SCUP
 

Learning Resources

Your Higher Education Planning Library

Combine search terms, filters, institution names, and tags to find the vital resources to help you and your team tackle today’s challenges and plan for the future. Get started below, or learn how the library works.

FOUND 56 RESOURCES

REFINED BY:

  • Tags: Modifying the PlanxAdaptive ReusexInstitutional Planningx

Clear All
ABSTRACT:  | 
SORT BY:  | 
Blog Post

Published
September 2, 2025

How Strategic Is Your Strategic Plan?

Identify Its Shortcomings and Ask Key Questions

By: Sarah L Collie, PhD, Associate Vice President for Organizational Excellence, University of Virginia

Today, strategic planning in colleges and universities is more crucial than ever. Yet many strategic plans in higher education lack a clear strategy, instead resembling a long-range plan.

Member Price:
Free

Non-Member Price:
Free

Planning for Higher Education Journal

Published
August 18, 2025

Featured Image

Strategic Alignment for Degree Completion

Leverage an Integrated Planning Approach to Improve Credit Momentum and Student Success

By: Nicole DeCapua, EdD, Mildred Mihlon, PhD, and Tracy Louisse S. Chacon, MEd

By coordinating cross-functional teams, employing real-time data, and strengthening communication systems, a university bolstered student retention and completion without requiring new funding or staff.

From Volume 53 Number 4 | July–September 2025

Abstract: This article presents how a small, resource-constrained university leveraged integrated institutional planning to launch a 30-credit completion strategy that significantly improved student momentum, graduation rates, and institutional planning culture. By coordinating cross-functional teams, employing real-time data, and strengthening communication systems, the university built a scalable and sustainable framework that bolstered student retention and completion without requiring new funding or staff. This case offers a roadmap for similarly situated institutions aiming to align credit accumulation initiatives with broader strategic goals to drive measurable student success outcomes.

Member Price:
Free  | Login

Member-only Resource

Join now to have access

Conference Presentations,Conference Recordings

Published
June 17, 2025

Featured Image

At the Edge: Connecting Campus and Community Through Transformative Reuse

By: Joe Banks, Director of Construction, Wesleyan University | Tom Davies, Executive Director of Planning, Design and Construction, Amherst College | Jason Forney, Principal, Bruner/Cott Architects

Every campus has underused edges it can leverage as important connections to community within and beyond its boundaries Transformative reuse provides an opportunity to deploy new programs, restore important historic structures, and foster community in different ways. In this session, we’ll discuss how Wesleyan University and Amherst College invested in an underused, historic campus-edge buildings to develop a nexus for creative community, a student run hub, and a think tank for the humanities.
Abstract: Every campus has underused edges it can leverage as important connections to community within and beyond its boundaries Transformative reuse provides an opportunity to deploy new programs, restore important historic structures, and foster community in different ways. In this session, we’ll discuss how Wesleyan University and Amherst College invested in an underused, historic campus-edge buildings to develop a nexus for creative community, a student run hub, and a think tank for the humanities. You will discover parallels and ways of employing similar strategies to create meaningful connections between the campus and community. Furthermore, we’ll demonstrate how the reuse of existing buildings offers design inspiration while avoiding the embodied carbon of building new.

Member Price:
Free  | Login

Non-Member Price:
$50

Conference Presentations

Published
April 3, 2025

Live Your Strategic Plan: A Framework for Facilitating Campus Engagement

Abstract: Traditional strategic planning can lead to a static plan that does little to inspire implementation or true change. This session will detail a process that promotes buy-in and engagement while providing structured frameworks to support implementation and assessment. Our framework provides support for a campus community to 'live' its institutional strategic plan through the strategic planning cycle (SPC) at the unit level, informing the realization of institutional goals and outcomes. We'll provide our tools and approaches for you to access and review, as well as the rationale for developing support for your own campus communities to 'live' their strategic plan.

Member Price:
$35  | Login

Non-Member Price:
$50

Planning for Higher Education Journal

Published
December 20, 2024

Featured Image

Planner and Counsel

Engage an Influential Partner to Advance Integrated Planning

By: Christian Osmeña, EdD

Planners and attorneys might be natural colleagues. Higher education trends are making this alliance even more critical.

From Volume 53 Number 1 | September–December 2024

Member Price:
Free  | Login

Member-only Resource

Join now to have access

Conference Presentations

Published
October 23, 2024

Reimagining Clippinger: Adaptive Reuse of an OU Post-war Science Building

By: Stephen Bergmeier, Marvin E. and Ann Diley White Professor of Chemistry, Ohio University-Main Campus | Matt Garrett, Principal, Flad Architects | John Wroblewski, Architect/Science Planner, Flad Architects

Since Ohio University's (OU) Clippinger Laboratory was built in 1967 higher education has changed dramatically: scientific research, instruction, and the students themselves.
Abstract: Since Ohio University's (OU) Clippinger Laboratory was built in 1967 higher education has changed dramatically: scientific research, instruction, and the students themselves. Through several examples over the 10-year period of Clippinger's reimagining, this session will examine a process for rethinking a building's vision, developing space needs, and responding to changing times so that the building can continue to serve the College of Arts and Sciences into the future. Come learn a set of adaptive reuse tools to guide planning and design, including alignment of program and capacity, compliance with regulations, and achieving sustainability and environmental goals.

Member Price:
$35  | Login

Non-Member Price:
$50

Conference Presentations

Published
July 23, 2024

Improving Campus Character and Performance Through Renovation and Adaptive Reuse

By: Ryan Jones, Partner | Kerry Phillips, Associate | John Scherding, Former University Architect and Director of Sustainability

Breathing new life into old buildings is one of the most sustainable available campus strategies and offers benefits beyond carbon reduction. Renovation and adaptive reuse support a triple bottom line of environmental, financial, and social wellbeing.
Abstract: Breathing new life into old buildings is one of the most sustainable available campus strategies and offers benefits beyond carbon reduction. Renovation and adaptive reuse support a triple bottom line of environmental, financial, and social wellbeing. This session will explore renovation at Trinity University from campus, design, and building perspectives, outlining strategies for enhancing the character and performance of buildings, districts, and the campus. Join us to gain a multi-dimensional understanding of the risks and rewards of renovation and adaptive reuse to help strategically guide comprehensive environmental, financial, and campus planning efforts for colleges and universities.

Member Price:
$35  | Login

Non-Member Price:
$50

Conference Presentations

Published
July 23, 2024

Reconnect, Reuse, Revitalize, Recruit: Addressing Aging Campus Facilities

By: Tom King, Director of Facilities, College of Engineering | Erin Mulrooney, Associate Dean for Administration | William Voulgaris, Principal

Institutions are constrained by housing modern programs within aging facilities.
Abstract: Institutions are constrained by housing modern programs within aging facilities. Cornell University's College of Engineering addressed these challenges while collecting programs and enhancing the user experience. This session will explore project goals that resolve pragmatic challenges of aging facilities and evolving programs with interventions that help support the future of academic programs and impact the overall cohesiveness of the larger campus. We'll identify opportunities to solve programmatic and utilitarian challenges within the confines of aging facilities while helping to improve the student experience, recruit researchers, and make connections between buildings and across the campus.

Member Price:
$35  | Login

Non-Member Price:
$50

Conference Presentations

Published
July 23, 2024

Bison Blueprint: Building An Integrated Planning Culture At Gallaudet

By: Kristin Mulrooney, Strategic Planning & Integration Officer | Guthrie Nutter, Strategic Communications and Planning Manager| Jennifer Powers, Sr. Project Manager

A successful integrated plan requires the broad engagement within an institution.
Abstract: A successful integrated plan requires the broad engagement within an institution. In this session, we'll demonstrate how we taught key leaders about integrated planning by breaking down the integrated planning process to enable plan creation for different programs and divisions. We'll share our Bison Integrative Planning Toolkit, which provides an 'evergreen' resource for onboarding colleagues into the integrated planning process and also serves as a manual that walks through the process of creating a plan. Join us to gain teachable, no-cost resources that you can easily disseminate at your institution to foster necessary skills for building an integrated planning culture.

Member Price:
$35  | Login

Non-Member Price:
$50

Conference Presentations,Conference Recordings

Published
July 22, 2024

The Strategic Doing Methodology at Northern Michigan University

By: Ellen Koski, Institutional Researcher II-Strategic Planning Coordinator | Elizabeth Nilsen, Acting Director, Agile Strategy Lab

Many institutions face challenges in evolving traditional, and often ineffective, planning processes into fully participatory systems that use collaborative methods and techniques for improving outcomes.
Abstract: Many institutions face challenges in evolving traditional, and often ineffective, planning processes into fully participatory systems that use collaborative methods and techniques for improving outcomes. We'll illustrate how Northern Michigan University (NMU) is using Strategic Doing methodology to advance strategic action plan tactics, organize loosely connected networks, and increase collaboration and effectiveness. Come learn how to use a structured methodology with loosely affiliated cross-functional teams to drive greater results, increase accountability, and support impactful strategic plan implementation.

Member Price:
$35  | Login

Non-Member Price:
$50