Interest in universities as anchor institutions within their communities and cities is growing as civic leaders search for ways to build local wealth. Systematic analysis of the effects of anchor institution initiatives remains difficult due to the disparate nature of anchor initiatives and a relative lack of a shared language describing the work.…

The author has 25 years of experience in higher education leadership, overseeing two campuses and two university systems. He has maintained a strong connection to the Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities (CUMU), both philosophically and in practical terms. In this article, the author discusses his experience and feelings on social…

Although younger populations, such as emerging adults, have been shown to be particularly susceptible to food insecurity and housing instability, the current research is predominantly devoid of literature examining these experiences on college campuses. The present study explores the food and housing vulnerabilities that may be barriers to…

Urban universities have long faced a critical challenge to help K-12 schools, students, and families effectively access a college education. While colleges and universities have embraced strategies such as charter and partner schools, these interventions do not always result in a robust pipeline of students entering the higher education system.…

The need for new and revised structures to reward new forms of scholarship is being examined nationally and globally. It is also being examined on campuses that make up the University of Massachusetts system, all which are classified by the Carnegie Foundation for Community Engagement. This paper reports on the collective exploration by the five…

Underprepared students often need assistance building writing skills and maintaining confidence in their abilities and potential. The authors share the philosophy, pedagogy, and experience of freshman developmental education and the writing center at a four-year, private, not-for-profit urban college. They describe high-impact educational…

Since the early part of the 1990s, the City of Boston has made substantial progress in increasing the number of graduates from its school system who go on to college. However, while the Boston Public School system's postsecondary enrollment rate exceeds national averages, the system faces a serious issue in that the vast majority of its…

Is there anything that screams "College!" more than the local pizza joint? As a high school college counselor, the author has been on too many campus tours and sat in on too many information sessions to keep count. Honestly, they all tend to morph together. All good colleges have passionate, engaged students immersed in learning,…

Once upon a time, the relationship of Boston universities to the city's school system was simply to accept worthy candidates into the freshman class and produce a few dozen new teachers each year to fill staff vacancies. For many decades, universities stayed away from Boston schools. Boston trained its elementary teachers at its own normal school,…

This article tells a story of practice, a story of theory, and how each informs and transforms the other through a two-way flow of people and knowledge from a city to a campus and back again. By reflecting with fellow participants on the events and outcomes of a sustained city campus partnership, the author introduces a theory of engagement from…

A series of six seminars conducted by Boston University Metrocenter from March 9 to May 31, 1966 covered the following topics; "The Urban University and Its Environment, "Education for Metropolitan Living,""The Urban University and Community Action,""Problems of Town and Gown,""The Urban University and the…

The NEAIR 2009 Conference Proceedings is a compilation of papers presented at the Baltimore, Maryland conference. Papers in this document include: (1) A Principle Components Analysis of The Determinants of Student Satisfaction at a Historically Black Institution (Tao Gong and Jacqueline V. Parham); (2) Assessing and Enhancing Graduates'…