SCUP LinksEffective in July of 2007, all new SCUP Links are now being posted in the SCUP Links Blog where you can find all the links used on SCUP's home page and in "SCUP Email News" - as well as many links of interest that are only published in the blog. The links on this page will remain archived. Please go to the SCUP Links Blog, where you can also post comments on the blog posts. The resources linked-to below were discovered for you by SCUP, but not operated by SCUP. It is the nature of the Web that links may not always work, or may be taken down. The Electronic AIR is the monthly email newsletter of the Association for Institutional Research (AIR), and the only email newsletter that we know of which is older than SCUP Email News: by one month. Each year, it has a contest to see who can compose the most entertaining limerick about institutional research. If you are so inclined, you have until March 1 to enter the contest. Here is last year's winning Limerick:
Ode to Solving the Problem,[more] Tags: institutional research "Now, to put it a bit more thoughtfully: Soles of Your Shoes—Work from your highest principles; Eye on the Ball—Keep your focus on your priorities; Presidential Medallion—Have some humility and be a real person; Lazy Man—Tell the truth; Kenny Rogers—Be willing to admit error. Life at the top of the pyramid is challenging but also enormously rewarding. Some days it is a struggle, but I hope you find joy in that struggle. I know I have."
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Tags: presidential perspective, leadership "[A] coalition of education and professional organizations in architecture, landscape architecture, and city and regional planning have announced a proposal to establish a new National Academy of Environmental Design (NAED). The academy, which is proposed to be housed within the the existing National Academies, would share the academies' mission to address critical national issues and provide advice to the federal government and the public."
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Tags: sustainability, design "In the area around Cincinnati, civic leaders turn to James C. Votruba, the president of Northern Kentucky University . . . . In central California, the home base for the California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley is the Office of Community and Economic Development at California State University, Fresno . . . . In the mountains near Asheville, Western Carolina University helps regional businesses develop products and apply technologies . . . . Across Iowa, the University of Northern Iowa's Institute for Decision Making has consulted with community-based groups in more than half of the state's 952 towns, helping local residents map plans for economic and community development."
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Tags: economic development Seven NACUBO award-winning higher education business officers answer such questions as: "Some careers are straight shot: others take a winding road. What lessons have you learned along your professional pathway?", "What is the biggest issue facing higher education today?" and "What will higher education institutions be like in 10 years?"
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Tags: management, business operations, trends That sounds like sports talk, but it's not. It's facilities managers at Embry-Riddle, speaking about managing the recovery from weather damage to campus facilities: "Over the years, the facilities management department has prepared the Daytona Beach campus for hurricanes, most notably for the three that blew through the campus in 2004. However, no one had thought much about preparing for a tornado. That is, until an F2 tornado ripped through our campus at 120 MPH on Christmas Day [2006]."
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Tags: facilities, disaster recovery A Web-only companion resource to the item we shared last week in SCUP Email News: "Strategic Planning Analytics enable institutions to strategically plan for success in competitive environments and deliver on the promised value propositions. In this context, strategic means 'dealing with the enterprise's relationship with its competitive environment.' These analytics are the instrument for articulating the value that institutions provide to learners and other stakeholders. Today's emerging environment requires institutions to be held accountable, transparently. This includes the extent to which institutional goals, curricula, and practices are aligned to employment and workforce requirements. Strategic Planning Analytics draw from all of the other functional areas in providing summative metrics on the performance of the institution as a whole, with drill-downs to constituent colleges, departments, and programs."
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Tags: strategic planning, action analytics Public Space LA! was held in October 2007. This article summarizes some of the discussion: "Despite the breadth of posited questions, the summit's focus largely boiled down to parks. That narrowed scope almost implied that parks are the entirety of public open space rather than a subset of it, and one hopes that the next such summit will remedy this issue. That criticism aside, there were plenty of ideas to fill this worthwhile day. No one is going to say 'No' to parks as such—only in comparison to other things competing for funds. Various panelists stated as much, and so the talk quickly moved to leveraging the benefits of parks to convince voters, investors, and politicians that parks are not just icing, but the cake itself."
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Tags: open space, landscape architecture "The first step in considering either renovation or new construction is to gather assumptions. Starting here rather than a 'goal-setting' meeting helps reveal the real goals of the stakeholders and allows assumptions to be tested. In the end, challenging assumptions allows for more creative problem solving and solutions to emerge as you weigh the options to renovate or build new. The next step is to define goals with clarity of purpose. Project goals are not cliches, but rather have specific desired outcomes—a difference shown in the table. Clearly defining goals helps to tie the project to the operational pathway. It is also important to prioritize goals and to specifically answer the question, "Our definition of success will be fill-in-the-blank.'"
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Tags: planning facilities, renovation This collaboratively-produced resource, with tons of links, should be in everyone's bookmarks: "In response to frequent inquiries for information about planning academic library buildings, the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) and the Library Administration and Management Association (LAMA) have joined forces to provide a basic framework for architects, planners, and librarians embarking on planning and design of libraries for higher education."
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Tags: library, facilities, design, architecture "New technologies can strengthen ties within your business: . . . [E]mail's real value isn't in communicating with Kuala Lumpur but with Betsy in the next cubicle. The most productive workers have the densest intracompany email web. This shouldn't surprise us. Email makes it quicker and easier to reach your colleagues—you don't have to interrupt them, and messages are easy to process. But email doesn't stop you from wanting facetime, too. Just the opposite: By enabling us to maintain productive business relationships with more people, it encourages more face-to-face contact."
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Tags: IT, email, trends The effect was first discovered in 1857: "Countless public demonstrations and a handful of lab tests later, researchers are still struggling to determine exactly how sound snuffs flames. *** Such a system might prove useful here on Earth for putting out fires in locations whose contents could be water-damaged by sprinkler systems, Espinosa says, such as museums that house valuable artwork or centers with data servers or other electrical equipment. "Sound is being used to cut pieces of metal, to destroy kidney stones," he adds. "It can do more than people give it credit for," including, apparently, firefighting."
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Tags: fire prevention, trends, design This concise, four-page PDF document from the National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities (NCEF) is focused on K–12, but has plenty of useful information for higher education: It "describes a process for assessing the safety and security of school buildings and grounds, making a hazard mitigation plan, and implementing the plan. Steps include: select an assessment tool; assemble an assessment team; look at the record; perform the assessment; write up the results; create a standing committee on hazard mitigation; prepare a hazard mitigation plan; understand risk; weigh passive vs. active safety; select security technology with care; improve school climate; calculate costs, locate funding; seek input; coordinate hazard mitigation with crisis planning; start small, think big; justify thoroughly; meet regularly, advocate continually; and benefit mutually."
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Tags: safety, hazard mitigation It might be easy to overlook College Board reports, or to take them for granted. This item is here to remind you that you can find plenty of good stuff at the College Board, including resources on: "Trends in College Pricing 2007," "Trends in Student Aid 2007," "Education Pays," "Tuition Discounting," and the "Higher Education Landscape."
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Tags: costs, access, trends |