Skip to main content

CUMU & CityLab

By


Louisville, KY, skyline at night
Last week, Drs. Conroy and Campbell went to the Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities Annual Conference in Louisville, Kentucky.  While there they offered a roundtable discussion session entitled "CityLabs & the Possibilities of Faculty-Student Research." 

The roundtable came out of the department's current thinking about how to expand the operations of our Vincent "Jake" Powers CityLab by using it more as a research institute, archive, and the department's publishing wing. 

This plan has been in the works for a while.  Earlier this year, for example, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette donated dozens of Worcester City and House Directories to CityLab.  Just this week, the university library donated some de-accessioned reference materials that are relevant to the study of Central Mass.  A list of these combined resources will be posted here soon. 

Meanwhile, initiatives to coordinate and publish the work of interdisciplinary research teams of WSU faculty, students, and community partners has also begun.  Last semester, CityLab published a parking study of the McGrath Municipal Parking Lot in Downtown Worcester.  Currently, Urban Studies professors and students are working on a project exploring Latino suspension rates in the Worcester Public Schools.  Early next year we will publish some of the department's Capstone projects through CityLab, too. 

We are in the process of creating an Editorial Board and a Community Advisory Council to help guide and accomplish CityLab's work.  To find out more about CityLab or these boards, contact us at urbanstudies@worcester.edu.  Stay tuned for more developments.
    

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fieldwork for "Worcester: A City & Its People"

By
Students in Dr. Conroy's  Worcester: A City & Its People class ( UR 312)  took to the city for a second time this semester to do some fieldwork. The first trip was to North Main Street --  this one was to Coes Pond and Webster Square. Here they are on the eastern edge of the pond along the boardwalk.  The student field packets contained old maps and images of city buildings and spaces at various historical points. For example, the packets contained plates from the 1896 and 1911 Worcester Real Estate Atlases as well as pictures of the "old" Webster Square Cinema when it was in operation, the "old" Stop'n Shop that's not the Asian Market, the Coes Wrench Factory, and the Roller Skating Arena that is now called Arena Plaza (where a Little Caesars is located). Students located the sites along the way and compared the old images and maps to what remains of them today. Then they were encouraged to speculate about the changes before they dug into source mat...
Post a Comment
Read more

New Article by Urban Studies Faculty Member, Professor Shiko Gathuo

By
Not in This Together: COVID-19 and People of Color  by Shiko Gathuo, Ph.D. Shiko Gathuo, Ph.D. Professor and Graduate Program Director of Urban Studies Presidents, prime ministers, royalty, celebrities. These and other rich, powerful and famous people have contracted COVID-19. When the pandemic first took hold, it was easy to throw around phrases like “we are in this together,” “the pandemic does not discriminate,” and “united in the fight.” These warm and comforting sentiments quickly became hollow as it became apparent that, in fact, the pandemic does discriminate and it has negatively affected the poor and people of color disproportionately and in many different ways. People of color are experiencing the health aspect of COVID-19 including infection, testing and treatment differently. The virus has also exacerbated other already existing conditions such as economic deprivation, food insecurity, and the education achievement gap. COVID-19 has also had a significant negative effe...
3 comments
Read more

"Wonderful Ethnography"

By
During his sabbatical last spring, Urban Studies Associate Professor Dr. Timothy Murphy, built a user-friendly website to help students develop their qualitative research skills. The site is called "Wonderful Ethnography" , because it emphasizes the importance of wondering when conducting ethnographic research. The site's three main sections - Wondering, Observing, and Asking - teach students how to stay open and curious about whatever arises during the research process and being slow to jump to conclusions, how to conduct observations, and how to engage people in interviews. The site's two additional sections - Examples and Resources - provide images, videos, field notes, and links to give students some real examples of what ethnographic research can look like as well as additional resources for students who want to learn more. Check it out!
Post a Comment
Read more