The School of Design and Construction believes that a culture of care is fundamental to the success of an optimal teaching and learning environment. The notion of care:
- Prioritizes a positive school-work-life balance without sacrificing professionalism, productivity, and constructive critique.
- Extends to classrooms, studios, seminar rooms, laboratories, and offices that are consistently engaged in active, pedagogical exercises intended to advance learning and collaboration in thoughtful, rigorous, and uplifting ways.
- Includes spaces where workload responsibilities are clearly conveyed, equitably distributed, and manageable for all.
- Encompasses pride in our education and care for our facilities, with respect for one another and ourselves.
- Emphasizes the health, safety, and emotional and mental well-being of our community as essential to what we do, and who we are.
We are also aware that social, cultural, and economic circumstances may necessitate flexibility with content delivery and facilities. In response to rapidly shifting circumstances shaping our contemporary condition, as of spring 2022 the school offers instruction in a variety of formats and spaces, including in-person learning in studios and classrooms, distance delivery, hybrid models known as “some online,” and occasional circumstances where some students are physically present and others are virtual (such as faculty, reviewers, or guests). Furthermore, faculty in the SDC teach using several different pedagogical methods, reflecting a desire to be innovative while maintaining tradition and respect for accreditation requirements in our professional disciplines. On the one hand, this includes “flipped” classrooms, active learning environments, and integrated, multi-disciplinary studios and laboratories featuring advanced software or technology. On the other hand, this includes juried design reviews, desk critiques, classroom lectures, and time-honored design exercises such as hand-sketching, hand-done model-building, and printed “boards” for pin-ups.
The school believes all of these modes and methods have merit and currently may be necessary for training students to be prepared for life after graduation. However, we understand that particular models and methods may become more common to higher education—just as they may become more entrenched in the professional world of design and construction. We must remain nimble to keep pace with these changes, and yet we must always remain steadfast in our commitment to the care and well-being of the SDC community and to the ethical and collaborative principles necessary to maintain a healthy and equitable teaching and learning environment.
Teaching and learning in the SDC is committed to the following notions of care:
- Care for people
- Care for knowledge and discovery, and
- Care for facilities.
Care for People
Caring for people is fundamental to the school’s commitment to a culture of care, and it is deeply intertwined with the school’s commitment to a world of equitability, justice, and belonging. The school recognizes the discrimination and systemic injustice faced by those who are traditionally
marginalized: Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) and all underrepresented peoples, including LGBTQIA2S+ communities, people with disabilities, under-resourced people and communities, women, older people, neurodivergent people, and undocumented people. The school strives to discontinue actions that foster exclusion and injustice and is dedicated to a non-discriminatory environment where students, faculty, and staff of all races, ethnicities, socioeconomic classes, places of origin, genders, sexual orientations, physical abilities, ages, and spiritual belief systems feel a sense of belonging, value, respect, and support. Together, we endeavor in our teaching, research, and service to enrich and care for all people and places.
Caring for people also means an astute awareness of the effects of our design and construction efforts on the environment, on the ecology, and on the planet. To the best of our ability, we must raise awareness about the potential effects of our design and construction ideas and practices—positive and negative—on people and places in the vicinity of our sites, projects, and case studies. With greater awareness comes increased opportunity for learning about others; greater awareness can—and should—lead to better, more informed, and more lasting design and construction projects.
We also encourage care for the legacy and history of those people whose lands upon which our projects, or our ideas, may lie. We encourage faculty and students always to recognize, consider, and understand that there may have been earlier (or current) inhabitants of a land or space whose value or belief systems may or may differ from the dominant narrative. None of these ideas are intended to suggest that all design and construction projects in the SDC must necessarily be oriented towards marginalized groups or underrepresented people or communities; rather, as part of a culture of care, it is a matter of recognizing the legacy and complexity of the land upon which we design, build, construct, and manage.
Care for people also means that we will not tolerate discrimination, bullying, or harassment in any form. Of course, this includes outwardly egregious offenses such as sexual or physical violence or harassment. Yet it also includes less obvious forms of harassment or disruptive behavior that impinge upon the learning experience in our teaching and learning spaces, such as excessive noise (or music) or microaggressions that may lead to psychological trauma. Our commitment to an inclusive, interdisciplinary, and supportive culture is such that we do not expect such circumstances to arise, but in the event that they do, we will take appropriate disciplinary action. We adhere to the university-sponsored community standards, and we expect that students and faculty alike will follow these standards and engage in an atmosphere of mutual respect and solidarity for one another. We hope that the SDC community will be mindful of each other’s physical, emotional, and mental health, and, where possible or permissible, demonstrate empathy for the challenges and realities faced by their colleagues.
Faculty awareness of student well-being is also part of a culture of care. To this end, faculty should take care to ensure that the exercises and assignments they present can be completed in a reasonable amount of time and, while some crossover may be inevitable given the typical semester calendar, faculty should attempt to work together to avoid overloading students with multiple projects due on similar days. To the best of their ability, faculty must also try to ensure that assignments, group exercises, or tasks do not lead to unhealthy competitive relationships between students or, for that matter, between any combination of faculty, students, and staff.
It is further advised that design and construction projects that include an oral presentation component are due at least twelve hours prior to the presentation. While faculty retain the right to adjust due dates and times depending upon the circumstances, emphasizing the completion of projects well in advance of an oral presentation permits adequate rest and extra time to prepare for the presentation and helps students recognize that the quality of oral presentations is often essential to professional success. It is similarly important that faculty and invited guests are consistently made aware that critiques of student work, at any time and in any form, are intended to be constructive and never directed towards the personal character of the students themselves.
Caring for people also means taking care of oneself. All members of the SDC community are encouraged to practice time management skills to ensure a school-work-life balance and to insist upon regular opportunities for breaks, relaxation, self-care, and proper sleep. The SDC further understands that people may have familial, financial, or other responsibilities that exist apart from schoolwork or administrative duties and encourages the communication of any necessary accommodations early and often to proper authorities—beyond accommodations secured through by the WSU Access Center. Success in design and construction, as with success in anything, cannot be accomplished without mental and physical health. The SDC is dedicated to ensuring that care for people is at the forefront of its educational practices.
Taking care of oneself requires care for one’s own safety. All people working in SDC building(s) and spaces should remain careful about their own safety at all times. It is further recommended that students returning home after business hours do so in groups or by calling for a Cougar Security Escort at (509) 432-3818. WSU law enforcement is activated through local dispatch by calling 9-1-1. For non-emergency issues that require assistance from campus law enforcement, please call 509-335-8548.
SDC people should also take care of their belongings. We recommend vigilance and taking care not to leave valuables unattended in SDC teaching and learning spaces. When personal belongings are not in immediate view, we suggest that any items of value should be stored and, if possible, locked away. Although the SDC, the college, or the university is not responsible for lost or stolen items, any theft of property should be reported to appropriate authorities.
Care for Knowledge and Discovery
Fundamental to design and construction education is the pursuit of knowledge and discovery—not for their own sake but for that of more sustainable, equitable, and just planet. To this end, the SDC wholly adopts the three “e’s” of sustainability: environment (care for an ecologically and environmentally sound built environment); economy (care for the allocation of resources necessary to sustain communities); and equity (caring about the fairness and justice embedded in the culture of people and place).
In the intellectual environment of a design and construction education, the pursuit of knowledge and discovery is carried out in a variety of settings: the studio, the lecture hall, the seminar room, the laboratory, the office, and—increasingly after 2020—in cyberspace. A design and construction environment is necessarily open and collaborative: it must be, for the design and construction of our built environment is not an isolated endeavor. The following set of recommendations should be pursued by faculty, students, and staff for optimal opportunities for knowledge and discovery, though they are not mutually exclusive:
- Encouraging freedom of expression in design and construction.
- Collaborating on team projects, learning together, and sharing resources and ideas.
- Recognizing progress and accomplishments (for example, showcasing in-process and completed work in designated spaces facilitated by the school,).
- Providing a diverse range of curricular opportunities to highlight a diverse range of career opportunities following graduation.
- Updating curricular offerings, when resources allow, to meet the needs of the twenty-first century professions and industry.
- Maintaining academic integrity.
Much, albeit not all, design and construction education is honed in an open studio, laboratory, or “live” classroom environment. It is in these environments where collaboration, impromptu discussion, and chance encounters are readily encouraged and most effectively carried out—even if students are collaborating digitally or are working on personal computers. It is also in such settings where critical thinking regarding history, theory, design, technology, ethics, and best building practices are acquired and rigorously tested from one semester to the next. It is in the teaching and learning spaces where complex problems are introduced, questioned, and discovered; it is there where the primary guiding principles concerning collaborative teamwork and conduct essential to the professional work environment are honed and practiced. It is also in the teaching and learning environments where faculty are encouraged to raise critical issues pertinent to the world of design and construction and to consider alternative teaching methods if conventional methods are no longer effective for tackling current problems. Students are encouraged to be intellectually curious and to take creative risks in their designs and projects while always being conscious of legal, logical, and ethical principles.
We believe that collaboration can lead to an engaged and informed student body that is not only better prepared for the professional office or jobsite, but also recognizes its role as a service to society and is thus better prepared to engage with community volunteers and local citizens. In this respect, most of the SDC spaces are equipped to promote teaching and learning at the larger scale of group gatherings and lectures to the smaller scale of one-on-one discussions. The open environment of the principal learning spaces of a design and construction education also promotes intimate conversation and peer-to-peer learning, often without faculty. We also welcome student-run clubs and extra-curricular activities related to the world of design and construction, not only for “résumé building” but because extra-curricular activities and events are where some of the most crucial learning takes place. The world of design and construction is a fundamentally social art as much as it is an intellectual one; a culture of knowledge and discovery rarely occurs in isolation.
The culture of knowledge and discovery is also facilitated by regular and timely attendance and availability by students and faculty alike. While faculty will create their own syllabi with particular stipulations regarding attendance, behavior, and deadlines, as a general rule, students should attend classes at the prescribed times and complete assignments in a timely fashion. Faculty, meanwhile, are expected to make every effort to be available for communication during class time and office hours. Unless otherwise specified, during the semester faculty are expected to maintain regular communication with their classes via email and/or university-supported learning management systems to convey deadlines, new assignments, changes to syllabi, grading procedures, or other information.
To generate a culture that enhances the pursuit of knowledge and discovery, we encourage an “open door” policy where all parties feel comfortable communicating with one another. We also encourage the display of projects and the celebration of accomplishments for inspiration and, we hope, camaraderie. It is in our teaching and learning environments where the school creates a culture of optimism, curiosity, dynamism, interdisciplinarity, and innovation; environments where faculty and students can remain hopeful that they will make a positive difference to the society.
Care for Facilities
We respect and care for our physical facilities, our furniture, and our equipment. The SDC teaching and learning spaces are open to the public during the hours posted on the main entrance doors to its buildings (access cards are provided to SDC students, faculty, and staff for after-hours and weekend access). People without access cards should not be permitted entry into SDC facilities, and propping open exterior doors is prohibited under all circumstances. Students are responsible for the conduct and behavior of any visitors they allow into SDC spaces.
To maintain the health, safety, and well-being of the SDC community, all corridors, classrooms, conference rooms, seminar rooms, design studios, laboratories, restrooms, interior public areas and outside areas adjacent to all SDC buildings should be left free of personal items and debris. Monitors, screens, projectors, rolling carts, remotes, cords, and other classroom accessories should be returned to where they were found and, if possible, turned off. The cutting of model-building materials should be done on cutting mats to avoid damage to university-issued desks or tables. Whiteboards, if used, must be cleaned or erased after use. The use of spray paint, adhesives, or any other potentially toxic materials or chemical-based processes are only permitted in the paint booths or in well-ventilated spaces—if permitted at all (students must communicate with faculty and/or other authorities before engaging in any such activities).
Food and most drinks are permitted in the SDC teaching and learning spaces but must be recycled or disposed of properly. It is neither the responsibility of the custodians nor SDC faculty, staff, or other students to dispose of individual student waste. (Alcohol and illegal substances, meanwhile, are strictly prohibited, and students caught engaging in such activities may be reported to appropriate authorities.) SDC spaces are to be completely cleaned at the end of the academic semester/year and all personal property and material must be removed. Students will be notified of deadlines and procedures to remove personal property and materials in anticipation of moving and cleaning.
SDC fabrication facilities, digital resources, and presentation equipment, contingent upon financial considerations, are maintained and regularly upgraded to support the school’s academic programs. These resources are primarily designated for supporting student coursework and SDC-sponsored student club use. Use of SDC facilities and equipment beyond the scope of course and club activities is permitted only upon prior approval from SDC leadership, and proposals for such use should be submitted in writing to the SDC director with the intended use and its support of the pedagogical aims of the school. Proposals will be evaluated with respect to the care and safety for facilities and people; the project’s relevance to school activities; and resource availability and management.
Care for facilities also means that the SDC cares about displaying the achievements and efforts of its students. Therefore, student projects, models, and exhibits may be displayed throughout SDC facilities and coordinated by particular faculty and/or staff from semester to semester or year to year. Such work allows students to learn about the work of their peers and it also permits the greater community—including prospective students and their families—to see the work and excitement generated by SDC students, faculty, and staff. This care extends to the personalization of work areas (personalization of studio desks, for example, can provide a sense of personal care away from home), although students must be made aware that many studio desks may be designated as “hot” desks for any specific semester and may need to be shared. Furthermore, personalization is only allowable so long as any changes can be easily removed without damage to the property. Material deemed offensive to anyone in the SDC community may necessitate a discussion and recommendations for removal.
Changes to permanent fixtures or SDC equipment must be formally proposed to SDC leadership and approved through the VCEA office of Facilities, Operations, and Safety Services. Further safety policies and procedures associated with the use of SDC facilities is under the jurisdiction of the VCEA office of Facilities, Operations, and Safety Services and specifics regarding materials and equipment also under SDCPPM 4.5: Shop Guidelines for Use and Safety.