UNM and NMSU are addressing similar problems of campus development in different ways.
Juggling campus capacity, legislative cuts and sustainability, architects at the two New Mexico universities are implementing ten- or twenty-year development plans.
Mike Rickenbaker, university architect and director of facilities, planning and management for NMSU, said the 2006 master plan is aimed at better university-community relations.
"A lot of universities are focused on internal spaces and focusing inward and, as a result, they become somewhat introverted," he said. "We're not saying to lose sight of that inward focus, but we're saying that it should have some outward focus as well."
Rickenbaker said NMSU will improve the face of its 920-acre campus by consolidating academic services and adding pedestrian-friendly crossings and distinguishable entrances, especially along University Avenue.
"It's about developing a great place where the city and the University come together . something that becomes more of a main street," he said. "It becomes more of a pedestrian-friendly (campus) as well as transit- and bicycle-focused."
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Dale Dekker is a founding member of Dekker/Perich/Sabatini, the architecture firm that deals with UNM's development. He said UNM is expanding through campuses in the Albuquerque region as well as consolidating main campus.
UNM will increase its capacity while lessening its footprint in the heart of Albuquerque by replacing old buildings on campus with more efficient, multi-story buildings, Dekker said. This will result in a "denser" campus.
"The only way to really accommodate the anticipated future growth of not only students, but the kinds of students that we have, is through in-fill and densification," he said.
Dekker said living on-campus, use of alternative transportation and distance learning are all factors that allow UNM to develop while minimizing its impact on the environment.
More than 600,000 people are projected to move to the corridor between Belen and Santa Fe within the next twenty-five years, Dekker said. This unprecedented population growth will have a huge impact on the development of UNM.
"We're going to be reshaping our cities," he said. "We're going to be reshaping our University, and we're going to be reshaping how our city works relative to in-fill development and densification along regional transportation and transit corridors."
According to the U.S. Census Bureau Web site, the population of Doña Ana County, where Las Cruces is located, grew by 15.4 percent between 2000 and 2008, and Bernalillo County's population grew by 14.2 percent. The U.S. as a whole grew by 9.2 percent during the same period.
"It appears that the growth in Las Cruces and the surrounding area will continue to grow at a rate much higher than most of the U.S.," Rickenbaker said. "This growth is impacting and will continue to impact NMSU's Las Cruces campus' development."
Architects from NMSU and UNM also have to deal with less funding from the state legislature.
Marc Saavedra, UNM's director of Government Relations, said that while the legislature cut 3.7 percent at both universities because of the economic crisis, the state gave NMSU $10 million dollars of new money. NMSU got the funds through the legislature's formula based on enrollment.
"New Mexico State has done a great job in terms of freshman retention, increasing their upper division enrollment and their graduate enrollment, mostly through online and distance learning," he said.
Rickenbaker said NMSU also received $5.5 million for the first phase of their Arts Complex on University Avenue.
Saavedra said UNM should receive new money from the state legislature for increased enrollment for the 2011 Fiscal Year.
Though UNM's 220-acre campus is significantly smaller than NMSU's, Saavedra said UNM has more square feet devoted to academic buildings and therefore receives more money from the state legislature than any other New Mexican university.
Dekker said negotiating the projected growth of the Albuquerque area and the demands of ever-expanding University is a balancing act.
"I think most everyone on the planning committee feels pretty good that the University can accommodate that growth," he said. "It's kind of mind-boggling and a little bit scary, but if we can manage it we can accommodate it."
