Learning Resources

Abstract: In difficult times, planning and the successful implementation of that planning require the buy-in and support of a whole range of stakeholders–but particularly the faculty, since they carry out the institution’s teaching and research missions.

Faculty can make or break successful planning.

An institution must be very circumspect in their choice of representative faculty for planning groups, how they are engaged in the planning process, and how they interact with other campus constituencies for maximum buy-in. This endeavor is particularly difficult when the new planning process follows previous attempts that have failed because of faculty resistance or lack of meaningful involvement. This session details successful planning initiatives at two regional universities, one in the Midwest and one in the southern Northeast, where earlier planning efforts failed because of “the faculty factor.”

Join us to explore the successes and failures involved in these two planning initiatives that required broad-based faculty support in order to reverse issues with programmatic quality, student success, and institutional accreditation.

Abstract: Having been on both the inside of regional accreditation and outside looking back on it, Lynn Priddy knows that accreditation has long tried to revolutionize itself, while at the same time increasingly becoming subject to federal regulatory burdens and expectations from the Department of Education. That has backed it into becoming a bureaucracy at the very time it needed to break out to focus on innovation, learning, and student success.

Abstract: Societal challenges and opportunities no longer fit in departments. Future success requires business researchers, educators, and students to interconnect across the entire campus and beyond. In this session, we will explore how to plan a campus ecosystem that connects business with people, ideas, and resources to drive a new research and education model. You will learn key strategies and find opportunities—encompassing planning, programming, design process, and lessons learned from building use—to advance your institution's mission and build a framework to implement your initiatives.

Abstract: A sharp, perhaps permanent contraction in the pool of college-aged students has become inescapable. Nearly all institutions could confront wrenching losses in competitiveness, revenue, or both. Yet despite advance warning, few institutions understand what they must do now to remain viable. We will go over two sets of tools that are critical for preparing for the upcoming demographic changes: 1) conducting analyses of institutional vulnerability; and 2) modeling what-if scenarios to shape strategy.

Abstract: As engines of local economies, urban universities often nurture innovation ecosystems beyond campus boundaries, like Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) Kendall Square Initiative. We will focus on this vibrant, campus-edge, partnership-driven innovation ecosystem. We'll cover laboratory facilities that combine academic strengths and private partner needs while examining the architectural challenges of urban research buildings. You will learn about the complexities of mixing commercial research buildings, student housing, residential apartments, and active retail street-level spaces to meet the physical and cultural demands of diverse clientele.

Abstract: FLEXSpace—The Flexible Learning Environments eXchange—and the Learning Space Rating System (LSRS) are tools that can help you plan, design, assess, and improve learning spaces on your campus. In this session, you will learn about the newly released FLEXspace 2.0 along with the LSRS. We'll cover the features and benefits of both tools and how they can be incorporated into the planning process. Come learn how to use these tools to inform designs and support end users from planning through post occupancy.

Abstract: Underrepresented students increasingly form the majority of most student bodies, but most built environments are not designed with these students' needs in mind. Why? Because most facilities planning processes do not engage underrepresented students in a way that elicits their experience of the built environment. This session offers new practices that yield social equity in campus planning and building design. You will learn new engagement and assessment tools that you can implement now to reveal and remedy the disparities that underrepresented students encounter in the built environments of the campus.

Abstract: On the average campus, office space accounts for more square footage than classrooms, instructional and research labs combined. Accordingly, its design and utilization can have significant campus impact. This panel discussion addresses the challenges that institutions face when rethinking their approach to workplace design. We will provide guidance on planning, programming, and design strategies to align workplaces with educational mission, respond to fiscal pressures, and compete for talent.

Abstract: Higher education’s resource situation is not good and is not expected to get better in the foreseeable future. Elite and wealthy institutions are relatively immune to these pressures, but the overwhelming majority of other institutions are continually struggling to match resources to mission. Several actions, though difficult and painful, would help reduce the gap between available resources and those needed to meet stakeholders’ needs. This session focuses on the need to employ a coordinated and aligned approach to planning, resource allocation, and assessment. It goes on to describe a proven practice for utilizing all three to match resources to mission—strategic resource allocation. Finally, it offers suggestions for initiating the conversation on your campus.