We all know attention can be a good thing, or a bad one. Everyone needs to be aware of the challenges faced by colleges and universities trying to provide a quality education. They also need to be aware of the plight of many families forced into working m
Offering distance learning isn't strictly about having the right IT tools in place. Administrators, faculty, and staff must adjust to successfully deliver the right content, too.
Is there any school administration or architect today that does not strive for high performance? Definitions may vary and the word is sometimes overused, but the objectives are valid. For more than a decade, the universe of education has been on course to
The tragic deaths of Yale graduate student Annie Le in an off-campus research lab and the Virginia Tech rampage by student Seung-Hui Cho focus attention on access card security. The issue's importance extends from student victims to roommates, famili
A quick look at three different efforts being made to improve the availability of funds for school construction and renovation, pending bills in the House and Senate, and the pending Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (HR 3962).
Young Harris' updated vision and strategic plan calls for virtually doubling the student population from the current 700 to between 1,200 and 1,500 over the next few years; significant faculty growth; expanded academic programs; and, of course, a con
Recognizing the challenges of first-generation students, many schools offer them tailored support, including orientation and mentoring programs, tutoring and other forms of academic assistance, summer programs before freshman year to introduce them to col
President Obama proposed on February 1st an education budget for fiscal year 2011 which includes a historic commitment to increasing college access and success by dramatically expanding financial aid making it simpler, more reliable, and more effic
As competition for good students and supportive alumni has grown, and as "gourmet" burritos and mocha lattes have become standards in the "real world," colleges and universities have had to rethink what makes a truly invi
Evermore sophisticated student hackers, criminal hackers and regular thieves require a new security priority for K-12 schools: the convergence or coming together of physical and IT (sometimes called logical) security. Simply put, if you don't lock th
There are ups and there are downs. In 1995, when College Planning & Management came on the scene, $6.1B worth of college construction was put in place. By 2000, college construction was shifting into high gear. During three years 2005, 2
Nontraditional construction methods are helping to provide that space, in part because they can offer financial savings over traditional construction methods. Nontraditional construction methods include but are not limited to SIP, tilt-up, I
The recession is over, but college and university IT divisions are progressing cautiously, still forging ahead with the newest trends, but at a slower pace.
BACnet: "The global standard for building automation." This not-so-new technology, still evolving, continues to generate expanding interest among the major suppliers of systems generally categorized as building control systems.
President Obama proposed on Feb. 1, an education budget for fiscal year 2011 that takes a bold approach to elementary and secondary education. The two main themes of this FY 2011 budget request are education reform and college access. When Secretary Dunca
As architects, we've worked with school administrators who face the daunting challenge of designing and building a much-needed facility when budgets are tight. The good news is that in our experience, a school can build a high-quality facility on eve
For many campuses, we have cut all there is to cut out of our budgets. Across the country, we are doing less; if a program costs money, we are probably not moving forward with it this year. New initiatives unless they save money from the start 
Once up in the cloud, a user selects the software applications he or she wants to use and goes to work. Data stays on disk drives within the cloud. It is a simple and economical approach to computing. It is catching on in the commercial world and in the a
There are ups and there are downs. Ten years ago, I was happy to report that school construction increased 16 percent over the year prior. This year, the figures are not nearly as positive.
Precast concrete can solve many of your campus's hardscape problems. Is this durable, sustainable material right for your next project?
Security, as a responsibility, involves keen observation skills, curiosity, common sense mixed with a dash of good timing, and plenty of routine procedures. For college campuses this decade, it also requires a good amount of technology. And like many thin