Less than two years after their public battle over two hotels, Worcester Polytechnic Institute and the City of Worcester have joined forces to establish two collaboratives aimed at advancing municipal- and community-focused projects for the university’s students.
The Academic Civic Collaborative is designed to bolster project coordination between WPI and the City, such as those that have come out of the university’s Worcester Community Project Center, according to a Thursday press release from the City.
“WPI’s mission has always been rooted in harnessing science, engineering, and design to serve the public good,” WPI President Grace Wang said in the Thursday press release from the City of Worcester. “The Academic Civic Collaborative deepens our engagement with the City of Worcester and strengthens our commitment to community-driven project work.
The partnership comes nearly two years after government and business officials lambasted WPI over the school’s plans to convert two hotels into student housing. WPI and the City eventually reached an agreement over those plans, and the school ended up postponing the hotel conversions. The animosity created over the situation resulted in the City asking voters in November if colleges should be required to give 0.5% of their endowments to a community impact fund. Voters overwhelmingly approved the non-binding ballot question.
Previous WCPC projects have included an energy audit for a homeless shelter, the creation of an outdoor engineering program for elementary school students, and the design of a sensory garden for a pediatric medical center, according to WPI’s website.
“This Academic Civic Collaborative reflects Worcester’s commitment to leveraging local talent, creativity, and academic excellence to benefit our neighborhoods and communities,” Worcester City Manager Eric Batista said in the release.
Additionally, WPI and the municipality have teamed with the Central Massachusetts Chapter of the American Institute of Architects to launch the Design and Community Partnership, an initiative to combine education and civic impact through community-driven design projects, including adaptive reuse concepts, housing prototypes, public space enhancements.
The Design and Community Partnership will work on projects selected by the municipality with AIACM acting as a coordinator between the City, WPI, and design specialists.
“WPI has a long tradition of successful architectural engineering projects in the community,” Steven Van Dessel, WPI’s architectural engineering program director, said in the release. “Our students are eager to work on real-world challenges, and this collaboration with the City and AIACM gives them the opportunity to apply their engineering and design expertise where it matters most—right here in Worcester.”
WPI has previously collaborated with the City on architectural projects, such as the replacement of the Elm Park bridge and the establishment of the World War I Memorial Grove at Green Hill Park.
Mica Kanner-Mascolo is a staff writer at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the healthcare, manufacturing, and higher education industries.
