Learning Resources

Abstract: Colleges and universities—especially those in urban areas—are often landlocked by their campus boundaries. Binghamton University has become a catalyst for transforming and revitalizing an economically-challenged community while maintaining its historical footprint. Come learn how to grow your academic programs and campus while assisting the community and putting students closer to employers. We will share our ideas for expanding your campus footprint and repurposing existing buildings to directly impact the surrounding community.

Abstract: In this session, we will demonstrate how Rutgers University aligned its development model with city planning initiatives to be a partner in urban renewal at its Camden and Newark campuses. With cities around the country struggling to effect urban renewal, Rutgers University has shown how strategic off-campus development can play a significant role in revitalizing downtown centers. Come learn how large urban academic campuses can redefine their relationship to the city by partnering in the implementation of strategic urban planning initiatives, blurring their campus boundaries, and aligning campus development with community need.

Abstract: Both the City of Bridgeport and the University of Bridgeport were experiencing a renaissance before Superstorm Sandy struck in 2012. Now, they are working together to catalyze greater growth through a commitment to environmental resilience. The city and the university have partnered on a new project that achieves different, but compatible goals. This approach has created access to additional (and unusual) project funding and financing. In this session we will outline strategies for identifying multi-benefit projects, including finding potential partners and alternative avenues for project implementation.

Abstract: Do you have facility needs, like the need for more/improved space for instruction or infrastructure upgrades? Is it time to address deferred maintenance issues? Do you have reservations about venturing into unfamiliar territory? You’ll have to wrestle with some vexing matters—plan alternatives, big budgets, illusive funding sources, and an uninformed public.
Your concerns are valid. With a rich background as architectural firm principal and later as a community college project manager, the author has been through the drill. This article’s thoughtful advice details a project’s first phases—from initial concepts to developed projects with funding. It will head you toward success by helping to avoid the pitfalls.

Abstract: Industry and academia are partnering like never before as entrepreneurship and maker culture become more important to our economy and a regular fixture in higher education curricula. With the influx of allied industry partnerships, evolving pedagogies, entrepreneurship programs, and a maker culture comes a pressing need for new spaces, ranging from fabrication and prototyping studios to innovation districts devoted to new kinds of research partnerships. Schools like the University of Washington, Babson College, and Arizona State University are leading the way on new collaborations. In this article, Sasaki planners and urban designers examine how design disruption will guide the development of campuses that enable 21st-century teaching, learning, and research paradigms.

Abstract: This article explores how the University of the West Indies can become economically sustainable and relevant by using its human capital to generate wealth and develop strong linkages between academia, the private sector, and governments. It makes a clear distinction between institutional and research-driven innovations, listing examples and best practices found throughout the university. Further, it presents a practical road map for enhancing both organizational- and research-based innovations within the university while aligning its vision of becoming an innovative institution with government policies and the private sector agenda. It also proposes key performance indicators to benchmark innovations at the university that can be emulated by other tertiary level institutions regionally and internationally.

Abstract: “Designing Innovative Campuses For Tomorrow’s Students” explores increasing investment by higher education institutions in new programs and facilities that boost on-campus innovation and entrepreneurship. This trend is a response, in part, to the changing expectations and demands of Millennial and Generation Z students and their future employers. The impact of this movement, though, goes far beyond those constituencies—changing everything from campus housing to the economic development role of higher education institutions. The examples of Clemson University’s Watt Family Innovation Center and the University of Florida’s Infinity Hall are provided to illustrate the scope of influence and success of these changes.

Abstract: Colleges and universities typically do not gather routine feedback from community stakeholders, despite the fact that various organizations dedicated to the advancement of higher education continually have clamored for campus representatives to be more responsive to members of host communities. Recent petitions for “deep culture” change within academia—in combination with recent methodological advances in efforts to understand town-gown relationships—provide a comprehensible set of motives and details for institutions to become more fully engaged in the process of collecting systematic information from community members. A review of recent efforts to conceptualize and measure town-gown relationships using a tool known as the Optimal College Town Assessment (OCTA) is provided. After reviewing results from a previous study that piloted the OCTA tool, qualitative data gathered from a subset of community stakeholders in that original sample are presented and analyzed. The resulting themes are described and discussed in the context of enhancing evidence-based campus planning efforts that meet the call for greater higher education responsiveness.