SCUP Founder's (Casey) Award—
Recognizing exceptional achievement in higher education planning

SCUP's Award Committee selected two recipients for the 2006 SCUP Founder's (Casey) Award for Distinguished Achievement in Higher Education.

O. Robert Simha is the retired director of planning at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where he served in that role for 40 years. Simha is a founding member of SCUP, served as President in 1984–85, and is a member of the Space Management Team. Simha received SCUP's Distinguished Service Award in 2000.

While at MIT, he built integrated planning offices including academic planning, institutional research, campus and physical design, campus planning and community planning and development.

Over the years, he has trained generations of young professionals to be leaders in Institutional Planning. He frequently offers workshops, presents lectures and teaches courses on the subjects of university leadership, campus planning and educational facilities management.

Arthur J. Lidsky is president of Dober, Lidsky Craig and Associates, Inc. and has been a planning consultant for colleges and universities for the past 30 years. He previously served as assistant director of long-range planning for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Through his writing and lectures, Lidsky has taught other professionals and college and university administrators and faculty about planning and the campus planning process. He is the chair of SCUP's Professional Development Committee and a faculty member for Step II of the SCUP Planning Institute.

Lidsky has served on facility review panels for the National Science Foundation and was a principal investigator for a study that identified an ideal planning process and developed facility guidelines for secondary school science, math and technology education programs.

He has given lectures, presentations and invited papers on campus and facility planning at national and international associations and organizations.

SCUP's Founder's Award began in 1985 and recognizes exceptional achievement and accomplishments in higher education planning, such as contributions to the literature, the planning models and other achievements that raise the standards of planning theory and practice.

The award was named after K.C. (Casey) Parsons, Charter SCUP Member and first SCUP President from 1966–1968.

Recipients are selected on the basis of innovative contributions to the improvement of the theory and practice of academic, administrative, financial, facilities, and/or general institutional planning at colleges and universities.

Previous Founder's Award Recipients include Patrick O'Meara, John D. (Jack) Telfer, Dennis P. Jones, Harlan D. Bareither, Clark Kerr, Frederick W. Mayer, Jack E. Robinson, William F. Massy, Hideo Sasaki, Lyman A. Glenny, Richard P. Dober, Marvin W. Peterson, Robert C. Shirley, Thomas R. Mason, George C. Keller, Clinton N. Hewitt, Jack E. Freeman, and Raymond M. Haas.