Call for manuscripts: 2025 CUMU Conference Issue: The Power of Place

2025-05-27

Metropolitan Universities journal (MUJ) is accepting full manuscripts for the upcoming 2025 CUMU Conference Issue: The Power of Place. The issue is scheduled for publication in summer 2026.

About the CUMU Conference

This year’s conference focuses on the vital connection between urban and metropolitan campuses and their communities, recognizing that “place” transcends mere geography. The connection with our cities and regions shapes institutional missions and gives rise to partnerships with the potential to transform individual lives and regional vitality. The 2025 CUMU Conference—The Power of Place—explores how campuses partner with their communities to promote social and economic mobility, drive regional development, and foster community well-being.

The 2025 CUMU Conference Issue: The Power of Place, invites presenters to reflect on the vision of higher education to address the potential and possibilities of tomorrow, to create opportunities for engaged citizenship and democratic communities, to explore the most complex questions and challenges of our communities, and honor place as both local and regional sacred spaces as well as transformative partnerships for the common good. Successful submissions critically and creatively examine and use evidence, as well as imagination, to describe the impact of practices, policies, and structures, and identify strategies and actionable steps for building resiliency across campuses and cities that align with the following themes:

  • social and economic mobility
  • hyperlocal, place-based community engagement
  • anchor collaborations and strategies
  • place-based approaches that transform communities
  • policy and change
  • racial equity and justice
  • student success and well-being
  • public scholarship to enhance campus-community partnerships

Manuscript submission guidelines

We invite submissions of manuscripts by December 1, 2025. This issue is scheduled for publication in summer 2026.

  • Only presenters at the 2025 Annual Conference in Baltimore, MD may submit for publication.
  • Submissions should be prepared and submitted in accordance with the MUJ Editorial and Submission Guidelines.
  • All presentation formats will be considered for inclusion. Submissions should take into account the outcomes of the presentations.
  • Manuscripts should be clear and concise.
  • Manuscripts should be evidence-based with a clear line of inquiry, an articulated scholarly approach to such inquiry, and implications for practice.
  • Preference is given to those manuscripts that demonstrate innovation and impact and include perspectives across multiple institutions.

Submit complete manuscripts following the MUJ Editorial and Submission Guidelines.

Please direct any questions regarding this issue to: