Members of the greater Phoenix community are invited to join Arizona State University faculty, administrators and students on Oct. 14 to discuss new ways to collaborate and develop partnerships that are mutually beneficial.

The community dialogues, "Partnerships for Purpose: Innovation, Cultural Capitol and Resilience," will take place from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the Memorial Union on ASU's Tempe campus.

The event, hosted by University Design Consortium at ASU, will focus on salient issues facing the community and university. National and local experts will lead the discussions, and audience participation is highly encouraged.  

Panel sessions will address the following questions:

• How should ASU help to make the region more innovative (beyond teaching and research)?

• What are the characteristics of a truly reciprocal partnership between university and community?

• What should ASU do to maximize knowledge transfer?

• How should the university contribute to the development of cultural capital/talent in the region?

• What can ASU do to make metropolitan Phoenix a more resilient region?

"Community embeddedness is one of ASU's top priorities, and participants will develop specific recommendations for action to further enhance the strong links between the Phoenix community and the university," says Kathryn Mohrmann, director of the University Design Consortium.

The keynote speaker is Eugenie Birch, co-director of the University of Pennsylvania's Institute for Urban Research and professor in Penn's Department of City and Regional Planning. ASU President Michael Crow also will speak at the event.

Admission is free and RSVPs are encouraged. For information, call or e-mail Fang Jiang at (602) 496-1176 or Fang.Jiang.1@asu.edu.

For a complete list of panelists, visit http://universitydesign.asu.edu/events/conferences/asu-community-dialogues.