Environmental services, the Vanderbilt Police Department and construction: These are just a few of the responsibilities of the vice chancellor for administration, Jerry Fife, who was recently appointed to the position permanently after having served for the past eight months on an interim basis. His appointment is subject to confirmation by the Board of Trust, who will likely make their decision in November.
He succeeds Lauren Brisky, who retired earlier this year. After her departure, the responsibilities were split in two, with the role of chief financial officer held by Brett Sweet. Fife believes the difficulty of being responsible for the finances of an institution as large as Vanderbilt was the reason for the division of the post.
“This is one person's opinion,” Fife said. “If you go back in time to when the economy began having difficulties, I think the institution and the chancellor recognized that tending to the financial matters of this institution is a big, complicated business.”
Even though the responsibilities have been divided between Fife and Sweet, Fife is still responsible for running a great number of operations at Vanderbilt and the medical center. For instance, if the air conditioning units of a building fail, Fife is informed and organizes the repairs. If a crime occurs on campus, the police department reports to Fife, who acts as a media liaison.
Although managing the responsibility for so many different departments could be difficult, Fife said he is not only fortunate enough to have an organized and competent staff, but he also keeps the end goal in mind to avoid getting lost in the large volume of information coming into his office every day.
“I feel almost like an air traffic controller,” Fife said. “I make sure the planes take off, are safe and land on time.”
Recently, the university has concentrated on improving the “green” qualities of the buildings. The Commons, the largest environmental project at Vanderbilt, was a resounding success with a total of seven LEED-certified buildings. LEED-certification is awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program. It recognizes buildings like The Commons that are constructed with energy efficiency, water conservation and waste minimization in mind.
And plans to retrofit existing buildings across campus have already begun. In order to save money, many of the bathrooms in Rand and Sarratt now have low water pressure, and at night there are better air conditioning controls in classroom buildings. Fife also asks students to continue to be environmentally conscious.
“As students are here 24 hours a day, it really helps when they turn off lights,” he said.
Although no new “green” buildings, like The Commons, have been built at the medical center, it too is undergoing improvements to make it more environmentally friendly. In addition to encouraging employees to use public transport and offering a carpool service, many of the buildings have been retrofitted to include variable speed fans, skylights to allow more natural light and low-flow water.
“We have replaced 1,000 bathroom fixtures at the medical center,” Fife said. “This saves 50 million gallons of water a year.”
Often working alongside staff and faculty in the departments he is responsible for, Fife recognizes the quality the relationships between students, staff and faculty at Vanderbilt.
“I love the strong sense of family here,” Fife said. “I worked at three other institutions and I can tell you that the sense of family is strongest here.”
