Contemporary Urban University Presidents and an Emerging Paradigm for Strategic Planning and Civic Engagement

The purpose of this chapter is to examine the elements of urban university presidents' strategic planning and priority-setting. The chapter attempts to profile the contributions of urban universities to their cities, and the specific agenda that urban university presidents establish in order to do so. The author considers two primary ideas for presidential strategies: visible presidential leadership in urban environments and the prioritization of civic-based initiatives. The chapter explores shifting patterns in strategy, leadership, and civic involvement at urban universities in the United States, setting the analysis in context to better understand how college presidential planning and leadership influence postsecondary education in America's urban core.

The University and East Asian Cities: The Variegated Origins of Urban Universities in Colonial Seoul and Singapore

This article explores and compares the development of colonial urban universities in Seoul and Singapore for the purpose of examining the multifaceted and scaled socio-political relationships in colonial cities. The colonial universities were a contested space where different interests crossed. The pattern of these intersections was different because Seoul and Singapore experienced different colonial powers—Japan and Britain, respectively. In this regard, this article focuses on how different colonial experiences affected universities as well as urban environments in Seoul and Singapore. The findings show that the university campus development trends of colonial universities in Seoul and Singapore are important to understand the urbanization processes of both cities. The varied colonial interests, global and local, shaped universities and their surrounding urban environments in different ways. Understanding these differences helps us understand the development trajectory of East Asian urbanization.

A Critical Look at Perspectives of Access and Mission at High Latinx-Enrolling Urban Universities

This article examines administrators’ perspectives related to embracing and fulfilling a diversity- and access-centered mission at urban-serving universities with high Latinx enrollment. Considering today’s context of higher education—whereby access and opportunities for Latinx and other marginalized populations has become increasingly stratified—this timely work seeks to foster dialogue regarding how to best uphold an access-centered mission. To achieve this, we framed the study using a critical lens that defines leadership for access as a leadership model that must focus on transformation for the greater good. Our critical lens also critically interrogates the meaning and implementation of “diversity” agendas on America’s college campuses. Organizational sensemaking offers an analytical frame to situate administrators’ accounts and trigger sensemaking processes, particularly with respect to identity and enactment of the environment. The study analyzes interviews with 21 administrators across four urban campuses within the same state and examines the administrators’ commitment to and fulfillment of an access- and diversity-centered mission. The study categorizes the administrators’ perspectives into three key areas: 1) diversity as an assumed identity as a by-product of situation within a diverse region; 2) diversity as a double-edged sword; and 3) enactment of a diversity- and access-centered mission.