Tools and Insights for Universities Called to Regional Stewardship

Making Place Matter

State colleges and universities and their regional partners already work together
on a number of different levels, but recognize the need to broaden and deepen
their relationships to address a range of emerging issues. The unfolding of
a knowledge- and service-based economy, combined with an aging, diversifying,
migrating population, require greater emphasis on the places where people live and work.

In a world increasingly driven by brain power, the focus is shifting from inherited
assets (climate, geography, natural resources) to created assets (educated population,
cultural amenities, environmental quality). Issues related to place cross jurisdictional
lines, increasing the importance of the region and stewardship of its assets. The call to
regional stewardship represents one of the greatest opportunities—and challenges—for
state colleges and universities and their local partners in the years ahead.

But where to start? Even though campuses and their regional (and perhaps state)
stakeholders may share a commitment to improved stewardship and may even have
a compelling vision for the future of the region, they are often dogged by “how to”
questions—how to identify the region and its pressing needs, how to build and maintain
robust leadership groups, how to create a supportive public policy environment. Indeed,
for many budding regional collaborations, the most vexing questions are not those
That is where the work of Making Place Matter—a partnership of the Alliance for
Regional Stewardship, the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, and
the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems—begins.

This two-year
initiative has been designed to promote the concept of regional stewardship and public
higher education’s role in it by equipping campuses and their partners with strategies,
tools, information, and insight to enrich and fortify their working relationships. Through
a combination of theoretical frameworks and hands-on application through case studies,
Making Place Matter aims to provide regional stewardship models that are broadly
relevant and adaptable for campuses and regions nationwide.
The first step in the process, defining regional stewardship and its imperatives for higher
education, is taken up by a monograph that serves as the conceptual “anchor” of this publication and the project as a whole. It outlines seven economic and social forces
that demand changing roles for colleges and universities, and offers a 21st Century
reformulation of the time-honored teaching-research-service triad.

Next comes the difficult but essential step of identifying the region and its
challenges/opportunities, the university’s current and potential contributions, and the
institutional and state policy environments through a stewardship audit, culminating
in the development of a regional stewardship roadmap. The audit complements the
monograph, and requires state colleges and their stakeholders to paint a clear picture
of what the region looks like, its current status regarding key development and quality
of life issues, and options for moving forward. The audit has been pilot-tested by four
campuses/regions selected as demonstration sites for the project, and their experiences
are documented here as well.

In plotting next steps, it is important to remember that regional stewardship is not a
task or a project. It is an orientation, a way of doing business and looking at the world.
Building to that point requires commitment, creativity and flexibility on the part of
all involved. There is no single path to regional stewardship, but the journey starts
with understanding the terrain and plotting a course. Hopefully, the information and
case examples developed through Making Place Matter will help state colleges and
universities and their partners to do just that.

Full Report: http://www.regionalstewardship.org/ARS_enews/March2006/AASCU%20Tools%20and%20Insights%20FINAL.pdf