In recent years, professors and administrators have brought technology into a larger role in the college classroom, perhaps in response to what students use outside their classrooms to keep up with classwork and their friends. A closer look at what happen
Tough economic times have created an opportunity for many private colleges and universities to get creative while helping their students out. Schools across the nation are trying new programs and ideas that put their students' financial and educational ne
It's common knowledge that schools need to spend more dollars upfront on a project in order to save money over the life of a facility, but current economic realities may send this line of thinking to the back burner. Are schools forsaking long-term s
Any institution of higher learning that fails to invest appropriate fiscal resources, time, and most importantly, an appropriate level of priority to these areas is quite simply not as good a school as it should and could be. If student, staff, and visito
Selecting carpet or tile isn't as easy as specifying the best material when it comes to residence hall flooring.
In an effort to save undergraduates time and money, some colleges are now offering students a three-year bachelor's degree. While popular in Europe, very few U.S. higher-ed institutions offer this choice to their students. We explore why one college decid
Founded in 1824, Philadelphia's Thomas Jefferson Medical College is the largest private medical school in the United States. When the college decided to add a new building to its urban campus, the administration needed to make definitive design choic
Across the country, colleges and universities are installing mass notification systems to inform their campus communities about emergencies, as well as more routine problems such as closings due to inclement weather. Systems run the gamut from easy-to-lea
Drexel University's Center for Graduate Studies in Sacramento, CA, which opened in January 2009, is a story about the wisdom of careful planning and the role that technology played and will continue to play in fulfilling the Center's educational
I have been surprised by the facilities organizations that also pay little attention to their outside assets, with the common exception of flower beds. Parking lots receive special attention because they are often considered auxiliaries. Otherwise, we ten
ICM is a systematic approach to cleaning that entails using best practices to clean facilities and to measure the effectiveness of the cleaning program using a 21st-century version of the "white glove" approach.
Well-designed campus signage is part of a school's marketing toolkit, but it must also guide people of all abilities. Here's how to create ADA-compliant signage that is also streamlined, cohesive, and attractive.
Its first fire lit in December 2008, Middlebury College's biomass gasification plant is the result of several years of study, research, and collaboration between the College's students, faculty, staff, and trustees.
If LEED states that commissioning is the key to acquiring a building that performs as intended, what about building systems that were never commissioned? Short of a substantial system failure, can we assume optimal performance? The answer is absolutely no
While colleges and universities implement improved building design concepts, top-flight security camera systems, and truly amazing access control technologies, it is equally important to improve the awareness of students as a means to create the human sup
Despite numerous federal, state, and local codes requiring routine testing and documentation NFPA 101, International Fire Code, and International Building Code to name a few mandated testing of emergency lighting units remains a "hit or
In today's market, the cost of adding a sloped metal roof system over an existing roof is, in most cases, less than the cost of removing a flat roof, placing the removed materials in a landfill, and replacing it with a built-up roofing (BUR) or modif
Some say that interactive Websites aimed at the college crowd have crossed a line but just who isn't lying awake at night fretting this may startle you.
The Pell Grant program, originated in 1965, is seeing some changes lately. It received a boost in funding from the ARRA, and could see more changes with the proposed 2010 budget. Increasing the maximum grant awarded will help open up access to post-second
With the launch of YouTube EDU (www.youtube.com/edu) in March, Google has made available, for free, more than 200 full courses from 100 universities and colleges. Schools participating in YouTube EDU include MIT, Yale, Harvard, Stanford, and UC Berkeley.
The environmental and financial cost of non-compliance can be high, and surprise inspections from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or state regulators routinely turn up multiple violations, even at campuses that consider their compl
Without changes in the way buildings are designed and constructed, costs will continue to rise. Total world consumption of marketed energy is projected to increase by 50 percent from 2005 to 2030, per the U.S. Energy Information Administration. As univers
Gustavus Adolphus College is a private liberal arts college of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in St. Peter, MN. In an integrated and conscious effort to promote sustainable efforts, choices such as reusable to-go containers, high-efficiency wa
While the oil story is an important one, there is another pressing problem that has received little attention and is getting worse in more and more areas of the U.S. every year: chronic water shortages. Shortages are occurring in water-rich areas as well
Administrators committed to ensuring their campuses and surrounding communities are safe are also looking to align with contract security partners who want to provide security solutions with sustainability in mind. I lead the Higher Education division of
Youngstown State University (YSU), located in northeastern Ohio, encompasses approximately 4M sq. ft. Approximately 2M sq. ft. of the gross square footage is occupied as usable space. In 2006, YSU entered into a Performance Contract (PC) with a building e
What makes developing a sustainability plan so difficult is the disparate number of tangible and intangible elements that need to be considered, including energy use, campus mass transit, water use, recycling, indoor air quality, on-site alternative energ
When it comes to green initiatives, Western Kentucky University (WKU) in Bowling Green sticks to a very old-fashioned concept: Officials here emphasize less driving. And they do it by offering a bevy of cutting-edge technology solutions that give professo
Because data centers are such energy hogs, many building owners assume they can't pursue a LEED-certified green building because their center cancels out the sustainable effects of the rest of the building. But by applying some of the fundamental ten
They say a cluttered desk reflects a cluttered mind. We can also say that a cluttered janitorial closet may reflect a custodial crew that is disorganized, lacks efficient training, and is generally unprofessional. Further, a messy closet can cause a lot o
As storage technology evolves rapidly and is paralleled by what is proving to be an insatiable demand for stored information, institutions must tread very carefully. Short-term decisions will inevitably have a compounding effect. Planning and policies are
While change can be challenging, it also brings with it an opportunity for advancement and an air of excitement. With many alternatives for expansion whether it's a new building, addition, renovation, or combination it's best to ex
From time to time, campus officials have been attacked in their offices, on campus grounds, or in campus parking areas. Some of these attacks relate to angry students, employees who have been terminated or suspended, attacks by animal rights extremists, o
Video analytics enables video surveillance systems to look for and report suspicious activity occurs. Complex mathematical formulas underpin the video analytic software applications that can identify and track objects, offering powerful capabilities to co
It's a story as old as new furniture itself
what to do with the old stuff. Throwing away perfectly good furnishings doesn't make sense, so the shabbies get handed down and down and down until they end up in the maintenance department. Ther
It would appear that specifying flooring for an athletic facility would be a snap: hardwood floor for the gymnasium, resilient for the entryway and hallways, rubber for the exercise rooms. Well, appearances can be deceiving. The truth is, there are a lot
After adding everything from selecting suppliers to automating the process and recovering costs on the invoice side, integrated e-procurement efforts find savings of anywhere between five to 20 cents of every dollar. It adds up to significant dollars on t
Our current economic climate has affected numerous areas in higher education, including libraries. Private donors may be giving less to institutions, and often states have less money to offer to institutions. College and university libraries may find some
Today, campus quads are definitely spatial beings a "room" that the institutions have deemed important because they face the buildings into that space to form a unity, a statement that shouts, "We are a society of scholars." But
Just as colleges and universities are adopting Internet-based technologies for learning so, too, are campus mailrooms responding to changing marketplace conditions by adopting Web-based mailroom processing tools. Here are the stories of two universities&#