This paper discusses the development and evolution of the University of Maryland's UniversityCenter in downtown Baltimore since its conception in 1991. UniversityCenter is a geographic location, one of six downtown districts that resulted from Baltimore's latest development plan. It contains not only the University of Maryland's Baltimore campus,…

A causal model of academic factors affecting undergraduate student persistence at a large, urban, commuter university was tested. The effects of academic variables on persistence from fall to spring semester were also assessed for transfer and native students. The model accounted for 49% of the total variance in persistence, while separate models…

Building on two previous studies in 1997 and 1999, this study aimed to: (1) determine whether the Texas Academic Skills Program (TASP) has had a positive impact on students academic performance; (2) determine the perception of the TASP among key community, junior, and technical college personnel across Texas; and (3) determine the impact on…

The challenge facing urban colleges and universities must be met by: (1) commitment to excellence; (2) revitalization of liberal arts; (3) outreach programs to ensure basic reading, writing, and quantitative skills among elementary and secondary students; (4) active involvement in the preparation of public school teachers; and (5) the formulation…

Political scientists have long been concerned with public opinion towards politics and political participation. Despite the plethora of studies concerning opinion and behavior, there have been few systematic efforts undertaken to examine how political science courses affect students' opinions and political behavior. In this paper, some personal…

A market segmentation analysis was conducted on students at a large midwestern urban university using two forms of hierarchical cluster analysis on student characteristics: an agglomerative procedure using a matching-type association measure and a divisive chi-square based automatic interaction detection (CHAID) procedure. Data were extracted from…

This study examined the importance of community service at 45 colleges and universities in urbanized areas of Ohio. A survey of the institutions' chief academic officers examined three dimensions: (1) amount of attention policymaking bodies give to community service; (2) community service's place in the curriculum and faculty work; and (3) the…

At the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR), an urban university, students drop out of college on a regular basis. Developing a community of linked courses appears to be an effective way of reaching the university's goal of helping students stay in school past the critical first semester when many of them tend to leave. Seeking to help…

To assess how an urban university can take advantage of its setting to design a master's program in corporate communication, a 1987 study of the master's program in corporate communication at Duquesne University of Pittsburgh was conducted. Data were obtained through a survey of 590 local communication professionals, of whom 270 responded (a…

The retention of five cohorts of first-time freshmen and transfer students who reenrolled for 8 years in a nonresidential urban institution was investigated. Attention was directed to the effects of sex, race, and grade point average on retention, differences in retention for first-time freshmen and transfer students, and the extent to which…

A model of student persistence that considers the role of student finances and student financial aid was investigated in 1980, with a focus on federal campus-based aid. Linear Structural Relations (LISREL), a more versatile technique than traditional path analysis, accounted for 42 percent of the variance in the persistence of 343 new freshmen…

Students in an academically supported program of English as a second language (ESL) serving permanent residents and refugees at a large urban state university were surveyed concerning their language use patterns and educational needs for language instruction. The respondents were predominantly Southeast Asians representing siginificant minority…

A team leadership program for academic administration was undertaken at the University of Akron under Kellogg Foundation Funding. A screened sample of 108 persons was admitted to training, which consisted of role analysis, education in the structure and function of the university and higher education in general, team building, analysis of…

A sequence of planning actions taken by California State--Dominguez Hills is outlined that began with normative planning, developed through a strategic stage, and culminated in operational planning. Much of the planning focused on the university's role as an urban institution in a changing environment. (MSE)

Differences between the traditional college-age students and adults enrolled in credit courses in degree and non-degree programs at a public southeast, urban university were studied. Surveys were sent to 433 non-degree-seeking students enrolled in credit courses, 441 traditional college-age degree-seeking students, and 429 degree-seeking students…