Engagement and Learning

The Campus Master Plan Project Team

During the Understand phase, the Campus Master Plan Project Team met with the campus master plan Steering Committee and the Campus and Community Advisory Committees and conducted interviews with key stakeholders. The project team reviewed previous planning efforts like the existing campus master plan and explored student enrollment targets, research growth targets, and on-campus housing goals. The project team prepared benchmarking analyses and assembled best practices. The project team established planning objectives, identified key issues for the campus master plan, and determined future space needs. The Steering Committee toured the campuses of two peer universities to better understand national best practices. The information generated during this phase was used to identify the opportunities and constraints.

During the Explore phase, the project team developed and refined a set of “alternative future scenarios” to guide the campus’s change and growth. Through extensive and wide-ranging meetings with campus leaders, faculty, staff, students, and community leaders, the project team tested a wide variety of potential campus development patterns. The resulting plan addressed questions ranging from enrollment changes, program delivery/offerings, demographics, workforce and industry needs, research, transportation, student life and housing, land use impacts, and building renovations.

Finally, the project team drafted a consensus campus master plan during the Realize phase. The resulting plan is an integrated vision that is focused on implementation so it includes project phasing and a capital plan. The plan is a blueprint for implementation while also allowing flexibility to adapt to the university’s needs.