Lawrence Biemiller recently opened a HUGE can of worms in the Chronicle of Higher Education when he asked whether all faculty members really need private offices (article). At 92 comments and counting, the overwhelming majority of faculty members responding are vehemently opposed. They cite need for confidential discussions with students, inability to work in a communal environment, and challenges to status (“when administrators do it, I will”) among other reasons.

Even though I am a campus planner who works in an open, collaborative environment, I think the faculty have a point. ...[more]

Tom Kearns’ column, which discusses on how institutions and communities can work collaboratively to advance their shared sense of environmental commitment, appears in the November 2009 issue of College Planning & Management magazine.

College Planning & Management article

As a participant in Herman Miller’s Spring 2009 Higher Education Leadership Roundtable, I found the opportunity to sit and talk with thought leaders across the spectrum of higher education to be highly stimulating.

We spent two days discussing scenarios for learning that had been developed in 2005 and summarized in Herman Miller’s Outlook for Learning white paper – which ones were still valid, which ones had not come to pass, which ones were we still waiting for? In spite of the overarching theme of today’s economic realities, we still believed that every challenge presents an opportunity – and that higher education leaders are the ones who need to capitalize on these ...[more]

by Carole Wedge, AIA, LEED AP

Leading Change: An Exploratory Process

Carole Wedge discusses how colleges and universities can respond to evolving technologies and work and learning practices, facilitating change and using it to organizational advantage. This article first appeared in the November/December 2006 issue of Educause.