2010 SCUP Pacific Regional Conference Recap

La Jolla, California proved to be the perfect venue for this year’s 2010 SCUP Pacific Regional Conference, "Smart Planning in an Era of Uncertainty–New Tools and Strategies." With 313 SCUPers, this year’s conference broke all previous Pacific regional conference attendance records!

Participants eased into the conference with optional tours at the Salk Institute, the University of California, San Diego, San Diego State University, and the University of San Diego. Two interactive workshops preceded the conference. The conference itself included three plenary sessions and a diverse array of concurrent sessions, offering a rich palette of content.

Visit the conference proceedings website at: www.scup.org/page/regions/pa/2010/proceedings.

Many continued thanks to our conference program committee and local host committee for another fantastic sharing and learning event!

Looking Ahead…to 2011

One Day Local Events

Arizona and New Mexico are just two states being considered for SCUP Pacific Regional Events including one-day special topic symposia; campus tours; and networking opportunities. If you are interested in sharing ideas for local events, then please contact Lauren Cooper at cooper12@mail.sdsu.edu

2011 Pacific Regional Conference in Seattle

Is it too soon to be thinking about 2011? At the breakfast meeting on Tuesday at this year’s conference, the council was very excited to announce the dates and venue for our 2011 SCUP Pacific Regional Conference.

Join us in Seattle from March 21–23 at Seattle University for the 2011 SCUP Pacific Regional Conference! We have contracted with a hotel in the popular Capitol Hill neighborhood directly across the street from Seattle University. Stay tuned for the call for proposals this summer. Information regarding the 2011 conference including the call for proposals, conference registration information, and the requirements of the institution scholarship program will be included in future issues of this newsletter and posted on our regional website at www.scup.org/page/regions/pa

The City of Seattle is located in the Pacific Northwest and sits nestled among some of the most spectacular environmental features in the area: the Olympic and Cascade Mountains, Puget Sound and Lake Washington, and Mt. Rainier. Seattle celebrates a rich culture and offers an abundance of programs and activities to a conference attendee, such as the infamous Pike Place Market, the new Olympic Sculpture Park, the Seattle Public Library, and of course, the great outdoors!

Washington State is home to 115 colleges and more than 350,000 students. Our conference will be held on the campus of Seattle University, which sits half a mile from the heart of downtown Seattle. It is one of 28 US Jesuit colleges and has 7,750 students in undergraduate and graduate programs.  Keep reading the 360 Newsletter to hear more about the conference as our teams of volunteers develop the theme and create the program!

Happenings

What’s happening at your institution? The 360 Newsletter is hoping to feature regular segments sharing information across institutions throughout our region, to help build connections and share ideas as higher education institutions face a multitude of ongoing challenges. Our first highlight comes from CU-Boulder.

Sustainability Initiatives on CU-Boulder’s Campus

For more than half a century, CU-Boulder has been a leader in pursuing and providing world-class climate and energy research, environmental studies, the integration of environmental coursework into a variety of fields and degrees, and aggressive plans for campus sustainability. From classrooms and lecture halls to research centers, event facilities, residence halls and the community, decades of CU-Boulder students, faculty, staff, and administrators have carried on a commitment to knowledge, innovation, solutions, and everyday actions for environmental stewardship.

Sustainability has been a key driver for the Planning, Design & Construction department on CU’s campus. The campus standard for new and renovated buildings was established at a minimum of the USGBC guidelines of LEED Silver certification. After a few buildings earned LEED Gold, the university decided to change the standard to meet a minimum of LEED Gold +, which focuses on delving as deep as possible into the water and energy efficiency categories. Currently the university has five LEED Gold buildings, with five buildings tracking to earn LEED Gold +, and three buildings with a possibility of earning LEED Platinum. Also, with the 10 year Campus Master Plan being developed this year, the planning department is taking the opportunity to make sustainability a driving force. CU-Boulder will continue its best practices, while incorporating a strategic sustainability plan in place to make sure the campus is always being progressive.

With this year’s Earth Day marking the 40-year Anniversary of CU’s Environmental Center, the university has a lot to be proud of. This last year, the Sierra Club named the University of Colorado at Boulder the Top ‘Green’ University in the Nation. Following this great news, a team from CNN went to the campus to document just how green it is and showed the nation in its report, The Greenest University in America. CU students, faculty, and staff will need to continue their innovative thinking, and commitment to the environment to stay in the lead.

For more information:

• CU Boulder – Resource Conservation
• CU Boulder  – Environmental Center
• CU Boulder  – Sustainability

Submitted by Philip A. Simpson, University of Colorado at Boulder, and written by Megan Marian Rose.

Memberships Facts 

At this year’s regional conference, nearly 40% of the conference attendees were nonmembers. Tuesday’s breakfast meeting included a presentation highlighting SCUP’s Mission and Vision, statistics about the organization and its membership, and provided an overview of member benefits.

If you missed the presentation, all of it, including the highlighted membership information, is posted on our Pacific Region’s web page www.scup.org/page/regions/pa/2010/proceedings

Want to Volunteer?

How To Get Involved

Looking for ways to get more involved with SCUP? A way to meet new folks? Work alongside institutional partners?

Joining a committee is the best way to accomplish all this and more. Our regional communications committee is on the move and we are actively looking for help in contributing to the local newsletter, organizing local events and institutional spotlights, networking and career outreach, and in working with our sub-group on social media.

We also have a number of other committees looking for new talent. Opportunities are waiting to help with membership, sponsorship, and annual conference planning, to name a few more. SCUP is always looking for volunteers for regional events, reviewers for upcoming conference programs, presenters at workshops, and so forth.

The best way to get involved is to invest yourself in the organization. If you’re a corporate member, you have an opportunity to give back to an organization that impacts all of our bottom lines, create partnerships, meet academic clientele, and develop life-long relationships. If you’re an institutional member, you have the opportunity to become more connected with your counterparts in other states and share ideas with your corporate partners.

Please contact our volunteer coordinator, Myrna Wagner of Swinerton Management & Consulting, Inc, mwagner@swinerton.com who will help you find a good match for your interests and talents.

Other Upcoming Events

SCUP's Annual, International Conference and Idea Marketplace Advance Registration Deadline: June 4, 2010

If you have a Twitter account, follow "SCUPNews" on Twitter for the latest about the Minneapolis conference and higher education planning news. If you tweet about SCUP–45, please use the hashmark "#scup45". Thanks!

Planning Institute On Campus Offerings

Tough economic times require a time-tested approach to strategic planning. The most effective planning comes from an integrated approach to how it is structured, assessed, and implemented. SCUP now offers members the opportunity to bring the Planning Institute to your campus with your team!

Bring the institute to your campus and you'll . . .

• Be positioned for accreditation;
• Receive a program focused on your institution;
• Create an integrated planning process that works for your campus; and
• Save money on travel and registration.

Learn more.

The 360 Newsletter

We’d still like to hear from you: help us make the newsletter effective for you as members. 

Please consider joining SCUP's LinkedIn group and, once you do, our Pacific Region subgroup within it! You'll need to request approval for the main SCUP group, but once that is okayed you can join the regional subgroup without additional approval needed. 

Please share your thoughts and suggestions by contacting Cheryl Lentini of Beverly Prior Architects at clentini@bparch.com.