Evaluating the effect an anchor institution can have on a small shrinking city : a case study of Albion College and Albion, MI

This thesis examines the efforts of Albion College, a small liberal arts college, to revitalize Albion, MI, a small, post-industrial city. It evaluates the nature of the college's involvement in light of a taxonomy developed by Rita Axelroth Hodges and Steve Dubb in their book, The Road Half Traveled: University Engagement at a Crosswords. Using this taxonomy, the thesis evaluates seven key issues and determines that Albion College is primarily acting as a leader on its community engagement efforts. However, on some key issues, the College is acting as a convener, seeking to find and build the capacity of the City and other organizations within the community. Durable anchor institution engagement requires leadership support, involvement of faculty, staff and students, and commitment of alumni. There are signs that Albion College's community engagement is beginning to help revitalize Albion, MI, but additional time is required to determine the impacts and durability of the efforts.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and Planning.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2017

Author dc:creator

• Musselman, David Talmage

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Brent D. Ryan.

• Urban Studies and Planning.

Statement dc:rights

• MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/111258

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/111258