Two urban university professors report on their experiences with use of new technologies in their American history classes, focusing on the crucial role of the teacher. The challenge for the first was to reconcile the enormity of the Internet with the need to make its resources available to students. The second found the technology enabled…

The Memphis Maps program, a collaborative effort of Memphis (Tennessee) educational institutions, public agencies, a bank, and community programs, trains local students in Geographic Information Systems technology and provides the community with valuable demographic and assessment information. The program is described, and factors contributing to…

The freshman seminar at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis is taught by a team that includes faculty, an academic advisor, librarians, and student mentors and is often linked to a disciplinary course. Faculty serve as instructors in the linked course, and student mentors lead supplemental instruction groups. Challenges…

Research shows that learning communities are an effective way to improve student performance and persistence, but the success of any particular implementation is not guaranteed. Each program should be evaluated with regard to the likelihood that better-prepared students tend to participate. The protocol used for evaluation at Indiana…

A thorough review and revision of curriculum at San Jose State University (California) illustrates that the modern university can achieve major internal academic reforms when two important conditions are met: legitimacy and energy. These two concepts are defined and practical illustrations are drawn from the institution's recent experience in…

A study at Barry University (Florida), a private, urban comprehensive university investigated factors in student retention. Demographic data, standardized test scores, and academic performance data were gathered for almost 3,000 students entering the university between fall 1991 and spring 1995. In addition, the students were surveyed on…

This study surveyed about 290 institutional members of either the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges, or the American Association of State Colleges and Universities which are located in urban or metropolitan areas in order to gather data and to learn about their service areas, their commitment to community service,…

This paper presents a study designed to determine the reason first and post-first year students (N=61) chose to leave Chicago Urban University (CUU) prior to graduation. Data were sought from a random sample of 100 students via either a mailed or a telephone survey, with a 61% response rate. The 54-question interview/survey instrument examined the…

This paper reports on findings of a multi-faceted preliminary study designed to identify the technical information needs of academic department chairpersons at a public urban university. Study methodology involved: (1) two 2-hour focus group sessions in which a total of 10 department chairpersons participated; (2) short written reports from the…

This study examined faculty, student, and community perceptions of the purpose and value of a college education. A total of 536 undergraduates, 121 faculty, 211 members of the community of a metropolitan university completed a survey based on the ACT College Outcomes Survey that focused on educational outcomes and student growth. The results…

A study investigated the relationships between academic self-concepts, metacognitive problem solving, and ethnicity in entering college freshmen minority men and women. The study hypothesized, first, a positive relationship between metacognitive problem solving skills and academic self-concepts, and second that there would be ethnic differences…

Urban universities have a definite role to play within the context of strategic economic development. Coordination between state and local government, the private sector, and the academic community can lead to effective partnerships to formulate and implement economic development plans. Declining university enrollments and fewer dollars available…

Proceedings of the 1985 annual meeting of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) are presented. Contents include: three addresses and a lecture, remarks about/from distinguished alumni who received awards, brief summaries of additional addresses, reports from AASCU officers and projects, and an agenda of the annual…

Institutional bonding was examined at a public, urban commuter college with exceptionally high attrition and visibly low morale. Changes in bonding and attrition were measured 6 years after a 2-year effort to develop school identity and student feelings of membership. It was found that a simple index of campus morale is provided by level of…

The history of the idea of service at municipally-controlled institutions of higher education from the 19th century through 1930 is presented. Currently, as Americans are pursuing a search for their roots, many social institutions are focussing attention on building a viable sense of community, on inclusion and a more all-encompassing sense of…