Our Strategic Impact Group focused on space and the widely held view that space is at a premium in the existing buildings on campus. We investigated the use of space in study areas and offices (leaving aside classrooms) and determined that space is not always used optimally. Graduate study and work areas may go unused while undergraduates seek in vain to find a study carrel; professors get a second office when they take an administrative position, leaving their books to occupy their departmental office. Many offices are much bigger than required for the occupant due to the status of the position, or the high cost of renovations to create multiple workstations. Our SIG identified some innovative ways to address the space challenge, such as collaborative work spaces; real time classroom bookings for meetings and events; reasonable renovation costs. Ultimately, we determined that the space shortage issue is as much a cultural one (turf/status protection) as a concrete one.
- Joanne Bree, Director Graduate Studies and Registrar, Faculty of Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs
- Steven Levitt, University General Counsel
- Valerie Pereboom, Executive Assistant to the Dean of Science
- Courtney Regimbald, Director Career Development and Co-Operative Education
- Michel Rod, Full Professor and Associate Dean, Research and International, Sprott School of Business
- Elinor Sloan, Chair and Full Professor, Department of Political Science
- Rachelle Thibodeau, Coordinator, Academic Support, Program Evaluation, and Research, Centre for Initiatives in Education
- Paul Wilson, Associate Professor, C. Riddell Graduate Program in Political Management