About Us
The City of Clemson and Clemson University are widely considered to be national models for building and maintaining positive and mutually beneficial town-gown relationships. According to the Princeton Review, Clemson ranks 6th in the nation in the category "Town-Gown Relations Are Great" (#1 among public institutions). City and university collaborations for fire protection, transit service, joint marketing initiatives and other projects have provided service and economic benefits for both partners. The Clemson Joint City- University Advisory Board’s first town-gown symposium in the Fall of 2006 drew 125 city and university officials from across America and Canada to the Madren Conference Center on the Clemson campus. The idea of a permanent town-gown professional organization began to take shape at that conference.
There is growing recognition of the benefits of positive town-gown relations. Recent changes in retirement relocation habits have created more demand on college towns for new "retirement housing" and increased populations. The return of alumni to a college town has a positive influence on direct participation in volunteer efforts and private giving for the colleges. Additionally, retirees offer new opportunities for part-time professors and/or as new adult students for the colleges and universities. The national best selling books of Richard Florida’s "The Creative Class", Richard Karlgaard’s "Life 2.0" and Thomas Friedman’s " The World is Flat" have all contributed to the new movement of people to locating in creative communities where the quality of life is high and the opportunity for creative growth is open. College towns are among the leaders of these types of communities. And in an environment of municipal spending and taxation limits, state budget cuts, and concerns about rising tuition, cities and universities need to find more ways to share costs of services and programs and achieve high levels of economies of scale.
Colleges and communities need a place to turn for contact information, program assistance, examples of successful partnerships and solutions to common problems. The needed assistance must be able to cross jurisdictional lines and professional lines. Stories must be told and examples must be shared to show that successful partnership and shared leadership is possible and advantageous between colleges and community.
Numerous professional and academic organizations exist to foster information sharing and networking among colleagues. Police chiefs meet regularly with police chiefs; city managers with city managers, student housing directors with student housing directors, and campus master planners with campus master planners. But rarely do all of these professionals come together to discuss issues of mutual concern, share best practices, and develop a greater understanding of each other’s perspectives.
The Joint City-University Advisory Board has created a forum for collaboration among the City of Clemson, Clemson University, and the JCUAB to launch an International Town-Gown Association to fill this void.
The International Town-Gown Association (ITGA) is a membership-based, non-government organization, managed by a Board of Directors with a full-time professional and support staff consisting of a director and administrative assistant. Its purpose is to become the primary information resource point for common issues between institutions of higher learning and the communities in which they reside. The ITGA will be the nation’s common link bringing together practitioners from varying fields to address common issues and be a network of resources -- including print and online publications, information databases, and programs, training materials, and consulting services -- to help city and university leaders improve the quality of life in their communities.
Outlined in our charter are very specific vision and mission statements, as well as a thorough outline of our goals, objectives, strategies and values.
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