Working Group, December 1, 2011
Campus Master Plan Working Group Minutes
12/1/11, Highsmith University Union Room 222, 1:30-3:00 pm
Working Group Members in attendance:
Rob Nelson, consultant and Working Group chair; Christine Riley, Chief of Staff; Melissa Acker, Landscape Architect; Dr. Gregg Kormanik, faculty; Dr. Dee Eggers, faculty; Renee Bindewald, student; Kimberly Newsome, AVC Student Affairs; and Ben Judge, student.
Rob Nelson welcomed the Working Group to the meeting. Rob Nelson reminded the group of the next steps in regards to Wayfinding and Sustainability. Both of these tracks will be worked on concurrently by splitting into two subgroups. The two subgroups will bring ideas to the larger Working Group then to the Steering Committee and eventually to the Board of Trustees.
The Wayfinding Subgroup discussion generated:
- What top items need to be addressed? Prioritize those items.
- Give campus a chance for input on wayfinding by developing a survey.
- What groups and students to involve in the subgroup.
- Look into GPS databases and how we can better inform them by identifying buildings rather than one central address. How have other universities solved this problem? GIS classes on campus could help plot coordinates.
- Important to have conversations with Chief Boyce [Public Safety] and Garrett Male [Transportation] at the beginning of the process.
- Address the Main Entrance problem. Do we need one entrance or multiple? There are 4 entrances currently. Different audiences use different entrances.
- What's our budget?
- Do we need to design mini guiding principles for wayfinding to inform the process?
- Different constituencies would identify different problem areas on campus. Be sure to Survey other groups (NCCCR, Parents Council, Trustees, Alumni, etc). To reach students, tabling would be a better option. Catch students at mandatory Humanities classes. Each committee member will work with their constituent groups to encourage taking the wayfinding survey.
- Address how we should identify buildings.
- Prioritize but also look at cost.
- TDA grant could potentially help get people on campus.
- We have to make sure we are planful. We do not want to have to go back and redo anything.
- Do we want the campus to be car friendly or pedestrian friendly?
- When do we need to involve a consultant? Get survey and mini guiding principles under our belt and then the consultant can give us advice on what we have discovered.
The Sustainability Subgroup discussion generated:
- Scott Arico’s presentation on current sustainability initiatives on campus was wonderful. We need to include him in our group.
- What groups and students to involve in the sub group.
- Review best models of other University’s Sustainability plans (e.g., UC Berkley).
- The Sustainability Plan should be a comprehensive plan, not just building and/or renovation plan.
The Group decided to develop and approve the survey and RFP via email over the next month with the subgroups beginning to meet in January 2012.
Rob Nelson adjourned the meeting at 3:00 pm.