Georgetown’s Vice President of Housing and Facilities, Karen Frank, is set to retire at the end of August. President John J. DeGioia announced that the search for her successor will commence shortly, in an email to members of the Georgetown community this afternoon.

Frank has held the position for over two decades and participated in several important initiatives to improve housing and construction projects throughout campus. “From the building for our School of Foreign Service in Doha, Qatar, to the ongoing work to complete the Calcagnini Contemplative Center in Bluemont, Virginia, Karen has ensured the ongoing safety, integrity, value and sustainability of Georgetown’s facilities,” DeGioia wrote in the email. “She has made a lasting imprint on Georgetown University both on the Hilltop and beyond.”

For now, Frank will be replaced by Interim Vice President for Facilities and Student Housing Frank Tiscone, who formerly held positions in the Department of Defense and with the Architect of the Capitol. She will also continue to serve as a senior advisor to Chief Operating Officer Chris Augostini during the search process for a new Housing vice president.

According to DeGioia, Frank has been instrumental in adding at least ten new buildings to Georgetown’s campus, “totaling more than 1.5 million square feet of new space.

Full email after the jump!

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While every dorm won’t have wireless internet access by the beginning of the semester, students can still expect something new—washing machines!

The front-loading, high-efficiency washing machines, which are manufactured by Speed Queen, will cut down on the University’s water and electricity consumption.

“They’re low-energy machines,” Vice President for Facilities and Student Housing Karen Frank said. “They use a lot less water and a lot less power.”

The new washing machines are part of the Georgetown’s “Green Initiative,” which aims to reduce the University’s energy footprint.

Unlike their traditional counterparts, high-efficiency washing machines use small amounts of detergent.

Frank recommended that students use special, high-efficiency detergent, but Vox has a thrifty tip for you all—regular detergent works just fine, so long as you only use one-fourth the suggested amount.

UPDATE: We’ve heard from a concerned source that regular detergent can’t be used in the new washing machines. Although the above tip came straight from the mouth of VP Karen Frank, the Internet suggests otherwise, we’re going to err on the side of caution.

Not in my backyard

This semester, Georgetown students and residents alike complained loudly about rats and mice invading the neighborhood.

In the Georgetown University Student Association Senate, Arman Ismail (COL ‘11—Reynolds) led efforts to mollify what he called “a growing problem” that have culminated in a $200 allocation for waste disposal awareness and improvement.

On the georgetownforum listserv, a neighborhood complained that the problem had gotten out of hand using some vivid imagery:

“We have a never ending supply of monster sized ravenous rats boring through the walls of my house. [T]he whole neighborhood is over run with rats,” the resident wrote, adding that introducing snakes to Georgetown was a possible solution.

But when asked if Facilities had been receiving more work orders regarding vermin recently, Director of Facilities Karen Frank wrote in an e-mail that her office “[has] in fact noticed a sharp drop off of calls about vermin.”

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The proposed loop road and new GUTS routes

The last time University officials discussed the transportation aspect of the 2010 Campus Plan back in May, they said they were tentatively planning to send the Dupont GUTS bus through the Canal Road entrance, meaning the shuttle route would be extended to the experimental 4.7 mile test route permanently.  At last night’s meeting presenting the University’s first draft of its transportation plans, University officials made it clear that the rerouting isn’t just tentative—it’s now part of the University’s preferred draft plan.

Vice President for Facilities and Student Housing Karen Frank, who presented the University’s transportation plans to neighbors last night, explained that Georgetown would like to build a loop road on the west side of campus (as illustrated above) which would allow more buses to use the Canal Road entrance.

When the University requested the rights to build the Canal Road entrance in its last ten year plan it promised neighbors that the new entrance would be used for GUTS buses. Georgetown students, faculty and staff have been spared from the extended route thus far thanks to the fact that the current set-up of the parking lot near McDonough makes it nearly impossible for buses to turn around on campus.

The other problem is that between 6:15 a.m. and 10:15 a.m. on weekdays—prime rush hour time—drivers are not permitted to make left turns off of the Canal Road entrance.  If the University could get the left-turn prohibition lifted and build the loop road, all buses besides the Wisconsin Avenue route would be able to enter and exit through Canal Road.

The potential roadblock for the plan is the Park Service, which owns the land west of campus that abuts the proposed loop road.  While the road would be on GU property, the University has an agreement with the Park Service to only use that part of campus for service vehicles.  Frank said she is pushing for the definition of “service vehicles” to be any vehicle “dedicated to the University,” which would include GUTS buses.  However, Frank said, the Park Service is “not real easy to work with.”

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