Standard Eight

PHYSICAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL RESOURCES

Description

Physical Resources and Capital Planning

Boston University’s two primary campuses occupy 133 acres in the City of Boston and Town of Brookline. Together, they contain 320 buildings with 14.4 million square feet housing 487 classrooms, 2,022 laboratories, 23 libraries, 868 faculty, staff and graduate student apartments, and over 10,600 beds of undergraduate student housing. The Charles River Campus is home to 13 undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools as well as the majority of residential and extracurricular facilities. The Medical Campus, located two miles from the Charles River Campus in Boston’s South End, houses the School of Medicine, the Goldman School of Dental Medicine, and the School of Public Health; these three schools, in conjunction with Boston Medical Center hospital, comprise the Boston University Medical Center (BUMC). In addition, Boston University owns and leases property in more than a dozen countries in Europe, Africa, Australia, and the Middle East in support of its International Programs and the newly established Boston University Institute of Dental Research and Education in Dubai.

In the last decade, Boston University’s facilities have grown by 35% in terms of assignable square footage. Growth in the physical plant, which is shown in the tables below, is the result of careful and considered space planning, targeted acquisition of properties, and new construction to support the core academic, research, and student life mission.

Among the highlights of the last decade of growth are several new buildings on the Charles River Campus. The largest new construction is the John Hancock Student Village, built on a 10.2-acre site, formerly the Commonwealth Armory. The first phase of construction was completed in 2000 with the opening of an 18-story, 817-bed apartment-style residence hall in response to consistently high demand for on-campus housing for undergraduate students. Boston University’s policy of guaranteeing housing for all registered full-time undergraduates for four years, combined with a high market demand for rental apartments in Boston and surrounding areas, has led to occupancy rates in excess of 100%. The excess, typically a small number of undergraduate juniors and seniors, have voluntarily been assigned to hotels instead of Boston University dormitories for all or a portion of the fall semester.

The next construction phase for the Student Village led to the opening of the 6,500-seat Agganis Arena and the 290,000-square-foot Fitness & Recreation Center in 2005. The Fitness & Recreation Center houses pools, gymnasiums, cardio and strength training areas, dance studios, and an indoor track, and offers a full range of classes for students, faculty, staff, and their families. The adjacent Ryan Center for Sports Medicine & Rehabilitation serves Boston University’s athletic programs and also provides practica and prepractica opportunities for students in BU’s College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences (Sargent College). A second residence hall, Student Village 2, with a mixture of apartment-style and suite-style accommodations, will house an additional 960 students when it opens in September 2009.

The third and final phase of Student Village construction has regulatory approval for an additional 525 dormitory beds; it will be designed and constructed when student demand warrants and funding is available.

In 2005, the Residences at 580 Commonwealth Avenue opened to meet the need for additional graduate student housing on the Charles River Campus with a total of 220 apartments consisting of 11 one-bedroom and 209 studio apartments, including handicapped accessible studios. Plans for new graduate student housing on the Medical Campus are discussed in the Projection subsection.

The Life Science & Engineering Building, which also opened in 2005, houses faculty in biology, chemistry, and biomedical engineering. Offices and laboratories are arranged by areas of research interest, rather than by department, to facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration. The Life Science & Engineering Building contains 36 laboratories and offices covering 184,000 square feet on ten floors. The following year, the School of Hospitality Administration moved to a newly acquired and renovated building at 928 Commonwealth Avenue.

The last decade has seen a major improvement in the pedestrian aspect of the Charles River Campus. The Commonwealth Avenue Improvement Project was a major step forward in Boston University’s efforts to improve the student, faculty, and staff experience as they move along Commonwealth Avenue by increasing green space on campus while at the same time improving pedestrian and bicyclist safety. By partnering with city and state transportation agencies on the reconstruction of Commonwealth Avenue between Kenmore Square and the Boston University Bridge, the University provided over $3 million of funding for the installation of benches, trees, flowers, and other streetscape, and is committed to supporting their maintenance and upkeep.

On the Medical Campus, Boston University continued to develop the BioSquare Research Park, which is jointly owned by the University and the Boston Medical Center hospital. It is now the largest biotechnology park in the city, with the addition of a 1,400-space parking garage and the completion of a state-of-the-art 160,000-square-foot laboratory and research facility at 670 Albany Street. The new building at 670 Albany supports innovation in biomedical research and science with the most modern, sophisticated, and energy-efficient building systems. Its environmental design program earned the building New England’s first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Certification for Core and Shell by the United States Green Building Council.

Capital planning is carefully designed to support the academic mission and goals of Boston University. A recent campus-wide space planning effort, which was tied to the University’s strategic planning process, is discussed in more detail in the Projection subsection. Depending on the complexity and cost of the particular project, capital projects are reviewed and approved at one or more levels within the University, from the joint academic and administrative Space Planning and Capital Expenditures (SPACE) committee to the President and Board of Trustees.

The Department of Facilities Management & Planning (FM&P) is responsible for the general maintenance and renovation of Boston University facilities. More than 700 staff members on both the Charles River and Medical campuses work around the clock to maintain the appearance and operation of the 320 buildings on both campuses. In addition to operating budget funding for routine maintenance and repair, Boston University provides reserves for unanticipated emergency repairs to ensure academic and research activities will not be unnecessarily impacted by facility related issues. The FM&P department is also responsible for all new construction and capital improvements such as the 960-bed Student Village 2 dormitory, the $2 million total renovation of two College of Arts & Sciences auditoria in the summer of 2008, and a $25 million upgrade of the heating and cooling system in the Metcalf Center for Science & Engineering.

Academic space planning and related matters are coordinated on the Charles River Campus by the Office of the Provost. Within the Office of the Provost, the director of academic facilities serves as the primary liaison with the Department of Facilities Management & Planning and academic units, and sets priorities for academic space projects. Medical Campus space planning is coordinated directly by the Medical Campus Provost’s Office with Facilities Management & Planning and the University’s Vice President for Operations who oversees the administration of both the University’s facilities and Medical Campus business affairs.

The director of academic facilities also serves as the co-chair of the operations subcommittee of the Space Planning and Capital Expenditures (Sub-SPACE) Committee. The operations subcommittee is responsible for reviewing all projects on the Charles River Campus involving changes in the use or assignment of existing space. Examples include the renovation of laboratory and office spaces for new faculty members and the relocation of administrative offices between buildings. The Sub-SPACE committee reviews programmatic needs, identifies alternative space solutions, validates project scope and cost estimates, and verifies that funding sources have been identified before recommending a project to the SPACE Committee for review and approval. The Charles River Campus Sub-SPACE committee reviews approximately 100 projects annually. A similar operations committee reporting to the Medical Campus Provost reviews space needs on the Medical Campus. Projects on either campus requiring a commitment of University capital budget funds are referred to the primary SPACE Committee for approval.

The SPACE committee, which was established in 2006, consists of members of the University’s senior leadership, including the President, University Provost, Provost of the Medical Campus, Executive Vice President, Treasurer, and Vice President for Operations. Their review and approval is required to reassign space between academic or administrative units and for the funding of all major capital projects. The SPACE committee deals primarily with allocation and improvement of space within existing buildings. Decisions relating to property acquisitions and dispositions, both buildings and land, must receive approval from both the President and the Board of Trustees.

Technological Resources

Boston University provides a wide array of computing, communications, and information resources and services commensurate with the University’s size and complexity. General purpose personal computing labs, throughout the Charles River and Medical campuses, offer access to a variety of popular PC software and high-speed printing. These facilities include PC labs, technology-enhanced classrooms, specialized workstations, local servers, and discipline-specific hardware and software. Centrally administered servers provide email services for more than 35,000 users, as well as website hosting and a broad range of software (e.g., mathematical, statistical, and scientific software; programming languages; and text processing and graphics packages). Many schools, colleges, and departments have also developed facilities to serve their specific communities.

Planning and support for information technology used in instruction, research, and administration is led by the Office of the Vice President for Information Systems & Technology (IST). Approximately 280 full-time IST staff members are responsible for planning, programming, consulting, systems and database administration, security, and operations for a broad range of computer, network, telecommunications, and information systems. An additional 175 staff members support information technology within the University’s schools, colleges, and other academic and administrative units. In the aggregate, Boston University spends more than $60 million annually in support of information technology.

A centrally administered campus network provides high-speed access to email and the Internet. The Boston University wireless network, operating at speeds up to 54 Mbps, is increasing its reach across both campuses. Wireless coverage so far includes all libraries, large residence hall study lounges, campus dining facilities, and athletic facilities, and many departments, classrooms, and research labs.

Boston University is an active participant in the Internet2 project, a collaboration among more than 200 research universities which aims to develop the next generation of network applications to meet emerging requirements for information technology in research and education. The University is also a founding member of the Northern Crossroads (NoX), an affiliation of New England institutions with a common need for advanced networking. The NoX operates a high-performance regional exchange, and the University is connected to this facility at billions of bits per second.

The Office of Information Systems & Technology contains several smaller units including Scientific Computing & Visualization, the Personal Computing Support Center, and Networked Information Services.

Scientific Computing & Visualization provides a number of facilities and services to support research and teaching in areas requiring extensive computation, advanced computer graphics, or scientific visualization. These resources are managed in close collaboration with the BU Center for Computational Science, an interdisciplinary academic center that fosters research and instruction in computational science. Application areas include scientific and engineering simulation, data analysis and visualization, image manipulation, and graphic and fine arts.

The Personal Computing Support Center (PCSC) analyzes the personal computing needs of individuals and departments and recommends appropriate solutions. PCSC offers support by phone and in person, and also provides free hands-on tutorials and training for students, faculty, and staff for a variety of popular applications.

Networked Information Services (NIS) helps guide, coordinate, and support the University’s efforts to harness the evolving capabilities of the Web. NIS develops Web-based applications, administers servers, designs and maintains websites, teaches tutorials, provides consulting, conducts webcasts, produces multimedia presentations, and brings new web-based technologies to campus. NIS offers and supports numerous technologies for instructional use—including Blackboard, Vista, and WebCT—currently used by about 1,500 faculty members, and a classroom recording system that has recorded 1,600 lectures since its launch in 2006.

As the Web has become established as a consistent delivery platform for information systems, allowing databases and information services to be woven together seamlessly, the Office of Information Systems & Technology has developed Web-based applications to improve the quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of many processes associated with student services. These applications allow students to access their records and register for classes online; view course and exam schedules and final grades; verify their account status; update contact information; view job listings; and complete financial aid interviews. Faculty members have access to class lists, grades, transcripts, mid-semester progress reports, and centralized notes systems that support advising. Searchable online course catalogs are useful for students and faculty alike.

Boston University’s policies and procedures regarding the ethical use of information technology and systems are clearly articulated and available online: Conditions of Use and Policy on Computing Ethics; Information Security Management Guidelines; Policy on Student Web Pages; and Information Security Policy. Access to computing and information resources at Boston University is granted only after an individual agrees to conform to these policies. Issues relating to copyright are contained in additional policies, and are discussed with incoming students and their parents at Summer Orientation sessions.

Staff in Information Systems & Technology monitor and ensure the security of networked information services. Notices of possible illegal or inappropriate access to these services, or the misuse of these services, are carefully investigated by library and IST staff. These offices work closely with the Office of the General Counsel regarding possible violations related to the sharing of copyrighted materials.

Appraisal

Physical Resources and Capital Planning

Boston University works carefully and deliberately to ensure that its facilities are well maintained and appropriate to meet the institution’s teaching, research, and student life goals and objectives. The University internally supports the operation and maintenance of its buildings 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, through the efforts of 443 custodial staff and 206 electrical, carpentry, plumbing, and heating trade professionals.

Student, faculty, staff, and visitor safety is of paramount importance. Boston University’s facilities and environmental health and safety management and professional staff ensure that buildings comply with applicable city, state, and national requirements relating to teaching, research, residential, office, and recreational occupancy and use. The compliance effort includes oversight of compliance with federal, state, and local environmental regulations in areas such as radiation safety, laboratory licensing and materials management, proper disposal of refrigerants and electronic equipment, and asbestos abatement in addition to state and local building code and ordinances requiring inspection and licensing of fire safety systems, elevators, and all dining and housing operations.

Boston University guarantees housing for all full-time, registered undergraduates for four years. Efforts to increase both the quantity and quality of undergraduate student housing are evident in the construction of the new Student Village 2 suite- and apartment-style high rise, historic preservation of Bay State Road brownstone residences, and the renovation of major dining facilities serving each residential area. Housing is safe, affordable, and well maintained. The Office of Residence Life, with more than 300 staff members overseen by six Area Directors, manages the day-to-day operations of more than 150 residence halls. Residence Life staff live in each University residence hall. A separate Office of Rental Property Management oversees rental housing for graduate students, faculty, and staff who live in Boston University properties.

Boston University is also committed to sustainable campus development and operations that protect the environment and provide healthy, safe, and accessible facilities for all students, faculty, staff, and visitors. The University has established a standing committee to assess and improve the accessibility of its facilities for those with disabilities. A number of improvements such as automatic doors, ramps, and wheelchair-accessible restrooms have already been made in the College of Fine Arts, the George Sherman Student Union, the School of Medicine, and several dormitories. Boston University’s ongoing commitment to campus sustainability include the recent formation of a joint faculty and administration steering committee and working groups that include faculty, staff, undergraduates, and graduate students to coordinate activities that further the day-to-day practice of sustainable campus operations and life.

Space planning is closely tied to academic and other institutional goals. In 2006, Boston University initiated a Charles River Campus planning process in concert with the University’s strategic planning effort. While individual schools and colleges were developing their unit-level plans, the Office of the Vice President for Operations undertook a study of the urban design and built environment of the Charles River Campus to begin to identify opportunities for property development. This assessment of potential development areas was deliberately timed to align with the development of the University-wide strategic plan which includes specific goals to enhance spaces dedicated to the academic program, student services, and student life.

Boston University includes faculty members and academic leaders in space planning. Requests and comments from faculty and deans are considered critical to the development of all large-scale capital planning at Boston University. Both the SPACE and Sub-SPACE committees work closely with deans and department chairs to plan, fund, and implement major renovations and new construction. Space requirements are considered and discussed at each school’s annual operating budget hearing with the Provost and senior administrators, including the President and Executive Vice President.

Individual schools and colleges are at various points in evaluating current and future space requirements. Because of the emphasis placed on the School of Law and the College of Fine Arts in the University’s strategic plan, both recently completed a thorough analysis of their space needs and have developed building plans. Planning for the expansion and renovation of the School of Law is ongoing and construction will begin as soon as the regulatory process and fundraising are complete. College of Fine Arts renovation has been planned and is being executed in a phased approach. Infrastructure and Visual Arts program moves were completed in the summers of 2007 and 2008 to enable the installation of state-of-the art, self-contained music practice rooms in AY 2008–09. The College of Communication and College of Arts & Sciences have surveyed or are in the process of surveying faculty members and department chairs to determine both short- and long-term program needs. The development of program space requirements is facilitated by engaging architectural and consulting firms with specific expertise in education as well as industry space planning. Other schools and colleges (Dental Medicine, Social Work, and Management) have identified specific program requirements and will also begin space planning cycles in the near future.

In sum, the assessment of the adequacy of the 481 classrooms and 2,006 laboratories (July, 2008) that comprise Boston University’s two main campuses is among the institution’s highest priorities and one that must be continuously and systemically addressed through the renewal and renovation of classroom and academic support spaces and the development of new buildings. This process is directed by priorities established through the strategic planning process and coordinated with the University’s capital planning and fundraising initiatives.

Technological Resources

The Office of Information Systems & Technology maintains constant communication with the Boston University community through many points of contact with students, faculty, and staff. These include:

• A help desk for email and central computing resources, open 95 hours each week (walk-in, telephone, and email);
• A help desk at the Personal Computing Support Center (PCSC) for all issues related to personal computing, open 55 hours each week (walk-in, telephone, email, and website); and
• Email and telephone hotlines for issues related to the network, security, and the Link. The Link refers to a variety of Web applications that collectively manage and organize a variety of administrative information; the Link, which is available 24 hours a day, is subdivided based on use among the Faculty Link, Employee Link, Business Link, Faculty/Staff Link, and Student Link.

From December 2007 through November 2008, there were more than 1.5 million requests to view information on the PCSC’s website. During the same period, the two help desks responded to questions posed in more than 27,000 telephone and walk-in requests and more than 5,000 email requests. These daily contacts with members of the Boston University community allow staff in Information Systems & Technology to monitor the quality, quantity, and appropriateness of the technological resources their office provides.

Information Systems & Technology also maintains and tracks detailed monthly statistics on how the resources they provide—including email, application, and information servers; printers; PC labs; directory, network, backup, support, training, telecommunications, and supercomputing services—are being used. This information allows staff to monitor the adequacy of existing resources and ensure that any deficiencies are identified and addressed. IST staff also regularly test and reevaluate emergency and disaster recovery procedures.

Projection

Physical Resources and Capital Planning

Space planning at Boston University will continue to be driven by the strategic plan. Among the approved and planned capital projects directly connected to one or more of the eight goals articulated in the strategic plan are the construction of new facilities for the School of Law and the College of Fine Arts, as well as new undergraduate academic spaces and a new student services center.

The proposed undergraduate academic center is a direct outgrowth of the second and third goals of the strategic plan (“Strengthening the excellence of our undergraduate education” and “Strengthening the College of Arts & Sciences as central to the quality of our academic programs”), and will also help advance the aims of Boston University’s first strategic goal (“Strengthening the quality of the faculty”). The strategic plan called for the hiring of 100 new faculty members in the College of Arts & Sciences over the next ten years. The undergraduate academic center, which could be between 200,000 to 300,000 square feet, will help meet the accompanying need for new classroom and office space.

Planning for the undergraduate academic center has begun with a survey of the space requirements of each of the departments in the College of Arts & Sciences, excluding only those laboratory-based programs supported by the recent addition of the new Life Science & Engineering Building and the renovation of other laboratory building spaces. The dean of the College of Arts & Sciences is now working with a faculty steering committee to review this information and identify departments with the greatest need. The steering committee has also been asked to consider which departments would be likely to benefit from physical proximity to one another (in order to produce a configuration akin to that in the Life Science & Engineering Building, which has encouraged collaboration and cross-pollination of ideas among physicists, biologists, and biomedical engineers). After the programmatic assessment of space needs is complete, the location of the new undergraduate academic center will be selected from among a number of potential sites.

The planned student services center is aligned with the fourth goal of Boston University’s strategic plan (“Strengthening the student residential community and the student experience”). A new building will provide a central facility for offices and departments that are currently scattered across campus, including Career Services, the Educational Resource Center, and the Community Service Center. Program analysis is complete, and the process of evaluating alternative sites and funding plans is currently under way.

Related to this goal are plans for additional student housing and expanded athletic and recreational facilities. The opening of the first phase of the Student Village in 2000 helped meet some of the demand for on-campus housing. At present, Boston University provides housing for 10,629 undergraduates, or approximately 73.4% of the undergraduate student body needing housing.* When the second phase of Student Village housing is completed, that percentage is expected to rise to 77.9%. If enrollment remains steady, the opening of the third phase of Student Village housing would bring this figure to approximately 81.5%.**

The strategic plan also calls for strengthening four key professional schools: College of Fine Arts, School of Law, School of Management, and School of Medicine. To this end, Boston University has completed a thorough assessment of space needs for the School of Law and the College of Fine Arts and is moving forward with plans for the phased construction of new space and the renovation of existing buildings.

Improvements to the School of Law are focused on the number and size of classrooms, the amount of space available for student and faculty interaction, and the amount of study space in the Pappas Law Library. In addition, the current 18-story tower, which was built in the early 1960s to house both the School of Law and the School of Education, lacks the mechanical systems and room designs needed to support current and future pedagogy. In consultation with law faculty and staff, Boston University considered options including the replacement, renovation, and expansion of the current facilities. It was agreed that two additions to the current building, with the first addition addressing classroom and library needs, would be the best solution. A phased approach that is both logistically and financially feasible has been developed and endorsed by the faculty. Plans for the renovation and additions are currently in the schematic design stage; the regulatory approval process is expected to begin in 2009.

Facilities for the College of Fine Arts, which is home to conservatory programs in music, the visual arts, and theatre, are also identified as a strategic priority. Current studio and classroom spaces at 855 Commonwealth Avenue have inadequacies in the ventilation systems, difficulties with noise containment, and other signs of a facility at the end of its economic useful life. Working with the dean and the faculty, a multi-phase plan was developed that will improve facilities for the School of Music, School of Visual Arts, and School of Theatre. The first phase of the plan—a $7 million upgrade to the mechanical and electrical infrastructure of the main building—is complete. The second phase is ongoing, and will eventually lead to the replacement of the current inventory of practice rooms with 125 specialized acoustic chambers at a cost of $16 million. Later phases, which will be initiated as funds are raised, will be used to expand the practice space for ensembles, to add additional lounge and gallery spaces, and to upgrade the two performance halls.

Technological Resources

Boston University has been a pioneer in many aspects of information technology planning and support. While past accomplishments provide a strong foundation for continued progress, several trends suggest that there will be many new challenges to address in the next decade:

• The growing pervasiveness, importance, and complexity of technology in research, education, and administration, and the expanding gap between supply and demand for the resources necessary to accommodate it coherently, reliably, resiliently, and securely;
• Rapid changes in what it means to be a university, influenced by factors such as life-long learning, distance education, globalization, and the diffusion of boundaries associated with the conventional academic calendar, and the impact of these changes on the systems required to support them.
• The growing demand from students, faculty, and staff for mobile technology, and the commensurate requirements for wireless networks, converged and unified services, and more robust and granular security considerations and controls, and;
• Expanding requirements for research computing and the high-performance computational resources, power, and infrastructure necessary to support them.

To help ensure that Boston University is well positioned to meet these challenges, the University recently engaged the Huron Consulting Group to perform a comprehensive, multiphase assessment of information technology and support. Their analysis spans support for administrative, instructional, and research computing and makes a wide range of recommendations associated with improved governance and more optimal organizational structure. Overall, their recommendations are aimed at ensuring support for information technology is more strategic, anticipatory, participatory, transparent, service-oriented, and responsive. Their assessment also highlights the need to bolster support for instructional technology, and Boston University is committed to addressing this need.

Boston University is also actively engaged in several large-scale, multiyear initiatives aimed at replacing and updating a number of systems. These include human resources, financial, and purchasing systems, as well as systems supporting research compliance and pre- and post-award grant and contract administration. Collectively, these efforts to select and implement modern and efficient financial, human resources, and procurement systems are known as BUworks; an overview of BUworks with project phases and teams, FAQs, and news updates is available online.

 

*The number of undergraduates needing housing is determined by subtracting from the number of full‐time undergraduates those students who live at home in Boston and surrounding communities and who commute to BU. In fall 2008, 14,486 undergraduate students required housing out of a total of 15,540 full‐time undergraduates.

**Actual percentages will depend on enrollment numbers and the final design of Student Village Phase 3.