SPRINGFIELD, Mo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--After months of work with renowned architecture and urban design firm Cooper Robertson, Drury University has completed a new campus master plan that will guide the school’s physical evolution for decades to come, and build on the success of recent growth in enrollment, academic programming, and alumni engagement.
The small, private liberal arts school based in Springfield, Missouri, is making strategic moves to address the needs of today’s students in a rapidly changing world, and set itself apart in the competitive landscape of American higher education. The strategies are being laid out by second-year president Dr. Tim Cloyd, who spearheaded gains in national visibility, enrollment, and fundraising in 13 years as president of Hendrix College in Arkansas, which is now a top national liberal arts school.
Drury’s master plan was crafted with extensive input from the Drury and Springfield communities, starting with a week-long charrette in April and continuing throughout 2017. The master planning process has taken place in parallel with a wide-ranging study of Drury’s academic offerings as well as plans for a comprehensive capital campaign. These strategic priorities will inform each other in the coming years as Drury moves to raise its regional and national profile.
“Drury’s new master plan provides an essential, visionary framework to anticipate and accommodate our campus needs over the next 25 to 30 years,” Cloyd says. “It is inspired by Drury’s rich legacy, but designed to carry our mission forward deep into the 21st century.”
Drury chose New York-based Cooper Robertson to develop its master plan because of the firm’s extensive experience working with higher education institutions including Ohio State, Yale, Georgetown and Duke University. The firm’s most recent project in the Midwest is a redesign of the Gateway Arch Museum and Visitor Center in St. Louis.
“A good master plan envisions a fabric of buildings, open space and landscape that are knitted together in a cohesive, legible, attractive — and memorable — way,” says John Kirk, partner and principal architect with Cooper Robertson. “Drury’s master plan is ambitious but fully achievable, and I have great confidence in the ability of the leadership and community to make it happen.”
Find more details, renderings and videos at http://www.drury.edu/master-plan.