As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to unfold, urban institutions face dynamic demands ranging from internal challenges and needs to serving as an anchor and providing critical support to our communities. We now are beginning to look towards a COVID-19-transformed reality, and developing plans and initiatives to help our campuses and communities recover and re-engage their constituents. This moment has created a window for innovation and rethinking how we work and what we can do. Importantly, it allows us to re-examine and express why urban institutions are crucial now and in the future. Metropolitan Universities journal seeks abstracts that explore What are we learning from this experience with COVID-19 that we want to carry forward or leave behind?

Focus areas

We invite your vision to address topics such as:

  • What opportunities or efficiencies have been realized from having to urgently act? What adaptations do you expect or hope will persist?
  • What initiatives and programs are being developed to support recovery at community and business/economic development levels?
  • How do we sustain a focus on evolving public health guidelines as the vaccine is deployed? What roles can institutions play to ensure our communities receive factual, accessible and accurate public health information?
  • How do we address inequalities and inequities illuminated by the pandemic by fostering structural change?
  • How do we make decisions in a time of complexity, including the issues of internal and institutional governance?
  • Regarding community engagement initiatives, what plans are being developed for re-engagement of students and communities as institutions and programs re-open and re-imagine what it means to be open?
  • Many communities are calling for a more inclusive and equitable “new normal.” What changes have been successful on a departmental or institutional level to turn this vision into action?

Submission guidelines

Submissions should be prepared in accordance with the Information for Authors and should be approximately 3,000 words (NOTE: This is a shorter word length than for other issues.).

The deadline for submission of abstracts has been extended to May 10, 2021. Full manuscripts will be due on June 1, 2021. This issue is scheduled for publication in summer 2021.

Please direct any questions regarding this issue to Valerie Holton, editor, at vholton@cumuonline.org.

About Metropolitan Universities journal (MUJ)

Metropolitan Universities journal (MUJ) is the Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities’ quarterly online journal. Founded in 1990, the journal disseminates scholarship on cutting-edge topics impacting urban and metropolitan colleges and universities. It is a peer-reviewed, open access publication—which means that it employs traditional methods of evaluating manuscripts while ensuring that those accepted for publication are freely available to anyone interested in the issues and themes covered. MUJ’s readership includes those working to address issues facing modern universities and the communities they serve. Authors bring diverse institutional and professional perspectives to showcasing applications of theory and best practices to these issues.