Learning Resources

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.

Abstract: On the average campus, office space accounts for more square footage than classrooms, instructional and research labs combined. Accordingly, its design and utilization can have significant campus impact. This panel discussion addresses the challenges that institutions face when rethinking their approach to workplace design. We will provide guidance on planning, programming, and design strategies to align workplaces with educational mission, respond to fiscal pressures, and compete for talent.

Abstract: Today, the amount of space devoted to research at research universities exceeds that of classrooms and class laboratories. This research space portfolio presents important policy and management challenges. As stewards of this portfolio, universities must address issues of funding the construction of research facilities, equipping and maintaining them, allocating and accounting for space used for research, and managing, in broadest terms, the physical and administrative infrastructure in which research is conducted. As this article illustrates, managing the balance between the growing demand for and the supply of research space is complicated. To address the issues of research space, universities have developed a variety of space management methods to fit their unique research missions, priorities, and operational culture. This article provides important insights into this little studied aspect of higher education space planning. The article is an overview of research space management across the U. S. on general campuses and in health science centers. It is based on interviews with senior administrators in selected research universities conducted specifically for this study, information about research space management available on university documents on the Internet, and on the work of Ira Fink and Associates, Inc. in programming research facilities on a multitude of campuses nationwide.

Abstract: Although some educators think that e-learning is a transient fad, we argue that, far from disappearing, it has gone mainstream, and is quickly becoming part of the everyday fabric of traditional higher education institutions. However, contrary to another widely-held view, e-learning is not just fully online education, but rather encompasses a large set of teaching options that institutions must adopt and adapt. A successful venture into e-learning, therefore, should begin not with technology decisions, but with a strategic planning process that allows an institution to choose the e-learning alternatives that best meet their vision and business goals.

Abstract: Colleges and universities are expanding at unprecedented rates, creating new hazards for our increasingly fragile natural environments. Higher education administrators and planners are finding that campus development, like suburban sprawl, can disrupt functioning natural systems and destroy the natural, historical, and cultural fabric of the place. To address environmental issues and new regulations, proactive institutions of higher education are taking the lead as stewards of the land by including an environmental component in their campus master plans. An environmental approach to planning incorporates ecological information into campus master plans to ensure a sustainable campus landscape that is beautiful, durable, and distinctive. These Environmental Master Plans are best developed using a democratic process, considering each site’s unique essential environmental resources, the constraints of the regulatory environment, and a continuing education and outreach program. A case study of an Environmental Master Plan at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill illustrates how such a plan was created at one of the nation’s oldest and largest college campuses.

Abstract: Statistics demonstrate that our present land use and consumption patterns present the challenge of meeting contemporary needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Higher education has a special obligation to answer this challenge because it plays a role in producing the leaders, policy makers, and citizens of the world, and it uses a large share of resources to do so. To meet this challenge, sustainable practices and paradigms must permeate colleges and universities, from curricula to physical plant to leadership and institutional policies. This overview of the articles in this theme issue discusses methods for incorporating sustainability into higher education across a wide array of institutional realms.

Abstract: Recruiting and retaining women and minority faculty members is a particularly challenging workforce development issue facing many universities. This article summarizes current literature and the results of a survey of selected institutions to gauge responses to this challenge. All the survey respondents indicated that recruitment of women and minority candidates has been problematic, that retention problems vary, and that job placement is difficult and can negatively influence the recruitment and retention of women and minority faculty members. Job placement for partners has been most difficult for those universities located in small- to mid-sized cities. A variety of programs have been attempted to alleviate problems of recruitment and retention.

Abstract: An innovative approach to the capital planning process will determine the future physical character of an institution and the capability of facilities to support its programs.