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Fond Farewells

  • By Deborah P. Moore
  • 12/01/16

As this year comes to an end and a new one is about to start, we look ahead with hope and anticipation. In January we will have a new president in the White House with new ideas about how to improve our education system and make higher education easier to access and pay for. A new secretary of education will be named. Funding, student loans and the upcoming reauthorization of the Higher Education Act will headline the ensuing debate.

Change is happening everywhere. Here at CP&M two of our longtime authors, Paul Abramson and Mike Steger, have written their last columns. Both have been long-time partners of the magazine, dedicating themselves to the betterment of education and the facilities where students learn.

Mike Steger has been the CP&M Maintenance & Operations columnist since 2000, sharing experiences and insights and providing advice. Mike honed his supervisory and management skills in the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne in the early to mid-1980s. His career in higher education ranges from housekeeping and project management at Regis University, to plant services director for the University of Mobile, to physical plant services director at Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach, FL, where his assignments were expanded to include construction and renovation project management, to his current post as facilities management director at Berkeley Preparatory School in Tampa. Mike was also a founding member of FLAPPA, Florida’s educational and networking organization for higher ed facilities officers. He has served FLAPPA as VP for Administrative Affairs, president and VP for Financial Affairs. A leader, a practitioner and a great writer, Mike will be hard to replace!

Also leaving will be Paul Abramson. Paul was instrumental in the development of CP&M as a standalone magazine in 1998 (prior to 1998, CP&M was a special section that appeared in School Planning & Management magazine). Currently, he serves as education industry analyst for CP&M and as the author of our annual studies on college construction. His in-depth knowledge of the industry, his analytical ability and his personal resolve have led him to identify trends, research and develop new methods and formulate better ways to get the job done — improving schools and the profession as a whole. I have known Paul for nearly 35 years and watched him work tirelessly to promote the creative and responsible planning of educational facilities. We wish him well and want him to know that he has been appreciated and will be missed!

This article originally appeared in the issue of .

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