Agenda for Tuesday

Private partnerships are key in accessing new funding for today's health science centers. Bryan, Texas donated 200 acres for the new Texas A&M Health Science Center campus, anticipating $1 billion in economic impact. The campus plan offers private development opportunities and the first two buildings' focus as inter-professional education sites where medical professions train together, cultivating collaborative practices and patient-centered care, provides immediate returns. Presenters will discuss the process of bringing public/private partners together for sound education and economic outcomes.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Review the strategies used to envision a new health sciences campus.
2. Explore methods for bringing multiple parties together to pursue one goal.
3. Demonstrate ways a master plan can serve as a roadmap for campus investments and development.
4. Discover how combining academic programs can save space and maximize investment.

This presentation describes an interdisciplinary and collaborative approach to constructing a 25-year strategic vision and plan at Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) using convergent methodologies. The presentation will show how Georgia Tech applied four distinct but convergent methodologies to: (a) engage stakeholders; (b) objectify and validate strategies; (c) connect the plan to the institution's culture; and (d) develop a process for aligning and implementing the strategic plan.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Apply collaborative approaches for engaging stakeholders.
2. Identify practical exercises for interdisciplinary and cross functional collaboration and consensus decision-making.
3. Evaluate a tool for connecting the strategic vision and plan to the organization’s culture.
4. Review an institutional alignment and integration process for implementing a strategic plan.

Established in 1969, the University of Texas-San Antonio (UTSA) began with a compact plan based on the 1573 Law of the Indiesa grand outdoor space with paseos radiating out in cardinal directions. As enrollment grew, this urban concept gave way to inefficiencies akin to suburban sprawl. Promoting a return to density, the new plan proposes a mixed-use “Collegetown” district with retail, commercial, and residential amenities. The recently acquired Park West Campus also offers new opportunities for public/private partnerships and shared facilities that will maximize return on investment.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Review the factors that contribute to planning inefficiencies on urban campuses.
2. Identify strategies for reversing the inefficiencies of previous planning decisions.
3. Create a common vision that aligns campus needs with partnership opportunities.
4. List ways to maximize the return-on-investment through public/private partnerships and shared facilities.

The University of Washington began using Dispute Resolution Boards (DRBs) in 1993. The Claims and Dispute Resolution section of the Washington State General Conditions contained an Arbitration provision. The University Administration became alarmed at the cost of these proceedings on University contracts and directed Counsel to prepare a Modification for the General Conditions incorporating a DRB process. A Dispute Resolution Board is a three member panel of industry professionals who are chosen by the University and the Contractor and are paneled at the beginning of construction. If a dispute arises that the Parties are unable to resolve in negotiations, it is referred to the DRB. The DRB conducts an informal hearing and issues a non-binding recommendation to assist the Parties in resolving the matter before more formal proceedings are initiated. The University has used the DRB process on all contracts over $10M since 1993. Over 60 contracts totaling approximately $6.0B have been completed and all issues have been resolved without subsequent legal proceedings. The cost of a DRB on a typical University project is less than 0.1% of construction cost.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Review the Dispute Resolution Board (DRB) process and evaluate its success in resolving disputes arising out of work for construction nationwide.
2. Consider the value of standard contract language found in consensus documents and other construction contract templates.
3. List the steps in implementing a DRB Process.
4. Identify the steps in the DRB process, including procedures for preparing position papers, conducting hearings, etc.

Creating authentic place can drive economic growth, improve quality of life, restore investment in a community and generate recruitment, retention, and fundraising gains for an anchor institution in the host community. The University of Memphis focuses on creating the optimal for-profit investment environment by aligning partner interests, creating effective community revitalization tools, and for focusing on realistic and implementable planning efforts. This session explores how the university encourages renewed investment in place and discusses techniques for leveraging institutions for university-community success.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Evaluate one urban institution’s approach to the strategic challenge of developing a sense of place on the campus edge.
2. Review the planning processes utilized by one community-institutional partnership to facilitate and align partner interests.
3. Assess the development tools deployed by one community-institutional partnership to create the optimal environment for private sector development.
4. Identify specific techniques for leveraging institutions for university-community success through group discussion.

In recent years, several natural disasters have had major impacts on university facilities, including partial or total shutdown of buildings and even entire campuses. This panel discussion will focus on how technology has been used to respond to the challenges faced by university space planners and administrators after a natural disaster, and ways in which technology could have been better used to deal with the crisis. The emphasis of the session will be on knowing what tools and information are essential to prepare for, and respond to, physical emergencies and disasters.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Evaluate the ways in which technology can help staff respond to disasters affecting university space and infrastructure.
2. Discuss the challenges faced by university planners and facility managers when disasters occur.
3. Identify common gaps in technology and/or data that could impact a planner's ability to mediate disasters.
4. Describe ways to prepare your technology infrastructure for disasters and how to maintain backup and/or redundant systems.

Utilizing the vision established in the Baylor Research and Innovation Collaborative Strategic Plan, we will share the challenging funding roadmap traveled. Understand how the vision of the plan was strengthened through collaboration among a private university, public technical college, local industry, and the local municipality. The partnerships created allowed everyone to  accomplish the common goal of cultivating strong research, industrial growth, workforce training, and technology development that enhanced the economic advancement for the region.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Describe the ways an institution can translate a clear strategic vision into funding opportunities.
2. Evaluate the importance of shared values among various state and local organizations as a method for identifying funding opportunities that will benefit everyone.
3. Select options for planning and programming a facility that follows the strategic vision and balances the needs of a diverse set of stakeholders.
4. Identify the use of public/private partnerships that promote higher education and research for economic development.

As colleges and universities battle for their survival in this challenging time, many institutions have banded together to ensure their viability—through the commitment to sustainable initiatives that benefit all campus community members and the environment. The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), comprised of colleges and universities, seeks to empower higher education to lead the sustainability transformation. The use of the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS) program is making the dream a reality.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Review the key components of the STARS program.
2. Evaluate the operational and maintenance benefits of high-performing buildings/campuses.
3. Recognize the ways in which sustainability aids recruitment and retention on a campus.
4. Apply a method of calculating the return-on-investment for sustainable initiatives.

The convergence of rapid population growth, lower educational attainment, and high poverty levels for Texas Hispanics prompted The University of Texas System – in collaboration with the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, the P-16 School System and other Texas institutions of higher education – to develop initiatives to increase Hispanic access and success. This panel explores The University of Texas System’s progress over the last decade and ongoing promising practices to improve Hispanic access, degree production, and graduation/post graduation success.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Recognize Hispanic population dynamics in Texas and their impact on higher education.
2. Review strategies to analyze, visually represent, and interpret comparative data on Hispanic student access and success.
3. Examine campus practices and policies that UT System academic institutions have successfully implemented and their effect on access and success of Hispanic students.
4. Discuss challenges in increasing access and success of Hispanic students and the feasibility of possible future solutions.

Denise M. Trauth has been the ninth president of Texas State University-San Marcos since August 2002.  Authorized by the Texas Legislature in 1899, Texas State has grown into a major research doctoral-granting institution with more than 33,000 students.  In response to the needs of the state, the university has recently added such programs as electrical engineering, geographic information science, nursing, math education, and water resources.

Located in the culturally rich city of San Antonio, Trinity University is one of the nation's top private universities. With 2,600 talented undergraduate and graduate students, the university is known for its stimulating, resourceful, and collaborative environment—in the classroom, on campus, and around the world. Trinity’s campus, its fourth since the university’s founding in 1869, is situated on a hill overlooking the downtown skyline. Virtually all of its campus facilities have been built since 1952—resulting in a distinctive mid-century, vernacular architecture in a very pedestrian-friendly, walkable setting. From that date through about 1985, all of its campus buildings were the result of the design efforts of the local architectural firm of Ford, Powell, & Carson headed by the renowned regional architect, the late O'Neil Ford. More recent facilities have been designed by Robert A. M. Stern, Kell-Munoz and Einhorn, Yaffee and Prescott. The current campus of about 2,200,000 gross square feet of building space sits on about 117 acres, part of which is included in the Monte Vista Historic District. Trinity has been ranked as the top regional, masters-granting comprehensive university in the West by US News for each of the past 19 years in a row. In its most recent rankings, US News gave Trinity a #1 ranking under 'Great Schools, Great Prices'.

Optional Event: Requires Registration $35

Learning Outcomes:

1. Recognize the strategies that help make a campus pedestrian friendly and that promote walking.
2. Review the effects on a campus of a predominant architectural style that now must be considered when adding facilities.
3. Evaluate how being part of an historic district affects campus decision making about its physical presence in a community.
4. Discuss the benefits a strong sense of place has on the rankings of an institution.