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Campus-Community Connections
The official newsletter of the International Town & Gown Association™ February 8, 2021
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New Undergraduate Residential Neighborhoods
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Stanford, California: Undergraduates coming to campus in the 2021-22 academic year will get their first experience with new residential neighborhoods that emphasize community and lasting friendships as central to their time at Stanford. The new neighborhood structure – part of an initiative called ResX that reorganizes existing student housing to emphasize well-being and connectedness – will integrate with the Town Center project and a new first-year core curriculum to ground students in their role as citizens and create a sense of community for students and the entire campus. The three initiatives are all part of an increased focus on community and civic engagement embedded within the goals of the Long-Range Vision. Stanford News
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Student Marketing Plan Encourages Masks in Bars
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Gainesville, Florida: The owner of several downtown bars is among the first Gainesville business owners to receive the marketing materials developed by students at UF — and paid for by the city — to remind students about wearing masks before and after imbibing. The campaign includes, among other things, T-shirts, masks with logos, posters, floor decals, mirror stickers, coasters and other marketing materials. Students who presented the plan to the Gainesville City Commission last week said the messaging would be in a “cool cache sort of way,” in upbeat language that students can relate to that is definitely not dictating or preaching, which might be met by a backlash. The commission authorized staff to move ahead with the program, saying even if only a few students change their behavior it could save lives. The Gainesville Sun
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Call for Proposals for the Virtual ITGA Conference
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Marquette University is excited to partner with the City of Milwaukee and the International Town & Gown Association (ITGA) to host the 2021 Virtual Conference, “Innovating for Tomorrow, Together” from May 24-26, 2021. Please consider sharing this link to the Call for Proposals, with your network, and encouraging their participation. The virtual environment will provide a dynamic, international platform for the efforts they are advancing in collaboration with partners throughout their communities. Questions? Contact Beth@ITGA.org. The deadline to submit a session for consideration is Friday, February 19, at 11:59pm (EST).
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NEW Board Member Highlight: Meet Cory Peterson
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Cory Peterson, MS, Georgetown University
Returning board member Cory Peterson calls ITGA his “professional home,” a connection point with peers around the country to share best practices around town-gown issues. As the longtime director of the Office of Neighborhood Life at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., Cory brings “boots-on-the-ground” experience to ITGA as an administrator who educates and supports students in the adjacent neighborhoods and implements consensus-based, data-driven solutions to quality-of-life issues. His office’s projects include an annual move-out drive for student donations, orientations for students living off campus and the Georgetown Community Partnership — which engages neighbors, local government, senior-level administrators, faculty and students in town-gown issues. Cory wants to bring the student voice to ITGA’s ongoing conversations around town-gown priorities, especially with COVID-19 so dramatically affecting the student experience. To contact Cory, click here.
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ITGA Virtual City & University Relations Conference
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The annual ITGA conference will be May 24–26, a time to step away from the duties and the daily grind, to stroll outside between conference sessions, to invest in your career and in yourself. Spring is a time of fresh starts. Let the ITGA conference be yours. Our theme — Innovating for Tomorrow, Together — will focus on economic redevelopment and the role of anchor institutions, social justice and community engagement, and finding peace and common ground in college neighborhoods, among other topics. Details on the conference schedule will be available by early March. Early registration rates end Friday, February 12, at 11:59pm (EST). To register, or learn more about the virtual conference, click here.
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University Tries to Shield Entire City from COVID
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Davis, California: All last fall, universities across the country were accused of enabling the pandemic’s spread by bringing back students who then endangered local residents, mingling with them in bars, stores and apartments. So U.C. Davis is trying something different. Rather than turning the campus into a protective bubble for students and staff, it has quietly spent the past six months making its campus bubble bigger — big enough, in fact, to encompass the entire city. Public health experts say the initiative is the most ambitious program of its type in the country and could be a model for other universities. U.C. Davis, part of the 10-campus University of California system, has made free coronavirus tests — twice weekly, with overnight results — available to all 69,500 people in the city of Davis and hundreds of nonresidents who just work there. The New York Times
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Universities Without Walls: A Vision for 2030
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Europe: In the midst of the pandemic, Europe’s universities are looking ahead to define their priorities for the next 10 years. Europe and the world are facing immense challenges: finding a sustainable equilibrium between ecological, economic and social concerns, the digital transition and (geo)political uncertainty, to name some of the most important ones. We are at a tipping point, a time of transformation for society and universities; it is important to take a step back and reflect about the future strategically. How do we want Europe’s universities to look in 10 years’ time? What should be their role in society and how should their missions evolve? What are the core values and key conditions we need to retain? The result is Universities Without Walls: A vision for 2030. It is a vision by the sector and for the sector, offering inspiration and guidance to university leaders and academic communities. University World News
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A growing and impressive group of professionals from campus communities continue to network and share strategies for improving town-gown relations. Join us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.
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