Learning Resources

Abstract: The higher education literature continues to highlight difficulties with efforts to implement and sustain institutional effectiveness activities. This article describes an implementation effectiveness model from the field of organizational management and applies it to the implementation of institutional effectiveness initiatives in higher education. As a predictive or evaluative tool regarding implementation success, the model can assist administrators, faculty and staff in developing targeted approaches to institutional effectiveness work within any institution of higher education. The authors share their experiences at the University of New England, illustrating the importance of key variables in the model.

Abstract: This article critiques the diversity crises model of diversity planning in higher education and presents a decentralized diversity planning model. The model is based on interviews with the nation’s leading diversity officers, a review of the literature and the authors own experiences leading diversity change initiatives in higher education. The model proposes three-year cycles of diversity planning and implementation to achieve secondary or deep organizational change. Ten action phases are offered to help senior leadership, institutional planning professionals, diversity officers, and others, to establish a strategic diversity planning and implementation process that is multifaceted, dynamic, coordinated, and evolving.

Abstract: Smart change is a simple yet powerful means to help administrators, faculty, staff, and stakeholders better understand the issues surrounding change initiatives at their institutions. A comparison of three approaches to change: routine, strategic, and transformative provides the foundation for improved planning by focusing on the targeted change environment. This framework provides an approach to increasing planning effectiveness through the understanding of how change affects problem solving, planning focus, change mechanisms, leadership and corresponding core competencies, overall engagement, and accountability. Institutions need to cast off “control” as their main guidance system and begin to practice a broader understanding of change.

Abstract: This paper reports on a study of changing demands for space in United Kingdom (UK) higher education. Physical spaces that universities require are related to their functions in complex ways, and the connections between space and academic performance are not well understood. No simple algorithm can calculate a single university's space needs, but a number of identified drivers frame space considerations. Space designations are blurring, increasingly multi-functional, and exploited more efficiently. The planning of institutional estates must be incorporated into strategic planning initiatives if institutions are to achieve their academic objectives.

Abstract: The sustainability movement in higher education has made considerable headway in the areas of research, campus operations, and community outreach, but has been less successful in bringing about curricular reform. To promote greater thinking about sustainability in the undergraduate curriculum, this essay explores three main questions: What are the implications of sustainability for higher education? What are some noteworthy examples of institutions incorporating sustainability into the curriculum? And, what can we learn from their experiences? The author advocates implementation of a "third order" learning model, emphasizing deep learning, a participative process which takes the form of continual exploration through practice.

Abstract: U.S. transportation data suggest that the number of vehicle miles traveled has far surpassed new capacity, resulting in increased traffic congestion in many communities throughout the country. This article reports on traffic congestion around a university campus located within a small town. The mix of trip purposes varies considerably in this context, with the majority of trips related to student movement to and from classes. The university itself becomes a major traffic generator, but in a complex way. This article describes how congestion in a university setting differs from that in a nonuniversity setting; what components drive this congestion; how best to reduce this congestion while adhering to overall university planning objectives; and how to set a foundation for traffic management strategies that provide environmental, social, and economic benefit to the university and, importantly, to the surrounding community. The information presented here applies beyond the campus setting to any community that contains nontraditional traffic generators and shows why context does matter when analyzing and managing traffic.

Abstract: When Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in August 2005, Southeastern Louisiana University was spared the brunt of the storm and was fortunate that most structures on campus remained intact. However, the storm still affected the campus for weeks. This article reflects on the experiences of university leaders and facility managers as they provided shelter to over 3,000 disaster relief workers and worked to reopen the university's doors to faculty, staff, and students and resume normal academic operations. Insight into the management of campus facilities located outside the core geographic area affected by a natural disaster will assist other campus leaders in their disaster planning efforts.