Learning Resources

Abstract: As the University of Houston (UH) plans for its second century, the campus is looking to the 'space between' buildings, such as landscape and public space, for innovative opportunities to expand cross-disciplinary discovery. This session will share how and why UH is remaking its arrival experience, central quad, and campus woodlands to foster social, physical, and mental wellbeing for the campus community. We'll discuss how to balance a 100-year stewardship planning framework with the pace of accelerated research and new buildings, demonstrating how both frames of reference can contribute to a campus's strategic objectives and an innovation mindset.

Abstract: Institutional representatives must consider a variety of perspectives when managing change in the current higher education environment. This session will explore the many ways in which accreditation is an ideal perspective for supporting institutional change. We'll discuss how to leverage the holistic cycle of accreditation, along with a laser focus on regulatory, policy, and legal issues, in ways that positively influence the future direction of institutions, focus on student success, and drive institutional mission.

Abstract: Institutions are constrained by housing modern programs within aging facilities. Cornell University's College of Engineering addressed these challenges while collecting programs and enhancing the user experience. This session will explore project goals that resolve pragmatic challenges of aging facilities and evolving programs with interventions that help support the future of academic programs and impact the overall cohesiveness of the larger campus. We'll identify opportunities to solve programmatic and utilitarian challenges within the confines of aging facilities while helping to improve the student experience, recruit researchers, and make connections between buildings and across the campus.

Abstract: Effective means and methods for building projects result in campus environments that advance institutional missions and goals, ensure student success, and support campus communities working for change. This session will demonstrate how administrators, planners, and designers joined forces to coordinate an integrated project delivery to build a new medical school that promotes success for a diverse student body. We'll highlight strategies for prioritizing during the decision-making process, including identifying physical space needs to support program initiatives, developing planning guidelines for those needs, and enacting a design-build process to meet those needs in the built environment.

Abstract: Breathing new life into old buildings is one of the most sustainable available campus strategies and offers benefits beyond carbon reduction. Renovation and adaptive reuse support a triple bottom line of environmental, financial, and social wellbeing. This session will explore renovation at Trinity University from campus, design, and building perspectives, outlining strategies for enhancing the character and performance of buildings, districts, and the campus. Join us to gain a multi-dimensional understanding of the risks and rewards of renovation and adaptive reuse to help strategically guide comprehensive environmental, financial, and campus planning efforts for colleges and universities.

Abstract: Campus decarbonization requires flexible and adaptable approaches at all scales. Determining the appropriate mix of action plans helps campuses prepare for an increasing number of existing building performance and carbon reduction policies. The University of Minnesota's (U of M) multi-campus system, one of the largest in the U.S., is planning and taking actions to become net zero. This unconventional approach addresses decarbonization across regional climates, campus-systems, and building scales. In this session, we'll provide transferrable decarbonization planning processes, best practices, and lessons learned from actions across geographical regions, diverse campus-wide energy systems, and existing facilities net zero strategies.

Abstract: The Ecosystem Project aims to develop tools and methodologies for depicting the complex ecosystems that surround and make up higher education. This is a collaborative presentation with one of the project's institutional partners, The State University of New York (SUNY) at New Paltz, and one of the project's founding partners, the Renaissance Center for Interdisciplinary Thinking, Knowledge Integration, and Advanced Applications of Imagination. Together we'll explore the Hudson Valley entrepreneurial ecosystem and reveal its inhabitants, value dynamics, and potential interventions that can help the ecosystem become healthier and grow the entrepreneurial economy of the lower Hudson Valley.

Abstract: The growth of the University of Calgary's Veterinary Medicine program has been a catalyst for several initiatives on campus, including the development of a long range plan, creation of an inclusive program, and development of micro degrees. The process of engagement, programming, and design at Vet Med was critical for understanding the urgent needs of the profession and students while being mindful and respectful of the history of place and the indigenous community. This session show how connecting the history of place at a campus master planning and programming level fosters opportunities, success, health, and wellbeing for each student.

Abstract: Colleges and universities are seeking to engage in equitable planning and design processes that uphold institutional values and reflect the needs of broad, diverse audiences to create spaces that inspire innovation. In this session, we'll share how to successfully construct and implement an integrated planning, programming, and design process for the delivery of innovation spaces that extend the mission of community-based campus programs and resources. By developing a planning and design process that partners with key stakeholders, institutions and designers can create interdisciplinary spaces that foster collaboration, innovation, and access for the benefit of students, faculty, and the community.

Abstract: Housing insecurity is becoming a more and more frequent issue across many colleges and universities. The University of California System, the largest in the nation, reported that eight percent of their undergraduate population lacks a safe, regular, and adequate nighttime place to stay and sleep. Join our diverse panel of student housing experts to discuss critical impacts, observations, policies, and considerations around the ever-expanding cost burden in accessing a college degree.