SCUP

SCUP 2026 Annual Conference

Event Details

Join planning leaders from across the global higher education community at SCUP 2026 in Minneapolis. SCUP’s annual conference brings together professionals to share integrated strategies that break down silos and create sustainable solutions. Learn from peers, gain tools to spark tough conversations, examine current practices, and build a culture of integrated planning—whether you’re new to planning or a seasoned professional.

Program Updates

  • Registration is open!
  • Tours and workshops are listed in the program.

Join us at SCUP 2026 in Minneapolis!

Join planning leaders from across the global higher education community at SCUP 2026 in Minneapolis. SCUP’s annual conference brings together professionals to share integrated strategies that break down silos and create sustainable solutions. Learn from peers, gain tools to spark tough conversations, examine current practices, and build a culture of integrated planning—whether you’re new to planning or a seasoned professional.

A Message from Our Board Chair:

As we open registration for SCUP’s Annual Conference in Minneapolis, we do so with profound respect for our host city. In times of challenge, the power of coming together matters more than ever, and Minneapolis reminds us that resilience grows in community. This summer, we’ll gather not only to learn and lead but to stand in solidarity with the people and institutions shaping our shared future.

—Dr. Chris Gilmer
President, Heritage University
Chair, SCUP Board of Directors

Opening Keynote

Benjamin Laker

Professor of Leadership, Henley Business School

Closing Keynote

Lessons from the Conference
and The Connected College

Elliot Felix

Partner, Higher Education Sector Lead, Buro Happold

Show Sessions by Topic:
Workshop (Additional Fee)

Planning Institute: Foundations (7/17)

Pre-registration required.

Successful planning starts with engagement, reflection, and action. Successfully used at countless institutions, our methodology will help ensure that the right people are involved, the right information is analyzed, and the right process is followed for your institution. At SCUP's Planning Institute, we help bring clarity to a complex process and bring your community together to unleash your institution’s potential.

Learning Outcomes
  1. Assess your institution’s readiness for change so you can remove change inhibitors and pave a pathway to success.
  2. Identify and analyze stakeholders for your institution’s planning efforts, convince necessary stakeholders to adopt integrated planning practices at your institution, and create a communication plan that ensures a transparent and inclusive process.
  3. Analyze your institution’s internal and external environment, including global forces and trends, internal mandates, and competitors.
  4. Adapt integrated planning to your institution’s unique situation.
Workshop (Additional Fee)

Planning Institute: Design (7/18-7/19)

Pre-registration required.

Once you’ve determined your institution’s direction, it’s time to get specific. What will you do? How will you get there? Based on best practices, this workshop will give you the tools to help you build a strategic plan, create alignment and action plans, and prepare to implement and evaluate your plan.

Learning Outcomes
  1. Assess your institution’s resources and culture so you create a strategic plan that can be implemented.
  2. Identify strategic issues that must be addressed and map strategies and tactics to address those issues.
  3. Align plans both vertically with the overall strategic plan and horizontally with other unit plans so the entire institution works together towards goals.
  4. Implement your plan and prepare for common implementation challenges.
Registration

Registration

Exhibitor Setup

Exhibitor Setup

Campus Tours (Additional Fee)

Walking Tour of Downtown Minneapolis

Sunday, July 19, 1pm - 3:30pm Preregistration required This tour will focus on the nationally significant buildings and spaces in downtown Minneapolis and their relationship to the city's academic institutions. The tour will include University of St. Thomas's Minneapolis Campus, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis Central Library, the Forum Cafeteria, IDS Center, Foshay Tower, Wells Fargo Center, Minneapolis City Hall, Butler Square, Guthrie Theatre, the Stone Arch Bridge, and (of course) the Minneapolis Skyway System. Bring your walking shoes and the zeal to have fun while learning!
Learning Outcomes
  1. Summarize building features that reduce carbon to meet sustainability goals.
  2. Describe how buildings are designed to meet accessibility goals.
  3. Describe how buildings are designed to improve the health, safety, and welfare of occupants.
  4. Explain how buildings can inspire a community.
Networking

First Connections: Community Meet-up

Start your conference experience in the SCUP Commons with a casual opportunity to meet fellow attendees, make your first connections, and get oriented before the keynote. Enjoy light refreshments, games, and a welcoming space—including an info booth where first-time attendees can ask questions and learn more about the conference.
Keynote

Opening Keynote: Dr. Benjamin Laker

Welcome Reception

Welcome Reception

Registration

Registration

Concurrent Sessions
Presented by Ashlee Roberts, Executive Director of Student Affairs Strategic Planning and Initiatives, Stockton University | Nicole Suprun, Associate Director of Planning, Stockton University

In times of uncertainty, strategic planning is an opportunity to rebuild trust and redefine who we are. Stockton University's strategic planning process was designed to reset the culture and build a shared vision for the future. Where confidence in institutional decision-making was fractured, the process became a catalyst for openness and collaboration. This session offers strategies and structures for building trust through structured planning processes that foster campus-wide buy-in through transparency, communication, stakeholder engagement, alignment, and investment in the final plan. We will share strategies for balancing priorities, fostering authentic stakeholder input, and building consensus.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Assess your campus climate to determine the most effective planning approach.
  2. Design communication and feedback structures that foster transparency and engagement throughout the planning process.
  3. Build cross-functional planning teams that promote collaboration and reduce siloed decision-making.
  4. Facilitate dialogue through multiple feedback modalities at key stages to engage diverse voices and move groups toward consensus.
Topics: Strategic Planning
Tags: Consensus Building, Engaging Stakeholders, Planning Processes, Strategic Planning
Presented by Patrick Brawley, University Architect & Assistant Vice President for Campus Planning, Loyola University Chicago | Jonathan Martin, Senior Partner, RDG Planning & Design | Nick Schulz, Senior Partner, Architect, RDG Planning & Design

Space management is never just about square footage—it's about people, culture, and institutional politics. This session explores how campuses can successfully implement space optimization and planning initiatives by addressing the cultural challenges that often block progress. Drawing on real planning frameworks and campus examples, we'll examine strategies to balance competing priorities, communicate transparently, make data meaningful, and build coalitions that move projects forward. You will leave with tools to navigate resistance, negotiate shared ownership, and translate planning recommendations into actionable, widely supported decisions.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Identify political pressure points in space decisions and map stakeholders who influence outcomes.
  2. Apply communication strategies that turn contentious planning recommendations into shared priorities.
  3. Evaluate competing space claims using transparent, mission-aligned criteria to support decision-making.
  4. Implement a structured, repeatable process to advance space optimization initiatives despite resistance.
Topics: Campus Planning
Tags: Organizational Culture, Space Management, Analyzing Stakeholders
Presented by Randy Rikel, Vice President for Business and Finance, West Texas A & M University | James Webb, Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer, West Texas A & M University | Emily Winters, Principal, DLR Group

As demand for flexible learning grows, institutions must create environments and supports that expand access for non-traditional and remote learners without sacrificing academic quality. West Texas A&M University (WTAMU) stands as a proven case study of success in this regard: after more than a decade of leadership in virtual delivery, WTAMU has renovated its historic Education Building into a state-of-the-art faculty support and production hub, empowering faculty to create engaging, high-quality, gamified content that rivals or exceeds traditional classroom outcomes. Join us and learn practical, replicable strategies for designing spaces, services, and workflows that streamline digital course production, enhance teaching effectiveness, and improve student engagement.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Describe how knowledge about learning barriers informs studio design decisions.
  2. Design a studio that equips faculty with resources to produce digital courses matching or exceeding traditional course quality.
  3. Reconfigure campus spaces to support virtual programs while optimizing traditional areas, attracting remote and hybrid learners back to campus periodically to build authentic connections.
  4. Describe design strategies that keep spaces adaptable to evolving technologies and pedagogies.
Topics: Facilities Planning
Tags: Academic Facility, Facilities Design, Facilities Planning, Online Learning, Renovation, Hybrid Learning
Presented by Heather Lewis, Director Institutional Analytics, Augusta University | Mickey Williford, Vice President, Augusta University

Data-informed leadership is crucial. Decisions lacking collective data usage risk strategic misalignment and resource waste. Therefore, institutional dashboard usage must be a shared exercise to ensure strategic goal achievement. We will share dashboards designed and used to monitor analytics usage by department, individual, and dashboard, revealing how strategic data is accessed and used by decision makers during key planning periods. You will gain insight to drive consistent, data-informed leadership engagement, solve dashboard abandonment, and boost strategic planning efficacy.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Design three dashboards to track analytics usage from your business intelligence environment.
  2. Schedule a meeting with your institution's team that manages the infrastructure for your business intelligence environment to discuss the metadata availability for dashboard design.
  3. Communicate the need for decision support metadata to institutional leadership for strategic buy-in.
  4. Communicate the need for decision support metadata with your data stewards to build operational buy-in.
Topics: Planning Skills and Supports
Tags: Assessment / Analytics, Dashboards, Data, Decision Making, Institutional Effectiveness
Presented by Sarah Burnette, Project Manager Facilities Design & Construction, Wake Technical Community College | Emmie Tyson, Principal, BSA LifeStructures Inc. | Zahra Zamani, Director of Research, BSA LifeStructures Inc.

As higher education embraces diversity, neurodiversity remains an under-addressed dimension of inclusion. This session explores the design strategies for teaching and learning spaces that support a spectrum of cognitive and sensory needs. Grounded in current research and real project examples from Wake Tech Community College, we'll examine the impact of spatial organization, lighting, acoustics, finishes, and flexibility on attention, stress, and engagement. You will leave with practical frameworks to assess and plan for neuro-inclusive environments, aligning campus design with institutional goals for accessibility, belonging, and student success.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Summarize key findings from neuroscience and environmental psychology about the role the built environment plays in supporting neurodiverse learners.
  2. Evaluate existing learning environments for sensory and cognitive inclusivity.
  3. Advocate for inclusive design in campus decision-making and capital planning processes.
  4. Apply research-backed design frameworks to improve focus, comfort, and belonging in academic spaces.
Topics: Facilities Planning
Tags: Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Facilities Design, Learning Environments
Presented by Ashley Strong-Green, Director of Academic Planning and Assessment, Augusta University

This session shares how a 10-year proforma using enrollment projections, staffing and budget forecasts, facilities needs, and indirect costs can be integrated into academic program proposals to ensure long-term sustainability and institutional alignment. Participants will walk through real-life examples of cost/revenue modeling, and learn how to present and interpret projections to key stakeholders. We will discuss common pitfalls, lessons learned, and how to adapt the template to different institutional contexts.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Develop a comprehensive 10-year proforma template tailored to a proposed academic program.
  2. Forecast long-term program costs and revenues, including staffing, facilities, indirect expenses, and enrollment.
  3. Use the proforma to build a compelling, data-driven proposal for academic program approval.
  4. Discuss how to consider enrollment volatility, staffing growth, facility constraints, and accreditation costs in your academic program proposal proformas.
Topics: Alignment, Academic Planning
Tags: Academic Planning, Budget / Finance, Determining Academic Program Viability
Presented by Carl Dieso, Director of Housing, University of Cincinnati-Main Campus | Nestor Melnyk, Principal, Senior Director of Higher Education, MSA Design | Chris O'Hara, Founding Principal | Facade Director, Studio NYL | Michael Schuster, Principal and Owner, MSA Architects

Addressing aging infrastructure and obsolete buildings without compromising utilization is a challenge. This session shares how buildings can be transformed into state-of-the art, high-performing facilities while minimizing downtime and cost. Faced with a decision about how to address two functionally obsolete dorms, University of Cincinnati (UC) revitalized several of its dorms using prefabrication to reduce the project schedule, improve construction safety, and ensure high quality control. We'll describe the planning and delivery of these project, and share lessons learned for leveraging prefabrication during building renovation.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Describe building rehabilitation's impact on cost, schedule, and building performance.
  2. Develop strategies to revitalize existing facilities while reducing the duration buildings need to be offline.
  3. Consider planning opportunities to create student-focused, community-building spaces within existing buildings for an improved student experience.
  4. Identify creative opportunities for building reuse to reduce embodied carbon and create high-performing buildings.
Topics: Facilities Planning
Tags: Facilities Planning, Renovation, Student Housing
Interactive Sessions

90-minute Interactive Session Options:

CHIAP: A Model that Strengthens Integrated Planning Amid Rapid AI-Driven Change

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

Community colleges must respond to rapid shifts in workforce demand, AI adoption, and enrollment while preparing students for future careers. This session demonstrates how forecasting, AI insights, and integrating the Cross-disciplinary Hub Model in Academic Planning (CHIAP) can strengthen integrated planning by supporting coordinated academic, workforce, facilities, and financial decisions. Explore how AI-driven workforce trends can be translated into program priorities, capital planning, and flexible learning environments using CHIAP model. We will provide tools to embed forecasting and CHIAP into planning routines, align units, engage stakeholders intentionally, and coordinate academic, workforce, and facilities strategies.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Use the CHIAP method to forecast academic, workforce, enrollment, or facility needs, and use the forecast to inform integrated planning decisions.
  2. Analyze AI-driven workforce trends using CHIAP and translate them into coordinated capital and program priorities aligned with institutional strategy.
  3. Draft a flexible program or lab model integrating CHIAP and emerging technologies that responds to industry-informed shifts in workforce needs.
  4. Build a cross-unit integrated planning structure that engages stakeholders and aligns leadership, academics, workforce teams, and industry partners.
Topics: Academic Planning; Facilities Planning
Tags: Academic Planning; Alignment; Community College; Facilities Planning; Planning Processes

From Insight to Alignment: Using the HOPE Framework to Strengthen Planning

Presented by Marilu Goodyear, Associate Professor, University of Kansas | Alex Terwilliger, Associate Professor of the Practice, University of Kansas

Leaders face a growing demand to connect strategy, resources, people, and performance in ways that are mission-driven, adaptive, and collaborative. This session introduces a practical, repeatable approach to integrated planning using the HOPE (Human & Organizational Performance Effectiveness) framework. Drawing on a live, interactive case study, you will learn how to diagnose organizational challenges through a structured set of human- and system-focused questions that surface misalignment across units and identify actionable steps to strengthen institutional effectiveness. You'll leave with a repeatable diagnostic toolkit that cuts through ambiguity, strengthens cross-unit collaboration, and streamlines planning conversations, helping you reduce friction, make aligned decisions, and deliver stronger outcomes.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Diagnose organizational misalignment using a structured set of questions that surface barriers in performance, capability, motivation, and resources.
  2. Facilitate cross-unit planning conversations that build shared definitions, reduce friction, and strengthen buy-in.
  3. Map unit-level priorities to institutional goals to improve alignment up, down, and across the organization.
  4. Evaluate change-readiness by applying practical criteria (compatibility, complexity, trial-ability, etc.) to determine whether proposed initiatives will succeed.
Topics: Alignment; Planning Skills and Supports
Tags: Alignment; Change Management; Implementation

How a Small Backbone Organization Strengthens Integrated Planning and Execution

Presented by Brad Goan, Senior Advisor for Strategy and Innovation, The University of Montana | Jeanne Loftus, Director of Strategic Planning and Implementation, The University of Montana | Gordy Pace, Director of Strategy Engagement, The University of Montana | Kelly Webster, Chief of Staff and Vice President for Strategy and Community Relations, The University of Montana

This session explores how a small backbone organization, the University of Montana's (UM) Office of Strategic Planning and Implementation, strengthens a culture and practice of integrated planning and execution by providing structure, facilitation, communication, and shared tools that engage stakeholders, align actions, and sustain progress. We will share approaches, processes, and tools related to each of the Five Hallmarks of Integrated Planning. You will leave with up-to-date frameworks and adaptable practices you can use to reduce fragmentation, improve coordination, and build alignment and momentum in your planning environment.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Use templates, facilitation methods, and shared frameworks to structure planning conversations and align units around common priorities.
  2. Adapt ideas for creating (or enhancing) a small strategy office or coordinating role that supports planning and execution across the institution.
  3. Facilitate cross-unit alignment by running more effective existing leadership meetings, engaging stakeholders, and connecting strategic goals to actionable initiatives.
  4. Improve execution and follow-through by implementing lightweight processes for tracking progress, communicating decisions, and sustaining momentum across planning cycles.
Topics: Planning Skills and Supports
Tags: Alignment; Implementation; Planning Processes; Strategic Planning

Planners to Transformation Architects: Leading Integrated AI Strategy

Presented by Linda Baer, Principal, Strategic Initiatives, Inc. | Nasrin Fatima, Associate Provost for Assessment and Analytics, Binghamton University | Joseph (Tim) Gilmour, Principal/President Emeritus, Strategic Initiatives, Inc. | Donald Norris, Founder and President Emeritus, Strategic Initiatives, Inc.

Planners’because of their systems thinking, facilitation skills, and campus-wide vantage point’are uniquely positioned to help leaders understand and act on AI transformation. Planners can become true 'transformation architects,' shaping the institution's AI vision, phased implementation, governance, staffing models, and readiness assessments. They can also help engage faculty, staff, and students in collaborative design and ensure AI efforts align with mission, accreditation, budgeting, and risk management. This session reframes the role of planners for the AI era and provides actionable tools including an 'AI Strategy & Execution Canvas' that you can use immediately to support AI planning conversations at your institution.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Facilitate cross-campus engagement to support an AI guiding coalition that champions institution-wide AI adoption.
  2. Define an institution-wide AI strategy framework that aligns AI initiatives with mission, academic priorities, and institutional strategy.
  3. Create a practical, phased implementation roadmap that integrates academic, administrative, and student-facing AI applications while addressing governance, ethics, and risk.
  4. Identify high-value AI use cases and metrics that you can use to measure impact, prioritize investments, and demonstrate early wins that build momentum.
Topics: Planning Skills and Supports
Tags: Artificial Intelligence (AI); Change Management; Technology Infrastructure

Planning the Unplannable: Three Campus Planners Walk into a Bar...

Presented by Marina Carroll, Principal, Practice Lead, Ayers Saint Gross | Frances Halsband, Principal, Kliment Halsband Architects, a Perkins Eastman Studio | Joseph Juliano, Vice Provost for Planning and Academic Operations, New York University

Higher ed is staring down the least predictable decade in its history: shrinking demographics, expanding tech, stretched budgets, and a campus community that expects everything, everywhere, all at once. But the future isn't a mystery if you know where to look. In this fast, funny, and fiercely practical session, three campus planners from across the sector compare notes from 100 projects, 100 years of collective experience planning projects around the world, and countless 'what if’' scenarios. We'll swap war stories and winning strategies to avoid common traps, design for resilience rather than reaction, and turn uncertainty into momentum.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Spot early signals of risk or opportunity on your campus and act before issues escalate.
  2. Turn messy, competing future scenarios into a small set of confident, mission-aligned campus planning options.
  3. Facilitate candid, low-drama conversations about uncertainty that actually build alignment (and maybe even goodwill).
  4. Align sideways (not just top-down) by rallying unlikely allies and expanding the circle of people who'll take your calls.
Topics: Campus Planning; Planning Skills and Supports
Tags: Campus Planning; Consensus Building; Responding to Disruptive Events

Reframing the Narrative: Climate Action Planning in Uncertain Times

Presented by Richard Johnson, Senior Executive Director for Sustainability, Rice University | Josh Lasky, Director, Office of Sustainability, George Washington University | Jordan Stewart, Director of Sustainability, Tulane University | Tamar Warburg, Director of Sustainability, Sasaki

With current shifts in the economic and political landscape, the approach to climate action goals is changing. How can we reframe the narrative to maintain support for climate action goals and investments in these uncertain times’ This panel of sustainability directors will discuss how each institution is addressing this challenge based on their institution's mission, context, and values. We will discuss a range of strategies to maintain sustainability, decarbonization, and resilience initiatives, such as focusing on the business case for infrastructure modernization, reframing energy investments as projects to improve health and wellness, and incorporating climate action upgrades into risk mitigation efforts for extreme weather and heat.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Reframe sustainability and decarbonization investments in terms of institutional values and priorities, like fiscal responsibility, support of growth projections, health and wellness, showcasing green technologies, and resilience planning.
  2. Expand the vocabulary we use to discuss climate action to address campus motivators such as infrastructure modernization, efficiency of operation and maintenance, climate readiness, community resilience, and campus as a living lab.
  3. Describe a business case for infrastructure modernization that analyzes a range of financial impacts and budget sources, comparing 'business as usual' to infrastructure upgrades and electrification.
  4. Consider implementation strategies to optimize cost-effective climate action, such as integration with deferred maintenance budgets, programmatic renovations, and as supporting infrastructure in capital project costs.
Topics: Campus Planning
Tags: Carbon Neutral; Energy Efficiency and Conservation; Sustainability (Environmental); Sustainability Planning

Small Projects, Big Impacts!

Presented by Jennifer Baldwin, Director of Facilities, Saint John Fisher College | Elliot Felix, Partner, Higher Education Sector Lead, Buro Happold | Quay Thompson, Principal, HOLT Architects

Faced with tight resources, those responsible for an institution's physical environment need to extend the impact of small capital projects. This session offers real examples and takeaways for getting big impact from small projects while strengthening student experience and belonging. We'll share a practical playbook and describe how it was used to plan three small and mid-sized projects at St. John Fisher University that ensured focused, affordable interventions supported community, belonging, experiential learning, and academic identity. You will leave with a repeatable framework to plan small capital projects that move institutional goals forward, making meaningful progress even in times of uncertainty and limited resources.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Engage campus partners more strategically by aligning small projects with institutional goals.
  2. Apply a repeatable framework to plan small capital projects that strengthen community, belonging, and academic identity.
  3. Find opportunities in renovation or renewal projects to have meaningful effects at multiple scales and on multiple aspects of the campus or student experience.
  4. Communicate the priorities of small projects to generate excitement, build momentum, and generate funding opportunities.
Topics: Facilities Planning
Tags: Campus Planning; Facilities Planning; Renovation
Topics: Facilities Planning, Alignment, Campus Planning, Planning Skills and Supports, Academic Planning
Lunch

Lunch

Campus Tours (Additional Fee)

Small and Mighty: Targeted Transformative Renovations for Student Success Tour

Monday, July 20, 12pm - 1:30pm Preregistration required Many large institutions have outdated and underused facilities that are limiting their ability to reach their strategic plans and student success goals. By re-imagining aging facilities, campuses are better suited to serve future-forward needs, such as advancing academic excellence, meeting equitable accessibility standards, achieving environmental goals, and reducing operations and maintenance backlogs. This short walking tour of University of Minnesota’s East Bank campus will showcase how the intentional planning and design of three small and mighty transformative renovations significantly impacted the campus experience and student success. We will explore the Sanford Hall dining and kitchen renovations' impact on student life; how the Murphy Hall learning labs, library, and broadcast studio renovations are supporting academic excellence; and how the University of Minnesota Fieldhouse's exterior rehabilitation, surface replacement, and inclusive restrooms improve health and wellness. Join us to gain insights about the university’s goals as well as the processes and tools for transforming existing spaces into state-of-the-art facilities that enhance academic programs, student services, community partnerships, and environmental goals.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Assess an existing facility’s potential to advance an institution’s vision (as well as strategic and academic plans) using engagement methods, technical tools, and financial analysis.
  2. Determine the limitations of existing buildings associated with multiple construction types and eras as well as academic program needs.
  3. Develop appropriate building/space programs that create equitable access for students and increase student success.
  4. Identify and define programs and design approaches that create community-campus connections and enhance academic and industry partnerships.
Concurrent Sessions
Presented by Becky Copper Glenz, Dean, School of Graduate, Online and Continuing Education, Fitchburg State University | Claudia Tomany, Dean of the School of Graduate Studies and Associate Provost for Research and Sp, Saint Cloud State University | Christopher Zakrzewski, Director of Learning Design, Baylor University

Institutions are seeing rapid growth in online and hybrid learning, yet most planning models still assume a primarily physical student experience. This session explores how integrated planning can help universities anticipate and manage the academic, technological, and spatial shifts created by digital expansion. You will examine strategies that connect academic planning, enrollment forecasting, technology infrastructure, and institutional effectiveness. Using real campus scenarios, we'll show how online learning reshapes demand and requires leaders to develop adaptive skills that keep pace with AI and new learning models. You will leave with practical tools to apply integrated planning to prepare for digital growth.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Assess the readiness of your campus services (technology infrastructure, student services, advising models, faculty development, academic programming, and operations) for online expansion.
  2. Outline plans for faculty development and engagement in the planning process for online expansion, including onboarding, instructional design resources, incentives, and governance alignment.
  3. Identify steps your institution can take to prepare for advances in AI in teaching and learning, including policy preparation, academic integrity considerations, curriculum redesign implications, and equity concerns.
  4. Evaluate ways to embed innovation and futurist thinking into your institution's planning models.
Topics: Academic Planning
Tags: Academic Planning, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Online Learning, Student Experience, Information Technology Planning
Presented by Kaitlin Pierce, Analyst, Economic & Workforce, Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College

Strategic planning often assumes institutions have clear program structures, shared definitions, and aligned data, but that's rarely the case. Unclear ownership, fragmented data, and unexamined assumptions are foundational 'cracks' that can impede alignment and plan success. This session examines the often-missed diagnostic step institutions need to take before strategic planning can begin. We'll explore the hidden operational and data-structure gaps that derail planning and share an emerging lens for diagnosing foundational misalignment before you launch your planning process. You will leave with adaptable diagnostic practices that immediately improve your ability to spot misalignment, ask better foundational questions, and initiate early alignment conversations in your unit.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Assess planning readiness by examining the underlying operational and data foundation of your institution.
  2. Apply root-cause inquiry to identify foundational gaps that obstruct operational and strategic alignment within your institution.
  3. Initiate productive conversations about misalignment and structural problems across departments.
  4. Map early next steps for improving alignment within your unit and/or institution, even without formal authority.
Topics: Strategic Planning
Tags: Alignment, Preparing to Plan, Unit Planning, Internal Scanning, Strategic Planning
Presented by Jenny Burton, Senior Project Manager, Commonwealth of Massachusetts | Rick Jones, President, Jones Architecture | Andrea Kathryn Talentino, President, Augustana College-Illinois | Sarah Tarbet, Associate Principal, Jones Architecture

The challenges that institutions have faced over the past decade—the demographic cliff, funding challenges, the post-Covid campus, the climate crisis, and energy costs—impact small institutions and community colleges more than anywhere else. We will compare and contrast four recent master plans at small institutions and a community college to see how each has addressed these vulnerabilities. By aligning master planning approaches and solutions to their identities, these institutions have been able to reframe constraints as opportunities. You will leave with practical ways to leverage existing facilities, right-size resources, and strengthen your institution's identity.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Use space utilization patterns and right-sizing strategies to reshape your campus master plan, turning enrollment challenges into opportunities for stronger academic alignment.
  2. Identify assets on your campus that provide opportunities for new resource streams that reinforce institutional identity.
  3. Recast hybrid learning and remote work as drivers of intentional in-person engagement and more efficient space planning.
  4. Apply systems-level thinking to advance energy, sustainability, and operational goals with phased, achievable interventions.
Topics: Campus Planning
Tags: Campus Master Planning, Community College, Space Assessment
Presented by Amber Beezley, Director, Feasibility, Planning & Programming, Tulane University | Jeffrey Benjamin, VP, Facilities Mgmt & Campus Development, Tulane University | Katelyn Gosselin, Director of Campus Planning, Tufts University | Tom Simister, Director of Space Strategies, PAYETTE

As research programs evolve and resources tighten, institutions must make deliberate, data-driven choices about how laboratory and scholarly environments are allocated and supported. This session examines practical methods for translating institutional goals into clear policies, defensible research space standards, and for applying those standards across diverse scientific disciplines. We will share approaches for measuring utilization, aligning space decisions with faculty needs, and coordinating policy implementation across academic and administrative units. You will gain strategies to strengthen transparency around research space planning, improve planning accuracy, and navigate the complex operational realities of managing research space.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Summarize best practices and tools for collecting, classifying, and measuring research space.
  2. Describe strategies for organizing research space governance, clarifying roles, and establishing processes to handle exceptions to policy, retire underutilized space, and coordinated shared research environments.
  3. Use research space audit results to surface space inefficiencies and identify opportunities for impactful investment.
  4. Reconcile space standards and policy with operational realities, and anticipate research-specific issues that often challenge space standards.
Topics: Campus Planning
Tags: Laboratory Facility, Space Management
Presented by Elizabeth Chodos, CMU Public Art Curator, Director of ICA Pittsburgh & Assoc Professor of Curatori, Carnegie Mellon University | Utkarsh Ghildyal, Associate Director of Design, Carnegie Mellon University | Bob Reppe, Assistant Vice President & University Architect, Carnegie Mellon University

Public art enriches the campus environment, fostering a sense of community and enhancing the aesthetic and cultural value of university spaces. This session provides a blueprint for collaborating with campus partners to seamlessly integrate public art into your campus. Using recent examples from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), we will detail the project lifecycle—defining scope, soliciting using request for proposals (RFP), managing the artist selection process, and successfully commissioning and installing the piece. You will leave with practical strategies and best practices for implementing public art projects, including stakeholder engagement, process management, and ensuring successful installation.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Outline the overall process (from start to finish) for implementing a public art project on campus.
  2. Facilitate collaboration between campus partners, the artist, and the design and construction teams on a public art project.
  3. Explain best practices for maintaining public art after its installed.
  4. Describe how public art can be incorporated into facility designs by treating art as a core architectural element.
Topics: Campus Planning
Tags: Arts District, Placemaking, Campus Planning
Presented by Ed Allen, President, van Zelm Heywood & Shadford, Inc. | Kristina Chmelar, Major Projects Planner, Yale University | Jason Jewhurst, Partner, Principal, Bruner/Cott & Associates, Inc.

The Living Village at Yale Divinity School is the nation's largest Living Building Challenge (LBC) 4.0-designed residential campus project. In this session, we'll discuss how integrated planning and cross-functional collaboration transformed the Living Village's sustainability ambitions into operational realities. We will explore practical frameworks for aligning diverse stakeholders around complex performance targets, including net-positive energy, closed-loop water systems, and embodied carbon reduction. We'll also share how we developed advocacy partnerships with municipal departments to overcome regulatory barriers and how we made transparent decisions and trade-offs under financial constraints. Join us to learn how integrated planning can help you address critical challenges that arise during LBC projects.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Establish cross-functional project teams that integrate facilities planning with academic mission and institutional sustainability goals from project inception through completion.
  2. Develop advocacy strategies to advance campus sustainability agendas when existing frameworks present barriers by leveraging external partnerships with utilities, municipalities, and regulatory agencies.
  3. Use decision-making tools and frameworks, such as life-cycle analysis, phased implementation, and transparent trade-off evaluation, to balance ambitious performance targets with financial constraints.
  4. Create feedback loops between completed capital projects and ongoing campus operations, academic programming, and institutional policy to maximize project impact beyond the building itself.
Topics: Facilities Planning
Tags: Carbon Neutral, Facilities Planning, Student Housing, Sustainability (Environmental), Zero Net Energy (ZNE)
Presented by Karinda Barrett, Vice President, MGT Consulting Group | Daniel Dominguez, Senior Consultant, MGT Consulting Group

Strategic planning succeeds when it reflects the voices of campus and community stakeholders. This session provides actionable strategies for inclusive engagement, data-driven synthesis, and transparent communication. Through practical frameworks and real-world examples, you will discover how to design engagement processes that build trust, foster collaboration, and translate input into measurable priorities. You will leave equipped to map stakeholders, implement engagement activities, convert feedback into strategic goals, and develop communication plans that sustain alignment and accountability.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Create stakeholder maps to identify key stakeholders across campus and community groups.
  2. Implement structured engagement activities that foster collaboration.
  3. Convert stakeholders' qualitative feedback into actionable strategic goals using tools such as AI.
  4. Build communication strategies that sustain trust and ongoing alignment with strategic goals.
Topics: Strategic Planning
Tags: Communication, Engaging Stakeholders, Analyzing Stakeholders, Strategic Planning
Concurrent Sessions
Presented by Matt Hernandez, Senior Director, Office of the President, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center | Jody Randall, Vice President & Chief Experience Officer, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center | Justin White, Assistant Vice President for University Strategy, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center

Many strategic plans devolve into well-intentioned project catalogs, or long lists of 'of course you do' activities that reflect every team but lack real strategic direction. This session explores how to build clarity, alignment, and discipline by positioning strategy as what you can do better than others, not just what you already do. We'll share how Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) refocused its strategy around distinctiveness, competitive advantage, and decision-making tools that prioritize growing our unique strengths over participation. You'll walk away with frameworks, examples, and prompts to help you build a plan that guides what you do instead of simply describing what you do.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Identify and structure the core elements of institutional positioning: audience, distinctiveness, and value delivery.
  2. Differentiate foundational operations ('of course you dos') from strategies that reflect true competitive advantage.
  3. Use filters and decision tools to assess alignment of initiatives with mission, identity, and long-term direction.
  4. Define a practical framework that connects vision to operations through strategic guidelines and prioritization.
Topics: Strategic Planning
Tags: Decision Making, Mission / Vision / Identity, Goals, Determining Priorities, Strategic Planning
Presented by Dan Long, Asst. V.P. Of Campus Life, College for Creative Studies | Ashlei Watson, Director of Academic Planning, College for Creative Studies

When launching new program types in an effort to increase enrollment, successfully integrating new students into the campus community and its systems is vital. This session will explore how College for Creative Studies (CCS), an art and design college, used integrated planning methods to conceptualize, initiate, design, and launch an innovative three-year creative business-focused bachelor of arts degree. The new degree will bring a different student demographic to the campus, with potentially new and different needs compared to traditional CCS students. We'll focus on how student services and the academic division are working together to ensure a strong and aligned student experience.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Describe the role integrated planning and future-focused initiatives play in the launch of a new degree program.
  2. Use human-centric processes and systems to reconsider existing systems and processes through the lens of an audience with different goals.
  3. Analyze student demographics beyond existing categories to determine how you can support their belonging and engagement.
  4. Collaborate with other units institution-wide to ready the institution for a new student group.
Topics: Academic Planning
Tags: Academic Planning, New Program or Department, Student Demographics, Student Experience, Student Life / Student Affairs
Presented by Lisa Ferreira, Principal, Student Life Practice Leader, Goody Clancy | Kate Mann, Partner, ZGF Architects LLP | Bob Reppe, Assistant Vice President & University Architect, Carnegie Mellon University | Kent Suhrbier, Principal, Bohlin Cywinski Jackson

As urban universities grow, town/gown relationships demand that universities develop thoughtfully and harmoniously with their neighbors. Explore how Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) developed three projects that support both the university's and Pittsburgh's needs. Through the lens of these campus edge projects, we will discuss how we planned, designed, and delivered developments that support the university's mission while also building stronger community relationships and mitigating impacts. Join us and learn more about the planning and design process we used, how the university's relationship with its neighbors evolved the final project, and lessons learned for town/gown relationships.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Explain how a comprehensive campus plan can reinforce the institutional mission while acknowledging the needs of neighbors.
  2. Build campus and community discussion and engagement into your design process.
  3. Address the concerns of neighbors (both community and the city) in project decisions while ensuring the university's needs are still met.
  4. List lessons learned that can improve your town/gown engagements during campus edge projects.
Topics: Facilities Planning
Tags: Campus Development, Community Engagement, Master Plan, Town and Gown, Urban Campus
Presented by Paula Ganyard, Director of Libraries, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay | Lisa Hynes, Executive Director Campus Planning, Boston University | Bob Mohr, Principal, Shepley Bulfinch | Alexandra Ramsey, Principal Partner, Engberg Anderson Architects

Mid-century modern buildings, many in Brutalist style, proliferate on campuses and are notoriously hard to adapt. Beyond aesthetic challenges, they demand strategic investment to address physical challenges, evolving pedagogy, and student needs. This session explores how strategic, programmatic, economic, and facility renewal analyses are integrated to determine the fates of Brutalist-era campus structures, with examples from Boston University and University of Wisconsin–Green Bay. You will gain practical frameworks for evaluating Brutalist buildings that consider renovate-versus-replacement costs, operational challenges, deferred maintenance, heritage value, reuse feasibility, and sustainability, helping you make informed and defensible decisions on renovation, transformation, or replacement.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Identify transformational opportunities for the mid-century structures on your campus.
  2. Apply a framework for evaluating Brutalist campus buildings that considers a broad set of academic, financial, campus planning, and facilities criteria in mind.
  3. Evaluate which strategic investments in your campus buildings, existing or new, can support long-term academic and campus planning goals.
  4. Develop integrated planning strategies that balance heritage with functionality and align programmatic and capital investment criteria with evolving campus values.
Topics: Facilities Planning
Tags: Decision Making, Facilities Assessment, Renovation, Campus Planning
Presented by Brandon Toliver, Special Assistant to the President for Facilities & Construction, Tuskegee University

This session shares how Tuskegee University (TU) is experiencing a renaissance—a bold, student-centered transformation driven by integrated planning—by focusing on TU's capital planning model, which aligns strategy, budgets, and capital priorities, empowering TU to make data-driven, transparent investment decisions. We will share the model and dive into key components, including the use of multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) to prioritize capital projects, how we balance deferred maintenance with new growth, and how to build consensus across departments. You will learn how to apply TU's practical, transparent framework on your campus and create integrated capital plans that connect vision, data, and student outcomes.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Prioritize capital projects using a multi-criteria framework by appying an MCDA tool to rank investments by factors like strategic alignment, student impact, urgency of deferred maintenance, campus heritage, and return on investment.
  2. Develop an integrated planning roadmap that connects and synchronizes strategic plans, academic program needs, financial capacity, and physical campus plans into a unified roadmap that puts student success at the center of capital decision-making.
  3. Evaluate and communicate how each proposed project enhances student success, strengthens campus resilience, and improves long-term financial health, in order to build stakeholder buy-in and funding support.
  4. Implement interactive techniques and exercises to involve cross-functional stakeholders in prioritization decisions, break down silos, and build consensus around integrated planning initiatives.
Topics: Campus Planning
Tags: Capital Planning, Historically Black College or University (HBCU), Competing Priorities
Presented by Greg Aldridge, Associate Principal Planner, HDR, Inc. | Peg Peterson, Facilities Director, University of Michigan

At the launch of a master plan, its implementation is consistently left to be determined later, often by people outside of the planning process. The University of Michigan's College of Engineering has been generally successful in translating ideas to action over the course of two master planning cycles and offers an honest and insightful review of what has worked and what hasn't. This session will give frank, practical advice for implementing a master plan. We'll discuss how to plan in a way that sets implementation up for success, how to make the plan work for you, how to manage funding changes and priority shifts, and how to plan for operational management in a sustainable, evolving way.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Describe challenges and opportunities encountered when implementing a master plan.
  2. List key tasks in a research facilities study or master planning process that will improve the likelihood of implementation.
  3. Adapt your master plan to changes in priorities or new constraints.
  4. Use your master plan to manage buildings, including the utilization of research space.
Topics: Campus Planning
Tags: Implementation, Science / Engineering Facility, Campus Planning, Campus Master Plan
Concurrent Sessions
Presented by Alison Handy, LX Facilitator,

The ability to transform complex data into clear and compelling narratives is an essential skill for today's professionals. This session focuses on the foundational principles of data storytelling and effective visual communication. You will learn how to thoughtfully organize data, identify meaningful patterns, and recognize common challenges organizations face when communicating information to diverse audiences. We will also explore the strategic use of visuals (including charts, graphics, and dashboards) to enhance narrative and improve clarity. You will leave with a deeper understanding of how to use data storytelling to elevate your message and support informed decision-making.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Collaborate more effectively with colleagues by using data to inform decisions.
  2. Use data to craft compelling narratives that engage diverse audiences.
  3. Choose visual tools that enhance the clarity of your data narrative.
  4. Guide colleagues in developing clear and effective data stories.
Topics: Planning Skills and Supports
Tags: Communication, Data, Decision Making
Presented by Samantha Babcock, Facilities Business Intelligence Analyst, California Institute of Technology | Kari Myers, Manager of Service and Process, California Institute of Technology | Tim Ranalli, Director, Asset Management and Services, California Institute of Technology

Facilities teams are redefining their role in institutional strategy by transforming asset data into organizational intelligence. This session shares how California Institute of Technology's Total Enterprise Asset Management (T.E.A.M.) model bridges strategy and operations by using facilities asset management, data standards, and AI to enable smarter capital decisions. We'll describe how we united people, process, and technology to turn facilities data into institutional intelligence. You will gain practical methods to assess asset maturity, align people and data, and apply AI tools that enhance decision-making. Learn how to build a model that improves planning accuracy, simplifies prioritization, and nurtures collaboration across facilities and institutional functions.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Evaluate institutional facilities asset management maturity using a standardized tool.
  2. Design an organizational roadmap to strengthen campus planning by integrating people, process, and technology.
  3. Apply practical strategies for introducing AI tools that augment human expertise in facilities and planning.
  4. Build a collaborative culture of data stewardship that bridges operations, finance, and campus planning to sustain continuous improvement.
Topics: Campus Planning
Tags: Capital Planning, Data, Facilities Assessment, Campus Planning
Presented by Tracey Meilander, Associate Provost, Curriculum and Compliance, Stockton University | Peter Starrett, EVP & CFO, Gray Associates | Nicole Suprun, Associate Director of Planning, Stockton University

Effective academic planning requires institutions to evaluate program viability and sustainability using consistent, transparent methods. This session will show how Stockton University uses program evaluation system software within a data-informed framework to integrate market demand, enrollment trends, student success metrics, and cost/revenue data into essential institutional processes such as program review, curriculum development, and annual reporting. We will share strategies that build a culture of evidence, strengthen communication with campus stakeholders, and align decisions with strategic goals and resources. You will leave with adaptable strategies you can immediately apply to enhance program evaluation and academic planning at your institution, regardless of your data system.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Apply consistent, comparable evaluation methods, regardless of your data system, to assess program demand, enrollment trends, student success indicators, and cost/revenue performance.
  2. Incorporate programmatic data into program review cycles, curriculum planning, annual reporting, and resource requests to strengthen evidence-based decision-making.
  3. Guide discussions with faculty, deans, and leadership by using clear visuals, shared metrics, and common definitions that improve alignment and reduce ambiguity.
  4. Identify ways to establish approaches and practices that promote shared ownership of data, reinforce transparency, and support institution-wide adoption of evidence-informed planning and decision-making.
Topics: Academic Planning
Tags: Academic Planning, Academic Program Review, Data, Decision Making
Presented by Monique MacKenzie, Director, Campus and Capital Planning, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities | Shane Stennes, Chief Sustainability Officer, University of Minnesota

In 2022, the University of Minnesota's (UMN) strategic plan directed a staff team to prepare campus and climate action plans across the UMN system by 2025. The charge was to deliver an integrated process that would meet consistent targets and deliverables across four unique sites. This session describes the coordinated approach to campus and climate action planning our team took, resulting in representative plans that supported each campus community. We'll share how we aligned efforts, established equitable treatment at each campus, engaged stakeholders in defining challenges and articulating aspirations, ensured technical capacity, and worked within the decision-making culture of different campus communities.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Define best practices for effective engagement on future-state campus and climate action planning topics among multiple campus constituencies.
  2. Use owner-provided data as well as data generated during the planning process to focus efforts on defining key planning recommendations.
  3. Describe the best methods for graphic, illustrative, and narrative communication about comprehensive campus and climate action planning recommendations.
  4. Anticipate the challenges of implementing coordinated and integrated campus and climate action plans at a diverse array of campus sites.
Topics: Campus Planning
Tags: Carbon Neutral, Sustainability (Environmental), Campus Planning, Sustainability Planning
Presented by Nate Goore, Principal, MKThink | Cristina Greavu Pieris, Director of Strategy, MKThink | David Vazquez-Levy, President, Pacific School of Religion

Many small, mission-driven institutions are struggling due to aging campuses amid rising costs, declining enrollment, and changing program needs. Modernization alone can't solve these systemic challenges. This session presents how the Pacific School of Religion used an integrated planning approach, combining mission alignment, program analysis, space utilization, financial modeling, and partnership strategy, to right-size its campus and reposition it as a partnership-driven, inter-generational, interdisciplinary shared environment. You will gain practical frameworks to develop mission-aligned visions, reduce operational burden, integrate partner organizations into campus life, prioritize capital investments, and use a MVP (minimum viable project) strategy to catalyze sustainable campus transformation.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Develop a mission-aligned, partnership-ready campus vision that expresses institutional values, clarifies long-term goals, and intentionally anticipates future collaborators, positioning them not as tenants but as contributors to institutional life.
  2. Evaluate, right-size, and reorganize your campus footprint by mapping mission priorities, academic and co-curricular delivery patterns, community use, real utilization data, and operational demands to identify opportunities to use space effectively.
  3. Design shared-use, multi-user environments that strengthen collaboration by transforming single-purpose or underutilized areas into flexible, interdisciplinary, inter-generational spaces that support programming across multiple organizations.
  4. Prioritize capital investments and sequence improvements strategically using an integrated planning framework, enabling you to launch transformative change through phased, financially grounded implementation steps.
Topics: Campus Planning
Tags: External Collaboration / Partnerships, Shared Facilities, Space Management, Campus Planning
Presented by Dan Forthofer, Senior Research & Project Manager, Lorain County Community College | Julie Strazzo, Mngr of Projects, Lorain County Community College

Built on a future-focused, VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity) framework, THRIVE 2035 is Lorain County Community College's bold new vision to deliver 35,000 more degrees and credentials of value by 2035. In this session, we will discuss the strategic planning process behind THRIVE 2035, from concept to implementation. In particular, we will share how we engaged students, faculty, staff, partners, and our community in building consensus toward THRIVE 2035 and how we stay on trajectory based on current conditions. You will leave with engagement strategies and best practices for developing strategic plans with bold, aspirational aims.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Facilitate conversations with varied constituents and stakeholders through all aspects of a strategic planning process.
  2. Design engaging sessions that include interactive activities with attendees to build consensus.
  3. Leverage already established opportunities, including other institutional planning efforts, to enhance your strategic planning process and deepen connectivity for greatest impact.
  4. Apply a comprehensive approach, designing with the end in mind, to build your strategic plan.
Topics: Strategic Planning
Tags: Community College, Consensus Building, Engaging Stakeholders, Strategic Planning
Presented by Nico Hohman, Executive Director, Georgetown University

Graduate students in the United States are becoming younger, and this shift is changing how they use campus spaces, support services, and academic programs. The Graduate Youth Index provides a clear way to measure this demographic trend and forecast future needs. This session will show how you can use the Index to align strategy, academics, facilities, and resources with the real behaviors of younger graduate learners. You will examine gaps between current campus assumptions and actual student use patterns, and will leave with practical approaches to update space guidelines, advising models, and planning processes.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Evaluate how shifting age patterns in graduate enrollment impact your institution's space, budget, and program decisions.
  2. Apply the Graduate Youth Index to forecast future student needs and support integrated planning cycles.
  3. Identify mismatches between current campus assumptions and the real behaviors of younger graduate learners.
  4. Design planning strategies that align academic programs, space use, and services with this demographic shift.
Topics: Campus Planning
Tags: Space Management, Student Demographics, User Research
Registration

Registration

Concurrent Sessions
Facilitated by Brandon Toliver, Special Assistant to the President for Facilities & Construction, Tuskegee University
Deciding which capital projects move forward (and when) often involves complex institutional dynamics. Participants will share strategies, barriers, and success stories in fostering collaboration across campus planning teams and prioritizing capital projects. The format is a peer-to-peer roundtable with no presentation.
Topics: Facilities Planning, Campus Planning
Tags: Capital Planning
Presented by Margaret Carney, University Architect, Cornell University | Tom Chung, , Leers Weinzapfel Associates | Peter MacKeith, Dean, University of Arkansas

Engineered wood, or mass timber, is a low-carbon, biophilic alternative to conventional building materials. Unfortunately, its adoption faced a series of significant barriers, including restrictive building codes, limited performance data, uncertain procurement pathways, and skepticism from regulators and insurers. This session examines three case studies to illustrate how these obstacles have been progressively addressed, resulting in significant improvements over the past decade. We'll discuss how updated building codes, comprehensive research on mass timber, and increased manufacturing capacity are making it easier than ever to use mass timber as a key strategy toward a carbon-free future.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Describe the sustainability benefits of mass timber, including its impacts on operational energy use and the embodied energy of the building itself.
  2. Explain how one institution brought together architecture, forestry, engineering, and construction to advance timber-based building technologies and build a new model for sustainable, wood-centered architecture and construction.
  3. Use your campus's sustainability commitments to help stakeholders move past their hesitancy around using mass timber.
  4. Describe when a hybrid structure is the appropriate solution for introducing mass timber.
Topics: Facilities Planning
Tags: Facilities Design, Facilities Planning, Sustainability (Environmental)
Presented by Gregory Stoup, Vice President, Cuyahoga Community College District

Higher education planning often assumes stable enrollment cycles, degree-first hiring, and predictable adult demand. These assumptions no longer hold. Labor markets shifted to skills-first hiring, adults prioritize income and speed-to-value, and trust in college has weakened. This session shares a planning model shaped by these structural trends. It combines labor and demographic analysis, community feedback, pathway redesign, and clearer indicators for completion, placement, and time-to-value. The approach links strategy to implementation through a repeatable planning cadence. You will leave with practical tools to recalibrate strategic, academic, and other plans in a changed environment.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Set up structured community feedback forums that invite candid critique, surface unmet needs, and push the institution out of its comfort zone.
  2. Convert community expectations into planning priorities by identifying where current practices fall short and framing those gaps as drivers for institutional change.
  3. Redesign programs and pathways for speed, stackability, and relevance based on what working learners and employers actually demand.
  4. Establish a disciplined planning cadence that ties goals to owners, timelines, and visible progress signals so the institution stays accountable to its community.
Topics: Strategic Planning, Academic Planning
Tags: Academic Planning, Planning Processes, Workforce Development, Strategic Planning
Presented by Karla Sierralta, Associate Professor, Director of Undergraduate Studies, University of Hawaii at Manoa | Brian Strawn, Director, University of Hawaii at Manoa | Hunter Wells, Computational and Architectural Designer, University of Hawaii at Manoa

Campuses face complex campus planning challenges that require early testing and inclusive input. A design lab model offers shared tools, cultural grounding, and collaborative processes that help institutions make clearer, more responsive planning decisions. This session presents a campus design lab model that uses pilots, prototypes, cultural grounding, and cross-disciplinary collaboration to strengthen planning, align academic and administrative priorities, and support more informed decision-making across a multi-campus system. You will learn practical methods for using pilots, prototypes, cultural insight, and cross-disciplinary collaboration to clarify problems, build alignment, and strengthen campus planning decisions.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Create pilot projects or prototypes that test campus planning ideas early and reveal user needs.
  2. Apply culturally grounded research methods to strengthen the relevance and impact of planning decisions.
  3. Assemble cross-disciplinary groups or advisory councils that connect academic, cultural, and technical expertise to campus planning efforts.
  4. Use prototyping and collaboration tools to clarify complex challenges and build stakeholder alignment.
Topics: Campus Planning
Tags: Collaborative Design, Campus Planning
Presented by Seth Weinshel, Associate Vice President, Business Services, George Washington University | Jason Wilcoxon, Principal, Ayers Saint Gross

Food insecurity remains a pressing challenge at urban institutions where students face high living costs. At The George Washington University (GWU), a shift from retail dining to an all-you-care-to-eat model sought to improve food equity while maintaining choice. This session explores the design, operational, and social impacts of that transition through case studies and discussion. You will examine strategies for balancing autonomy and access in dining models, assess dining models within your institution, and identify ways to adapt facilities and policies for inclusivity.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Analyze how dining program models, such as retail versus all-you-care-to-eat, impact food equity, student choice, and financial sustainability.
  2. Identify planning and design strategies that enhance access to food while optimizing facility operations and space use.
  3. Apply lessons from GWU's dining transformation to assess or refine your institution's approach to food security and the student experience.
  4. Engage diverse stakeholders in dialogue to align dining strategies with institutional mission, community needs, and student well-being.
Topics: Facilities Planning
Tags: Dining Facility, Facilities Planning, Health and Wellness, Resolving Inequities
Presented by Nasrin Fatima, Associate Provost for Assessment and Analytics, Binghamton University | June Ng, Executive Director of Capital Projects, Barnard College | Michael Nieminen, Architect & Planner,

Colleges and universities often gather rich institutional, academic, capital, and physical planning data, yet these insights frequently move through fragmented channels, leading to misinterpretation and misaligned outcomes. This session demonstrates how a unified planning structure, with all planning voices engaged from capital project inception through delivery, strengthens decision-making, aligns projects with institutional and student-success goals, and results in more strategic capital investments. Through real examples, we will show how collaborative processes elevate planning culture and project results. You will walk away with actionable frameworks for capital project governance, steering committees, and collaborative workflows that keep planners aligned, resulting in smoother decisions, clearer priorities, and more strategic project development.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Leverage institutional planning expertise by applying data governance, assessment findings, enrollment trends, and research insights to shape capital project scope, guide strategic decisions, and ensure alignment with institutional priorities.
  2. Mobilize academic planning perspectives by actively translating curricular goals, accreditation requirements, interdisciplinary initiatives, and student-success priorities into clear programmatic and spatial planning criteria.
  3. Apply capital planning strategies that balance institutional aspirations with financial realities to create budgets and resource plans that serve diverse stakeholders.
  4. Build and sustain integrated planning teams that use institutional, academic, and capital data to shape physical planning decisions for greater transparency, alignment, and project coherence.
Topics: Alignment, Campus Planning, Academic Planning
Tags: Capital Planning, Data, Facilities Planning, Alignment
Presented by Carrie Moore, Principal and Founder, Groundswell Transformations

In today's volatile higher education landscape, scenario planning is essential, but often slow and resource-intensive. This session explores how generative AI can accelerate scenario development, enabling institutions to envision multiple futures, identify key uncertainties, and make mission-aligned decisions faster. You will discover how AI tools streamline planning workflows, support strategic foresight, and foster organizational resilience. Through examples and practical guidance, you will gain actionable techniques to implement AI-assisted scenario planning and build adaptive, future-focused planning cycles.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Use generative AI tools to rapidly create multiple future scenario narratives for institutional planning.
  2. Analyze internal and external trend data with AI to pinpoint key uncertainties affecting your institution's strategy.
  3. Integrate AI-generated scenario insights into strategic planning decisions to ensure actions are aligned with both the mission and possible futures.
  4. Implement an iterative, AI-informed scenario planning cycle at your institution so plans can continuously adapt as conditions change.
Topics: Planning Skills and Supports
Tags: Adaptable Plans, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Scenario Planning
Presented by Kevin Allebach, Principal, HGA | Eric Jessup Anger, Student Involvement Director and Student Union Assistant Director, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee | Adaheid Mestad, Design Anthropologist, HGA

Campus leaders need to understand how design shapes student engagement, belonging, and performance. Credible building occupant evaluation insights shape continuous improvement, refine engagement strategies, spark new questions, and guide long-term campus planning. Using University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee Student Union's pre- and post-renovation occupant evaluations, this session introduces a framework for occupant evaluations centered on student belonging, pride, safety, and well-being. You will gain actionable strategies for inclusive engagement and defining student success metrics, along with tools for collecting and presenting data that empowers campus leaders to drive immediate improvements and long-term planning.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Articulate the value of occupant evaluations and advocate for their use to guide data-informed campus and facilities planning decisions.
  2. Integrate additional engagement strategies and methods to support the project's process, success criteria, and decision-making.
  3. Apply a collaborative occupant evaluation framework—built on cross-functional partnerships and iterative engagement—where the results can directly support leadership decision-making.
  4. Leverage mixed-method, data-driven insights from a recent student union evaluation to inform current and future campus projects aimed at strengthening student belonging, connection, and overall experience.
Topics: Facilities Planning
Tags: Facilities Planning, Post-Occupancy Evaluation, Student Center / Union, Campus Planning
Concurrent Sessions
Presented by Jeremiah Dumas, Executive Director, Mississippi State University | David Lieb, Principal | National Director of Higher Ed Mobility Planning, Walker Consultants

For decades, institutions have relied on structured parking to meet rising demand. Given rising costs and uncertain enrollment, structured parking may not be the best use of limited campus resources. This session describes Mississippi State University's (MSU) data-driven approach to parking master planning, which led to their decision to adopt an innovative permit and waiting-list management system as an alternative to costly structured parking. We'll explore how innovative permit processes can optimize existing or limited parking resources, allowing institutions to reduce future capital and maintenance needs. Join us and learn how to optimize campus parking by leveraging existing resources, reducing reliance on costly new structures while meeting evolving needs.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Outline a parking master planning process that aligns with the campus master plan and regional transportation plans.
  2. Describe parking innovations and solutions that decrease the long-term reliance on expensive structured parking.
  3. Outline the process for implementing innovative parking permit processes.
  4. Summarize the benefits one institution experienced from moving to innovative parking solutions.
Topics: Campus Planning
Tags: Master Plan, Transportation and Parking
Presented by Andrew Barnett, Principal, Hopkins Architects | Jennifer Makkreel, Associate Director of Capital Projects, University of Oxford | Jonathan Watts, Director, Hopkins Architects

This session will describe how a highly collaborative and strategic approach to planning, design, and project management of the University of Oxford's largest and most complex capital project (the Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities) has delivered on a long-term vision to transform the relationship between university and city. We will describe how vision and project program emerged; how a permeable yet compact design approach reshaped connections between campus and city to create the university's first publicly accessible building; how inclusivity, sustainability, and modern methods of construction transformed technically complex design and delivery; and how deep stakeholder collaboration—from donor to local community—enabled effective governance and project management.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Develop collaborative planning methods to boost economic and social value in projects, resulting in healthier campuses.
  2. Develop permeable and compact design approaches that enrich connections between campuses and their cities.
  3. Create inclusive, sustainable, robust, and practical methodologies for the modern delivery of large, complex institutional projects set in dense and sensitive wider communities.
  4. Use coherent stakeholder engagement strategies to establish effective programming and project governance, including donors, university administration, academics, students, performing arts specialists, and the city community.
Topics: Facilities Planning
Tags: Facilities Design, Facilities Planning, Fine and Performing Arts Facility, Town and Gown
Presented by Ricardo Azziz, Principal, Foundation for Research and Education Excellence | Richard Katzman, Fellow, Center for Higher Education Mergers and Acquisitions (CHEMA)

After 12+ years of declining enrollment, higher education now faces massive excess capacity and unprecedented institutional closures. These pressures demand changes and options far beyond traditional 'belt tightening,' pushing leaders outside their comfort zones. This session examines the type of leadership these 'big scary changes' require. Using a deconstructive framework, we outline seven essential competencies for today's leaders: managing uncertainty, inclusive envisioning, pacing change, communicating clearly, building teams that embrace change, leading from the front, and demonstrating real courage. You will learn practical strategies and tactics to manage difficult conversations, empower teams, and lead existential institutional change.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Describe how to deliver clear, adaptive messages on difficult topics by choosing the right communication style for each audience.
  2. Identify new tools to initiate and guide strategic conversations on sensitive strategic options, including mergers and consolidations, with key campus stakeholders.
  3. Explain how successful leaders have engaged their institutions to advance more challenging strategies.
  4. Evaluate conditions affecting your institution, connect these data points, and locate the most significant risks and opportunities.
Topics: Planning Skills and Supports
Tags: Change Management, Communication, Leadership, Organizational Change
Presented by Daniel Berumen, Director, Research and Planning, Fullerton College | Bridget Kominek, Associate Professor, Fullerton College | Jeanette Rodriguez, Dean, Fullerton College

Fullerton College is transforming its program review, planning, and resource allocation processes to align them more closely with each other, deeply infuse them in governance processes, and increase authentic engagement and transparency. In this session, management and faculty leads will share the lessons learned from the first full year of implementation, which included efforts to build campus-wide knowledge of integrated planning processes and develop and implement homegrown software. By resisting pressures to make integrated planning compliance-oriented and embracing collaboration, institutions can create processes that serve as a bulwark against in-fighting and cultural erosion during times when funding is limited. Join us and learn how.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Adjust your program review, planning, and resource allocation processes to include a wider range of the campus community.
  2. Break the process of implementing large-scale changes to integrated planning processes into manageable steps.
  3. Anticipate the inevitable challenges that arise when changing integrated planning processes—specifically those connected with implementation and the shifting roles of groups on campus—and address those challenges more effectively.
  4. Evaluate the effectiveness of compliance-oriented approaches to integrated planning versus leading implementation of large-scale changes in a more holistic, collaborative, and authentic way.
Topics: Alignment
Tags: Academic Program Review, Administrative Program Review, Community College, Alignment, Strategic Planning, Resource Planning
Presented by Johnny Evans, President, College of Coastal Georgia | Lisa Jellum, Assistant Vice Provost, Georgia Highlands College | Adam Post, Higher Education Leader, DLR Group | Quintin Taylor, Chancellor, River Parishes Community College

Career and technical education (CTE) thrives when K-12, higher education, industry, and government work as one ecosystem. This panel brings together CTE leaders from Georgia, Texas, and Louisiana community colleges who have successfully dismantled silos through shared facilities, aligned pathways, and braided funding. Panelists reveal replicable strategies for co-designing credentials, stacking funding sources, and creating flexible multi-use spaces that serve secondary students, college learners, and workforce training simultaneously. You will leave with proven frameworks to forge regional partnerships, secure sustainable funding, and design campus environments that eliminate redundancy while accelerating student transitions into colleges.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Describe how to build cross-sector partnerships that align high-demand career curricula, credentials, and facilities from K-12 through higher education into industry-recognized pathways.
  2. Explain how layered funding portfolios can combine federal, state, philanthropic, and industry sources to launch and sustain collaborative CTE programs.
  3. Identify design features of multi-use facilities—such as shared labs, innovation centers, and flexible training spaces—that support joint programming and reduce redundancy.
  4. Outline strategies to align academic programs with workforce needs and accelerate student transitions into high-demand careers.
Topics: Facilities Planning, Alignment
Tags: Community College, External Collaboration / Partnerships, Workforce Development, Campus Planning
Presented by Katy Brown, Senior Associate, Erdy McHenry Architecture, LLC | Matthew Edson, Founding Dean of the Shreiber School of Veterinary Medicine of Rowan University, Rowan University | Barbara Jones, Principal, One Health Consulting | David McHenry, Principal, Erdy McHenry Architecture, LLC

Launching a new school and discipline poses unique challenges far beyond scaling existing programs. It requires vision, cross-unit coordination, and accelerated execution. This session highlights how integrated planning across institutional strategy, academic programming, facility design, construction, accreditation, and biosecurity enabled the rapid development of a fully realized veterinary school from the ground up within an ambitious five-year timeline. With insights into aligning architectural planning with evolving academic needs, you will learn how to navigate complex stakeholder coordination, anticipate infrastructure challenges unique to new disciplines, and manage accelerated timelines where the physical and academic must evolve in lockstep.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Initiate cross-functional planning teams early to align academic, facilities, and regulatory needs for new program or school development.
  2. Develop realistic yet aggressive project timelines that coordinate academic milestones with facility design, construction, and accreditation processes.
  3. Apply integrated planning methods to manage simultaneous academic and physical development, minimizing delays and misalignment.
  4. Anticipate and address infrastructure and compliance needs unique to specialized disciplines like veterinary medicine, healthcare, or research-intensive programs.
Topics: Facilities Planning, Academic Planning
Tags: Academic Planning, Facilities Planning, New Program or Department, Planning Alignment
Presented by Dennis Coudriet, Principal, BVH Architecture | Scott Mass, Associate Vice President for Campus Operations, Southeast Community College | Edward Vidlak, Principal Architect, Higher Education, BVH Architecture

In 2021, Southeast Community College in Lincoln, Nebraska, a traditional community college with an enrollment of over 10,000 students, moved to expand campus life on its main campus with a master plan for four new residence halls, a new dining hall, and accommodations for an early learning center. This session examines how a commuter campus transformed into a residential campus in five years. We will discuss how we effected this transformation, including challenges encountered during the planning process, and how the campus master plan and infrastructure are being adjusted to accommodate its first residence and dining hall projects.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Create a design program for a residence hall incorporating the needs of the current generation of students.
  2. Create a sense of place and community within a commuter campus setting.
  3. Use design choices that enhances your students' feelings of connectedness, wellness, and belonging.
  4. Anticipate key issues and challenges that are encountered when growing a campus with multiple project simultaneously.
Topics: Campus Planning
Tags: Community College, Dining Facility, Student Housing, Campus Planning
Concurrent Sessions
Presented by Neal Kessler, Director of Campus Planning, Old Dominion University | Megha Sinha, Principal, Urban Design and Planning, NBBJ | Thomas Skolnicki, University Landscape Architect, North Carolina State University at Raleigh | Neil Sullivan, University Planner, Pennsylvania State University
How do we plan in uncertain times? How do we develop campus plans that remain relevant in an unpredictable higher education climate, responsive to evolving campus needs and demographic, financial, and climate challenges, and useful for capital decision-making? Engage in a lively discussion with campus planners on the relevance of traditional campus plan methodologies and compare innovative approaches being tested in recently completed or ongoing campus plans to directly address the challenges and uncertainties facing institutions. Learn more about new approaches—rapid ideation, scenario planning, real-time decision-making frameworks, web tools, and technology-enabled living plans—that enable institutions to "plan after the plan," guiding physical investment decisions in uncertain futures.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Recognize the merits and drawbacks of the traditional campus plan approach and assess whether it can reliably serve the needs of your constituents and guide capital investment decisions in today's volatile market.
  2. Lead discussions with campus leadership on how volatile trends in higher education impact the physical campus environment, and how innovative planning can better support the institution's future space and facilities requirements.
  3. Explain the benefits of technological advancements and tools being deployed to create state-of-the-art campus plans to others in your campus leadership.
  4. Describe specific methodologies that create dynamic living plans and decision-making frameworks that can easily be tailored to your institution's needs and complexities.
Topics: Campus Planning
Tags: Disruptive Change, Campus Planning
Presented by Erin Heidelberger, Environmental Performance Specialist, Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates | Hana Kassem, Principal, Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates | Scott Shireman, Director of the University of Michigan Center for Innovation, University of Michigan
In Detroit, the University of Michigan (UM) is redefining what it means to be a public institution. Through an intensive process of community engagement, UM developed a shared vision for innovation, one that connects students, research, technical education, and the regional workforce. This session describes the planning, programming, and design of the University of Michigan Center for Innovation. We'll share how we translated meaningful stakeholder engagement into architecture and planning that invites collaboration, supports inclusivity, and advances environmental and social sustainability. You will gain actionable methods for using institutional vision, community partnerships, and data-driven design to plan facilities that strengthen workforce readiness and long-term innovation environments.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Define a unified vision among academic leadership, industry partners, and community stakeholders to connect institutional goals with local workforce needs.
  2. Build interdisciplinary programs that address local workforce priorities and strengthen connections between education and industry.
  3. Translate community and stakeholder input into human-centric, flexible design that supports evolving academic and civic goals.
  4. Apply data-driven design and sustainability strategies that foster lasting innovation ecosystems.
Topics: Facilities Planning
Tags: Facilities Planning, Innovation Center
Presented by Brodie Bain, Principal, NAC Architecture | Nicholas Gabel, Vice President, Jones Lang LaSalle | Korin Nabozny, Senior Associate, NAC Architecture | Forest Payne, Project Manager / University Planner, Western Washington University

Western Washington University's (WWU) Housing and Auxiliary Services Plan demonstrates how integrated planning can align mission, financial realities, and student success goals into a flexible, actionable strategy. This session explores how WWU combined stakeholder insights, market demand analysis, and spatial programming to create a housing plan that addresses belonging, affordability, and deferred maintenance while remaining adaptable to enrollment shifts. You will leave with practical tools and examples to translate complex feedback into scalable, data-driven solutions for campus housing and auxiliary services.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Identify the full range of inputs relevant to a housing master plan and distill them into comprehensive, usable data.
  2. Resolve critical housing master planning pinch points strategically through further analysis, buy-in, and detailed adjustments.
  3. Use spatial programming and adjustment factors at a detailed level to plan housing holistically at a high level.
  4. Develop an implementation tool that aligns housing phasing options, deferred maintenance, financial viability, and impacted bed counts.
Topics: Campus Planning
Tags: Master Plan, Student Housing, Campus Planning
Presented by Josie Galloway, Director of Space Administration, Purdue University | Lu Gravelle, Senior Director, JLL | Nathan Manges, Assistant Director, Real Estate, Purdue University-Main Campus | Krista Trofka, VP, Higher Education Lead, JLL

Institutions need a dynamic, 'always on' campus planning framework to navigate a shifting financial landscape, make critical build/renovate/decommission decisions, and ensure long-term campus resilience. This session shares a data-driven planning model that integrates real-time campus data to enable proactive, predictive portfolio management and help planners align facilities decisions with the institutional mission, academic priorities, and funding realities. We'll provide a roadmap for building and deploying this model, and show how it can be used to justify capital projects, optimize facilities and assets, and develop capital planning scenarios based on accurate data.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Describe a new campus planning model that integrates real-time data to move from reactive management to predictive, strategic foresight for the campus portfolio.
  2. Integrate disparate data sources (such as Wi-Fi, sensors, integrated workplace management systems, facility condition assessments, and annual capital plans) to create a single source of truth for decision-making.
  3. Identify concrete opportunities for cost reduction, revenue generation, and funding optimization by directly linking space performance to institutional financial goals.
  4. Develop agile facility and capital plans that prioritize investment and guide strategic decisions to build, renovate, restack, or decommission assets.
Topics: Campus Planning
Tags: Capital Planning, Data, Facilities Assessment, Campus Planning
Presented by Whitney George, Associate Dean for Student Success and Community Engagement, College of Science, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse | Andrew Scott, Associate Teaching Professor and Director, Personal Financial Planning Program, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse | Stacy Twite, Chief of Staff, Chancellor's Office, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse

AI is transforming higher education planning. Discover how the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse integrated AI tools throughout its 2025–2030 strategic planning process to enhance efficiency, transparency, and engagement. This session demonstrates practical applications of AI for data analysis, stakeholder input, and plan development while addressing ethical considerations like bias and trust. You will leave with actionable strategies to responsibly incorporate AI into planning workflows, accelerating decision-making without sacrificing inclusivity or accountability.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Use AI tools to analyze institutional data and identify strategic priorities.
  2. Design engagement strategies that leverage AI for broad, inclusive participation.
  3. Apply AI-assisted drafting and feedback loops to accelerate plan development.
  4. Establish ethical guidelines for responsible AI use in planning processes.
Topics: Strategic Planning
Tags: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Planning Technology, Strategic Planning
Presented by Jill Compton, Director, Internal Audit and Risk Management, Northern Michigan University | Ellen Koski, Assistant Director-Strategic Planning, Northern Michigan University | Jason Nicholas, Asst. Provost and Director of Institutional Effectiveness and Univ. Strat Plng., Northern Michigan University | Jim Thams, Director of Facilities and Campus Planning, Northern Michigan University

The session addresses a common challenge: fragmented planning across silos. We'll share practical methodology and a case study demonstrating how backbone planning infrastructure and coordination transforms isolated efforts into sustainable, cross-functional strategic planning. At Northern Michigan University, we have applied collective impact principles and integrated planning hallmarks to create this backbone infrastructure organizationally. We'll describe how we've built this planning infrastructure and used it to improve cross-functional collaboration and alignment. You will gain practical frameworks for building planning infrastructure, navigating bottlenecks and bureaucracy, engaging stakeholders at scale, and using integrated planning to drive operational improvements.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Apply collective impact's five conditions to transform fragmented institutional efforts into coordinated strategic planning systems.
  2. Design integrated planning processes that promote alignment across organizational levels and functional areas.
  3. Build a backbone planning infrastructure within existing structures to coordinate cross-functional initiatives sustainably.
  4. Implement transferable tools and frameworks that achieve authentic integration and persist beyond individual planning cycles
Topics: Alignment, Planning Skills and Supports
Tags: Implementation, Alignment, Unit Planning, Strategic Planning
Presented by DJ Pepito, Senior Director, Research and Strategic Partnerships, Society for College and University Planning | Deborah Shepley, Principal, Gensler | Kristen Tobing Stromsvold, Senior Associate, Gensler

Explore new insights from the Gensler Research Institute's Education Engagement Index alongside SCUP's recent research on sense of belonging. The Education Engagement Index national survey examines student, faculty, and staff engagement across six key dimensions—belonging, support, access, motivation, effectiveness, and value—offering a deeper understanding of the individual experiences and emerging trends shaping higher education. Together, the national data and SCUP's findings will provide you with actionable perspectives on hybrid learning, space utilization, student support services, and the perceived value of the campus experience.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Describe the evolution of preferences for in-person versus hybrid versus remote learning, teaching, and working.
  2. Identify the aspects of campus that enhance (and those that hinder) a sense of belonging.
  3. Summarize student, faculty, and staff preferences for learning spaces, support services, housing, and office spaces.
  4. Review data related to motivation, effectiveness, and value, and consider what they mean for your campus's value proposition in the eyes of current and prospective students.
Topics: Campus Planning
Tags: Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Original Research, Student Engagement, Campus Planning
Lunch

Lunch

Concurrent Sessions
Presented by Andrew Elmer, Director, Sports and Rec, Architecture, HDR, Inc. | Ursula Gurney, Senior Woman Administrator, Deputy AD, University of Missouri-Kansas City | Corey Jenkins, Deputy AD, University of South Dakota

College and university athletics has undergone unprecedented change in the past ten years, particularly when considering revenue sources and how they're distributed. While the value continues to grow, however, facilities budgets shrink. This session examines the complex influences driving change in college athletics, and what those changes mean for athletics capital investments. We'll discuss how athlete name, image, and likeness (NIL) agreements alongside revenue-sharing programs create architectural opportunities to improve operations, devise new revenue streams, and enhance patron experience. We'll also explore strategies for renovating athletics facilities as a way to maximize investment.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Describe the forces driving unprecedented change in the college sports industry.
  2. Identify how these forces are impacting investment in student-athlete programming, facilities, and venues.
  3. Describe how strategic renovations and found space can maximize return on investment.
  4. Explore three scales of project investment—from major to minor—for repurposing existing athletics spaces while driving new revenue for your institution.
Topics: Facilities Planning
Tags: Athletic Department, Athletic Facility, Facilities Design, Facilities Planning, Renovation
Presented by Ruth Baleiko, FAIA, Partner, The Miller Hull Partnership, LLP | Jason Franklin, Associate Vice President, Planning, Construction & Real Estate, Portland State University | Katherine O'Clair, Interim Dean of Library Services, California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo | Jason Schulz, Director of Library Space Management, University of California-San Diego

Libraries must deliver on many campus and student needs. Deciding what needs to prioritize is critical when facing tight budgets and aging infrastructure. This session draws from three recent library renovations on campuses with limited budgets to share practical insights into the unique challenges and opportunities these projects present. You'll explore trends from multiple library renovations and learn how to position your library within the broad range of campus needs: evolving pedagogy, space pressures, student well-being, and aging infrastructure. You will gain practical strategies for navigating library renovations with limited funding while addressing current student and campus needs to deliver transformative impact.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Obtain tools for navigating library renovation decisions regarding collections, staff offices, study spaces, etc., with stakeholders.
  2. Describe strategies for library renovations that address student mental health issues by providing a diversity of study spaces, meditation spaces, and gathering areas that support community and enhance belonging.
  3. Explore cost-effective renovation approaches that celebrate existing structures while increasing functionality through targeted improvements and flexible programming.
  4. Describe how to position libraries as potential partners to campus programs looking for space, and describe how partnership opportunities can generate additional funding to supplement renovation funds.
Topics: Facilities Planning
Tags: Facilities Design, Facilities Planning, Library, Renovation
Presented by Brad Bailey, Project Architect, Associate, Perkins&Will | Caitlin Mullaney, Senior Associate Dean for Business Affairs and Chief Operating Officer, The University of Texas | Vandana Nayak, Managing Director, Principal, Perkins&Will | Brent Stringfellow, Associate Vice President for Campus Operations, Campus Architect, The University of Texas at Austin

The loss of open space on urban campuses pushes institutions to expand upward. Mulva Hall, a high-rise business school building at the University of Texas (UT) at Austin, marks an evolution towards more density in UT Austin's built environment. We'll share the planning, design, and development of Mulva Hall, which consolidates programs currently dispersed across three 1970's buildings into one academic hub. In particular, we'll describe how we used program needs, user data, and a trend toward urbanism to transform a static, monolithic 'bunker' to a podium and tower design that anchors a new business neighborhood.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Build a data-supported case for program consolidation that aligns academic goals and student priorities while providing an opportunity to right-size space.
  2. List the opportunities and challenges of a vertical academic building.
  3. Describe how data, user needs, and industry trends inform the scale and configuration of a vertical academic building.
  4. Guide long-term academic facilities projects while maintaining alignment to broader institutional goals.
Topics: Facilities Planning
Tags: Business School Facility, Facilities Design, Facilities Planning, Urban Campus
Presented by Fernando Chapa, Dean for Institutional Research, Effectiveness and Strategic Planning, South Texas College | Melissa Renner, Manager, South Texas College

South Texas College (STC) rebuilt its planning model to align decision-making up through institutional priorities, down through departmental objectives, and sideways through cross-divisional collaboration. After developing its 2025–2031 strategic plan using its cross-divisional planning bodies, the college is now applying the same structure to implement the plan with clarity and accountability. This session will show how STC embeds strategic priorities into department planning, strengthens alignment across divisions, and advances three institution-wide initiatives through structured project management and consistent reporting. You will gain a practical model for moving from strategic planning to action while maintaining alignment across the institution.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Apply a structure for aligning strategic priorities up, down, and across you institution by mapping how institutional goals connect to department-level objectives and cross-divisional responsibilities.
  2. Embed strategic plan goals into department and program planning cycles by creating institutional effectiveness objectives that directly link to institutional priorities.
  3. Facilitate cross-divisional collaboration by adapting a dual-body or cross-functional planning structure to support communication, shared ownership, and coordinated decision-making.
  4. Launch or refine institution-wide strategic initiatives using project management tools such as initiative charters, accountability matrices, and structured reporting processes.
Topics: Alignment, Planning Skills and Supports
Tags: Implementation, Alignment, Unit Planning, Strategic Planning
Presented by Thomas Bradley, Woodward Professor and Department Head, Department of Systems Engineering, Colorado State University-Fort Collins | Marc Cholewczynski, Associate Director of Academic Technology Technical Services, Oregon State University | Kati Peditto, Senior Design Researcher, DLR Group | Benjamin Strain, Higher Education Design Leader, DLR Group

Campus planning must now account for new, undefined typologies; failing to integrate AV/IT early in these plans risks immediate functional obsolescence. Drawing on thematic analysis of interviews with campus leaders, this panel explores how early AV/IT integration addresses the transformational pivot toward AI-enabled, adaptable space typologies like AI makerspaces. We will also detail infrastructure strategies (power, data, cooling) to future-proof spaces for unconceived AI tools. You will learn a research-backed framework for convening facilities planning teams that can successfully fit out and future-proof emerging space types (e.g., AI labs) before requirements are fully known.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Critique current planning models that isolate IT/AV from early design, identifying the specific risks this creates for creating new space typologies, like AI makerspaces.
  2. Construct a business case for early IT/AV integration based on qualitative themes derived from industry-wide interviews and case studies.
  3. Outline specific infrastructure strategies (power, data, cooling) that enable institutions to 'future-proof' spaces for AI tools that have yet to be invented.
  4. Facilitate a converged planning process that brings academic vision, facilities, and IT together to define requirements for spaces that have no historical precedent.
Topics: Facilities Planning
Tags: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Facilities Planning, Learning Environments, Learning Technology, Maker Space, Technology Infrastructure
Presented by Enna Moroeroe, Assistant Director, University of the Free State | Taabo Mugume, Director: Monitoring and Institutional Research, University of the Free State | Dhanasagran Naidoo, Dr, University of the Free State

In volatile higher education landscapes, traditional strategic plans face invalidated assumptions within 18-36 months of plan approval. Demographic cliffs, funding constraints, AI transformation, and accountability demands make mid-term recalibration essential. This session presents a five-pillar framework for evidence-based recalibration, drawing on the University of the Free State's 2025 mid-term review of its 2023-2028 strategic plan. The nine-month process included 29 stakeholder sessions with 1,000+ participants and achieved council approval through systematic refinement. You will gain immediately applicable assessment tools, engagement strategies, and governance communication approaches to navigate strategic plan adaptation confidently, transforming planning volatility from crisis into strategic maturity.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Apply a readiness assessment framework to determine when recalibration of the strategic plan is appropriate at your institution, and identify organizational gaps requiring attention before launching a recalibration.
  2. Structure a 6-8 month recalibration process customized to your institutional type (R1, regional comprehensive, community college, or liberal arts) and governance model (public system, private board, or shared governance).
  3. Apply a systematic element assessment methodology to categorize each element of your strategic plan as 'preserve,' 'enhance,' 'transform,' or 'eliminate.'
  4. Recognize seven recalibration pitfalls (planning fatigue, strategic drift, death by committee, evidence-free refinement, governance surprise, implementation disconnect, and communication vacuum) and apply proven mitigation strategies in response.
Topics: Strategic Planning
Tags: Assessment / Analytics, Modifying the Plan, Strategic Planning
Presented by Nasrin Fatima, Associate Provost for Assessment and Analytics, Binghamton University

As AI becomes integral to higher education, institutional planners and assessment leaders face both opportunities and challenges in applying it responsibly. This session highlights how Binghamton University built a smarter, more connected system for assessment and accreditation by integrating generative AI into evidence synthesis, reflection, and reporting. You will see real examples of AI-assisted summaries, narrative drafting, and predictive insights—paired with human oversight and ethical safeguards. Through interactive exercises, you will map where AI can strengthen your assessment cycles, practice crafting effective prompts, and outline a pilot plan for responsible implementation that supports continuous improvement and institutional effectiveness.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Map where generative AI can responsibly enhance your institution's assessment and accreditation workflows.
  2. Draft effective AI prompts to summarize results, identify gaps, and improve reflection narratives.
  3. Design a pilot plan for introducing AI-assisted assessment processes within your planning or institutional effectiveness cycles.
  4. Apply ethical guidelines that ensure transparency, equity, and accountability in AI-supported institutional effectiveness work.
Topics: Planning Skills and Supports
Tags: Accreditation, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Assessment / Analytics, Institutional Effectiveness
Concurrent Sessions
Presented by Sarah L. Collie, Associate Vice President, University of Virginia

Strategic planning often stalls or falls short due to a number of common pitfalls, including unclear frameworks, slow pace, poor alignment, vagueness, or lack of follow-through. This session shares practical, adaptable tactics to overcome common pitfalls and create plans that drive meaningful action. You will leave with practical tactics that you can use immediately to clarify the planning process, build engagement and alignment, set the right level of priorities, create cohesion across the plan, connect the planning to current work, and shape an implementation path.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Spot common strategic planning challenges from your experience and in your institution.
  2. Use tested tactics to address alignment gaps, lack of clarity, and implementation barriers.
  3. Redesign parts of your strategic planning process to improve results.
  4. Lead or facilitate more effective strategic planning efforts with renewed confidence.
Topics: Strategic Planning
Tags: Communication, Implementation, Planning Processes, Alignment, Strategic Planning
Presented by Oliana Alikaj-Fierro, Assistant Vice President, The University of Texas at El Paso | Elsa Bonilla-Martin, Assistant Director, CIERP, The University of Texas at El Paso

Institutional research (IR) offices face constant pressure to deliver new dashboards and data tools, yet the most effective solution isn't always to build something new. This session demonstrates how IR teams can modernize longstanding decision-support tools by reassessing their purpose, audiences, and design. Through examples from the work of the Center for Institutional Evaluation, Research, and Planning (CIERP) at the University of Texas at El Paso, we will show how to evaluate existing dashboards, gather stakeholder feedback, and reinvent foundational tools to support today's decision-makers. You will learn strategies to reduce workload, address recurring user frustrations, and strengthen leadership trust.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Apply a structured process to evaluate existing dashboards and determine whether the components should be revised, retired, or rebuilt.
  2. Engage stakeholders through targeted feedback strategies that clarify current needs and guide tool redevelopment.
  3. Redesign legacy data tools to better support today's users by improving usability, clarity, and decision-support value.
  4. Use the tool-reinvention process to strengthen leadership support by demonstrating efficiency, responsiveness, and strategic alignment.
Topics: Planning Skills and Supports
Tags: Dashboards, Data, Decision Making, Institutional Effectiveness, Institutional Research
Presented by Derrick Deering, Senior Project Manager, PCL Construction Enterprises, Inc. | Nikkie Dvorak, Assistant to the Dean, Nistler College of Business & Public Administration, University of North Dakota | Mike McLean, Principal Architect, JLG Architects | Bradley Rundquist, Dean - College of Arts & Sciences, University of North Dakota

Many campuses plan projects independently. University of North Dakota (UND) used two strategically sequenced projects (the construction of Nistler Hall and the reinvention of 1929-era Merrifield Hall) to transform its academic core. Envisioned from the outset as a collaborative pair, Nistler established a new front door for business education, offering flexible, transparent, student-centered spaces. Merrifield leveraged those lessons to create a technology-enabled humanities hub within a preserved Collegiate Gothic envelope. Together the projects reinforce UND’s historic academic core. We'll discuss these two projects and how sequencing capital projects can accelerate programmatic connectivity, improve institutional competitiveness, and unify academics, donors, and campus identity.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Map sequenced capital projects to academic transformation goals and programmatic connectivity.
  2. Evaluate the strategic advantages of pairing new construction with historic renovation to reshape an academic core.
  3. Design an engagement process that aligns deans, donors, faculty, and planners around shared master plan objectives.
  4. Apply a paired-project planning framework to your campus, including sequencing, phasing, and stakeholder alignment tools.
Topics: Facilities Planning
Tags: Academic Facility, Facilities Design, Facilities Planning, Historic Preservation, Renovation
Presented by Matt Plecity, Principal, GBBN Architects | Kornelia Tancheva, Hillman University Librarian and Director of the University Library System, University of Pittsburgh

The University of Pittsburgh recently transformed its central library from a typical mid-20th century research library into a hub for student engagement, simultaneously enhancing visibility and sustainability. The transformed Hillman Library is the physical embodiment of driving curiosity, research, and exploration through strong connections to the campus community. We will discuss the planning and design of this project, including the unique stakeholder process that informed the conceptual organizational and planning strategy for new spaces within the library. You will learn best practices for planning highly flexible, shared learning environments that adapt existing, underutilized assets to 21st century needs.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Identify campus planning, master planning, and urban planning approaches that use sustainability principles to re-imagine use of 1960s-era buildings.
  2. Integrate existing university buildings into the campus and community fabric through strategic renovation planning.
  3. Deploy strategies for stakeholder engagement in planning academic library environments to ensure spaces are designed to meet students' needs.
  4. Summarize usage data and student feedback on spaces designed for peer-to-peer and hands-on learning methods.
Topics: Facilities Planning
Tags: Facilities Planning, Flexible Learning Spaces, Library, Renovation, Urban Campus
Presented by Billy Askey, Co-Founder, Principal, EVOKE Studio Architecture, EVOKE Studio | Teri Canada, Co-Founder, Managing Principal, EVOKE Studio | Jerry Guerrier, Associate Vice Chancellor of Facilities Management, North Carolina Central University | Edwin Harris, Design Principal | Co-Founder, EVOKE Studio

HBCUs are vital to advancing equity and opportunity, yet they often face systemic challenges that limit their growth and impact. This session uses three projects at North Carolina Central University to explore a facilities planning and design framework that addresses and considers these challenges. We will reveal how mission-driven planning, facility reinvestment, and community-centered design can strengthen competitiveness, enhance student success, and close equity gaps. You will learn actionable strategies for integrating design excellence and planning to address systemic challenges, empowering you to create impactful solutions that elevate HBCUs and other under-served institutions and align with their mission-driven goals.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Describe a mission-driven facilities planning framework that aligns academic, financial, cultural, and design priorities, ensuring capital projects meet immediate needs while advancing long-term institutional goals.
  2. Outline strategies to convene diverse stakeholders, dissolve silos, and build authentic consensus around shared campus challenges and opportunities.
  3. Use tools and language to advocate for high-quality, mission-aligned design as a driver of student success, recruitment, retention, and overall campus experience.
  4. Implement equity-focused facilities planning and capital solutions that identify disparities, prioritize under-served spaces, and develop equitable, actionable reinvestment strategies.
Topics: Facilities Planning
Tags: Facilities Design, Facilities Planning, Historically Black College or University (HBCU), Resolving Inequities
Presented by Marcus Jackson, MSU Recreation Director, Michigan State University | Mason Johnson, Project Architect, Moody Nolan, Inc. | Brian Mullen, Capital Project Delivery Manager, Michigan State University (main campus) | Jennifer Rittler, Associate Principal, Moody Nolan, Inc.

In 2026, Michigan State University (MSU) will open its new Student Recreation and Wellness Center—the result of more than a decade of visioning, reassessment, and persistence across multiple administrations. This session describes how adaptable long-range master planning maintained alignment and delivered a facility that exceeds expectations. We will share a practical roadmap for navigating long timelines and evolving priorities, and discuss how we adapted to trends, used iterative scenario planning, built engagement, and maintained strategic continuity throughout the project. Join us and gain methods for actualizing campus plans despite transitions and evolving needs.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Apply integrated planning methods that keep long-range projects aligned through leadership transitions and shifting student expectations.
  2. Implement iterative scenario planning to test multi-phase facility options, validate priorities with stakeholders, and build data-driven cases for capital investment in recreation and wellness.
  3. Build consensus across diverse users (students, staff, operators) that produces actionable program requirements and aligns recreation priorities with institutional student success goals.
  4. Translate long-range planning outcomes into phased facility designs that respond to evolving wellness priorities while maintaining project momentum.
Topics: Facilities Planning
Tags: Facilities Design, Facilities Planning, Master Plan, Recreational Facility
Keynote

Closing Keynote: Lessons from the Conference and the Connected College

Reception

Closing Reception

Campus Tours (Additional Fee)

Normandale Community College: Recent Renovations Tour

Wednesday, July 22, 8am - 10am Preregistration required As the largest two-year college in Minnesota and the second-largest undergraduate institution in the state’s university system, Normandale Community College has seen strong enrollment and growth. We will tour phased renovations completed over the last five years, including the reconfiguration of student services into a one-stop student-facing hub, updates to general classrooms and student study space, the new Center for Interprofessional Education in Healthcare (including its dental hygiene and nursing simulation labs), newly relocated student amenities, updated wayfinding and signage throughout campus, relocated help desk and IT support, an updated space for students with disabilities and testing needs, and an updated faculty and staff workspace. We'll also discuss how we modernized campus infrastructure to reduce energy use and update systems. You will learn how the various projects have been conceived, sequenced, designed, and built to transform Normandale’s existing campus, all without adding square footage.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Explain how to use a service model design framework to plan and design for integrated student services.
  2. Describe how to revitalize existing space through phased strategic interior renovations, reducing deferred maintenance and supporting student enrollment growth.
  3. Describe spaces that support the growth of two-year workforce training opportunities for disciplines like nursing, dental hygiene, and other in-demand fields.
  4. Create a welcoming, inclusive, and student-centered environment that prioritizes student needs across a low-income, first-generation, and racially diverse student body.
Campus Tours (Additional Fee)

University of Minnesota East Bank and St. Paul Campus Tour

Wednesday, July 22, 8:30am - 11:30am Preregistration required Immerse yourself in an on-the-ground tour of the diverse and vast University of Minnesota (UMN), Twin Cities campus. Join UMN planning, design, and sustainability staff as well as key contributors from many project teams to learn about recent campus planning and capital investment on both the historic East Bank and St. Paul locations of the UMN Twin Cities campus. We’ll begin with a presentation touching on campus planning as well as programmatic and design challenges in specific capital projects. Then, we’ll tour the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP)-recognized Old Campus and Northrop Mall Historic Districts. Finally, we'll travel by bus to the St. Paul location to understand the innovation and partnership-driven plans to transform that campus. During the tour, we'll discuss capital funding strategies and timelines (including capital re-investment strategy), adaptive re-use of NRHP-listed historic buildings in NRHP districts, how programmatic mandates drove approaches to physical space design (as well as construction challenges and complexities and how they were solved), landscape and design guidelines tools, and our approach to climate action and energy utility planning on multiple UMN campuses.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Describe the long-term evolution of a land grant institution's campus in the context of economic and demographic factors shaping a rapidly evolving urban area.
  2. Consider adaptive re-use strategies for historic buildings that balances preservation goals with powerful programmatic mandates.
  3. Explain the relationship between built and unbuilt open spaces, and observe how the campus community relates to these places.
  4. List key challenges and successes in delivering projects on an urban campus.
Campus Tours (Additional Fee)

Macalester College: Campus Renewal and Reinvestment Tour

Wednesday, July 22, 8:30am - 11:30am Preregistration required Macalester College is a nationally ranked liberal arts college that offers an intimate, undergraduate-centered education with access to the broader urban Twin Cities. This tour will highlight recently completed work, including new construction and renovations, that focus on the college’s commitment to academic distinction, global citizenship, social responsibility, and community well-being. We'll stop at the Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center (a large-scale phased renovation and new construction project that created interdisciplinary academic space for music, studio art, theater, dance, and general classroom use), the Wallace Library (including its new spaces for student services and its new maker space), the Ruth Stricker Dayton Campus Center (focusing on its updated food service/dining space, revitalized student study space, student organization support space, and meeting rooms), the newly completed student space at Kagin Commons (including a community kitchen to promote and support student cultural organizations), and an under-construction residence hall and welcome center designed to provide a new front door to the college and expand on-campus housing capacity for juniors and seniors. Throughout the tour, we will showcase the college’s commitment to sustainability through reinvestment in existing infrastructure and its ability to maximize the use of its footprint through creative, flexible, and student-centered spaces.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Explain how to balance small-scale renovations and remodel projects with large-scale new building projects to maximize the impact of campus investment in alignment with the college’s priorities and its strategic plan.
  2. Recognize how recently updated student life and student service spaces can increase student collaboration and engagement, leading to stronger student retention and satisfaction.
  3. Apply sustainable design principles, including re-investment in existing campus infrastructure and renewal of existing assets, across projects of varying scales.
  4. Observe design trends for interdisciplinary academic spaces, including formal and informal flexible learning spaces, cross-disciplinary performance and rehearsal spaces, and student support spaces.
Campus Tours (Additional Fee)

University of Minnesota Health Sciences Education Center Tour

Wednesday, July 22, 9am - 11am Preregistration required Located in the heart of campus, the Health Sciences Education Center opened in April 2020 as a prominent new identity for the University of Minnesota’s Academic Health Center, where inter-professional learning meets patient-centered care. We'll tour through the renovated building, its seven-story expansion, and the adjacent renovated Phillips-Wangensteen Building, to explore how the building fosters unparalleled student-teacher interaction with state-of-the art immersive simulation suites, knowledge creation and knowledge management spaces, as well as social learning spaces outside of the classroom. We'll stop at inter-professional collaboration spaces, adaptable teaching and learning spaces, and immersive simulation spaces. Join us to learn how this project brings people from all health professions together under one roof, connecting each health sciences program inside and outside the classroom.
Learning Outcomes
  1. Describe why inter-professional education is important and how to design spaces that support its success.
  2. Summarize how we are planning for the current and future health science district, including how we integrate and expand within an existing district.
  3. Describe design that engages with the existing campus context, enhances internal connections, and creates a new front door.
  4. Outline the major renovation interventions that physically bring buildings together to create an immersive simulation destination.