4ABOUT CAMPUS / SEPTEMBER–OCTOBER 2005

IMAGINE THE OPPORTUNITY TO

design a college from scratch. Structures

for collaborative learning and student

engagement could take any form. The

vision could embody the community’s

expectations, and the classrooms could contain flex-

ible furniture, multimedia stations, and floor-to-

ceiling white boards. The library could also

accommodate learning resource services such as

tutoring; the faculty and staff could be hired based

on their ability to manage and lead change; and the

community could house its public library and volun-

teer fire station at the college.This wonderful oppor-

tunity was presented to the planning team for

Cy-Fair College in August 2000, and the result has

been the creation of a vibrant laboratory for engage-

ment in learning and innovation.While few have the

opportunity to work from a blank page as those at

Cy-Fair College did, the lessons learned are exciting

and highly applicable to existing institutions.

Imagine If We Could Start Over:

Designing a College from Scratch

Sitting in traditional offices, in traditional departments, doing traditional duties,

it’s not hard to picture a few educators thinking,

“Wouldn’t it be great if I could build my own college?”

A team of Texas educators got to do just that.

The result was a living laboratory for engaged and collaborative learning.

B Y D I A N E T R O Y E R

5ABOUT CAMPUS / SEPTEMBER–OCTOBER 2005

GENESIS OF A COLLEGE

CY-FAIR COLLEGE opened in the fall of2003, enrolling nearly seven thousand studentsin the newest comprehensive college in the

country. Located in suburban north Houston,Texas, theinstitution was developed after local residents voted inAugust 2000 to assume property tax responsibility forfunding a regional college.The Cy-Fair community isgrowing fast, with a local K–12 population of 75,000,and support for the new college was tremendous fromthe beginning. Early in the planning process, commu-nity members made it clear that they expected a respon-sive, comprehensive community college with a fullrange of offerings and community enrichment oppor-tunities.

Planners of the new college also challenged them-selves to create an institution that could serve as anexample of national best practice in learning innovation,collaborative learning, and student engagement.Thischallenge affected decision making in regard to theorganizational structure, hiring profile for staff and fac-ulty, physical design of classrooms and instructionalspaces, campus image, services for students, and com-munity partnerships. Five areas have had the greatestimpact on the shape of the new institution and, webelieve, may serve as guideposts for other institutions aswell.The five areas are a clear and focused vision thatdrives planning decisions; campus and classroom designthat supports active and collaborative learning; a stream-lined student services structure based on student need;a hiring and professional development system that buildsand sustains the collaborative climate; and tight campuscollaboration with the surrounding community.

A CLEAR VISION

THE FIRST STEP in the creation of Cy-FairCollege was articulation of the institution’score vision. No design, planning, or hiring

could take place without first setting a direction.Thecollege’s vision, to be “a responsive, innovative, and col-laborative learning community that thrives on prepar-ing students for a lifetime of learning and change,”emerged from community feedback, assessment of localdemographics, and assumptions about larger societalchanges.

The college engaged the community in an exten-sive idea-gathering process through newspaper and Websurveys, interviews, focus groups, and meetings involv-ing community organizations, employers, students,school administrators, and the general public. Alongwith its desire for an accessible, responsive institution,

the community voiced its interest in a college thatwould serve all age groups.A review of local demo-graphic data indicated a rapidly changing suburbancommunity with increasing ethnic minority and newimmigrant populations. Data analysis also revealed thatthe Cy-Fair community is actually a series of suburbanneighborhoods with no center point or connecting hub.Cy-Fair is an unincorporated string of disconnectedhousing developments without a city government ortown center.

The assumptions about larger societal forces arethat civic and professional success come through anindividual’s ability to be a collaborative problem solverand to commit to a lifetime of independent learning.These assumptions, along with community feedbackand demographic data analysis, shaped the vision thatwould serve as the basis for strategic planning and deci-sion making at Cy-Fair’s new college.

CAMPUS AND CLASSROOM DESIGN

BEFORE CAMPUS AND CLASSROOMdesign could begin, administrators needed toidentify the college’s learning signature—the val-

ues and beliefs about how learning would be facilitatedat the institution. Cy-Fair’s learning signature—activelearning engagement for each student—evolved fromits vision and was used as the basis for decisions aboutcampus and classroom construction and technology use.At Cy-Fair, students would be actively engaged in thelearning process and would attain the skills necessary towork in and contribute to a rapidly changing world.These skills include critical thinking, problem solving,effective communication, and most important, the abil-ity to manage one’s own learning. College personnelselected an environment of collaboration, interaction,and student engagement as the best route to developingstudents who would also be committed to an indepen-dent life of learning. Campus design features dictated bythe learning signature include work group size andfunction, types of furnishings, forms of personal andphysical support, and the flow of physical space andprocesses. For example, the learning signature droveplanners’ attention to how the flow of physical spacerelated to students’ functional needs, leading to the

Diane Troyer is founding president of Cy-Fair College inCypress, Texas. Her experience includes responsibilities ineconomic development, community partnerships, and stu-dent outreach. More information about Cy-Fair College isavailable at http://wwwcfc.nhmccd.edu.

We love feedback. Send letters to executive editor MarciaBaxter Magolda (aboutcampus@muohio.edu), and pleasecopy her on notes to authors.

6ABOUT CAMPUS / SEPTEMBER–OCTOBER 2005

placement of the cyber café in the library, near the reg-istration area.The college’s interest in easing access toservices led to the creation of a one-stop enrollmentprocess and physical space, which are described ingreater detail in the next section.The overall result is acampus environment that matches the learning signa-ture and supports student engagement and collabora-tion. Instructional spaces facilitate contact in and outsidethe classroom, collaborative group work processes, across-functional organizational structure, interdiscipli-nary office assignments, ubiquitous computing, and flex-ibility in physical layouts and work processes that allowcreativity and active learning. Most important, designdecisions based on the learning signature have set thetone for the type of instruction that will take place oncampus.

The goal in classroom design was to create a placefor active learning where barriers that tend to keep stu-dents in a passive role in class would be removed.Towardthat end, no classroom accommodates more than thirtyseats; classroom furnishings are flexible and include smalltables and chairs that can easily be moved; every class-room is equipped with a multimedia station and Inter-net access; and any classroom can be converted into acomputer lab through the use of wireless computercarts. In addition, groups of classrooms share adjoiningdoors to allow faculty to combine projects in two classesthat are linked in a learning community; floor-to-ceil-ing white boards are built into several rooms for small-group sessions or project work, and a learning studio hasbeen built to house faculty development sessions andexploratory discussions on instruction.

The most gratifying result of a highly visible learn-ing signature has been the creative ways in which thefounding faculty members have implemented activelearning strategies for their students. Instructional inno-vations range from creative group projects undertakenin individual classes to collegewide programs such as

learning communities and the use of service learning.Each semester, collegewide forums are held in order forfaculty to share with one another how they have imple-mented the learning signature.All faculty members areencouraged to choose the engagement strategies bestsuited to their discipline, teaching style, and skills, and,as a result, they have become individually invested ininnovating; for example, they create distance learningopportunities and use Web-based teaching and class-room management tools.The creativity of those strate-gies is now supported by the collegewide LearningSignature Committee, which explores and promotes theuse of engagement strategies and other instructionalinnovations.

Beyond the classroom, the collaborative, flexiblenature of the campus environment is evidenced in clus-ters of informal gathering places, installation of wirelesstechnology throughout the campus, multidisciplinaryclusters of faculty offices, work spaces for adjunct fac-ulty, and placement of networked computers in the stu-dent dining area and the cyber café in the library.Thecampus environment is intended to convey a sense ofaccessibility, safety, and openness and to encourage stu-dents to remain on campus to interact informally withother students and faculty members. Both students andcommunity members are drawn to the campus by itsseries of lakes and waterways, which feature native land-scaping.

While few educators will have the opportunity todesign a campus from scratch, best practices in campusdesign used at Cy-Fair can be adapted at colleges of anyage. Any campus can consider options such as usingflexible furniture, building doors between classrooms tofacilitate the work of learning communities, creating awireless computer environment, installing electronicwhite boards, planning spaces for informal gatherings,and designing attractive and inviting campus entrypoints.

Before campus and classroom design could begin,administrators needed to identify the college’s “learning signature”—the values and beliefs about how learning would be facilitated at the institution.

7ABOUT CAMPUS / SEPTEMBER–OCTOBER 2005

A FLEXIBLE, LEARNING-CENTERED

ORGANIZATION

THE COLLEGE’S EXPECTATION that stu-dents would collaborate with one another anddevelop an interest in lifelong learning

prompted Cy-Fair planners to create organizationalstructures and services that model those behaviors. Ser-vices are designed to place the needs of students ratherthan traditional administrative structures in the fore-ground.Thus, services are streamlined to increase effi-ciency and accessibility for students. Each academicdivision is fully integrated with continuing education,workforce education, and support for transfer of aca-demic credits.A learning commons blends library andlearning resource services, and a one-stop enrollmentcenter was designed to address student needs holistically.Faculty who teach credit-bearing courses assist theadministration in identifying possible new continuingeducation courses and programs. Faculty can teach con-tinuing education courses either as a part of their teach-ing load or as an extra duty. Faculty members acrossdivisions and representing a number of disciplines arecreating an increasing number of learning communities.In continuing education, the involvement of facultywho typically teach credit-bearing courses has resultedin an excellent range of innovative offerings that areintended to respond to the community’s diverse needs.The continuing education offerings, in turn, have servedas incubators for the development of credit programs.

Traditional library functions have been mergedwith learning resource services in order to create aseamless learning support system.Tutoring specialists arelocated throughout the library, and tutors and librarianswork as a team to meet students’ needs. Students haveaccess to spaces for group study or project work withinthe library; the counseling and career and transfer centerare located there, as is the assistive technology center,where services for disabled students are blended withlibrary resources. Students report that they feel lessstigma when accessing learning support services in thelibrary rather than through a separately housed service.All of this activity adds to a sense of vibrancy to thelibrary space.

The one-stop enrollment center provides holisticservices to students with busy lives.At first contact in

the welcome area, students are assessed by a full-timeadviser and assigned to a student services specialist whocan help meet all of their enrollment support needs,from admissions to financial aid.While all advisers arebroadly trained and experienced, many also have spe-cialized preparation in meeting the needs of interna-tional students, financial aid, academic probation, orother special needs. Students are referred to the adviserwho will best meet their needs.This system is intendedto prevent additional stops in the enrollment process.Since a short wait may be required in order to see anadviser, students are provided with buzzers like thoseused in restaurants, which allows them to visit thelibrary, the cyber café, or another campus location whilethey wait. Students who require assessment for admis-sion or placement can also access the testing centerthrough the one-stop enrollment center, and an expresslane is available for students who do not need anappointment with an adviser.

HIRING AND PROFESSIONAL

DEVELOPMENT

AT ITS INCEPTION, Cy-Fair College wasoffered the opportunity and challenge of hir-ing more than one hundred full-time faculty

members and two hundred full-time staff members andadministrators.To ensure that the hiring process matchedthe college’s goals of building a collaborative environ-ment, a great deal of attention was placed on creation ofa faculty and staff profile and on the design of a hiringprocess to maximize the alignment of hiring outcomeswith that profile.An orientation and professional devel-opment system that supports a cross-functional, collab-orative environment was also designed with great care.

Desired characteristics based on the hiring profilewere conveyed in job descriptions, promotional mate-rials, and pre-interview communications and includedthe ability to work collaboratively, a commitment tomulticulturalism, an interest in the uses of computertechnologies, experience as a lifelong learner, involve-ment in the community, commitment to high-qualitycustomer service, and the ability to manage and leadchange.The well-publicized profile allowed applicantsto clearly understand expectations of the campus andthen to apply or screen themselves out of the hiring

Traditional library functions have been merged with learning resource services.

8ABOUT CAMPUS / SEPTEMBER–OCTOBER 2005

process.The selection process was designed accordingto research on a number of such processes; the planningcommittee found the bookTopgrading, which was writ-ten for the private sector by Bradford Smart, particu-larly helpful. Using that book’s principles, the hiringteam designed an extensive behavioral interviewprocess that included initial screening, a writing sam-ple, a committee interview, a finalist interview, and in-depth reference checks.The interview process closelytied the applicant’s past experience to the expectationsof the position and included questions that began “Givean example of when you . . . ” rather than “What wouldyou do if . . . ? ”

Faculty applicants each presented a teachingdemonstration, with the interview committee servingas the class. Finalists also provided a teaching demon-stration for the executive committee, including the vicepresident of the college, the dean, and the president.Successful candidates for faculty positions engaged thecommittees in exciting applications of learning in theirdiscipline and provided an authentic look at how stu-dents can be engaged in the learning process. In con-trast, unsuccessful applicants offered passive experiences,such as lectures and no interaction with the “class.”Theend result of Cy-Fair College’s hiring process was selec-tion of a team of faculty and staff who have demon-strated engagement, energy, and a commitment toinnovation and collaboration.These attributes will besustained and further developed through a system ofnew employee orientation and professional enrichmentin which all employees participate.The orientation pro-vides an in-depth review of the college’s vision andlearning signature and describes how each person’s jobaffects student learning and success. Both full-time andadjunct faculty members participate in a developmentopportunity that focuses more specifically on learningengagement in the classroom.The Faculty and StaffExcellence Center regularly offers a wide range of pro-fessional development opportunities and one-on-onetechnical assistance.The center includes a wide range of

media and technology supports as well as dedicatedcomputer labs for staff and faculty training.

ENGAGEMENT WITH THE COMMUNITY

CY-FAIR COLLEGE’S definition of engage-ment extends to interaction with the greatercommunity.This partnership is distinguished

by two collaborative ventures: development of the jointcounty and college library and creation of the campus-based Emergency Services Training Center and Com-munity Volunteer Fire Station. Both ventures have metthe standard of a successful partnership; the college andthe community have achieved more together than theycould have by acting separately.

Blending a public library and a college library pre-sents challenges in several areas, including staffing, com-puter infrastructure, cataloguing system, funding, andleadership. Even with these challenges, the arrangementhas proved successful. Lacking a library of its own, Har-ris County offered funding to enlarge the proposed Cy-Fair College learning commons and extended ongoingsupport for staffing, purchase of the library collection,and maintenance of operations.Along with the cybercafé and services to students described earlier, the learn-ing commons offers a children’s library, a teen library,and a large collegiate and popular collection.With theenhanced resources that are offered through a publiclibrary, the learning commons has become a center forlifelong learning that serves children, families, K–12 stu-dents, college students, and retirees. Spin-offs from thejoint library in its inaugural year included the Commu-nity Garden Project; creation of habitat for bats and pur-ple martins, a species of swallows; an internationaleducation celebration; community and teen book clubs;the Academy for Life-Long Learning (for senior adults);a history fair; the Think Factory (philosophy club); anda host of other activities.The most significant factor inthe success of this joint endeavor is a common vision.Because the county library administrators shared the

The campus environment is intended to convey a sense of accessibility, safety, and openness and to encouragestudents to remain on campus to interact informally with other students and faculty members.

9ABOUT CAMPUS / SEPTEMBER–OCTOBER 2005

college’s vision of building a space for collaboration andstreamlined, integrated services, decisions on leadership,staffing, collection management, and funding could bemade smoothly.

The second hallmark partnership between the col-lege and the community emerged from a lack of localtraining opportunities for emergency personnel in thenorthwest Houston region. Local firefighters and emer-gency medical technicians were forced to travel great dis-tances for continuing education, and no local trainingsource existed for persons entering these fields. Giventhis, the local emergency services district and volunteerfire department proposed that a fire station and trainingcenter be located on the new college campus.What hasemerged is a station and state-of-the-art center for bothentry-level and continuing professionals living in theregion.While the emergency services district providedthe funding for construction and financially supports theoperation of the fire station, the college funds the Emer-gency Services Education Center, including all instruc-tional salaries, equipment, and supplies. Again, bothparties have gained something that could not have beenachieved by working independently.

ASSESSING SUCCESS

ALL OF THE INNOVATIONS that have beendescribed have little value if the college cannotdemonstrate that they have a positive impact

on student learning. Because the college has just com-pleted its second year of operation, little conclusive out-come data are yet available. However, Cy-Fair iscurrently engaged in a campuswide process to measuresuccess and, it is hoped, to demonstrate that the college’schoices have resulted in beneficial instructional prac-tices.The questions framing the design of accountabil-ity measures for the college seek to discover howspecific design features of the college affect the experi-ence of members of the campus community. Questionsare being asked about levels of student success and per-

sistence, student involvement with campus activities andstudent interaction with their peers, interdisciplinarycollaboration among faculty, and student participationin group projects outside of class. Overall, institutionadministrators hope to ascertain if innovations ininstruction, collaboration, faculty expertise, organiza-tional structure, campus climate, and classroom designare making a difference in student outcomes over thosethat might be expected in more traditional settings.Assessment work has begun to measure student successas indicated by retention at the institution, course suc-cess, and goal completion, and methods for evaluatingthe impact of the learning signature are under explo-ration.

Creation of a truly collaborative learning environ-ment involves much more than careful campus design.Each aspect discussed in this article—the vision, theorganizational structure, the learning signature, and theirimpact on campus and classroom design, hiring andtraining, and community partnerships—has a role toplay in creating an institution that is committed to col-laboration.As a living laboratory, Cy-Fair College willcontinue to evaluate its organizational and physical fea-tures to determine their impact on learning engagementand student success.The most important lesson learnedfrom the Cy-Fair College experience is that creation ofa collaborative learning environment is a holistic chal-lenge that must be driven by a clear vision.While per-haps it is easier to implement new ideas and structuresin an institution that is designed from scratch and specif-ically intended to function as a learning college, a widerange of innovative organizational, instructional, anddesign initiatives can begin to transform any institutioninto an exciting place for student learning.

NOTE

Smart, B. D. Topgrading: How Leading Companies Win. UpperSaddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1999.

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Services are designed to place the needs of studentsrather than traditional administrative structures

in the foreground.