Planning for crisis in higher education

Hannah Stewart-Gambino, professor of government & law and international affairs, presented on “Planning for Crisis: Contraction, Collaboration, or Closure” at the Society for College and University Planning North Atlantic Regional Conference hosted by Yale from March 8-10. She explains:

“The Society for College and University Planning (SCUP) has as its central mission the advancement of integrated planning in higher education. Although there are professional organizations for all aspects of a college or university organization (NACUBO, Educause, APA, etc.), SCUP’s mission is to advance integrated planning, particularly across academic (including student life), finance, facilities, and increasingly the planning profession that typically operates at the cabinet level. I have taught SCUP’s Planning Institutes for years, and I am finishing my third year on the national board—serving this year as the vice chair (and last as secretary to the board). 

“This presentation addressed integrated planning for a college/university crisis, particularly oriented toward the most precarious institutions who may be contemplating (or forced to contemplate) institutional closures, inter-institutional collaborations, campus and personnel contractions, and/or other forms of financial exigency. I presented with Margaret Plympton, former VP for finance and administration at Lehigh and Bucknell (as well as former deputy and interim chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities). The presentation addresses both the sensationalistic claims in the national press as well as the realities across the higher education landscape, with the intention of offering an overview of the benefits of integrated planning and the use of specific (rather low-tech) tools for change management. All of this, however, is pre-March COVID-19 pandemic planning.”