Three Scales of the Spatial University

The spatial university foregrounds the spatiotemporal nature of people, places, and processes in meeting its core missions of scholarship, teaching, and service. The university works across scales by advancing macro efforts that capture the imagination of people on and off campus, developing meso themes that translate macro ideas in specific ways, and engaging in microscale efforts on the ground. We contextualize these three scales by examining key facets that define the spatial university: (1) thinking spatially is an approach for transdisciplinary research throughout the institution; (2) spatial thinking is integrated into liberal or general education requirements, just as writing and critical thinking; (3) specialized degrees at the undergraduate and graduate level in geospatial technologies and related fields; (4) service-based learning or community-based service projects or internships that employ Geographic Information Science (GISc) and other geospatial approaches; and (5) GISc is used to run the institutions administrative functions, such as physical plant and classroom management. This chapter frames how the spatial university operates and set the stage for later chapters that delve into service, teaching, research, and what the future holds.