As the University of Baltimore celebrates its 100th anniversary this year, we’re thinking a lot about the impact that higher education has on the quality of life, not only here in Baltimore but all across the country. For a century, our university has been about aiming high, working hard and achieving your dream.

I freely admit that by nature, I’m an optimist. I see the good in people first. Long before I became UBalt’s president, I served as the city’s mayor — optimism was a requirement for that job. But before anything else, I believed in learning. Every success I’ve had in life can be traced back to simply engaging with the teacher, doing the homework and taking that extra step to satisfy my own curiosity about a subject. An openness to ideas, I’ve found, is entwined with respect, both for others and for yourself. Also, admitting that you’ve always got more to learn is a good way to keep yourself in check.

After World War II, with the economic and political power of the GI Bill in hand, colleges in every state — from Lincoln’s land-grant institutions to dozens of brand-new, experimental campuses — exploded with growth. A college degree was made mainstream in this period. So was the idea that a person’s innate skills could be linked with a career. Universities understood that growing talent was a core part of their mission.

In his 1961 “Special Message to the Congress on Education,” President Kennedy wrote, “Our colleges and universities represent our ultimate educational resource. In these institutions are produced the leaders and other trained persons whom we need to carry forward our highly developed civilization.

If the colleges and universities fail to do their job, there is no substitute to fulfill their responsibility.”

He was talking, rather explicitly, about controlling the future. His message was about subsidizing the enormous number of Americans who wanted a college degree — while he also was letting everyone know that the existential question is this: Which country will be the smartest? What country will come out on top, and what part will education play in that equation?

Those were troubled times, fitful and disillusioning for many. But always, just under the surface, the belief was there, that education was the answer. It’s hard to argue.

Nevertheless, here we are. I recognize that for some there remain nagging doubts about the value or potential of higher education. It seems to me that the issue now is how we — all of us, whether you care about college or not — can find a new way forward.

Our campus, located in central Baltimore, is small. We cover a few square blocks, where we teach business, public policy, the law, and the arts and humanities. In our centennial year, we’re looking back to the people who founded the institution, with their vision of a place where working folks could get a degree at night, on their own time and at their own pace. Reading the plans and letters they exchanged with other civic leaders, politicians and business owners, it’s clear that they believed in the ideal of an individual’s worth being matched with their ability to contribute to the greater good. It’s Kennedy, long before there was a JFK in the White House.

What this university does, and will continue to do, is solve problems.

If you can accept that human beings — living together, pursuing their own sometimes oppositional aspirations — will inevitably face difficulties, then you can understand where we’re coming from. Yes, we teach ideas. Concepts. Big-picture perspectives. But we also focus on the practical. It’s a blend of the abstract and the immediately useful. It works — we’re poised to host another century’s worth of successful graduates, to add to the tens of thousands we’ve already produced. These days, we’re investing in more online courses, more certificates and more classes that meet the needs of those who are thinking about entirely new careers, even into their 50s and 60s. We’re betting that tomorrow’s college student will be determined to find lasting value in every course in which they enroll. It’s their investment of time and money, after all.

This is not new. When I was in city politics, college students from across the metropolitan area served as tutors in local schools.

They were also census workers, which enabled Baltimore to pursue more federal support. Professors worked on the planning commission, the school board and numerous agencies including police, first responders and public works. Major strides were made by institutions devoted to health care, leading to better treatment for those struggling with substance abuse. Baltimore started the nation’s first syringe exchange program, thanks to the expertise of those doing public policy research. One of the University of Baltimore’s previous presidents, Mebane Turner, even led efforts to improve the city jail. Today, the university’s Second Chance program is offering educational opportunities for men returning from prison. All of these things are a great benefit to the city. They’re also where many of our graduates find a career.

Finally, colleges and universities owe our society a guarantee: Join us, get that degree, make a lifelong commitment — and we will be there for you. Your success is our success.

I see signs that skeptics about the value of education are becoming a distinct minority. Being cynical about intelligence is, well, pretty played out. Undervaluing a person’s desire to learn is not proving to be of much benefit. At the same time, universities must do better in conveying the message that in every way we are partners in progress with all our citizens. It must be understood that institutions of higher education are part of — not apart from — the communities in which we reside. The image of universities as ivory towers reflects ideas of the past, not the reality of the present and the hope of the future.

Kurt L. Schmoke is president of the University of Baltimore and the former mayor of Baltimore City. Prior to his time as mayor, he served as assistant U.S. attorney and city state’s attorney. After serving three terms as mayor, he took on various roles at Howard University, including dean of the institution’s School of Law.