Program Overview

The interdisciplinary Facility and Sustainable Building Management degree align with the requirements set by the facility management industry for qualified facility management professionals. Students will be educated and provided actual on-the-job work experience. Students will understand the cross functional aspects of a successful facility manager and will be further educated on the roles facility managers play, the basics of building operations and maintenance, building sustainability, and work management within the facility manager job function. International Facility Management Association (IFMA) estimates the average age of practicing facility managers is more than 49 years old. IFMA also forecasts that 30 to 50 percent of practicing facility managers will retire within the next 10 years. This indicates a pending employment gap and a need for younger, well-educated and qualified facility management professionals. IFMA has turned to California community colleges to help fill this gap. The Facility and Sustainable Building Management certificates and degrees will prepare students for careers in building sustainability, space planning, environmental health and safety, energy efficiency, sustainable landscaping, real estate, property management, human resources and other business-related job functions such as marketing, sales and accounting.

Our Mission
The mission of DeAnza’s Environmental Studies Department is two-fold:

• Educate a broad range of students on both environmental science and environmental issues via our 10 General Education (GE) course offerings.
• Train the next generation of environmental leaders and professionals via our certificate and degree offerings in three key areas.
• With over 3500 students taking the nearly 200 class sections we offer each year, we are the largest environmental studies/science department in the California Community College system.