This dissertation research project aimed to identify benefits and drawbacks of public land-grant university involvement with tourism planning and development, an emergent form of university-community engagement. Using qualitative methodology, the study’s findings led to the codification of levels of university tourism planning and development capacity. It is hoped that the overall project—a portion of which is summarized in this dissertation overview—lays the groundwork for further research on public land-grant university tourism planning and development as potentially both a beneficial and a disempowering form of university-community engagement.