Learning Resources

Abstract: Many institutions struggle to promote liberal arts education in today's changing world. Hampshire College provides a model for how resource-limited campuses can leverage their sustainability assets to support curricular and community transformation. Hampshire is reinventing itself for a sustainable future, using its environmental assets (a campus farm and living building) to support a new transdisciplinary curriculum and student experience. This session will help you leverage environmental assets in applied transdisciplinary learning to prepare students for a sustainable future.

Abstract: Interdisciplinary scientific research is the new normal in academia. Campus planning for interdisciplinary research requires special tools and analytics that align the needs of increasingly diverse research environments with existing facilities capabilities and new characterizations of research neighborhoods. To remain relevant within the world-wide scientific community, campuses must free research space planning from traditional boundaries in order to promote collaborative synergies. This session will introduce new analytical assessment tools, organizational principles, and planning strategies supporting interdisciplinary research. Come learn how to create an open-ended, actionable, and living planning document that ensures long-term relevance and viability.

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