Faculty research receives post-merger boost

In joining with Northeastern University, Mills College became part of an R1 institution, which is defined by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education as doctoral universities with “very high” research activity. And with that change comes more funding and support for faculty members pursuing projects beyond the classes they teach.

In the 2022–23 academic year, those included seed grants for Associate Adjunct Professor of Ethnic Studies Natalee

Kēhaulani Bauer ’97, MA ’07, to participate in a reproductive justice research collaborative; Professor of Education Clifford Lee to research the use of game design and ecological justice in reforming education for BIPOC youth; and Professor of Psychology

Christie Chung for the development of an exercise bike that will incorporate physical exercise and language learning to boost brain health. (All projects are happening in collaboration with other faculty members from throughout the Northeastern network.)

Chung is also the associate dean for research, scholarship, and partnerships for Mills at Northeastern, and she reports that Mills faculty members received from

Northeastern three Tier 1 awards worth $50,000 each; submitted six proposals for Impact Engines, with one gaining funding (see “New partnerships director a familiar face”) and four others still under consideration; and were awarded one grant from the Inclusive Impact Innovation Fund (see “Legacy Mills program receives Northeastern award”). Departments such as the Northeastern Research Enterprise Services (NU-RES) provide infrastructure to help with the full life cycle of a research project, from locating funding to closing out the project.

According to the City of Oakland’s Department of Transportation, the LAMMPS project (aka Laurel Access to Mills, Maxwell Park, and Seminary) is heading into a second phase, which will continue to beautify and improve MacArthur Boulevard around the Mills campus. (Check the winter 2019 issue of the Quarterly for more info.) The effects of the first phase are evident on the stretch of MacArthur starting at Richards Road through the Interstate 580 underpass into the Laurel District: wider sidewalks, demarcated bike lanes, and other improvements intended to reduce accidents and increase safety. This upcoming second phase aims to extend those same features down MacArthur from Richards Road all the way to MacArthur’s intersection with Seminary Avenue on the campus’s southern edge.

That’s a shift from the past, when professors were teaching full course loads while also setting up and contributing to research projects in their fields with limited time and resources. “There’s an entire team of people working with us and research development to help people look for opportunities,” Chung says.

On June 12, Mills College at Northeastern will be hosting a new summer youth employment program. The program is being coordinated by the Community to Community Impact Engine, launched this past year in Oakland and Boston by Carrie Maultsby-Lute, MBA ’11, former director of the Center for Transformative Action and the new head of partnerships for Northeastern in Oakland; and Alicia Sasser Modestino, a professor and the research director for the Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy at Northeastern in Boston. The program will last five weeks and employ teens from Oakland, San Leandro, and Hayward at the Mills Community Farm and Upward Bound, and with the departments of Sustainability, Facilities, and Husky Card Services. There will also be sessions on college prep and career development.