By James C. Elledge, IFMA Fellow, CFM, FMA, RPA, RIAQM
Published in the September 2007 issue of Today’s Facility Manager
Q I am currently looking to gain academic certification infacilities management. Michigan State University no longer offers aprogram, and I am not aware of any other colleges that do. Could youplease tell me where to obtain as much knowledge as possible?
John Fowler
District Facilities & Fleet Maintenance Manager
Waste Management
Santa Clara, CA
A In addition to reading TFM magazine, either in print or online, and visiting FacilityBlog regularly, your best shot at obtaining more knowledge in facilitiesmanagement would be to consider the Facilities Management Administrator(FMA) program offered by BOMI International. To earna BOMI FMA designation, you must complete seven mandatory courses plusthe Ethics Is Good Business® ShortCourse™. This designation program hasbeen certified for college credit by the American Council on Education(ACE) College Credit Recommendation Service.
Ifyou feel you have sufficient professional knowledge and experience, youmay opt to take the competency based Certified Facility Manager (CFM)exam from the International Facility Management Association (IFMA).
Both programs are affordable ways to get the recognition you deserve as a facility management professional.
Whilethe Michigan State degree program is no longer offered, there areseveral other universities that still support the facility managementprofession at the traditional academic level. At the end of the 2007school year, Brigham Young University, Cornell University, Ferris StateUniversity, and the Wentworth Institute of Technology had activeundergraduate programs.
Elledge,facility/office services manager for Dallas, TX-based Summit AllianceCompanies, is the recipient of the Distinguished Author Award from theInternational Facility Management Association (IFMA), is an IFMA Fellow, and isa member of TFM’sEditorial Advisory Board. All questions have been submitted via the “Ask TheExpert” portion of the magazine’s Web site. To pose a question, visit this link.
