Learning Resources

Abstract: The Glendale Community College integrated strategic planning model represents a significant paradigm shift at the institution. Rather than focus exclusively on the production of a strategic plan, the college now seeks to vertically integrate planning at the departmental, divisional, and college levels and horizontally integrate planning with resource allocation and assessment across the organization. This disruptive innovation allows the college to remain true to its mission and ensures the allocation of resources to strategic priorities linked to student success.

Abstract: Colleges across the United States have become greener, and efforts are underway to enhance their sustainability practices and reduce their carbon footprint. This article is not about the greening of our campuses. It is about planning and preparing for the effects of climate change. It concerns the need to adapt our campuses for the future. This article makes the case that life on our campuses will have to change. We will have no choice. We need to prepare for this change, adapt to it, and reengineer ourselves to be more resilient in the face of it. Moreover, it is our position that it would be fiduciarily and morally derelict not to do so. This article argues that one way to persuade boards of trustees and others within institutions of higher learning that the time to prepare is now is to present the science within the context of the coming effects on our own campuses. This article uses our own campus as a template and makes several suggestions for how to start both the conversation and the planning.

Abstract: State institutions of higher education in Connecticut are experiencing a dramatic and unprecedented period of change: the consolidation of four universities and 13 community colleges into Connecticut State Colleges & Universities (CSCU) and the creation of a new administrative structure. This article charts the early stages of this process, presenting events as they unfolded during Governor Dannel Malloy’s first term beginning in January 2011, through his November 2014 reelection, until his state budget was passed in June 2015.

Advocates of systemness in higher education are challenged to balance the promise of centralized leadership and localized prerogative in designing and implementing policy. Systemness offers the promise of synergy and innovation within and across the system guided by common purpose and vision.

This article discusses five specific implementation processes and challenges: a systemwide credit transfer articulation program; Southern Connecticut State University’s early Transform CSCU 2020 initiatives; an ongoing effort throughout CSCU to develop a systemwide identity; the potential impact of budget constraints on systemness; and difficulties selecting and developing administrators and leaders.

Abstract: Efforts to create a more sustainable campus need to address issues of transportation. While greater bike use provides environmental, economic, and social benefits, it still represents a small fraction of campus transportation. One way to increase the number of bike riders is through a bike-share system. This article reports on the potential demand for a bike-share system at Kent State University, a fairly large public university (28,000 students) in northeast Ohio. Like at many universities, Kent State students are not likely to use bikes for commuting purposes. Yet our survey indicates that while there is demand, there are also several impediments. An existing second-generation bike-share system has been very popular but has not quite addressed the issue of commuting. A new next-generation bike-share system—with station-to-station renting—may be just the program to promote the more practical use of bikes and help shift the dominant mode of transportation away from automobiles.

Abstract: Aged buildings, streets, alleys, back lots, a dense neighborhood, and historic landmarks—can these puzzle pieces add up to campus opportunities? The University of Chicago conceived an unexpected and dynamic new campus destination, gaining 150,500 sq. ft. of academic space and creating a new landscape with 36,000 sq. ft. of new open space and 60 new trees. Neighbors, aldermen, administration, and faculty shaped a campus planning process applicable to large and small colleges and universities, developed from creative and sustainable planning principles.

Abstract: Urban centers are on the rise due, in part, to the steadfast commitment of their citizens, governments, local businesses, and educational institutions. Institutions of higher education, particularly those holding real estate assets and viewed as major stakeholders in their host cities, are forging ahead, leading the way in the next generation of sustainability—that of social responsibility—and believing with great conviction that the foundations of learning, and their architects, can and should aim to sustain not just the environment around schools, colleges, and universities, but the communities surrounding them as well.
These institutions’ renovations of older buildings, repurposed as venues for learning and community building, become three-dimensional opportunities for public outreach and shared resources, serving to reignite a city’s spirit, restore its pride, and lift up its own. What makes the community stronger makes the school stronger. From the possibility of improved transit and education, residence and recreation to the bright hope of a revitalized local economy, educational institutions and architectural firms, in partnership, have the power to empower people beyond the traditional campus border.

Abstract: In 2014, Temple University initiated a landscape master planning process to provide an integrative environment for its new buildings. The plan sought to establish overarching planning concepts and design standards that would increase the cohesiveness, identity, quality, and sustainability of the campus environment by tying together an eclectic mix of buildings and spaces, giving prominence to historic structures, and focusing on the pedestrian experience. Concurrently, a seminar on landscape performance metrics was taught in the Department of Landscape Architecture. Seminar students reviewed landscape performance tools and then vetted those tools through peer-reviewed literature and practical application. Tools that were positively vetted were used to assess campus baseline conditions.

Abstract: Given the increase in student commuters, part-time students, and online learning, institutions of higher education are evolving to embrace a blended campus experience. The emerging importance of student connectivity and interaction can be seen in the new role of the student union as a center of student life and learning. This article explores how University of California, Berkeley, North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, and Portland Community College have leveraged new student union complexes—including associated open space—to address changing student needs and increase social interaction.