Learning Resources

Abstract: Interdisciplinary scientific research is the new normal in academia. Campus planning for interdisciplinary research requires special tools and analytics that align the needs of increasingly diverse research environments with existing facilities capabilities and new characterizations of research neighborhoods. To remain relevant within the world-wide scientific community, campuses must free research space planning from traditional boundaries in order to promote collaborative synergies. This session will introduce new analytical assessment tools, organizational principles, and planning strategies supporting interdisciplinary research. Come learn how to create an open-ended, actionable, and living planning document that ensures long-term relevance and viability.

Abstract: Effectively integrating growth is an ongoing challenge that needs vision and attention. To preserve its best qualities, the University of Oregon seeks to grow via innovative ways, building upon its open space system and the creation of a campus physical framework vision, informed by a discourse with the campus community, leadership, and thought leaders. We will provide examples of multiple ways to structure campus growth, receive input from leadership, and effectively engage the campus community.

Abstract: Higher education institutions, across nearly all socio-cultural cross-sections, are more diverse today than ever before. This evolution in campus demographics also coincides with the changing values, priorities, and needs of students. The bottom line for many of today’s students is clear: now more than ever, values matter when selecting a school. This article explores the programmatic and administrative responses as well as the physical planning and design opportunities associated with creating and sustaining more diverse and inclusive campus environments.

Abstract: Public-Private Partnership (“P3”) procurement models for built infrastructure serving higher learning institutions started to gain attention in North America in the late 1990s—mostly as an alternative approach to adding student housing at select universities and colleges. More recently, P3 models have been applied to a diverse range of higher learning projects, with some serving core academic and research functions.

Although many institutions are considering P3 approaches among their options to address emerging pressures to expand or update their facilities, their implementation is not yet common. The researcher’s intention was to better understand P3 models and learn how they have performed, possibly generating some useful lessons for how P3 models can be applied with desired outcomes.

Abstract: Camden, New Jersey, a city of 80,000 located directly across the Delaware River from center-city Philadelphia, is, by any index of urban decay, one of the nation's most distressed urban centers. While severely ineffective, the city houses the essential building blocks of future recovery: branches of four colleges and universities and two major hospitals. A failure to recover during one of the strongest economic upturns in the nation's history, coupled with an unfortunate history of corruption and mismanagement, caused the state legislature to take two extraordinary actions to stabilize and revitalize the city: installing a state-appointed chief operating officer for the city, whose powers supercede those of the mayor and council, and putting forth an investment plan for the city that built upon its remaining institutional strengths in higher education and health care. A working group, the Camden Higher Education and Healthcare Task Force, was formed by the city's higher education and health care institutions at the behest of key legislators to coordinate their development efforts in order to advance the recovery of the city.

Abstract: Universities and colleges across the country are faced with growth in the campus population and the loss of surface parking lots for new buildings. The response of many institutions is to build new garages with the assumption that parking demand ratios will remain the same. Such an approach, however, can be extremely expensive—upwards of $2,000 per net new space annually. In many cases, a mix of parking and demand reduction programs—such as shuttles, bicycle and pedestrian improvements, and financial incentives not to drive—can accommodate growth at a lower cost per trip. A balanced approach will also tend to support other goals, from improving town-gown relations to maintaining debt capacity. Demand management strategies have been employed by institutions for many years. However, it is less common for a cost-benefit analysis to be undertaken comparing them with new parking construction. Using examples from universities in California and Colorado, this article demonstrates a methodology to inform basic decisions on the amount of parking required to cater to campus growth, which can be incorporated into campus master planning.

Abstract: Recruiting and retaining women and minority faculty members is a particularly challenging workforce development issue facing many universities. This article summarizes current literature and the results of a survey of selected institutions to gauge responses to this challenge. All the survey respondents indicated that recruitment of women and minority candidates has been problematic, that retention problems vary, and that job placement is difficult and can negatively influence the recruitment and retention of women and minority faculty members. Job placement for partners has been most difficult for those universities located in small- to mid-sized cities. A variety of programs have been attempted to alleviate problems of recruitment and retention.

Abstract: Effective benchmarking demands continuous change with equal emphasis on identifying the goal and understanding why the goal is important. In this article, the authors suggest analytic frameworks that might be useful in moving benchmarking from a tracking and monitoring exercise to an organizational process that informs the strategic decision making of university administration.

Abstract: Book review of Truth and Consequences: Colleges and Universitites Meet Public Crises, by Jerrold Footlick. ACE/Oryx Press, 1997. 192 pages. ISBN 0-89774-970-7. Pull quotes: "The press is not likely to change how it operates, so universities need to learn how to deal with the media more skillfully."