Davarian L. Baldwin, Paul E. Raether Distinguished Professor of American Studies at Trinity College, has received a two-year grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation for his Smart Cities Research Lab.
This award will provide educational and research support for communities examining the financial relationships between campuses and their host communities through the lab’s Payment in Lieu of Taxes and Wealth Redistribution Analysis Project.
It also helps to support collaboration with the University of Minnesota on The Renewal Project, which provides archival and pedagogical training to project teams at nine institutions working on archival research, curriculum development, and commemorative placemaking.
Funding will support travel, research, training, and workshops in communities both nationally and internationally. In addition, it will support undergraduate fellowships for case studies, program management, and event scheduling.
Housed within the Trinity Social Justice Institute, the Smart Cities Research Lab studies and consults on best practices for building equitable urban communities. Baldwin, author of In the Shadow of the Ivory Tower: How Universities are Plundering Our Cities, founded the lab in 2021.
Read more about Baldwin’s work with the Smart Cities Research Lab in this story from earlier in the year.
Trinity College has begun the process of building a new strategic plan, Trinity 2040, and is seeking input from members of the Trinity community. The plan’s workstreams are focused on the Arts and STEM, the Learner Lifecycle, and the Neighborhood.
Trinity College faculty members were recognized for their outstanding achievements in scholarship, teaching, service, and leadership at the 2026 Faculty Excellence Awards ceremony, held October 29 in Mather Hall’s Washington Room.
Trinity College’s endowment has grown to more than $1 billion for the first time in the history of the institution. Trinity joins an elite group of fewer than 200 colleges and universities in the country with endowments exceeding $1 billion.
This year’s cohort of President’s Fellows includes some of Trinity’s most accomplished seniors. These 32 student scholars from the Class of 2027 have compiled exemplary academic records in their years at the College.
