Happy New Year?

  • By Shannon O'Connor
  • 01/01/18

Welcome to 2018. It’s time to celebrate a new year and look forward with optimism to the opportunities provided by its arrival, right? I suppose it is, although I’ll confess it’s a challenge for someone who entered the new year with a stuffy head cold, living in an area experiencing days of sub-zero to sub-freezing temperatures. Still it could be worse. And I know for certain that it will get better.

Why am I optimistic?

I’m optimistic because of what you do. You educate your students. It doesn’t matter if they’re 18-year-old recent high school graduates, 30-year-old military veterans, or 50-year-old mid-life career changers. Whether they aspire to be actors, plumbers, or astrophysicists, you work every day to provide exceptionally safe, supportive, comfortable, sustainable spaces in which each one of them can find their individual path to success. When presented with simply a new calendar year or intriguing new trends in how facilities are designed, operated, or managed or how curriculum is packaged and delivered, you proactively evaluate and integrate the “new” in order to offer the best.

In welcoming the new, both the year and transformations to the higher ed landscape, this issue of CP&M includes our annual January examination of trends in the industry. For 2018, these include moving beyond sustainable to regenerative design for campus facilities, which is aimed at positive ecological change for the environment. Also included is information on a growing movement into partnerships—for shared services, for new or shared facilities—to enhance and strengthen institutional performance. And no look into a crystal ball for what’s on the horizon would be complete without the latest on technology, whether it’s for procurement of goods and services or delivery of content to your students. A collection of your peers offer their expertise and insights on what’s ahead. It looks good.

There is no question that this will be an interesting year. You will continue to have my admiration and, through the content of CP&M, my support as you forge ahead on what may occasionally be bumpy roads. I believe that in the work of providing education, what matters is both the journey AND the destination; as long as we continue to teach… and learn.

Happy New Year!

This article originally appeared in the College Planning & Management January 2018 issue of Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • Active Learning Classroom

    Striking a Balance: The Keys to Renovating Science Education Buildings for the 21st Century

    The recent renovation of the Durham Science Center at the University of Nebraska-Omaha (UNO) provides a roadmap for facilities managers tasked with balancing budget constraints, modern pedagogical demands, and long-term sustainability.

  • Ancient Resilience: How Indigenous Intelligence Shapes the 4Roots Education Building

    As climate change intensifies, educational spaces must evolve beyond basic sustainability toward true resilience – we must design environments that can adapt, respond, and thrive amid shifting, and intensifying, climate hazards. Drawing on indigenous wisdom and nature-based strategies, integrating resilient design offers a path to create learning environments that are not only functional but deeply in tune with their natural surroundings.

  • University of Connecticut Upgrades Basketball Facility’s AV Systems

    The University of Connecticut recently partnered with Metinteractive to upgrade the AV systems of the Gampel Pavilion basketball facility on its campus in Mansfield, Conn., according to a news release.

  • Kimball International Debuts Health & Education Experience Center

    Kimball International recently opened a new facility at its corporate headquarters in Jasper, Ind., that will act as a hands-on showroom for a variety of its furniture products and solutions, according to a news release. The 13,000-square-foot Health & Education Experience Center was originally designed by Gensler as the headquarters for Kimball International’s National brand.

Digital Edition