Urban universities are a key resource for municipal government, businesses, community organizations, and citizens to foster partnerships for successful renewal of distressed urban neighborhoods. From its experience over the past decade, the Ohio State University has created a successful model for engagement with its neighborhoods and the City of…

An engaged metropolitan university can play a critical role in transforming its region by using its resources for the solution of problems and the improvement of the citizens' lives and livelihoods. California State University, Fresno has impacted its region through university-led collaborations and partnerships such as the Fresno Regional Jobs…

Prodigy is an example of a program that is successful due to its being a program that is community engaged. Prodigy is a community arts program, crime prevention and diversion program, serving ten thousand people in seven counties. This article discusses the roles, challenges, and successes of the partnerships with the School of Social Work at the…

Describes the University of Illinois at Chicago's Neighborhoods Initiative, a partnership with a community-based development corporation designed to strengthen life in two local neighborhoods. Objectives include university/community agency partnerships, development of community organizational capacity to address future needs, institutional changes…

A thorough review and revision of curriculum at San Jose State University (California) illustrates that the modern university can achieve major internal academic reforms when two important conditions are met: legitimacy and energy. These two concepts are defined and practical illustrations are drawn from the institution's recent experience in…

Argues for college learning communities as vehicles for high school reform, and by extension, for reform of K-12 instruction. Such learning communities can model sound academic practices that all students should master in their last year of high school and first year of college. Programs at Temple University (Pennsylvania) and Portland State…

Metropolitan universities are in the forefront of developing new administrative approaches to support and expand minority opportunities in higher education. Three design principles are at the heart of successful efforts to institutionalize diversity: strategic planning; the learning model; and integration across goals and functions. The experience…

The Trenton (New Jersey) Office of Policy Studies was established in conjunction with Thomas Edison State College to analyze emerging issues in urban public policy. The program is active in the internal life of the city's government while maintaining an independent academic orientation that shields it from political and practical pressures.…

The University of Texas at El Paso has provided leadership and support for several collaborative K-16 reform activities. A closed-loop, K-12, preservice teacher preparation system supported by generous extramural funding has provided the university, community college, and local schools with opportunities for conversation, shared vision, and…

Metropolitan State University (Minnesota), intended to serve largely mature community college transfer students in the inner city, gives students responsibility for planning their own individualized course of studies, with a competence-based focus. Community-based faculty, classrooms, and library resources are essential elements. (Author/MSE)

To develop a set of effective performance indicators, three campuses of Texas A&M University collaborated: a large research university, a historically black institution, and an urban campus undergoing major changes. Evolution of the project and the strategies used to develop core indicators while addressing the different institutional missions…