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.
The digital humanities website Public Art CT—sponsored in part by Trinity College and created by a Trinity faculty member—has received a 2026 Award of Excellence from the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH).
A book by Associate Professor of American Studies Juliet Nebolon was named a co-winner of the 2026 Association for Asian American Studies (AAAS) History Book Award.
Sarah Bollinger will be the next executive director of the Trinity College Career Center. Bollinger has led career development and student success initiatives that connect experiential learning, faculty mentoring, employer relations, and alumni engagement.
Demonstrating valuable return on investment and continued alumni success, Trinity has earned recognition this fall in multiple college guides, including an elevated ranking at #31 on the 2027 U.S. News & World Report list of Best National Liberal Arts Colleges.
