“Our vision was to create a structure that would beflexible, inviting, foster a collaborative spirit and provide

the latest tools to facilitate optimal student learning.”

Linda Seestedt-Stanford, Central Michigan University, Assistant Dean

Case StudyCENTRAL MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY

THE HERBERT H. AND GRACE A. DOW COLLEGE OF HEALTH PROFESSIONS

“We wanted abuilding thatwould encourageactive learning,whether it befaculty-to-studentor peer-to-peer.”

Linda Seestedt-Stanford, Central Michigan University, Assistant DeanThe Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow College of Health Professions

A goal: To reshape the way facultyviewed teaching environments.

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When administrators and faculty at Central Michigan University in MountPleasant, Mich., decided to build a new academic center for its College of HealthProfessions, they set lofty goals. They wanted a facility that would encourage activelearning and help elevate CMU to national prominence as one of the topeducational institutions in the country. After years of struggling to build acohesive, collaborative program while scattered in several buildings across campus,the CMU team was convinced that a well-designed new facility was vital forachieving their goals.

Next-generation learningThe new building for The Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow College of HealthProfessions, a 175,000-square-foot, $50 million facility, opened inJanuary, 2004. Prominently situated on the CMU main campus, it housesall the major components of the university’s health professions program—clinics, classrooms, research labs, and faculty and staff offices—in aninnovative facility designed to support interdisciplinary, collaborativeexploration and learning. The building brings together CMU’s healthprofessions, neuroscience and clinical psychology programs and its many

associated research initiatives andcommunity outreach services in onetechnologically advanced environmentthat promotes learning, patient care,collaboration and discovery.

“Our vision was to create a structurethat would be flexible, inviting, foster acollaborative spirit and provide the latesttools to facilitate optimal studentlearning,” says Linda Seestedt-Stanford,assistant dean of health professions andthe college’s project manager.

“At the same time, we wanted to reshapethe way faculty viewed teachingenvironments. In the past, mostclassrooms were very lecture-focused.We wanted a building that wouldencourage active learning, whether it befaculty-to-student or peer-to-peer.”

Objectives

Central MichiganUniversity Founded more than a centuryago, Central MichiganUniversity has evolved into adoctoral/research-intensivepublic university that providesits more than 28,000 studentswith modern facilities andtechnology, faculty who arededicated to student-centeredteaching and research, and aselection of more than 200programs at the bachelor's,master's, specialist's anddoctoral levels. The universityemploys more than 800 full-time faculty members at itsmain campus in MountPleasant, a city of about25,000 residents inMichigan's Lower Peninsula.

The atrium is a place to collaborate, study and relax.

A trip to the Steelcase University Learning Centerin Grand Rapids, Mich., brought to life many ofthe concepts that the team had been envisioning.

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“Ever since health professions became a CMU college in 1997, we hadbeen scattered in six different buildings and, as a result, our disciplinestended to operate in silos. We wanted to bring all our health-relateddisciplines together in one building to encourage collaboration on research,clinical programs and teaching approaches,” says Seestedt-Stanford.

Planning for the new facility was extensive. Years before spade touchedsoil in the groundbreaking ceremony in June 2001, the CMU team—administration, faculty, purchasing and facilities—solicited outside expertiseto help achieve their goals. They asked for input from other universities,and they also looked outside academia to identify recently completedstate-of-the-art health buildings to visit before beginning to formalize theirown requirements.

Among the resources they selected to help achievetheir objectives was Steelcase and the Detroit officeof the renowned architectural firm SmithGroup.

“Steelcase’s contribution was essential. They appliedtheir research on learning environments to ourspecific needs, and they helped us objectively lookat different ideas about how to plan and furnishour interior spaces so they’d be flexible andcollaborative, able to serve multiple functions andmultiple users,” says Seestedt-Stanford.

For example, the CMU team was originallyconsidering built-in furniture in the computer labsand student interaction areas. Working with theteam from Steelcase and Steelcase dealershipAllied Office Interiors, Inc., they discovered mobilitymade more sense.

“When you think about it, who knows if we’ll evenneed a computer lab in five years when so many ofour students are already carrying their own laptops?

Collaborative, interactive spaceSituation

Bix seating provides lounge-based settings for studyingbetween classes.

Linda Seestedt-Stanford,assistant dean, places a highvalue on informal collaborationwith colleagues.

“Steelcase helped us to see furniture through a different lens and discover new product options and applications that fully supported our overall goals.”— Linda Seestedt-Stanford

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And what good is having a student interaction area if they can’t movethings around and make it their space? What good is it if they end up notusing it?” says Seestedt-Stanford.

A trip to the Steelcase University Learning Center in Grand Rapids, Mich.,brought to life many of the concepts that the team had been envisioning,especially for the “in-between spaces” outside classrooms and officeswhere valuable informal learning can take place.

The three major components of its health professions programs—clinical,instructional and research—occupy separate wings on either side of a largecentral atrium. Wireless Internet access is available throughout the facility,so work and learning can happen everywhere.

The atrium was designed as a “communication corridor.” It’s furnishedend-to-end with Archipelago™ seating and mobile Huddleboards™, providingcomfortable and adaptable touch-down places for studying, collaboratingon projects, meeting with clients from the community who participate in thecenter’s clinical programs, or even just relaxing.

Outside, courtyards provide inspiring views and places toget away for a while, without having to leave the premises.

Just off the atrium, fully visible through a glass wall, is acomputer lab furnished with fence-height Pathways® Postand Beam, Universal Worksurfaces, Kick® system in acollaborative 120-degree configuration, Kart® and Sweeperseating. It’s a highly flexible, heavily used space thatattracts up to 7,000 student visits a week.

“Steelcase helped us to see furniture through a differentlens and discover new product options and applicationsthat fully supported our overall goals. They helped us thinkthrough our issues in the context of their research findingsand expertise,” says Seestedt-Stanford.

Solution

Dynamic, active…and comfortable

Universal worksurfaces, Sweeper seating andother moveable furniture make the computer laba flexible environment for learning.

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Classrooms and labs are well equipped with technology and moveablefurniture to support a variety of learning and teaching styles.

“In the past, most classrooms were very lecture-focused.We want our students to take a more active role in theirlearning, with faculty acting as facilitators instead ofspoon-feeding information. The furniture in theclassrooms plays a big role in achieving this,” saysSeestedt-Stanford. “Students typically spend 1 - 3 hoursin each class. They need to be comfortable and be ableto move around. Static furniture too easily translates intostatic learning.”

Throughout the CMU building, a broad variety ofSteelcase Inc. seating products meets a broad varietyof needs. In classrooms and labs, you’ll find Kart chairsand stools, often teamed with mobile Ballet® andGroupwork™ tables.

Let’s B® seating was the choice for a highly flexibleclassroom where the arrangement of furniture usuallychanges several times a day.

In the second-floor hallways surrounding the atrium, Bix®

seating provides comfortable booth-style enclosures forstudying (or sleeping!) between classes. In the second-floor student interaction area, Sweeper seating, coupledwith Martini™ tables and Huddleboards, make the spacea work hub with casual appeal. Having a photocopymachine in the space rounds out its usefulness.

Steelcase’s Leap chair, with its proven ergonomic seatingtechnology, was selected as the task chair for all facultyoffices, with Deck™ guest chairs providing a visual link tothe woodwork and built-ins. Jersey® and Assisa seatingwas the choice for seminar spaces and faculty meetingrooms.

In administrative areas, Jenny™ seating provides for sit-down collaboration areas, while Series 9000® and Answer®

workstations maximize the efficient use of space.

In addition to offering a broad breath of product to meet various needs,durability was another important factor for choosing Steelcase.Academic buildings are 24/7 facilities, and multiple users give furnishingsa daily workout.

“We looked for quality that could stand up to the test of time,”Seestedt-Stanford notes. “I tell the students that their kids may somedaybe using this same building!”

Post and Beam defines a touch-down spot.

A seating story

Leap

Let’s B

Archipelago

Kart

As a result of all the focus and planning, CMU’s new building is recognizedas one of the premiere educational facilities in the United States.

Seestedt-Stanford was invited to present a general session at a 2004national conference focused exclusively on new science buildings. CMUwas recognized at the conference as setting “a new benchmark for modernscience teaching.”

The Chronicle of Higher Education,a high-profile weekly publicationfocused exclusively on academia,featured CMU’s health sciencescenter as its front-page feature inFebruary 2004. No smallachievement—and cachet—fora mid-sized institution in asmall town surrounded by ruralcentral Michigan.

“Without question, the building isresulting in better learning andteaching, and it’s also helpingattract and retain students andfaculty,” says Marvis Lary, dean.

Janet Sturm, an associateprofessor of communicationdisorders, came to CMU in August,2003, from the University of NorthCarolina at Chapel Hill.

“This facility was a huge draw forme to better do all the work I wantto do - teaching, research andclinical,” says Sturm. “Now that I’mhere, I think I’m definitely a betterteacher. In my classes, I have moreoptions. For example, being able toeasily put two students together towork hands-on at a computer inthe lab really helps push learningand allows me to give more

A premiere educational facilityResults

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“This facility was a huge draw for me to better do all the work I want to do - teaching, research and clinical. Now that I’m here, I think I’m definitely a better teacher.”—Janet Sturm, Associate Professor of Communication Disorders

feedback. And I’ve used the collaborative areas in the atrium asworkstations for 10 teams to think through 10 different treatmentapproaches, something I couldn’t do in a traditional lecture hall.”

The design of the building also encourages faculty collaboration, whichresults in better science and better teaching, says Sturm. Because there’s acentral atrium and faculty offices are in the connecting areas between thethree wings, “the potential forcollaborative work with otherdisciplines is heightened,” shenotes. “We see each other, get toknow each other, interact moreand can support each other’sresearch and teaching.”

Supported by this innovative newbuilding, CMU’s 2,500 undergradand graduate health professionsstudents now have access to thebest in academics—fromopportunities to engage withfaculty in research to hands-onclinical experiences to learningfrom each other. And CMU facultymembers benefit from access tothe latest health sciences,neuroscience and psychologyinformation, resources andtechnology, along with theopportunity to teach and learnfrom each other in settings thatpromote active learning and easycollaboration.

“It’s a building designed toencourage linkages andengagement,” says Dean Lary.“It’s helping us in so many waysto realize our full potential. Ourgoals are becoming our reality.”

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Archipelago seating furnishes the atrium comfortably and functionally.

®TMCall 800.333.9939 or

visit www.steelcase.com

Steelcase products used:

Answer®

Criterion® seating

Deck™ seating

Huddleboard™

Jersey® seating

Leap® seating

Pathways® Post and Beam

Series 9000®

Universal Worksurfaces

Universal Storage

Vecta products used:

Ballet® tables

Kart® seating

Turnstone products used:

Groupwork™ tables

Jenny™ Lounge seating

Let's B® seating

Kick®

Sweeper seating

Metro products used:

Archipelago™ seating

Bix® seating

Details products used:

Worktools by Details®

Credits:

Architect and Designer: SmithGroup

CMU Project Manager: Linda Seestedt-Stanford

General Contractor: JM Olson Corporation

Dealer: Allied Office Interiors, Inc.

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