Dr. Gururaj will begin by sharing insights from her co-edited book Exploring Equitable Community–Campus Relationships. Her book focuses on relationship-building as a pathway to meaningful community engagement, and the contributors reflect on successes, obstacles, and moments of vulnerability, describing how relationships were initiated and lessons learned to ensure equitable values were centered and upheld. Thereafter we will have a robust question and answer session.

Event is free to members of the Alliance for Campus and Community Engagement organizations and $50 for nonmembers.

Register by July 14.

Date and Time: Wednesday, July 15,  3 PM – 4 PM

Learn more and register.

Informational flyer.

Higher education serves the common good by driving social and economic progress and leveraging institutional resources to support a thriving democracy. Campus Compact’s reimagined Campus Action Planning for Civic & Community Engagement (CAP) initiative is designed to support university executives and administrators align institutional and community priorities with collective assets.

CAP is a living expression of what colleges and universities can be when they fully embrace their role as community anchors and engines of social change.

Date and Time: Wednesday, August 5, 2026, 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM

Learn more and register.

Get the basics on CAP! Join this webinar to learn how Campus Action Planning can help your campus hone its public mission, build collective will and trust with communities, and advance key institutional priorities.

Date and Time: July 15, 2:00-3:30 PM

Learn more and register.

On July 29, the Higher Education Democracy Exchange (HEDEX) will launch as a new resource designed to connect people, resources, and practices supporting democracy-focused work across higher education.

For years, practitioners have done remarkable work in parallel. HEDEX gives it one home—creating opportunities to share knowledge, build connections, and strengthen civic engagement efforts.

Join us for the 30-minute virtual launch on July 29, 2026, 1:30-2:00 PM. You’ll hear voices from the field, see a demo of the platform, and find out how you can help shape what comes next.

Learn more and register.

Unable to attend live? Register, and we’ll send you a link to the recording once it’s available.

WHEN: Wednesday, June 24, 2026, 1:30-2:30 PM PST

WHO: Harold McNaron, Teaching, Learning and Engagement Associate, Office of Academic Innovation, Portland State University will facilitate. Interested community partners, staff, faculty, students & others are welcome.

WHY: Too much brilliant SLCE scholarship goes unnoticed. Let’s read 1-2 articles/month & explore strategies for success in our respective contexts.

MORE INFO: Email Harold at hmcnaron@pdx.edu to get the Zoom link and/or answer questions

“We are looking to codify CBL/CEL/SL guidelines so that we can point faculty and department schedulers to a set of standards, best practices, and benchmarks that their courses should meet before being tagged as a CBL in our course catalog.”

Here are some of the shared course designation parameters:

• SUNY Buffalo
• Louisiana State
• University of Northern Iowa
• UCLA
• University of San Francisco
• Drexel University definition of CBL/CEL courses

Colleges and universities face a moment of crisis, with their missions, funding, and operations under threat. At the same time, US public opinion surveys show that support for higher education is at historic lows. The Trust Agenda outlines a response to these challenges that can build public trust, make campuses more trustworthy, and enable colleges and universities to defend their missions successfully.

The report’s recommendations include a combination of internal reforms, external communications, and collaborative defense strategies. The unifying theme of The Trust Agenda is a need for increased and meaningful connection in higher education—between campuses and their communities; among faculty, staff, students, and administrators; across institutions; and with society as a whole.

The report outlines five recommendations for advancing public trust in higher education:

• Accelerate Innovation by breaking down barriers to institutional change and improvement.
• Prioritize Community Engagement through mutually beneficial partnerships with local communities.
• Recommit to Inclusive Excellence by ensuring all students feel welcomed and supported.
• Tell a Clearer Story about higher education’s role in promoting opportunity, economic mobility, and the advancement of knowledge.
• Coordinate a Mission-Centered Defense of academic freedom and institutional autonomy.

Learn more and download the report.

At the forefront of that reflection are college students today — who are often underrepresented at decision-making tables and misunderstood as apathetic or indifferent — and yet are deeply committed to civic and democratic change on the local, state, and national scales.

As part of MadebyUs’s Civic Season and National Youth Takeover Day, Campus Compact is thrilled to pass the mic to three exceptional student voices who are demanding a seat at the table, inspiring their peers into action, and working to make Lincoln’s words ring true now and for the next 250 years.

Join us for your lunch or coffee break for an honest, inspiring, and challenging conversation with students who are honoring our nation’s founding by being active changemakers in its present — and in the future to come.

Date and Time: Thursday, June 25, 1:00 PM

Learn more and register.

Learn more and listen to the recordings.

Date and Time: Tuesday, August 18, 2026, 2-3:30pm (CT)

Registration closes Friday, August 14, 3:00pm (CT)

Learn more and register.

This issue, guest edited by Susan Elrod, highlights how campus leaders are creating significant and durable institutional transformations. The articles and invited commentaries seek ‘to help readers advance their understanding of the nature of systemic change, what it takes to achieve it and how to lead it.’

Read the journal.

Published by the Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities (CUMU), MUJ disseminates scholarship relevant to urban and metropolitan colleges and universities. MUJ accepts manuscripts on an ongoing basis.

Become a journal peer reviewer

We need you to help build the field. Your professional experiences provide invaluable insights on topics important to urban and metropolitan universities. Whether you describe yourself as an administrator, community partner, or scholar, we need your perspective to review how ideas translate to practice. Reviewing potential Metropolitan Universities journal articles is an excellent opportunity to engage with emerging scholarship. Fill out this form to be considered.

This new book, The Community-Centric Path to Rebuilding Trust in Higher Education, by Byron P. White reimagines community engagement as an essential operational driver for sustaining universities and offers a bold alternative to the customer-focused strategies many colleges seek to regain stability.

Across eight chapters informed by interviews with higher education leaders, examination of emerging frameworks, and compelling profiles of exemplary institutions, White showcases innovative principles and practices that advance strategic priorities and foster community-focused structures. Tailored for higher education leaders, community engagement practitioners, and scholars, this volume makes a compelling case for integrating public impact with organizational transformation.

Learn more.

For those working in higher education, the summer represents an opportunity to rest and reflect, to explore and engage, or most often some combination of the two. It can also be a good time to thoughtfully plan ahead for busy Fall semesters to ensure you’re prioritizing your own goals and aspirations.

Campus Compact’s professional development programs provide community-engaged professionals opportunities across the spectrum and for all career stages:

• Engaged Scholars Initiative
• Community Engagement Professional Credential
• Changemakers Retreat
• Mid-Career Learning Community
• Translating theory into practice
• And more…

Learn more.

Students are looking for purpose, mentorship, personal growth, meaningful relationships, and opportunities to apply learning in real-world settings. Yet the experiences students say matter most are often the ones hardest to come by.

Based on a survey of undergraduate students conducted by Morning Consult, What Students Value in College examines students’ motivations for attending college and the experiences they find most valuable and impactful.

Among the Findings:

• students who participate in internships report significantly higher levels of well-being than students who do not;
• mentorship is one of the most valued experiences in college, yet nearly half of students do not have a faculty or staff mentor;
• lower-income and first-generation students are more likely to prioritize personal growth and identity development over career preparation alone;
• students consistently value opportunities to connect learning to real-world challenges and experiences; and
• the educational experiences with the strongest well-being outcomes are often the least accessible.

As colleges and universities continue navigating questions about student success, workforce preparation, and public confidence in higher education, these findings offer a clearer picture of what students themselves value most and where institutions have the greatest opportunity to make an impact.

Learn more and download the report.

On June 16, 4:00-5:00 PM, the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) will release The Trust Agenda: A Framework for Advancing Public Trust in Higher Education, a new report designed to help colleges and universities proactively respond to this moment.

Join AAC&U for a free virtual event exploring the report’s recommendations to strengthen trustworthiness, accelerate innovation, safeguard institutional autonomy, and deepen relationships with students and communities.

Learn more and register.

Listen to the recording here.

From writing clear, descriptive event listings that give volunteers the context they need, to choosing and communicating about accessible venues, to crafting thoughtful sign-up forms that ask the right questions, we’ll cover the full volunteer journey through an accessibility lens.

Whether you’re just starting to think about inclusion or looking to strengthen practices you already have in place, you’ll walk away with concrete strategies and tools to create volunteer experiences where everyone feels informed, included, and empowered to participate.

Date and Time: May 14, 2:00 PM

Register.

CAP is a powerful catalyst for advancing engagement as an institutional priority. This virtual “From Planning to Impact” Call-to-Action Symposium offers an opportunity to hear from institutional and field leaders. Panelists and Fellows will share how involving transdisciplinary partners in civic and community engagement directly connects to institutional impact. Join us for this important convening designed to empower higher education institutions to align internal engagement with the public purpose of higher education to sustain a just democracy.

Dates and Times: May 27 & 28, 11:30 AM – 1:30 PM

Learn more and register.

Date and Time: Tuesday, May 19, 2026, 2:00 PM

Register.

Featuring Rose Pasquarello Beauchamp, this session will provide a high-level understanding and framing of cultivating climate hope and action for addressing the relationship between climate change and health as a “wicked issue”.

Speakers:
Rebecca Forsythe – Colorado State University
Rose Pasquarello Beauchamp – University of Rochester

Date and Time: Thursday, April 30, 2026, 4:00-5:00 PM

Learn more and register.

Watch the first three sessions to hear from professionals in the field, in disciplines ranging from biology, medicine, environmental science, sociology, dance, and more.