Navigating Dynamic Campus-Community Relationships

Suchitra V. Gururaj is a scholar-practitioner of university-community engagement. She has served as assistant vice president for community engagement at the University of Texas at Austin, USA for 15 years.Brianna Davis Johnson is an Assistant Dean at The Ohio State University Graduate School, USA, leading mentoring, recruitment, and retention for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars.

• Introduction: The Contexts of Dynamic Practice in Community and Campus Relationships Part 1: Navigating Urban Gentrification 1. Place-Keeping Amidst Erasure: Community Engagement in a Changing Atlanta 2. Lessons Learned from Decades of Efforts to Build Bridges Between Yale University and the City of New Haven 1990s to 2020s 3. The University Next Door: Growth, Friction, and the Future of Tempe 4. JoYful Ways of Being: Five Tenets for Anchoring Authentic and Sustainable Community-University Partnerships with JoY Part 2: Navigating the Needs of New Communities 5. Leading the Wave: Positioning Portland State University’s Diverse Student Body to Engage a Changing Region 6. Reimagining Community Engagement: Lessons from Kingsborough Community College's Work with Immigrant Communities 7. A Dream Fulfilled Part 3: Navigating Avenues for Economic Development 8. Small City, Big Dreams: The Development and Growth of the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Rural Georgia 9. Driving Regional Transformation with Strong Local Roots: Equity, Engagement, and Evolution in Eastern North Carolina 10. Engaging with Demographic Changes in the Rural Region: Transformative Power of Place-Based University-Community Partnerships 11. Paradox, Purpose, and Perspectives in Rural Higher Education Community Engagement: Institutional Strategic Initiatives in Response to Demographic Change Part 4: Navigating Presence 12. The University of Nevada, Reno’s Commitment to Indigenous Inclusion, Engagement, and Sovereignty 13. Forging Pathways for Veterans and Military Affiliated Students: ECU's Role in Supporting Military Communities 14. From Invisibility to Influence: Huston–Tillotson University as a Civic and Institutional Anchor in Austin Conclusion: Navigating our Collective Future

"We all must share the stories of extraordinary impact resulting from bold community-university engagement. Our public and land-grant colleges and universities serve their institutional purpose through deep engagement with their communities, jointly tackling the thorniest challenges facing their regions.This volume tells higher education institutions' stories of adapting with agility as their communities shift, change, and grow. This book underscores the best of what our sector does to uphold the public’s trust. It serves as a valuable resource for leaders who believe that effective community engagement can support higher education to meet any moment.”Waded Cruzado, President, Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, USA"Gururaj and Davis Johnson weave together a beautiful tapestry of contemporary perspectives on the complexity of sustaining place-based community engagement in the long term. Their critical theoretical approach across a wide spectrum of institutions and geographies advances our understanding of place-based work in meaningful ways. A must read for new and seasoned professionals, faculty, college students, and community members who want to engage in deep, meaningful university-community partnership work.”Erica Yamamura, Co-editor of Place-Based Community Engagement in Higher Education and Executive Director, LEAD California, USA“This timely volume offers an honest and insightful look at the promise, and the responsibility, of higher education in engaging rapidly changing communities. By elevating the voices of both campus leaders and their community partners, the editors show how true place-based engagement is built: through listening, mutual respect, and a long-term commitment to strengthening the neighborhoods we call home. A valuable resource for anyone working to ensure that education and community progress together.”Lloyd Doggett, U.S. Representative (TX-37)“Higher education is at an inflection point—and this book refuses to look away. By centering community voices and place-based practice, it offers a compelling roadmap for renewing higher education’s civic mission, showing how institutions can choose engagement over extraction as universities reshape housing markets, neighborhoods, and local power. This is a rare book that speaks simultaneously to scholars, practitioners, and community partners committed to a more accountable university.”Davarian L. Baldwin, Professor, Trinity College, USA