My Background and Motivations After finding out about the Liberal Arts Action Lab in the fall of my junior year, I immediately wanted to get involved. What most drew me to this program was the idea of leaving Trinity College’s campus and getting to know Hartford, as a city and a community, better than I otherwise would have. I was well aware of the cultural and socioeconomic distance between our campus and the rest of Read more…
This semester’s Action Lab cohort took “rise to the occasion” to a new level in response to the pandemic’s limitations. Although it was the shortest semester since the program’s inception, that did not stop students from navigating unprecedented challenges to deliver products to Hartford community partners. This spring, teams of students and faculty from Trinity College and Capital Community College worked with Grow Hartford Youth Program, SAWA Refugee, and Charter Oak Adaptive Sports and Fitness Read more…
The Liberal Arts Action Lab is now accepting Faculty Fellow applications for the Fall 2021 semester with a deadline of Tuesday, June 15. Apply here: action-lab.org/apply/faculty/ In the Liberal Arts Action Lab, Hartford community partners propose semester-long research projects to pursue in collaboration with student and faculty teams from Trinity and Capital Community College. Students apply to join project teams and enroll in two courses to learn participatory research skills and digital tools that enable collaboration Read more…
Pictured above (from the left) are Olivia Painchaud (Trinity College), Maria Jose Martinez (Trinity College), and Christian Gardner (Capital Community College) presenting their research for the Hurricane Maria: Community Without Limits Project at the Fall 2019 Digital Poster Fair. Photo: Erica Crowley, Director of Community Learning for the Center for Hartford Engagement and Research (CHER). The Liberal Arts Action Lab is accepting student applications for the Fall 2021 semester. Through the Action Lab, Hartford community Read more…
Pictured above is the Spring 2021 Action Lab cohort. Photo by Morgan Finn, Liberal Arts Action Lab Communications and Program Assistant. The Liberal Arts Action Lab has formed three research teams for Spring 2021. These project teams focus on a diverse set of questions facing Hartford from helping assess needs for refugee families to increasing access to health and fitness services for people with disabilities. All students meet remotely in the Action Research Methods course Read more…
Pictured above is the Fall 2019 Hurricane Maria Project Team. From left to right: Faculty Fellow Sarah Raskin (Trinity College), Community Partner Lydia Herrera from Lilly Sin Barreras, Olivia Painchaud (Trinity College), Maria Martinez (Trinity College), Christian Gardner (Capital Community College), and former Action Lab Director Megan Brown. The Liberal Arts Action Lab is excited to announce we are now accepting proposals for the fall semester. The submission deadline has been extended to Friday, April Read more…
Pictured: Mercy Unoh (left, Trinity College ’23) and Aliyah Freeman-Johnson (right, Capital Community College) explore archives for the Spring 2020 Black Heritage Project. We are excited to begin accepting applications for the Spring 2021 semester. Students may apply by Friday, November 13th to join any of the Action Lab projects below. Apply online, and read more details about each project below the form, at action-lab.org/apply/students. School Nutrition Project: Grow Hartford Youth Program asks for research Read more…
Congratulations to the five Spring 2020 Action Lab Project Teams for navigating a challenging semester! The teams studied research methods and applied what they learned throughout the semester to address real-world problems facing Hartford. The teams adjusted their projects after the shift to remote learning, and each group created a website about their research and presented findings to their community partners. Although this semester’s Digital Poster Fair was canceled, there’s still a chance to see Read more…
Since the COVID-19 global pandemic, hardly anything has been “typical.” This is especially true for students, and even more so for seniors. Moments of celebration, connection, and closure have been replaced with loss, grief, and uncertainty. The “senior year experience” has been abruptly cut short. We might not be able to change this situation, but some of us do have the power to make it better. To celebrate seniors who are now missing out on Read more…
The Liberal Arts Action Lab received 15 proposals in March 2020 from prospective Hartford community partners, and each described a research question or problem that they would like help answering. Last week, the Hartford Resident Advisory Board reviewed all of the proposals and prioritized 7 to advance to the next stage. Students and faculty fellows are welcome to apply by Friday, April 17th, 2020 to join any of the Action Lab projects below. Depending upon Read more…