In this week’s architecture issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education, Shepley president Carole Wedge joins Ted Landsmark, president of Boston Architectural College; Karen Van Lengen, former dean of the University of Virginia’s School of Architecture; and Kate Schwennsen, associate dean of Iowa State’s College of Design for a discussion of women in architecture.

The article discusses design aesthetics, leadership styles, and challenges in the profession. Carole’s comments reflect remarks from an in-house conversation with five other female designers in the firm. As she notes in the article, “the subject of women in ...[more]

Annie Newman, who leads Shepley Bulfinch’s master planning work, is April’s guest blogger on the Chronicle of Higher Education’s Buildings and Grounds web page.

Nationally recognized for her work on space utilization, Annie spoke on the subject at the 2008 Society for College and University Planning (SCUP) annual conference in Montreal.

Her blogs appear on the Chronicle’s website four times this month (see links below).

http://chronicle.com/blogs/architecture/2746/ann-k-newman-colleges-must-think-beyond-space-management

How does a liberal arts education remain a valid, viable and affordable pathway for millennial students?

That was the big question at last week’s conference at Wake Forest on Rethinking Success, from the Liberal Arts to Careers in the 21st century, which drew academic and student development leaders from across the country.

Conference participants talked at length about how the skills that are central to academic success are also vital to building a sustainable career in the 21st century. It is imperative that colleges and universities not only support the skills ...[more]

In early November I attended the Educause 2009 conference in Denver and a series of discussions about technology and higher education. I left with three takeaways that warrant further reflection and discussion:

- What’s the relationship between the current higher education budgetary crisis and shifts in IT/ Library organizational structures and service philosophies?

- Seventy percent of scholarly research in the humanities is now being published digitally. In the transition from print to digital library collections, are academic libraries at a tipping point?

- What does the word “library” mean today? As library facilities expand to include programs for student life, student success, teaching excellence, and technology support, does the building type need ...[more]

We live in a time of constraint and experimentation, when both the state and the nation are seeking ways to enhance our economic well-being. No single institution is more on the front lines of these changes than the community college and nowhere is that more apparent than when examining the physical fabric of the school.

Over the past year I’ve worked with a Massachusetts community college, developing a campus master plan to guide the future physical development of the campus. When we raised the idea of arranging future buildings to create a traditional ...[more]

A recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education (“Scientific Discovery, Inspired by a Walk to the Restroom”) made the argument that locating key support facilities has a role in fostering collaborative research environments.

As a design researcher, whenever I read a piece like this that cites research without providing citations or references, I become concerned about the quality of the evidence.

I decided to do a little digging. Although I was unable to find a research study documenting a 50-foot rule (“collaboration drops to 10% when workers are more than 50 feet ...[more]

Sometimes the most sustainable strategies in higher education are hidden in plain view. That’s Annie Newman’s point in her article “Do more, build less,” which appears as an online exclusive in the July 2011 issue of University Business magazine.

In the article, Annie discusses the ways that institutions can reduce capital costs and environmental impact through wise space use, and the strategies for managing existing space efficiently.

As the leader of Shepley Bulfinch’s planning practice, Annie has conducted space utilization studies for campus across the US and has presented and blogged on the ...[more]