Space Policy
Adopted June 1996
As part of Space management, the Space and Equipment Committee will review annually the use of all space in the Department of Psychology. This review will be conducted during the Winter or Spring quarters so that any recommendations for reassignment may be made before the end of the academic year and any moving, remodeling, etc. May be accomplished before the beginning of classes in the Fall. Although space requests may be submitted to the Committee at any time of the year, the annual review is an opportune time.
In evaluating space use, the Committee will take the following principles into consideration:
1. Principle of Bedrock Space.
All regular, full-time faculty are assured of continuing assignment of a private faculty office and a lab or project workroom in Elliott Hall appropriate to the kind of research in which they are currently engaged. In the absence of extramural funding, the amount of this bedrock lab or project space should allow for a level of research activity consistent with the research mission of the department. This principle of bedrock space also applies to the space needs of administrative and non-faculty teaching staff (e.g., TA's). The department is committed to maintaining the quantity and quality of space needed to carry out its essential teaching, research, and administrative functions.
2. Principle of Need/Space Congruence.
Inherent to the Principle of Bedrock Space above (i.e., ".a lab or a project workroom appropriate to the kind of research in which they are currently engaged") is the Principle of Need/Space Congruence. Explicit statement of this principle is important because changes may occur in a faculty member's research interests over the course of his or her career in the department. When an investigator's research activity changes so that his or her currently assigned bedrock lab or project space is no longer appropriate, then a change in the bedrock lab or project space is in order. It is hoped that the annual review of space use will (at least occasionally) result in convenient situations where one's need for more space that currently assigned can be accommodated through the ability of another to work with less space that currently assigned. In any event, it should be understood that space assignments to faculty or programs are not permanent and unchanging, but rather fundamentally temporary and fluid, with the amount and kind of space assigned subject to change in accordance with the amount and kind of space appropriate to the kind of activity.
3. Principle of Conservation and Optimal Efficiency.
Almost every faculty member, graduate student, and staff person carries out multiple task responsibilities, with the particular constellation of tasks for which a given individual has responsibility changing over time. Insofar as possible, all the various tasks a single individual carries out should be carried out in the same office space. That is, except under extraordinary circumstances, a given individual should have only one office. Also, compatible kinds of studies should, whenever possible, be conducted in the same space even though they may be funded by different agencies, have different names, and perhaps even be directed by different PIs. Whenever possible, when different faculty have occasional need of space for compatible purposes (e.g., interview rooms, testing rooms), space should be shared. Whenever possible, a graduate RA's project "workbench" should also serve as his/her "student desk." To conserve space, graduate students should not have multiple university offices, e.g., one office in their role as fellow of an interdisciplinary center, another in their role as TA within a department, another in their role as apprentice on a research project. Unless there is strong justification for doing otherwisAugust 29, 2007ur in the same place.
4. Principle of Quality/Use Correspondence.
Rooms of equivalent floor area or volume are not necessarily equivalent in terms of their functional possibilities. That is, rooms with finished ceilings, good lighting, windows, etc., should be assigned to people-intensive purposes, while interior rooms without windows should not be so assigned, being more suitable as short-term testing rooms, labs, data storage, etc. Narrow, windowless rooms with unfinished ceilings, exposed pipes and ductwork, etc., are suitable for storage but should be avoided as active workroom, labs, or testing places. Also, special purpose rooms (e.g., laboratory animal holding rooms) should not be suddenly recommissioned as, for example, computer labs.
5. Principle of Funded-Project Priority.
Generally speaking, funded projects take priority over unfunded projects in access to space.
6. Principle of Mission Protection.
The department should not lose cognizance of the fact that it has an educational mission in addition to its research mission. Accordingly, classroom and other student areas should be preserved and maintained.
7. Principle of No Private Enterprise.
Space in the Department of Psychology is to be employed in support of the teaching and research missions of the University of Minnesota. It should not be used as a base of operations for extracurricular or private enterprise. When the products of research and scholarship spin off into commercial ventures, the commercial-venture aspects of the activity should relocate to private-sector space off campus.
8. Principle of No Dead Storage.
Equipment or material which is not in use and for which there is no planned future date for use, should not be stored on campus. Arrangements should be made for the equipment or material to be stored in an appropriate off-site University storage facility.
9. Principle of Scale Limitation.
The amount of space required for a new or expanding project may sometimes make it impossible, in the context of the principles above, for the Space and Equipment Committee to accommodate the project in Elliott Hall. For this reason, the Department must reserve the right to relocate projects off-site as necessary.