The era of post-tenure review in universities includes more accountability of the university to serve the public good. One of the major missions of Arizona's state universities revolves around major educational and service visions over the last decade. These visions follow national trends in higher education concerning goals of more connectivity and accountability among the university, its surrounding population, and respective constituencies. The history of climate and weather studies in Phoenix, AZ reflects this paradigm in advance of the post-tenure era. These studies represent a commitment not only to basic research, but also to climate and weather applications, service to constituencies, and educational missions that have enriched the K to post-graduate levels. The key concept, as is the case elsewhere in academe, is to establish partnerships that help solve problems for constituents and at the same time fulfill major educational objectives of training scholars in various disciplines for the human and physical environments of the 21st century. This paper discusses the fields of climatology and meteorology in the context of tracing the history of research, education, and service with a focus on the urban problems of Phoenix, AZ -- one of the most rapidly growing cities in the country. The historical analysis reveals examples of blending educational missions with applications and research geared toward solving problems in this burgeoning and heavily populated environment. For example, today have emerged projects whose aims are in maintaining multi-disciplinary and educational components (e.g., the Phoenix Long Term Ecological Research Urban Ecology Project; Air Quality Initiatives among the public, private, and university sectors; several NSSL/NOAA/university and agency projects; and a state climate program of partnership involving university faculty, students, and agencies in the state). In sum, academics and their constituents in the climate arena in Arizona demonstrate the proclaimed general university paradigms of the late 20th century, whose missions for the 21st century feature the partnering approach in research, teaching, and service with industry, agencies, the educational realm, and the public in general.