Learning Resources

Abstract: By right-sizing course offerings, classrooms, and buildings, planners can drive incremental improvements that help to advance campus culture. We’ll demonstrate how to leverage data on course enrollment, classroom utilization, and learning trends to inform strategic investments in capital improvement, curriculum development, and recruitment. This session will uncover ways of making progress on campus by addressing issues related to enrollment changes and student activity while navigating lean capital funding conditions.

Abstract: Today’s students are coming to school with diverse gender identities. Designing facilities with gender equity in mind helps to support marginalized communities and future proof the campus. This session will present case studies and inclusive best practices for ‘designing beyond the binary’ to foster belonging in campus housing, restrooms, and gathering spaces. You’ll discover strategies to foster belonging and wellbeing for a spectrum of gender identities through programming and operations as well as learn about design tools and tips to create belonging in spatial environments.

Abstract: Individuals with disabilities are not a homogeneous group and planners and designers have an ethical responsibility to shape the physical campus environment in response to their needs. Using the University of California (UC), Berkeley as a contextual framework, we’ll examine how past planning efforts have shaped the campus through an accessibility lens, how the disability rights movement has defined disability, and how current models are shaping our understanding of equitable access. Looking beyond prescriptive codes, join us to explore how to transform old frameworks and infrastructure into inclusive and functional spaces, leaning into equitable experience and access.

Abstract: Establishing a new college within a university requires coordination with the accrediting body, other university disciplines, the city, donors, and neighboring landowners. We’ll outline and discuss how we navigated the process, challenges, and opportunities related to Duquesne University’s new College of Osteopathic Medicine, including the collaboration with the City of Pittsburgh’s Forbes Avenue Improvement Initiative. Through practical, implementable approaches to growth-focused programming in a new urban facility, this session will offer lessons learned, priorities, and planning tools for flexibility and improvement.

Abstract: Many campuses face challenges integrating with their surrounding urban contexts. Gateway buildings along campus edges can reinvigorate campus-city connectivity while a contextual design can contribute to an institution’s sense of place. The Catholic University of America’s newly completed School of Nursing and gateway plaza serves as a threshold between the urban fabric and pastoral landscape with a collegiate gothic exterior and an educationally advanced, innovative interior. This session will illustrate a project case study that engages the surrounding urban context with sustainable, responsible design, combining a historically responsive exterior with technology-rich, contemporary interior spaces.

Abstract: In our hybrid environment, it’s more important than ever to pull people away from their devices to build community and connection on campus. Food has the power to bring students and faculty from different backgrounds together and provide a fundamental academic experience. Through campus and workplace examples, we’ll show how food venue design can set a positive tone for interaction and support meaningful connections and wellbeing. Come learn how to plan campus food venues that serve an academic purpose, refine venue goals, and inform venue design through operations to make it more impactful and sustainable.

Abstract: As trade schools gain national recognition for their affordability and career-centric focus, Raleigh’s Wake Technical Community College (WTCC) has set a new standard for strategic facilities design by capitalizing on community, industry, and government partnerships. This session will show how WTCC is producing the next generation of innovative automotive repair technicians and leaders through an immersive program that aligns industry partnerships, high-tech education, employment opportunities, and local economic development goals. Discover how WTCC’s new automotive laboratory consolidates diverse programs into one building with agile, collaborative spaces, preparing students for emerging technologies in rapidly changing industries.

Abstract: Community colleges provide equitable access to higher education and pathways to sustainable careers. This session will show how Laurel Ridge Community College (LRCC) secured its role in the regional economy by aligning programs with community priorities and mapping students’ career pathways to inform facilities planning. Collaboration with industry and the community enabled LRCC to plan for expansion, relevant programs, and advanced facilities for science, technology, engineering, math, and health sciences (STEM-H). Join us to find out how an engaging, user-focused academic building can leverage both flexibility and specialization to support student success and attract partners.

Abstract: Colleges and universities must adapt to changing issues around student safety and determine how to address these concerns while maintaining connections with the local community. This session will discuss the University of Pennsylvania’s (Penn) Stouffer Hall, a recently renovated residence hall that exemplifies the evolution of attitudes towards community, security, and student life on campus. Come learn how to create programs for increasing community engagement, address housing security concerns, and align residential life and building goals with current attitudes around safety.

Abstract: In order for institutions to support students’ desire for engagement and impact within their local, regional, and national communities, they must plan and design spaces that foster instruction, discourse, and invention. This session will evaluate Thurgood Marshall Hall on its promise as an integrated scholar-practitioner community within the University of Maryland’s (UMD) Do Good Campus for social impact education. After a year of occupation, we’ll share how we conducted a qualitative assessment of the building with a wide cross-section of stakeholders and how the resulting lessons will impact the campus’s ‘Do Good’ mission and inform future planning and design.