Chapter 1 — General Conditions Affecting the Plans

In 2000, The Ohio State University (OSU) set out to prepare District Plans for three Regional Campuses and co-located technical colleges at Mansfield, Marion, and Newark. These regional campus plans are occurring during a time of significant change at OSU as well as documented changes in the field of higher education in general. This is an opportune time to prepare a master plan for these three district campuses so that they may respond pro-actively to the changes.

The growth on the Columbus Campus has been widely publicized. To accommodate this growth, current president William E. Kirwin is raising the standards for admission to the main campus. Students who do not receive admission to the main campus will be offered admission at one of the branch campuses. The main campus of OSU is requesting a variance from the State mandated six percent maximum tuition increase per year. Students on the Columbus campus may see a nine percent increase in tuition for the year 2001-2002, while students at any of the regional district campuses may see a decrease in tuition.

As a result of a decrease in tuition prices and a potential increase in freshman, these primarily commuter campuses may see more of a need for housing to serve the potential increase in numbers not gaining admission to the Columbus campus. Along with housing are associated activities, staff and spaces for activities in and around campuses. The pleasant vistas devoid of student activity now will need to take on the look and feel of a more traditional residential campus with play spaces, gathering spaces and weekend activities.

These regional campuses are geographically defined schools. They do however serve to benefit from their association with the Columbus campus. Benefits might be in the form of receiving an identity associated with something larger than their own institution including access to the Columbus facilities while the day to day activities are offered in a much smaller individualized scale. Additional benefits are access to leadership strategies; efficiency or cost savings through collaborative associations and systems of accountability for services offered, management, faculty and staff.

In addition to the changes developing at OSU, there are documented changes occurring in the world of higher education, as noted in the Chronicle of Higher Education. The population increase is resulting in growth at many institutions. The role of higher education in our society is changing from industrial to post industrial learning rather than teaching, This can be seen in the prominence of seminar style classrooms as compared with the previous decades where classrooms are arranged with chairs in rows facing the front. The need for life long learning is becoming more formalized and community based education is taking on this role of serving adults throughout life. Research in science and the application of technology are increasing in importance and changing the options for service delivery. Many institutions are redefining themselves as "brick" (buildings) or "click" (distance learning) or in the case of these regional campuses "brick and click". Thus they are offering traditional small class educational experiences as well as alternative forms of learning such as real time video or video classes.

The regional campuses are in a unique position to respond to many of the general trends in higher education. The average age of student on these campuses is approximately 28 and the average number of years to complete a degree is greater than four years. Many of the students have families and jobs. The services needed by these students are somewhat different than those on a very large institution and the competitive regional campus will respond to the student's needs and maintain enrollment. For example, libraries may begin to offer more group study and learning spaces. Food services in or adjacent to the library or student center might serve the busy working student and make educational opportunities more easily integrated into their lives.

Planning Asumptions

A good master plan provides a design form that can change and grow in the future while maintaining its integrity as a design. The plan is a framework within which a campus evolves with cost and visual character in mind. The master plan reveals how a campus might unfold in the long term, taking advantage of probable land uses, physical expansion, density, circulation, parking, utilities distribution, and general campus character. Administrations can make good decisions for their institution based on plans that have reflected the institution's point of view and incorporated multiple stakeholders in the planning process.

Finally good plans provide symbols for friends and alumni to support both financially and emotionally. These plans must be both reasonable and imaginative to do this.

General Planning Goals

Each of these three regional district campuses will follow general goals outlined in the Columbus Master Plan. These goals are as follows:

• To conserve the university's finite resources.
  
• To unify and integrate campus development.
  
• To improve the quality of the campus environment, strengthening linkages between the campus and community within which it is located.

Project Approach

The planning process is a participatory one. Many constituents and many points of view were considered in the preparation of the plan. At the early stages, two teams of architects, planners and landscape architects were sent to the campus. One team provided an independent analysis of existing conditions while the second team interviewed and discussed ideas with student groups, faculty groups, maintenance and operations, general staff, citizens and trustees. Technical college staff and faculty were interviewed independent of the OSU faculty and staff. These meetings and observations occurred over several days, during a variety of times of the day, during two seasons and over several visits.

Goals, objectives and alternative plans were shared with the above mentioned stakeholders. Meetings were both formal and informal to solicit the widest range of opinions available. Preliminary reports were sent for edits and comments.

After presentation to the master planning committee and integrating all the comments and edits the recommended plan, a probable budget and final report was prepared and sent to the Columbus campus for adoption.

Master Planning Process

Master planning is a problem-solving and visionary process that consists of several specified work phases.

Inventory and Analysis- Knowledge about the existing physical conditions is gathered through analysis of available information and a site visit.

Design Framework- Through a series of meetings and interviews, the issues and opportunities, goals and objectives, program elements, and design criteria are identified.

Alternative Concepts- Alternative schematic concepts are prepared to test ideas and evaluate relationships. These concepts are reviewed, and the preferred elements are incorporated into the recommended plan.

Recommended Master Plan- A long-term summary plan is prepared, representing a synthesis of individual items selected from the alternative concepts. It is then refined through a review cycle. This plan is used as the basis to rank the projects by priority and develop the short-term plan.

Capital Improvement Program- A capital improvement program is developed to assist with the implementation of the master plan. The program includes a detailed list of projects, construction cost estimates, implementation time frames, and sequencing guidelines.

Final Report- All relevant plans and key information produced during the master planning process are consolidated in this final report. The report documents the process, identifies significant conclusions, and serves as the tool for implementing the Regional District Plan.

 Chapter 1 — Introduction
 Chapter 2 — The Newark Campus
 Chapter 3 — Existing Conditions
 Chapter 4 — Goals and Objectives
 Chapter 5 — Alternatives
 Appendix A — Issues

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