Learning Resources

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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Conference Recordings

Published
March 18, 2021

2021 North Atlantic Regional Conference | March 2021

Tour | Wentworth Institute: Center for Engineering, Innovation & Sciences

By: Tom Chung, Leers Weinzapfel Associates | Shankar Krishnan, Wentworth Institute | Elizabeth Stifel, Boston Civic Design Commission | David Wahlstrom, Wentworth Institute of Technology

Join us for a virtual tour of Wentworth Institute’s newest academic building, the Center for Engineering, Innovation & Sciences (CEIS)—its ground-breaking design was serves academic and social needs on campus as well as the wider, local community.

Abstract: Join us for a virtual tour of Wentworth Institute’s newest academic building, the Center for Engineering, Innovation & Sciences (CEIS).

The project team members from upper administration, faculty, the City of Boston, and the architect discuss key priorities ranging from academic and social to campus and the wider city and community, which led to the ground-breaking design. The building opened for classes just over a year before the pandemic hit and the presenters will discuss how the building use shifted to remote and hybrid learning as well as plans going forward.

Institutions Mentioned: Wentworth Institute of Technology
Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: COVID-19, Facilities Design, Facilities Planning, Interdisciplinary Learning Environments, Learning Environments, Science / Engineering Facility, SCUP 2021 North Atlantic Regional Conference

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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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Strategic Planning Responses to the Pandemic

By: Host: Debi McDonald, FAIA, NCARB, LEED AP Co-Chair, BSA/SCUP College + University Roundtable | Moderator: Pete Zuraw, Vice President, Market Strategy and Development, Gordian | Presenters: Jean Robinson, Associate Vice Chancellor, Facilities Management, University of Massachusetts-Lowell; Dave Proulx, Senior Vice President, Finance & Administration, Rhode Island School of Design

In this webinar, Jean Robinson from University of Massachusetts-Lowell and Dave Proulx from Rhode Island School of Design share how their campuses have been planning for this fall, and reflect on the impacts today’s urgent decision making could bring to the future campus.

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

Abstract: With the entire academic community scrambling to establish what higher education looks like this fall, planning has been even harder than usual. And yet the pandemic opens opportunities to consider an entirely new set of choices previously unavailable to those guiding their institutions forward. Each and every urgent decision being made on campus today has the potential to define an entirely new future campus. The drivers for those decisions may or may not be creating a desirable new future.d

Institutions Mentioned: University of Massachusetts-Lowell, Rhode Island School of Design
Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: COVID-19, Facilities Planning

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Conference Presentations

Published
March 8, 2020

2020 North Atlantic Regional Conference | March 2020

Institutional Strategies in Project Delivery

Brown University Strategic Sourcing Program

By: Ron Simoneau, Vice President, Shawmut Design and Construction | Joubin Hassanein, Director of IPD & Lean Practice, Shawmut Design and Construction | Michael Guglielmo, Vice President for Facilities Management, Brown University

Brown University's Strategic Sourcing program, a strategic partnership that streamlines planning, design, and construction for the university, delivers higher quality project outcomes with long-term financial savings.

Abstract: Brown University's Strategic Sourcing program, a strategic partnership that streamlines planning, design, and construction for the university, delivers higher quality project outcomes with long-term financial savings. We'll discuss this highly collaborative partnership model that brings together Brown stakeholders with designers, engineers, and subcontractors to develop optimal project solutions. We'll also cover the spectrum of project delivery models used for recent projects.

Institutions Mentioned: Brown University
Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Facilities Planning, Project Management / Delivery, SCUP 2020 North Atlantic Regional Conference

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Conference Presentations

Published
July 14, 2019

2019 Annual Conference | July 2019

On-campus Student Housing

Compare Approaches for Construction and Delivery

By: Adam Baacke, Laurence Siegel

Come learn from campus facilities planning and student affairs officials, who will address the pros and cons of different delivery methods (P3, purchase/renovation, and conventional construction) from the perspective of up-front costs, operating and maintenance factors, student experience, and functionality.

Abstract: On-campus living has been linked to student success and is a key factor in admissions decisions. As campuses look to expand and improve their housing inventories in a challenging fiscal environment, there are more options than ever available. One institution will share its recent experiences with several of these options. The University of Massachusetts (UMass) Lowell has more than doubled its on-campus housing inventory in the past five years using a combination of P3, real estate acquisitions, and conventional construction. This session will compare the relative benefits and particular challenges in utilizing these types of housing delivery methods. Come learn from campus facilities planning and student affairs officials, who will address the pros and cons of different delivery methods (P3, purchase/renovation, and conventional construction) from the perspective of up-front costs, operating and maintenance factors, student experience, and functionality.

Institutions Mentioned: University of Massachusetts-Lowell
Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Facilities Planning, Public-Private Partnerships (P3), Real Estate, SCUP 2019 Annual Conference, Student Housing

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The Library as Learning Commons

By: Derek Jones, Andrew Grote

Even in the digital age, the library plays a fundamental role in campus life and learning, particularly when it’s updated to meet the needs of 21st-century students and pedagogies.

From Volume 46 Number 3 | April–June 2018

Abstract: Following decades of decline in perceived status and value, the university library has found new life as a center of the knowledge economy, of collaborative learning, and of creative production. The challenge of updating the library mission for the digital age is further complicated when that library resides within a 1960s Brutalist concrete structure. The revitalization of the Douglas D. Schumann Library & Learning Commons at the Wentworth Institute of Technology illustrates the process of transforming a foreboding, bunker-like space into a modern, vibrant campus destination.

Institutions Mentioned: Wentworth Institute of Technology
Planning Types: Campus Planning, Library Planning
Tags: Academic Facility, Facilities Design, Facilities Planning, Learning Commons, Library, Library Planning

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Improving Assessment of Space Utilization in a Transdisciplinary Research Environment

By: Ben Huey,JoAnne Valdenegro

The valuable transformation of discrete scientific research so that it is more frequently interdisciplinary “challenges traditional approaches to space management.” The Fulton School of Engineering at Arizona State University is trying to directly link what is actually happening in joint spaces, which may not always parallel the users’ faculty affiliations.

From Volume 34 Number 4 | July–September 2006

Abstract: This article describes a method for attributing research expenditures directly to assigned space that avoids the difficulties with traditional approaches that have arisen from the growth of interdisciplinary research activities where the attribution of research to the faculty member or unit is not strongly correlated with the location where the research is performed. The emergence and growth of new transdisciplinary research activities that not only connect research from traditional disciplines but also form the unifying theme around which a whole new area may form depends in part on reducing traditional barriers to space allocation and encouraging the creative efforts of everyone contributing to meet research space needs. Projects may be distributed across several rooms, some of which are shared with other projects. We seek to attribute credit for such efforts using approximations from existing data to avoid exacerbating an already onerous data collection challenge. The pilot version and a second iteration of the project have been completed with worthwhile results. A new analysis is currently underway with further improved data collection, an enhanced database, and a more systematic process.

Institutions Mentioned: Arizona State University-Tempe

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Aligning Values for Effective Sustainability Planning

By: William R. Moomaw

To create a sustainable campus, management must be integrated with education and research, and institutional values need to be aligned with sustainability planning.

From Volume 31 Number 3 | March–May 2003

Abstract: Sustainable management of college and university campuses enhances learning and exposes students to the challenges and opportunities they will face upon graduation. There are many technologies and measures that can lead colleges and universities toward a more sustainable path. Taken together, the contributions in this issue of the journal clearly demonstrate that it is possible for colleges and universities to meet the needs of their current and future generations of students. But the question remains whether they will be able to meet those needs and do so in a manner that does not prevent others, outside their institutions, from meeting their future needs. This is really about institutional change, and without a shift in personal and institutional values these options will not become the default practice instead of the optional alternative. Moving higher education onto a sustainable trajectory requires that administrators, trustees and staff, faculty, and students participate in a transparent process of setting goals and implementing them. Planners have the opportunity to become the true visionaries of higher education who help faculty and administrators combine teaching, research, and campus management into a higher level of learning for our students as our example leads society toward a sustainable future.

Institutions Mentioned: Tufts University, Oberlin College, Middlebury College, Vermont Law School, Brown University, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

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