March 19, 2008
Clark professor receives award for engaging students with the City of Worcester
Laurie Ross, assistant professor in Clark’s International Development, Community and Environment Department, received the second annual Meinhofer Award for Faculty Excellence on Tuesday, March 11, from the Worcester UniverCity Partnership at a ceremony in Tilton Hall.
Ross shares the 2008 award with Robert Krueger, PhD, Worcester Polytechnic Institute's (WPI) director of the Worcester Community Project Center, director of environmental studies, and assistant professor of geography.
The Meinhofer Award is given to college or university faculty who enable students to engage in community-based work that was important to the award's namesake, William Meinhofer, who was the founding director of the Donelan Office of Community-Based Learning at the College of the Holy Cross.
Nominees were judged on their sustained efforts to link scholarship to significant needs in the greater community; the impact of their work on campus as a result of community engagement efforts; measurable successes in establishing campus-community collaborations; their engagement of students in community-based collaborations; and their use of creative and innovative approaches to teaching and research.
"The Meinhofer Award recognized Dr. Ross' ability to engage her students with the greater community, particularly the oft times marginalized segments of the community like at-risk youth and the homeless. Her own personal commitment to issues of social justice provides a model for her students and fellow faculty members," said Armand W. Carriere, executive director of the Worcester UniverCity Partnership.
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs David Angel added, "We are delighted that Laurie has received this recognition for her work that is at the cutting-edge of community-based scholarship. Laurie brings together rigorous inquiry-based research with community engagement in ways that are transformative for students and for the academy. The positive impact on youth in Worcester is something that Laurie should be very proud of. Laurie's work exemplifies the possibilities for research and practice to come together in ways that change lives for the better."
Ross joined the IDCE department in 2000 and brought with her research interests in participatory action techniques, urban community planning, and community and youth development. Over the past ten years, she has been engaged in a range of community based participatory research projects on critical youth development issues in Worcester, such as youth employment, distribution of alcohol and tobacco vendors and advertising, public education, youth mental health, gang violence, and youth worker training. In addition to working directly with youth on these topics, a partial list of her community partners includes: Worcester Public Schools, City of Worcester, Worcester Police Department, UMass Memorial Medical Center, Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, YouthNet, Boys and Girls Club, Worcester Community Action Council, and YWCA.
Most recently, Ross has worked on environmental justice issues in the Main South and Piedmont neighborhoods through a National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences grant in partnership with Family Health Center, Worcester Youth Center, and the Regional Environmental Council. For the past six years, Ross has coordinated the HOPE Coalition, a youth-adult partnership coalition designed to reduce youth violence, substance use, and promote adolescent mental health in Worcester. She is in the process of synthesizing her community based research on youth development through her two-year Learn and Serve Faculty Fellowship awarded by Rhode Island/Massachusetts Campus Compact in 2007.
"I'm honored to receive this award and be recognized by the Consortium and the UniverCity partnership," said Ross. "I also thank Clark University for being a place where I can blend teaching, research, and service in a seamless way. My teaching benefits from my community-based research and engagement and my community work is enhanced when I have opportunities to discuss and work through difficult issues in the classroom."
The Worcester UniverCity Partnership is a coalition of public and private organizations working in cooperation with central Massachusetts colleges and universities to explore and implement partnerships that increase the positive impact of higher education in the city and the region, especially in the area of economic development. The organization launched the Meinhofer Award last year to continually honor the late Meinhofer's work.