The 2011 Thought Leaders Symposium, sponsored in part by UGL Services and Jacobs, focuses on the specific topic of technology. Included are resources and discussions on the identified top ten critical facilities issues:

1. Establish a culture of innovation and collaboration.
2. Improve productivity with level or decreasing resources.
3. Leverage technology to improve decision making.
4. Align IT and facilities.
5. Create a new budget model for IT and facilities.
6. Confront shifting workforce demographics.
7. Increase flexibility in the workplace.
8. Make smart decisions about outsourcing.
9. Improve emergency preparedness.
10. Manage the existing built environment.

2011: Workplace Demographics and Technology: Challenges and Opportunities to the Campus Mission

The 2010 Thought Leaders Symposium, sponsored in part by UGL Services, identified major issues confronting higher education (both current and projected), and further identified the top critical facilities issues. The results are wide-ranging and reflect the multiplicity of challenges facing higher education and the built environment:

1. Crafting an integrated strategic plan
2. Achieving financial sustainability
3. Creating change agents in facilities
4. Addressing regulatory compliance
5. Facing the challenge of changing demographics
6. Creating an environmentally sustainable and energy efficient
campus
7. Managing the impact of technology
8. Addressing campus safety and security.

2010: Assessing and Forecasting Facilities in Higher Education

APPA has also published a special report in our Thought Leaders Series – The Educational Professional's Practical Guide to Reducing the Campus Carbon Footprint. Sponsored by Affiliated Engineers Inc., this implementation guide gives educational facilities professionals a practical companion framework for moving forward in their unique role within the process of achieving environmental sustainability. The report helps facilities managers and sustainability coordinators maximize their specific contributions and work in tandem with other campus stakeholders to meet their institutions’ goals of carbon neutrality and reduced greenhouse gas emissions.

The Educational Facilities Professional's
Practical Guide to Reducing the Campus Carbon Footprint

The 2009 Thought Leaders Symposium, sponsored in part by Haley & Aldrich, Inc., and with sponsorship assistance from Delta Controls, focused on the specific topics of environmental sustainability and energy, as seen through the prism of the economy. Included are resources and discussions on the identified top ten critical facilities issues:
1. Adjusting to the new sustainability reality
2. Developing an institutional vision of sustainability
3. Creating a leadership role in addressing sustainability
4. Confronting economic challenges
5. Fixing broken budget models
6. Managing rising energy costs and energy volatility
7. Engaging the campus to address energy challenges
8. Managing space
9. Prioritizing renewal needs
10. Meeting the challenges of workforce development.

2009: The Economy's Influence on Environmental Sustainability and Energy

The 2008 Thought Leaders Symposium, sponsored by Jacobs, focused on changing demographics and accountability, within higher education. Includes the top critical facilities issues.

2008: The Challenges of Demographic Changes and Accountability to Campus Facilities

The 2007 Thought Leaders Symposium, sponsored by Carter & Burgess, Inc., with sponsorship assistance from IBM, focused on evolving technology, changing stakeholder expectations, and the impact of competition on both those drivers of change. The report includes the top ten critical facilities issues.

The 2006 Thought Leaders Symposium, sponsored by Carter & Burgess, Inc., discussed the changing landscape of higher education and how the college or university’s built environment needs to respond to the changing demands on the educational institutionby identifying the drivers or trends affecting higher education’s future. Includes the top ten critical facilities issues.