Urban State Universities: An Unfinished National Agenda

During the mid-twentieth century, enrollment in colleges and universities increased dramatically. To meet the demand for higher education services, two new kinds of post-secondary institutions were created: the community college and the public urban university. This insightful work illuminates the unique aspects of the public urban university and its role in higher education. Grobman begins with a brief history of state universities and provides a taxonomy reflecting their development in urban areas. He contrasts the special functions of urban public universities with those of public universities located in rural settings, particularly the land grant colleges. He describes students, alumni, academic programs, faculty make-up, facilities and services of urban campuses–illustrating the partnership between the public university and the community that makes the institution so vital to urban life. Grobman closes with suggestions for making the public urban university an even more effective componant of higher education.