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Planning for Higher Education Journal

Published
October 23, 2025

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A New Campus Planning Paradigm Emerges . . .

. . . Addressing Declining Enrollment, Evolving Academic Technology, Online Learning, and Facilities Maintenance Costs

By: Mohammed Abdelaal, PhD, and Robert L. Ryan, PhD, FASLA

By reviewing campus plans and interviewing senior planners and administrators, the authors examined how 11 public universities in the Northeast and Midwest are responding to growing financial, pedagogical, and facilities risks.

From Volume 54 Number 1 | October–December 2025

Abstract: After decades of significant investment in campus development, US universities are now confronted with enormous challenges, including declining enrollment, evolving academic technology, online learning, and rising facilities maintenance costs. The authors of this research examined how 11 public R1 universities in the Northeast and Midwest are addressing these challenges through a review of campus plans and interviews with senior planners and administrators. This study argues that a new campus planning paradigm is gradually emerging in response to these risks, which highlights innovative strategies for place-based institutions to rapidly reexamine their prevailing capital planning priorities with a focus on adaptability and right-sizing campus facilities.

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Planning for Higher Education Journal

Published
October 17, 2023

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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.

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Blog Post

Published
March 17, 2023

Cultivating 55+ Communities on Campus

Higher Education and Senior Living

By: Apryl Motley, CAE, SASM

To gain insight into the potential opportunities and obstacles university-based retirement communities (UBRCs) present for higher education, we turned to Andrew Carle, adjunct faculty member, senior living administration for Georgetown University’s Master of Science Program in Aging & Health.

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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.

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Webinar Recordings

Published
June 24, 2020

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COVID Conversation

Checklist of Checklists for Returning to Campus

By: Samuel Florio, Director, Risk Management and Compliance, Santa Clara University | Susanne K. Johnson, ARM-E Director of Risk Management, Iowa State University

This webinar was hosted by the University Risk Management & Insurance Association (URMIA) and extended to SCUP members. It focused on the various resources publicly available for higher education institutions to review as they begin to contemplate how and when to re-open their physical locations.
Abstract: This discussion focused on the various resources publicly available for higher education institutions to review as they begin to contemplate how and when to re-open their physical locations. At recording time, the presenters had recently completed the URMIA “Checklist of Checklists for Returning to Campus,” in conjunction with the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO).

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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?

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Conference Presentations

Published
March 27, 2019

2019 Pacific Regional Conference | March 2019

Leveraging the On-Campus Admissions Center to Showcase Institutional Values

By: Katie Dawn Holdgreve-Resendez, Wayne Northcutt, Michael Tingley

We will discuss the planning and design of Colorado University's Center for Academic Success and Engagement (CASE), providing an example of thoughtful intra-institutional discourse focused on institutional values.
Abstract: In the competitive higher education landscape, a prospective student's campus experience is a defining moment in a daunting decision-making process. Colorado University (CU) embedded its new admissions center and auditorium in an academic building central to the campus. CU’s strategy impacts both prospective students and influences broader institutional life. We will discuss the planning and design of CU's Center for Academic Success and Engagement (CASE), providing an example of thoughtful intra-institutional discourse focused on institutional values.

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Conference Presentations

Published
March 27, 2019

2019 Pacific Regional Conference | March 2019

Performance-based Standards Foster Creative Solutions for Environments Supporting Critical Discourse

By: Jonathan Akins, David Boyles, Thomas E. Goodhew, John Salisbury

We'll discuss how to rethink the processes for creating and implementing campus standards, focusing on the “why” of campus standards while balancing life-cycle costs and ease of operation.
Abstract: Design standards define what makes a campus unique without limiting creativity. This session highlights the trials and tribulations of defining what should and should not be in the campus standards. We'll discuss how to rethink the processes for creating and implementing campus standards, focusing on the “why” of campus standards while balancing life-cycle costs and ease of operation. We'll also look at how to better implement and communicate the standards, increasing the likelihood that they are incorporated into projects.

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Planning for Higher Education Journal

Published
October 1, 2018

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Creating a Sense of Community on Urban College and University Campuses

Implications for Planning and Design

By: Peter A. Bacevice, Bennet Dunkley

Urban campuses have unique planning and design challenges when it comes to creating a sense of place that reflects both their global ambitions and local commitments to a variety of stakeholders.

From Volume 47 Number 1 | October–December 2018

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Report

Published
January 1, 2018

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P3 Performance for Higher Education

By: Nic de Salaberry, Ryerson University

This is a SCUP Fellow Research Project Final Report for the 2016–2017 program. The researcher’s intention was to better understand P3 models and learn how they have performed, possibly generating some useful lessons for how P3 models can be applied with desired outcomes.
Abstract: Public-Private Partnership (“P3”) procurement models for built infrastructure serving higher learning institutions started to gain attention in North America in the late 1990s—mostly as an alternative approach to adding student housing at select universities and colleges. More recently, P3 models have been applied to a diverse range of higher learning projects, with some serving core academic and research functions.

Although many institutions are considering P3 approaches among their options to address emerging pressures to expand or update their facilities, their implementation is not yet common. The researcher’s intention was to better understand P3 models and learn how they have performed, possibly generating some useful lessons for how P3 models can be applied with desired outcomes.

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