as developing short-, mid- and long-term goals, will help position Emporia State for the future.”
Falldine, a two-time graduate of Emporia State, joined ESU’s Information Technology Department in 2004 as a technical support consultant. He progressed through different department leadership roles until 2014 when he became chief information officer and associate vice president for information technology.
Together, IT and University Facilities are the bedrock of Emporia State’s infrastructure. As part of this move, Falldine’s leadership role expands to oversee University Facilities.
“Facilities and Information Technology are incredibly important to keep the university’s operations humming for our students, both physically and digitally,” Falldine said. “We impact nearly every part of their time here, from the day they choose ESU to the day they come back for Homecoming.
“We have many positive challenges that need to be faced head-on in both physical space utilization and with our online experience,” he continued. “I am excited for this opportunity to serve our campus and our community in this new capacity and am anxious to get to work.”
As part of the realignment, Bill McKernan, currently facilities director, is being promoted to executive director of University Facilities, effective today.
McKernan joined University Facilities in 2017 after retiring as a lieutenant colonel and a 24-year career in the U.S. Army. He was named an assistant director in 2018, served as interim director in 2019 before being named director in 2020.
University Facilities is responsible for ESU’s physical spaces. This includes the daily operations of campus facilities and grounds as well facility planning and construction.
“I appreciate the opportunity to continue to advance the mission of Emporia State and further support our students, faculty and staff,” McKernan said. “The next few years will be exciting as the space study helps guide our future footprint and improvement of our existing assets with needed updates.”
Hush said the type of analysis the Regents are requesting is vitally important.
“I am excited for this initiative to move forward,” he said. “I am a firm believer in gathering data and analyzing it to make informed decisions in a team-oriented manner both now and projecting down the road.”