Capital Development & Strategic Vision Plan

The Capital Development and Strategic Vision Plan will establish a campus vision for the next 10-15 years and guide ongoing decision making around capital planning and development, campus open space, and infrastructure in a manner that aligns with the values, goals, and strategic vision of Western Washington University. The completed Capital Development & Strategic Vision Plan will guide how we improve and modernize our physical spaces on campus and will serve as a basis for updating the Institutional Master Plan, done in partnership with the City of Bellingham and other community groups. The current 10-year capital plan anticipates that much of the development will be focused on renovation and modernization. 

The Plan will assess programmatic space and facility needs across campus, study existing facilities for their suitability to meet these needs and aim to establish a sequence for the next several biennia of projects, including strategies for developing swing space to allow for the likely relocation, whether temporary or permanent, of programs currently housed in each of those buildings. 

The Plan will consider needs related to ADEI, health and well-being, and student, faculty, and staff collaboration and make recommendations for how to address these needs in future projects of all scales and funding sources. The Plan will also consider goals related to sustainability, climate impact, and resilience and look at opportunities for partnership and development beyond the main campus, including at satellite locations.

The team of NAC Architecture and Walker Macy landscape architects was chosen through a Request for Qualifications process as the external consultant that will lead the effort, in coordination with Western’s project team, in stakeholder engagement, needs analysis, and development of the final plan report. Extensive input from members of the campus community will be gathered and thorough analysis of campus needs will be done during the planning phase. The process will be guided by Western’s core values and strategic plan.

Extensive engagement with the campus community began in September. The heart of the planning effort will be in broad and varied stakeholder engagement, to supplement and expand on the background research and analysis into how Western uses its facilities, to engender broad participation and transparency, and to help the deliverables of the Plan to be rooted in Western’s mission, values, vision, and goals.

The NAC project team began working with the President's Cabinet, Western's leadership teams, and Facilities Development and Operations on the discovery phase of the plan in August 2023. In addition to facilities and site analyses, extensive outreach is planned to solicit input from the campus community, including:

• President's Cabinet
• Board of Trustees
• Facilities Development and Operations
• President's Sustainability Council
• Enrollment and Student Services leadership
• University Housing, Dining, and Student Union leadership
• Athletics
• Colleges and Academic Units
• Council of Deans
• Faculty Senate
• ADEI student, faculty, and staff stakeholder groups and program representatives
• Associated Students
• Student body
• Okanagan Charter representatives
• Faculty and staff representatives
• Office of Institutional Effectiveness

During Winter Quarter of 2024, quantitative and qualitative analyses of data collected during the discovery phase will help create ideas for development options and project evaluation criteria. During the spring and summer quarters, projects will be assessed against established criteria, and project priorities will be established, in consultation with all stakeholders and with Western's mission, vision, and goals always in mind.

The plan will continue to be refined through the summer and fall quarters, with completion expected in December of 2024.

Learn more about the consultant team and planning process.