Academic Achievement Awards

The Department of Urban Studies faculty and staff proudly presents our Academic Achievement Award winners for 2021.

Dr. Vincent E. "Jake" Powers Urban Studies Award

This award, in memory of Dr. Vincent “Jake” Powers, a highly respected urban historian and founder of the Worcester State University Urban Studies Department, is given to an undergraduate urban studies student who is an innovative, original thinker, and whose time in the department has emboldened them to pursue personal and professional opportunities they may not have previously considered and to achieve them with determination, grit, and courage.

Katherinne Cornejo
Katherinne Cornejo’s time as an urban studies major has truly transformed her and her career focus. With a second major in Spanish, she is president of the Spanish Club and the Alpha Mu Gamma Honor Society for foreign languages, the SGA Commuter Senator, and an intern with Ascentria Care Alliance. She is also a student advocate with the Student Clinic for Immigrant Justice, working on asylum cases with immigration attorneys. At WSU, her research has focused on Central American immigration, a topic that relates to her own personal journey from El Salvador seven years ago. Katherinne hopes to pursue graduate studies and work in the nonprofit sector.

Schwartz Charitable Foundation Urban Studies Award

This award, in honor of Nathan Schwartz, founding donor of the Schwartz Charitable Foundation, who was a business visionary committed to supporting small businesses and community endeavors in Worcester County, is given to the highest-ranking undergraduate senior majoring in urban studies who best represents the mission of the Foundation.

Sara Stoja
Originally from Worcester, Sara Stoja is a double major in urban studies and psychology and is the vice president of Amnesty International at WSU. Sara completed a transportation planning internship at the Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission with a focus on bikesharing and micromobility. Sara is also a member of Psi Chi Honor Society, a recipient of the John and Abigail Adams Scholarship, and a volunteer at the LGBTQ+ Task Force and the Hawden Congregational Church food pantry in Worcester. Sara plans to pursue a career in transportation planning, continue volunteering for different organizations, and later pursue graduate study.

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New Article by Urban Studies Faculty Member, Professor Shiko Gathuo

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 effect o

Advanced Placement in WPS

Professors Tom Conroy (Urban Studies) and Alex Briesacher (Sociology), along with students pictured at the right, Abigail Holden (Sociology) and Elizabeth Stone (Urban Studies/Environmental Science), received Summer Undergraduate Research Grants to continue their work on AP Participation and Performance in Worcester Public Schools. Following the completion of a quantitative study entitled AP & WPS, Part 1 in May, Conroy and Briesacher launched a qualitative study that looks at the impact of AP Exam-taking on student academic confidence and their college-going plans. Their findings from the initial study raised many questions they wanted to ask and answer. For example, publicly-accessible data shows that WPS’ failure rate is the highest among Massachusetts Gateway Cities with school districts of more than 10,000 students. This is in large part because WPS' testing rate is much higher than other districts. In no year since 2007 have more WPS students passed their AP Exams t

Urban Studies Professors Present in Washington DC

Urban Studies professors Dr. Tom Conroy and Dr. Tim Murphy, along with Dr. Alex Briesacher (Sociology) and associate vice president Mary Jo Marion (Civic Engagement) presented at the annual meeting of the Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities in October. Their panel, The Devils in the Details: The Complexities of Early College Partnerships , focused on the wide-spectrum of Early College models in the US and other areas of complexities including demographic shifts and "unharmonized" visions of EC programs. Altogether, they argued, these different levels of complexities contribute to confusion and disarray in programs that negatively affect the missions of many programs and/or lead to confusion of objectives. Well-received by attendees, the session made the case that the area most controlled by individual institutions was the "unharmonized" aspects, which is addressed when institutions create and communicate clear objectives for Early College Programs th

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