Higher Education News from the Collegiate Way

Residential Colleges & the Renewal of Campus Life

These news items about residential colleges, house systems, and the renewal of university life are posted for readers of the Collegiate Way website. For more about residential colleges and collegiate universities please visit the main Collegiate Way page.

Collegiate Way News · Subset: Buildings and Grounds

¶ This topical subset contains news and views on the design of the buildings and grounds of residential colleges and collegiate house systems within larger universities. Some additional architecturally-themed posts may be found in the separate subset on new and proposed residential colleges. (Return to the complete news index.)

• Collegiate Confirmation from Macau (28 June 2009)

  The University of Macau’s Hengqin campus will have a residential college system.

• A Toolbox for Every College Office (5 June 2009)

  Household hints for managing a Great Household (where you’re always teaching).

• A New Court for Clare College (24 May 2009)

  New construction in an old college shows how to maintain good collegiate scale.

• “In lilac-time, in lilac-time” (15 May 2009)

  ‘He that delights to plant and set, leaves after-ages in his debt.’

• Sketches of Yale’s New Residential Colleges (13 May 2009)

  The style is traditional, and the designs embody many good collegiate principles.

• Mississippi Leads the (Collegiate) Way (14 April 2009)

  ‘These students will really be able to have a better connection with their professors.’

• From Charter Schools to Charter Colleges? (7 April 2009)

  Can the residential college movement learn anything from the charter school movement?

• Visiting Vassar’s House System (2 April 2009)

  A leading liberal arts college considers how to strengthen its existing residential programs.

• Stirrings at Stanford? (20 February 2009)

  An undergraduate wonders why Stanford’s housing isn’t as good as its collegiate peers.

• The Residential College Movement in Review (31 December 2008)

  In 2008 the collegiate way of living made encouraging advances around the world.

• Renewing the Harvard House System (3 December 2008)

  Harvard’s president calls for long-term renewal of the university’s residential colleges.

• Raising (and Signing) the Residential College Roof (30 October 2008)

  The University of Mississippi understands the importance of collegiate ceremony.

• Cornell University Names Flora Rose House (15 September 2008)

  The ‘West Campus’ house system at Cornell University will soon be complete.

• The Lost Colleges of the University of Coimbra (18 August 2008)

  Miguel Pires Prôa on the residential colleges of Coimbra, translated by Frank Cranmer.

• A Graduate College for the University of Kent (13 August 2008)

  Virginia Woolf College will be Kent’s fifth residential college.

• Sons of This Place (26 May 2008)

  ‘Let this of you be said: that you who live are worthy of the dead.’

• Bowles Hall and the Collegiate Way of Living (10 May 2008)

  ‘One of the problems of such an institution as the University of California is so to subdivide its student body that the advantages of the small group may be retained without sacrificing the even greater advantages of membership in a large university.’

• Adopt an Endangered Food Plant (1 May 2008)

  What a perfect educational and environmental opportunity for a residential college.

• More Collegiate Plans for Colorado (28 April 2008)

  ‘Guiding the construction is the idea that learning can’t be confined to lecture halls.’

• Visiting Virginia’s Brown College on Monroe Hill (11 April 2008)

  The ‘academical village’ is alive and well at Mr. Jefferson’s university.

• Yale Alumni Magazine Contemplates College Design (20 March 2008)

  New-college recommendations from alumni and friends (including me).

• Every College a Farm, Every College a Manufactory (14 March 2008)

  A residential college is just the kind of place to counter ‘the extinction of experience.’

• Susan Painter on the Psychology of College Spaces (6 March 2008)

  A home-away-from-home is more important than ‘luxury bricks and mortar.’

• Yale University Will Add Two Residential Colleges (20 February 2008)

  It will be the first expansion of Yale’s collegiate system since the 1960s.

• New Colleges for the National University of Singapore (31 January 2008)

  Six new residential colleges will extend the reach of the collegiate way in Asia.

• The Collegiate Way Comes to Birmingham (20 January 2008)

  The University of Alabama at Birmingham could be a model for other public campuses.

• A Review of the Residential College Movement in 2007 (30 December 2007)

  It’s been a good year for friends of the collegiate way of living around the world.

• “Against Theme Halls” in Student Affairs Leader (15 November 2007)

  Themed housing is easy to sell, but in education what’s easy isn’t always best.

• Annals of Vulgarity (9 November 2007)

  Profiles in philanthropy: Donald Bren vs. Edward Harkness.

• Baylor University Plans its Second Residential College (6 November 2007)

  An existing living-learning program will become Baylor’s next collegiate society.

• CUHK to Establish Lee Woo Sing College (23 October 2007)

  In 18 months, the Chinese University of Hong Kong has been able to obtain donations to establish five new residential colleges.

• Residential Colleges Featured in Ole Miss Fundraising (21 October 2007)

  Mississippi’s planned residential college system is part of its capital campaign.

• Colleges and Construction at UC San Diego (17 October 2007)

  Eleanor Roosevelt College hosts the Gilbane Higher Education Facilities Forum.

• The Lost Colleges of Coimbra (16 October 2007)

  The vestiges of a once-great college system in Portugal can still be seen today.

• Talking About Residential Colleges at SMU (25 September 2007)

  Southern Methodist University takes a look down the collegiate way.

• Whitman College Opens at Princeton University (13 September 2007)

  First announced in 2002, Princeton’s new college welcomes its first members.

• The Burlington Free Press Reports on Campus Life (31 August 2007)

  A review of recent residential trends on campus, with comments on ‘theme halls.’

• A Cambridge College Horticultural Profile (22 August 2007)

  ‘He that delights to Plant and Set, / Makes After-Ages in his Debt.’

• Duncan College to be Rice’s 11th Residential College (21 August 2007)

  The second new college in as many years will be founded at Rice University.

• A New Graduate College for the University of Otago (15 August 2007)

  Abbey College on the Dunedin campus will be the university’s first graduate college.

• Faculty-in-Residence at McKendree University (29 July 2007)

  The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports on a good first step toward a collegiate system.

• The New York Times on Residential Colleges (29 July 2007)

  In the Education Life section, Bruce Weber reports on ‘The Residential Collage.’

• Residential Colleges to Transform Ole Miss Experience (27 July 2007)

  ‘We made a decision not to do “thematic housing” because engineering students (for example) are with other engineers all day long in the classroom. They wouldn’t get the richness of meeting other people from a wide variety of disciplines.’

• Collegiate Summer Reading: The Cambridge Colleges (8 July 2007)

  Take a photographic tour of one of the world’s original residential college systems.

• Residential Colleges of the University of Melbourne (23 June 2007)

  A lovely informal photo tour is available from a Melbourne employee.

• New Colleges at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (2 June 2007)

  C.W. Chu College and Wu Yee Sun College will be home to 900 students in all.

• The Burden of Bad Campus Architecture (1 June 2007)

  Residential colleges don’t require new buildings, but bad old ones can get in the way.

• House Systems and Communal Dining (20 May 2007)

  ‘Ministers believe social and emotional intelligence classes will help stop children from turning into louts.’

• Ole Miss and the Collegiate Zeitgeist (7 April 2007)

  Residence life on American campuses has ‘come full circle.’

• Collegiate Progress at the University of Mississippi (19 March 2007)

  Three residential colleges are being planned for the Oxford campus.

• The Associated Press Reports on the Collegiate Way (5 March 2007)

  Residential colleges and faculty in residence draw national media attention again.

• Willamette University Puts Faculty in Residence (28 February 2007)

  Kaneko Commons will include many of the elements of a residential college.

• A Window Onto Whitman College (31 January 2007)

  Princeton University offers a photographic tour of its newest residential college.

• A Freshman Yard for Vanderbilt’s Residential Colleges (8 January 2007)

  Vanderbilt to open freshman Commons as the basis of its collegiate system.

• A Residential College for the University of Monterrey (4 December 2006)

  A second university in Mexico starts a collegiate system.

• McDonalds Does Not Have a Gong (25 October 2006)

  But at least one residential college dining hall does.

• Student Commentary on Yale’s Collegiate Expansion (11 October 2006)

  Well-reasoned proposals from students are always worth listening to.

• Yale Considers Two More Residential Colleges (25 September 2006)

  Proposals to expand the undergraduate population are discussed.

• Student Housing: Education vs. Marketing (15 September 2006)

  Why do some universities bother to house students at all?

• Lincoln Hall Opens at West Virginia University (16 August 2006)

  WVU’s Morgantown campus is home to a new residential college.

• Talking About Residential Colleges in the Aloha State (17 July 2006)

  Notes from the annual meeting of the Society for College and University Planning.

• Boston Society of Architects / SCUP Roundtable, 2006 (23 May 2006)

  Collegiate Way readers in the Boston area are cordially invited to attend.

• Jane Jacobs, 1916–2006: Voice for Neighborhood Life (25 April 2006)

  John Ruskin has some good company today.

• Mississippi Announces Residential College Plans (17 April 2006)

  The first colleges will be created in the next two years, says The Daily Mississippian.

• Colorado Regents Approve Collegiate Plan (12 April 2006)

  The Daily Camera reports on CU’s first step toward a residential college system.

• Cambridge College Buildings Nominated for RIBA Prize (7 April 2006)

  Peterhouse and Girton libraries are recognized, along with extensions to Jesus College.

• Secrets, Buried Treasure, and Collegiate Identity (22 March 2006)

  ‘There is a need in people to live with a secret place in their homes.’

• Rice University Plans for a New Residential College (3 March 2006)

  ‘There are real benefits to having this tight-knit community, from academic support to social support, and we want to make sure that’s not lost.’

• A Residential College for the University of Vermont (25 February 2006)

  The honors program at Burlington establishes a pattern for others to follow.

• “See! This our fathers did for us” (17 February 2006)

  Princeton has a lot of money, and in Whitman College they’re spending it well. But as John Ruskin reminds us, it isn’t money that makes a building great.

• Baylor University to Establish Brooks College (4 February 2006)

  The Texas university will create its first residential college, replacing Brooks Hall.

• 2000 Freshmen in One Building Complex is a Bad Idea (2 February 2006)

  The East Valley Tribune asks if ASU’s McAllister Village will be good for freshmen.

• Visiting the Simmons Hall Residential College at MIT (25 January 2006)

  It may look bizarre, but there’s no doubt that it’s a residential college.

• Reach, Grasp (and Grasp), or What’s a University For? (9 January 2006)

  Is the University of South Carolina a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Columbia Chamber of Commerce?

• Cornell University Starts Along the Collegiate Way (24 August 2005)

  An important turnaround is underway on the Ithaca campus.

• Update on Vanderbilt University’s Residential Colleges (8 June 2005)

  Vanderbilt continues its progress toward the creation of a complete collegiate system.

• Four-year Colleges for Princeton University (26 May 2005)

  Princeton’s two-year college system is expanding to include all four classes.

• Hatfield College (Re)Dedicates its Melville Building (24 May 2005)

  One of Durham University’s oldest collegiate residences is renovated and renamed.

• Eckerd College Studies the Collegiate Way (10 February 2005)

  Talking about residential college ideals on the Florida coast.

• Social Capital, Memory, and Collegiate Inheritance (9 January 2005)

  On life, death, and entering into the inheritance of a place.

• The Collegiate System at the University of Durham (20 December 2004)

  Durham’s colleges are an international model worthy of emulation.

• Hanbury-Evans Designs Residential Colleges for LSU (11 November 2004)

  Virginia architects develop Louisiana State University’s new colleges.

• University of Durham Breaks Ground for 16th College (15 October 2004)

  Britain’s third great collegiate university is establishing another college.

• Collegiate Architectural Developments (17 September 2004)

  Notes from Washington University, Yale, and Middlebury.

• Sizes and Measurements of College Common Rooms (18 July 2004)

  Dimensions and structural details, for architects and planners of residential colleges.

• You Think Your College Has Problems… (1 June 2004)

  Have rampaging monkeys brought your college to its knees?

• Residential Colleges for Oxford (Mississippi) (10 April 2004)

  The University of Mississippi considers the creation of a residential college system.

• Butler College at Princeton to be Renovated (1 April 2004)

  Reconstruction helps prepare the ground for a four-year residential college system.

• Residential College Architect Wins Driehaus Prize (23 February 2004)

  Demetri Porphyrios, the designer of Whitman College at Princeton University.

• University of Durham to Build 16th Residential College (5 February 2004)

  Architects are chosen for the next residential college to be built in Durham city.

• Visiting St. Paul’s College, University of Waterloo (2 November 2003)

  The collegiate way of living thrives in four Ontario residential colleges.

• Dukedom Large Enough: Residential College Libraries (30 April 2003)

  A college without a library is hardly a college at all.

• College Renovations at the University of Pennsylvania (3 January 2003)

  Several of Penn’s residential colleges have just gotten a face-lift.

• Collegiate Developments at Bowling Green State (14 December 2002)

  The Chapman residential college carries out an important renovation project.

• Middlebury Opens First of Five Residential Colleges (16 September 2002)

  The Ross Commons residential college is completed on the Vermont campus.

• Collegiate History: Lowell and the Harvard Houses (1 August 2002)

  Henry Yeomans recounts the origins of the first American residential college system.

• Messiah College Alumni Propose a House System (15 July 2002)

  Graduates of a Pennsylvania liberal arts college recommend the collegiate way.

• National University of Singapore Plans a New College (1 June 2002)

  The collegiate way of living makes advances in Asia.

• Participate in a Collegiate Architectural Survey (6 May 2002)

  Hanbury Evans is seeking your opinions about campus architecture.

• MIT Architecture Essay Proposes Residential Colleges (24 February 2002)

  Architect and MIT alumnus Jay Weber commends the collegiate way to his alma mater.

• Sorkin on Colleges for the University of Chicago (5 February 2002)

  Architect Michael Sorkin proposes a collegiate system for the University of Chicago.

• “How to Build a Residential College” Appears in Print (4 January 2002)

  A brief introduction is now available in SCUP’s Planning for Higher Education.

• Vanderbilt University Plans a College System (13 November 2001)

  A private university in Tennessee starts down the collegiate way.

• University of Durham Establishes Two New Colleges (9 November 2001)

  John Snow College and George Stephenson College are born at Stockton-on-Tees.

• On Architecture: Princeton, Chicago, Ayers-Saint-Gross (30 May 2001)

  Residential college architectural notes from Michael Sorkin and others.

• “Residential College Buildings and Grounds” is Online (6 March 2001)

  Detailed recommendations for residential college buildings and grounds are now online.

• “How to Build a Residential College” Available (18 December 2000)

  A major summary section of the Collegiate Way website is now online.