WSU Urban Studies Blog

The Lagos Urban Development Initiative (LUDI) has issued a  call for female urban designers.   With a population of more than 13  Million people, Lagos is one of the largest cities in the world.  It is also known for exploring and employing a variety of innovative urban programs and practices.   Click here for  more on LUDI ; and email comms@ludi.org.ng for more on the open call. (Thanks to graduate Chadyn Case for sharing.)  

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...

Alumni Spotlight:  Stephen Joyce B.S. in Urban Studies, 2008 Originally from Auburn, MA, Stephen Joyce is a FT Firefighter Paramedic in Sturbridge, MA today.  This is hardly surprising given that among the first jobs he had after finishing his degree was an EMT.  He says it was a "love of helping people and meeting the needs of the community" that got him into this line of work. Among the most important things he learned while working on his Urban Studies degree were:  how to collaborate with people,  how to approach and accomplish research projects and data analysis,  and the importance of being exposed to and working with multiple cultures.   Important lessons for the 21st century to be sure.  

TELL YOUR STORY by adding it to our new COVID-19 Digital Archives.  We want to hear the stories of Central MA people from all walks of life.  Complete a self-guided online oral history, record your own, request to be interviewed by project staff, or contribute a video diary or image on your own. You can get to the collector by following this link:  worcester.edu/CityLab . Feel free to share it with your friends and family, too.     WHO WE ARE.  We are a diverse group of WSU professors from 11 different academic departments and the WSU library working to document the local impact of the COVID-19 pandemic through Urban Studies’ CityLab.  Participating professors are from: CJ, DEEP, Education, Health Sciences, History & Political Science, Nursing, Psychology, Sociology, Urban Studies, V+PA, and World Languages   If you have questions, contact  CityLab@worcester.edu .

B.S. in Urban Studies, class of 2016 This was to be the week of the biggest and most important of a university's annual events, the graduate commencement in undergraduate graduation. But as it has in so many parts of our lives, the Covid-19 virus had other plans. Those events were cancelled and have been rescheduled for late summer.  Hopefully they will occur in August. However, that leaves us in mid-May and it is important to the department faculty that we recognize our graduates publicly in the normal calendar of events, and welcome them to the ranks of our truly remarkable alums. It is our great honor as the Urban Studies faculty to share with you the names of those who have graduated with degrees earned in the department of Urban Studies for the academic year 2019-20. Congratulations to all on a job well done.  Dr. Shiko Gathuo with recent M.S. in NPM degree recipients Joanna Anderson and Beth Jarret.   2020 M.S. NON-PROFIT MANAGEMENT Adusu, Issac Levy, Tracy Smyth, A...

The Department of Urban Studies has become a member organization of the Urban Affairs Association.  This affiliation will give department students and faculty: the ability to link the WSU academic programs to the UAA's website;  the opportunity to create our own chapter that can connect with those at other schools;  access to the Journal of Urban Affairs and the Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and the City ;  and give department faculty to means to create a chapter of Upsilon Sigma, the Urban Studies Honors Society. For more information about the organization and its Annual Conferences, see  urbanaffairsassociation.org .

Had a pandemic not intervened, department faculty would have proudly been watching our students receive awards in a ceremony at Mechanics Hall tonight. It is a highlight of the graduation season, one of many that have been canceled unfortunately because of shelter-in-place procedures. Nevertheless, it is our pleasure to publicly recognize them here and share the bios we wrote for them. The Urban Studies Academic Award Cheryl Thomas wins this year's Academic Award. Cheryl is from Westborough and is committed to community engagement in her hometown, where she serves as part of Sustainable Westborough, an advisory group to the Westborough Board of Selectmen. When Westborough received the state's designation as a "Green Community," Cheryl was at the forefront of efforts to organize and submit the 2020 grant applications for which such a designation made her town eligible. In October of 2019 she co-chaired a successful educational event about vaping and e-ci...

WORCESTER – Worcester State University's Latino Education Institute, in partnership with its Department of Urban Studies, was awarded a $200,000 grant from The Boston Foundation and The Lloyd G. Balfour Foundation to examine post-secondary outcomes for Latino males in five Massachusetts communities –Worcester, Lawrence, Boston, Springfield and Holyoke. Called “Pathways to Higher Education: Opportunities and Outcomes for Latino Young Men in Five Massachusetts Communities,” the project’s directors will use qualitative and quantitative approaches to improve understanding of the many circumstances that affect the decision-making of young Latino males relative to career and educational opportunities. The researchers will collect and analyze data, which is expected to inform the state's policies on how best to close the "achievement gap" -- the persistent and well-documented disparity in educational outcomes between people who come from low-opportunity environments versus ...

At the Friends of the Worcester Public Library book sale today, Dr. Conroy went shopping for books he will donate to CityLab.   For $4, he got: William Bradford, Of Plimouth Plantation, 1620-1647 Frank A. Brown and Beverly K Goodale, West Boylston William O. Hultgren et. Al., Worcester 1880-1920 Mary P. Ryan, Cradle of the Middle Class:   The Family in Onieda County, New York, 1790-1865 Mary P. Ryan, Women in Public:   Between Banners and Ballots, 1825-1880 Cary D. Wintz, Black Culture and the Harlem Renaissance James Sterling Young, The Washington Community, 1800-1828 For an additional $16 in the regular WPL book store , he bought: Nicholas Gage, A Place for Us (a memoir of a Greek immigrant who grew up in Worcester) J. Joseph Huthmacher, Massachusetts People and Politics Rae MacCollum Spencer, The Gift of Imaginative Leadership, a biography of Harry Galpin Stoddard, Affectionately called “Mr. Worceste...

Summer I 2014 Class Offerings Department of Urban Studies   UR 101    Introduction to Urban Studies                            LASC:   HBS and USW A broad contextual overview of urban life that examines the relationship of people to their environment from an interdisciplinary perspective.   A great first class in this dynamic academic field.   MW       9:00-12:00        Alan Gordon                 3 credits           S 320   UR 191       ST:   Worcester Politics/Urban Political Systems   This class explores 20th century American urban political systems by diving deeply into the history of the Worcester government and p...