Residential Master Planning Committee

Overarching Goal of the Committee

To create a premier residential liberal arts campus program, with first-class facilities that will transform the campus culture to more deeply engage students around belonging, learning and personal development, while further developing Albion’s strong sense of community.

Charge to the Committee

The current state of existing housing facilities adversely impacts the overall student experience and challenges our ability to recruit and retain students. As a first step towards addressing this challenge, Interim President Joe Calvaruso asked for the convening of a residential master planning committee to recommend the type and number of housing spaces, and the program for residential living, for future housing at Albion. This includes Greek housing, intentional living communities, undergraduate and graduate student housing. The committee is asked to submit a report to the Vice President for Student Development/Dean of Students and the Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Specific objectives toward meeting this charge include:

• Establish criteria that will guide decision making around the development of new housing and renovations as a four year residential campus.
• List and evaluate potential sites for new housing development.
• Assess the scope and prioritization of current housing facilities for renovation and/or cosmetic updates.
• Recommend the type of housing needed for undergraduate students throughout their developmental years (first, second, third and fourth-plus years), including housing for Greek organizations, and possible growth of intentional living communities and/or future nontraditional student housing needs, etc.
• Recommend sequential timeframes and plan for renovating existing residential facilities and building new.
• Collaborate with the CFO to develop a potential financial plan for each prioritized site to be developed and for existing residential facilities to be renovated and/or cosmetically updated.
• Research and visit three or four other campuses with cutting-edge residential facilities for undergraduate students, including common spaces in those residential facilities.
• Define the impact of a substantial increase in student beds on other College programs and services (dining, library, campus recreation, student conduct, counseling, safety and parking.) and the City of Albion.

Committee Members

• Connie Smith, Associate Vice President for Student Development (Co-Chair)
• Clark Dawood, Assistant Dean for Community Living
• Nathan Salazar, Director of Facilities Operations
• Joe Lee-Cullin, Faculty Member
• Dave Leib, Director for Campus Safety
• A.J. Mattson, Manager of Housing and Operations
• TBD, (Campus Life Rep)