In his first inaugural speech, President Obama declared that "our schools fail too many" and an essential component of laying "a new foundation for growth" will be "to transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age." Concerns about our nation's position in the global education race have led to a focus on…

This case study of Florida State University (FSU) Panama City illustrates the essential importance of strong synergy among a branch campus, its main campus, and its community. The interdependence of the branch campus and its community is highlighted through discussion of the role of the campus administrator, various partnerships, and niche…

The University of South Carolina's "Green Quad" aspires to be a living-learning community that integrates sustainability into all aspects of its operations and serves as a model and advocate for sustainability on campus and in the larger community. This article outlines the general approach and specific strategies pursued by the Green Quad staff…

Higher education can be a key leader in sustainability efforts, with issues cutting across all areas of functioning and extending into the community. This article examines educational change, which is particularly important because of its far-reaching effects. In particular, this article describes student-led sustainability research at the…

This issue of Metropolitan Universities includes papers emanating from the work of the Community-Engaged Scholarship for Health Collaborative, a three-year (2004-2007) initiative designed to build capacity for community-engaged scholarship (CES) in health professional schools. As the core principles and challenges of CES are similar across…

The findings of the evaluation of the three-year Community-Engaged Scholarship for Health Collaborative are presented, describing changes in institutional capacity for community-engaged scholarship, and changes in promotion and tenure policies and processes. The change process in the participating institutions is assessed using the Kotter model of…

Community-engaged scholarship (CES) is gaining legitimacy in higher education. However, challenges of institutionalizing and sustaining it as a core value remain. Significant barriers exist for faculty choosing to incorporate CES into their teaching and research. Faculty development programs are a key mechanism for advancing faculty skills as well…

The Peer Review Workgroup of the Community-Engaged Scholarship for Health Collaborative developed a novel set of quality community-engaged scholarship characteristics and a resource package aimed at two primary audiences: faculty seeking promotion or tenure based on community-engaged scholarship; and review, promotion, and tenure committee members…

Communities across our nation--whether geographic, ethnic, or issue-based in their composition--are struggling to be healthy, to grow, and thrive. The production of knowledge and the sharing of knowledge by both the community and the higher education institution is the key to helping our communities improve. Retaining and valuing community-engaged…

While universities can play a major role in advancing research-based community development, academic discourses of rigor, quality and ethics often conflict with the participatory and collaborative approaches required by community development principles. While experienced academics often have difficulty negotiating these issues, they present…

In a rapidly changing and increasingly competitive higher-education environment, universities may grow or hold their own by taking degree programs and services to the students wherever, whenever, and however they need them--becoming more nearly a delivery system rather than a single location. Supporting and developing faculty is critical to…

The thesis of this article is that "Intellectual Entrepreneurship (IE)" provides an intellectually authentic philosophical foundation capable of sustaining cross-campus entrepreneurship education. Drawing upon initiatives begun at The University of Texas at Austin, we document how IE educates "citizen-scholars." Specifically, IE leverages the…

Business executives, government leaders and educators concerned with undergraduate curriculum are converging on a set of college outcomes necessary for success in the global society of the 21st century. Yet moving postsecondary education toward a curriculum that embraces these outcomes has proven difficult. The preoccupations of faculty members,…

Accountability and evidence-based decision-making have become the mantra of government policymakers, and even private foundations. Yet most attempts to foster cultures of evidence have not brought about change in practices, notably because they are treated as management tools rather than learning processes. Equity for All is an approach to…

This paper discusses the model of the "Western university" from the viewpoint of a non-Western person. The concept of an "Urban Public University" is then discussed and analyzed in terms of its role and relevance in today's context. The paper further argues that while universities are non-static, and while their changes and adaptations to new…