Learning Resources

Abstract: Higher education leaders carry the responsibility of vision and building new strategic directions for colleges and universities. This session will provide a deep look into one leader's decades of experience and share ways to become a strong, successful administrator at any level. Come learn the ways in which leadership is more than a title and discover how to assess your own skills and knowledge, as well as the best ways to position those findings for current and future roles.

Abstract: Institutions can align their needs with innovation and insight by creating a strong integration of data and research processes for a data-driven, impactful strategic plan. We'll demonstrate how to build a data-driven strategic plan by applying research methodologies, leveraging public data, optimizing institutional data, and constructing a content analysis. You'll come away from this session with a blueprint to integrate into your own planning processes that will bolster your data skills and provide you with a mechanism to weave together planning with data-driven insights.

Abstract: The Dr. EJ and Margaret O'Brien Hall at Marquette University showcases the ways in which relationship building between people, disciplines, space types, and contexts advances design to achieve human-purposed, inclusive outcomes for the department and campus. In this session, we'll discuss the new convening, inclusive, student-focused hub for business and innovation leadership and demonstrate how it exemplifies the core tenets of relationship building in navigating campus engagement, design process, and future success. Join us to learn useful strategies around relationship building within your campus communities, collaborative design processes for hybrid learning, intersecting purpose-built and loose-fit design, and post-pandemic student wellbeing.

Abstract: A sense of belonging is critical for student wellbeing, engagement, and academic success. Social research at Marquette University illuminates how students from different identity groups perceive campus places and informs campus planning priorities. Guided by social research and inclusive placemaking, this session highlights strategies, frameworks, and implications for fostering belonging in diverse campus environments. We'll explore participatory mapping and other tactics for assessing campus belonging from a physical place perspective as well as proposing research-informed changes for future policy, operational, and design interventions.

Abstract: California recently passed legislation that permits its public entities to leverage Progressive Design-Build (PDB) delivery methods for capital projects. Other states are following suit, which will upend traditional planning and design processes. This session will outline necessary changes to pre-design planning processes and considerations to set projects up for success under a PDB delivery model. We'll share tools that will help you achieve better outcomes in your planning and design processes, including lessons learned from our own successes and challenges of using PDB as a project delivery method.

Abstract: A codified planning and resource alignment process can elevate institutional planning culture and help ensure the alignment of resources to the strategic plan. We'll show how planning and resource alignment are part of a systematic, data-informed, and integrated approach to achieving an institution's mission and vision. You'll walk away from this session with templates and logistical knowledge for effective implementation of annual planning and resource alignment as a part of an institutional integrated planning process.

Abstract: In the face of unprecedented changes, Middlesex College is tackling pressing issues to stay relevant by conducting community outreach, developing partnerships to address workforce changes, supporting non-traditional students, and promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). We'll share how Middlesex went beyond enrollment metrics and traditional master planning strategies with an innovative plan that involves the county and community in supporting a variety of campus and regional initiatives. Come learn how you can apply innovative approaches at your institution to transform long-term academic and master planning while leading cultural changes?internally and externally?and prepare your campus for a post-pandemic world.

Abstract: Transforming older campuses into healthy, walkable green environments with high-impact programming requires investments in infrastructure, circulation, and buildings? All while addressing legacy assets? Is a major challenge for institutions today. The University of Maryland College Park's (UMD) campus plan sets a visionary yet achievable roadmap for key institutional goals, enabling the evolution of a suburban flagship campus into a vibrant, urban, multi-modal, and carbon-neutral innovation center. This session will offer practical strategies for planners to align diverse interests and stakeholders from across the campus community, clear decision-making hurdles, and balance long-range strategic goals with near-term needs.

Abstract: 2024 has been an incredibly busy and difficult year for U.S. higher education. Policymakers must look closely at numerous current issues impacting the campus, including free speech and DEI, the cost of college and federal student aid programs, as well as various federal regulations impacting our institutions, such as Title IX. This session will provide an overview of what has been happening in Congress, with the U.S. Department of Education and other federal agencies, and what the 2024 elections might mean for higher education.

Abstract: Climate commitments and carbon neutrality are becoming top priorities for many campuses. Since building engineering systems account for seventy-to-eighty percent of carbon production, all campus stakeholders are contributors to the future success of emissions goals. Despite established infrastructure, reliance on city utilities, high deferred maintenance, and financial constraints, the University of Louisville (UofL) is pursuing carbon neutrality and is on track to achieve a sixty percent reduction by 2030 and one hundred percent by 2050. This session will share necessary master planning strategies for pursuing carbon neutrality at the campus level, emphasizing the need for rigorous, multi-disciplinary stakeholder engagement.