|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
US Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, winner of 23 gold medals, filmed a Subway TV commercial in its pool. Madonna rehearsed in its gym. The facility? Boston University’s 270,000-square-foot recreation center. “It’s a jack-of-all-trades building,” says Alexander (Alec) Southall, associate director of operations and programs at Boston University (BU).
Since it opened its doors in 2005, BU’s fitness and recreation center, known as FitRec, has been engaging both BU students and the greater community. Today, the building is seeing its highest levels of usage, with nearly 5,000 people passing through daily, and after 19 years, it’s ready for a facelift. Southall is helping to lead the development of the master plan.
FitRec’s indoor spaces are being renovated, and BU is constructing a new outdoor Fitness pad. “It’s really exciting to me to be involved in the envisioning part,” he says. “I’ve had so many ideas floating around in my head for so long, and to be able to apply those to a process and see where it goes is exciting.”
Southall is currently gathering data on usage patterns with the goal of creating more flexible spaces. “We need to focus on who’s not coming through our doors and why,” he explains. He’s sharing his data with CannonDesign, the architectural firm that originally designed FitRec two decades ago and has been recommissioned to design the renovation. Like Southall, Cannon is gathering data from faculty, students, and the community to gauge their needs. Southall plans to deliver the master plan by June 2024.
As part of his role in operations and programs, Southall also supports and advises the membership and facilities teams, those who operate the school’s intramural activities, and its 36 club teams, the latter of which compete in intercollegiate conferences at the national level. “These areas all have managers and assistant managers who report up to me,” Southall says.
The associate director’s connection to BU goes back even further than FitRec’s original construction; he enrolled in school himself in 1988. As a freshman he attended a career presentation on BU’s athletic facilities and was subsequently promised a job in the coming fall. “The rest is history, as they say,” says Southall, whose tenure with BU now equals out to 35 years.
He started with the facility operations team, supervising the building and front desk and game operations. “I was in heaven. I loved being on the team that was operating all the athletic facilities,” he recalls. At just 19 years old, Southall hadn’t thought about a career nor declared a major.
By his junior year the department was relying solely on Southall to manage its facilities. “They didn’t even have to [schedule me], they’d just know I’d be there…doing whatever they’d need me to do,” he says. “I knew at that point it was something I was interested in. The operations part just came naturally to me.”
Southall earned a communications degree in 1992 and was brought on full time a year later. After another five years, BU acquired and renovated the old Boston Armory, a 10-acre facility it converted into a recreation space; Southall was recruited away from athletics to manage it. His career received a robust shot in the arm in 2002 when he participated in the planning and construction of the school’s new track and tennis center.
“Our director would normally have sat in on those planning and construction meetings, but he knew that it would not be our long-term home base, so he asked me to attend. It was an eye-opening experience,” he says. He listened and learned, and in 2005 when FitRec opened, he got the nod to manage it.
Physical activity was a way of life in the Southall household, and his parents instilled the benefits of such a lifestyle in him. “My parents are both very active people. We were an active family; physical activity gives us balance in our lives,” he says.
Recreation centers offer members of communities a place to gather and participate in activities whether they’re active or not. “It just so happens that most of the activities we offer are highly active, like fitness, dance, aquatics, martial arts, intramural leagues, sailing, tennis,” he offers. “We are constantly striving to add new programs. At one point, we even offered fly-fishing.”
Southall, who has an assistant director report to him, blends in with his team and assists with the smallest tasks and employs an open-door policy. “I came from those positions, so I know what it’s like. The way I carry myself is the best way to lead by example,” he says. “I lead as much as I follow. I try to meet everyone at their level.”
He encourages those who are embarking on a career in facilities and operations to head toward their passions, though he admits it sounds like a cliché. He also tells them to immerse themselves in their work. Visit other recreation centers and talk with the members. “You’re bound to learn and network,” he promises.
From the founding of DBS Contractors LLC, we have prided ourselves on customer care and service from the planning phase through completed projects and beyond. DBS Contractors has been honored with the ability to meet our mission statement in assisting Boston University with its continuous goals to meet the student body needs. I would like to take the opportunity to applaud Alec in his continuing drive to uphold a present experience for the BU culture.
