Learning Resources

Abstract: Green buildings offer many compelling advantages over their conventional counterparts—increased educational performance, lower energy costs, and lower environmental impact, to name a few—so green buildings should be easier to develop. Unfortunately, that isn’t always the case. Several strategies are important to avoid a protracted process. Develop a set of clear environmental performance goals (buildings as pedagogical tools, climate-neutral operations, maximized human performance), use Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED™) as a gauge of performance, and use the project to reform the campus building process. All of these steps need to involve a range of participants—students, faculty, administration, and facilities staff—to achieve the best results.

Abstract: This article provides a survey of innovative approaches to campus transportation in the United States. The high costs of parking expansion have propelled many institutions toward a transportation demand management strategy, using parking pricing, transit passes for students and employees, and investment in bicycle infrastructure to shift many trips from single-occupant automobiles to other modes of travel. These institutions have experienced multiple benefits, including lower transportation costs, lower environmental impacts, and improved community relations.

Abstract: One of the major issues in strategic planning is moving the academic strategic plan from planning to implementation. This article suggests that there are several effective implementation methods: using the budget, using participation, using force, establishing goals and key performance indicators, working within the human resource management system, using the reward system, using faculty and staff development, working with institutional culture, working with or around tradition, developing and using change champions, and building on systems that are ready for or are easily adaptable to strategic change.