Access session recordings on the program page.
Welcome to the 36th Annual virtual SCUP North Atlantic Regional Conference!
If planning is about making informed choices to serve the institutional mission, then planning for our “new reality” is having a transformative impact on higher education in North America and around the world. Continuing the SCUP North Atlantic Region’s 36-year tradition of exploring current themes and challenges in college and university planning, the Spring 2021 conference will reflect on how we are transforming and reimagining the future of higher education.
We look forward to sharing a variety of concurrent sessions to inform and support your planning and help your institution survive and thrive. The conference will also offer innovative approaches to virtual networking and tours of new and exciting projects at campuses throughout the region.
Sponsorship Opportunities
Support your region and gain valuable visibility while you engage in the conversations that will help institutions face today’s challenges and those to come.
Presented by: Edie Weiner, President and CEO, The Future Hunters
This recording is no longer available.
Join leading futurist Edie Weiner as she takes a deep dive into evolving trends and issues affecting the future of higher education:
Tags: Environmental Scanning, Higher Ed Trends, Teaching and Learning
Presented by: Katherine Newman, System Chancellor for Academic Programs & Senior Vice President for Economic Development, University of Massachusetts
This session will be held as a Zoom Meeting.
As the chief academic officer of the University of Massachusetts system and as a labor market sociologist, Katherine Newman will provide valuable insight on how global changes are affecting the academic, research, and public service mission of higher education. The current public health crisis—as well as other factors such as automation and social change—is accelerating efforts to attract, educate, and retain a range of high achieving, diverse, and unskilled populations of learners. Come learn how your institution can provide experiential learning and hybrid course delivery options that meet the needs of students and employers who are experiencing multiple tectonic shifts in their industries.
Learning Outcomes
Presented by: Ben Youtz, Partner, designLAB architects | Nazneen Cooper, Assistant Dean for Campus Design & Planning, Office of Physical Resources & Plan, Harvard University | David Roxburgh, Department Chair, Department History of Art & Architecture, Faculty of Arts & Sciences, Harvard University
All colleges and universities have existing building stock that they need to repurpose in order to fit contemporary campus paradigms. Beginning with the project’s conception and taking you through its planning, design, and construction, we will outline our investigation, historic research, and analysis of Harvard University’s Stirling-designed postmodern museum to inform its transformation into a vibrant academic building housing a variety of programs. In this session, we’ll establish a strategic and creative framework for adaptive reuse that you can use to reposition historic and architecturally-significant buildings on your campus.
Learning Outcomes
Continuing Education Units
AIA LU 1.0 Unit (SCUPN21C1076)
AICP CM 1.0 Unit
Presented by: Michael Grant, Associate, Stantec | Ruth Bennett, Director, Strategic Capital Programs, Tufts University | Kim Cullinane, Senior Energy Efficiency Consultant, Eversource (utility) | John Dalzell, Senior Architect for Sustainable Development, Boston Planning & Development Agency | Jacob Knowles, Director of Sustainable Design, BR+A Consulting Engineers
It isn’t enough that institutions require all-electric campus buildings that rely on renewable energy—they must also be low load and low energy consumption. Individual cities, states, and utility incentive programs are going beyond carbon neutral standards to embrace energy consumption limits. This session will present these new strategies as models and options for campus building energy standards that address a variety of university sustainability goals. Come learn how your institution can avoid re-inventing the wheel when defining truly impactful campus guidelines by using these methodologies to limit energy consumption and peak demand.
Learning Outcomes
Continuing Education Units
AIA LU/HSW 1.0 Unit (SCUPN21C1096)
AICP CM 1.0 Unit
Presented by: Meredith Bostwick-Lorenzo Eiroa, Director, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP | Colin Koop, Partner, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP | Michelle Maheu, Director for Planning, Design & Construction, Wellesley College | Alexis Seeley, Director of Education & Opportunity Programs, NYU Tandon School of Engineering | Diana Allegretti, Director for Design and Construction, Cornell Tech | Natalie Shivers, Associate University Architect, Princeton University
Higher education will shape its future through its response to this critical moment: an unprecedented pandemic; rapidly-accelerating climate change; a mobile technology-enabled society; and critical issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion. As new values, core issues, and questions continue to emerge, institutions must face these challenges by weighing different impacts and shifting priorities. A panel of three institutions and a learning technologist will offer their diverse perspectives on these issues and how they’re influencing the physical and virtual campus environment. Come join the dialogue and adopt an inquiry-based mindset to proactively plan for a more agile and resilient future campus.
Learning Outcomes
Continuing Education Units
AIA LU 1.0 Unit (SCUPN21C1002)
AICP CM 1.0 Unit
Presented by: Stephen Phillips, Senior Vice President and Business Leader, Buildings North America, Stantec | Michael Moxam, Vice President and Practice Lead for Design Culture, Stantec
This session will be held as a Zoom Meeting.
Isttaniokaksini—the Blackfoot name bestowed on the new Science Commons for transdisciplinary science at the University of Lethbridge—means deep knowledge and awareness growing out of the unknown. The new 32,600 SM collaborative science facility is sited in the iconic coulee landscape adjacent to University Hall, one of noted Canadian architect Arthur Erickson’s most iconic works.
The architecture of Isttaniokaksini / Science Commons realizes the vision to create the most advanced science building in Canada and an incubator for transdisciplinary discovery. Planned for many generations into the future, the design creates a highly sustainable, flexible, and supportive platform for discovering solutions to the challenges facing humanity, nature, and the universe.
Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Facilities Design, Facilities Planning, Interdisciplinary Learning Environments, Learning Environments, Science / Engineering Facility
Presented by: Tom Chung, Principal, Leers Weinzapfel Associates | Shankar Krishnan, Professor, Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering, Wentworth Institute | Elizabeth Stifel, Executive Director, Boston Civic Design Commission | David Wahlstrom, Vice President for Business, Wentworth Institute of Technology
Join us for a virtual tour of Wentworth Institute’s newest academic building, the Center for Engineering, Innovation & Sciences (CEIS).
The project team members from upper administration, faculty, the City of Boston, and the architect discuss key priorities ranging from academic and social to campus and the wider city and community, which led to the ground-breaking design. The building opened for classes just over a year before the pandemic hit and the presenters will discuss how the building use shifted to remote and hybrid learning as well as plans going forward.
Presented by: Taylor Dyleski, Director of Production, Auburn University | Christopher Heacox, Executive Director, Auburn University | Josh Stiling, Senior Associate, Wilson Butler Architects | Paul Vaivoda, Principal, Wilson Butler Architects
This session will be held as a Zoom Meeting.
The latest installment of a developing arts district at Auburn University, The Jay and Susie Gogue Performing Arts Center is an 85,000 gross square feet facility consisting of a multi-purpose performance hall, a flexible second venue and outdoor amphitheater, and public front-of-house and technical back-of-house support spaces.
This virtual live tour will feature a mixture of produced video and live feed to offer an overview of the planning and architectural considerations involved in the design of a community-facing building and will exhibit live demonstrations of the multi-purpose hall’s rigging and technical components. The executive director of the Gogue Center will provide additional insight on how programming and facility use has adapted during a pandemic, followed by Q&A.
Presented by: Nadav Malin, President, BuildingGreen | Natalie Shivers, Associate University Architect, Princeton University | Patricia Devine, Sustainability Architectural Engineer, Princeton University | Mike Pulaski, Vice President, Thornton Tomasetti
This session will be held as a Zoom Meeting. Attendees are encouraged to turn on their video as the session will be interactive.
The Integrative Design Process (IDP) is a powerful collaborative framework that aligns with an institution’s culture to cost-effectively achieve any project’s desired outcomes. After adopting IDP incrementally since 2003, Princeton University has created a full program, including a roadmap and in-depth training. A well-designed IDP supports participation and buy-in from users and effective collaboration in project teams—that means fewer changes during the construction documents phase and construction, smoother turnover, and better performance. In this session, we’ll share our results and challenges and show how you can use an IDP to realize better value and outcomes for your campus project.
Learning Outcomes
Continuing Education Units
AIA LU 1.0 Unit (SCUPN21C1094)
AICP CM 1.0 Unit
Presented by: Dennis Carlberg, Associate Vice President of University Sustainability, Boston University | Robert Koester, Director, Center for Energy Research, Education & Service, Ball State University | Mike Walters, Principal, MEP Associates, a Salas O’Brien Company | Joshua Michaud, Associate Principal, BR+A Consulting Engineers
Many institutions face scale-related challenges in pursuing carbon neutrality. This session will explore how the unique settings of both Boston University and Ball State University drove the success of their ground-source solutions. As a model for other institutions, we’ll contextualize and detail two of the largest and deepest ground-source heat pump-chiller systems used to unlock campus-wide carbon neutrality. Come learn about the tangible strategies and outcomes from leading-edge campus decarbonization and find a path forward for carbon neutrality on your campus.
Learning Outcomes
Continuing Education Units
AIA LU/HSW 1.0 Unit (SCUPN21C1059)
AICP CM 1.0 Unit
Presented by: Todd Symonds, Principal, Goody Clancy | Stephen Erwin, Senior Director of Planning and Design, Harvard Business School
Ensuring that COVID-accelerated changes align with the institutional mission and brand is essential to a successful future on your campus. This session will explore the evolution of Harvard Business School’s space and technology planning process through two completed distance learning projects—one envisioned before COVID and one created after. We’ll provide insights from our planning and design toolbox, which will help you assess, plan, implement, and solve physical and digital challenges at your institution.
Learning Outcomes
Continuing Education Units
AIA LU 1.0 Unit (SCUPN21C1018)
AICP CM 1.0 Unit
Moderated by: Deirdre Fernandes, Reporter, Boston Globe
Presented by: Frances Bronet, President, Pratt Institute | Kerstin Mey, President, University of Limerick | Vianne Timmons, President and Vice Chancellor, Memorial University
SCUP defines integrated planning as a sustainable approach to planning that builds relationships, aligns the organization, and emphasizes preparedness for change. Over the past several years—and particularly in 2020—the world has experienced significant shifts in its sociocultural, economic, and political landscapes. How can higher education institutions use integrated planning to respond nimbly and flexibly to these changes? In this session, three college and university presidents from the United States, Canada, and Europe will reflect on how we can transform and reimagine higher education for the future.
Learning Outcomes:
Challenges: Change Management, COVID-19 Response and Planning, Planning Alignment
Planning Types: Academic Planning, Campus Planning, Resource Planning, Strategic Planning, Student Affairs Planning
Tags: Adaptable Plans, Alignment, COVID-19, Environmental Scanning, Higher Ed Trends, Response Planning
Presented by: Marcia Schmidt Blaine, Exec.Dir. Of Government Relations, Plymouth State University
Retention matters for practical (keeping the doors open), ethical (successfully educating students), and cultural reasons (improving campus climate, which in turn improves retention and persistence.) In this session, we’ll focus on the effective and budget-conscious retention efforts for a northeastern regional public institution. While administrative staff played an essential role, educating and coordinating faculty made a key difference in the success of these efforts. Come learn how you can plan and coordinate campus-wide retention efforts and promote faculty participation at your institution.
Learning Outcomes
Challenges: Student Success, Retention, and Graduation
Planning Types: Academic Planning
Tags: Faculty, Student Retention, Student Success
Presented by: Carolyn Cirillo, Workplace Research Manager, Knoll, Inc. | Elliot Felix, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, brightspot strategy | Sanjit Sethi, President, Minneapolis College of Art and Design | Genny Beemyn, Director, the Stonewall Center, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Campus spaces and what they offer play a vital role in student success. By making organizational and operational changes, these spaces can better respond to transformational shifts in higher education. In order to build long-term value and agility in physical campus space, we must connect academia with industry, teaching with research, student affairs with academic affairs, online with on-campus experiences, and capital with operational planning. In this session, you’ll learn how to combine digital and physical environments, promote diversity and inclusion, and implement flexibility within campus spaces to prepare your institution for a more blended world.
Learning Outcomes
Continuing Education Units
AIA LU/HSW 1.0 Unit (SCUPN21C1095)
AICP CM 1.0 Unit
Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Facilities Planning, Learning Environments, Learning Technology, Space Management
Presented by: Yogesh Saoji, Planning and Urban Design Leader, DLR Group | Kenneth Faron, Associate Director Capital Projects, School of Visual Arts New York | Suzanne Musho, Vice President, Capital Planning and Facilities Management, Chief Architect, New York Institute of Technology
Urban campuses are under stress, but in this session we’ll share planning and design approaches to help urban institutions thrive as well as navigate strategic priorities, partnerships, programming changes, facilities, and real estate strategies. We’ll highlight approaches and lessons learned from two New York City institutions during the pandemic, including creatively retrofitting their campus facilities amidst a crisis period of declining revenue and enrollments. Join us to learn new physical, academic, financial, and operational strategies that can reshape your campus while ensuring its long-term success.
Learning Outcomes
Continuing Education Units
AIA LU 1.0 Unit (SCUPN21C1131)
AICP CM 1.0 Unit
Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Adaptive Reuse, Facilities Funding, Facilities Planning, Learning Environments, Public-Private Partnerships (P3), Real Estate, Urban Campus
Presented by: Zachery Spire, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Bartlett Real Estate Institute, Global Centre for Learning Environments, University College London, Faculty of the Built Environment | Greg Power, Head of Capital Projects and Planning, Estates and Facilities, Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin
The global COVID-19 pandemic struck a hard blow to many countries, and global institutions suddenly had to change operations as well as how their students learned, socialized, and lived on campus. After a full year of shutdowns, virtual learning, and constant adaption, we will discuss how University College London and the University of Dublin responded to government mandates and how the crisis has shaped living and working arrangements. Come join a university administrator and an academic researcher, both of whom focus their work on the built environment, for a lively discussion on pre- and post-COVID perspectives on student residential housing and academic research space and how the pandemic has challenged their thinking.
Challenges: COVID-19 Response and Planning
Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: COVID-19, Facilities Planning, Governmental Policies and Regulations, Health and Wellness, Learning Environments, Student Housing
Presented by: Keith Epstein, Vice President of Facilities, Real Estate and Infrastructure Planning, Connecticut State Colleges & Universities | William MacIntosh, Director, G3 Architecture | Scott Page, Principal, Scott Blackwell Page
Establishing capital projects is typically a long-term effort with changes occurring over months. In this session, we’ll share how Connecticut State Colleges and Universities (CSCU) applies a standard process to address its unique capital needs and withstand the test of time. CSCU maintains its 10-year capital plan in a dynamic environment to remain relevant and resilient for allocating resources equitably between its sixteen campuses with optimal effect. Come learn how a mission-driven, evidence-based capital planning approach responds to changing demographics and financial conditions while addressing specific facility and infrastructure needs in a wide variety of campus settings.
Learning Outcomes
Continuing Education Units
AIA LU 1.0 Unit (SCUPN21C1077)
AICP CM 1.0 Unit
Planning Types: Campus Planning, Resource Planning
Tags: Capital Planning, Facilities Funding, Facilities Planning, Space Assessment, System of Colleges or Universities
Presented by: Jennifer Stone, Partner, Robert A.M. Stern Architects | Adam Millman, Senior Director of Residential Dining, Yale University | James Benson, Director of Culinary Excellence, Yale University | C. Dennis Pierce, Executive Director of Dining Services, University of Connecticut | Robert Landolphi, Assistant Director for Culinary Development, University of Connecticut
Over the past year, the hospitality teams at Yale University and the University of Connecticut (UConn) have had to rethink their dining operations and facilities, shifting to a transactional approach to continue supporting student wellbeing. The two universities faced very different challenges: UConn, as one of the country’s largest self-operated food service programs, focused on maintaining diverse options; Yale, as a transformational organization, committed to table gatherings and healthy, locally-sourced food. This session will explore how these facilities and programs have adapted to the current crisis and what their experiences teach us about the future of campus food service.
Learning Outcomes
Continuing Education Units
AIA LU/HSW 1.0 Unit (SCUPN21C1113)
AICP CM 1.0 Unit
Challenges: COVID-19 Response and Planning
Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Dining Facility, Facilities Planning, Health and Wellness
Presented by: Danile DeBoo, Principal, DLR Group | Richard Yeager, Director for Campus Planning, University of Massachusetts-Amherst | David Harrower, Assistant Director of Facilities Management Planning & Design, Haverford College | Andrew Barclay, Director of Student Activities, Swarthmore College
A key component of student success is socialization. In this session, we’ll explore ideas on how to engage students through virtual learning and how the physical campus can supplement those socialization efforts. Panelists from three different institutions will discuss the past, present, and future state of their campuses’ built and virtual environments and how they impact student success. Join us to learn how you can employ virtual student engagement and socialization practices—including how to leverage facilities—to enhance the student experience on your campus.
Learning Outcomes
Continuing Education Units
AIA LU 1.0 Unit (SCUPN21C1135)
AICP CM 1.0 Unit
Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Learning Environments, Online Learning, Student Engagement, Teaching and Learning