Faculty Earn Four Creative Economy Grants

From left, Chad Montrie, Rachel DeMotts, Mignon Duffy and Susan Gallagher

University of Massachusetts President Jack Wilson announced the winners of the 2008 Creative Economy grants, and UMass Lowell leads the system with four of 12 successful grants awarded here.

“The Creative Economy Fund is intended to provide seed funding to initiatives that support the contribution of the arts, humanities and social sciences to the social and cultural strength of the Commonwealth,” says Wilson.  “Economic strength does not depend solely on the business sector and emerging technologies; we must also recognize that any effective approach to economic development can not ignore the social, cultural and ethical dimensions of a healthy economy.”

UMass Lowell professors earned $143,000 in grants for a wide range of initiatives, and a $15,000 share of a multi-campus proposal.

“It’s tremendous to see the UMass Lowell faculty leading in Creative Economy research in the region,” says Paul Marion, executive director of the Office of Outreach. “Both the Lowell Plan Inc. and the Merrimack Valley Economic Development Council are pushing creative economy strategies with the help of UMass Lowell. The research will yield new and better products, services and experiences that energize the economy.”

Assoc. Prof. Susan Gallagher of the Political Science Department received $43,000 to create Reading New England, an online, digital series of critical edition, landmark works of important regional writers including W.E.B. DuBois, Henry David Thoreau, and Margaret Fuller that will be published by UMass Press. 

“Like paper-based critical editions of classic texts, each digital critical edition will include a comprehensive introduction, detailed annotations, and expert commentary. However, unlike paper-based books, our editions will also feature a wealth of documentary images, historical newspaper and periodical articles, and sound and video files. The inclusion of lively analysis and multi-media resources will be of great interest to first-time readers and established scholars alike.”

Gallagher will work with multimedia applications and academic specialists to develop the digital infrastructures, design chapter templates, digitize documents and configure materials for presentation.

“Reading New England is designed to enable the University to make its mark by partnering with educational, cultural and historical institutions and organizations to illuminate the remarkable intellectual ferment that distinguishes our region.”

Gallagher’s first digital critical edition will be a model of “The Right to Privacy” by Louis Brandeis and Samuel Warren.

Assoc. Prof. Chad Montrie of the History Department was awarded $40,000 for three initiatives related to the Greenway project under construction along the Lower Concord River, a 1.75-mile stretch that runs from the Lawrence Street Bridge to the confluence with the Merrimack River.

“The grant will fund three separate, related resources,” says Montrie. “One will be a guided tour between two nodes on the Greenway at Wamesit and Massic Falls, highlighting the past use of the river and land in those sections.” The tour will be adaptable to general visitors and school audiences, and workshops and professional development components will also be offered.

“Secondly, we’ll design an interactive website with an overview of Lower Concord River history, grade-appropriate activities, timelines, audio and video clips of oral history interviews, photos, maps and listings of events,” says Montrie. 

Lastly, Montrie will create a documentary film tracing the industrial, environmental and immigration history of the Lower Concord River and surrounding neighborhoods. The film will be available for purchase, and will be integrated into the Tsongas Center and UMass Lowell Graduate School of Education’s professional development offerings.

Asst. Prof. Mignon Duffy of the Sociology Department received $35,000 to conduct research on the role of the care sector in the Massachusetts economy. The cross-campus, interdisciplinary effort will quantify the paid and unpaid labor involved in the work of caring for dependents in Massachusetts, as well as the amount of public funding invested in this segment of the economy.

“Child care, elder care, foster care and health care are all receiving heightened attention from policy makers and are an important part of state budgets,” says Duffy.  “This study will provide critical data to help Massachusetts policy makers develop strategies to address the problems of quality and access.”

Duffy and her collaborators will develop a quantitative picture of the care sector by using time-use survey data to capture the contribution of unpaid care work, analyzing labor force data to identify the size, wage levels and demographic makeup of paid care employees, and using state budget data to estimate how much the state spends on provision of direct care services.

As an integral part of the research and outreach processes, Duffy and her collaborators will develop a “Massachusetts Cares” website to disseminate survey findings and promote engagement between academics and policy makers. Research findings will also be shared at press conferences across the state.

Prof. Rachel DeMotts from the Regional Economic and Social Development Department’s will use her $25,000 grant to establish a UMass Lowell-sponsored fair trade store in downtown Lowell. 

“The store will serve as a centerpiece for interdisciplinary projects, community outreach and new course offerings,” says DeMotts. “This connection between Lowell and the global market will address the need for fair trade not only in an international context, but within our local community.”

DeMotts’ grant will be used three ways – to establish an open fall semester discussion series on fair trade issues, to develop a new spring interdisciplinary undergraduate seminar on globalization with a substantial service learning component, and to build partnerships between the University, local artisan groups and the downtown business community through a fair trade store.

DeMotts’ co-principal investigator is Michelle Pagliarulo, a graduate student in the Community Social Pscychology Department and staff member in the IT department.

“The grant will strongly emphasize service learning through community involvement, and increase understanding of Lowell’s cultural and economic connections to the international community,” says DeMotts. “We expect that this will include not only student, staff and faculty involvement in community service, but also in community-driven research that will give students experiential opportunities to partner with local organizations.”

A proposal submitted by three UMass campuses – Lowell, Dartmouth and Boston – will position the University of Massachusetts as a leader in growing the "green" economy.  Under UML’s portion of the grant, researchers including Madeline Snow, David Turcotte, Cathy Crumbley and Ken Geiser will determine the number and type of clean energy jobs; assess current and future educational and training needs to support the sector’s growth; make recommendations to UMass, state and business leaders to promote the sector; and create an abstract for publication and presentation at regional and national conferences.

-Sheila_Eppolito