Learning Resources

Abstract: This article examines trends in university planning and management concerning interdisciplinary research. The analysis of institutional documents of 99 research universities reveals regularities in the types of approaches employed. In addition to the traditional approach of creating centers and institutes, universities have taken actions to nurture interdisciplinary research teams, to invest in campus-wide interdisciplinary initiatives, and to build new models of research facilities. Illustrative examples are provided and implications for planning and management are discussed.

Abstract: In the current highly competitive higher education market in North America, many colleges have identified the importance of upgrading their existing residential housing facilities as part of their strategy to attract and retain students. The case study discussed in this article describes the successful planning process used by Perkins+Will and Simmons College to develop a comprehensive housing strategy and plan for the college for the next 10 to 15 years. The process involves five steps, which will yield a realistic and consensus-driven housing strategy for any institution.

Abstract: A feature article by the 3 associations for the Campus of the Future conference.

Abstract: The demographic of the American college student has changed significantly in the last 20 years, affecting institutional planning on multiple levels. The study presented in this article examines the collaboration between Academic and Student Affairs at Buffalo State College in planning a family college designed to facilitate the integration of student parents into the campus community. The initial idea for the family college came from an ad hoc College Senate committee dominated by faculty members. Leadership of this initiative shifted to Student Affairs during the construction and operation of the facility. The evaluation of the project provided new parity in leadership as members of Academic and Student Affairs jointly planned, conducted, and analyzed interviews with residents. This evaluation resulted in significant changes to the family college in response to the voices of the student parents, including additional personnel, programs, and facilities.

Abstract: In the vast majority of building projects, decisions made in the first 10 percent of project activity directly determine 90 percent of the final cost and schedule. When a project is poorly planned, project costs can expand beyond estimates by as much as 50 percent. Since the owner's rate of spending increases as a building project proceeds, comprehensive planning is a must. The best way to do this is to prepare the owner through an “owner preparation process.” The results of diligently following such a process include: (1) unexpected and unnecessary costs are kept to a minimum, (2) the project successfully meets its end users' needs and goals, and (3) the architect, builders, and other players all perform at their very best. This article outlines principles inherent in an owner preparation process and offers owners concrete examples of how such planning significantly protects the bottom line.

Abstract: The balanced scorecard, introduced by Robert Kaplan and David Norton, has evolved from an improved performance measurement system to an integrated strategic planning, implementation, and scorecarding system. Simple yet powerful second-generation balanced scorecards depict the organization's strategy through a series of strategy maps and scorecards that describe and measure the cause-and-effect linkages that occur between the organization's high-level vision and its desired strategic outcomes. Although the balanced scorecard has been widely adopted in private, government, and not-for-profit settings, there have been only a few attempts to introduce scorecarding in the education sector, and these have been primarily in administrative functions rather than in key operating program areas. This article presents a description of a second-generation balanced scorecard specifically designed for a graduate program at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada and provides a comprehensive walk-through and discussion to illustrate its strengths and limitations.

Abstract: How have presidential leadership strategy, decision approaches, and institutional culture preferences influenced fund-raising effectiveness at a historically Black college for women? These conceptual dimensions guided a qualitative study that interviewed three recent Spelman College presidents and investigated documentary evidence to develop an understanding of each president's relative successes. Although generalizability is not possible when studying a single institution, the three very individualistic approaches to fund-raising adopted by these presidents indicate the contextual nature of fund-raising effectiveness and highlight the need for knowledgeable institutional planners who understand each of these conceptual dimensions to accommodate the varying contexts of their institutions.

Abstract: Camden, New Jersey, a city of 80,000 located directly across the Delaware River from center-city Philadelphia, is, by any index of urban decay, one of the nation's most distressed urban centers. While severely ineffective, the city houses the essential building blocks of future recovery: branches of four colleges and universities and two major hospitals. A failure to recover during one of the strongest economic upturns in the nation's history, coupled with an unfortunate history of corruption and mismanagement, caused the state legislature to take two extraordinary actions to stabilize and revitalize the city: installing a state-appointed chief operating officer for the city, whose powers supercede those of the mayor and council, and putting forth an investment plan for the city that built upon its remaining institutional strengths in higher education and health care. A working group, the Camden Higher Education and Healthcare Task Force, was formed by the city's higher education and health care institutions at the behest of key legislators to coordinate their development efforts in order to advance the recovery of the city.

Abstract: This article describes a method for attributing research expenditures directly to assigned space that avoids the difficulties with traditional approaches that have arisen from the growth of interdisciplinary research activities where the attribution of research to the faculty member or unit is not strongly correlated with the location where the research is performed. The emergence and growth of new transdisciplinary research activities that not only connect research from traditional disciplines but also form the unifying theme around which a whole new area may form depends in part on reducing traditional barriers to space allocation and encouraging the creative efforts of everyone contributing to meet research space needs. Projects may be distributed across several rooms, some of which are shared with other projects. We seek to attribute credit for such efforts using approximations from existing data to avoid exacerbating an already onerous data collection challenge. The pilot version and a second iteration of the project have been completed with worthwhile results. A new analysis is currently underway with further improved data collection, an enhanced database, and a more systematic process.