In settings across the United States, governing boards, state officials, and campus leaders are intensely examining, refining, and reprioritizing post-secondary education missions and spending to optimize value-added economic and social returns. In this article, the authors discuss the nation's changing research and innovation context, the emerging rationale for community college-research university partnerships, and selected innovative practices for engaging undergraduates and faculty members in research collaborations and transfer initiatives. They conclude with an analysis of the challenges confronting the broad-scale implementation of two-year college-research university partnerships. (Contains 2 tables, 1 figure, and 2 notes.)