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 HEED Award recognizes U.S. colleges and universities that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to academic excellence, belonging, and community-building across all levels of campus life.
New access and affordability initiatives aim to lower barriers for local applicants and amplify opportunities for Connecticut’s brightest scholars.
Summer 2026 was filled with campus improvement projects, including progress on infrastructure updates, upgrades to classrooms and first-year residence halls, athletics facilities renovations, dining enhancements, beautification projects, and more.
Trinity College opened its 203rd academic year on September 3, 2026, when new students, their families, and members of the Trinity community gathered in the Ferris Athletic Center’s Ray Oosting Gymnasium for Convocation and Matriculation.
