Learning Resources

Supporting Neurodiversity in Higher Education

When Every Space Counts

By: Kathleen Kelly, MBA, AIA, LEED A+P

By integrating several unique campus voices, we can realize that unassignable space is highly valuable to the neurodivergent campus occupant.

From Volume 51 Number 4 | July–September 2023

Abstract: While universities have long been bastions of intellectual diversity, they are now embracing a broader understanding of diversity that extends beyond race, gender, and socioeconomic background. Neurodiversity, a concept celebrating the natural variations in human neurological functioning, is gaining prominence as an essential aspect of fostering a truly inclusive educational environment.

Institutions Mentioned: University of Cincinnati-Main Campus, University of Southern Denmark, Syracuse University, University of California-Berkeley, University of Washington-Seattle Campus, University of Toronto-Downtown Toronto (St. George), Rutgers University-New Brunswick
Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Accessibility, Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Facilities Design, Facilities Planning, Health and Wellness, Informal Learning Environments, Space Assessment

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Use Evidence to Plan Facilities That Drive Student Success

By: Elliot Felix

In this article, the author draws upon research from his book How to Get the Most Out of College to highlight the evidence that campus planners and designers can use to help drive student success.

Abstract: Colleges and universities are in the midst of a transition from an access mindset to a success mindset, and campus facilities can play a role in this shift. Institutions don’t have to guess at how—a large body of research can and should inform how we plan, design, and operate our campuses. In this article, the author draws upon research from his book How to Get the Most Out of College to highlight the evidence that campus planners and designers can use to help drive student success.

Institutions Mentioned: University of Rochester, Arizona State University-Tempe
Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Facilities Design, Facilities Planning, Learning Commons, Learning Environments, Student Experience, Student Housing, Student Retention, Student Support Services

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Campus Historic Preservation and Adaptive Reuse

Leverage These Tools to Achieve Your Planning and Sustainability Goals

By: Meaghan Finney, MS, and Michael Patrick, M.Arch, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP

By integrating historic buildings into your campus planning, their continued reuse can help solve some of the specific challenges facing university planners today.

From Volume 50 Number 4 | July–September 2022

Abstract: Historic campus buildings are often perceived as a burden, but by integrating them into your campus planning, their continued reuse can help solve some of the specific challenges facing university planners today, specifically in the context of sustainability. There are numerous case studies that demonstrate the successful adaptive reuse of varied campus buildings as well as an undeniable body of evidence showing the benefits of such an approach in working toward carbon neutrality. As long-term stewards of their built environments, colleges and universities are uniquely positioned to realize enduring savings from investing in the energy performance of existing buildings.

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The Connected Campus

Building Long-Term Value and Agility by Connecting Offerings, Organizations and Operations

By: Elliot Felix, MArch

Campus environments play a vital role in student success. By making changes to their combination of spaces, institutions can respond to the shifts transforming higher education. Elliot Felix shares how colleges and universities can prepare for a more blended world by bringing together the digital and physical, enabling greater diversity and inclusion, and implementing flexible structures, staffing, space, and services. Sponsored Content: Knoll and brightspot strategy.

Abstract: Historic separations that defined higher education are dissolving: research is more interdisciplinary, online and on-campus learning are converging, wet and dry labs are blending, teaching and research overlap, and academia forges relationships with corporate partners. Institutions, by improving how they connect what they offer, how they are organized, and how they operate, can build value and agility to better assist their people on campus. Real-world examples in this white paper from Knoll and brightspot strategy discuss how campus spaces support student success, including how to fully use the campus; creating spaces that sustain diverse and flexible ways of working; thinking phygitally; and creating environments where today’s purpose-driven and entrepreneurial students (Gen Z) will thrive as they prepare to enter the workforce.

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Webinar Recordings

Published
September 17, 2020

Out of the Fire and Into the Future

Insights on Essential Planning Strategies Post COVID

By: Pete Zuraw, Vice President, Market Strategy and Development, Gordian (Moderator) | Michael McCormick, Associate Vice President Asset Management and University Architect, University of Washington | Mina Amundsen, Assistant Vice President, Facilities and Capital Planning, Colby College

The integrative process of short-term planning during the pandemic effectively brought together academic, financial, and physical planning, and presents a unique opportunity to continue work across traditional planning silos. Explore new planning modes being used during this crisis and their long-term application.

Abstract: Higher education has been responding in crisis mode since spring and racing toward an entirely new kind of academic year this fall. How can we turn this experience into productive new strategies for planning and leadership?

Existing siloed decision making would not have allowed for a successful response to the rapidly changing conditions brought on by the pandemic. The integrative process of short-term planning effectively brought together academic, financial, and physical planning, and presents a unique opportunity to continue work across traditional planning silos and modes of learning and living.

Institutions Mentioned: University of Washington-Seattle Campus, Colby College
Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: COVID-19, Response Planning

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The Impact of COVID-19 on Construction on Campus

By: Catherine Walsh, Associate Vice President, Facilities Division, Northeastern University | David L. Damon, Principal and Higher Education Practice Leader, Perkins and Will | Maureen Kirkpatrick, Vice President/Operations Manager, Turner Construction Company | Hosted by: Niusha Arndt, Project Designer, Perkins and Will, BSA/SCUP College + University Roundtable | Donna Denio Client Service Representative, Campbell-McCabe, Co-Chair, BSA/SCUP College + University Roundtable

This webinar will focus on how higher education campus construction is impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and its positive and negative implications on construction sites on the MIT and Northeastern University campuses. Panelists will share case studies of how on-campus construction has changed, the new supply chains, and staff management consideration.

This is part of the series “Less Talk, More Action: Tactical Topics to Return to Campus.”

Abstract: This webinar will focus on how higher education campus construction is impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and its positive and negative implications on construction sites on the MIT and Northeastern University campuses. Panelists will share case studies of how on-campus construction has changed, the new supply chains, and staff management consideration. They will review construction opportunities due to the pandemic, and how to plan for modifying existing facilities to respond to evolving campus needs.

Institutions Mentioned: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northeastern University
Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: COVID-19, Facilities Management, Facilities Planning

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Back to School Through the Lens of ASHRAE

By: Hosts: Niusha Arndt, Designer, Perkins + Will, BSA/SCUP College + University Roundtable; Patrick Murphy, Associate Principal and Director of Sustainable Design, Vanderweil Engineers, BSA/SCUP College + University Roundtable | Moderator: Nancy May, Formerly Vice President, Facility & Operations Management, Northeastern University | Panelists: Susanna M. Baker, Director of Facilities & Space Planning, MIT Sloan School of Management; Bill Bahnfleth, Leader of ASHRAE’s Epidemic Task Force, Former President of ASHRAE (worldwide), Professor of Architectural Engineering at Penn State University

Panelists Susanna M. Baker, MIT Sloan School of Management, and Bill Bahnfleth, ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers) and Penn State University, discussed requirements for a typical campus upgrade and reviewed ASHRAE recommendations on improving campus safety in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. They also addressed some of the unique challenges for an urban campus response to maintaining campus safety.

Abstract: This is the third in a series of webinars, “Less Talk, More Action: Tactical Topics to Return to Campus,” jointly sponsored by SCUP’s North Atlantic Region, BSA, and their BSA/SCUP College + University Roundtable focused on the impact of COVID-19 on campuses.

Institutions Mentioned: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Pennsylvania State University
Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: COVID-19, Facilities Planning, Infrastructure, Response Planning, Urban Campus

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Webinar Recordings

Published
June 8, 2020

Campuses Learning From Each Other

By: Co-Host and Moderator: Rena Cheskis-Gold, Principal and Founder, Demographic Perspectives | Co-Host and Panelist: Laura Pirie, Principal and Founder, Pirie Associates | Panelists: Michael Perez, Associate Vice Chancellor, Vanderbilt University; Jennifer Stone, Partner, Robert A.M. Stern Architects; Pam Schreiber, Assistant Vice President for Student Life and Executive Director, Housing & Food Services, University of Washington

COVID-19 has left universities overwhelmed and struggling to rapidly shift to new ways of operating Focusing on the interactions between people, policy, facilities, and technology is more important than ever on campuses. Colleagues from Demographic Perspectives and Pirie Associates, in affiliation with SCUP, discussed the challenges, priorities, solutions, and opportunities to change the way campuses operate for the future.

Abstract: COVID-19 has left universities overwhelmed and struggling to rapidly shift to new ways of operating effectively. Focusing on the interactions between people, policy, facilities, and technology is more important than ever on higher education campuses. The short-term solutions colleges are now implementing need to be embraced as lessons for the long-term. What can we learn from others working in and with higher education? What are the challenges, priorities, and solutions and, where are the opportunities to change the way campuses operate for the future?

Institutions Mentioned: Vanderbilt University, University of Washington-Seattle Campus
Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: COVID-19, Response Planning

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Phased Transformations of Academic Buildings

Can’t vacate the facility? Renovation in stages can be planned efficiently.

By: Roger N. Goldstein, Amanda L. Sanders, Bernard J. Dooley

When you’re renovating a campus building, you’re contending with dust, noise, vibration, the risk of budget overruns, relocating occupants, extended timelines, and more. Following best practices of experienced planners can help you to mitigate the most common challenges.

From Volume 48 Number 1 | October–December 2019

Abstract: As mid-20th-century buildings reach the end of their service life, academic institutions are confronted by the challenge of renovating them while they remain partially occupied. When appropriate swing space is unavailable, or when there is no potential for vacating a building completely to allow renovation to occur more efficiently, a phased approach becomes necessary. The consequences of committing to phased renovation, however, are not only logistical, but also financial, programmatic, and technical. Through analysis of phased renovation projects across multiple building types, one can extract best practices for planning, design, and construction to mitigate many of the most common challenges.

Institutions Mentioned: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Connecticut-Main Campus
Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Academic Facility, Facilities Planning, Laboratory Facility, Renovation

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Conference Presentations

Published
July 14, 2019

2019 Annual Conference | July 2019

Putting the Green in Infrastructure

An Urban Campus's High-Performance Landscape

By: Jennifer Johnson,Eric Kramer,Laura Tenny

Abstract: Green infrastructure uses the landscape to manage stormwater. This session will explore the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) successful pilot green infrastructure project. We'll review the characteristics and benefits of green infrastructure in general, along with the accelerated design and construction process for this project in particular. We'll also share measurable results from the green infrastructure, and how the project has impacted the campus.

Institutions Mentioned: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Energy Infrastructure, Facilities Planning, Infrastructure, SCUP 2019 Annual Conference, Sustainability (Environmental), Urban Campus

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