IST_AD-01: Work Space Within IST
As IST continues to make progress towards achieving its strategic plan goals including enrollment and related faculty growth, workspace is at a premium. As such, we have created a set of guidelines to allow us to allocate space as consistently and equitably as possible. We will make every effort to relocate faculty, staff, and graduate assistants prior to each academic year/semester while minimizing relocations during each semester to the extent possible.
Guidelines – Who Sits Where
Exterior window offices (in priority order):
- Dean, Associate/Assistant Deans
- Full-time tenure-line faculty
- Full-time non-tenure-line faculty (lecturers, teaching professors, research professors, professor of practice ranks)
- Full-time staff (level dependent)
- Minority appointed joint faculty (full time at Penn State and 25% to 49% IST joint appointment)
Interior offices (in priority order):
- Full-time faculty
- Full-time staff (typically at the manager/supervisor level)
- Minority appointed joint faculty (full time at Penn State and 25% to 49% IST joint appointment)
- Adjunct instructors, postdoctoral scholars, visiting scholars, research associates/assistants, and other part-time faculty
- Work/mail rooms
- Collaborative spaces and research subject testing rooms
Research Labs (in priority order):
- Externally funded graduate assistants, including GAs supported with start-up funds
- Postdoctoral appointees supervised by IST faculty
- Externally funded visiting scholars
- Internally funded graduate assistants
- Unfunded graduate assistants
- Unfunded visitors
Other Spaces
- Designated cubicle space (or reception desk area) is provided to every staff member who is working at least 2-3 days per week on campus.
- Student interns and wage payroll students may access desks in open areas.
Clarifications
All IST graduate student seating is in shared IST lab spaces. Postdoctoral scholars and visitors are also accommodated in the shared labs when space is available.
Equipment that is currently being used for research may be placed in the shared labs.
Faculty members’ personal items are stored in their own office and not in shared labs. Graduate students may place research-related and personal items at their desks in the labs. Equipment that is no longer in use and that does not fit in a faculty member’s office will be repurposed by college IT or go to university salvage. IST does not have storage space for items that are not of use.
Faculty sharing a lab will coordinate student, postdoc, and visitor seat assignments and manage shared items, such as refrigerators and microwaves. Please note, we encourage the use of the college’s kitchens in our buildings. Labs do not have kitchens.
As space within the buildings continues to be limited, faculty members who will be on any type of leave for a full semester or longer—including sabbatical—may be asked to relinquish their office space for the duration of their leave. For faculty on phased retirement, office space needs will be reviewed and determined in consultation with the college after the first year of the phased retirement period.
Offices are not provided to faculty who separate from the university or retire.
The college will continue to provide flexible meeting/collaborative workspaces to the extent possible. For example, fulfilling office assignments for full-time faculty takes precedence over provision of ‘huddle spaces.’ Workrooms and mailrooms should only exist in separate spaces when other alternatives are exhausted.
Approved by: Dean Andrew Sears 01/14/2018
Revised by: Dean Andrea Tapia 7/11/2025; updated language related to faculty on leave or phased retirement
Revised by: Dean Andrea Tapia 3/20/2026; updated language for postdocs, joint appointments, and shared graduate lab spaces.