January/February 2024 • volume 40, number 1

Whitney Jibben, Augustana University

Engaging diverse future leaders in timely, highly effective training is a priority for all institutions in the changing educational and professional landscape. To cultivate a diverse workforce, we must step up our focus on workforce culture, providing ways to access training opportunities and colleague connections even when financial resources are often limited. The professional development […]

By Stephen Harris, University of Texas System, with Brian Roeder, Michelle Gebhart, Doug Powell, Yashambari Ajinkya, and John DeLaHunt

Within the boundaries of building facility programming, users and design teams often focus on the assignable spaces that represent a person, entity, or specific programmatic function. After program requirements have been defined in real terms, the specific square footage values are increased by a grossing factor to ensure enough total space is included to accommodate […]

Lindsay Wagner, the Knowledge Collaborative

The role of education and training in developing a skilled and adaptable workforce cannot be ignored. As building technologies advance at a blistering pace, educational institutions face the challenge of providing their employees with the technical knowledge and soft skills necessary to succeed. Strategic investment in education and training is not only a financial decision; […]

Don Merritt, University of Central Florida

What is a classroom, and who supports it? One of our historical challenges in educational facilities to answering this question is a continuing failure to universally use the same definitions for “classroom” or “support staff.” Higher education audiovisual and information technology support teams have had a longstanding conversation regarding the appropriate ratio of support staff […]

Simone Pertuiset, JLL

In recent years, efforts by institutions and communities to address climate change have focused increasingly on achieving net carbon neutrality. This approach typically involves reducing—but not entirely eliminating—emissions on site, as long as equivalent counter measures are taken off site. Like balancing a scale, the idea is that any carbon released should be matched by […]