Presented by: Jeff Eastman, University Planner, Virginia Commonwealth University

Presented by: Charles Piper, AIA, LEED AP | Dave Pfaff | Mary-Chris Escobar

This session will explore in-depth case studies of two interdisciplinary centers for STEM learning, innovation, and entrepreneurship, one at a leading liberal arts college (Washington and Lee University), and the other at a large research university (Virginia Commonwealth University). Leaders involved in the planning, design, operation, and evolution of two successful STEM and innovation centers will share the most impactful decisions affecting the long-term success of their work, including how location, governance, funding, programming, and promotion influence dynamic interdisciplinary results.

Learning Outcomes

1. Summarize the characteristics of on- and off-campus facilities, locations, and partnerships that make authentic interdisciplinary engagement and collaboration viable.
2. Explain common operational and funding models for interdisciplinary centers that best assures student success and university progress.
3. Plan a variety of programming and promotional activities to spur openness and collaboration between disciplines and to improve meaningful student, faculty, and community participation in an interdisciplinary center.
4. Describe design strategies that support student success in interdisciplinary centers for innovation and STEM learning.

Presented by: Joe Atkins, VMDO | Van Coble, VT | Greg Havens, Sasaki

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University’s (Virginia Tech) Creativity and Innovation District (CID) is a trans-disciplinary nexus drawing together students, faculty, and external partners while aligning collaborative facilities, resources, tools, and technologies that will enable it to thrive as a living-learning environment. In this session, we will share explicit, purposeful strategies for how to administer shared academic, arts, and campus life programs that foster interdisciplinary inquiry.

Learning Outcomes

1. Describe how the design and programming of mixed-use, flexible, and shared learning spaces bring together a broad range of students, faculty, and strategic partners.
2. Summarize how different types of spaces contribute to an innovation district, including collaboration hubs, fusion labs, maker spaces, art studios, and performance venues that showcase education, demonstration, and research.
3. Describe how the design of residential living-learning communities can bring people together across disciplines to pursue formal and informal projects.
4. Summarize how different departments and divisions effectively administrator and share spaces within an innovation district.

Presented by: Dick Minturn, UVA | Marsh Pattie, UVA | Caroline West, UVA | D’Andre Willis, HGA

How can we authentically engage students to make a positive impact on their environment? We will show how the planning and design process at the University of Virginia’s (UVA) Student Activities Building made students a co-equal partner, used social science tools to identify what students valued, and amplified students’ ability to guide design. You will learn how to engage students at your institution by applying discovery techniques, design thinking, journey mapping, and purposeful facilitation techniques to traditional programming and design problems.

Learning Outcomes

1. Align student engagement practices in facilities planning with an institution’s broader student leadership philosophy.
2. Identify the appropriate student groups to engage in a building’s planning and design process.
3. Assess opportunities to further student input by integrating building programming and planning projects with student academic work and student leadership programs.
4. Use powerful discovery tools (journey mapping, surveys, focus groups, immersive engagement, town halls, committee work) to identify and quantify what students want in a building’s design

Presented by: Russ Uzzle

Russell (Russ) Uzzle recently retired after spending 18 years as the university planner at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). During his tenure, the university experienced unprecedented enrollment, programmatic, and physical growth, resulting in over a billion dollars in new construction and renovation projects. As an urban university of approximately 60,000 faculty, staff, and students, VCU continues to provide a challenging environment for planning and coordination of its many initiatives.

Russ was responsible for overseeing and guiding two university-wide master plans, precinct studies, and numerous facility planning and programming studies. He was responsible for developing and coordinating issues related to transportation, historic preservation, and emergency preparedness, and development issues related to the university’s program expansion into the urban landscape.

Russ was a principal liaison with university leadership, stakeholder groups, and with the City of Richmond on issues relating to facility planning. He was an active member of SCUP and an enthusiastic guest lecturer for various campus groups. A native of Raleigh, NC, he is a graduate of East Carolina University and Virginia Tech.