Agenda for Monday

Colleges and universities are under unprecedented pressure to turn out more educated young people and adults—at a time when the money available to them, from public and other sources, is being slashed.  New attitudes, tools and strategies have emerged at Alamo Colleges in response to current threats and opportunities.  A paradigm shift is underway to change how this community college district’s five colleges operate – not only at an administrative and operational level, but in core areas such as instruction.

When donor funds became available to finance a new research facility, specific provisions of the gift appeared feasible: deliver a complex, pediatric research facility with an unknown user-group, to be built on city-owned land requiring specific design criteria. There's just one catch—completion in 28 months! Presenters will share how it was done successfully for The Dell Pediatric Research Institute, The University of Texas at Austin. Through a highly-collaborative process, the team was able to overcome enormous project challenges and deliver a functional and flexible research facility.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Apply advanced planning principles with project officials to achieve success: clear understanding of the client's expectations, definitions of roles and responsibilities, identification of key deliverables, and development of the criteria for success.
2. Interpret and use industry benchmarks to supplement incomplete and/or unavailable user information to move the project forward.
3. Develop an agreed-upon project vision with project leadership, then formulate an effective communications strategy to engage all stakeholder groups.
4. Leverage key attributes of the integrated project delivery process "relationship building" through shared ideas, experiences, and project goals.

Baylor University's goal of achieving "tier-one" research status among national and international universities and to serve its surrounding communities and industries catalyzed the creation of a strategic vision for strengthening the region's economic future. Join us for an in-depth look at the planning issues and process that shaped the vision, resulting in the creation of the Central Texas Research & Technology Park (CTTRP), a not-for-profit corporation, and its first project, the Baylor Research and Innovation Collaborative (BRIC).

Learning Outcomes:

1. Discover how a private university's goal of becoming a tier-one research institution set in motion a course that benefits an entire community and region.
2. Recognize how conducting a visioning and branding session leads to a clear vision of a university, technical college, and community's current and future strengths.
3. Assess how clear communication and shared traditional values entice community stakeholder involvement to rally behind a common economic goal.
4. Review the method employed to conduct an existing condition assessment of the Iconic General Tire Building, confirming its relevancy for adaptive re-use into a high technology research environment.

A case study of how Johnson Controls' liquidity strategies were able to help Tulane University after Hurricane Katrina. Tulane's situation may seem unique - recovering from a natural disaster- but, in today's climate, higher education is constantly facing similar crises such as the economic downturn, reduced state budgets, and tighter capital markets. Tulane's response strategy to unexpected challenges can be utilized by other higher education institutions in the face of today's demanding economic landscape.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Learn how to create and leverage operations savings, monetizing assets and energy savings to create liquidity.
2. How performance contracting can help any institution (Public and Private)
3. Ways to reduce energy and operational costs over the long term
4. A better idea of how liquidity creating firms can help your institution

Georgia Gwinnett College's (GGC) vision sees a premier 21st-century liberal arts college where learning will take place continuously in and beyond the confines of the traditional classroom. For that strategic target, GGC is building facilities to support over 75% growth in its student population over the past three years.  Bolstering its planning, the GGC Foundation provides support and guidance for the campus's capital project delivery models, which include state-funding and PPV's. College and facilities leadership selects the appropriate approach for new facilities.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Prepare for campus growth by predicting space requirements within an adaptive master plan.
2. Formulate a master plan that supports the diverse needs of a campus, including housing, classrooms, faculty offices, and support spaces.
3. Evaluate project delivery cost models.
4. Collaborate with users, owners, designers, and contractors towards the completion of a master plan that realizes the institution's vision.

The Research Valley Biocorridor Concept Master Plan is the first step in establishing a 3,500-acre leading-edge international biotechnology zone in the Bryan-College Station, Texas, area. Through a collaborative joint initiative among the Texas A&M University System, Texas A&M University, both cities, Brazos County, and the Research Valley Partnership, this unique planning process engaged academics, the business community, city leaders, and others to craft a plan that reflects the dynamic economic synergies that can be realized when stakeholders align around a shared vision.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Review the process used to elicit buy-in from all campus and community stakeholders.
2. Evaluate the planning strategies for implementation, including management and funding approaches and priority infrastructure investment.
3. Consider the advantages of leveraging the multitude of existing resources located within the community to create an ideal atmosphere for a mixed-use town-gown development.
4. Describe the new and future cutting-edge developments within the new biomedical and pharmaceutical manufacturing zone.

Utilizing Trinity University's residence hall program as a case study, participants will learn the method that the owner and A/E team developed to evaluate the pros and cons and costs of renovation versus new construction. The panel will explain Trinity's Red Bricks/Green Campus policy, student expectations and trends in university residence halls and how these were accommodated with a renovation program. Finally, the implementation program and summer construction schedule will be reviewed and how the first residence hall construction project has achieved LEED Silver certification.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Evaluate renovation versus new construction options in the context of getting the "most bang for the buck," while still maintaining the university's sustainability policy.
2. Apply one method for evaluating existing residence halls to determine whether renovation or new construction is the best alternative, in light of the university's values regarding sustainability, cost, and user goals.
3. Review student expectations and trends in residence hall design that can be incorporated into such projects.
4. List the challenges and lessons learned with a fast-track summer construction schedule.

This session shares the results of a series of roundtables focused on learning that were held in various cities all over the world. Viewpoints of the students, administrators, and facility planners were all collected during these sessions. Are these stakeholders all on the same page, or do they have different ideas about learning environments? What are the likely changes that we must attend to around learning spaces?

Learning Outcomes:

1. Review the environmental trends affecting higher education today.
2. Assess how changes in pedagogy affect learning space design.
3. Identify the most important factors in 'space making'.
4. Compare the ways that students, faculty, and administrators view learning spaces.

What is institutional capacity? What things impact institutional capacity? How is institutional capacity measured or determined? This session will define and explain the elements used to determine how efficiently and effectively an institution operates. Once existing operational capacity is fully explained and described, the session will offer suggestions and alternatives to modify existing operations that will improve capacity and to manage and prepare for future changes in an institution's size.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Review the components of operational capacity for an institution.
2. Identify the elements that have a significant impact on institutional capacity.
3. Apply strategies for measuring existing institutional capacity.
4. Consider ways to reshape the operational capacity to meet future changes in institution size.

Westminster College faces significant economic constraints, and needs sustainable growth. The neighboring Sugar House community recognizes the benefits of the College’s "extended campus" as it affects the central business district. Westminster’s master plan, in a unique community partnership, establishes principles for an invigorated campus/community relationship through an increased presence and commitment to the Sugar House neighborhood. This session describes an integrated planning process for College and neighborhood engagement, principles for the extended campus, and early outcomes benefiting both parties.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Review the pluses and minuses of creating an extended campus.
2. Assess the ways in which shared values and benefits for the college and the Sugar House Community helped overcome historic divides.
3. Discuss how integrated planning strategies for engagement enabled the college/community collaboration to be successful.
4. Evaluate the usefulness of collaborations for economic success and academic achievement.

When the global economic downturn threatened the Georgia Institute of Technology's capital plans for the world's first Pilot Scale Carbon-Neutral/Net-Zero Energy Solutions Research Laboratory, its leadership created new strategies to overcome overwhelming barriers that would have killed the project. Georgia Tech courageously moved forward to remove all the institutional barriers to make the project thrive, engage alternative funding sources, seek programs capable of landing sponsor/grant resources, create new federal agency partnerships with the National Institute of Standards and technology (NIST) and American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), and reinvent the project.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Evaluate the strategies used to secure alternate funding sources for a sustainability research laboratory.
2. Identify flexible project delivery methods when goals must change.
3. Apply methods for maintaining cohesion and collaboration on a diverse project team.
4. Review a new model of owner-driven Integrated Project Delivery (IPD).

The concept of transforming college and university campuses from “gray to green” has become increasingly popular in higher education, yet many questions remain: Is it really green? What are the benefits? Campuses often struggle with removing centrally located parking and paved areas, but the resulting improvements and opportunities are extensive. We’ll examine the issues and explore two significant transformations, at the University of St. Thomas and Texas State University, and analyze empirical evidence about the return on investment.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Identifying opportunities to add green space on campus
2. Approaches for achieving gray to green transformations
3. Ecological benefits from developing higher-performing campuses
4. Fiscal benefits from improved recruitment and retention

This presentation provides successful space management strategies employed at one public institution. The state has not funded capital projects in several years. It is also mandating a change in the state appropriations funding formula. The formula is changing from an enrollment-based to a retention/graduation percentage with a special emphasis on graduate students. Besides the expected retention strategies, there are several space management strategies that will support the institution’s efforts to increase retention in existing space.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Gain a comprehensive understanding about ways space management can support student retention strategies.
2. Discover a variety of reports to create without special software.
3. Identify strategies for integrating and stabilizing course schedules to benefit students.
4. Recognize how current policies and practices can be modified to support retention efforts.

Whoever says Americans don’t see their cities from any vantage point other than that of a car window hasn’t been to San Antonio. This consummate pedestrian adventure, featuring the Alamo’s garden-like grounds and stretches of the River Walk (the top two visitor destinations in Texas) will clarify why and how the city grew up on the banks of the San Antonio River. See an array of historic buildings that illustrates how saving and appropriately reusing sound structures is the right thing to do in this era of diminishing natural resources and rising construction costs.

Join local AIA members in this walking tour which includes a copy of the AIA Architectural Guidebook Traditions and Visions: San Antonio Architecture.

Optional Event: Requires Registration $30

Learning Outcomes:

1. Evaluate the role of waterfront, particularly rivers, in the evolution of a city's design and architecture.
2. Assess the use of historic preservation techniques as a way to protect the environment and protect significant landmarks.
3. Recognize the place that gardens and other landscaping options have in enhancing historic architecture.
4. Discuss the role of attractive walking venues for reducing traffic and encouraging urban development.

Experience the famous San Antonio Riverwalk by guided riverboat. The riverwalk was created in 1938 as a means for flood control of the San Antonio River. The river seems small in the city as it is very close to its headwaters of the underground spring fed by the Edwards Aquifer. 

Join the San Antonio Dine Around—an opportunity to meet and relax with fellow conference attendees and enjoy a good meal! SCUP has made dinner reservations at a variety of restaurants on Monday evening. Dine Around attendees should meet at the restaurant (reservation under SCUP), and are responsible for their transportation to/from the restaurant and the cost of their meal.

Sign up today!