In the next twelve years, Creighton will grow to include a physical footprint, larger online student enrollment and enhancements for a green, sustainable campus, said the Rev. John P. Schlegel, S.J., university president.

Creighton will change significantly, which will affect the community as a whole.

In 2020, not only will the campus look different, but Schlegel predicted some differences in students as well.

The 2020 students will be just as bright, just as generous and just as technologically savvy as the current students. Hopefully, they will also have a more global perspective, Schegel said. He also predicts a more diverse campus with an increase in the number of Hispanic students.

To get to 2020 from 2008, Creighton depends on a master plan designed to improve the university in several areas, including campus expansion and general student life. Schlegel works with the Board of Directors, a campus group including students and faculty, and the President’s cabinet to develop the master plan.

Working together since 2003, Schlegel and the three committees have paved the road and taken time to review the plan.

The three people who have the greatest input on it are Schlegel, Daniel E. Burkey, vice president of administration and finance, and Lennis Pederson, associate vice president and director of Facilities Management, Schlegel said.

“Creighton in 2008 is about four to five years ahead of our master plan,” Schlegel said.

One reason for Creighton being ahead of schedule was the popularity of Davis Square, the junior-senior apartments. Opus Square opened 18 months ahead of schedule. Another project in the near future is the completion of the Ryan Center. Having a master plan certainly helps the flow of Creighton move forward.

“I think we all perform better when we have a plan . . . A master plan is like having a schedule, in that you have certain parameters that you have to meet, certain timelines you have to meet, and I think it keeps you honest,” Schlegel said. “For the short term, we are going to develop the footprint that we presently have.”

Putting together the physical footprint is the first piece in planning, Schlegel said, meaning that the physical campus will continue to expand.

The campus has picked up about five new acres of land between Cass and Cummings streets that will become Creighton’s by the end of October, Schlegel said. Short-term plans also include surface parking “as we develop other needs on the campus master plan.”

Another aspect of the plan includes extending the Webster Street Mall, which currently extends through Davis and the Harper Center.

Schlegel said by next year the mall will extend through Opus, the Murphy Building and down to the Morrison Stadium.

The new baseball stadium will also serve as a new addition the community. The baseball team will play in it, but the ultimate vision of making it the team’s home field is still in question, Schlegel said.

Playing at the new baseball stadium will continue to extend the community beyond the actual campus.

“That will be a very nice anchor to all that area between our soccer stadium and the Qwest Center,” Schlegel said.

The plan also calls for a new Public Safety building in the near future, Schlegel said, as well as different needs for the university, such as residence halls.

“We’ll have to look at academic needs [and] housing needs . . . I think there is some belief that there is a need for a sophomore residence hall and there’s probably some need for additional academic space,” Schlegel said. “So, I think those will be the guiding principles as we go forward.”

There are concerns that go beyond what buildings need to be put in place.

“One of the biggest issues we have to confront is . . . environmental and sustainability concerns,” Schlegel said. The Harper Center will serve as the “standard formula we use on all the rest of our buildings . . . we’ll be as green as we can be.”

Lights, heating and air conditioning in the Harper Center are set on motion sensors, so they will not be used when people are not in a room, Schlegel said. The brick and concrete used for the building were bought as close to Omaha as possible to save on fuel consumption and release fewer emissions into the air.

Campus landscaping will continue to use native species of plants and trees because those plants thrive in the hot summer and the cold winters, Schlegel said.

As far as college enrollment, the changing demographics of the include decline of college-aged student attending college in the Midwest.

To address this problem, Schlegel said “our strategy is to recruit students further afield.” The current freshman class is the “second-largest freshman class ever at a time when the number of high school graduates in Nebraska and Iowa is down. So, we have been very successful.”

Over the next several years, Creighton will continue to advance its campus and community.

To make all these visions come true, a master plan is necessary because it requires you “to be disciplined,” Schlegel said.