Conference Presentations

The 2015 ITGA Conference Program schedule.

In February 2013, the International Town-Gown Association (ITGA) partnered with Brailsford and Dunlavey (B&D) to conduct a pilot survey about the unique issues and opportunities facing universities and the communities in which they reside. This report provides a summary of the process and an analysis of the results.

View a presentation summarizing the results of the 2014 ITGA survey.

This is a summary of the 2015 ITGA Survey responses.

In 2014, the second iteration of the annual iTGA survey incorporated changes to collect more comprehensive data on town-gown relationships. This report provides a summary of the process and analysis of the results.

This is a summary of the survey results for ITGA members.

In an all too familiar economic climate of continuous budget cuts, cities and universities must identify ways to do more with less. The City of Athens, Ohio and Ohio University (OU) have developed a way to capitalize on the symbiotic relationship between their law enforcement agencies.

A case study in joint safety services.

Learn about four primary risk areas and how city and campus police are working together in Pittsburgh with colleges, residents, nightlife venues and party planners to bring positive solutions for enhancing sociability and reducing risk and disorder.

Leap Day. Cherry Stock. Around The World. These are some of the large-scale, off-campus parties organized by students in our community. Illinois State University and the Town of Normal have developed a proactive strategy to address and educate student organizers before the event about the inherent risks of these events.

The JCUAB engaged College Town Assessmwnt (CTA) to administer the OCTA tool to gather this data. Results from 2,783 respondents indicated a strong relationship between the campus amd community with deep concerns over growth related to off-campus student housing, parking, and loss of affordable housing for faculty and staff and strain on the general infrastructure of the community.

The city’s image plays a significant role in the attractiveness of a university to prospective students as they evaluate off-campus quality of life. Making a dedicated effort to market the city as a great place to attend college can boost recruitment efforts.

About 20 years ago, a contract officer position was created, currently funded in part by the City of Eugene, the University of Oregon, and the University District Business Association. Presenters from each stakeholder will review their role, lessons learned over the years, and current improvements in utilizing limited public safety sources efficiently.

Learn how civic engagement events and programs in higher education are meeting community needs while also developing the leadership and civic skills of the students that participate.

The effective and innovative collaboration between law enforcement and campus officials in the office of Student Conduct & Community Standards is outlined in this presentation.

Learn how, in partnership with key community and university stakeholders, Corvallis Community Relationships developed a good neighbor education curriculum and incentivized its Preferred Renters program with $50 rental deposit credits. Workshops topics include local laws and city ordinances, tips on hosting responsible parties, safety and security, tenant rights and responsibilities, and financial literacy.

Colorado State University (CSU) recently made a bold move partnering with a local nonprofit to provide critical housing services for staff. Contracting with Neighbor to Neighbor, a primary housing resource for County residents, CSU now has a staff member on campus connecting university employees to an array of services for navigating a difficult local housing market.

Moving students from volunteers in a community requires creativity and active engagement. In San Marcos, we call it a Dream Team. Dream Team students are asked where they see their place in the world and empowered to act. Through team-building and visioning, students are given the opportunity to manifest visions into reality.

This presentation reviews the University of Vermont’s off-campus living workshop model.

Framed from the perspective of an online tenant orientation developed to help scale efforts to educate first-time student renters, this session will provide a basic understanding of these considerations and potential challenges that may hinder a resident/student's success in an off-campus housing environment.

Discover new housing trends in other university communities and take home samples of model ordinances related to student housing.

This presentation highlights how the university staff, students, city staff, and local business community teamed up to turn various iterations of semester-ending stereotypical ragers into a community-building opportunity.

In Hays, Kansas, we’ve made it a priority to work together to better our community and the way our students interact with it. Each year a “welcome home” party is thrown specifically for faculty, staff, and students. A parade led by the mayor marches the group from campus to the Downtown district for free food, music, prizes, and fun.

Learn about the AACT community campus coalition and Move-In Orientation between the University of Boulder and Boulder, Colorado.

A guide provided to students by the University of Colorado's Off-Campus Housing & Neighborhood Relations office to help them understand their responsibilities off-campus and make their move-in as smooth as possible.

This session will show how the Neighborhood Wellness/Community Civility Effort is using collaborative engagement and shared responsibility to refocus efforts to address new and old challenges in San Luis Obispo neighborhoods that are adjacent to or near Cal Poly University.

Learn about the West Chester Community Campus Coalition and their new program initiatives.

This workshop from University of Georgia Archway Partnership faculty will share new directions in evaluating community-university partnerships across the state. Topics discussed include: an overview of the Archway Partnership process, methods of evaluation, community impact, student experiential learning, and faculty research and service. Presenter: Sharon Liggett, Operations Coordinator, UGA Archway Partnership, Georgia Center 

How does a large, urban campus enhance an area’s quality of life in the 21st century? This presentation will share the process, development, and evolution of Northeastern Crossing’s mission and vision since it opened.

In March 2015, UNC provided a $3 million ten-year, no-interest loan to Self-Help, a community development organization, to do land-banking in Northside which was at a tipping point between being a neighborhood of mostly long-term residents and becoming a primarily student neighborhood.

This session focuses on the unique needs of students living off campus versus traditional commuter students.

A presentation highlighting the process and challenges of a partnership to meet transportation needs in Greensboro.

Learn steps for improving relations and student safety through off-campus housing improvements.

The purpose of this program is to talk about how departments at Rutgers and in the community have partnered together to provide resources to students with food insecurity.

In this interactive session, a municipal police Chief (Oxford, Ohio), a university police Chief (Miami University), and a university dean of students (Miami University) discuss the evolution of their personal and staff working relationship/partnership and how it has been shaped by local environmental factors and student issues.

When parking troubles put a squeeze on downtown Columbus progress, Capital Crossroads Special Improvement District (SID), Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) and the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC) looked for innovative solutions.

In this session we review the process by which the Miami-Oxford community has developed a sustainable effort to address college student alcohol abuse and its impact on the broader community.

Learn about the University Community Collaborative (UCC) economic development initiatives between Northwest Missouri State University and the City of Maryville.

Learn from a participatory panel discussion about an efficient and effective ways to prepare in advance for potential community division, hate incidents, and unrest.

A flyer from the University of Colorado's Off-Campus Housing & Neighborhood Relations to aid students in hosting parties without creating issues for themselves or the community.

This session describes several initiatives that create an opportunity for peer education on community impact of certain behaviors; students’ role as community members, and increased active bystander intervention in large crowds. Noise and nuisance house arrests decreased by over 50% in just 2 years.

The session will highlight how the university and community responded to events as they occurred and developed proactive strategies to create a climate that is conducive to acts of hate and bias including a grassroots community initiative which has become a unifying force in these efforts.

Addressing multiple town-gown issues with practical solutions.

This session explores how your town and school can work together to cultivate support for the arts and create the centers that house them.

Saint Joseph's University recently implemented pro-active strategies to educate students about off-campus living and to respond to neighbor complaints about noise, trash and vandalism.

The session will outline key strategies for developing effective planning tools and incentive programs to revitalize Town-Gown neighborhoods.

Chicago State University plays a unique role in delivering higher education to students with diverse backgrounds and educational needs on the South Side of Chicago. CSU's goal is to help solve this problem by establishing a satellite campus that would further assist in community outreach efforts.

We present the results of a study of studentification processes in the North American context and our development of a framework for planning and policy approaches, highlighting what many colleges, students’ unions, municipal governments, and neighborhood associations are doing to develop and implement practices that create more balance in their local communities.