Long before the first AWIPS workstation was deployed or the first 88D began operationally probing the atmosphere for unprecedented views of severe weather, the university community was involved in and influenced by the concept of a modernized National Weather Service. Universities helped develop the associated methodologies, and they participated--independently and through COMET--in the immense education and training effort required for effective use of the modernized NWS capabilities. Simultaneously, the prospect of enlarged data streams, new types of observations, and demands for new skills (in forecasting and the use of technology) caused universities to examine their roles and their own technological resources in a new light. The NSF-sponsored Unidata program has been at the nexus of this change and has helped enhance the attendant university-NWS relationship. Despite long-term cultivation, some of the fruit is only now beginning to ripen. This paper examines forces that have shaped university-NWS relations in the AWIPS era and provides a Unidata perspective on the changes and benefits yet to be realized.