Learning Resources

Planning Takes Tragedy to Triumph

Removing a Campus Wall Raised Community Engagement and Neighborhood Support

By: Timothy Shippey, MArch, and José Ramón Tagle, MArch

After the 2017 earthquake in Mexico City, Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey underwent a transformative rebuilding process. Civic engagement was prioritized, resulting in buy-in, support, and representation from the community.

From Volume 52 Number 3 | April–June 2024

Abstract: After the 2017 earthquake in Mexico City, Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey’s campus underwent a transformative rebuilding process that emerged as a pedagogical prototype for the university system. This article explores the design strategies that prioritized civic engagement, resulting in buy-in, support, and representation from the community. It also describes the methodology behind blurring the boundaries between the university and its surroundings through lean principles in set-based design, strategies for resilient building, and insights into effective collaboration.

Institutions Mentioned: Tecnológico de Monterrey
Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Campus Master Planning, Community Engagement, Crisis and Disaster Management, Engaging Stakeholders, Facilities Design, Facilities Planning, Landscape / Open Space, Mixed-Use, Security, Town and Gown, Urban Campus

Member Price:
Free | Login

Member-only Resource

Join now to have access

Conference Presentations

Published
March 5, 2024

Residential Life and Safety at the Intersection of Town and Gown

By: Patrick Killilee, University of Pennsylvania | Michael Schade, Atkin Olshin Schade Architects

Colleges and universities must adapt to changing issues around student safety and determine how to address these concerns while maintaining connections with the local community.

Abstract: Colleges and universities must adapt to changing issues around student safety and determine how to address these concerns while maintaining connections with the local community. This session will discuss the University of Pennsylvania’s (Penn) Stouffer Hall, a recently renovated residence hall that exemplifies the evolution of attitudes towards community, security, and student life on campus. Come learn how to create programs for increasing community engagement, address housing security concerns, and align residential life and building goals with current attitudes around safety.

Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Community Engagement, Facilities Planning, Security, Student Housing, Student Services, Town and Gown

Member Price:
$35 | Login

Non-Member Price:
$50

Survival of the Financially Fittest

Leverage Strategic Decision-Making and Key Financial Metrics to Achieve Financial Stability

By: Aaron Meis, EdD, and Julee Gard, EdD

Leaders must look closely at financial trends that may reveal signs of trouble—in the short or immediate term—and have the courage to act to address them.

From Volume 52 Number 1 | October–December 2023

Abstract: This article explores a methodology for assessing and managing the financial viability of private, tuition-dependent institutions as well as institutional tactics and strategies used to improve their financial strength. The resulting model will help institutions understand the trends and predictive value of key financial metrics directly impacting their liquidity and operations and how senior leadership can drive change. Institutional examples illustrate how to engage senior leadership in strategic decision-making that includes assessment of revenue growth and/or expense management.

Member Price:
Free | Login

Member-only Resource

Join now to have access

Blog Post

Published
August 9, 2023

6 Integrated Planning Strategies and Tips We Learned at SCUP 2023

By: SCUP

Every year at SCUP’s annual conference, over 1,000 of higher education’s leaders and innovators gather to share how they are advancing integrated planning at their college or university. Out of the wealth of tools, strategies, and tips shared at SCUP 2023, which took place earlier this month in Cleveland, here are six that stood out.

Institutions Mentioned: University of Colorado Denver, Texas Tech University, Augusta University, Southeast Community College
Planning Types: Strategic Planning, Resource Planning, Institutional Effectiveness Planning
Tags: Alignment, Budget / Finance, Budget Planning, Communication, Data, Decision Making, Engaging Stakeholders, Institutional Effectiveness, Resource Allocation

Member Price:
Free

Non-Member Price:
Free

Example Plans

Published
August 8, 2023

Supporting Document

Public Doctoral/Research University (Colorado, United States)

Website for a resource alignment initiative aligned with the institution’s strategic plan.

Planning Types: Resource Planning
Resource Types: Supporting Document
Tags: Alignment, Budget / Finance, Budget Planning, Resource Allocation

Member Price:
Free | Login

Member-only Resource

Join now to have access

What Is Your Crisis ‘What If’?

Create a Sustainable Approach to Emergency Response Planning

By: Jessica A. Luedtke, PhD, and Mary M. Reinke, MBA, MS

The Medical College of Wisconsin planned strategically, engaged executive leadership, and operationalized an Administrative Response Team to navigate critical incidents impacting the university.

From Volume 51 Number 3 | April–June 2023

Institutions Mentioned: Medical College of Wisconsin
Planning Types: Continuity Planning
Tags: Building (or Writing) the Plan, Communication, Crisis and Disaster Management, External Collaboration / Partnerships, Leadership, Medical / Allied Health Education, Modifying the Plan, Recovery Planning, Response Planning, Risk Management, Scenario Planning, Security

Member Price:
Free | Login

Member-only Resource

Join now to have access

Book Review: The Agile College

How Institutions Successfully Navigate Demographic Changes

By: Bryan C. Harvey, EdD

From Volume 51 Number 2 | January–March 2023

Abstract: The Agile College: How Institutions Successfully Navigate Demographic Changes
by Nathan D. Grawe
Johns Hopkins University Press: Baltimore: 2021
298 pages
ISBN: 978-1421440231

Does hope motivate action or complacency? Does crisis induce change or despair? Nathan D. Grawe readily acknowledges this tension in The Agile College, his follow-up book to his 2018 Demographics and the Demand for Higher Education. The latter propelled the inescapable discussion throughout higher education of the looming “demographic cliff.” The Agile College suggests how agile institutions might prevent demography from becoming destiny.

Planning Types: Strategic Enrollment Management Planning
Tags: Change Management, COVID-19, Demographics, Disruptive Change, Recovery Planning, Resiliency, Shrinking Pool of Potential Students, Student Demographics, Student Recruitment, Student Retention, Trends External to Higher Ed

Member Price:
Free | Login

Member-only Resource

Join now to have access

Example Plans

Published
February 2, 2022

Example Plan

Private Baccalaureate College (Wisconsin, United States)

This short-duration strategic framework describes goals and very specific action steps to guide the institution through the current, globally tumultuous era.

Planning Types: Strategic Planning
Tags: Attracting and Retaining Underrepresented Students, Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Enrollment Management, Goals, Racial Equity, Strategies and Tactics, Student Recruitment

Member Price:
Free | Login

Member-only Resource

Join now to have access

Prioritizing Campus Diversity Budgets

DEI Funding Has Mostly Survived the Post-Pandemic Cuts

By: Jeffery L. Wilson, PhD, Gerron Scott, MEd, and Reginald L. Stroble, EdD

Researchers learned that if diversity initiatives were a strategic priority for an institution, the 2020 financial crisis did little to reduce budget allocations.

From Volume 49 Number 4 | July–September 2021

Abstract: In 2013, the article Planning for the Future: The Impact on the Public University Diversity Budget in Time of Recession reported the impact of the 2008 recession on college and university student affairs diversity unit budgets. Colleges are again faced with another economic downturn with looming budget cuts. The purpose of this article is to revisit the idea of whether primarily student affairs diversity units are hit harder than other institutional units in fiscal cuts and the potential effect that current events related to diversity programming initiatives have had on campus planning. The article explores the status of these budgets during fiscal uncertainty and the social awareness around campus-wide diversity, equity, and inclusion and its prioritization.

Planning Types: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Planning, Resource Planning
Tags: Budget / Finance, Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Higher Ed Trends, Original Research, Racial Equity, Resource Allocation, Trends External to Higher Ed

Member Price:
Free | Login

Member-only Resource

Join now to have access

Conference Recordings

Published
July 16, 2021

2021 Annual Conference | July 2021

2020 Foresight

Scenario Planning in the Age of Pandemic

By: Jan O'Brien, Thompson Rivers University | Dana Prymak, Thompson Rivers University

In this presentation, we'll demonstrate a step by step how-to for you to apply on your own campus with a vivid description of deliverables, tools, and 'gotchas.'

Abstract: The disruptive nature of a post-COVID world provides the perfect opportunity for institutions to use scenario planning as a tool to navigate through an uncertain future. Scenario planning is especially useful for communicating external and internal trends and bridging a discussion between the most recent visioning exercise and transition. In this presentation, we'll demonstrate a step by step how-to for you to apply on your own campus with a vivid description of deliverables, tools, and 'gotchas.'

Institutions Mentioned: Thompson Rivers University
Planning Types: Strategic Planning
Tags: COVID-19, Planning Processes, Recovery Planning, Scenario Planning, SCUP 2021 Annual Conference

Member Price:
$35 | Login

Non-Member Price:
$50

Planning Types

Challenges