Overview Ernest A. Lynton 

One of the striking characteristics of metropolitan universities is the 
paradoxical role of continuing education. On the one hand, our institu-
tions can no longer maintain a valid distinction between "regular" educa-
tion as provided on campus for mostly full-time, daytime, young stu-
dents, and "continuing" education provided in the evening and/ or off 
campus, on a part-time basis, usually for older students. Classrooms are 
filled with students of all ages, some full time, some part time; many 
"regular" programs are taught in the late afternoon or evening and some 
are taught off campus or beamed to distant places by telecommunication. 
To view continuing education as a distinct instructional category no 
longer makes much sense. 

Yet, at the same time, the innovative and catalytic role of continuing 
educators is more important than ever as metropolitan universities in-
crease their multifaceted interaction with their region. In most of our 
institutions, the professionals in continuing education have the experi-
ence, the skills, and the commitment needed to span the boundaries 
between campus and external constituencies. They can be, and usually 
are, invaluable in helping metropolitan universities serve the instruc-
tional and other intellectual and cultural needs of the region. How then 
does one conceptualize the role of continuing education? What approach 
is most conducive to engage the entire institution in its metropolitan 
mission? What organizational arrangements are most effective in imple-
menting the optimal role of continuing education and of continuing 
educators? To what extent, and in what way, should continuing education 
move beyond its traditional focus on instruction so as to assist the 
institutional engagement in other, noninstructional forms of outreach? 

This issue of Metropolitan Universities has continuing education as its 
theme. Thanks to the help of Gordon "Nick" Mueller of the University of 
New Orleans, and Dan Shannon of the University of Wisconsin, Milwau-
kee, this issue contains six very timely articles . Dan Shannon 
reconceptualizes continuing education as moving beyond instructional 
outreach to be facilitator, convener, or broker of other modes of university 
extension. He describes the characteristics needed to fulfill these ex-
panded tasks, stressing the role of continuing education as the principal 
provider of access to the knowledge base of the university by the larger 
community. Paul Miller similarly sees continuing education as adding to 
its traditional role a strong emphasis on what he calls the restoration of 
primary citizenship. He suggests specific initiatives by which people can 
be educated about education so that the quality of local government and 
volunteer leadership can be improved, and science literacy and the 
utilization of knowledge for problem solving can be enhanced. 

Joe Donaldson and Norma Long both address the organization of 
continuing education within the university. Donaldson argues convinc-
ingly that this question should be examined not only along the usual 
centralized/ decentralized dimension, but also in terms of institutional 
boundary and domain, coordination and integration. Long provides 



Overview 7 

specifics as to how continuing education can be organized to have both a 
university-wide role while also maintaining a close relationship to the 
individual units of the institution. 

The contribution of Joyce Feucht-Haviar and Timothy Scovill as-
sesses the role of liberal learning in continuing education of practitioners. 
They argue that the most promising foundation on which to integrate 
liberal and professional material is the practice itself. The article describes 
pertinent strategies being implemented by the authors at the University 
of Virginia. Nick Mueller describes the evolution of what began as a 
somewhat peripheral advisory group of business people into a very 
effective, action-oriented Business/Higher Education Council with a 
budget, a staff, and a substantial agenda. The council helps in extending 
the instructional resources of the University of New Orleans to the 
community and in identifying problems in the city that the university may 
address. It has also been a successful advocate for higher education. 

The issue also carries two Forum pieces. Paige Mulhollan speaks to 
the urgent need for a model of excellence for universities that are commit-
ted to a student body far more diverse and to scholarship far more 
inclusive than what has been the norm for traditional research institu-
tions. Richard Hogarty describes an example of a university striving 
toward the new model: the University of Massachusetts at Boston. Both 
pieces are welcome reminders that in spite of, and perhaps even because 
of, budgetary crises and fiscal restraints, metropolitan universities play an 
ever more important role in their communities. How much needs to be 
done is once again underscored by Nicholas Michelli' s review of two 
books, which illustrates the disastrous conditions of children's lives in the 
inner city. Barry Bull's book review emphasizes the extent to which much 
of current thought about higher education is still bound by traditional 
notions of the typical student. 


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