About Master Planning
The UND Campus Master Plan is a strategic blueprint that aligns the university’s physical development with the LEADS strategic plan and UND’s academic priorities. It provides a cohesive framework for campus growth that supports student and faculty recruitment, promotes responsible stewardship of resources, and enhances the overall campus environment for students, staff, and faculty.
More than a functional arrangement of buildings, roads, walkways, parking, and landscapes, the Campus Master Plan envisions the UND campus as a connected and dynamic place that shapes the collective experience of learning, research, and community. At its best, the physical campus expresses UND’s history and traditions while serving as a living resource for today’s educational mission and a guide for future growth. Few elements more powerfully reflect the University of North Dakota’s strategic purpose and institutional identity than its physical environment.
Master Planning Process
UND submits a campus master plan to the State Board of Higher Education every six years, per SBHE Policy 901 Campus Planning & Facilities Management. The university has been operating under a plan established in 2016 and refreshed in 2022, which focused on site investigations for the STEM Complex and the Health Professions Building.
We are now excited to begin a new planning process that builds on this momentum—aligning recent and anticipated physical growth with the LEADS strategic plan and academic goals to ensure a cohesive, forward-looking campus that supports excellence in teaching, research, and student success.
In October, 2025, UND contracted with Perkins & Will to assist with the Master Planning Process.
Recent Master Plan Success
Campus master planning provides both a pragmatic framework and a design-driven vision for how UND’s physical environment supports academic excellence, research growth, student success, partnerships, and community engagement. It goes far beyond bricks and mortar. It shapes how people experience campus every day—through parking and mobility, IT and digital infrastructure, campus culture, and student life on campus and online. As UND looks ahead, the next campus master plan will build on this strong foundation, ensuring future growth reflects the needs of our people and advances the university’s mission for years to come.
As outlined in the stories below, UND’s Master Plan demonstrated the power of this approach—serving as a recipe for success that guided major investments that shaped our campus.
Health Professions Collaborative Facility
This initiative supports innovative multi-disciplinary research, program growth and team-based learning. The addition to the School of Medicine & Health Sciences would house College of Nursing & Professional Disciplines programs as well as biomedical research facilities, including much-needed clinic and research spaces.
Memorial Village
Memorial Village, with Athletics Department and coaches’ offices, academic success center for student-athletes, community-gathering spaces and apartments.
Steam Plant
UND's steam plant is one of the North Dakota University System’s most important projects in years, state officials said at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. The plant is fueled fueled by natural gas, not coal as had been the case in the previous, century-old facility.
