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Humanities and Social Sciences
Faculty and Staff Resources

Space Principles and Guidance

Overview

NC State University has significant space constraints. Our college is the most space-constrained college on campus, with about 75% of its needs met based on the University Architect’s formulas for space needs. By 2020 we anticipate that, without future buildings and reallocation of space on campus, only 65% of the college’s needs will be met.

The space constraint is likely to become more severe as College of Humanities and Social Sciences continues to focus more of its work on fundamental humanities and social science research and on graduate education. These activities will require more space than the College has traditionally had available. In particular, large, collaborative projects will require space.

Creative use of space can help alleviate the space constraint and improve the College’s effectiveness in meeting its goals.

Space Principles

The following space principles are borrowed, to a considerable extent, from existing university space guidelines.

  1. Responsibility: Space is allocated to Colleges by the University. The University Space Committee is charged with making allocations of this space, with some exceptions detailed in the University space principles. In turn, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences Space Committee will make recommendations to the Dean and the Associate Dean for Research and Engagement regarding allocations of College workspace, including College of Humanities and Social Sciences’ space in Hunt Library and off-campus rental space. The Dean will make these requests to the University Space Committee.
  2. Space Committee: The College of Humanities and Social Sciences Space Committee will consist of not more than eight faculty from the College, appointed by the Dean, with an understanding of overall College space needs and constraints. The Associate Dean for Research and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences Facilities Director will serve as exofficio members. The Committee will assist the Dean and his designees in making decisions about the allocation, use, alteration, and acquisition of space. The committee will be composed of faculty from the buildings currently occupied, in whole or in part, by College of Humanities and Social Sciences, and will reflect different space uses, including labs, project space, offices, and other College of Humanities and Social Sciences functions. Appointments will be made to represent the kinds of research and teaching activities undertaken in College of Humanities and Social Sciences.
  3. Transparency: Activities of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences Space Committee will be transparent. Meeting agendas, meeting minutes and the status of all requests will be available for review.
  4. Making a Space Request: All requests for new space, reallocation of space, or change in use of space that cannot be managed using existing departmental space or facilities will be made by the Department or Unit head, who will send an email request to the Associate Dean for Research and Engagement. Upon of receipt of the request, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences space committee will consider the request 2 and make a recommendation to the Dean. Requestors may appear before the College of Humanities and Social Sciences Space Committee.
  5. Strategic Plans: Each Department’s or other unit’s Strategic Plan should identify future space needs and discuss strategies for how those needs could be met.
  6. Sponsored Programs: All proposals for external funding must resolve space needs prior to the implementation of an award.
    1. It is the Department head’s responsibility to review all proposals to assess the space needs of the project being approved under PINS.
    2. Departments must identify the space to be used before the proposal is submitted to the funder. Departments should, if necessary, budget for off-campus space leases in the proposal.
      1. If the proposal allows for such costs as direct costs, the budget should reflect the lease costs, including utilities, telecommunications, janitorial costs, and any other costs incurred in the space.
      2. If a proposal does not allow for budgeting off-campus space as a direct cost, the Department will be expected to fund the cost of the space from F&A funds. The College may participate in funding such space, but the Departments should budget for the full cost of the lease expenses unless otherwise agreed by the College and Department.
  7. Assessing Space Requests: The process for reviewing space requests at the local and university levels will be guided by these principles:
    1. Space is a College resource, managed at the College level. While the College will make every effort to preserve appropriate space for each Department and Unit, it is understood that the space needs of such units may change, and that the College Space Committee will review these needs and recommend reallocation of space to meet College and University strategic goals.
    2. Space should support the overall mission of the university and unit.
    3. UNC-GA space standards will be consulted as the benchmark for assessing type and quantity of all space allocated.  
  8. Space Priorities and Principles:
    1. Departments, working with the College of Humanities and Social Sciences facilities coordinator, should use the following principles when allocating existing space and making space requests:
      1. Each full-time, tenured or tenure-track faculty member will have no more than one private office.
      2. Each non-tenure track faculty member will be provided office space. The College will seek to provide private offices, but, if such offices are unavailable, NTT faculty will be assigned shared offices with access to a room in which to hold private meetings with students, colleagues, or staff.
      3. Privacy is more important than size of office space.
      4. A department head should have proximity to supervised staff.
      5. Faculty and staff that are on campus part-time shall share office facilities and utilize strategies such as workspace “hoteling.”
      6. Emeriti faculty will be provided shared office space in accordance with University Policy POL 05.20.02 section 2.3 on a space available basis.
      7. Graduate students with research, teaching, or grant assistantships shall be provided shared office facilities on the basis of availability and, where appropriate, utilize strategies such as workspace “hoteling.”
      8. Long-term storage (items not requiring regular access) shall be stored at the Central Receiving Warehouse or at an off-campus location.
    2. College Strategic Plan initiatives shall have a higher priority than other programs.
    3. The College, when working with Departments, will work to locate interdisciplinary scholars and programs as close to their collaborators as possible.
    4. A lower priority will be given to units and programs that are unfunded versus those that are funded. Laboratory or project space that remains unsupported by external funding is subject to reallocation to funded projects.
    5. Preference shall be given to requests that demonstrate sharing of resources and/or equipment.
  9. Guidance regarding the allocation of the Faculty Commons in Caldwell Hall
    1. Contingent upon funding and the identification of space for the Dean’s office, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences Faculty Commons will provide opportunities for faculty to join a space devoted to collegiality, interdisciplinary coordination, and flexible working arrangements. The following guidance reflects our current vision of the Faculty Commons.
    2. It is understood that the nature of the Faculty Commons will evolve as we amass experience with its use.
    3. It is not the College’s expectation that all faculty will use the Commons, nor is it the College’s intent to compel faculty to move out of their existing offices. Rather, the College Space Committee will work with College leadership to make the Commons useful to research teams, to collaborators, and to others with a desire to work in this style of workspace, one that is becoming more common in “knowledge” industries.
    4. Offices in the Faculty Commons will not be permanently assigned, but, instead, co-working or “hoteling” will be employed to maximize the use of the space while promoting a high degree of flexibility in work styles.
    5. With this in mind, the Space Committee will invite the following to locate their work in the Commons, with an eye toward creating a mix of disciplines, ranks, and styles of scholarship.
      1. Tenured and tenure-track faculty
      2. NTT faculty
      3. Research teams, particularly those supported through extramural funding
      4. Emeritus professors.
    6. Faculty who choose to locate in the Commons will make the Commons their office, and will no longer occupy an office in other College of Humanities and Social Sciences space.
    7. Appropriate storage will be made available for faculty papers and books, contingent on space available
    8. The Faculty Commons will provide services and amenities available to all members of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences faculty, but those who choose to locate in the commons will have easy access to these amenities, which include but are not limited to
      1. A “concierge” who will work at the front desk in the Commons, to help with office scheduling and student meetings, taking telephone messages when needed, checking out technology support items (adapters, iPads, etc.).
      2. A coffee and snack bar with an area nearby for socializing and collaborating
      3. Work and meeting space, including collaboration spaces and private meeting rooms that can be reserved through a central scheduling system
      4. Plenty of power outlets and wired or wireless internet access.
      5. Networked printers, scanners, perhaps a post printer, and other office equipment.
      6. Mailboxes for those who seek to move their offices to the Commons.