Introduction
Foundations of Our Future
The University of Delaware has set out enthusiastically on its Path to Prominence™, a strategic plan to build on our historic roots and traditions of excellence as we move forward to increase our impact and enhance our reputation in the nation and the world.
As we move along this path, the initiatives we undertake to achieve our educational mission will be necessarily shaped by our physical resources. The buildings that make up our beautiful campus, the infrastructure that is available to heat and cool them, the ease with which we get around, the ways we minimize our environmental footprint and our impact on established neighborhoods, the opportunities students and faculty have to interact, the open space we maintain undisturbed-all these factors serve as foundations that will help determine how we grow and change.
To understand what those factors are now, so that we can start planning for the future, the 2008 Newark Campus Capacity Study was undertaken. Conversations were held with numerous stakeholders, in consultation with planners and architects. The plan that resulted is a first step that offers the campus community an exciting opportunity to comment on our potential for future growth. It identifies the current strengths and challenges of our physical campus and also highlights the five key principles that will guide us as we move forward.
As stewards of a campus that has been widely recognized for its beauty and constructed so carefully by previous generations, we are committed to continuing that tradition of care. This report is a summary of how we can begin this process.