Talking Stick - January/February 2018 - 29

FACILITIES
to have big demand was absolutely
correct."
As the positive growth of the online
campus continued, the university
turned its focus to the physical
campus. This decision was tied to the
school's mission, which includes the
commitment to transform lives. "The
campus was outdated; it was probably
not designed as well as it could have
been and should have been when it
was initially built," Lynott says. "To be
consistent with who we are and how
we feel about serving students, we just
had to make those investments. It was
kind of a mission mandate, I think,
above anything else."

Google Earth satellite view of SNHU's
campus in Manchester, New Hampshire

Real World Space for Online Learning
A boost from online course enrollment leads to expansion of the physical campus.
According to a June 2017 article in The
New York Times, "Higher Education
Seeks Answers to Leaner Years" by
Jon Marcus, college and university
enrollment across the nation has
been decreasing over the last five
years, resulting in about 300,000
fewer undergraduate students. Yet
one university has found that the
rising enrollment on their online
campus is driving a commitment
to enhance their physical campus.
Southern New Hampshire University
in Manchester (SNHU), which touts
an online enrollment of more than
60,000 students, has always had a
physical campus (otherwise known as

KNOWLEDGE
DOMAINS
in this article

by Laura Black
the University Campus), but recently
it has been gaining attention from
both administrators and prospective
students for its expansion and
enhanced facilities.
About ten years ago, the university
made a commitment to online
learning and began exploring the risk
of investing and spending resources
on the online market of higher
education. Since that time, enrollment
has steadily increased. As Patty Lynott,
campus president, explains, "We had
a very small operation ten years ago,

but SNHU's president (Paul LeBlanc)
made a very firm commitment [to
online learning]. He believed that that
was the space in higher ed that was
going to grow. He recognized that the
working adult simply needed a new
and different way to get an education.
He committed funds and invested
money in the advertising and the
national marketing and branding that
we needed to grow." Online numbers
began to increase significantly in 2010.
"We increased staff, we increased
resources. It took some commitment
and was a bit of a risk, but that has
certainly paid off. The president's
assessment that the market was going

Monadnock Hall, opened for
the fall 2017 semester, is SNHU's
first new residence hall. Meanwhile,
Kingston Hall is under construction
and is set to open in the fall of 2018.
Improvements across the physical
campus include a new Academic
Commons, a dining center, the Library
Learning Commons, and a welcome
center. All have been built within the
last six years. Additionally, renovations
to the Student Center and the Green
Center were completed in 2016,
and an athletic complex and a new
engineering building will be opened in
the near future.
According to Heather Lorenz, vice
president of student affairs and dean
of students, the oldest residence halls
needed to be replaced in order to keep
up with the other buildings on campus
and "to attract potential students to
our physical campus. Additionally,
there were persistent facilities-related
concerns and problems in many of our
oldest residence halls, and it was no
longer cost-effective to invest money
into band-aid fixes that were not
guaranteed to last and that were not
good for our students in the long run."
The strategy behind their residence hall
decisions, such as the size and number
of new halls, hinged on and remains
tied to the actual on-campus numbers.

As Lorenz notes, "We are closely
watching our on-campus numbers and
trying to be as nimble as we can with
our occupancy numbers each year so
we can find an occupancy number that
meets our revenue needs while also
maintaining the small campus feel."
The completed residence hall
has already contributed to the overall
student experience, campus life,
and student engagement, providing
students with a sense of shared
identity and increasing the stature
of the institution. For new residents,
there is also an excitement about the
advanced technology, sustainability,
and newness of the hall. Lorenz notes
one of Monadnock Hall's best features:

"There are lots of nooks for students
to study independently or in small
groups. SNHU is also a big fan of
interactive spaces that include dryerase walls."
SNHU's decision to update the
physical campus is also working as
a recruiting tool for the university,
both for the online presence and the
physical campus. "I think it is a heck
of a good recruiting tool for online
to show pictures of this beautiful,
incredible campus and its buildings
and its residence halls and its soccer
field and everything else," Lynott says.
"That is a recruiting tool, I think, for
the online side. As far as the reverse,
absolutely." In addition to this, Lynott

Monadnock Hall entrance at night. Monadnock
Hall is the newest residence hall on SNHU's
campus, designed and built by Mackey Mitchell
Architects, architect of record Lavalee Bresinger
Architects, and contractor Whiting Turner
PHOTO COURTESY OF ANTON GRASSL

Facilities Management
Develop goals regarding the quantity and type of housing desired to support the departmental
and institutional missions.

JANUARY + FEBRUARY 2018

Talking Stick - January/February 2018

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