Higher Ed


Two in One

The TD Bank Sports Center, with twin NCAA Division I hockey and basketball arenas for men's and women's teams, was the first structure to be built on the entirely new 240-acre campus carved out of a rocky hilltop in Hamden, CT. It was the semina

Helping Students and Families Understand the Cost of College

The Obama administration is challenging colleges and universities to provide clearer and more comparable information about financial aid and the cost of college. On the surface, this challenge seems relatively straightforward. But you don't need to d

What's Your Sign?

What started in the '70s as pre-recorded closed-circuit TV, digital signage made a showy, and expensive, debut in places like Times Square and Las Vegas. Today, low-cost equipment and high-speed Internet means that digital signage is everywhere from

How to Achieve a Tight Building Envelope

When it comes to campus facilities, administrators always want a tight building envelope. A tight building envelope ensures that your facility is energy-efficient, safe, and healthy. Achieving a tight building envelope begins with an appreciation for its

…And the Survey Says

Enrollment continues to grow, but to attract 
and retain those students depends in part 
on the quality of housing at your institution.

Keeping Up With Facilities and Maintenance

Colleges and universities own some of the most valuable real estate in the world. Despite aging facilities and budget cuts, they are doing an admirable job protecting the assets they have. The funding gap is being counterbalanced by the extra efforts of t

Inspecting Fire & Life Safety Systems

A fire alarm system and accessory components are, without doubt, a necessity for life safety. By monitoring the environment and noticing any changes potentially related to unsafe conditions, a fire alarm system alerts the occupants of a building that ther

The Academic Road From Military to Management

Military-friendly colleges offer on-campus resources to make learning about and utilizing Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits as easy as possible for veteran and active duty service members. It is advised that military students seek out this individual or office t

Working With the Wind

Admittedly, not every campus is suited to a wind program. Simply put: wind and space are required to succeed. A strong commitment from the institution's president or chancellor's office also is critical to generating wide-ranging support and mai

Under New Management

New approaches to AV management and controls have led to increased flexibility with the use of open-source products.

Mending Fences

The biggest obstacle to the Bucknell Lewisburg Community Development efforts was the status quo: A community that was generally comfortable with how it looked and a University that saw no compelling reason to do something different from what it had been d

Risk-Reduction Evaluations

The start of fall for most of our programs is the start of a new budget year and a flurry of life-safety construction projects that we hope to complete before students return from summer vacation. It should also be a time when we look back at the past yea

Disaster Recovery: Lessons Learned

Through creative design decisions to address previous problem areas and well-thought-out strategies to maximize FEMA funding, the University of Texas Medical Branch has emerged from the impact of Hurricane Ike with not only improved functionality, but als

Why Do Women Resist STEM Fields?

Getting talented women into male-dominated careers is one struggle, while keeping them is another. The issue is especially apparent in STEM careers, which are extremely important to the global economy. Attracting and retaining more women in STEM careers w

Community Colleges

No question… today's community colleges play a vital role in serving both a diverse student body and the community in which they are located, and it's time for us to give credit where credit is due.

Broad Brush. Colorful Strokes.

The Varick Street Incubator is successful, in part, because it stands as an example of how a tight budget does not necessarily limit the ability of a creative team of architects, designers, and administrators to create an impactful and vibrant space. Crea

A Percent for the Arts

Expanding the arts into more areas of university teaching has been a trendy topic in recent years. A recent report by the College Board recommended "placing arts at the core of education" and "integrating arts across the curriculum," i

The First 30 Seconds

Many fatal campus crisis situations involve critical of delays in the implementation of life-saving action steps such as room clear, lockdown, sheltering from severe weather, reverse evacuation, or other critical action steps. Catastrophic plan failure ca

Remote Success

Learning on the college campus moved beyond the lecture hall years ago. Distance learning solutions are the wave of the future, as students and faculty demand more flexibility in learning and teaching. While a successful distance learning plan can bring i

Designing for IEQ

Understanding the sources of indoor environmental contaminants and controlling them during construction through thoughtful IEQ details prevents or resolves building-related symptoms and health conditions. Translation: It results in better attendance, prod

The 'Non' Is the New Norm

The trend that students are attending college later in life while having families and working full-time influences pedagogy, curriculum, and building design. To attract new students and keep up with competition, higher education institutions will need to

Designing a Sense of Home

The interior environment of a residence hall influences everything from sleep and wellness to social connections and whether students build community. When your reality surrounding residential life is, "What can we afford?" consider these four i

Outsourcing Instruction

Distance learning allows students to take classes online from instructors employed by their university either as tenured faculty or adjunct professors. The instructors set the curriculum and assign readings and assignments. Then they, or their TAs, grade

Going Solo

When California State University, Fullerton flipped the switch early this year on its latest solar installation, a crowd of industry and utility representatives joined University officials on a rooftop, alongside massive solar panels and electric vehicle

And We're Rollin'

If the higher education sustainability movement were a song, it would sound something like Tina Turner's rendition of the John Fogerty classic, "Proud Mary." In past years, the movement has been defined by successes on single campuses, much like

Why Commission?

With building owners seeking to reduce energy use in every square inch of a facility, commissioning is more important than ever. Commissioning can improve a building's operations and is a requirement in the LEED Green Building certification process.

Flower Power

Something is growing on the campus of Messiah College in Grantham, PA. They can stand more than eight feet tall, will triple in number this year, and are poised to have a huge impact on campus. What are they? Sunflowers.

Monitoring-Based Commissioning

Judging building performance requires evaluation of the impact the building has upon people, our planet, and profit for the owner. These three factors constitute the triple bottom line and define the metrics by which building performance can be measured a

A Green Social Hub

Global Village was designed to ease cramped space on the growing campus while keeping higher standards for sustainability in mind. The Village consists of multiple buildings surrounding a central, protected courtyard, which serves as a social hub and prom

Accelerated Degrees: Helping Adults Meet Economic and Workplace Challenges

As qualification requirements for jobs become more rigid, accelerated degree programs help make those career changes possible, and often times, more fruitful. In our fast-paced, technology-driven society, accelerated degrees have proven a successful way f

Chemical-Free Cleaning

Liquid ozone cleaning is not a new technology, having existed for more than 75 years. any municipalities in the United States and Europe also use the technology to sanitize drinking water… including the City of Ann Arbor, home to the University of Mi

Recruiting Minority Students

The Super Sunday recruitment initiative may focus on a specific population, but the benefits will reverberate throughout our state and our nation. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote, "We are tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one di

Measuring the Food Services Footprint

An organization with a mission to accelerate the transition to sustainable communities through climate mitigation, adaptation planning, and effective climate policies, Clean Air-Cool Planet works collaboratively with campuses, communities, and corporation

Wireless Energy Savings

Energy-harvesting wireless sensor technology collects energy where it costs nothing, from the energy existing in our environment. Linear motion, pressure, light, and differences in temperature can be converted into energy that can be used electrically. Co

A Billion Dollar Green Challenge

Sustainability is integrated into the forefront of the University of Vermont's mission, and UVM's Office of Sustainability aims to foster sustainable development and promote environmental responsibility at the University by strategically bridging the acad

Scanning the Crowd

While schools rarely, if ever, stage Super Bowl-sized events, they still host large public gatherings such as football games, concerts, and graduations. Sometimes the event is small but the stakes are high, like inviting a controversial speaker onto campu

Below the Surface

By not burning 36,000 tons of coal per year, Ball State will eliminate 85,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually and reduce the campus's carbon footprint by half. Eliminating coal will also eliminate 240 tons of nitrogen oxide emissions, cut p

Engaging the Cloud

Cloud infrastructure promotes 
agility for the higher education sector 
by enabling organizations to adapt to 
and handle changes including increases 
in student enrollment, attractin

Who Is on Your Safety Team?

Like role-specific emergency preparedness plan components, drills, and exercises, role-specific training sessions can go a long way towards improving compliance with policies and procedures while also building support for safety initiatives. This approach

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