Qualify for your MOJO ribbon by reading a Planning article this fall, then commenting on it. Find out more. Sign up now.

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This slide set from the recent conference of the Association of College and University Housing Officers-International (ACUHO-I) is worth a look. (If this link does not take you right to the session, just select “guest” at the login prompt and filter for a portion of the title.)

Longitudinal studies of the ACUHO-I/EBI Resident Assessment indicate that satisfaction with personal space and dining services has improved while personal interaction has declined. Since personal interaction is the top predictor of a student's perception of the effectiveness of the residence hall and an important component to student development, it is vital that programs better understand and work to improve personal interaction. We propose that getting creative in the use of the dining facility could promote student interaction.

Research [was] presented showing the trend of declining personal interactions. Linking research to practice, representatives from a large dining program will discuss how they turned their dining centers into community centers where students come together for events, movies, and special programming. They also have "random acts of food" popping up around halls and events centered on interaction. Come to this program to learn about national trends, learn from a very creative dining operation how they?re supporting student interactions, and brainstorm other ways that dining facilities can be used to help promote student interaction.

Note that this fall's SCUP Pubs Campus-Space MOJO will visit student housing as a topic from October 27–November 7. ACUHO-I will be joining us. Why don’t you?

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Qualify for your MOJO ribbon by reading a Planning article this fall, then commenting on it. Find out more. Sign up now.

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At SCUP–47, the awards jurors took the time to make several presentations about themes and trends they observed among the awards applications. We captured the remarks of three jurors on (handheld) video. These are the remarks of Victor E. Sidy, Head of School and Dean, Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture, served up from YouTube. An organizing slide from his presentation is also shown below. (Click on them to see a larger version.)

He shares juror observations, using examples from award recipients and from those which did not receive awards (not each project illustrated in this talk received an award) about some of the best new trends and campus buildings this year.

 

A Summary Slide

 

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Qualify for your MOJO ribbon by reading a Planning article this fall, then commenting on it. Find out more. Sign up now.

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At SCUP–47, the awards jurors took the time to make several presentations about themes and trends they observed among the awards applications. We captured the remarks of three jurors on (handheld) video. These are the remarks of Cathrine Blake, Associate Director/Landscape Architect, Stanford University, served up from YouTube. Some of the slides from her presentation are also shown below. (Click on them to see a larger version.)

She shares juror observations, using examples from award recipients and from those which did not receive awards (not each project illustrated in this talk received an award) about:

• Sustainable landscape planning;
• Transit Transitions; and
• Urban campuses.

 

Some Summary Slides

 

 

 

 

 

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Qualify for your MOJO ribbon by reading a Planning article this fall, then commenting on it. Find out more. Sign up now.

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At SCUP–47, the awards jurors took the time to make several presentations about themes and trends they observed among the awards applications. We captured the remarks of three jurors on (handheld) video. These are the remarks of James Goblirsch, Vice President, HGA Architects and Engineers, served up from YouTube. Some of the slides from his presentation are also shown below. (Click on them to see a larger version.)

He shares juror observations, using examples from award recipients and from those which did not receive awards (not each project illustrated in this talk received an award) about:

• A new baseline for sustainability;
• Learning space evolution; and
• Community space.

 

Some Summary Slides

 

 

 A 'WorldWise' blog post at The Chronicle regarding the University of Arizona's support of its larger community earlier this month, and similar roles that other institutions play around the world in times of crisis:

I just couldn’t bring myself to grips with all that has happened in Tucson surrounding the shootings, without the university and its reinforced role as “glue” for the community. Crises that are due to a natural disaster, a pandemic, or the one which has recently taken place in Tucson provide good examples of the transcendent role that higher-education institutions can and must play. Fortunately, there have been many examples from around the world of this type of additional critical role that higher-education institutions and their leaders assume. That’s what happened on the island of Penang, Malaysia, when the Universiti Sains-Malaysia provided expertise and volunteer work for the reconstruction efforts after the tsunami devastated the region, or what happened in Mexico during the confusion generated by the H1N1 virus outbreak during which the Autonomous University of San Luis Potosi served as a trusted source of information for the community, or what happened in Chile when the few buildings which remained standing at the University of Talca or those at University of Bio-Bio became community shelter centers. The list goes on and on.

If you find this item to be of interest, then you need to be checking out SCUP's Pacific Region's annual conference next spring: Inspiring Community, March 21–23, 2011 at Seattle University.

Consider the case of Lowell, Mass., located on the banks of the Merrimack and Concord rivers and once coined mill city. Named as one of five “innovative cities” by the Innovative Cities consortium, the City of Lowell’s dramatic reversal of fortune was driven by lean manufacturing and, significantly, a robust appetite for commercial and retail development, cultural diversity, and community engagement. The key ingredient in Lowell was that business and civic leaders united behind a co-development strategy, attracted investment from outside the community and leveraged capital financing for building out town/gown infrastructure, like sports stadiums, residential commons, and state-of-the-art student fitness and recreation centers.

A recent USA Today feature reported on two types of recession-proof economies: the first, state capitals and the second, collegetowns. In these latter cities, higher education institutions created transportation linkages, river walks, bike paths and pedestrian pathways to guide, inform, and enhance the urban life experience. Increasingly, Americans are seeking out these river mill collegetowns as powerful options for retail, hospitality, and ecotourism investment and as wise choices to live, learn, start a business and raise a family. This new wave of urban homesteaders has learned that collegetowns are now lifelong destinations and more than temporary undergraduate residences.

Many institutions have found it useful to publish a "Community Impact Statement," by one name or another. The statements attempt to make clear the value of the campus to its surrounding community and region. SCUP has begun a collection of links to such statements. You can view the current collection here and you can add additional links to more community impact statements at this easy to use online form.

We have links to community impact reports from North Carolina A&T State University, Missouri Western State University, Nicholls State University, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University, University of Texas at San Antonio, State University of New York at Oswego, Smith College, and Southeastern Louisiana University.

Please share yours.

From Elizabeth Redden: If there’s one thing that unites an education “community,” it just might be the use of the word “community” – and, not surprisingly, “the notion of community is drawn upon frequently in educational research,” said Doris S. Warriner, of Arizona State University. . . . “However,” Warriner continued, “the concept of community is often used to convey common experiences” — where significant diversity of experience in fact exists. . . . Among the guiding questions she offered up for consideration: “How useful is the notion of community for conceptualizing and investigating questions about participation, engagement, inclusion or marginalization?” . . . “In what ways do shared experiences, histories, practices, understandings or trajectories define a community?” And, “What alternatives are there for describing practices and processes that are shared but not unifying or community-building?”