NOCCCD 2021-2030 Educational and Facilities Master Plan

Download the EMFP Refresh

The EFMP is grounded in internal realities, such as the current systems and programs, and integrates external influences, such as demographic trends and the community’s educational interests and workforce needs.

The EFMP is comprised of two parts: The primary driver is the Educational Master Plan (EMP), and its directions and needs are supported by the Facilities Master Plan (FMP). Combined, these elements create a ten-year roadmap for NOCCCD, which will guide planning efforts, strategic plans, program reviews, and allocation of resources.

Though guided by planners and architects, the Master Plan is, at its core, a District, campus, and community effort. A successful plan combines critical input from students, faculty, staff, administrators, and community members, and all of these groups have been intrinsically involved in this document’s creation.

As such, within the EFMP, any reference to the District represents the campus communities of Cypress College, Fullerton College, North Orange Continuing Education, and District Services. This includes students, faculty, staff, and administrators.

Purpose of the EMFP Refresh

Developed collaboratively between all three campus communities serving as one, the purpose of this document is to provide updated and refreshed guidance for the District through 2030 and serve as the measuring stick by which future educational programs and facilities investments will be evaluated.

The 2020 Educational and Facilities Master Plan was originally crafted during the onset of a global pandemic, at a time when the
world faced unprecedented uncertainties. The prevailing conditions at that time were marked by disruptions in learning, abrupt transitions to remote and hybrid instruction modalities, and an acute awareness of the need for adaptable facilities to accommodate health and safety measures. In drafting the plan, the original project team aimed to address immediate needs and chart a course forward in a time of uncertainty.

Today, the District stands at a critical juncture, requiring a refresh to this document that will reprioritize the District’s planning of near-term and future decisions by reaffirming and reallocating current and future projects through 2030.

As we embark on this refresh, it is essential to remember the vision and core values of the original EFMP are not changing, but rather being reprioritized to guide the District towards these initiatives and ensure the plan is responsive to current educational and societal needs. We must reassess whether our educational programs, services, and facilities continue to meet the diverse needs of our students, educators, and the community, both on campus and remotely. This process has entailed engaging students, faculty, and staff across all three campuses, reviewing emerging workforce trends, evaluating the utilization and effectiveness of existing facilities, and considering sustainability, accessibility and equity as paramount factors.

The purpose of the Refresh is also to inform subsequent project-specific efforts in physical planning; program validation, feasibility, and test-fit planning. As such, it defines a framework, within which individual projects, both renovation and new construction, can be realized as part of a larger network of campus assets and infrastructure.

A critical outgrowth of the EFMP Refresh is the potential reallocation of Measure J project funding to address current prioritized needs. Given the dramatic changes in how higher education is delivered and accessed in a post-COVID environment, the Refresh highlights current and future needs based upon rapidly evolving conditions, including a shift to remote and hybrid instruction modalities that have left some classrooms vacant. Ultimately, this Refresh aims to update and recenter the District as it steers its course following such unprecedented times, and heads to a new and brighter tomorrow.

Executive Summary

The COVID-19 pandemic reshaped much of the world and created long-lasting ripple effects that have shifted some of the very basic needs of students, faculty, and staff within the District. As we continue to evaluate these shifts, it is important to reflect on the progress made and the experiences gained over the past three years.

We additionally recognize that as our educational, physical facility, and virtual needs continue to evolve, so should our campus assets. Ease of access to resources became a key challenge, as students, faculty, and staff simultaneously navigate on-ground and virtual networks. The increasingly hybrid nature of campus experiences requires institutional leadership that is agile and responsive to change.

The Refresh helps to address these challenges in a post-pandemic environment that has reshaped and accelerated the transformation of our educational environment. The integration of new technologies is integral to teaching and learning, and the demand for flexible, adaptable spaces has taken on a new significance. Additionally, the social and emotional well-being of our students and the broader community now stand as critical priorities in education.

Several modifications were implemented to enhance the original EFMP. First, the educational themes were recategorized to better reflect the District’s goals and provide implementable guidance across all six themes. Where the original EFMP spoke to “Online Learning”, there is an understanding that educational modalities have moved away from a binary “in-person” or “online” towards more flexible and technology-rich learning environments. Through various campus engagements, it was apparent that student success is directly impacted by their experience on campus and cannot be viewed independently of each other. Spaces that welcome students and enhance their sense of belonging are more important than ever. The EFMP refresh merges student experience with success for a holistic approach towards the District’s goals.

Furthermore, the EFMP refresh incorporated a crucial focus on diversity, equity, inclusion, anti-racism, and accessibility, emphasizing the importance of creating an inclusive and equitable educational environment and should be used as a lens throughout all themes. A notable addition is an integration of Sustainability, recognizing the significance of being good stewards of environmental, human, and societal resources.

Project Priorities

Currently funded projects, through existing local bond, state bond, grant funds, donations, and other sources, will continue until 2028, the same year as the 2028 Presidential Election. Potential future projects will be considered after 2028, should additional funding be secured through new local bond, state bond, grant funds, donations, and other similar sources.

Methodologies

The 2023 EFMP Refresh is meant to serve as an update. As part of the overall planning process, the EFMP acknowledges and incorporates prior educational and facilities planning documents to ensure that the 2023 EFMP Refresh aligns with past and ongoing
efforts. The EFMP also utilized key research and data metrics from national and regional resources, such as the United States Census, the California Chancellor’s Office, Orange County Business Council, Orange County Centers of Excellence for Labor Market Research report, and other third-party labor market reports. 

Campus Engagement

Similar to the original EFMP process, the planning team spent considerable time and made conscious efforts to involve stakeholders from all campuses. The planning team was guided by a District-wide Steering Committee, made up of 30-plus members representing campuses and stakeholders.

The committee met a total of nine times over a four-month span to discuss the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on education and the utilization of spaces, to update the Strategic Directions and Goals, to discuss the participation and feedback from campus forums, and to review and provide input to the educational and facilities components of the plan.

In addition, reviews and recommendations were given by the Steering Committee and campus stakeholders for refinement of the EFMP, prior to its review by the District Consultation Council and Board of Trustees.

The consultant team spent a significant amount of time engaging the campus community through forums and stakeholder meetings with students, faculty, classified staff, and campus and District administrators. The team utilized a variety of interactive and engaging activities to bolster participation and solicit insightful information. These activities provided direct feedback on how spaces through each campus were currently being used and gave context to how to repurpose and better use spaces to better the student, faculty, and staff experience.

Data Integration

The EFMP Refresh process identified new tools and studies that can be used by the District to better inform future decision-making processes, by measuring the optimization and utilization of campus resources. Notably, two pivotal studies from the district played a crucial role in shaping this evolution: the 2023 Cambridge West space inventory report and the real-time data from the Dabblefox platform for space utilization.

These studies, with feedback gathered during the engagement process, have provided both quantitative and qualitative feedback to form a solid foundation for understanding and addressing emerging needs. We strongly believe that these studies and methods should be further developed and expanded upon by the District.

2023 Cambridge West Report

The Cambridge West report examines the District-wide space inventory using data from the District’s Fusion database and provides an analysis of “what the District has”. Extracting square footages and room types for all rooms across the District, the report provided insights into the composition of space at each campus. It highlighted hierarchies in the distribution of room types, offering valuable information on the macro scale of each building’s contents. This data has proven to be essential for understanding the
room type uses on each campus.

Dabblefox Data

The Cambridge West report was a study of “what the District has,” the live data from the emerging Dabblefox platform provided information on “how the District uses it”. Similar to the Cambridge West report, it analyzed each room across the district but cross-referenced them in real-time with the academic course calendar to gauge the frequency of use. Utilization rates were expressed through a capacity/load ratio, where percentages much larger than 100% are indicative of low utilization. On a macro scale, considering the weighted average of these capacity/load ratios can pinpoint underutilized buildings, marking them as potential candidates for programmatic reconsideration to enhance overall campus utilization. While the Dabblefox data is not complete for all campuses, completing the data analysis for all three campuses should be a top District-wide priority.