michigan state university college of agriculture and natural resources facilities strategic plan
The facilities strategic plan drew on broad program-based rationales for the core campus and affiliated outlying research stations, and included physical ideas/concepts and phasing strategies. The plan is program driven and enhances and reinforces the college’s research, education, and outreach foci in the areas of food, energy, and the environment, and account for critical internal partnerships with other colleges on campus linked to programmatic outcomes and shared infrastructure (including joint programs with the College of Engineering). It enhanced linkages to campus-wide research endeavors like the university’s Global Impact Initiative, identified further interdisciplinary opportunities, and illustrated key relationships with stakeholders in the agriculture and natural resources sector in the state.
Many of the college’s facilities are aged and are approaching the end of their useful life. The plan therefore was required to reinvent, rethink, and re-imagine strategies and accompanying infrastructure needs.
In order to adopt the most strategic posture possible, we undertook a rigorous analysis of current conditions, with a particular emphasis on existing collaboration and funding patterns within the college, enabling it to make data-driven decisions about future capital investment, shift toward multi-use, multi-occupant buildings, and articulate its fundraising needs in a compelling fashion. Other key tasks included investigating the college’s larger land holdings, and the creation of a prototype renovation strategy for its older building stock.
