In the recently published issue of Mary Christie Quarterly, authors Ashira Morris and Marjorie Malpiede tell the story of CUMU, from its founding to the nearly 100 member roster that supports the metropolitan-serving mission today.
Morris and Malpiede interviewed CUMU Executive Director Bobbie Laur to learn more about CUMU’s mission:
“We try to help our institutions understand their urban advantage, help them live up to their public responsibility, and offer them a network of peers and resources to execute their mission effectively,” said Bobbie Laur, CUMU’s Executive Director.
Robert Caret, Chancellor of the University System of Maryland, was in the meeting that founded CUMU 30 years ago when he served as Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs for Towson University.
“The vision was to better articulate the role this family of institutions plays in their communities,” says Robert.
The University System of Maryland and Towson University are members of CUMU.
The article continues with how CUMU and its members define their metropolitan-serving missions. While “place” is an important identifier, member institutions do not need to be fully embedded into a dense city.
“One of CUMU’s major contributions in higher education has been its development of the community engagement and service learning models, which integrate meaningful community service with more formal instruction and reflection. It is now commonly used to teach civic responsibility and strengthen community relationships.” –Ashira Morris and Marjorie Malpiede