by Heather Taylor
No Planes, No Trains, No Automobiles! Simply click to get your ticket for transport to the Virtual 2021 SCUP North Atlantic Regional Conference – After the “Fall”: Reimagining the Future. We are embracing the virtues of being virtual. We welcome participants and speakers from across our region and beyond. We are incredibly fortunate to have assembled a powerhouse group of keynote speakers. This is not to be missed!
We kick off on March 17 with Edie Weiner, CEO of The Future Hunters. She will captivate you and inspire us to imagine the possibilities with what we know has been transformational change in this past year. We are honored to have Edie join us. If you can, please check out Edie’s website at https://thefuturehunters.com/.
March 18 will start with the remarkable Katherine Newman, system chancellor for academic programs and the senior VP for economic development at University of Massachusetts, author, and labor market sociologist. Katherine will provide valuable insight on how global changes are affecting the academic, research and public service mission of higher education. On March 19, our day begins with a panel of presidents from the U.S., Canada, and Ireland, including Frances Bronet from Pratt Institute, Vianne Timmons from Memorial University, and Kerstin Mey from University of Limerick. The panel will be moderated by Deirdre Fernandes of the Boston Globe.
Concurrent sessions both build on the conference theme and provide some much-needed breaks from all-pandemic topics. Sessions include discussions on sustainability, technology, teaching models, retention, planning for urban institutions, state-wide system planning, the changing dining experience, student engagement and interesting/relevant project case studies, and more.
Conference participants are in for a bonus this year, as tours and a roundtable are included. They cover some interesting and hard-to-get-to projects and a discussion of different perspectives on student housing and addressing the pandemic from institutions in Ireland and England. Each day will also include a virtual chance to network and engage conference attendees.
Check out more about the conference on the Society of College and University Planning (SCUP) website at https://www.scup.org/conferences-programs/2021-north-atlantic-regional-conference/ and sign up by March 1 to receive a “conference goodie bag.”
Again, a huge thank you to our sponsors (there are still opportunities available), the conference planning committee, and the leadership and staff at SCUP National. SCUP is all about planning – academic, institutional, strategic, fiscal, and facilities planning have been the cornerstones of the organization and, of course, engaging and networking with peers from institutions and professionals dedicated to working with institutions – all in the name of advancing institutional missions and educating the next generation. How we learn continues to change and, this year more than ever, we have been catapulted into a future of new ways to learn and socialize.
The Conference Planning Committee is chaired by the immediate-past regional chair and director of capital planning, John Fogarty, and includes Jackie Falla, director of client services, Elaine Construction; Nasrin Fatima, associate provost for institutional research, effectiveness and planning, SUNY Binghamton; Bob Hicks, senior project manager, Stantec; Jillian Kavanagh, manager, office of the VP, Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University; Yvonne Kielb, program manager, State University Construction Fund; Ludmilla Pavlova-Gillham, senior campus planner, University of Massachusetts, Amherst; Jennifer Stone, partner, Robert A. M. Stern Architects; Heather Taylor, campus planner/architect, Phillips Exeter Academy; and our partners from SCUP National.
Heather Taylor is a campus planner and architect at Phillips Exeter Academy and the chair of the SCUP North Atlantic Regional Council.
