Learning Resources

Abstract: Connection hubs re-vision the traditional campus commons so it encourages community, personal interaction, and wellness. These flexible and transformable spaces allow students, faculty, and staff to gather, collaborate, and emotionally bond with the environment. We will look at examples of connection hubs and discuss how they are designed, their benefits, and how their impact is measured.

Abstract: Harvard University’s Smith Campus Center has repurposed an entire city block, providing innovative new spaces for collaboration and a welcoming “front door” to the university. The campus center has been transformative for Harvard, revitalizing a prominent site at the campus's crossroads and providing the wider community of 44,000 people with new central gathering and events spaces. Come learn how we successfully navigated stakeholder outreach and generated a design solution within the existing building.

Abstract: Campus chapels once bespoke a school’s curriculum, defined the student body, contributed to ambiance, and served as a recruitment tool for parents looking to religion to influence their children’s character. As schools strayed from their religious roots, encountered pressing program needs, and faced funding concerns, many of these rarely used buildings fell into disrepair. In the last few years, efforts to preserve an institution’s heritage, maximize space, and address spirituality have led schools to consider restoring and reusing campus chapels. This article focuses on keeping the chapel’s original design intent while capitalizing on its strengths to upgrade the building and supplement its usage.

Abstract: Today, the amount of space devoted to research at research universities exceeds that of classrooms and class laboratories. This research space portfolio presents important policy and management challenges. As stewards of this portfolio, universities must address issues of funding the construction of research facilities, equipping and maintaining them, allocating and accounting for space used for research, and managing, in broadest terms, the physical and administrative infrastructure in which research is conducted. As this article illustrates, managing the balance between the growing demand for and the supply of research space is complicated. To address the issues of research space, universities have developed a variety of space management methods to fit their unique research missions, priorities, and operational culture. This article provides important insights into this little studied aspect of higher education space planning. The article is an overview of research space management across the U. S. on general campuses and in health science centers. It is based on interviews with senior administrators in selected research universities conducted specifically for this study, information about research space management available on university documents on the Internet, and on the work of Ira Fink and Associates, Inc. in programming research facilities on a multitude of campuses nationwide.

Abstract: This article explains the various steps taken by Cornell University to create a Freshmen Campus on their North Campus. It first explores the reasoning about the decision to create a Freshmen Campus and then explains the process whereby the plan was developed. It compares the developed new physical plan to other campuses as well. Within the article are planning guidelines for designing new freshmen residence halls and dining facilities.

Abstract: Drawing on recent survey data from the National Wildlife Federation and other publications, this article explains what an environmental management system is and identifies its components; examines how environmental management systems have been applied and adapted to higher education settings; reports on trends in implementation; and illustrates how the environmental management system can help in planning green campuses. It addresses such issues as environmental policy, training, compliance, performance evaluation, staffing, and assessment within the higher education context.

Abstract: The path to a healthy, just, and sustainable future for all current and future generations of humans and other biological species will require a transformative change in thinking values and action by all individuals and institutions in the next two decades. The institutions within higher education bear a moral responsibility to increase the awareness, knowledge, skills, and values needed to change the collective mind-set. Because it prepares most of society’s professionals and leaders, higher education plays a critical but often-overlooked role in making this vision a reality. This article explores how higher education would model sustainability as a fully integrated community intricately connecting learning, research, operations, purchasing investments, and work with local and regional communities. The envisioned framework for higher education will result in the interdisciplinary, systemic learning and practice needed to provide the educational experience for graduates to lead society on a sustainable path. It provides several examples of colleges and universities that have made some of these changes with an emphasis on curriculum connected to other college and university functions. It also suggests a new role for college and university planners in this transformation and provides other sources of information on the changes that are happening in higher education.

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.

Abstract: Four distinct waves can be discerned in the history of American higher education. The 85 years before the Civil War were characterized by the founding of hundreds of liberal arts colleges. The post–Civil War era saw the majority of these small colleges disappear, replaced by public land-grant schools. Around the turn of the last century, the giants of American industry led the founding of the great private research universities. The term "megaversity" entered the American lexicon after World War II, when thousands of returning GIs swelled the ranks of higher education; the second half of the 20th century also witnessed the proliferation of community colleges. The fifth great wave is now breaking, with for-profit competition and revolutionary teaching technologies among its main characteristics.