Sheila Kirschbaum’s dedication to hands-on education and the city has won her the 2024 Patrick J. Mogan Learning City Award. Kirschbaum is director of the Tsongas Industrial History Center, UML’s education partnership with Lowell National Historical Park.

The Lowell National Historical Park’s new “One City, Many Cultures” exhibit showcases the history and experiences of various immigrant communities in the city.

The Tsongas Industrial History Center, a partnership between the university’s School of Education and Lowell National Historical Park, has welcomed more than 1.4 million students and teachers from around New England for hands-on lessons about Lowell’s history, technology and environment since its founding in 1991. 

An interdisciplinary team of UML faculty, led by Assoc. Profs. Meg Sobkowicz-Kline and Chris Hansen, have received a nearly $3 million National Science Foundation Research Traineeship award for a new graduate student program focused on developing sustainable materials and chemicals that won’t harm water resources.

“Untold Lowell Stories: Black History,” an online research guide published recently by the UMass Lowell Library’s Center for Lowell History, sheds light on the city’s anti-slavery and abolitionist movements. Last year, the center was named an Underground Railroad Research Facility.

When school field trips to the Tsongas Industrial History Center – a partnership between Lowell National Historical Park and UML’s College of Education – were canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, center staff seized the opportunity to create live, interactive virtual field trips for K-12 students.

To celebrate the Little Canada neighborhood that once stood where East Campus is now, the university has installed four new informational panels that tell the story of the life and times of Lowell’s French Canadian immigrants. The project draws on the research of History Prof. Robert Forrant and several students.

The Tsongas Industrial History Center has created a series of free, live webinars to educate teachers about the historic struggles of Black people, women and other groups to win the vote and have a say in government.

Midway through the spring 2020 semester, as first-year education majors were taking a new, required class in educational technology, schools closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Studying virtually themselves while learning how best to use online teaching tools is giving these students a new perspective on technology’s promise – and its limitations.

The College of Education is stepping up to help teachers in K-12 schools transition their classes online during school closures caused by COVID-19. Clinical Prof. Michelle Scribner-MacLean created a Facebook group with teacher resources, and the Tsongas Industrial History Center is beefing up its social media offerings and website.

Summer camps at the Lowell National Historical Park allow children to explore history, science and more while having fun. The camps are run by the Tsongas Industrial History Center, a partnership between the park and UML’s College of Education.

"Remember this day," UMass Lowell Chancellor Jacquie Moloney told the students who were the first ones in the nation to get their hands on a Lowell quarter, depicting a mill girl working at a power loom with a view of the Mill City -- including the Boott Mill clock tower. "You are making history."

The U.S. Mint’s release of a new state quarter featuring Lowell National Historical Park represents a quiet triumph for UML’s Ellen Anstey, who has devoted a decade to promoting, researching and critiquing designs for the coin.

English teachers and professors from around the world came to UMass Lowell this summer to learn how to teach critical thinking skills – and to experience American culture, from urban dance to shopping.

The National Endowment for the Humanities has awarded the Tsongas Industrial History Center, a partnership of UMass Lowell's College of Education and Lowell National Historical Park in Lowell, a highly competitive $158,367 grant to support a series of one-week workshops for educators that enhance and strengthen humanities teaching at the kindergarten through grade 12 levels.

The Lowell National Historical Park quarter -- part of the U.S. Mint's America the Beautiful Quarter Series -- will display the image of a mill girl, working at a power loom with its prominent circular bobbin battery. Behind her, a piece of the city's skyline, including a smoke stack and the Boott Mill clock tower, can be seen through a window.

Teachers from elementary, middle and high schools around the country flock to Lowell to learn hands-on teaching techniques in America’s first industrial city.

Third-graders and fourth-graders at Lowell Catholic welcomed visitors from the Tsongas Industrial History Center, who helped them experience the history of industrialization firsthand

Student Employee of the Year Mary Connell, a sophomore art major from Princeton, helps promote all that Lowell has to offer through her work with the Community Relations office.

The first students in UMass Lowell’s new Master of Public Administration program are getting a crash course in how to manage public and private agencies in the arts and humanities, criminal justice and human services.

Kristin Gallas, the project manager for education development at the Tsongas Industrial History Center, explains the secrets to the museum's success.

Two history majors have created a web study guide to “Browsing Through Birke’s,” a documentary about the Holocaust survivors who ran Birke’s Department Store in Lowell for decades. The study guide is being used at Lowell High School.

TIHC has 25-year-old partnership with Lowell National Historical Park, Lowell School Department and UMass Lowell.

The Tsongas Industrial History Center connects students to the outdoors.

History Prof. Robert Forrant has been named 2016 University Professor for his research, innovative classes and ambitious public service projects that connect students with the community.

More than 34,000 pages from late Sen. Paul Tsongas’ political career are now online thanks to the efforts of UMass Lowell’s library staff.

Former U.S. Sen. Paul Tsongas, who would be turning 75 in February, helped shape the trajectory of Lowell and the university.

The award-winning “Dickens in Lowell” event series and exhibit will have a permanent home in town and online.