Learning Resources

Abstract: This session will examine the successful process behind planning Trippe Hall, a residence hall at Penn State Behrend. The design process incorporated student input at various stages, from schematic design to furniture selection. Attracting prospective students means providing spaces where they want to cultivate their education and community. You will discover new ways to foster student engagement throughout your building design process, resulting in spaces that are ideal for today’s students.

Abstract: This presentation will demonstrate how an innovative new typology for student small-group living has transformed and expanded group living options, locating student housing in surprising, incongruous campus spaces. Lawrence University successfully prototyped new group housing typologies in under-utilized residential spaces, supporting its goal to be fully residential without adding campus buildings. You will learn how the expanded project team, tasked with thinking outside the box, invented a new housing typology uniquely connected to the existing campus culture and the site.

Abstract: New dorm construction takes time and funding that often competes with the ongoing need to upgrade existing dorms. Despite limited resources, campus planning and capital programs teams are successfully doing both. Tufts University's first housing program since the 1970s is transforming the undergraduate residential experience two-fold: by rapidly increasing the on-campus bed supply in existing facilities and by renewing residential buildings. Come learn how a 2016 housing planning study that started with an inventory analysis quickly evolved into an ongoing program to add 100+ beds per year beginning in 2017.

Abstract: Over their 150-year history, land-grant universities have played a tremendous and vital role in the development of the United States and the education of its people. Most of these institutions were established as the result of the Morrill Land-Grant Act of 1862. How has this mission, drafted in a much different time, held up over the years? As we move toward the third decade of the twenty-first century, many universities are evolving to better embrace changing student demographics; build industry partnerships; and reframe campus legacies to ensure that the land-grant mission still supports the needs of our times.

Abstract: Institutions are managing numerous student success initiatives simultaneously, but they lack the necessary data and infrastructure to evaluate outcomes. They also struggle to clearly link a particular initiative to a specific individual outcome. Using prediction-based propensity score matching (PPSM), a methodology compliant with the U.S. Department of Education’s What Works Clearinghouse’s requirements, we facilitated the analysis of key initiatives to measure efficacy, ensuring that outcomes of students participating are compared to control students with similar propensity. The recent work explored in this article helps two institutions understand the impact of their innovation and more precisely scale student support.

Abstract: A critical concern of universities today is ensuring that students remain in their selected major and graduate promptly. In addition, there has been a renewed emphasis on scientific education presented to non-science majors. Through the renovation of the Ritenour Building, Penn State’s Eberly College of Science created an Academic Support Center as a hub of advising and assistance for prospective students, science majors, and science education. The center’s layout provides opportunities to share knowledge of science teaching with advising staff and the online learning department. The design of this space has been crafted to enhance these retention and educational goals.

Abstract: Leers Weinzapfel Associates recently talked with campus planners and facilities directors nationwide about the big issues driving campus planning. Rapidly evolving pedagogies are demanding radical rethinking of effective teaching and learning spaces. Better use and optimal configuration of these venues is key as the stereotypical “sage on the stage” mode of instruction rapidly expands through a wide range of interactive, hands-on, and socially enhanced settings. Several examples of the firm’s work—the University of Massachusetts Amherst John W. Olver Design Building, the University of Arkansas (Fayetteville) Stadium Drive Residence Hall, and the Wentworth Institute of Technology (Boston) Multipurpose Academic Building—substantiate these findings in practice.

Abstract: This article introduces an emerging, innovative practice in higher education: Integrated Planning and Advising for Student Success (iPASS). A research-based iPASS implementation framework is examined through a case study of Guttman Community College (CUNY), which is one year into its iPASS work. This case study, which shares practices and initial findings that include high levels of student, faculty, and staff engagement, is relevant to practitioners and academic leaders considering the use of, or in the early stages of, an iPASS approach, as well as those interested in effectively integrating technology that leads to improved student success and transformative institutional change.