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Resource Management
Physical Plant Management
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The importance of a chair’s responsibility for the faculty, staff, and students of a department could easily eclipse the magnitude of a chair’s responsibility for managing physical space. However, it does not take deep reflection to realize that any chair responsible for a curriculum in the hard sciences with its laboratories, the plastic arts with their studios, music and theatre with their performance spaces, computer science with its technology labs, programs in mass communications with their radio and television studios, as well as any clinical program, must worry about space—its maintenance, modernization, and even expansion.
Changes in technology and pedagogy also are prompting concerns about space that all departments (and their chairs) must address, with two undercurrents in particular driving institutions in this direction. First is the need to expand and upgrade aging physical resources as the baby boom echo appears on our campuses, as reflected in the building surge now evident across the country. According to College Planning & Management (February 2003, pp. 16—24), the $11 billion spent on college campuses in 2002 represents the ôlargest single construction year in history.ö Analysts expect that 2003 will have seen a similar expenditure.
The second factor pushing space issues to the fore is the impact that the web is having on pedagogy. We expect that instructors involved in distance education will need to learn new techniques. Less obvious is the fact that disciplines working with on-campus students while utilizing web technology are also being challenged to think differently about space. Since their inception, universities have survived on the didactic sermon model perfected in Europe’s churches. As the approach has shifted from teaching (declaiming) to learning and as a variety of different forms of instruction—from service learning to team projects to the technologically equipped classroom—have emerged, more and more campuses are thinking about space in a profoundly different manner.
This subsection offers materials that speak to these new dimensions of campus space.
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Advice from Other Chairs
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Allen, Michael T., professor and chair, Department of Psychology, University of Mississippi.
“The Department Chair and Managing Physical Resources” (32KB; PDF)
Written specifically for the ACE Department Chair Online Resource Center.
Allen offers particularly useful advice for chairs who are, in effect, also managers of an entire building devoted to their discipline.
Posted 10/31/03
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Bettega, Richard, associate vice president for facilities, Lewis and Clark College.
“Facility Maintenance or Facility Improvement? Taking a Responsible Approach” (40KB; PDF)
Written specifically for the ACE Department Chair Online Resource Center.
Bettega brings an unusual background to his work in facilities management, having previously been a professor in the chemistry department. From that special vantage point, he brings a wealth of information useful to any department head with responsibilities for physical facilities.
Posted 10/31/03
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Denny, Charles, chair, Division of Mathematics and Engineering, University of South Carolina–Sumter.
“Meeting Physical Plant Obligations” (22KB; PDF)
Written specifically for the ACE Department Chair Online Resource Center.
Denny reflects on his responsibilities for both maintenance matters and participation in long-range institutional planning for physical facilities.
Posted 10/31/03
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Hecht, Irene W. D., senior associate, American Council on Education (ACE).
“Interview with a Theatre Department Chair” (29KB; PDF)
Written specifically for the ACE Department Chair Online Resource Center.
The author interviews Russell Vandenbroucke, chair of the Department of Theatre Arts at the University of Louisville, who provides sound suggestions on principles for effectively managing space. Although the examples focus on issues for a theater department, the words of wisdom can be easily applied to other departments.
Posted 10/31/03
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Bibliography
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New Spaces: Reshaping Learning
Change (September/October 2004). Washington, DC: Heldref Publications.
The fall issue of Change is devoted to the re-formulation of space with pedagogy that has occurred in science and engineering. The opening article provides an excellent historical introduction to how this movement began, how is was funded, and how it evolved. Additional articles provide detailed campus narratives. While this process of leveling silos has been focused on the sciences, it certainly suggests an invitation for the humanities and social sciences to examine the interface between the spaces they use for teaching and what and how they teach.
Posted 12/30/04
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Chism, Nancy Van Note, and Deborah J. Bickford, eds. The Importance of Physical Space in Creating Supportive Learning Environments.
New Directions for Teaching and Learning, no 92. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2002.
As campuses renovate old buildings or construct new ones, department chairs must become involved in those decisions that impact teaching space. At the same time, the new emphasis on student learning and the wide use of technology are reshaping the process of teaching. That, in turn, is impacting architecture and institutional planning. This volume provides an excellent introduction to physical space issues, including campus examples that will be useful to any department that is upgrading or building new teaching space.
Posted 11/3/03
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McHugh, Kenneth A. and Richard J. Meister. Campus-Public Partnerships
Change (September/October 2004): 22-30. This article describes the revival of DePaul University through its partnership with its urban environment and neighbors. Posted 6/20/05
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Narum, Jeanne L. Science Spaces for Student of the 21st Century
Change (September/October 2004): 8-21. Narum, founding director of Project Kaleidoscope (PKAL), which has supported innovative use of space in science engineering and mathematics, describes some of the key space projects PKAL sponsors. Posted 6/20/05
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Society for College and University Planning (SCUP)
http://www.scup.org/pubs/books
SCUP's web site provides references to new publications relevant to space planning. With the trend toward linking learning and space, some of the volumes reviewed are of potential interest to department chairs and administrators:
- Waite, Phillip S. Non-Architect's Guide to Major Capital Projects: Planning, Designing, and Delivering New Buildings. Ann Arbor, MI: SCUP, 2005. A guide for non-architects involved in planning academic buildings.
- Scott-Webber, Lennie. In Sync: Environmental Behavior Research and the Design of Learning Spaces. Ann Arbor, MI: SCUP, 2004. The author links new knowledge on learning behavior with space design.
Posted 7/21/05
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General Orientation
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“Steps Toward Reform: Report on Project Kaleidoscope 1997-1998. ”
http://www.pkal.org/documents/steps-toward-reform.pdf
Washington, DC: Project Kaleidoscope, 1999.
This report presents summaries of recommendations from a series of consultancies supported by the W. M. Keck Foundation on linking curriculum development in the sciences with the planning and building of physical facilities. Posted 10/31/03
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“What Is the Lab of the Future?”
http://www.pkal.org/documents/2003roundtable-futurelab.pdf
Washington, DC: Project Kaleidoscope, 2003.
This is an excellent illustration of applying new thinking to the design of space for science teaching. Posted 10/31/03
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Guterman, Lila. Space Odyssey: Universities Explore the Benefits of Designing Huge, Open Laboratories.
http://chronicle.com/free/v51/i16/16a01201.htm
Dozens of universities have recently built new laboratories featuring large, open spaces and many rows of lab benches. The new designs are a radical shift from the tradition of small lab rooms supervised by single scientists as fiefdoms. Do the new designs make sense? Would you like to see them on your campus? Does the traditional breakdown of "turf" help or hurt science? Posted 4/1/05
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Narum, Jeanne L. “A Better Home for Undergraduate Science.”
http://www.nap.edu/issues/13.1/narum.htm
Issues in Science and Technology Online. Richardson, TX: National Academies Press, fall 1996.
The author speaks to the need for integrating programs with space planning, citing examples of colleges that have done this. Posted 10/31/03
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Rothman, Frank C., and Jeanne L. Narum.“Then, Now, & in the Next Decade: A Commentary on Strengthening Undergraduate Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology Education.”
http://lists.pkal.org/pubs/Rothman.pdf
Washington, DC: Project Kaleidoscope, 1999.
This commentary focuses on reforms in undergraduate education in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology (SME&T), linking curricular development to architectural change. The authors trace developments since 1986, when dramatic changes began occurring, leading to “a successful (though fledgling) movement to transform undergraduate SME&T programs by focusing on the learning of all students.” Posted 10/31/03
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Stephens, Cahal, and Kip Ellis. “On Permeability: The Biology of Architecture.”
http://www.pkal.org/template2.cfm?c_id=720
Washington, DC: Project Kaleidoscope, 2003.
This document provides a succinct summary of the new principles of designing space for science teaching. Posted 10/31/03
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Organizations
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Green Building Council
http://www.usgbc.org
The U.S. Green Building Council seeks to serve both its members and the public in inducing the building market to become environmentally aware. From its home page, users can link to the “Resources” section for information and links to college and university campuses that have sought to construct environmentally responsible structures. Posted 10/31/03
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Project Kaleidoscope
http://pkal.org
Project Kaleidoscope (PKAL) focuses on building learning environments that attract and sustain undergraduate students to the study of science,mathematics, engineering, and technology(SME&T) and motivate them to consider careers in related fields. PKAL gives significant attention to shaping spaces that facilitate, nurture, and strengthen learning in SME&T fields. According to the organization, more than 400 colleges and universities have participated in one or more of its 22 workshops on planning facilities.
From the organization’s homepage, readers can link to campus programs that PKAL has fostered. Posted 10/31/03
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The Association of Higher Education Facilities Officers
http://www.appa.org
The Association of Higher Education Facilities Officers (APPA) is an international association dedicated to maintaining, protecting, and promoting the high quality of educational facilities. Department chairs may be most interested in the “Resources” section of this site. The association also maintains an archive, conveniently organized into topics (buildings, communication/telecommunication, computers and software, and so forth). The moderated listserv within the archive allows users to forward queries on particular issues. Posted 10/31/03
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The Society for College and University Planning
http://www.scup.org
The Society for College and University Planning (SCUP) calls itself “a network of professionals dedicated to excellence in planning for higher education.” The home page offers a variety of resources, among the more useful of which to department chairs are web communities, where users can explore issues related to classroom design and the management of campus space. SCUP also offers links to timely articles related to higher education. Posted 10/31/03
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