Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff,

In February, President Valerie Smith shared with the campus community Swarthmore Forward: A Plan for Our Future. One of the four pillars of Swarthmore Forward is to renew our campus infrastructure to better support our goals of educating the whole student and building a cohesive and sustainable community for living, learning, and working together. With that in mind, we are now embarking on a combined campus and library master planning process. The goal of this work is to define necessary, high-priority facilities improvements to effectively support College programming. The planning process will also reimagine McCabe Library and recommend an approach for its future.

In alignment with the College’s energy plan, To Zero By Thirty-Five, and our mission to reach carbon neutrality by 2035, the campus and library master plans will prioritize the College’s sustainability goals by repurposing existing spaces and buildings wherever possible as we work to accommodate the campus's evolving space needs.

Earlier this year, we formed a Campus and Library Master Plan Advisory Committee to guide the master planning efforts. The Advisory Committee conducted a national search for a partner to help us develop two master plans — one for the entire campus, and one specifically for McCabe — and selected Ayers Saint Gross (ASG) from Baltimore, Md. ASG will also work with Shepley Bulfinch, a firm that specializes in library architecture, to develop, with the campus community, ways to reimagine McCabe. The College plans to complete both master plans in Fall 2025.

The team from ASG will soon begin its work on campus to gather information from our community. For the campus master plan, ASG will solicit input from departments, offices, program managers, and others on their space needs. To ensure the plans reflect the needs and perspectives of students, faculty, and staff across campus, ASG will also hold open listening sessions.

Your input and insight will be a vital part of this process and will help us develop a successful roadmap for enhancing our physical infrastructure and making sure campus spaces effectively and efficiently support a dynamic learning and work environment for all students, faculty, and staff. Please look out for more information on upcoming listening sessions this fall. If you have any questions, or are interested in learning more about the planning process, please reach out to Roderick Wolfson, senior planner/project manager, at rwolfso1@swarthmore.edu.

Sincerely,

Rob Goldberg
Vice President, Finance & Administration

On behalf of the Campus and Library Master Plan Advisory Committee

Kathleen Howard, co-chair
Acting Provost and Dean of the Faculty

Andy Feick
Associate Vice President for Sustainable Facilities Operation and Capital Planning

Erin Brownlee Dell
Chief of Staff & Secretary of the College

Stephanie Ives
Vice President, Student Affairs

Leslie Abbey ’90
Board of Managers

Paul Kuenstner ’80
Board of Managers

Roderick Wolfson
Senior Planner/Project Manager