SCUP 2025 Annual Conference

Going Deeper: Reimagining and Reinvigorating the Meaning of Higher Ed

Presented by: Alapaki Nahale-a, Partner, Islander Institute

For many years, the focus in higher education has been higher, more, and better. Higher rankings. More programs. Better services. And while these aims can be worthwhile, moments of vulnerability (like the one we’re in now) are opportunities to rethink how we go about our work, reconnect to its meaning, and reimagine higher education’s place in the world. What if, instead of going higher, what’s needed is for us to go deeper?

Hawaiian ways of being and knowing acknowledge the power of going deeper—deeper into our relationships, deeper within our communities, deeper connections with the land. In particular, the power of place recognizes the importance of our surroundings, the people within them, and the interconnectedness of the two. It helps us remember fundamental truths about living in balance with our ecosystems and those we share them with.

In this keynote, Alapaki Nahale-a, a leader in Hawaiian community-building efforts, will share indigenous Hawaiian understandings and insights that can give you a new lens on integrated planning and higher education’s role in the world. In particular, he’ll share how connecting more deeply—to place and to each other—can be a source of meaning and strength for each of us, regardless of where our “place” is. Let Hawaii and the essence of who we are inspire you to embrace integrated planning as a way to unite us in purpose and action for the greater good.

Learning Outcomes:

1. 1. Gain a better understanding of Hawaii and the worldview of Native Hawaiians. Use that awareness and your presence in this indigenous place as inspiration to dive deeper into the power of integrated planning.
   2. Consider what it would mean for our shared space to focus on going deeper rather than higher. Use examples from Hawaii around ‘aina (that which feeds us), pilina (relationship), and aloha (face to face) to develop your own ideology and practice around deeper learning.
   3. Reflect deeply on your own sense of the role of higher education in the world today. Use that perspective to find your opportunistic position for the future. Craft your position and supporting vocabulary around it to better inform and impact the conversations you are a part of around higher education at all levels.
   4. Determine what your sense of place is and how it informs your work in higher education. Understand and incorporate place as a core part of integrated planning and advocate for its rich inclusion in the processes you participate in and/or lead.

Planning Types: Integrated Planning
Tags: Higher Ed in Society

Join us for a warm evening as we e komo mai (welcome) you to Hawaii, where island-inspired delights and authentic local entertainment await to kick off SCUP’s Annual Conference in true aloha spirit!

A University-Industry Collaboration: Shaping the Future of Manufacturing

Presented by: Peter Drown, Chief Operations Officer, University of Maine | William Horgan, Partner, Grimshaw | Nicole Rogers, Principal/Director of Architecture, SMRT Architecture Engineering Planning | Adam Yothers, Senior Architect, SMRT Architecture Engineering Planning

At the University of Maine (UMaine), industry professionals, students, and faculty are taking on critical economic challenges and revitalizing industry with innovative, sustainable advanced manufacturing solutions. We’ll share how UMaine developed the Green Energy and Materials: Research Factory of the Future (GEM: FoF), a combined academic and research facility that focuses on sustainable manufacturing innovations with interdisciplinary learning and collaboration. Through integrated planning, the GEM: FoF is expanding UMaine’s research and academic capabilities and aligning them with the manufacturing industry. Join us to discover how this collaboration positions the university as an economic engine for the institution and the state.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Outline a plan for collaborating with industry partners to create integrated programs that benefit both private manufacturing and university research efforts.
2. Explain the concept of a center that is inclusive for all students while ensuring robust security measures for classified or sensitive projects.
3. Discuss how to secure funding for industry-supportive capital projects by partnering with various public and private sponsors.
4. Explain the importance of flexibility when programming academic and manufacturing space on campus.

Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Economic Development; Facilities Planning; Interdisciplinary Learning Environments; Laboratory Facility; Science / Engineering Facility

AIA LU 1.0 Unit (SCUP60C3690)
AICP CM 1.0 Unit

Accreditation and Strategic Planning: A Blueprint for Institutional Improvement

Presented by: Nasrin Fatima, Associate Provost for Assessment and Analytics, Binghamton University

Aligning accreditation with strategic planning enhances goal-setting, improves decision-making, and ensures that institutions achieve lasting impact to drive positive change on campus. This session will demonstrate how to strategically integrate accreditation standards with institutional planning for mission-driven improvement, moving beyond compliance to create impactful, sustainable growth. You’ll gain actionable strategies for embedding accreditation into planning processes, streamlining compliance efforts, and meeting institutional goals with greater efficiency.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Detail a strategic planning approach that reinforces your institution’s mission and long-term success.
2. Establish clear connections between accreditation standards and institutional goals for alignment and compliance.
3. Recognize the importance of regular review processes to align evolving institutional priorities with accreditation standards.
4. Use accreditation data to inform planning, resource allocation, and strategic adjustments.

Planning Types: Strategic Planning
Challenges: Planning Alignment
Tags: Accreditation; Alignment; Data

Bridging Diverse Needs Through Inclusive Restroom Design

Presented by: Seb Choe, Associate Director, JSA/MIXdesign | Amanda Truemper, Senior Project Manager | Associate, Trivers Associates

Inclusive campus restroom design can transcend most accessibility standards and respect diverse needs by prioritizing health, safety, and psychological wellbeing. This session will address the critical need for inclusive restrooms and highlight how thoughtful design strategies can accommodate a diverse campus community, surpassing the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Standards for Accessible Design to create safer, more inclusive spaces for everyone. Join us to discuss best practices in designing inclusive, accessible, gender-neutral restrooms while also learning strategies to ensure campus facilities reflect your institution’s commitment to social justice and inclusion.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Advocate for inclusive restroom design that considers factors of neurodivergence, gender, and accessibility to ensure healthy and safe facilities for the whole campus community.
2. Identify best practices for creating safe, multi-user restroom spaces that promote psychological and physical safety for all while also providing options for those with religious or privacy needs.
3. Apply strategies to help you reimagine restroom spaces as inclusive, welcoming, and safe environments that reflect institutional values of equity and social justice.
4. Detail methods of engaging stakeholders during the planning and design process to help you move beyond basic accessibility requirements and ensure restrooms meet the needs of a diverse campus community.

Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Accessibility; Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI); Other Facility

AIA LU/HSW 1.0 Unit (SCUP60C3589)
AICP CM 1.0 Unit

Integrated Campus Planning Focused on Equitable Student Success

Presented by: Sabrina Gentlewarrior, Vice President, Bridgewater State University | Karen Jason, Vice President for Operations, Bridgewater State University

Research demonstrates that higher education is serving more students of color even as disparate student outcomes persist. Campuswide planning processes that focus on decreasing these inequities is key to both student and campus success. The 40-campus consortium used an integrated planning process that leverages data-informed strategies for racially-equitable student success; we’ll share this process and its application through the lens of campus space and design. Join us to discover a data-informed campus planning process from our practitioner handbook and consider how you can apply its lessons learned to decrease disparate student outcomes on your campus.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Discuss a planning process for reducing disparate outcomes with senior campus leaders.
2. Explain how to identify inequitable outcomes in institutional data and create plans of action to address them through equity-minded integrated planning.
3. Draw from lessons learned in campus planning and design and consider how to adapt them to a range of other campus-based goals in order to advance equitable student success.
4. Share our practitioner handbook with your campus colleagues to provide extensive examples of outcomes associated with this integrated planning process.

Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Campus Master Planning; Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI); Facilities Design; Student Success

AIA LU 1.0 Unit (SCUP60C3582)
AICP CM 1.0 Unit

Lessons Learned from the University of California’s Low Carbon Showcase Program

Presented by: Kjell Anderson, Director of Sustainable Design, LMN Architects | Leslie Palaroan, Design and Construction Services Analyst, University of California Office of the President | Robert Smith, Principal, LMN Architects

Embodied carbon reduction is the next frontier of our campuses and buildings. This session will highlight the University of California (UC) Office of the President initiative to train capital project staff across 10 campuses in low-carbon project delivery. UC’s system-wide Low Carbon Showcase training empowers capital project teams with tools, strategies, frameworks, and actionable case studies for sustainable, healthy campus planning. We’ll provide you with access to these proven resources and practical insights for embedding embodied carbon reduction strategies, which you can apply to your capital project workflows.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Apply tools and methodologies for analyzing embodied carbon in your construction and renovation projects with the goal of carbon reduction for environmental health.
2. Detail frameworks for incorporating carbon reduction goals into campuswide capital planning and design standards for a healthier campus.
3. Evaluate and prioritize cost-effective solutions for reducing embodied carbon without compromising project goals.
4. Identify actionable takeaways from UC training case studies, allowing you to replicate successful carbon reduction strategies on your own campus.

Planning Types: Sustainability Planning
Challenges: Dealing with Climate Change
Tags: Carbon Neutral; Facilities Planning; Sustainability (Environmental)

AIA LU/HSW 1.0 Unit (SCUP60C3783)
AICP CM 1.0 Unit

SCUP Excellence Awards | Observed Themes in Higher Education Planning and Design From the 2025 Excellence Award Entries and Recognition of Winners

Presented by: Safdar Abidi, Regional Practice Leader, Canada – Higher Education, Perkins&Will | Khatereh Baharikhoob, Associate Senior Urban designer, DIALOG | Delia Nevola, Education Market Leader, CannonDesign | Kevin Petersen, Architect, Ayers Saint Gross | Ryan Yaden, Associate Partner, Lake|Flato

Awards programs are a way to not only recognize and applaud those individuals and organizations whose achievements exemplify excellence but also to provide learning opportunities for everyone whose lives and passions involve higher education. The 2025 jury members will share observations and trends from this year’s entries and acknowledge award recipients. Award certificates will be distributed at the end of the program.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Discover ways in which campus projects can articulate an institution’s mission.
2. Recognize innovation in planning, architecture, and landscape architecture.
3. Discuss how the effective use of materials and aesthetic choices demonstrate design’s highest qualities.
4. Identify opportunities to apply new innovations on your own campus.

Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Campus Master Planning; Facilities Design; Landscape / Open Space

AIA LU 1.0 Unit (SCUP60C2507)
AICP CM 1.0 Unit

Transform Your Service and Data Culture with a Unified Platform

Presented by: Michael Hites, Vice President Information Technology and Chief Information Officer, Southern Methodist University | Rachel Mulry, Associate CIO- Planning and Customer Service, Southern Methodist University

Institutions can bridge the gap between planning and assessing by collecting high-quality data for space utilization, maintenance, student success, and more. This session will illustrate how unifying business processes across the institution on a single software platform can transform service culture. Single-platform collaboration not only enhances and simplifies service delivery, but also produces a wealth of visual data for storytelling and strategic data-driven decisions. Join us to gain tools and techniques that you can use to improve processes, create better data, improve customer service, and reduce stress for process owners on your campus.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Implement new structures for sustaining change throughout the university involving key oversight groups and data-driven feedback loops.
2. Create meaningful dashboards for strategic decision making at the department level.
3. Identify opportunities for greater collaboration and process simplification for existing operational activities.
4. Create one service culture out of many through large-scale collaboration and implementation of a new software platform.

Planning Types: Institutional Effectiveness Planning
Challenges:
Tags: Dashboards; Data

Trauma-informed Leadership Strategies for Retention and Institutional Success

Presented by: Amber McGuire, Director, Utah Valley University

For institutions that face challenges with staff burnout and retention, trauma-informed leadership can provide a structured, compassionate approach that aligns with integrated planning to create sustainable, supportive campus environments. We’ll explore how trauma-informed leadership can drive integrated planning in higher education, improving staff retention and fostering a supportive environment that directly impacts student success. You’ll leave this session with practical strategies to implement trauma-informed leadership, align staff wellbeing with institutional goals, and enhance campus retention efforts through integrated planning.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Identify trauma-informed care principles to align leadership and retention goals for cross-functional team collaboration.
2. Describe effective strategies for reducing staff burnout that you can integrate with institutional planning processes.
3. Discuss resource navigation systems that support both staff and student retention.
4. Advocate for trauma-informed leadership as a means to influence policy changes that support long-term institutional success.

Planning Types: Integrated Planning
Challenges: Responding to Disruptive Events
Tags: Change Management; Leadership

A Collaborative Approach to Integrated Planning at Community Colleges

Presented by: Daniel Berumen, Director, Research and Planning, Fullerton College | Henry Hua, Vice President, Administrative Services, Fullerton College | Bridget Kominek, Associate Professor, Fullerton College | Jeanette Rodriguez, Professor, Fullerton College

We have the power to build authentic trust with stakeholders when we meaningfully engage them in the integrated planning process. Transparent and inclusive processes allow us to make decisions around resource allocation that are in students’ best interests. Fullerton College, one of the oldest community colleges in the state of California, leveraged participatory governance structures to make large-scale, transformative changes to the college’s integrated planning and resource allocation process. When we resist pressures to make integrated planning transactional and embrace the spirit of collaboration, institutions can create bulwark processes that prevent in-fighting and cultural erosion during times of limited funding.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Identify areas of adjustment in your program review, planning, and resource allocation processes to include a wider range of the campus community.
2. Break the large-scale process of changing your integrated planning processes into manageable steps.
3. Use a concrete framework for thinking about the planning process’s inevitable challenges and effectively address arising issues.
4. Critically consider compliance-oriented approaches to integrated planning, and as a result, engage in this work on your campus in a more holistic, collaborative, and authentic way.

Planning Types: Integrated Planning
Tags: Alignment; Community College; Planning Processes; Resource Allocation

Classrooms to Campfires: Breaking Boundaries on a Remote Mountain Campus

Presented by: Nora Bland, Director of Planning, Cushing Terrell | Charlie Deese, Design Director | Architect, Cushing Terrell | Stuart Halsall, Associate Vice Chancellor, University of Denver

Classrooms are not the only places where students can grow intellectually and explore their character and sense of purpose. Educating students within an immersive natural setting presents unique opportunities for personal challenge, teamwork, connection, and reflection. This session will explore the integrated planning process behind the University of Denver’s (DU) Kennedy Mountain Campus, which breaks the educational mold by creating immersive nature experiences for students, faculty, alumni, and the broader community. Whether your institution is operating a nature site or looking to increase health and wellness programming, we’ll provide you with an applicable, practical framework for successful educational nature experiences.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Draw connections between an immersive natural setting, a whole-person approach to education, the creation of lifelong memories, and improved health and wellbeing.
2. Detail an integrated planning process and lessons learned for creating an equitable and healthy experience in immersive natural settings.
3. Identify examples of the unique drivers in the capacity and growth for outdoor and retreat programming and facilities.
4. Outline the programming and physical planning considerations specific to operating a remote camp(us), especially in terms of safety and security as well as energy and sustainability.

Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Campus Master Planning; Experiential Learning; Rural Campus

AIA LU/HSW 1.0 Unit (SCUP60C3587)
AICP CM 1.0 Unit

Equitable Opportunities in Women’s Athletics through Planned Investments

Presented by: Emily Carlip, Associate Principal, Holmes US | Morgan Martinelli, Business Development, Holmes US | Francesly Sierra, Design Manager, Gensler

Stronger investment in women’s sports poses an opportunity for institutions to challenge the status quo when planning adaptable, sustainable, and equitable facilities. To leverage these economic opportunities, planners must stay ahead of Title IX compliance. This panel will dive into solutions for strengthening gender equity, elevating the student-athlete experience, and in turn, increasing commitment from the fan base. Strategic planning in resource investments for women’s sports within the built environment and beyond can help your institution offer top-tier athletic experiences for women and drive revenue opportunities.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Detail strategies for proactively energizing the local community to build participation of a fan base and elevate women’s sports.
2. Recognize opportunities for recruiting or growing top talent for strategic revenue generation in women’s sports.
3. Explain the importance of adaptable facilities planning for current, interim, and long-term investments to accommodate evolving women’s sports needs.
4. Identify sustainable implementation strategies to support women student athletes’ health and wellness to unlock peak performance.

Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Athletic Facility; Facilities Planning

AIA LU 1.0 Unit (SCUP60C3677)
AICP CM 1.0 Unit

From Input to Impact: A Data-informed Approach to Integrated Strategic Planning

Presented by: Yessica De La Torre Roman, Director of Assessment, California State University-Fullerton | Gina Park, Senior Data Strategist, California State University-Fullerton | Rachel Robbins, Strategic Initiatives Specialist, California State University-Fullerton | Su Swarat, Senior AVP for Institutional Effectiveness & Planning, California State University-Fullerton

A common challenge in strategic planning is finding the right strategies to effectively inform and engage diverse campus communities and reflect their voices throughout the strategic plan implementation process. In this session, we’ll share proven methods for addressing this challenge through the process of data collection and analysis as well as progress monitoring within a campus assessment framework. Join us in an interactive discussion around successful strategies for conducting inclusive stakeholder engagement on a large campus to develop and implement a strategic plan.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Explain how to create a data-informed strategic planning process that engages a broad campus community.
2. Articulate the role of data in guiding and focusing a diverse community towards developing and implementing a shared strategic plan.
3. Name two-to-three strategies for effectively engaging different campus constituencies.
4. Identify a list of artifacts or materials for communicating data and fostering stakeholder engagement.

Planning Types: Strategic Planning
Challenges: Engaging Stakeholders
Tags: Data; Engaging Stakeholders

Maximizing Space Efficiency: Occupancy Insights from VCU’s Planning Pilot

Presented by: Matt Boyd, Head of Business Development, Occuspace | Keith Hayes, Director, Office of Space Management, Virginia Commonwealth University

College and university planners are facing mounting pressure to optimize existing campus space. This session will demonstrate how actionable occupancy insights can elevate strategic planning, reduce costs, and better support academic and workplace needs. Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) and Occuspace are transforming space planning through real-time occupancy data, which informs strategy, capital planning, and dynamic resource allocation. Come learn about the real-world tools VCU uses for leveraging occupancy data to confidently reallocate underused space, informing capital requests, enhancing campus environments, and fostering innovation for smarter space planning.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Promote transparency and collaboration around space decisions by sharing trusted, first-party data with stakeholders across departments.
2. Reallocate or repurpose underutilized spaces with confidence based on real-time and historical utilization trends.
3. Incorporate usage data into capital and strategic planning processes to make stronger cases for renovations, reconfigurations, or funding.
4. Consider deploying pilot projects using occupancy-sensing technology to gather objective space use data without requiring a large upfront cost or time-consuming rollout.

Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Data; Facilities Assessment; Space Management

AIA LU 1.0 Unit (SCUP60C3833)
AICP CM 1.0 Unit

Planning Through Chaos: Strategic Navigation in Higher Education’s New Era

Presented by: Michael Hites, Vice President and CIO, Southern Methodist University | Paula Kinney, AVP Strategy and Innovation, President’s Office, Saint Paul College | Mike Moss, President, SCUP

Higher education faces unprecedented volatility—from enrollment challenges to political shifts. Traditional planning models struggle when certainty vanishes. This panel brings together experienced institutional planners who’ve navigated disruptions to share concrete strategies for strategic decision-making under uncertainty. Participants will explore real-world approaches to contingency planning, stakeholder communication during crisis, and identifying opportunities within challenges. This session will be an interactive discussion of current institutional dilemmas, where both panelists and attendees will explore practical approaches for balancing immediate needs with a long-term strategic vision. Leave equipped with actionable tools for leading your institution through change while maintaining mission focus.

Learning Outcomes:

1. 1. Facilitate conversations at your institution that are scenario-based and account for multiple uncertainty variables that create flexible response strategies.
   2. Design stakeholder communications that effectively convey complex planning decisions while managing institutional fear and resistance during periods of significant change.
   3. Execute rapid assessments to identify impacts of planning decisions, enabling more comprehensive risk evaluation and mitigation strategies.
   4. Discuss real-world approaches to navigating the challenges of disruption.

Planning Types: Cross-functional
Challenges: Responding to Disruptive Events
Tags: Change Management; Crisis and Disaster Management; Response Planning; Strategic Planning; Strategies and Tactics

Strategic Master Planning for Academic Transformation in Latin America

Presented by: Kristen Ambrose, Vice President & Practice Leader, HKS, Inc. | Ana Margarita Maier Acosta, Provost, Zamorano University | Daniel Sniff, Director, Higher Education Planning, Accenture

With guidance from subject matter experts from the United Nations, the European Union, and the United States, Zamorano University in Honduras is preparing its future graduates with the skills and knowledge they’ll need to thrive in the world of 2035 and beyond. The strategic planning process led the university’s board to conduct a deep introspective analysis of their educational approach through the core question: how do we prepare the next generation? Join us to explore international political strategies, the vital role education plays in stabilizing economies and fostering statesmanship, and insights into international education in a competitive global environment.

Learning Outcomes:

1. 1. Analyze how Zamorano’s strategic planning process addresses the evolving needs of future students in Latin and South America, with a focus on developing relevant academic frameworks and methodologies for the 2035 workforce.
   2. Explain how international partnerships can inform and enhance educational practices, fostering a global perspective on the development of curriculum and skills students need in a competitive world.
   3. Discuss how integrated architectural design and campus infrastructure can support academic transformation, with a focus on creating inclusive, adaptable spaces that promote hands-on learning and cross-cultural engagement.
   4. Discuss how institutions like Zamorano can lead the way in influencing broader regional change and contributing to economic stabilization.

Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Campus Master Planning; Facilities Planning; Student Success

AIA LU 1.0 Unit (SCUP60C3806)
AICP CM 1.0 Unit

UVA’s Contemplative Commons: Supporting Student Resilience

Presented by: Joseph Celentano, Principal, VMDO Architects | Kent Chiang, Principal, Aidlin Darling Design | Alice Raucher, Architect for the University, University of Virginia-Main Campus | Nicole Thomas, Director, University of Virginia-Main Campus

Campus space design that prioritizes biophilia, intentionality, and inclusivity can positively impact empathy and academic performance for today’s students. At a time when student mental health is in crisis, the University of Virginia’s (UVA) Contemplative Commons serves as a model for fostering student and community wellbeing through the integration of architecture, landscape, and educational programming. Through examining the project’s conception, execution, and student-user feedback, we’ll demonstrate how innovative design and interdisciplinary collaboration can create a campus environment that supports the whole student.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Discuss how contemplative and mindful spaces contribute to student wellbeing, academic success, and community engagement.
2. Evaluate interdisciplinary design and planning methods that foster innovative learning environments to support wellness, inclusivity, and reflection.
3. Perform a guided exercise to recognize the impact of biophilic-centered design and how natural and built environment integration can enhance health as well as emotional and cognitive learning.
4. Assess quantitative and qualitative data from student feedback that illustrates the importance of contemplative spaces in our university communities.

Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Facilities Design; Health and Wellness

AIA LU/HSW 1.0 Unit (SCUP60C3604)
AICP CM 1.0 Unit

A Collaborative Strategic Plan Implementation within Academic Affairs

Presented by: Amir Dabirian, Vice President and Provost, California State University-Fullerton | Sheryl Fontaine, Professor of English, California State University-Fullerton | Su Swarat, Senior AVP for Institutional Effectiveness & Planning, California State University-Fullerton

A common challenge during strategic plan implementation is overcoming a reluctance to engage, communicate, collaborate, and embrace strategic visioning. This session will share a process that addresses these obstacles within academic affairs. We’ll delve into a layered process that facilitates communication and collaboration while managing the progress of strategic plan implementation within the largest division of the largest public institution in California. We invite you to consider ways you can apply these strategies to promote communicative, collaborative problem solving to address challenges on your campus.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Explain the significance of having a multi-layered strategic plan implementation process that facilitates inter- and intra-unit communication.
2. Identify one or more situations on your campus in which strategies that promote siloing and short-sighted solutions have hampered problem solving.
3. Name two or more strategies that bring members of different campus communities into conversation around a problem-solving challenge.
4. Identify several instances where it would be beneficial to share divisionally-located expertise.

Planning Types: Strategic Planning
Tags: Alignment; Implementation

Curtain Up on Consensus: A Shared-space Solution for Performing Arts Programs

Presented by: Kevin Donaghey, Principal, HGA | Sabrina Leman, Executive Director, California State University-San Bernardino

There is an increasing need for adaptable facilities planning as institutions face budgetary and logistical challenges. Campuses can meet their academic and financial goals through collaborative planning that overcomes programmatic silos, finds common values, and maximizes shared resources. This session will explore how California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB) evolved an initial plan for two distinct performing arts programs with separate buildings into an integrated, shared-space solution. You’ll come away with actionable strategies for managing cost overruns, aligning program needs, and creating collaborative spaces that support the specialized needs of performing arts and other academic programs.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Define and anticipate external challenges, such as construction market cost escalation, with nimble, adaptive, integrated programming and design solutions.
2. In the face of dwindling budgets, leverage a ‘doing more with less’ mindset that proactively seeks opportunities for cost-saving consolidation strategies without compromising programmatic or physical space integrity.
3. Facilitate forums for dialogue that encourage outward thinking, collaboration, open-mindedness, mutual respect, compromise, and consensus-building between traditionally siloed academic departments.
4. Detail a robust design framework and clear process for stakeholder buy-in that supports shared facilities while preserving specialized program needs, both in the context of performing arts and more broadly.

Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Collaborative Design; Facilities Design; Facilities Planning; Fine and Performing Arts Facility; Interdisciplinary Learning Environments

AIA LU 1.0 Unit (SCUP60C3760)
AICP CM 1.0 Unit

Evaluate and Adopt Successful External Partnerships

Presented by: Anthony Boccanfuso, President & Chief Executive Officer, UIDP

For many colleges and universities, especially research-intensive ones, partnerships with external groups are an increasingly critical part of their strategy. These external groups can range from others in higher education, companies of various sizes, and private funders (such as traditional foundations). This session will discuss the broad array of current partnering approaches available to institutions, and share the results from an ongoing initiative focused on strengthening and modernizing partnerships. Learn how to evaluate and adopt external partnerships that benefit your institution and society at large.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Evaluate current partnering approaches for relevance to your institution.
2. Develop a list of potential internal advocates critical to successfully evaluate and adopt partnering approaches.
3. Craft a system for ongoing review and due diligence regarding new partnering approaches.
4. Identify external resources that you can reference to strengthen and modernize your institution’s partnerships.

Planning Types: Strategic Planning
Challenges:
Tags: External Collaboration / Partnerships

From Access to Outcomes: Transformation through Data-driven Integrated Planning

Presented by: Steven Combs, Interim Provost and Sr. Vice President of Academic Affairs, Ivy Tech Community College – Central Indiana – Systems Office | Melissa Haney, Business Intelligence Developer, Ivy Tech Community College | Carrie Sermersheim, Project Development, American Structurepoint, Inc. | Amanda Wilson, Vice President of Capital Planning and Facilities, Ivy Tech Community College-Central Office

Institutions must evolve to meet growing workforce demands, improve access, and optimize resources. Integrated planning can foster student success and institutional growth while addressing these real-world challenges. This session will provide actionable insights for aligning academic programs and campus facilities to achieve strategic outcomes and long-term success. We’ll explore Ivy Tech Community College’s evolution from enrollment-driven planning to data-informed strategies that align campus resources with workforce demands. Join us to gain leadership strategies that will help your institution integrate campus planning with workforce needs, use real-time data for resource alignment, and drive institutional effectiveness through innovative planning.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Discuss how alignment of academic and campus master planning can improve resource utilization and strategic outcomes.
2. Prioritize facilities investments based on workforce demands and program alignment for maximum impact.
3. Discuss methods for facilitating cross-departmental collaboration to drive integrated planning and data-informed decision-making.
4. Outline actionable strategies to enhance institutional effectiveness through predictive analytics and outcome-focused planning.

Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Academic Planning; Alignment; Campus Master Planning; Capital Planning; Community College

AIA LU 1.0 Unit (SCUP60C3640)
AICP CM 1.0 Unit

Inclusive Engagement Methods for Stakeholders with Diverse Needs

Presented by: Nina Ebbighausen, Principal, Adjunct Associate Professor, Alliiance | Anna Pravinata, Principal, Alliiance | Mariangel Meza Santiviago, Design Researcher, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities

Inclusive design calls for engagement from campus community members with diverse cognitive, physical, psychological, and sensory needs. Traditionally, users with functional needs have met barriers that prevent them from fully participating in planning processes that can lead to more accessible campus facilities. This session will provide guidance for evaluating and adapting methods of outreach and engagement to enhance inclusivity and wellbeing in capital projects. You’ll have access to a matrix that bridges engagement methods with diverse user needs and serves as a tool to increase the accessibility of various engagement materials, tasks, and communication strategies.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Identify barriers that limit the engagement of stakeholders with diverse cognitive, physical, psychological, and sensory needs during capital projects.
2. Identify the materials, tasks, and communication strategies from prevalent engagement methods that can impact accessibility, wellbeing, and inclusivity.
3. Detail a matrix for evaluating and adapting the accessibility of various engagement materials, tasks, and communication strategies.
4. Evaluate a case study’s methodology and its applicability to your campus for determining accessibility gaps in existing engagement methods and finding opportunities to promote inclusion and wellbeing in engagement methods.

Planning Types: Campus Planning
Challenges: Engaging Stakeholders
Tags: Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI); Engaging Stakeholders; Facilities Planning

AIA LU/HSW 1.0 Unit (SCUP60C3798)
AICP CM 1.0 Unit

Purposeful, Data-driven Strategies for Enrollment and Retention Management

Presented by: Dorothy Collins, Vice President for Enrollment Services and Student Affairs, Community College of Allegheny County | Beenah Moshay, Vice President of Assessment and Institutional Effectiveness, Community College of Allegheny County | Ketwana Schoos, Vice President & Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer, Community College of Allegheny County

In today’s competitive higher education landscape, institutions face many challenges in attracting and retaining students. This session will discuss Community College of Allegheny County’s (CCAC) strategic enrollment and retention management plan, showcasing strategies and tools to drive meaningful change and align with DEI goals. We’ll explore a variety of data-driven methods, from student personas and competitive analyses to initiatives such as advising and engagement programs. Come learn how to address enrollment and retention challenges at your institution by leveraging our practical strategies, data insights, and vision mapping with actionable solutions .

Learning Outcomes:

1. Identify enrollment and retention challenges, group them into themes, and outline actionable solutions.
2. Explain how to design tailored strategies based on data analysis and institutional needs.
3. Gain tools for developing actionable plans with metrics to track progress and measure success.
4. Refine strategies and outline clear next steps for addressing institutional challenges in enrollment and retention.

Planning Types: Strategic Enrollment Management Planning
Challenges: Student Success, Retention, and Graduation
Tags: Enrollment Management; Student Retention

Repopulating the Campus Core through Transformative Renovation

Presented by: Mousam Adcock, Principal, CAW Architects, Inc. | Mark Francis, Associate Provost, Operations & Facilities, Northwestern University | Sapna Marfatia, Campus Preservation Architect, Director – Architecture, Planning & Design, Stanford University | Erik Tellander, Associate Principal, William Rawn Associates, Architects, Inc.

Creating new academic spaces at the campus perimeter significantly dilutes activities at the campus core. Integrated strategic planning can transform existing infrastructure to revitalize, densify, and reconnect a campus for the future. Through two campuses, Stanford and Northwestern Universities, we’ll explore how planning transformative renovation projects can reinvigorate academic activities, bring people back to the campus core, and connect to the broader campus community. Come learn strategies to engage stakeholders, plan for capacity and growth, integrate sustainability goals, revitalize campus historic resources, and connect these efforts to an institution’s pedagogic goals.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Analyze the organization of your campus to evaluate if it supports the cohesion of groups, especially within the historic core of campus.
2. Quantify and qualify space needs for your programs and research activities.
3. Use stakeholder engagement strategies to help build consensus around various uses for physical spaces that provide a sense of heart and identity to a campus.
4. Identify design strategies that qualitatively and quantitatively meet program needs while integrating with campus planning, strategic planning, and budgetary objectives.

Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Adaptive Reuse; Engaging Stakeholders; Renovation

AIA LU 1.0 Unit (SCUP60C3668)
AICP CM 1.0 Unit

The Future of Sustainable Campus Design with Mass Timber

Presented by: Kristine Kenney, Executive Director, University of Washington-Seattle Campus | Robert Smith, Principal, LMN Architects | Kate Westbrook, Principal Architect, LMN Architects

Mass timber provides a unique opportunity for campuses to align their building practices with institutional sustainability goals while creating innovative, flexible spaces for wellbeing, learning, and collaboration. This session will explore two transformative campus projects that use mass timber to create sustainable, community-driven campus spaces and address pressing sustainability concerns. Come learn actionable insights and strategies for integrating mass timber into your campus projects, addressing challenges like carbon reduction, user-centered design, and construction logistics.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Discuss how to leverage mass timber to reduce embodied carbon, enhance energy efficiency, and achieve sustainability certifications like LEED Gold to contribute to a healthier environment.
2. Explain how mass timber can serve as a cost-effective solution for various building types with optimized planning to support long-term adaptability and efficiency.
3. Identify design strategies from two case studies that show how mass timber buildings can create healthy biophilic connections by integrating architecture with natural surroundings.
4. Leverage insights into practical challenges in mass timber, such as structural engineering, material sourcing, and interdisciplinary coordination, along with strategies to overcome these hurdles.

Planning Types: Campus Planning
Challenges: Dealing with Climate Change
Tags: Facilities Design; Sustainability (Environmental)

AIA LU/HSW 1.0 Unit (SCUP60C3782)
AICP CM 1.0 Unit

Washington Update: Impacts of Recent Federal Policy on Higher Education

Presented by: Sarah Spreitzer, Vice President and Chief of Staff, Government Relations, American Council on Education (ACE)

This session will provide a timely update on federal policy issues impacting higher education and examine how Congress and the Trump Administration are reshaping the policy landscape. We’ll cover regulatory issues at the U.S. Department of Education, issues impacting federal funding, as well as the judicial challenges against some of these policy changes. With insights from the American Council on Education (ACE), you’ll discover how you and your peers in higher education can effectively advocate for our institutions during these turbulent times.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Describe how the federal landscape is impacting higher education.
2. Identify upcoming policy changes and challenges for higher education institutions.
3. Gain tools for communicating policy issues and challenges to policymakers in Washington DC.
4. Discuss how to engage on these important issues with the Trump Administration and members of Congress.

Planning Types: Strategic Planning
Challenges: Responding to Disruptive Events
Tags: Governmental Policies and Regulations

As a community of practice, we are committed to providing opportunities for members to connect around topics, challenges, and shared interests. We’re excited to offer a variety of self-selected conversations, where you can engage with peers in open, meaningful discussions.

To foster safe spaces and candid discussion: Photography may occur for event documentation but will remain unattributed to discussion topics, ensuring participants can engage freely without their image being associated with specific subject matter. We ask that participants respect and follow this practice as well.

Join us for one or more of these engaging conversations:

AI

Explore how artificial intelligence is influencing planning, operations, and decision-making across higher education. These conversations are a roundtable format designed to be respectful, peer-to-peer learning spaces.

Tags: Artifical Intelligence (AI)

Sustainability/Climate Change

Join your peers to discuss how institutions are planning for climate resilience, sustainability goals, and environmental accountability. These conversations are a roundtable format designed to be respectful, peer-to-peer learning spaces.

Planning Types: Sustainability Planning

Community Responses to Political Change

Discuss how institutions are navigating shifting political climates and responding to new legislation and executive orders. These conversations are a roundtable format designed to be respectful, peer-to-peer learning spaces.

Planning Type: Cross-functional
Tags: Higher Ed in Society

Strategic Planning Process

Share experiences, lessons, and frameworks from your institution’s strategic planning efforts. These conversations are a roundtable format designed to be respectful, peer-to-peer learning spaces.

Planning Types: Strategic Planning

Institutional Effectiveness

Connect with others working to strengthen institutional effectiveness through assessment, alignment, and data-informed planning. These conversations are a roundtable format designed to be respectful, peer-to-peer learning spaces.

Planning Types: Institutional Effectiveness Planning

Student Success and Belonging

Explore integrated strategies to support student achievement, retention, and a sense of belonging. These conversations are a roundtable format designed to be respectful, peer-to-peer learning spaces.

Tags: Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI); Student Success

Resource Allocation & Capital Planning

Talk with peers about prioritizing capital investments, tackling deferred maintenance, and managing limited resources. These conversations are a roundtable format designed to be respectful, peer-to-peer learning spaces.

Planning Types: Resource Planning
Tags: Budget Planning; Capital Planning; Deferred Maintenance

Campus, Facilities, & Space Planning

Explore how campus spaces are evolving to meet changing institutional needs. These conversations are a roundtable format designed to be respectful, peer-to-peer learning spaces.

Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Campus Master Planning; Facilities Planning; Space Management

Building Capacity for Integrated Planning

Discuss strategies and ideas for advancing integrated planning at your institution. These conversations are a roundtable format designed to be respectful, peer-to-peer learning spaces.

Planning Types: Integrated Planning

To encourage candid dialogue, these conversations will not be recorded or officially documented, fostering an open environment where participants can freely share their questions, opinions, and experiences.

Minority-serving Institutions as Leaders in a Changing Landscape

Presented by: Dr. Maenette Ah Nee-Benham, Chancellor, University of Hawaiʻi–West Oʻahu | Mario K. Castillo, JD, Chancellor, Lone Star College System | Dr. Donzell Lee, President, Tougaloo College
Moderated by: Dr. Chris Gilmer, President, Heritage University and Chair, SCUP Board of Directors

Underlining SCUP’s mission-driven commitment to advancing social justice, this keynote panel of presidents and chancellors of minority-serving institutions (MSIs) brings decades of experience leading institutions that support historically underserved, yet high-achieving students. Often underfunded compared to peer institutions that are not MSIs, these institutions provide academically rigorous, yet culturally affirming educational experiences for their students and serve as educational and cultural hubs in communities across the United States. This panel will explore the continuing relevance of MSIs in the current sociopolitical climate and how these institutions can more fully collaborate with each other and with the larger higher education and business sectors.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Describe the types, diversity, and scope of MSIs.
2. Explore unique strengths and challenges across MSIs, as well as possible collaborations within MSIs and with other partners.
3. Describe the several specific categories of MSIs and outline their individual strengths and specific challenges.
4. Determine specific ways in which our community can more fully serve and engage with MSIs.

Planning Types: Strategic Planning
Tags: Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI); Mission / Vision / Identity

Aligning Academic Planning with the Workforce Ecosystem

Presented by: Mary Coughlin, Director of Capital Projects, Northern Virginia Community College | Joel Frater, Vice President of Student Affairs, Northern Virginia Community College

Higher education institutions are tasked with preparing skilled employees to drive innovation and regional economies. The sustainable strategic alignment of academic planning with workforce demand data inspires campus design principles that are nimble, learner-centric, and future-proof. This session will show how to reflect these strategic priorities in design through the incorporation of high-impact lab spaces at Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA). Come learn how to apply the Cross-Disciplinary Hub Model for Innovation in Academic Planning (CHIAP) and adapt it in leveraging geographic labor market intelligence to meet workforce and learner needs as a strategic priority.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Demonstrate the role of integrated planning principles in framing system-level strategic priorities as a foundation for institutional academic planning.
2. Incorporate labor market intelligence (LMI) analysis principles to inform facility design in alignment with academic planning that is responsive to regional workforce needs.
3. Apply the CHIAP to meet demand for innovative workforce education that equips students with the necessary skills for current and future careers.
4. Detail strategies for adapting the CHIAP within diverse institutions.

Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Academic Planning; Alignment; Community College; Economic Development; Facilities Planning; Workforce Development

AIA LU 1.0 Unit (SCUP60C3581)
AICP CM 1.0 Unit

Creating College Town Magic: Centering Campus Planning Around Student Success

Presented by: Addom Gentner, Vice President Development, American Campus Communities | Andrew King, Director of Campus Planning, University of Utah | Megha Sinha, Principal, Urban Design and Planning, NBBJ | Andrea Thomas, Chief Student Experience Officer, University of Utah

The future-focused campus must provide spaces beyond traditional classrooms. Purpose-built residential communities that offer real-world, hands-on learning opportunities result in more socially-engaged students with better success outcomes. The University of Utah (U of U) is undergoing an unprecedented rate of physical growth to achieve ‘college town magic’ through its new living-learning community. Realizing this student-centered vision for an impactful college town experience requires cultural change and new funding partnerships. This session will share U of U’s planning, programming, and partnership strategies that you can apply on your campus to create a more fulfilling student experience.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Update your knowledge of student success measures and the higher education value proposition in the context of a complex and evolving society.
2. Detail the required campus infrastructure and facilities for fostering a complete college town experience that promotes student success.
3. Identify and generate your own creative programming ideas to augment your living-learning community, such as maker labs, entrepreneurial spaces, retail shops, restaurants, grocery stores, and recreation areas.
4. Discuss how to leverage public-private partnerships (P3) and creative financing to implement significant capital projects and infrastructure investments on your campus.

Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Public-Private Partnerships (P3); Student Housing

AIA LU 1.0 Unit (SCUP60C3642)
AICP CM 1.0 Unit

Evidence-based Design Solutions for Neuroinclusion

Presented by: Edward Edgerton, Environmental Psychologist Researcher, University of the West of Scotland | Katie Gaudion, Senior Research Associate, The Royal College of Arts | Daniel Niewoehner, Principal, HOK. | Kay Sargent, Director of Thought Leadership, Interiors, HOK.

Despite increased awareness around conditions of neurodivergence, such as autism and dyslexia, campus buildings rarely address how neurodivergent individuals experience sensory stimuli in their surroundings. Through research studies, case studies, workshops, and literature reviews we have determined the key factors impacting neurodivergent people in the built environment and have developed data-driven design strategies to address them. Designing inclusive space is the right thing to do, but there is a compelling business case for it as well. Come learn how designing campus spaces to positively impact sensory and cognitive needs has a direct impact on health, belonging, retention, and success.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Apply knowledge of different neurodivergent conditions to make smarter design decisions that promote wellbeing and success.
2. Consider design qualities that impact neurodivergent people’s health and experience, such as spatial character and organization, acoustic quality, thermal comfort, lighting, and degree of stimulation.
3. Discuss data-driven, high-impact solutions that will benefit your design process and result in inclusive, healthy, accessible space that addresses the needs of everyone.
4. Identify the principles of universal design, which can aid in making space more inclusive and welcoming for all.

Planning Types: Campus Planning
Challenges: Resolving Inequities
Tags: Accessibility; Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI); Facilities Design

AIA LU/HSW 1.0 Unit (SCUP60C3558)
AICP CM 1.0 Unit

Handling The Waves: Strategic Planning Implementation Amidst Leadership Change

Presented by: Derrick Wyman, Director of Strategic Initiatives, Ohio State University-Main Campus

Leadership changes in higher education can bring challenges and uncertainty to strategic plan implementation. This session will share lessons learned and recommendations from navigating competing priorities, resource use, and stakeholder engagement during an implementation process that aligns with the broader university amid leadership change. We’ll provide you with an inclusive process for plan development and implementation, including tools for engaging stakeholders, reporting and renewing the plan, setting priorities, using metrics, and defining measures of success.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Use resources and tools that support successful strategic plan implementation in alignment with changing internal and external landscapes.
2. Define integrated planning competencies that support successful implementation, including tactic development, reporting on progress, navigating a complex institutional structure, and adapting to landscape changes.
3. Prioritize strategic plan integration within your daily processes by communicating and socializing the plan with stakeholders and defining roles and responsibilities.
4. Identify best practices for ensuring alignment and integration with institutional priorities during leadership changes.

Planning Types: Strategic Planning
Challenges: Engaging Stakeholders
Tags: Disruptive Change; Implementation; Leadership; Metrics

Integrated Planning for Sustainability: Does Process Really Matter for Success?

Presented by: John Cacciola, Partner, Aegis Property Group | Andrew Feick, Associate Vice President for Sustainable Facilities Operations and Capital Planning, Swarthmore College | Nicole Ostrander, Senior Associate, Ayers Saint Gross | John Sutton, Associate, Introba

As institutions grapple with decarbonization commitments alongside facility and fiscal pressures, integrated planning is crucial for good decision-making and advancing the institution’s mission and needs simultaneously. This case study from Swarthmore College highlights concurrent planning and implementation for its energy plan with decarbonization, campus renewal plan to address deferred maintenance, strategic plan, space utilization study, and campus master plan. Join us to gain a concrete approach to evaluating sustainability planning strategies and implementation timelines while building institutional culture and trust on your campus.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Formulate an integrated planning sequence and identify tradeoffs of different approaches to building a more sustainable and healthy environment.
2. Analyze how planning decisions support or detract from your campus’s decarbonization goal towards climate safety.
3. Compare fixed versus adaptive planning processes and examine the benefits and necessity of flexibility, particularly in implementation.
4. Ensure a positive planning culture and apply engagement and communication strategies to promote community buy-in, resulting in healthy, sustainable campus.

Planning Types: Sustainability Planning
Tags: Deferred Maintenance; Energy Infrastructure; Space Management; Sustainability (Environmental)

AIA LU/HSW 1.0 Unit (SCUP60C3736)
AICP CM 1.0 Unit

Pioneering Hybrid Workplace Approaches: Insights from Two Universities

Presented by: Rachel Hampton, Senior Campus Planner, Brown University | Lucy Weise Hendrickson, Operations & Facility Management, Event and Space Management, University of Pennsylvania | Patricia Nobre, Senior Design Strategist, Gensler | Joanna Saltonstall, Senior Program Manager, Planning Design and Construction, Brown University | Alexandra Wilson, Director of Capital and Small Projects, University of Pennsylvania

Many campuses are facing underused spaces and poor workplace experiences due to hybrid work practices. To maintain a thriving campus environment and retain talent, institutions must optimize academic workspaces to meet employees’ evolving needs. This session will illustrate how Brown University and the University of Pennsylvania embraced hybrid and new approaches to real estate by applying data-driven analysis to optimize space and foster dynamic workplace cultures. Join us to learn how you can assess workplace needs at your institution and adjust campus spaces to enhance employee performance and engagement.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Explore current metrics surrounding staff attraction and retention and identify work styles of different departments and units to appropriately tailor the workplace to support their needs.
2. Prioritize the use of qualitative and quantitative data in developing holistic, actionable hybrid workplace solutions and examine key drivers to produce the most flexible and sustainable design solutions.
3. Explain how designing for multi-sensory work behaviors influences collaboration and culture.
4. Define spatial and technological expectations as well as lessons learned for optimal employee workplace performance, productivity, and satisfaction.

Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Facilities Design; Space Assessment; Space Management

AIA LU 1.0 Unit (SCUP60C3703)
AICP CM 1.0 Unit

Planning for Students’ Basic Needs: Housing, Food, and Health Care

Presented by: Edward DesPlas, Executive Vice President, San Juan College-Main Campus | Toni Hopper Pendergrass, President, San Juan College-Main Campus

Inability to access basic needs such as housing, food, and health services disproportionately impacts students of color; fulfilling these needs as an equity measure for diverse populations can promote student success and wellbeing. San Juan College (SJC) is using integrated planning to address student housing insecurities, food insecurities, and deficiencies in mental and medical health services to better support its students. Find out how an intensified planning focus on meeting students’ basic needs will improve student recruitment, underpin retention, and improve performance and completion.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Discuss methods for assessing levels of student housing, food, and healthcare insecurities.
2. Identify the steps you can take to initiate a planning process that addresses student housing, food, and healthcare insecurities.
3. Explain the impact that basic needs insecurities have on student performance, health, and wellbeing.
4. Initiate planning equity measures for diverse student populations in collaboration with, and leveraging, community resources.

Planning Types: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Planning
Challenges: Resolving Inequities
Tags: Health and Wellness; Student Experience; Student Housing; Student Success

Tomorrow Starts Today: Embrace Transformative GenAI & CI

Presented by: Linda Baer, Principal, Strategic Initiatives, Inc. | Joseph (Tim) Gilmour, Principal/President Emeritus, Strategic Initiatives, Inc. | Donald Norris, Founder and President Emeritus, Strategic Initiatives, Inc.

Higher education is facing enrollment declines, fading public support, and inadequate educational offerings to prepare students, faculty, and staff for success in the age of collaborative intelligence (CI). Our approach tackles these challenges head on, showing leaders and planners how to embrace generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) and CI to address higher education’s existential challenges and leap from experimentation to transformation by 2030. Come learn about our four actions that you can deploy at your institutions to turn experimental AI into transformative AI that will disrupt current practices and seize new opportunities, such as providing affordable upskilling for all.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Deploy explicit strategies to elevate AI experimentation into transformation at your institution over the next five years.
2. Actively leverage GenAI, CI, and virtualized facilitation to transform the dynamics and processes of planning and decision making at your institution.
3. Employ GenAI and CI to transform planning roles and processes for more adaptive planning.
4. Identify transformative institutional innovations and outcomes that you can achieve by 2030.

Planning Types: Strategic Planning
Challenges: Responding to Disruptive Events
Tags: Artifical Intelligence (AI); Planning Technology

Assessing Integrated Planning Practice: Introducing a New SCUP Tool

Presented by: R. Joel Farrell II, PhD, Vice Provost for Institutional Effectiveness, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center | Sue Gerber, PhD, AVP, Institutional Effectiveness, Assessment, and Planning, William Paterson University of New Jersey | DJ Pepito Chavez, Senior Director, Research and Strategic Partnerships, SCUP | Jyoti Senthil, Senior Analyst Strategic Planning, College of Southern Nevada

We know the power of integrated planning; how can we help others see it and practice it? In our 2024-2029 strategic plan, SCUP committed to doing exactly that: driving the expansion and adoption of integrated planning in higher education. To achieve this, we need to evolve integrated planning, validating it through research while also reducing hurdles to its adoption. Led by the volunteer leaders of the SCUP Research Advisory Committee, this interactive session will share the inaugural SCUP Integrated Planning Assessment Tool and the goals of conducting community-driven research to validate the integrated planning approach.

Learning Outcomes:

1. 1. Articulate the evolution of integrated planning as a practice to explain how we, as a community, can expand its adoption in higher education.
   2. Reflect and identify helpful practices that support integrated planning across your institution.
   3. Apply the SCUP Integrated Planning Assessment Tool to evaluate a variety of planning practices, including unit planning, campus planning, and institution-wide strategic planning.
   4. Contribute meaningfully to SCUP’s community-driven research by identifying steps to deepen integrated planning practices that can be validated through collective experience.

Planning Types: Integrated Planning

Elevating Wellbeing in Higher Ed: SKY Campus Happiness & Cultural Collaboration

Presented by: Erin Kanoelani Thompson, PhD, Professor and Coordinator, Innovation Center for Teaching and Learning, Leeward Community College | Kelly L.M. Kennedy, Assistant Professor of English as a Second Language, Leeward Community College | Moana Makaimoku, Cultural Curriculum Specialist, Kīpuka, Native Hawaiian Center at Puʻuloa, Leeward Community College | Lei‘ala Okuda, Student Services Specialist, Kīpuka, Native Hawaiian Center at Puʻuloa, Leeward Community College

Learn how Native Hawaiian cultural curriculum specialists, faculty, and our professional development center collaborated to introduce SKY Campus Happiness, a comprehensive wellbeing program, in support of the college’s strategic pillars: Student Success, Thriving Employees, and A Native Hawaiian Place of Learning. In this session, you will experience some of the program’s evidence-based stress-reduction techniques (including a breathing exercise and guided meditation), explore how these practices foster social connectedness and wellbeing, and discuss how to support indigenization efforts through culturally relevant initiatives.

Learning Outcomes:

1. 1. Apply stress-reduction techniques, including breathwork and meditation, to improve wellbeing.
   2. Explain how comprehensive wellbeing programs, like SKY Campus Happiness, support student and employee success.
   3. Explore strategies for developing culturally relevant curricula at your institution.
   4. Outline how to implement integrated planning to align cultural initiatives with strategic goals.

Planning Types: Student Affairs Planning
Tags: Health and Wellness

Essential Practices for Organizational Change in Higher Education

Presented by: Nicole Gahagan, EdD, Associate Vice President, Strategic Integrations and Initiatives, Student Affairs & Institutional Effectiveness, Madison Area Technical College

The volume and pace of change on today’s college campuses require every leader to possess the foundational knowledge and skills necessary to facilitate transformation from wherever they sit within the institutional hierarchy. Based on the book Essential Practices for Organizational Change in Higher Education, this session will share five methods for effectively engaging and preparing the faculty and staff expected to carry out and sustain change. You will learn how to lead change in a human-centered manner that promotes collective buy-in, enables thorough implementation, and eases resistance.

Learning Outcomes:

1. 1. Recognize human needs commonly present during organizational change and the consequences of inadequately addressing them.
   2. Explain concepts foundational to leading organizational change with a human-centered approach.
   3. Apply five essential practices that enhance the likelihood of successful organizational change.
   4. Utilize tools applicable to leading current or future change initiatives.

Planning Types: Integrated Planning
Tags: Change Management

Integrated Planning and Finance for Student-Centered Transformation

Presented by: Shannon LaCount, EdD, Project Manager, Sova Solutions | Mike Moss, President, SCUP | Kelli Rainey, EdD, Senior Director, Student Success Initiatives, National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO)

Is your institution looking to drive better student outcomes? The key is bringing together strategic planning, budgets, and cross-campus initiatives into one cohesive approach. Join us for an interactive workshop where you’ll learn practical ways to align resources and break down departmental silos to support student success. Through real-world examples and hands-on activities, you’ll discover how to build sustainable planning systems that connect financial decisions with student-centered goals. Walk away with tools and strategies to create lasting positive change through truly integrated institutional planning.

Learning Outcomes:

1. 1. Explain how integrated planning connects institutional strategy, finance, and operations to advance student success.
   2. Describe collaboration techniques to foster cross-departmental partnerships that create a unified approach for student success.
   3. Outline actionable strategies to use data to align financial decisions with measurable improvements in student outcomes.
   4. Identify tools and frameworks to build capacity for embedding student-centered strategies in the budgeting, resource allocation, and long-term financial planning processes.

Planning Types: Integrated Planning
Tags: Budget / Finance; Student Success

Taking Higher Education Deeper: An Indigenous Hawaiian Vision

Presented by: Alapaki Nahale-a, Partner, Islander Institute | Emerson Kīhei Nahale-a, Sustainability and Education Program Manager, Kumuwaiwai Center for Sustainability, Brigham Young University-Hawaii

What would higher education look like if designed by Hawaiians using the values and brilliance of their ancestors? We will share our vision for a higher education model that seeks to move us from “higher education” to “deeper education” through a foundation of relationship with place and community. With this shift, we can realize systems of governance that return balance and abundance to Hawaii and those who call her home. Join us to discuss this vision, provide feedback, and build your capacity for important conversations like this one.

Learning Outcomes:

1. 1. Practice ways to embed the power of place in your role in higher education.
   2. Consider the assumptions being made about higher education and reflect on alternatives that better achieve your institution’s goals.
   3. Elevate your ability to identify, engage, and support the students, staff, and faculty at your institution who are looking for or already embrace these kinds of values (regardless of the way they are described) and be a bridge that unites shared intention and action.
   4. Connect with members of your broader community, especially indigenous populations, and be better prepared and equipped to engage and validate their needs and perspectives and how those connect to your institution.

Tags: Community Engagement; Higher Ed in Society

The Ecosystem Toolkit: Make the Invisible Visible to Create Change

Presented by: Rob Brodnick, PhD, Founder, Sierra Learning Solutions & The Ecosystem Project | Karyn Zuidinga, Founder, NextWAVE Innovation, and Partner, The Ecosystem Project

Take your planning to a new level using the ecosystemic approach. For the past two years, The Ecosystem Project and its creative community have been exploring new approaches to planning and change and are now sharing their toolkit and methodologies. Project leaders collaborated with nine institutions to produce detailed case studies of various ecosystems, from regional multi-stakeholder networks to curricular and administrative systems. The toolkit contains a dozen intuitive canvases you can deploy in your projects to gain new insights. Attend this interactive session and receive free access to the toolkit and accompanying book that can help supercharge your efforts at transformation.

Learning Outcomes:

1. 1. 1. Explain how ecosystem-aware planning greatly advantages institutions and change agents by revealing hidden forces that impede change.
      2. Build a depiction of an ecosystem of interest to you and explore the dynamics among its inhabitants and the value they exchange.
      3. Apply a potent theory of change that can inspire activities across your ecosystem, including enhanced partnership, stakeholder engagement, and increased clear value exchanges among collaborators.
      4. Collaborate with peers and experts in small groups to explore potential interventions and points of leverage within your ecosystem.

   Planning Types: Strategic Planning
   Tags: External Collaboration / Partnerships

Aging Campus Facilities: When to Renovate and When to Rebuild

Presented by: John Cearley, Senior Associate Project Architect, The S/L/A/M Collaborative | Mike Gentile, AVP of Construction Services, Project Delivery Group, Temple University | James Templeton, Assistant Vice President and University Architect, Temple University

Institutions frequently face decisions to demolish or renovate aging campus facilities. This session will discuss the challenges and benefits of renovating a mid-century building, specifically within the context of Temple University’s College of Public Health. We’ll discuss our team’s assessment process and decision to renovate instead of build new, resulting in the transformation of an outdated brutalist 1960s library into a modern, light-filled educational facility. Join us as we dive into the planning process of visioning, benchmarking, and aligning stakeholders with the goal of maximizing space use, efficiency, and outcomes for health and sustainability.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Discuss the process and health benefits of renovating campus buildings with designs that create open spaces and let in more natural light.
2. Detail a planning process to engage diverse stakeholders in decision-making that reaches effective, community-based solutions for healthy, sustainable campus building projects.
3. Rethink campus building reuse and make a case for sustainable, healthy physical improvements that attract students and faculty, which helps to build community for your department, college, school, or group.
4. Consider options for underused buildings on your campus—including renovation, expansion, transformation, and demolition—and weigh the potential benefits and costs of each.

Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Library; Renovation; Revitalization

AIA LU/HSW 1.0 Unit (SCUP60C3742)
AICP CM 1.0 Unit

Assessing On-campus Housing for Evidence of Inclusion and Belonging

Presented by: Shannon Dowling, 2020-21 SCUP Fellow | Principal, Ayers Saint Gross | Robert Lubin, Director, Facilities Planning, Housing & Food Services, University of Washington-Seattle Campus

Living on campus improves students’ academic performance, retention, and graduation rates while fostering belonging and success through community building. Building on past SCUP Fellowship research, this session will explore the real-world application of a playbook for diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging to evaluate residence halls at multiple institutions, including the University of Washington (UW). We’ll share a quantitative and qualitative process for assessing on-campus housing for evidence of inclusion and belonging along with findings and insights. Join us to gain near- and long-term strategies as well as immediate solutions, applicable across institutions, that align residential space with mission and values.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Explore student-informed metrics that evaluate residential space for evidence of belonging and wellbeing to find the best-fit parameters for your institutional type, size, and student body.
2. Based on the chosen metrics, objectively evaluate the spaces, furnishings, and technologies within your residential housing stock that contribute to and detract from student connection, comfort, safety, and wellbeing.
3. Compare methods of student engagement that allow students to be seen, heard, and valued, adding qualitative value to your assessment and ensuring campus spaces meet students’ belonging and wellbeing needs.
4. Discuss strategies for planning renovations, improvements, and new projects that address inclusion, wellbeing, and belonging within your existing and future residence halls.

Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI); Facilities Assessment; Student Housing

AIA LU/HSW 1.0 Unit (SCUP60C3637)
AICP CM 1.0 Unit

Building Innovative & Sustainable Education Facilities for Next-Gen STEM Leaders

Presented by: Daniela Arellano, Director, Communications, Skanska USA Building | Jennie Cambier, Associate Vice President for Campus Planning & Construction, University of Portland | Lana Lisitsa, Partner, Mithun | Joe Schneider, Senior Vice President – Account Manager, Skanska USA

Science and innovation centers on higher education campuses are fostering future leaders who will support an ever-evolving STEM labor market. In this panel, professionals representing higher education, architecture, and construction industries will share how they deliver adaptable, sustainable, and inclusive facilities that attract students of all backgrounds and build a strong talent pipeline while optimizing cost-saving operations for institutions. Panelists will highlight leading-edge projects in the Pacific Northwest to demonstrate how colleges and universities can create science and innovation centers that provide optimal learning environments for all students at a time when institutions face decreased enrollment numbers and limited budgets.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Implement design elements that are inclusive, adaptable, cost efficient, and easily maintained.
2. Achieve more productive integrated partnerships with designers and contractors to realize your vision as a leading college or university in STEM.
3. Find inspiration in new ways of engaging students, staff, faculty, and other stakeholders to build spaces that reflect the unique aspects of your community and campus.
4. Promote interdisciplinary collaboration and partner with STEM industry leaders to create mentorship programs that help prepare students for STEM careers.

Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Facilities Design; Facilities Planning; Interdisciplinary Learning Environments; Science / Engineering Facility

AIA LU 1.0 Unit (SCUP60C3520)
AICP CM 1.0 Unit

Collaborative Partnerships Power The Future of Health — Detroit

Presented by: Jerry Darby, Vice President, Campus Planning, Development and Design, Henry Ford Health | Teri Grieb, Chief Administrative Officer, Henry Ford Health | Richard Temple, Project Executive for Strategic Initiative Integration, Michigan State University (main campus)

The Future of Health – Detroit is a mission-driven partnership between Henry Ford Health, Michigan State University, and the Detroit Pistons to transform health access and outcomes through collaborative leadership and bold investments in research. Through shared vision and stakeholder engagement, The Future of Health: Detroit offers a model for partnership between legacy institutions that combines complementary strengths and successfully negotiates the challenges of merging distinct cultures. We’ll demonstrate how you can apply this partnership’s innovative collaboration strategy to your complex projects. Come learn how to align multi-institutional goals by navigating governance, leveraging tax incentives, and fostering community engagement.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Identify potential candidates with shared goals and vision, such as greater healthcare access, to engage with in a strategic partnership.
2. Describe the crucial role the innovation cycle plays in healthcare and research, and how integrating health sciences and healthcare innovations can improve patient outcomes delivery.
3. Explain the importance of implementing integrated operational planning for off-campus building projects, particularly healthcare and health sciences facilities.
4. Discuss methods for creating flexible, collaborative research and healthcare environments that in turn foster collaborative research cultures.

Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: External Collaboration / Partnerships; Facilities Planning; Medical / Allied Health Facility; Operational Planning

AIA LU/HSW 1.0 Unit (SCUP60C3695)
AICP CM 1.0 Unit

Determining Your Campus Capacity for Enrollment and Resource Planning

Presented by: Melissa Baker, Assistant Vice Provost for Institutional Research and Analysis, Carnegie Mellon University | Matthew Hoolsema, Director of Data Science and Advanced Analytics, Carnegie Mellon University | Henry Zheng, Vice Provost for Institutional Effectiveness and Planning, Carnegie Mellon University

Changing demographics and increasing competition put pressure on universities to grow enrollment. Enrollment growth as a revenue strategy, however, brings along challenges related to space, faculty, and support resources. This session will discuss how enrollment strategies affect these campus resources, which is critical for planning and resource optimization. We’ll provide tools that will help you analyze tradeoffs between your institution’s enrollment size and available campus capacity when deciding to grow enrollment or add programs. Come learn how to plan for future strategies and optimize campus resource use while communicating analysis results to campus leadership.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Communicate to institutional leadership about the need for conducting carrying capacity analysis .
2. Assess tradeoffs between increasing enrollment size and constraints of existing campus resources, including physical infrastructure, human resources, support services, and program availability on your campus.
3. Gain tools to create metrics for tracking and communicating capacity constraints to institutional leadership.
4. Identify additional data resources that will help you understand the context of a necessary support structure to successfully track changes in carrying capacity over time.

Planning Types: Strategic Enrollment Management Planning
Tags: Alignment; Enrollment Management; Resource Management

Right-sizing Your Campus to Optimize Space and Enhance Vibrancy

Presented by: Jo Dane, Education Environment Strategist, Educology | Nicole Eaton, Director, Campus Strategy, RMIT University | Albert Fraval, Strategy Director, ERA-Co

This session will show how to enhance the campus experience by making responsible, sustainable, and commercially-viable asset decisions as well as enabling growth, consolidation, and optimization of buildings through adaptive reuse. Australia’s Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) has embarked on a property plan to right-size each college and portfolio, ensuring that spaces are well-utilized, consolidated, and sustainable while remaining vibrant as a result of higher density activity. We’ll provide a property plan roadmap for actionable implementation, including methodology, data sets, engagement tips, scenario building, and an implementation plan; importantly we’ll also outline success factors and benefits for your institution.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Explain how to triangulate multiple data sets to make informed, strategic decisions around space use.
2. Apply a commercial lens to your institutions’ buildings.
3. Detail a robust framework for prioritizing capital investment in the form of a decision tree.
4. Identify new space typologies on campus for an enhanced student campus experience.

Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Capital Planning; Space Assessment; Space Management

AIA LU 1.0 Unit (SCUP60C3687)
AICP CM 1.0 Unit

Tell-Show-Do-Apply with AI: Support Integrated Planning with Historical Analysis

Presented by: Rob Downie, Manager, Institutional Research, Fanshawe College | Candace Miller, Executive Director, Business Development & Strategic Support, Fanshawe College

Institutions need a systematic way to bridge the past and present by evaluating historical patterns to identify key success metrics and performance indicators, adapt risk mitigation strategies, and identify resource allocation models for new initiatives. This session will demonstrate how generative AI tools derive insights from historical planning documents through text analysis to generate pattern recognition, quantify trends, and identify activities to integrate sustainability into future planning cycles. Discover how these generative AI tools can offer a structured assessment to inform current actions, identify possible new actions, and encourage continuous improvement of risk and mitigation frameworks at your institution.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Make the case for AI as an effective tool to support integrated strategic planning and decision-making.
2. Describe various AI tools, their strengths and limitations, and outline effective application to strategic planning functions and outcomes.
3. Detail one AI-based text analytics approach that quantifies emergent themes, significant bivariate associations, and 10-year trends from a planning framework comprehensive analysis.
4. Identify ways in which AI can inform and improve both the integrated strategic planning process and decision-making with concrete examples from our case study.

Planning Types: Institutional Effectiveness Planning
Tags: Artifical Intelligence (AI); Assessment / Analytics

What It Means to Be Indigenous-serving and Indigenous-centered Institutions

Presented by: Maenette K.P. Benham, Chancellor, University of Hawaiʻi – West Oʻahu |
Lui Hokoana, Chancellor, University of Hawaiʻi – Maui College | Bonnie Irwin, Chancellor, University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo

The University of Hawai’i System and its 10 campuses are committed to becoming a model Indigenous-serving institution. In this session, you’ll learn more about this MSI designation. In particular, we’ll discuss how three campuses are striving to strengthen our ability to serve our Indigenous communities and all of Hawaiʻiʻs people through our strategic plan’s four Imperatives or themes: student success, meeting workforce needs, building and sustaining research and innovation, and fulfilling kuleana (“right, privilege, concern, or responsibility to care for each other and our land”) to Native Hawaiians and Hawai’i.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Define the roles and responsibilities of MSIs—in particular, Indigenous-serving institutions—and explain why it’s important to understand MSIs in more detail.
2. Outline methods to link mission and vision to university system strategic priorities to campus activities and metrics.
3. Explain how the role and responsibilities of being an Indigenous-serving institution impact strategic priorities and decisions.
4. Describe aspects of Hawaiʻi’s history, culture, and social and political structures and how they impact and influence its colleges and universities.

Planning Types: Strategic Planning
Tags: Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI); Mission / Vision / Identity

Confronting Space Challenges with Data-driven Strategic Facilities Planning

Presented by: Greg Aldridge, Sr. Lab Planner, HDR, Inc. | Leila Kamal, Director of Education, HDR, Inc. | Deborah Mero, Sr. Executive Director of Administration and CFO Engine, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor

University STEM units face ubiquitous challenges, including an exploding demand for research and instructional space that pushes against finite resources. These challenges require careful, detailed, integrated strategic planning. In this session, we’ll share the University of Michigan’s strategic facilities plan, which aims to guide upcoming decisions with data and forethought. With insight into our strategic planning process, tools, and outcomes, you’ll be able to ensure your own facilities plans accomplish their specific goals for consensus building, data use, outputs, and outcomes.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Outline a sound foundation for an effective and collaborative planning process that sets clear expectations around work, engagement, and data.
2. Define the key metrics for accurately measuring STEM spaces to determine their best and highest use while providing responsible stewardship of available funding.
3. Evaluate the benefits and potential challenges of using computational tools and living master planning methods to quantify qualitative data.
4. Identify the unique contextual factors affecting how the strategic planning of science and engineering facilities incorporates overall institutional goals into the process.

Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Capital Planning; Facilities Planning; Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM)

AIA LU 1.0 Unit (SCUP60C3617)
AICP CM 1.0 Unit

Connecting the Dots: Best Practices for Creating an Accessible Campus

Presented by: Humberto Castro, Senior Planner, Physical, University of California-Berkeley | Caitlyn Clauson, Principal | Campus Planner, Sasaki | Ian Scherling, Associate Principal, Landscape Architect, Sasaki

Accessibility barriers that impact user experiences and impede equal access commitments persist across campuses. Rather than address barriers in isolation, institutions must situate campus projects within a comprehensive accessibility framework. Leveraging the University of California (UC), Berkeley as a case study, this session will highlight accessible design solutions that move beyond compliance to create a wholly accessible exterior campus environment. We’ll share strategies for identifying and documenting accessibility barriers, applying and prioritizing human-centered design practices, and developing an accessibility planning process on your own campus.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Identify and document accessibility barriers on campuses that impact overall community wellbeing.
2. Prioritize incorporating healthy, accessible human-centered design strategies within accessibility solutions to foster and belonging.
3. Detail an accessible planning process that centers people with disabilities and highlights areas where the campus hinders their success and wellbeing.
4. Identify campuswide and site-specific accessibility strategies to create inclusive, implementable design outcomes with multiple benefits.

Planning Types: Campus Planning
Challenges: Resolving Inequities
Tags: Accessibility; Landscape / Open Space

AIA LU/HSW 1.0 Unit (SCUP60C3752)
AICP CM 1.0 Unit

Designing Next-generation AI and Data Science Facilities

Presented by: Andrew Herdeg, Partner, Lake|Flato | Petar Mattioni, Partner, KSS Architects LLP | David Meaney, Senior Associate Dean, Penn Engineering

Next-generation campus facilities dedicated to AI and data science are relatively new and rapidly evolving. This session will explore how the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) is employing new laboratory typologies in Amy Gutmann Hall that support intensive AI and data science workflows. These spatial typologies accommodate specific user needs and are instrumental in effectively supporting collaborative learning and research environments. Come learn about integrated planning strategies that address competing user needs within AI and data science that support a healthy and effective community building and focused workflows.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Describe the ongoing evolution of AI and data science in higher education building programs through both research and academic perspectives.
2. Compare the strengths and weaknesses of various AI and data science laboratory typologies.
3. Detail the unique environments that best facilitate AI and data science research as opposed to the spaces that support devices and hardware laboratories.
4. Identify the diverse amenities and support spaces necessary for creating effective AI and data science research environments on campus.

Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Facilities Design; Laboratory Facility; Science / Engineering Facility

AIA LU 1.0 Unit (SCUP60C3598)
AICP CM 1.0 Unit

Integrated Change Management for Building Culture and Strategic Alignment

Presented by: Abby Langham, Executive Director, Administrative Effectiveness, Auburn University | Judd Langham, Assistant Director, Auburn University | Sarah Smith, Exec Dir, Design Management, Auburn University

Organizational change is inevitable, but we can successfully navigate through it with integrated change management and strategic alignment. Following accreditation reaffirmation, this session will address culture building for a newly-organized administrative division through a framework of integrated planning and change management. We’ll discuss our journey in creating a division strategic plan for business and administration that aligns with the university, facilities management unit, and department plans. Join us for lessons learns and insights into a newly-restructured organization’s change management process that leveraged strategic planning, alignment, and assessment to build cohesion.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Discuss strategic planning concepts and how they apply to organizational change management.
2. Identify opportunities for applying our change management techniques on your campus.
3. Identify best practices for strategic plan alignment across all organizational levels of an institution.
4. Indicate one way to measure the success of a process improvement initiative on your campus.

Planning Types: Strategic Planning
Challenges: Planning Alignment
Tags: Alignment; Change Management; Unit Planning

Learning on Empty: How College Food Programs Improve Learning Outcomes

Presented by: Mario K. Castillo, Chancellor, Lone Star College System

Community colleges serve a plurality of underprivileged students, many of whom experience food insecurity. Hunger negatively affects learning outcomes for students. In Fall 2024, the Lone Star College System implemented accessible food service and offered food scholarships as an alternative to tuition scholarships. To date, the college has awarded hundreds of thousands of dollars in food scholarships to hundreds of students. This session will provide an overview of the program and demonstrate improved learning outcomes because of the program. Learn how your institution could address food insecurity in your community and improve student outcomes.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Outline methods for identifying food insecurity in a college community.
2. Describe a successful approach for implementing fresh food service in a multi-campus system.
3. Identify methodologies for filling food pantries and funding food scholarships via community and corporate donors.
4. Explain how food programs have improved learning outcomes for underprivileged food scholarship recipients.

Redefining, Reaching, and Retaining R1 Status

Presented by: Maggie Dolan, Campus Planning Leader | Principal, DLR Group | Alexander Kohnen, Associate Vice Chancellor, Vanderbilt University | Jonathan Meendering, Director Planning & Design, South Dakota State University | Meagan Storm, Senior Campus Planner, DLR Group

What can institutions do to reach and retain an R1 Carnegie Classification? This session will offer practical insights to address challenges and strategies for aligning research priorities, optimizing resources, and driving research innovation. Through the experiences of South Dakota State University (SDSU) and Vanderbilt University, we’ll look at the process of aligning institutional goals with achieving R1 designation and maximizing return on investment from established research infrastructure. Join us to gain actionable strategies and insights from real-world examples that will help you tackle R1 challenges and align research priorities at your institution.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Assess your institution’s current research capacity and identify areas for growth.
2. Detail strategies to align research priorities with institutional goals.
3. Leverage insights for optimizing existing infrastructure to maximize return on investment in research initiatives.
4. Identify best practices for advancing toward or maintaining R1 status.

Planning Types: Student Affairs Planning
Tags: Student Services; Student Success

AIA LU 1.0 Unit (SCUP60C3624)
AICP CM 1.0 Unit

To Build or Not to Build? Investment Strategies in University Buildings

Presented by: Joanne Brown, Assistant Director, Planning and Design, Campus Planning & Facilities Management, Case Western Reserve University | Sapna Marfatia, Campus Preservation Architect,
Director of Architecture,
Planning and Design, Stanford University | Sindu Meier, Associate Principal, William Rawn Associates, Architects, Inc. | Erik Tellander, Associate Principal, William Rawn Associates, Architects, Inc.

Many campuses are grappling with balancing the cost of deferred maintenance or the increasing costs of new construction, giving rise to debates around whether to renovate or break ground for campus housing. This session will discuss how universities can reimagine existing residence halls to provide modern amenities while celebrating culture and history, or start fresh with new construction to redefine the academic experience. Discover how to develop and refine your campus plans to meet the needs and expectations of today’s students while working with limited resources and aging infrastructure.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Engage with stakeholders in an inclusive visioning, planning, and design process to bring out the best ideas.
2. Articulate the opportunities and challenges of both a renovation and new construction project for campus housing.
3. Describe cost-effective and sustainable methods for renovating a building to extend the building’s life and the university’s initial investment.
4. Identify programmatic elements for campus housing that encourage community building and a sense of belonging while also considering building resiliency and sustainability.

Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Deferred Maintenance; Renovation; Student Housing

AIA LU 1.0 Unit (SCUP60C3550A)
AICP CM 1.0 Unit

Adapting the Campus Landscape for Climate Impacts and Resiliency

Presented by: Marissa Cheng, Director of Planning, University of California-Berkeley | Laura Marett, Principal, Scape Landscape Architecture Pllc | John Rabago, Associate, Project Manager, Scape Landscape Architecture Pllc | Lydia Woltjer, Operations Manager, UC Berkeley Landscape Services, University of California-Berkeley

As institutions experience increasingly extreme climate impacts, including flooding, drought, heat, and fire, we must use an adaptation plan to guide decisions and investment to ensure both long-term landscape resilience and campus character. Climate-vulnerable campuses can proactively plan for landscape adaptation through a climate change risk assessment and a landscape adaptation framework that addresses campus character, biodiversity, and maintenance. This session will provide you with a framework to assess climate vulnerability of your campus landscape and recommend approaches to adaptation of plant palettes, landscape materials, and culturally significant landscapes across several planning horizons.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Discuss how to conduct a climate change risk assessment to identify and evaluate vulnerabilities and health in the campus landscape and plant palette.
2. Facilitate a dialogue about climate adaptation pathways with a diverse range of campus stakeholders—including university leadership, staff, faculty, and students—in order to build consensus around strategic goals and overall approach.
3. Define an actionable plan for a healthier environment that includes landscape typologies, guidelines, and associated climate adaptation recommendations, adapted plant and material palettes, and approaches to healthy tree succession planning.
4. Include campus grounds and facilities staff in the planning process to develop realistic and implementable guidance for future maintenance practices and priority projects.

Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Landscape / Open Space; Resiliency; Sustainability (Environmental)

AIA LU/HSW 1.0 Unit (SCUP60C3655)
AICP CM 1.0 Unit

Blockbuster Strategies for Integrated Campus Planning

Presented by: Leandra Davis, Executive Director of Planning, Design and Construction, California Institute of Technology | Tyler Durchslag-Richardson, Senior Analyst for Facilities Operations, California Institute of Technology | David Kang, Associate Vice President, California Institute of Technology | Kari Myers, Manager of Service and Process, California Institute of Technology

Leveraging technology, strategy, and asset management in campus planning is crucial for operational efficiency and evolving needs. With today’s limited resources, planners must demonstrate need and make a compelling case for resource allocation. This session will show how to optimize time and resources, prioritize deferred maintenance spending, creatively manage space, support new faculty, and develop spending plans that tame Facilities Condition Index (FCI) growth to ensure a thriving and sustainable campus future. Join us to gain practical tools and strategies to streamline your planning processes, enhance collaboration, and drive data-informed decisions, resulting in effective, future-ready campus planning initiatives.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Align planning initiatives with your campus mission to identify and prioritize critical needs and craft a persuasive narrative for stakeholders.
2. Assemble a collaborative team of facilities experts, campus community members, and institutional leaders to conduct comprehensive needs assessments.
3. Leverage technology, data analytics, and asset management tools to create strategic plans and enable timely, informed decision making.
4. Effectively communicate with key stakeholders, including campus leadership, to secure ongoing support and funding.

Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Capital Planning; Deferred Maintenance; Facilities Assessment

AIA LU 1.0 Unit (SCUP60C3769)
AICP CM 1.0 Unit

Change Leadership Strategies from an Academic Division Restructure

Presented by: Phoebe De Ciman, Special Advisor, Saskatchewan Polytechnic | Lucy Vuong, Director, Academic Planning and Analysis, Saskatchewan Polytechnic

Fiscal restraints and societal expectations require higher education leaders to collaborate in order to effectively navigate change. This practical case study will illustrate the application of successful change leadership strategies from the restructuring of Saskatchewan Polytechnic’s academic division. These strategies aim to maximize interdisciplinary collaboration and modernize terminology to be more responsive to students, faculty, industry, and community partners. Come learn strategic change tactics for transformative restructuring at your institution, boost your leadership skills, and streamline processes while aligning with organizational strategic objectives.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Consider effective communication strategies to facilitate stakeholder engagement throughout change processes at your institution.
2. Discuss how to lead initiatives focused on positive changes and strong team support.
3. Explain how to establish governance structures to guide seamless change implementation.
4. Identify feedback and recognition activities you can leverage at your institution to encourage a culture of continuous improvement.

Planning Types: Academic Planning
Tags: Change Management; Governance

Housing Design That Enriches the First Year Experience

Presented by: Joe Atkins, Principal, VMDO Architects | Brian Turner, Partner, CMTA Consulting Engineers

Campus investments in sustainable and healthy residence halls can enhance the student experience, achieve energy goals, and improve both student and environmental wellness. George Washington University and the University of Miami are enriching students’ first-year experience through dynamic, resilient housing that advances sustainability, student success, and wellness while aligning with institutional priorities. We’ll share an integrated planning process to help multi-disciplinary stakeholders elevate first-year housing, linking environmental performance, wellness, and biophilic design to student success and sense of community.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Outline techniques for integrating spaces for social and academic experiences in ways that advance student success and wellness.
2. Develop integrated approaches to housing design that prioritize wellness, belonging, and sense of community at the scale of the campus, neighborhood, building, floor, and living unit.
3. Describe a strategic campus-wide vision for a visually stunning and programmatically complete first-year residential community.
4. Cite critical research linking building design features to key health and performance outcomes for first year students: reducing stress, anxiety, and depression while encouraging healthy sleep and community.

Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Facilities Design; Health and Wellness; Student Housing

AIA LU/HSW 1.0 Unit (SCUP60C3593)
AICP CM 1.0 Unit

MIT’s Answer for the Future of Computing and Data Science

Presented by: Allan Donnelly, Principal, brightspot strategy | Julia Grabazs, Associate Principal, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP | Travis Wanat, Director of Capital Projects, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The field of computing is an ever-evolving and rapidly-growing discipline. How can new campus facilities support academic missions that are working to address computing opportunities and challenges while ensuring sustained productivity and relevance? This session will examine how the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) answered that question with the creation of the Schwarzman College of Computing. We’ll provide insights on forecasting space needs before hiring faculty, crafting an inclusive vision for the future of computer science, building on a crossroads site, and creating inspiring and flexible teaching environments.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Anticipate the challenges that come with creating a signature building for a new college that is still in flux during the design process.
2. Explain how to create model scenarios to prepare the building’s design and programming amid uncertainty.
3. Discuss the benefits and challenges of building on a site that turns a current campus edge into a campus centerpiece.
4. Detail strategies for accommodating flexibility to adapt to evolving needs in computing education.

Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Facilities Design; Facilities Planning; Science / Engineering Facility

AIA LU 1.0 Unit (SCUP60C3698)
AICP CM 1.0 Unit

Reimagining Rice: Resilient Campus Planning to Drive Change

Presented by: Emina Begovic, Associate Vice President, Rice University | Mary Anne Ocampo, Principal | Urban Designer, Sasaki | Tamar Warburg, Director of Sustainability | Associate Principal, Sasaki

Higher education has the ability to drive meaningful change through campus planning by advancing research, climate solutions, and energy transitions. This session will highlight Rice University’s strategic plan in the context of the university’s position within Houston’s Gulf Coast community and its evolving role as an energy transition hub. This integrated planning approach reimagines Rice by balancing the historic campus with 21st-century goals for research growth, decarbonization, and climate resilience. You’ll take away actionable, data-informed strategies to address resilience, navigate institutional complexity, align agendas, and build consensus for impactful, future-ready campus planning.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Discuss the collection and targeted use of data to prioritize high-impact projects that integrate energy efficiency and resilience with research enterprise growth.
2. Find opportunities on your campus to strategically coordinate and bundle renovation and construction projects to maximize resource impact.
3. Detail innovative financing and implementation strategies that balance competing priorities among university stakeholders.
4. Define adaptive strategies to monitor and respond to evolving resilience challenges.

Planning Types: Sustainability Planning
Tags: Campus Master Planning; Resiliency; Sustainability (Environmental)

AIA LU 1.0 Unit (SCUP60C3794)
AICP CM 1.0 Unit

The Art of De-nodification: Big Bets, Small Fixes, & Spaces Students Really Want

Presented by: Juan Archila, Director of Academic & Research Facilities Infrastructure, Georgia Institute of Technology | Shannon Dowling, 2020-21 SCUP Fellow | Principal, Ayers Saint Gross | Katy Potts, Space Planning Analyst, Ayers Saint Gross

In 2023, Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) completed a comprehensive instructional space master plan to guide improvements across classrooms, labs, and informal environments. Then came the real challenge: funding dipped, enrollment soared, and the work had to proceed incrementally. This session will explore how Georgia Tech turned a strong plan into a series of small, purposeful changes—right-sizing classrooms, refreshing high-impact spaces, and transforming leftover nooks and crannies into beloved study spots. Along the way, the institution learned how tactical upgrades could spark cultural change, inform emerging utilization policy, and build a foundation for bolder bets on the future.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Trace how a space master plan can lay groundwork for long-term strategy, even when resources are limited.
2. Apply utilization metrics, typologies, and stakeholder input to prioritize and implement classroom and lab improvements.
3. Evaluate how incremental changes—furniture swaps, informal spaces, refresh cycles—can yield outsized impacts.
4. Connect short-term wins to long-term planning frameworks like Georgia Tech’s “Big Bets” strategy.

AIA LU 1.0 Unit (SCUP60C2512)
AICP CM 1.0 Unit
Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Facilities Planning; Learning Environments; Metrics; Space Assessment

United We Stand: Strategic Collaborations to Secure the Future of HBCUs

Presented by: Donzell Lee, PhD, President, Tougaloo College | LaDonna Lee, PhD, Executive Director of Strategic Academic Initiatives, Alcorn State University

As federal funding for higher education grows increasingly uncertain, historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) must continue to proactively foster strategic collaborations to secure their collective futures. This presentation highlights the critical importance of resource-sharing among HBCUs as an effective strategy to enhance institutional capacity and sustain essential academic and community programs. Special emphasis will be placed on addressing widespread infrastructure challenges, including campus modernization, technology integration, and facility maintenance. Additionally, the session will examine how inter-institutional alliances empower HBCUs to effectively navigate and influence complex political environments at both state and federal levels. Practical guidance will be provided for building and maintaining effective partnerships that strengthen institutional resilience and support sustainable growth.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Describe the economic and operational advantages of strategic resource-sharing initiatives among HBCUs.
2. Identify infrastructure challenges common to HBCUs and explore collaborative solutions to address these issues.
3. Develop effective approaches for engaging collaboratively in state and federal policy discussions impacting HBCUs.
4. Formulate actionable steps to initiate, sustain, and enhance successful partnerships that improve institutional resilience and growth.

Planning Types: Strategic Planning
Tags: External Collaboration / Partnerships; Historically Black College or University (HBCU); Resource Management

Join us for a beautiful evening where we will transport you to the heart of Hawaiian culture with traditional Luau cuisine and mesmerizing island music and dance performances.

A Data-informed Approach to Agile Strategy Development and Planning

Presented by: Melissa Baker, Assistant Vice Provost for Institutional Research and Analysis, Carnegie Mellon University | Matthew Hoolsema, Director of Data Science and Advanced Analytics, Carnegie Mellon University | Henry Zheng, Vice Provost for Institutional Effectiveness and Planning, Carnegie Mellon University

As higher education faces increasing uncertainty, it’s become imperative to choose the right strategic priorities. Institutional leaders can leverage agile planning approaches and comprehensive data evidence to support university strategy development. In a rapidly-changing environment, we’ll demonstrate an agile and data-informed approach to Carnegie Mellon University’s strategic plan refresh, which uses a variety of analytical tools and a large collection of qualitative and quantitative data resources. In this session you’ll learn to share comprehensive data analytics and stakeholder insights to effectively identify strategic opportunities and prioritizing institutional goals.

Learning Outcomes:

1. 1. Identify the mega trends and key challenges higher education institutions are facing and demonstrate how strategy formulation must be deliberate and informed by data.
   2. Identify and apply several analytical tools for strategy development based on their relative contributions to different phases of the planning process.
   3. Build familiarity with the array of methodological approaches in conducting data analysis in strategy development.
   4. Develop your ability to use data evidence to describe the your institution’s operating environment and identify key strategic opportunities alongside vulnerabilities.

Planning Types: Strategic Planning
Tags: Assessment / Analytics; Data; Environmental Scanning; Internal Scanning

Apply Indigenous Principles to Guide Campus Carbon Reduction and Reconciliation

Presented by: Brian Porter, Principal, | Derreck Travis, Design Architect, Stantec | Jessie Williams, Dean, Indigenous Initiative, Vancouver Community College

New facilities like Vancouver Community College’s (VCC) Centre for Clean Energy and Automotive Innovation, located on traditional First Nations territories, have the chance to make a big impact on both carbon reduction and reconciliation with indigenous peoples. In addressing educational needs within the evolving energy and transportation sectors, VCC found opportunities for sustainability and community connection in programming, as well as in the principles of Truth and Reconciliation. Join us to hear how VCC and its partners applied indigenous principles in planning for its new facility and found solutions for a healthier environment and community wellbeing through effective engagement.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Explain the importance of learning and gaining insights during early-stage engagement, listening, and collaboration with indigenous communities for better outcomes in sustainability and wellbeing.
2. Articulate how engaging and inclusive planning can transform an idea into facilities and programs that meet the environmental, workforce, and wellbeing needs of students, the institution, the local industries, and the community.
3. Discuss how a better cultural understanding of First Nations communities campus planning and facility design can inherently result in greater carbon reduction and overall sustainability for a healthier environment.
4. Define a process that contributes to the implementation of both meaningful collaboration with indigenous peoples and principles for sustainable design.

Planning Types: Campus Planning
Challenges: Dealing with Climate Change
Tags: Campus Master Planning; Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI); Facilities Planning; Sustainability (Environmental)

AIA LU/HSW 1.0 Unit (SCUP60C3727)
AICP CM 1.0 Unit

How Student Focus Groups Improve Wellbeing in Campus Environments

Presented by: Heather Doyle, MEd, Director of Research Assessment, Dalhousie University | Francesqca Jimenez, Researcher, HDR, Inc. | Leila Kamal, Director of Education, HDR, Inc.

The student perspective is an invaluable tool for integrating wellbeing into campus planning and design for a healthier, happier student community. Through focus groups with students at Dalhousie University, Thomas Jefferson University, and Macalester College, we discovered key insights on how the campus built environment can enhance student health and support wellbeing. In this session, we’ll share actionable knowledge of how evolving campus designs can address the needs of students while taking into consideration changing student demographics, rising education costs, and online learning.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Examine effective trends in campus planning associated with student wellbeing.
2. Compare and contrast the environmental needs of the current generation of students with previous generations.
3. Analyze how campuses can better support wellbeing in students through the built environment.
4. Assess your campus to find opportunities for enhancing the built environment to support student wellbeing.

Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Facilities Design; Facilities Planning; Health and Wellness

AIA LU/HSW 1.0 Unit (SCUP60C3623)
AICP CM 1.0 Unit

The Master Plan as a Living System: Regenerative Strategies for Your Campus

Presented by: Brad Rogers, Associate Principal, Perkins&Will | Gautam Sundaram, Principal, Perkins&Will | Ken Weston, Executive Director of Campus Stewardship and University Architect, University of New Hampshire-Main Campus | Fiona Wilson, Chief Sustainability Officer, UNH, University of New Hampshire-Main Campus

The University of New Hampshire (UNH) campus master plan focuses on stewardship and uses quantitative and qualitative data with regenerative strategies to address cyclical changes. This session will discuss the impact of the UNH campus master plan, which allows the campus to regenerate as an interconnected, dynamic living system. We’ll also explore how UNH uses stewardship to link the land’s indigenous history to the future of education. Come learn how an innovative dynamic data dashboard integrates quantitative data and qualitative data to identify key performance indicators, align needs, set performance-based goals, test scenarios, and prioritize projects based on experiential impacts.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Describe a methodology for assessing university system-wide synergies in academic programs to consolidate where necessary and better align with workforce needs.
2. Prioritize the incorporation of indigenous history to acknowledge past harms by making commitments to repair, restitch, and rejuvenate the campus environment.
3. Discuss a dynamic dashboard that integrates quantitative data on space utilization, facilities performance, energy use, and qualitative data on student experience, equity, and inclusion.
4. Outline regenerative strategies for enhancing building performance, increasing bio-diversity, and restoring natural systems to achieve a net-negative carbon campus plan.

Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Campus Master Planning; Dashboards; Data; Space Assessment

AIA LU 1.0 Unit (SCUP60C3795)
AICP CM 1.0 Unit

The Role of Integrated Planning during Mergers and Acquisitions

Presented by: Michelle Filling-Brown, Associate Vice Provost, Integrated Student Experience, Villanova University | Amanda Grannas, , Villanova University | Kevin Grubb, Vice President, Work-Based Learning, Villanova University

Villanova University’s acquisition of Cabrini University provides a roadmap for institutions to navigate complex mergers, emphasizing alignment, preserving continuity, and leveraging employment projections. This session will look at institutional mergers and acquisitions through an integrated planning lens to focus on academic program alignment, mission integration, and enrollment planning tied to regional workforce needs. Whether your institution is undergoing a merger or confronting financial, demographic, and enrollment pressures prevalent in most universities, we’ll provide you with valuable frameworks and tools for managing institutional change and integrating cross-functional planning processes.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Detail strategies for aligning academic programs during institutional transitions to meet workforce needs and preserve institutional identity.
2. Describe enrollment strategies that connect labor market projections with employer partnerships.
3. Evaluate how mission-aligned, decision-making frameworks can help guide institutional change.
4. Identify integrated planning practices that align institutional resources, actions, and outcomes.

Planning Types: Strategic Planning
Challenges: Planning Alignment; Responding to Disruptive Events
Tags: Academic Planning; Alignment

A Playbook for Building Analytics Capacity and a Data-informed Culture

Presented by: Lindsay Wayt, Senior Director, Analytics, National Association of College and University Business Officers

Higher education is facing many challenges, including limited resources, enrollment concerns, and waning public support. Data is one resource that can help institutions navigate their most pressing issues while ensuring they fulfill their missions. This session will share the Change With Analytics Playbook, a free online resource that helps institutional leaders engage teams to assess analytics maturity, create an analytics strategy, build effective data governance, and support data-literate communities. We’ll review the ‘plays’ with a particular focus on effective collaboration across the institution to ensure all constituents are aware of their responsibilities and opportunities at a data-informed institution.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Assess the current state of data and analytics use at your institution.
2. Collaborate meaningfully within a team to create and manage a data strategy plan.
3. Explain how to develop a data governance program that relies on continuous improvement to support institutional needs.
4. Support institutional constituencies in developing data and analytics skills.

Planning Types: Institutional Effectiveness Planning
Tags: Assessment / Analytics; Data

An Integrated and Equitable Approach to Campus Decarbonization

Presented by: Tom Abram, Principal, Introba | Sonam Shah, Associate Principal, Introba

This session will demonstrate how to adapt a large existing campus to decarbonized central systems, including cost considerations, performance evaluation, resilience concerns, and equity factors. To achieve campus climate goals, we developed clean energy master planning processes that go beyond a conventional utility plan to prioritize equity and environmental justice to sustain campus ecosystems and ensure student wellbeing. Implementing decarbonization plans can be disruptive, but we’ll share how you can achieve successful buy-in and engagement, including uplifting students as interns on the project team and key contributors in the process.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Evaluate a data-informed decarbonization journey, starting with a phased electrification plan that addresses evaluation metrics such as lifecycle costs, energy, carbon emissions, student wellbeing, and energy resilience.
2. Identify decarbonization opportunities specific to your campus that you can leverage for energy optimization, carbon emissions, cost reduction, wellbeing, and climate resiliency.
3. Apply tools for stakeholder engagement throughout planning and delivery of campus electrification for continuous alignment and buy-in that results in a healthier campus.
4. Discuss how to create learning, research, and fundraising opportunities through campus and all-electric thermal plant-based living labs.

Planning Types: Campus Planning
Challenges: Engaging Stakeholders
Tags: Energy Infrastructure; Resiliency; Sustainability (Environmental)

AIA LU/HSW 1.0 Unit (SCUP60C3676)
AICP CM 1.0 Unit

Innovation in Medical Education: The HELIX Project at Rutgers University

Presented by: Jonathan Kanda, Principal, CO Architects | David Manfredi, Founding Principal, Elkus Manfredi Architects | Dave Schulz, Vice President and University Architect, Rutgers University

There are many planning and programming challenges to overcome and opportunities to seize when relocating an entire medical school into a new mixed-use facility. This session will share the Health & Life Science Exchange (HELIX) Project, a new paradigm for medical education at Rutgers University, which aims to break down silos between clinicians, researchers, and corporate partners with a new precedent for efficiency, proximity, and discovery. Come learn a new facilities planning approach to support greater interdisciplinary study among patient care, basic medical research, and clinical trials that places learning, research, and technology transfer together in a single mixed-use building.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Assess the benefits of implementing cross-disciplinary programs for scientific and medical education.
2. Examine possible synergies of collocating academic programs and private industry partners.
3. Discuss the benefits and costs of urban high-rise facilities with university stakeholders.
4. Analyze existing educational and research programs to accelerate the pace of discovery for your own campus mixed-use facility.

Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Facilities Planning; Medical / Allied Health Facility; Mixed-Use

AIA LU 1.0 Unit (SCUP60C3759)
AICP CM 1.0 Unit

No Man is an Island: Navigating the Changing Tides of Integrated Planning

Presented by: Fernando Chapa, Dean for Institutional Research, Effectiveness and Strategic Planning, South Texas College | Melissa Renner, Manager Academic Affairs and Economic Development, South Texas College

This session will describe how South Texas College (STC) restructured its integrated planning processes through the development of two planning bodies: the Institutional Leadership Council (ILC), and the Institutional Planning and Effectiveness Committee (IPEC). This restructuring was instrumental in dismantling silos, aligning stakeholders, and amplifying diverse voices across STC’s large service district and multiple campuses. We’ll provide you with lessons learned from the restructuring and demonstrate how to use both small (IPEC) and large group (ILC) communication channels to balance inclusive communication with intentional small group dialogue.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Define an integrated planning framework that fosters collaboration and builds trust within an institution.
2. Discuss how to develop and facilitate large planning groups that facilitate broad communication and small more in-depth groups.
3. Identify actionable strategies for balancing small-group dynamics with institution-wide dissemination of information to guide the strategic plan and institutional mission.
4. Gain practical tools for fostering alignment and engagement in integrated planning, allowing you to create a culture by starting small.

Planning Types: Integrated Planning
Tags: Alignment; Planning Processes