CAMPUS PLANNING - Roger Williams University

2002-2003 RWU Presidential Fellowship Report: Campus Planning
The Master Planning Process
Primary Steps:
1. Create a Vision
2. Establish a Team
3. Establish a Process
4. Develop a Campus Plan
5. Implement the Plan
6. Conserve and Maintain the Vision
7. Repeat as necessary
As the outline above indicates I am placing the Campus
Plan within the context of a larger Master Planning Process
in order place emphasis on the unique role of the "Plan" as
something which can give real physical expression to the
goals and aspirations of the University, something that
transcends the immediate private concerns of any one body
and looks at the physical environment in a comprehensive
way. It links past and future, natural and manmade (nature
and culture) and offers and clear vision for the future form
of the institution. I realize that in placing so much
importance on the plan I am setting rather high
expectations; but I am doing so with the knowledge that, in
an ideal sense, the campus plan is but one component of the
physical design process. There should be precinct plans and
ultimately individual building site plans. All of these
inform, elaborate and even modify the "Campus Plan". Yet,
a good Campus Plan has the power to inspire future
designers for generations to come. Our plan will reference
past plans and there will be other plans to overlay this one.
1. The Vision
Mission
“Roger Williams University is a community
devoted to teaching and learning wherein students
pursue both personal and intellectual growth. The
University’s mission is to teach students to think,
reason, and communicate; to develop expertise in
their chosen fields of study; to appreciate
established disciplines and to investigate
interdisciplinary connection; to experience study
and life abroad; to value cultural diversity; to
develop ethical awareness; and to preserve
intellectual curiosity throughout a lifetime.”
“Roger Williams University is committed to the
creation and delivery of distinctive undergraduate
and graduate programs that involve discovery and
curiosity and that are characterized by an ethos of
inquiry and civic responsibility.”
More recently, Roger Williams University’s President Roy
J. Nirschel defined the “core values” at the center of the
University mission as follows:
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