The University Metropolitan Consortium was established in 2006 to link the centers, programs, and faculty and staff at the University engaged in teaching, research, and outreach concerned with understanding metropolitan change and development. Engaging the Consortium with those outside the University in the public, private, and non-profit sectors will enhance the University’s ability to contribute to the analysis and discussion of important metropolitan issues.
The mission of the University Metropolitan Consortium is to strengthen the University’s overall contribution to understanding metropolitan-urban-suburban issues by enhancing and extending the work of our existing programs and strengthening the University’s connections to those individuals, communities, and activities in Minnesota, the region, nationally, who are working with those issues on a daily basis.
The Consortium will be broadly based and include as affiliates the various centers, institutes, programs, and faculty and staff teaching and conducting research on topics associated with metropolitan regions and their changes and development. Consortium activities and programs will include those outside the University who are interested in and directly involved in metropolitan affairs.
The Consortium is an important element in improving the alignment of our metropolitan related teaching and research strengths and engaging more productively with those who share these interests in the broader community.
The Consortium is intended to enhance rather than control or directly coordinate the activities of the University’s many metropolitan-related centers and programs.
Because the Consortium is intended to be broadly based and representative it should be administratively responsible to a Central University Officer.
For additional information, please see a related story in UMNnews (Dec. 13, 2006).