Wim Wiewel and David Broski
Wim Wiewel Dean of the College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs David Broski Chancellor of the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Abstract
University involvement in the community is not a new phenomenon. Historian Thomas Bender describes initiatives supported by Columbia University in the 19th century, as well as John Dewey’s prescriptions for the University of Chicago at the beginning of the 20th century. Since the last century, the concept of the land grant university has been based on the belief that the university should be useful to its community in a direct and applied way, not just through the education it provides or the long-term potential benefits of pure research. What explains today’s new emphasis on university-community partnerships, as reflected in new federal programs, and indeed the founding of this new journal itself?1 And what is different about the current wave of interest in the issue?
