Space Moves: Enhancing Collaboration and Efficiency
Sent: May 22, 2025
From: Vincent J. Del Casino, Jr., Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
Dear Colleagues,
Last Thursday, you received an email from Stan Nosek, our Interim VP of Admin & Finance, about the Space Optimization project. This effort will allow two organizations to return to campus and improve the use of several campus buildings. A thorough analysis has shown that SJSU is underutilizing space, and we have a real opportunity to improve how we use it, both for better efficiency now and to make a stronger case for future state investment.
This project ties in well with our classroom optimization efforts, but I want to focus here on what it means for Academic Affairs.
What’s Happening
The plan helps the university save money and make better use of our space, especially given the recent CSU funding news and ongoing budget challenges. A key part of this includes ending two off-campus leases.
For Academic Affairs, several units will be relocating. These changes aim to:
- Align space more closely with actual needs
- Upgrade furniture to support hybrid work and shared use
- Improve proximity between related teams
I know moving can be disruptive, but these changes are being made to better support our division and the university. Many of the updates—especially to older, neglected spaces—are long overdue, and it’s encouraging to see progress being made.
Thanks for your flexibility and commitment as we move forward with this effort.
The Changes
The units in Academic Affairs relocating during this initial phase and future phases include the following:
Academic Innovation and Institutional Effectiveness (AIIE): This organization serves many important functions on our campus, including leading our Professional and Continuing Education (PaCE), Global Education, Testing, and more. At present, the organization is located in several buildings, including the Student Union, Industrial Studies, and the Student Services Center. International Student Scholar Services (ISSS) will remain in the Student Union with increased hours for student support, and the areas supporting PaCE and Global Engagement will relocate to SSC. This move will result in significant cost savings on space, will better align total space with need in a location optimized for off-campus visitors, and will be combined with another round of improvements to this building.
Enrollment Management: Enrollment Management is already located in SSC, and moves continue to take place as the organization continues to optimize its structures and processes. Moves are planned to be driven by additional units joining the Enrollment Management team, and to continue to allow SSC to receive needed furniture and finish improvements.
Center for Faculty Excellence and Teaching Innovation (CFETI): CFETI will be moving to Clark third floor. This relocation will more than efficiently situate this resource near faculty and allow the organization to leverage shared resources with University Marketing and Communications. All the current services offered in IRC will be relocated to Clark, including the HyFlex technologies used by faculty.
Undergraduate Education: Undergraduate Education will be moving to the second floor of Clark Hall. This relocation will co-locate this function with other Undergraduate support functions, such as Service Learning and CommUniverCity.
College of Social Sciences (COSS): The College of Social Sciences will be relocating one of its programs, Project Rebound, from SSC to Clark Hall. This move is intended to better support these students during their academic journey in proximity to other student-centered academic functions. Other improvements are planned to provide faculty workstations for part-time faculty in Clark Hall, a faculty support gap we have had for some time.
College of Business (COB): The IDEAS Lab, currently housed in the Student Union, will move to Clark Hall on the 1st floor, where it will share the area with Career Services and other key student support functions.
College of Information, Data and Society (IDS): With the completion of the Interdisciplinary Science Building (ISB), IDS is moving its primary administrative and academic functions to the 8th floor. This includes the Dean’s office, which will now be closer to the Applied Data Science Department. This consolidation to the 8th floor allows our newest college to increase occupancy and use in the new building, including increasing use of classrooms and labs. The Dean’s office will be relocated out of the Student Union into ISB, and some spaces previously assigned to this College will be reassigned to CFETI and to other Colleges in Clark.
I know that moving from one space to another comes with its challenges. None of this is easy. But there is a need to better use our space in a way that supports our mission. That rests at the heart of these changes.
There will be more updates from FD&O and me as this project moves forward.
Sincerely,
Vin
