By Kelline Linton, Staff Writer
ACU’s Center for Building Community is launching a new electronic journal this March that will serve as an informational
resource to cities around the nation.
Executive director of the center Dr. Gary McCaleb and ACU alumnus Kasey Pipes are leading the Web journal project.
The e-journal will cover topics that pertain to midsize cities with a four-figure to a five-figure population size, said McCaleb, vice president of the University.
“Over 50 percent of the U.S. population who live in cities live in these size cities,” McCaleb said. However, most midsize
cities do not receive enough research attention, he said.
“It’s not particularly helpful for [researchers] to read about how things are going in New York City because it is so much bigger than a [midsize] city; problems in New York City and the approaches they use to solve those problems are different for a city with a population of 50,000,” McCaleb said.
The Web journal will examine topics on building community and will discuss economic health, issues of safety, education, quality of life, declining and growing factors, the job market and all aspects of the general state of midsize cities.
Pipes was a former speech writer for President George W. Bush and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and has experience with research. He will work with chambers of commerce, city governments and volunteer organizations to access the health of midsize cities through the accumulation of information.
Executive director McCaleb started the Center for Building Community in 1999 after serving nine years as mayor of Abilene and 14 years on the City Council.
“The center’s purpose is to propose solutions to the crises of community that exist at all levels of society,” according to the ACU Web site.
The center is already hosting workshops and informational speeches addressing the issues the Web journal will examine.
The journal might appear quarterly but will not be printed. McCaleb and Pipes have not determined the name and publication frequency of the journal.
