The Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities Annual Conference is highly regarded as a vibrant platform to explore and share new ideas. The conference is focused on CUMU member institutions, their community partners, and their work addressing contemporary challenges through dialogue and presentations delivered in a variety of formats that allow for in-depth conversations and actionable next steps.

Throughout the next year, and through the 2024 conference that leads up to ASHE’s 50th anniversary, I invite you to consider dismantling the hierarchies that have been constructed about who is worthy of the title “scholar.” I believe these often create barriers to better policy, practice, and scholarship.