Who is the most influential recruiter for a University or college?

Imagine the most influential recruiter for a University or college. The dean? The students? The website? What if I told you it was the director of buildings and grounds. As is often the case, first impressions matter the most. A well kept campus environment shouts “Welcome! We care about how you learn!” The VMDO book club explored this and many other factors both physical and psychological in the book: Educating By Design, Creating Campus Learning Environments that Work, by C. Carney Strange & James H. Banning. This was the kick-off book for the club. The authors explored many factors that influence the campus learning environment as researched and categorized by many leading experts in the fields of education and psychology. The club seemed most drawn to the idea of community as a theme that weaves the sections of the book together. How does environment cradle community and in turn community cradle the individual?

The book club will meet in the near future with Maggie Burkhart Evans (Director of Housing at JMU) and her husband, John Evans (Director of Accommodations at UVA) to discuss the book as well as current trends in housing and the campus environment as a whole.

On to the next book…