The connection between universities and the communities they inhabit is a perennial topic of research and conversation—even earning the colloquial name “town and gown” relationships.
For some campuses, these relationships can be fraught. A May 2020 Forbes article compared this associated to a “marriage relationship without exchanging vows.” Likewise, a prominent university president warned years earlier that “longstanding suspicions on both sides of the [college and community] relationship impede constructive collaboration.”
It doesn’t have to be this way.
At Tennessee Tech University in Cookeville, Tenn., our campus and community have made a conscious decision to lean in, lock arms and support each other’s continued success. We know that our futures are closely intertwined, and we are stronger as a team.
This collaboration is not new. For example, Tennessee Tech’s School of Music has partnered with a community nonprofit organization to support a thriving professional symphony in Cookeville—the Bryan Symphony Orchestra—for more than 60 years; an offering unheard of in most communities our size.
But in recent years, our university and city have deepened this partnership in ways we believe can be a model to others. Starting in 2023, the city and campus have come together each fall for “College Town Kickoff” an all-day block party in Cookeville’s vibrant downtown complete with street vendors, a zipline, Ferris wheel, live music, and more.
Businesses in the historic WestSide district have also joined forces with the university for “Wings Up Wednesdays on the WestSide.” Tennessee Tech provides free shuttle services for students each Wednesday evening, taking them to the town’s cultural epicenter, where they are greeted with special dining and shopping discounts. Students enjoy the cheap eats while businesses benefit from the influx of foot traffic.
Also this year, the university partnered with the city on gateway monument signs welcoming visitors as they arrive from the interstate. The large brick and concrete signs are inscribed with the city seal and university logo, along with the words “Cookeville: Home of Tennessee Tech University”—sending an unmistakable signal of our campus-community bond.
The university has even trademarked the phrase “Tennessee’s College Town” to showcase its pride in being part of a community that embraces students. It also produces a podcast with Cookeville’s visitors bureau titled “College Town Talk,” in which alumni, local civic leaders, merchants, and restauranteurs stop by to reminisce about the impact of the university in their own lives and to take advantage of exposure to Tennessee Tech students, parents, faculty and staff who make up the listening audience.
The reasons for this symbiotic relationship between the campus and community are twofold. First, we see it as simply being a good neighbor. Second, now is no time for colleges or their surrounding communities to go it alone. Each entity faces challenges the other can help solve.
Food service and hospitality businesses that are the lifeblood of our communities are having “a more difficult time retaining workers,” according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, but college students provide a built-in workforce.
Universities are contending with talk of a future “enrollment cliff” that has resulted in greater competition for student recruitment. A thriving local community with attractive off-campus destinations can help a college stand out from the crowd.
U.S. consumer spending fell earlier this year, a trend that acutely impacts small businesses in cities like ours, but the university offers a pool of would-be shoppers right in our backyard.
Here in Cookeville, all signs point to our partnership being a success. Tennessee Tech kicked off the fall 2024 semester with its highest total enrollment in nearly a decade and the fourth-largest freshman class in its history.
At the community level, our county’s labor force grew by more than 10% from 2020 to 2024, according to the Cookeville-Putnam County Chamber of Commerce, and the median household income rose by nearly $10,000—leading the U.S. Census Bureau to declare Cookeville a top-ten micropolitan area for numeric growth.
Our advice to universities and communities navigating today’s uncertain economic terrain? Team up and share the load together. We’re glad we did.
Dr. Philip Oldham is the president of Tennessee Tech University. Amy New is the president and CEO of the Cookeville-Putnam County Chamber of Commerce and a Tennessee Tech University alumna.
