Learning Resources

Abstract: This monograph offers ideas, insights, and information about campus heritage. It describes and illustrates the contributions campus heritage can make to promote, strengthen, and support institutional goals and objectives and outlines suggested methods of incorporating campus heritage in campus plans, facility plans, and campus design concepts. Richard Dober (1928–2014) was a planning and design advisor to more than 450 colleges, universities, and cultural institutions worldwide, as well as to foundations and government agencies, the World Bank, and UNESCO. He wrote nine books and numerous articles on planning and design and was a founder of the Society for College and University Planning. He led consulting firms since the early 1960s, including most recently, Dober Lidsky Mathey, a firm specializing in campus planning and facility planning services.

Abstract: This book is an outgrowth of Phillip S. Waite’s popular SCUP workshops and webcast. In his preface, Waite explains that “[N]on-architects are often placed in positions of leadership or responsibility in a capital project process. Administrators, managers, and academics, while no doubt experts within their own specialties, often have little or no training to prepare them for a role in a major capital project.” This book provides the non-architect with a broad framework of understanding in the steps, phases, and sequence of planning, designing, and delivering a capital project. Although written focused on the higher education environment, the lessons to be learned from this book are as pertinent in the K—12 and corporate world as they are in the realm of colleges and universities. In addition to appealing to ”non-architects,“ it should also appeal to architects who (a) may wish to understand what those non-architects are learning from this book and (b) may wish to purchase for distribution to clients or potential clients as part of the information process.

Abstract: Because technology is moving at a rapid pace, institutions are rethinking how they approach planning. Accelerated life cycles demand that attention be paid to planning on a continuous basis rather than on a "once every so many years" model. This publication, sponsored by Datatel, provides planners with a set of guiding principles as well as case study illustrations that put these principles into practice. If you need to know how technology is changing the way we plan for higher education, read this book and benefit from experts who have addressed today's challenges.

Abstract: This article looks at how behavioral research can be an effective tool to use during the redesign process of university plazas. It also summarizes the research that was conducted at University Union Plaza at California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly), a 30-year-old plaza that is scheduled to be redesigned. Through the use of behavioral and cognitive mapping techniques, this research illustrates how people react to various design characteristics of the existing plaza and how this affects the way they use the space. The research was used as a tool to analyze the positive and negative design attributes of the existing plaza and to provide recommendations for its redesign. The research method described in this article was an effective way for Cal Poly planners to analyze the plaza’s existing design and provides justifiable recommendations for its redesign. This research has not only been beneficial to planners at Cal Poly but can also be useful for professionals at other university campuses interested in redesigning plazas and communal areas.

Abstract: In 1998, a Carnegie Foundation Commission Report criticized America’s 123 research universities for failing our educational system by ignoring undergraduate education. Notably absent from the Commission's list of recommendations was mentoring research university faculty as a strategy to improve their teaching. This article discusses strategic collaboration, a mentoring model that can contribute significantly to achieving this objective. Such a network can also create an environment conducive to interdisciplinary research that, because of its increased value and rewards at such universities, can provide an added incentive for faculty participation.

Abstract: New subscribers to the Harvard Business Review receive as a bonus with their first issue a compilation of fifteen classics, which appeared in previous HBR issues. One article, “Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail”, by John P. Kotter, first appeared in the March-April 1995 issue and is often referenced as a guide to strategic change in organizations. It is the purpose of the article to evaluate a change process undertaken at a large comprehensive baccalaureate institution in the context of Kotter’s suggested eight steps in transforming an organization.