CommUniversity: Strengthening Town & Gown Partner-ships is the theme for the 13th annual ITGA Con-ference in Eugene, Oregon, May 30-June 2. Attendees from 85 colleges and universities, 36 cities, and 10 businesses will convene in Eugene to attend sessions featuring dynamic and innovative speakers on subjects that provide insight into the many partnerships and topics in which university communities and institutions of higher education engage. Municipality representatives include mayors, city managers, public safety officials, city council members, tourism officials and more. University representatives include presidents, deans, community relations officers, campus safety officials and others. This conference is significant in that so many city and university officials will meet in Eugene at the same time to discuss and share strategies for improving town-gown relations. To register for the conference, click here. See you in Eugene!  

Rutgers University Board of Governors unanimously approved a $17 million contribution to the forthcoming New Brunswick Performing Arts Center that will pave the way for the university's new musical theatre pro-gram and expand its opera program, the university announced in a news release. The board voted Thursday

to partner with the New Brunswick Development Cor-poration (DEVCO) and the New Brunswick Cultural Center on the $60 million, 60,000-square-foot-arts center that will open in 2019. The new facility will be part of a $125 million, 25-story, 450,000-square-foot devel-opment that also will include office space and residential units. "This is a tremendous collaboration between Rutgers University-New Brunswick and our home city," said Richard L. Edwards, chancellor of Rutgers University-New Brunswick. The arts center is expected to open in 2019.

College of New Jersey senior Tyler Gambardella had a jam-packed schedule last year, juggling classes with extra-curricular activities, a co-op and a part-time job. With little time to do his laundry, run to the super-market or clean his room, he often found himself transferring money to friends and housemates to help him get his chores done. "I realized there's definitely a market for this," he said. The finance major teamed up with two other students to create "Handl," an app that connects people too busy to complete their chores and errands with those willing to do them and looking to earn extra money in their free time. The team won TCNJ's Mayo Business plan Competition last month, taking home $30,000 to help with start-up costs. Gambardella's plan is to carve out a niche in college towns, beginning with the colleges and universities in Mercer County. 

UMD Right Now, by Andrew Muir

For the past 11 years, the University of Maryland has competed in Recyclemania, an annual competition for college and university recycling programs aimed at promoting waste reduction on campuses. This year, the university ranked first in state for achieving a 44 per-cent recycling rate and for collecting close to eight pounds of compostables per person. In addition, the university ranked second in state and 15th nationwide in the Total Recycling category, generating 808,676 pounds of recycling. Throughout the eight-week competition, managed by Keep America Beautiful, the university saved 885 metric tons of CO2 over an eight-week period. This is com-parable to keeping over 173 cars off the road. The university also recycled five tons of shredded documents and nearly 7,000 pounds of electronic devices during an all-campus shredding and electronics recycling event. 

The role of institution of higher education professionals is vital to underage drinking prevention efforts. Accord-ing to a 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 58 percent of full-time college students ages 18-22 drank alcohol in the past month. Furthermore, 37.9 percent of college students ages 18-22 reported binge drinking in the past month. Join SAMHSA on Thursday, May 25 from 2:00-3:00 EST, for  " College Drinking: Prevention Perspectives from the Field. The webinar will highlight an important new resource , the  College Drinking: Prevention Perspectives  video series. The first video, "Lessons Learned at Frostburg State University," explores actions taken to reduce underage and harmful drinking in the campus community, and offers educators, parents of college-age youth, and prevention organizations insights into what local prevention efforts worked at FSU.  

A growing and impressive group of professionals from campus communities across the globe continue to network and share strategies for improving town and gown relations. Join us on Twitter and LinkedIn.  

The ITGA strengthens town and gown partnerships by providing a network of professionals and resources, identifying and sharing leading practices, innovative solutions and professional development opportunities for municipal and university communities.