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Dear College Town Leaders,
On behalf of the Board of Directors, I invite you to join the International Town & Gown Association (ITGA) today to help promote the relationships between colleges and universities and their surrounding communities. Whether you are a large university or a smaller community college, a working relationship with your sister community is paramount to facing today's economic challenges and competitive environment we all are faced with. I know that many of you have great local town & gown relations and an equal number have exemplary peer relations at the local and national level. This is no longer enough when we are competing on a global plane and competing with an unforgiving economy.
The ITGA provides multiple avenues of communication to share ideas, issues and successful partnerships from around the world that may be utilized by college and community to best meet the ever changing needs and demands of our citizens, students, faculty, and community partners. Some of the benefits of being a member of the ITGA include:
- Twice weekly e-newsletters of current town & gown news from around the world
- On-line resource of articles and publications of college town and university best practices and sample policies
- Reduced registration fees for national town & gown conferences
- Forums, list serves, and open communication tools to discuss current issues
- Technical assistance from ITGA staff to address specific needs, questions or to set up peer to peer exchange visits
- Much, much more as detailed on the ITGA web site, www.town-gown.net.
These benefits are offered to help your college and community to save money and increase efficiencies through better partnerships and learning how to better take advantage of opportunities for the shared benefit of students, faculty and community. But you have to be an ITGA member to fully benefit from these services.
In becoming a member, we have worked to create a membership dues structure that is affordable - regardless of the size of your college or community. As you know, the key to developing any sustainable organization and resource center is by building a large membership base. We have structured our dues rates low enough that your membership investment can easily be "recaptured" through one good idea on the resource web-site or one beneficial list-serve inquiry/response. We acknowledge that our economic times have never been more difficult, but these times also dictate that we seek new ways to provide economical solutions to the problems of our community and to communicate with others ways to take advantage of opportunities as they occur.
All college town leaders need a timely, global forum that will provide networking, professional development and educational opportunities. ITGA is that forum. We sincerely hope that you will elect to join the ITGA and you may do so as simply at clicking here. This will take you to the ITGA membership web site. For further information, please feel free to contact me at 864.643.4199 or cboyles@town-gown.net.
Sincerely,
Chip Boyles
Charles P. Boyles, II
Executive Director
International Town & Gown Association |
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ITGA Speaks to Mayors at National League of Cities
Executive Director Speaks of Need to Talk and Brainstorm Outside of Our Immediate Peer Group
ORLANDO, FL - ITGA Director Chip Boyles, spoke to over fifty mayors and elected officials at the annual National League of Cities Conference about the creation of the new town & gown association and how one of its priorities is to assist in getting college town leaders like the mayors and elected officials to talk with leaders from the universities in their communities and with leaders from colleges and universities from across the nation. Whether it is mayors, city managers or university administrators only talking with those from their own environment, a truly open venue of communication and exchange of ideas and opportunities can not be achieved. Today's challenges require immediate and comprehensive understanding of issues and opportunities from all points of view. Only then can the best and most informed choices be made for the very important decisions facing our college communities. The ITGA is the resource connection to get mayors to talk to college administrators, to get campus planners talking to police officers, to get city and college administrators talking to students and business leaders alike, and the list becomes endless. |
Murray, KY and Murray State University to Host National 2009 Best Practices in University/City Relations Conference
Murray State University in Murray, Kentucky has received the competitive bid award that it has been selected to host the 4th Annual Best Practices in Building University/City Relations Conference June 1-4,2009.
The national conference was established in 2005 as a means for University Town and Gown Partnership participants across the country to come together for a time of sharing what they have learned from past experiences and explore ways to enhance existing relationships and build future partnerships.
Murray State competed with schools all across the country that submitted proposals to host the 2009 conference. Previous sites for the conference include Clemson, SC and Clemson University, Fort Collins, CO and Colorado State University, Gainesville, FL and the University of Florida and College Station/ Bryan, TX and Texas A&M University.
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Has a Recent Partnership Between Your College & Local Government Resulted in Cost Savings, Revenue Generation or Improved Services for Your College Community?
ITGA is Looking for Best Practices Examples
The ITGA is looking for examples that can be shared with other college communities across the Americas where colleges and universities have partnered with their town & gown partners of local governments, non-profit and neighborhood groups or private businesses to achieve a more efficient or new level of services to citizens, students, visitors, and other members of a college community. Specifically, but not exclusively,we are looking for examples of partnership projects that have been created that help combat the economic constraints many of our colleges, college towns, businesses and citizens are experiencing.
Please e-mail any Best Practices examples to info@town-gown.net. These will be shared via the ITGA web site and will become eligible for one of the ITGA Best Practices in Town & Gown Partnerships Awards for 2009.
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International Town & Gown Association
James F Martin Inn Suite 300
240 Madren Center Drive
Clemson University
Clemson, S.C. 29634
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