Learning Resources

Abstract: As an industry, information technology (IT) innovates constantly, and IT departments in higher education need to integrate new technologies into teaching, learning, research, and business practices in rapid succession while maintaining existing technologies without interruption. By pursuing complementary and interdependent processes for IT governance, strategic planning, and leadership development, a university or college can create foundational long-term IT planning capabilities that support the mission of the institution. This article describes a multifaceted approach to establishing long-term IT planning capabilities, explores the components of building long-range IT governance, identifies strategies for leadership development for IT professionals, and demonstrates how collaborative IT planning is a fundamental component of integrated planning for higher education.

Abstract: This article describes the planning process undertaken at a large, regional comprehensive university to create a space within existing buildings aimed at improving student success in introductory mathematics. It demonstrates the need for integrated planning grounded in academic priorities and student success models.

Abstract: For the last 15 years, the University System of Georgia (USG) has implemented its campus master plan template, which includes traditional space planning methodologies, with the assistance of many different consultants. This experience has caused the system to question the value of traditional approaches in guiding capital allocation resource decisions. Many USG institutions function reasonably well with far less space in some categories than traditional guidelines recommend, calling into question the orthodoxy surrounding space “needs.” Different consultants report wildly differing estimates of needs for institutions with similar missions, enrollments, and program mix. Moreover, these needs far exceed available capital. In response, the system has formulated a new methodology for measuring the utilization of space to guide space management and capital allocation decisions for individual institutions and the system as a whole. The goal was to create a process that is understandable, easy to implement, and less prone to distortion that existing methodologies, whose calculations are often complicated and unclear. The new approach includes an overlay taxonomy that groups spaces with similar functions into buckets to minimize the effects of miscategorizations and to provide the atomic units for new utilization metrics, greatly reducing the overall number of required measurements and providing information reflective of modern space usage. The resulting metrics provide new thinking, particularly for classroom and social spaces.

Abstract: With the advent of potential new federal mandates for stormwater treatment, campuses are seeking to find new strategies for overall water management. This article defines strategies for Integrated Water Management (IWM) at the watershed scale and argues that planners should look to cultural landscape precedents and pre-settlement hydrology for holistic solutions in both energy and water conservation. Using the Universities of Wisconsin and Louisville as case studies, the article outlines IWM strategies that respect each campus’s historic landscape while meeting future needs. The article concludes with next steps for integrating building and site systems for “regenerative” design that improves the air, soil, and water quality.

Abstract: The most successful campus housing supports the academic development of students, but also acts as a venue for personal and social growth. So what kind of common spaces can support students whose main form of engagement happens on their smart phones? The Massachusetts State College Building Authority, which designs and constructs all of the student life facilities for the system's nine campuses, hired an architect and planner to evaluate its residential buildings and characterize the public spaces that were most successful in terms of student engagement. Attributes identified in the study—proximity, variety, "ownership," and flexible furniture, to name a few—are universally applicable in the design of engaging residential common spaces.

Abstract: Throughout the history of a four-year university, there are large numbers of records generated, maintained, and archived when campus buildings are constructed, renovated, or demolished. At Illinois State University, the Facilities Planning office is the keeper and protector of the university’s irreplaceable plans, manuals, contracts, and other pertinent documents. The office is currently using an external space to store these documents that is unsuitable and harmful to the documents themselves. Hence, the authors embarked on a survey research project of seven midwestern university archive libraries to determine what characteristics are important in a successful design that could be used by Facilities Planning and other architecture or engineering offices to create future archive spaces.

Abstract: This article discusses two different planning aspects of residential construction and renovation. The first half of the article focuses on the optimal planning research that an institution should undertake to inform its physical and residential-life programs. This section describes a data-driven exploration that uses methodologies such as peer benchmarking; population mapping; and stakeholder interviews, surveys, and focus groups. Then, the second half of the article reviews the latest trends in undergraduate housing and residential-life programs, including housing options that provide staged independence from year to year; themed housing and living-learning communities; building sustainability; and trends in room sizes, beds, and bathrooms. The article concludes with a look at emerging trends and future questions.

Abstract: We had hoped to incorporate this handbook, or a comprehensive summary of its elements, in this issue of SCUP’s journal. However, the timing of the Learning Spaces Collaboratory grant report did not accommodate that. When the handbook becomes available, we will provide a link to it here. Meanwhile, we interviewed LSC and Project Kaleidoscope founder Jeanne Narum, the 2010 SCUP Founder's (Casey) Award for Distinguished Achievement in Higher Education Planning, as well as LSC leaders Sally Grans-Korsh and James Swartz, about their multi-year process and what they have learned. Grans-Korsch provides a case study from the University of Minnesota and Swartz does the same for Grinnel.

Abstract: This article describes the planning process undertaken at a large, regional comprehensive university to create a space within existing buildings aimed at improving student success in introductory mathematics. It demonstrates the need for integrated planning grounded in academic priorities and student success models.

Abstract: This article summarizes the results from an October 2011 think tank called “Physical Place on Campus: Summit on Community,” which included 10 higher education associations and 50 thought leaders from the fields of architecture, planning, academic affairs, student life, and facility-related industries. Findings were developed using a qualitative research methodology, and the summit’s conclusions challenge higher education’s conventional approaches to facility planning, design, and management. Participants argued that the creation of campus community is critical for learning; significant conclusions suggest longstanding and centralized facilities may impede both community development and higher education’s civic goals, while the most significant barrier to change may be reluctance among campus leadership.