Criterion Five: Engagement and Service Core Component 5c: The organization demonstrates its responsiveness to those constituencies that depend on it for services.

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	Urban Engagement As an urban research university, UMKC takes seriously its role within the community as a primary resource for addressing urban issues and developing the future workforce. The Institute for Urban Education [IUE], the first undergraduate program of its kind in the United States, is a collaboration between the School of Education [SOE] faculty and representatives from the community. IUE’s objective is to educate exemplary teachers who are prepared for and committed to careers in urban schools, with the specific goal to reduce high teacher turnover rates in order to enhance the academic success of K-12 students. Although the program is relatively new and outcome data is limited, the feedback, based on questionnaire responses of UMKC IUE students and classroom teachers, has been positive.
In addition to IUE, the School of Education has a number of other initiatives that focus on improving urban education. The Teacher Education program and the Division of Curriculum and Instructional Leadership work closely with nine partner districts to assure that all teacher education candidates have meaningful classroom experiences that mirror the diversity of today’s society and that practicing teachers receive professional development enabling them to become and remain effective teachers in diverse classrooms.
Here is what some of IUE students had to say about their experiences and what they learned in the program: “I learned that the communities I perceived to be `bad’ were not what I had assumed. These communities are filled with people who take pride in their neighborhoods and are dedicated to keeping it a safe place to stay.” “It has taught me a lot of resources that I can use to help students and their families through struggles.” “This course has prepared me to question, look beyond the surface, and really engage myself.” “I feel every urban teacher should be required to take this course.” “Traveling on the [city] bus and visiting the Kansas City Urban Youth Center – both of these experiences opened my eyes and changed my life.” “I never knew there were kids right here in Kansas City who have been through so many horrible things at such a young age.” “I LOVED THIS COURSE.” “I absolutely loved coming to this course, even though it was during the summer.”
SOE has formed many other collaborative programs with our partner districts. One of our most recent collaborations is the Southwest Early College Campus (SWECC), an initiative in partnership with the Kansas City Missouri School District, UMKC, the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, PREP-KC and the Kansas City Area Life Sciences Institute. Opened in August 2008 for students in the sixth and ninth grades, SWECC will add grades each year to become a secondary school for grades six through 12. SWECC students are provided opportunities to take collegelevel courses and prepare for the rigors of college through a mix of training and relationships with UMKC professors and master teachers. By graduation, students will have earned 20-60 hours of college credits from UMKC. The state-of-the-art campus, formerly Southwest High School and located just south of UMKC’s Volker campus, allows students to use an on-site planetarium and science laboratories that rival that of many universities. The SWECC also provides a project-based curriculum with extended-day and extended-year opportunities.
The School of Law’s [SOL] mission is to advance professional workforce development and UMKC’s vision for urban engagement. As the only law school in the metropolitan area, SOL’s urban presence has an advantage over the school’s regional competitors. SOL promotes urban engagement through clinical and externship programs, and provides scholarship regarding urban legal issues through the publication of Urban Lawyer, the premier legal journal in the field. With professional workforce development as a primary focus, SOL’s trial and appellate advocacy programs have developed many of Kansas City’s best lawyers and judges, as demonstrated in a 2006 survey conducted by the Kansas City Business Journal. Of the 100 best lawyers named in the survey, 40 were graduates of the UMKC Law School.