Penn State Altoona Master Plan Process

SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS
In order to facilitate the dissemination and discussion of Master Plan ideas, several key documents are provided below. They include:

CEAP
PDF - 7.7MB

Open Forum Master Plan Presentation (4/10/09)
PDF - 2MB

Penn State Altoona is undertaking, in cooperation with the Office of Physical Plant (OPP) at University Park, a comprehensive Master Plan Process. The Master Plan deals with facility renovation and construction, and is intended to complement our college strategic plan. The Master Plan categorizes facilities projects into three timeframes: those for which we currently have funding or are on the university's capital plan; near-term projects (5-10 years out); and long range projects. The plan when complete will consist of several documents, including a Campus Exterior Architectural Plan (CEAP). A presentation on the Master Plan will be made by Dr. Bechtel-Wherry to the Penn State Board of Trustees at summer's end or early fall.

The process of developing this plan began in January 2009 with visits from OPP, who, along with key campus representatives, formed a Steering Committee (listed below). The steering committee began by commissioning a Master Program Statement, prepared by the Office of Planning and Institutional Research, which extrapolated and summarized the strategic plan to 2018. The steering committee also developed a first draft Vision and Objectives Statement, which gave the big picture of themes and goals for the Master Plan, and a first draft Master Plan Program Overview, which contained ideas for specific facilities projects in each category. This document was developed from the 2004 Master Plan, augmented by facilities projects that were developed and conceived of since 2004, largely through the strategic planning process, which involved the entire campus. The Steering Committee consisted of the following members:

Lori J. Bechtel-Wherry, Chancellor
Mike Long, Assistant Director of Business Operations
Gregory Scott, Director Facilities Spt SVCS
Daniel Sieminski, Associate VP for Finance and Business
Wm. Dennis Stewart, Consultant and Former Director of Business Operations
Gordon Turow, Director of Campus Planning and Design
Andy Vavreck, Interim Director of Business Operations
Rick Wareham, Project Manager
Steven Watson, University Planner
Ken Womack, Interim Associate Dean for Academic Affairs

The steering committee made a recommendation for a campus-wide Master Plan Committee that was approved by the provost. The Master Plan Committee was chosen to represent a wide cross-section of our campus community. An additional faculty member will soon be named from Math and Natural Sciences Division to ensure that each division has a faculty member to represent them on the Master Plan committee (in addition to having a division head who is a faculty member from MNS).

The Master Plan Committee Members are:

Lori J. Bechtel-Wherry, Chancellor
Todd D. Batzel, Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering (Business and Engineering)
Richard C. Bell, Assistant Professor of Chemistry (Mathematics and Natural Sciences)
Alison Bonsell, Director of Housing and Food Services
Donna Bon, Instructor of Entrepreneurship (Business and Engineering)
David Breon, Manager, Capital and Space Planning
Chris Cycak, Student Representative (President, Student Government Association)
L. Edward Day, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice and Sociology (Education, Human Development, and Social Sciences
Matt Evans, Assistant Professor of Political Science (Arts and Humanities)
Noel Feeley, Theatre and Gallery Manager
Michael R. Gannon, Professor of Biology (Mathematics and Natural Sciences)
Rob Hippo, Director of Finance
Christopher Hurley, Senior Director, Housing and Food Services, Commonwealth Campuses and Culinary Support Services
Sean Kelly, Director of Student Affairs
Suzanne Kuhn, Senior Instructor and Nursing Coordinator (Education, Human Development, and Social Sciences)
Mike Long, Assistant Director of Business Operations
Nicholas Miskovsky, Professor of Physics, Division Head of Mathematics and Natural Sciences
Gregory Scott, Director Facilities Spt SVCS
Daniel Sieminski, Associate VP for Finance and Business
Richard Singer, Instructor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, Chair, Penn State Altoona Faculty Senate
Wm. Dennis Stewart, Consultant and Former Director of Business Operations
Rebecca Strzelec, Associate Professor of Visual Arts (Arts and Humanities)
Gordon Turow, Director of Campus Planning and Design
Andy Vavreck, Interim Director of Business Operations, Chair
Rick Wareham, Project Manager
Steven Watson, University Planner
Ken Womack, Interim Associate Dean for Academic Affairs

Beginning with a charge meeting on February 25, the Master Plan Committee began reviewing and modifying the first draft Vision and Objectives Statement. The Master Plan Committee was asked in that meeting to disseminate and discuss the Vision and Objectives Statement, and provide feedback to the rest of the committee. At a second meeting of the Master Plan Committee, on March 8, discussion took place on the Vision and Objectives Statement, and the committee began to discuss ideas in the draft Master Plan Program Overview which was provided by the Steering Committee. Based on that meeting, the Vision and Objectives Statement was revised into a second draft. The committee was asked to continue to meet and discuss both documents with their constituencies and develop additional ideas for facilities projects.

On April 10, 2009, an open forum was held in the Misciagna Theater, at which faculty, staff and students received an overview presentation on where the college is in the Master Plan process, and had an opportunity to comment on the planning documents currently being worked on. The presentation given at the open forum is posted above. The Master Plan Committee will meet again on May 8.