Mission Statement

The Department of Urban Affairs and Geography and the Center for Urban and Public Affairs serve to build knowledge and capacity in individuals and organizations for creative problem solving to benefit communities, governments, and nonprofit agencies in the region and beyond.

Vision Statement

A committed community partner solving problems through education, research, and service.

Applied Research

The center conducts descriptive, exploratory and explanatory research in areas of urban social, physical, political, and economic policy and programs. Techniques include professional survey research, focus group analysis, literature searches and review, and data analysis. Our capacity encompasses ten staff, four faculty, and graduate and undergraduate students. 

Technical Assistance

CUPA offers workshops, retreats, conferences, and seminars to facilitate the exchange of information, and build consensus to solve problems particularly in the area of public policy issues, serving all sectors of the population.

Data Base Development

CUPA provides a broad range of social, economic, political, and geographical data for the Dayton-Springfield metropolitan area, the state of Ohio, and the United States as a whole.

CUPA Principles

The Center for Urban and Public Affairs holds fast to many values, among them are the following qualities:

• empowering and building the capacity of clientele, faculty, staff, and students;

• professionalism in research and service;

• creating a positive, team environment in the work place; and

• objective research.

Goals and Objectives

The following goals have been set to accomplish CUPA's mission as an outreach unit:

• To affect the operation of agencies, to inform policy decisions, and to improve public organizations by achieving a high level of analyses by developing implications from research findings, providing data interpretation services, conducting policy analysis, incorporating secondary analysis in new projects, and focusing on client program evaluation.

• To build partnerships in order to link resources and expertise, to have a greater impact on issues and problems that affect our communities and the region. Three types of partners that we target are the university community, the UUP networks, and external partners such as:  practitioners, non-profit agencies, other universities and two-year colleges, associations of businesses, and foundations.

• To continue proactive involvement in the Urban University Program research networks in order to impact state-wide public issues and policies.

• To increase the capacity of CUPA to respond to project requests, to promote CUPA as a premier research center, and to provide an impetus for establishing a stronger identity within the College of Liberal Arts as well as throughout the University.

• To generate the resources necessary to achieve the Center mission; resources are defined as faculty, staff, students, funds, equipment, and expertise.

• To develop a clear, distinguished identity for the Center for Urban and Public Affairs, while enhancing our visibility, marketing our products and capacity, and our project and research interests.

• To provide students in the center the opportunity to enhance their academic experience by participation in Center projects and, as a result, expand and strengthen career prospects.

• To enhance CUPA's ability to select projects that are supported by the CUPA, the UUP, and WSU missions and to target those projects that have the greatest potential for positive impact.

UUP Mission

CUPA is a member of Ohio Board of Regents' Urban University Program (UUP). The Mission of the Ohio Urban University Program is to apply the resources of urban universities to identify urban problems and propose solutions designed to enhance the vitality of Ohio's urban regions and distressed central cities. This mission will be implemented through collaborative university networks and individual centers of excellence.

UUP Goals

• Address Ohio's urban problems and opportunities by supporting collaborative inter-institutional research and service networks

• Meet the distinctive needs of each metropolitan region by cultivating and supporting linked Centers of Excellence on all eight urban university campuses

• Propose solutions by undertaking research, education, and training, technical assistance, data base development, and design services

• Communicate findings of UUP-related activities to state and local policymakers and citizens

• Develop and encourage a synergistic process of combining the strengths of traditional university research and teaching with the public service role of the urban university