Little is known about students' reactions to their university's attempt to manage their informational and emotional needs during a time of national crisis. A survey of students immediately following the 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States found that students wanted the university to stay open and function as a place for sense making…

John Saltmarsh, Director of the New England Resource Center for Higher Education (NERCHE), interviewed the three 2006 recipients of NERCHE's Ernest A. Lynton Award for the Scholarship of Engagement about their lives as engaged scholars and the implications of their work for the civic and global contexts for education, and for institutional change.

With the 1984 publication of "A Nation at Risk" the K-12 school reform movement was launched. The report predicted that, if the United States was to maintain its global economic leadership, a rigorous curriculum in primary and secondary schools would be necessary to prepare students for a productive college academic experience. Nearly 22 years…

Accreditation is a mark of distinction indicating that an institution has met high standards set by the profession, and an increasingly important feature of the accreditation process in higher education is "outcomes assessment." This article presents two rubrics for evaluating the quality of an institution's outcomes assessment system. One rubric…

This article examines the social meaning of security practices at urban university settings. The work first demonstrates the way in which physical fortification and surveillance technology have been implemented in urban institutional settings and considers the role these particular practices may play in shaping the socio-cultural identity of the…

In recent months, the principle of academic freedom has made headlines. From legislative attempts to exercise control of campus activities to the passionate response to Ward Churchill's comments about victims of 9-11, efforts to limit the free exchange of ideas appear with increasing regularity. This article reviews the confrontation between…

Concurrent/dual enrollment programs at postsecondary educational institutions have rapidly proliferated across the country during the last several years with wide variations in the structure and composition of such programs. Having recently completed a pilot phase of its first dual enrollment program, the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) has…

This paper describes the process of developing and sustaining a University-sponsored human service agency aimed at providing enriched internship opportunities for students in University-based professional programs while at the same time addressing the pressing needs of under resourced communities. Student learning outcomes, challenges and lessons…

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,…

Urban university students bring multiple assets to learning and the study of learning. As partners with faculty in the scholarship of teaching and learning, they have life circumstances opportune for study of impacts on learning of technology, cultural diversity, lifelong learning, assumption of social responsibility, and self direction.

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…

Faculty members in urban universities face both special challenges and unique opportunities. Greater respect for urban universities produces greater expectations, and, inevitably, greater stress from both within and without, and this makes the cultivation of faculty resources more important than ever. By widening and deepening professional…

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) has undertaken numerous initiatives over the past fifteen years that have contributed to the development, clarification, and increased understanding of civic engagement and its related components. This case study demonstrates how advancing the public purposes of higher education requires…

Today's higher education students are more technologically savvy than past generations. For metropolitan universities this phenomenon is particularly important as they attempt to provide an engaging and rigorous environment for these digital natives, who view their world somewhat differently than other generational cohorts. Because of contemporary…

Technology can support the interface between urban and metropolitan universities and the cities and regions of which they are a part. Through partnerships and the Web as a medium for communication and collaboration, technology can support community dialog around institutional goals. Through identifying opportunities and facilitating reflection in…