Capital University Unveils 2031 Strategic Plan, Taps BHDP Architecture to Reimagine Bexley Campus

On July 30, Capital University introduced Capital Rising, a five-year strategic plan aimed at growing enrollment, strengthening its endowment, and modernizing its Bexley campus and downtown Columbus law school. President Jared Tice unveiled the plan after a year that included one-on-one meetings with roughly 250 of the university’s 330 faculty and staff members, and more than 300 employee ideas were submitted.

BHDP Architecture’s Columbus office is midway through developing a comprehensive space plan to help bring the university’s campus goals to life. Tice plans to present the plan to trustees this fall, prioritizing projects for the next five to ten years. 

Early scenarios include renovating or expanding Battelle Hall to grow the nursing program, reimagining the shuttered Kerns Religious Life Center as a new student entrepreneurial center, and potentially redeveloping the closed Renner Hall at the campus’s Main Street entrance into a health sciences building with a public clinic. Planning will also extend to Capital’s law school in the Discovery District.

“Capital’s leadership has a clear vision for how the built environment can support where the university is headed, and we’re looking at every scenario to make sure the campus, facilities, and student housing meet their ambitions,” said Derick Stadge, Higher Education Market Leader at BHDP.

Capital Rising’s broader goals include growing enrollment beyond 3,000 students, raising the endowment from $165 million to $220 million, increasing annual giving to $19 million, and renovating 380,000 SF of campus buildings.

The plan also emphasizes deepening Capital’s ties to Columbus, expanding employer partnerships, internships, clinical placements, and community-based learning as part of what Tice calls using the city as a “living-learning laboratory.”

Read more at Columbus Business First and Columbus Dispatch