Learning Resources

Abstract: If faculty senates are to maintain a place in the modern university, then they must be both effective and viewed as such by faculty, administrators, and other campus stakeholders. One way to shape faculty senate efforts is to create and exploit a clearly defined mission statement. In this article, we offer a four-step, committee-driven, technology-assisted process to develop a mission/vision statement that is anchored in the theory. The proposed process is efficient and easy to administer and can be used at other universities. We also discuss our experience with the process and offer recommendations for other university faculty senates.

Abstract: Ten recommendations outline a strategy for departments to make gradual, visible, and rewarding improvements in the learning outcomes of their degree programs. Time is a crucial factor. Change occurs slowly in universities, so the strategy needs to be persistent and cumulative.Among the levers for improvement: familiar technology used by students and faculty to save time on core disciplinary tasks, curricular change, and group work; peer support among faculty; short, accessible increments of faculty development; extensive use of assessment and evaluation to help make glacially slow change visible and subject to conscious control; and careful development of coalitions inside and outside the academy.

Abstract: California State Polytechnic University, Pomona was an early signatory of a climate neutrality pledge. This article draws lessons from the university’s greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction planning effort by explaining the planning process and the plan features. Three themes are explored: (1) creation of the emissions baseline and targets, (2) strategy selection, and (3) the plan’s relationship with the broader change process. The article concludes with suggestions for other campuses entering the GHG planning process.

Abstract: Higher education institutions must be resilient amid vastly increased expectations for sustainable environments, global focus, and technological support. In this article, we challenge all those engaged with planning in higher education to foster shared leadership throughout all levels of the organization as a means to meet these challenges and opportunities. We cite scholarship on shared leadership and provide examples of shared leadership in support of Green, Global, and Google (i.e., above-campus technology) initiatives. We provide a model for shared leadership and conclude with a succinct set of directions for reinventing higher education.

Abstract: The study described in this article examined the development and implementation of a geographic information system (GIS)as a simple sketch-plan tool for analyzing land use, transit routes, student ridership, and bus stop locations in order to improve the effectiveness of transit systems in college towns.The methodology was applied to Auburn University’s Tiger Transit system, which assists students commuting to and from the campus, and the route changes implemented as a result of this analysis significantly improved the system’s effectiveness. Transit ridership increased by 23 percent from 13,000 to 16,000 riders per day. The transit routes were changed to serve almost 90 percent of the student population using fewer buses, compared to 70 percent served before the improvement.In addition, the transit system started to serve commercial locations such as malls, recreational locations, cinemas, and big-box stores.

Abstract: Colleges and universities continue to face significant fiscal challenges in the current recession. In response, institutions have identified innovative facilities planning and management strategies that support institutional growth and, in some cases, institutional survival. Strategies explored include deferring capital expenditures and reducing facilities operating costs, increasing facilities utilization, investing in campus sustainability, adapting to information technology, and leveraging the distressed real estate market. The current financial climate has only added urgency to the trend already underway to explore alternative campus development approaches. Indeed, the expectation should be that even more institutions will embrace these innovations and that these new strategies will become institutionalized as an expanded set of campus development planning tools.