facilities Program – Phase ia / USF Polytechnic

IV.Introduction

  1. BACKGROUND
  1. HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

Established in 1956, The University of South Florida (USF) has rapidly ascended into the ranks of this nation’s premier research universities. In 2006, USF was classified by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in its highest tier – a Research University with Very High Research Activity. Today, annual research contracts and grants exceed $300 million, while USF’s Research Park provides support for university researchers and industry to collaborate in commercializing discovery. As a member institution of the State University System of Florida, the University is governed by the Florida Board of Governors and the USF Board of Trustees (UBOT). The President and Trustees represent the University with one voice. USF is fully accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). In 2006, USF St. Petersburg was accorded separate regional accreditation by SACS. The state legislature has granted the USF Sarasota-Manatee and USF Polytechnic campuses fiscal autonomy and provided a directive that these regional campuses also seek separate accreditation.

Home to over 45,000 students on four campuses in Tampa (including USF Health), St. Petersburg, Sarasota-Manatee and Lakeland (USF Polytechnic), USF is among the largest public universities in the United States. Campus boards, chaired by members of the UBOT, provide fiscal oversight and fulfill important stewardship roles in the community. Each location presents a unique and distinctive learning environment for undergraduate and Masters level students. Doctoral and professional degrees are awarded at the Tampa campus. A comprehensive range of degree programs is offered across 13 colleges and schools. Each year, more than 6,000 undergraduate and 2,000 graduate and professional degrees are awarded, and the University’s alumni base has grown beyond 200,000. USF’s endowment currently exceeds $300 million.

The University is inextricably engaged with the community at all levels, from local to global. Community partnerships in health care, education, science and engineering, the arts, and business are an integral part of life at USF. USF is a member of the Big East Athletic Conference. In recent years, USF has strengthened its place as a member institution of Carnegie’s top tier of American research universities; has been identified as one of the two fastest growing research universities in the United States by the National Science Foundation; has improved its position in the annual report of the Top American Research Universities; and has stepped up a tier in US News and World Report’s ranking of National Universities.

Vision:

The University of South Florida envisions itself as a pre-eminent research university with state, national and global impact, and positioned for membership in the Association of American Universities (AAU).

Mission:

As Florida’s leading metropolitan research university, USF is dedicated to excellence in:

  • Student access and success in an engaged, and interdisciplinary, learner-centered environment,
  • The generation, dissemination, and translation of new knowledge across disciplines, to strengthen the economy; to promote civic culture and the arts; and, to design and build sustainable, healthy communities, and
  • Embracing innovation, and supporting scholarly and artistic engagement to build a community of learners together with significant and sustainable university-community partnerships and collaborations.

Values:

The University of South Florida values:

  • Excellence in teaching and learning; scholarship and research (both basic and applied/translational); together with community engagement and public service based on the highest standards of discovery, creativity and intellectual attainment,
  • Outstanding scientific discovery and the application of new knowledge to solve state, national and global problems,
  • Recruitment and retention of world-class faculty and high potential undergraduate and graduate students,
  • Access to a world-class, globally relevant and affordable education, including utilization of alternative modes of delivery,
  • Student competitiveness, success and academic achievement through knowledge, communication and critical thinking skill acquisition,
  • Cultural and ethnic diversity and inclusion along with an enhanced global experience, understanding, and appreciation,
  • Integrated, interdisciplinary inquiry and collaboration across departmental, college and campus boundaries,
  • Facilitating the optimal development of personal and professional potential of students, faculty, and staff, and enriching the quality of an engaged campus community,
  • Shared governance structures that empower all USF stakeholders, campuses and entities to reach their full potential,
  • An environment of collegiality based on respect, integrity, civility, the freedom to engage in debate, the exchange of ideas and intellectual discovery, and professional responsibility,
  • An environment of collegiality based on respect, integrity, civility, the freedom to engage in debate, the exchange of ideas and intellectual discovery, and professional responsibility,
  • Mutually beneficial partnerships and community engagement that increase the understanding of, and present solutions to, local and global challenges, with a mind to strengthening the economy and building sustainable healthy communities,
  • An entrepreneurial spirit and innovation with a focus on defining, informing and generating “next best practices”,
  • The utility of proven and emerging technologies to enhance instruction, learning, research and engagement, and to improve service quality and efficiencies in institutional business practices,
  • Focus and discipline in aligning the budget and fiscal resources with institutional priorities and action, and
  • Transparent accountability along with timely and effective communication.

Goals:

The University of South Florida will pursue its rising stature as a pre-eminent research university with a state, national and global impact, and position itself for membership in the Association of American Universities (AAU) through:

  1. Expanding world-class interdisciplinary research, creative, and scholarly endeavors,
  1. Promoting globally competitive undergraduate, graduate and professional programs that support interdisciplinary inquiry, intellectual development, knowledge and skill acquisition, and student success through a diverse, fully-engaged learner-centered campus environment,
  1. Expanding local and global engagement initiatives to strengthen and sustain healthy communities and to improve the quality of life, and
  1. Enhancing all sources of revenue, and maximizing effectiveness in business practices and financial management to establish a strong and sustainable economic base in support of USF’s growth.

The Strategic Plan of the University of South Florida can be found in its entirety on-line at

USF Polytechnic Phase I Alignment with University Goals:

The interdisciplinary USF Polytechnic - Phase I Facility will be designed to meet the University’s needs for modern teaching labs, housing faculty in concentrated areas of applied technology, and to enhance USF’s ability to recruit and retain faculty and researchers commensurate to a top tier polytechnic university center. There is considerable unmet demand in Florida for courses in interdisciplinary polytechnic fields which require collaborative, flexible learning and research spaces with extensive technological. Recent State and University initiatives promote interdisciplinary research, undergraduate and graduate programs. The Phase I facility helps meet not only the undergraduate teaching needs of USF in science, engineering, and the liberal arts, but will support and foster interdisciplinary research in several areas. It will also house a hub for information technology and a multi-media center for the campus.

  1. HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA POLYTECHNIC CAMPUS

In 1978, the District Board of Trustees of Polk Community College (PCC) purchased the land on the current Winter Lake Road site for a Lakeland campus for PCC. The University of South Florida pursued a joint venture with PCC in the planning and development of a joint-use campus. With the support and foresight of Senator Curtis Peterson, the USF was granted over $7 million in planning and capital outlay funds in 1983-1984 for the construction of the first campus building. In 1986, ground was broken for the construction of the PCC/USF Lakeland Center.

On January 23, 1988, USF Lakeland (USFL),now known as USF Polytechnic, officially opened its doors as an academic center of USF in partnership with PCC. USFL served approximately 300 students and enabled access to public higher education through the Master’s level for the first time in Polk and surrounding central Florida counties.

The Board of Regents of the State University System of Florida revised the definition of and, subsequently, the designation of Branch Campuses (Rule 6C-8.009) on December 3, 1993. This process identified three types of branch campuses differentiated by enrollment levels. A follow up memo confirmed the identification of the USFL campus as a Type III Branch Campus.

By the 2004-2005 academic year, USFL enrolled over 3,500 students that represented more than 20 complete undergraduate and graduate degree programs as well as courses in numerous partial programs in the Colleges of Arts and Sciences, Business Administration, Engineering and Education, and in the Department of Information Technologies.

  1. PROJECT HISTORY

By the early 2000’s the Polk County Legislative delegation was poised to expand the programs and services offered by USFL and during the 2002 Legislative Session allocated $1 million for planning a new USFL campus. In November 2002, the USF Board of Trustees approved the issuing of a request for proposal for a new campus site, and in December 2002, a Land Acquisition Committee was appointed. This committee included both University and community members representing a broad constituent group. The consulting firm of Reynolds, Smith, and Hill was contracted to work with the committee to perform land evaluation and to prepare the Campus Master Plan.

Five proposals for campus sites were received in January, 2003 and were reviewed and evaluated over the next several months. In July, 2003, the Land Acquisition Committee identified the Williams Company proposal as the one to recommend to the USFL Campus Board. In August, 2003, the USFL Campus Board accepted the Williams Company proposal which included a donation of a 530+ acre site at the intersection of Interstate 4 and the eastern terminus of the Polk Parkway. Subsequently, in November 2003, the USF Board of Trustees approved the development of a new USFL Campus on the Williams Company’s property. A signing ceremony took place on the PCC/USFL Joint-Use Campus site on November 22, 2004. In addition to the value of the land, the Williams Company will also contribute $600,000 to establish the Williams Endowed Professorship in Information Technology. The gift will qualify for a $420,000 match from the State Trust Fund. The endowment will be paid in 5 annual pledges, the first pledge to be paid when ground is broken for the first facility on the new campus site.

The development of the Campus Master Plan was guided by projections of enrollment increases and program development over the 10 year period 2005-2015. The academic programs consider the institution’s response to community and economic development needs, and establish or enhance programs in a direction of applied research in a polytechnic approach. In 2008, the State Legislature designated the Type III Branch Campus the name USF Polytechnic.

PECO funding for the Phase I Facility was approved in 2008 and has been enhanced by private, local and state public matching funds (see Supplemental Sections - Phase IB for Private & Matching Grant Funding and Phase IC for CITF Funding). The priorities for space at the USFPolytechnicPhase I Facility will address the needs of the several colleges with disciplines in arts and sciences, business, engineering, information technology, and health sciences, focusing on the increasingly interdisciplinary nature of teaching and research. The need for collaborative learning spaces and teaching laboratories in Central Florida has become critical, as the number of students seeking higher education has increased. Teaching laboratories in a polytechnic environment require larger spaces with adequate equipment storage and chemical handling areas. The pair of large learning spaces proposed for the facility addresses the growing curricular needs in multi-discipline education. Having a central location for teaching laboratories will promote current and future interdisciplinary teaching in the science and technology areas, linking disciplines such as physics, biology, and chemistry, as well as other more specialized sciences and technologies.

There has been significant growth of proposals which include interdisciplinary research and the availability of common research equipment. Another trend is that many newly trained researchers prefer to work in larger interdisciplinary labs and facilities shared by others. It not only promotes interdisciplinary research and education, but is a more efficient and flexible use of research space. The facility will include a series of interdisciplinary equipment centers and interdisciplinary laboratories, juxtaposed in such a way as to promote new interdisciplinary research and education.

  1. GENERAL PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The interdisciplinary USF Polytechnic Phase I Facility will primarily provide large multi-user interdisciplinary shared core facilities. The plan includes two 100-seat learning spaces and multiple smaller learning spaces to support student enrollment needs in upcoming years. These learning spaces will be scheduled by USF Polytechnic to meet growth in technology. Teaching laboratories for the disciplines of engineering, sciences, arts and information technology will provide space for interdisciplinary laboratory courses, as well as more traditional upper and lower division courses as needed. Multiple commons spaces for faculty and support staff is also included in the project. The space in this facility is designed to promote interdisciplinary research and teaching.

“Commons” Concept

Polytechnic ideals are strongly oriented toward interdisciplinary, collaborative relationships – between faculty members, support staff, student support, and others. The concept of a commons is strongly evocative of these interactions; the co-location and interweaving of faculty members across disciplines, for example, encourages and facilitates the dynamic exchange of ideas so critical for interdisciplinary efforts. The close physical proximity of faculty, staff and students creates a collection of “critical masses,” providing constant opportunities for productive interaction.

What do “commons” have in common? First and foremost, they represent a breaking down of inter-departmental, inter-functional boundaries (silos), thus implicitly acknowledging the value of external ideas to any area of the enterprise. Second, they emphasize the facilitation, to the extent practical, of collaborative activities in preference to solitary ones. Third, they imply by their very structure a class-free, egalitarian respect for “non-specialist” ideas, recognizing the value of generalists in cross-pollinating between narrow disciplines and specialties.

In summary, each commons structure provides a highly interactive and dynamic environment for interdisciplinary and collaborative work, an environment most beneficial for full realization of the goals of a polytechnic institution. The design of this initial facility, based as it is around multiple commons, embodies these ideals, and extends their benefits far beyond the strictly academic areas.

The following section describes the interdisciplinary nature of many of the planned facilities:

  1. Academic Commons

The Academic Commonsspace is intended to be the focus of the academic life of this facility. While it is perhaps easier to describe what this space is not (i.e., not a silo-based cellblock, as are so many “traditional” faculty office spaces), we feel it best to describe this space in terms of what it is intended to accomplish, including suggestions for how some of these goals might be accomplished, inviting proposals from the architect as to configurations that would fulfill these goals.

Goal 1: This space should encourage and facilitate interaction and collaboration between faculty members.

Goal 2: Disciplines should not be isolated from each other, nor even “grouped” together. Instead, individual faculty spaces should be interweaved across disciplines, so as to encourage and facilitate interdisciplinary interaction and collaboration.

Goal 3: While the importance of an interactive and collaborative environment cannot be overstated, it is also essential to recognize each faculty member’s need for private space – a place where the faculty member can temporarily isolate him/herself so as to accomplish work requiring concentration free from distractions.

Goal 4: As the “collaborative space” and the “private space” must be in sum total accommodated within Florida University System square footage guidelines, all or part of the private space should join with the collaborative space when so desired by the faculty member.

Goal 5: Referring to the limitations described in Goal 4 above, while it is likely that each faculty member’s “private space” will need to be smaller than a typical “cellblock style” office in the traditional sense, emphasis must be placed on maximizing the “perception of roominess” within each private space even when closed off from the collaborative area. One possible method is through selection of appropriate lighting technology (see Goal 10). Note that certain, requirements for “typical” space-using features of traditional faculty offices (bookcases and filing cabinets) will be significantly reduced by a document storage/routing/retrieval system (see below) and the increasing prevalence of online delivery of journals and textbooks.

Goal 6: In order to facilitate improvement in instructional techniques as well as collaboration with instruction and research support professionals (such as Teaching and Learning Technologies and the Library), office space for these personnel should be included within this Academic Commons; located in close proximity to personnel they must manage in the Information Commons.

Goal 7: To adequately prepare and deliver today’s blended and online courses, faculty members need increasingly more technology than can reasonably be provided within the confines of each person’s private space (from both a space and cost perspective). Therefore, several 2-person content preparation and delivery spaces should be provided. These must be soundproof and provide a full suite of technology necessary for these functions.

Goal 8: Several small conference rooms should be provided for private meetings with students and other faculty members. These should be glass-enclosed, reasonably soundproof, and equipped with ceiling-mounted cameras and microphones for videoconferencing of inter and intra-campus meetings and recording of small committee meetings.