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Planning for Higher Education Journal

Published
July 17, 2025

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Co-Locate and Consolidate to Create Connected Campuses

Grow in Place Rather Than Add More Space Where Students Will Succeed

By: Elliot Felix, MArch

You can share spaces, support services, staffing, and technology systems within your institution and with external partners. This reduces costs while improving outcomes such as retention, graduation, and career placement rates.

From Volume 53 Number 3 | April–June 2025

Abstract: Colleges and universities have a traditional way to meet new needs. When there is a new research initiative, degree program, or student support function, institutions add space. Despite good intentions, their siloed structures, poor strategic planning, and history of continuous expansion mean that institutions adapt by adding. The result: Campuses are overbuilt and underutilized. Instead of shared spaces and seamless, supportive experiences, we’re left with sprawling campuses and spiraling costs. With enrollments, research funding, and our climate all changing, it’s time for a new model and a new mantra: Grow in place rather than add more space.

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Planning for Higher Education Journal

Published
September 30, 2024

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Master Planning for Tripartite Missions

Academic Medical Centers Must Focus on Health Care, Education, and Research

By: Sumegha Shah, MArch, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Kelsey Mack, BS, and Ben Bassin, MD, EDAC

The authors share best practices for comprehensive integrated planning processes to meet evolving demands, build consensus and a shared vision, and successfully prepare for implementation.

From Volume 52 Number 4 | July–September 2024

Abstract: Academic medical centers sit at the intersection of health care, education, and research in service of the community. New models of care delivery, work, and learning require these systems to adapt and innovate to remain relevant while addressing regional health care demands and advancing strategic priorities. We discuss planning strategies to empower institutions to align capital with their mission to achieve longstanding success. This article shares best practices for comprehensive integrated planning processes across tripartite missions to meet growing and evolving demands, build consensus and a shared vision, and successfully prepare for implementation.

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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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Planning for Higher Education Journal

Published
June 21, 2023

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Optimizing for Growth

Long-Term Planning Is Essential During an Institutional Merger, Acquisition, and/or Geographic Expansion

By: Clayton Mitchell, MS, PE, CEM, and Chuck Rudalavage, BArch, AIA, LEED AP

Thomas Jefferson University focused on culture, communications, and collaboration during a transformational period of combining institutions.

From Volume 51 Number 3 | April–June 2023

Abstract: Accurately planning long-term strategy can be a shaky task for quickly-growing organizations, especially those that desire to maintain a strong impression on their stakeholders and surrounding communities. History shows that mergers and acquisitions can negatively impact an organization’s culture, communication initiatives, and internal and external experiences. Thomas Jefferson University, a longstanding private medical research university in Philadelphia, educating scholars since 1824, in recent years merged with Philadelphia University and further expanded its footprint through the aligned Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. The authors of this article describe how to collaboratively optimize growth during a transformational period.

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Conference Recordings

Published
November 2, 2022

2022 Mid-Atlantic Regional Symposium | November

Reckoning with Entangled Histories

Higher Education and Slavery

By: Fanchon (Chon) Glover, College of William and Mary | Amber Hall, College of William and Mary | Samuel Hayes, College of William and Mary | Ben Carton, George Mason University | Wendi Manuel Scott, George Mason University | Cathy Pinskey, George Mason University | Dereck J. Rovaris, Sr., St. Mary's College of Maryland | Maurice Schlesinger, St. Mary's College of Maryland | Louis Nelson, University of Virginia | Alice Raucher, University of Virginia | Stephanie Wolfgang, Perkins&Will

In this symposium, four institutions will share their approaches to these complicated questions and how they’re continuing the conversation around the legacy of slavery on their campuses.
Abstract: American higher education institutions have a long, complex history with slavery that shouldn’t be ignored. Reckoning with these historical ties—from slave-owning namesakes to the enslaved laborers who constructed campus buildings—generates difficult questions for colleges and universities:
  • How do we honor those who were enslaved?
  • How do we recognize our role in the history of slavery as a means of learning from the past to guide our future?
In this symposium, four institutions will share their approaches to these complicated questions and how they’re continuing the conversation around the legacy of slavery on their campuses.

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Webinar Recordings

Published
December 9, 2021

How Assessment Can Improve Your Campus’s Active Learning Spaces

By: David M. Zaiser, HDR | Shannon Dowling, Ayers Saint Gross | Alice Donlan, University of Maryland | Hilary Gossett, University of Maryland | Jeffrey Ashley, Jefferson (Philadelphia University + Thomas Jefferson University)

Come join us for an engaging and interactive session that will provide you with critical, campus-tested planning tools that you can use in your own classroom assessment to improve your campus learning environment.
Abstract: Higher education planners recognize the crucial role that active learning spaces play in improving student outcomes, but identifying the specific characteristics that make these environments most beneficial for student success is still an evolving process. Representatives from two institutions—one private, the other public—will share their experiences and highlight the planning tools they use to assess active learning spaces aimed at powering student gains. Come join us for an engaging and interactive session that will provide you with critical, campus-tested planning tools that you can use in your own classroom assessment to improve your campus learning environment. This webinar was brought to you by the SCUP Mid-Atlantic region.

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Conference Recordings

Published
July 14, 2021

2021 Annual Conference | July 2021

Connecting Wellbeing With Learning and Engagement

By: Jessica Figenholtz, Perkins&Will | Jody Gerome, Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine | Tina Whalen, University of Cincinnati

We'll demonstrate how two universities are using design to drive impact, sharing resources, and working together to build programs that prioritize student wellbeing.
Abstract: During the pandemic, institutions are pivoting away from traditional silos and turning to internal integration to advance whole student wellbeing—building human capacity, resiliency, and confidence to meet challenges and persist. Wellbeing should not be an afterthought, but rather a driving principle that guides decisions throughout the planning process. We'll demonstrate how two universities are using design to drive impact, sharing resources, and working together to build programs that prioritize student wellbeing. Join us to find out how intentional integration of curriculum, adjacencies, policies, and recruitment can benefit your bottom line and campus environment.

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Conference Presentations

Published
July 13, 2021

2021 Annual Conference | July 2021

A Future Pathway

Leading in a Global Public Health Crisis and Social and Racial Injustice

By: Larisa Genin, Wichita State University | Eileen Strempel, University of Cincinnati-Main Campus | Elizabeth Tutelman, Temple University | Joseph Youngblood II, Thomas Edison State University

This presentation will demonstrate how leaders can surmount 2021’s obstacles by aligning strategic priorities for the future.
Abstract: Higher education experienced extraordinary challenges in 2020 and tackled them head on with agility and creativity. Transformative leadership can help our institutions thrive even in the face of a world health disaster, its attendant fiscal challenges, and systemic racial and social injustice. This presentation will demonstrate how leaders can surmount these obstacles by aligning strategic priorities for the future. Come learn how to work across boundaries, differences, and beliefs while intentionally developing the essential skills and abilities you need to strengthen your institution and community.

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Conference Recordings

Published
July 12, 2021

2021 Annual Conference | July 2021

The Next Chapter in the Paradigm Shift for Hands-on Learning

By: Olivia Birritteri, Thomas Jefferson University | Amanda Bracci, Thomas Jefferson University | Ryan Glick, Thomas Jefferson University | Benjamin Hoffman, Thomas Jefferson University | Gabriel Masters, Temple University | Charles Rudalavage, Gensler

A higher education design expert, an educator, and a panel of students across hands-on disciplines will share their perspectives on how education spaces might evolve as hybrid learning becomes the new normal.
Abstract: Future-proofing education spaces through hybrid learning models is an opportunity to empower students, spark innovation, and strengthen connections between the campus and its community. A higher education design expert, an educator, and a panel of students across hands-on disciplines will share their perspectives on how education spaces might evolve as hybrid learning becomes the new normal. As we accelerate towards a blended future of physical and virtual learning environments, you can begin rethinking how your institution's educational spaces can provide diversity, multimodality, and flexibility.

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Conference Recordings

Published
June 16, 2021

2021 Mid-Atlantic Symposium | June 2021

Integrating Place and Pedagogy to Foster Active Learning

What Works

By: Jeffrey Ashley, Jefferson (Philadelphia University + Thomas Jefferson University) | Alice Donlan, University of Maryland | Shannon Dowling, Ayers Saint Gross | Kate Drabinski, University of Maryland Baltimore County | Hilary Gossett, University of Maryland | Richard Minturn, University of Virginia | John Notis, University of Virginia | Wynne Stuart, University of Virginia | Nancy Sturm, NV5 | Steven Anderson, UMBC Division of Information Technology

Planners from four universities will explore how active learning environments are evolving on their campuses, leading to more engaging learning experiences and improving student outcomes.
Abstract: Over the past year the pandemic has brought many challenges to higher education as well as opportunities to shape future learning spaces. Planners from four universities will explore how active learning environments are evolving on their campuses, leading to more engaging learning experiences and improving student outcomes. Come join us for a lively discussion about how space optimization, thoughtful furniture selection, and strategic technology implementation all contribute to the design of “the perfect active learning classroom”.

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