Yes, there are four Australian universities affected by the flooding in Queensland, Australia: Griffith University, CQ University, the University of Queensland, and the Queensland University of Technology. 

They seem to be coping with the damage well, and are currently motivated to let international students and their families know that things are nearly back to normal. It helped that they were in their summer term.

Here are members of SCUP's North Central Regional Council and some SCUP staff at the wrap-up lunch immediately following the region's 2010 conference at the University of Cincinnati. Click on any image to see a larger version.

Above, beginning at left: Karen Verhey, director of administration services, SCUP; Anthony P. LoBello, sponsorship chair, Gensler;Michelle Pierson, regional program assistant, SCUP; Rich Smith, 2011 conference chair, HOK; Jeff Conroy, at-large, Architect; JoEllen Baldwin, membership chair, Indiana University at Bloomington; Couper Gardiner, communications chair, BDHP Architecture; Larry Gleason, professional development chair, Cost, Planning & Management International, Inc.; Darlene Ebel, chair of the regional council, University of Illinois at Chicago; Mark Curchack, chair of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Council, Arcadia University; Mary Beth McGrew, 2010 local host chair, University of Cincinnati; Chris Whitney, 2010 conference chair, URS Corporation; Jolene L. Knapp, executive director, SCUP; Betty Cobb, associate director for corporate relations, SCUP.

Below, conference chair Chris Whitney of URS, gives certificates to the presenters of the "Best in Show" session Monday afternoon, "Inovation Campus at University of Nebraska-Lincoln; The Future of Research." From left to right: Michael Weise, vice president, Noddle Companies; Mary Jukuri, principal, JJR, LLC; and Jennifer Dam, campus planner, University of Nebraska-Linsoln.

I was privileged to listen to Chris give Monday night's plenary speaker, Steve Steele, director, Institute of the Future @ AACC, Anne Arundel Community College, an excellent "prep" on the SCUP audience. Steele spoke on "We Are What We Build: 21st Century Scenarios - Exploring C.A.P.A.C.I.T.Y."

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According to Engineering News Record:

Owner outsourcing of management and operations work has increased dramatically since 2006, according to a new survey of owners. The survey of 191 owners was released on Nov. 3 and conducted by Raleigh, N.C.-based management consultant FMI Corp. and McLean, Va.-based Construction Management Association of America. It found that outsourcing at the program-activation phase increased by 60% between 2006 and 2009 and by 30% in the operations and maintenance phase. It also found that over the next five years outsourcing will continue to increase in nearly all phases of the construction process.

You can download the PDF of that study, which has many more implications, here (PDF), from the CMAA website.

• Carefully define objectives at the outset.

• Consider transferring the risk of building and operations to a third party; this can lead to significant value.

• Work with your private-sector partner to identify best-in-class developers who will compete for a new project, yielding the most innovative design options possible.

• Realize that the level of experience of the team and the personalities of the contractors chosen by the developer can influence project outcomes.

[T]o dismiss 2008 to 2010 as an aberration of market performance would be a due-diligence mistake. Risks are real and are here to stay, they noted, and failing to recognize the warning flags can take an unfortunate toll on the day-to-day financing of institution operations.

Trainor and Wetzel walked attendees through a tiered approach to managing working and long-term capital, offering tips for understanding the relationship between risk and returns, cost and rewards, and liquidity within the context of cash cycles, marketplace options, concentration risks, and organizational objectives.

More than 200 SCUPers attended the Southern Region's 2010 annual conference in Charleston, South Carolina. The photo, below, features (centered) regional council chair and SCUP board member Lily del C. Berios of the Sizemore Group and College of Charleston president P. George Benson, along with a number of other SCUPers.

President Benson welcomed attendees to his campus and shared important highlights from the college's new strategic plan, Gateways to Greatness, in the context of the changes going on in higher education. This room is the Alumni Memorial Hall, within Randolph Hall.

After the session, attendees enjoyed a reception in the president's home.

Bennington College for the Student Center, with Taylor & Burns Architects; also Reed Hildebrand Associates Inc.; The Collaborative Engineers; Acentech; Otter Creek Engineers, Inc.; Ricca/Newmark Design - was a recipient of an Honor Awards in the 2010 SCUP/AIA-CAE Excellence in Architecture for a New Building category.

The charge was to create a Big Room for student social and performance uses; expand the café to increase capacity and life safety; accommodate organized student activities; create a new dining hall and kitchen for daily food service; connect existing buildings into a vibrant social center on the site of a parking lot; improve definition of the campus core while pushing cars to the campus edge ... .

The Big Room is a flexible open space that supports student and campus activities including social and academic gatherings; food service; readings and recitals; dance parties; demountable stage for corner or thrust formats; theatrical sound and light control booth; green room; and adjustable acoustics and daylight with motorized curtain.

The jury said, “ . . . very elegant courtyard . . . planning is significant portion of architecture and vice versa . . . fits nicely in campus plan . . .”