The Community Innovators Lab Welcomes Dr. Holly Harriel as New Leader

Pictured: Dr. Holly Harriel

Higher education veteran Dr. Holly Harriel tapped to serve as Strategic Advisor for CoLab, a center for planning and development focused on innovating at the margins within the MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP)

CAMBRIDGE, MA., Nov. 14, 2022 – The Community Innovators Lab (CoLab), a research center for planning and development within MIT's Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP) focused on promoting racial justice, inclusive economic development that is environmentally sustainable, socially just, and deeply democratic, welcomes higher education veteran and planner, Dr. Holly Harriel is its new Strategic Advisor. 

Dr. Harriel has been with DUSP for the last year as a Lecturer. A 2003 graduate of DUSP, she returns to the department after 20 years of practice in urban planning, twelve of which she worked as an urban planning educator and university administrator at three higher education institutions in the northeast. Dr. Harriel worked as the Director of the Education Outreach Office at Brown University and was the inaugural Director of clinical education for Brown's graduate school Urban Education Policy Program. Among her early career work, she has held leadership and consulting positions at Mattapan and Codman Square Community Development Corporations and Boston LISC. 

“We are delighted to have DUSP alumna Holly Harriel assume the primary leadership role in CoLab,” says Hashim Sarkis, dean of the MIT School of Architecture and Planning. “Her wealth of experience at the intersection of urban planning and higher education positions her to have maximum impact in guiding the work of this vital program.”

Dr. Harriel graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, where she earned her doctorate in higher education management. Her dissertation focused on higher education institutions as anchor institutions in cities in the Ferguson, St. Louis era. She graduated from MIT, earning her master's in city planning which focused on neighborhood Participatory GIS. She holds an MS in Rural Sociology from Auburn University and a BS in Biology- Pre-Medicine from Tuskegee University.

"In taking on this role, Holly continues CoLab's deep, rich and impactful tradition that started with Mel King nearly 50 years ago," said Chris Zegras, professor, Mobility and Urban Planning and head, Dept. of Urban Studies & Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “With her extensive and varied experiences in community and economic development, entrepreneurship, and the academy, her own history in DUSP, and her deep intellect, wisdom, kindness and collaborative nature, Holly will ensure that this next era in CoLab's history will be one of even greater and broader impact.”

"I am honored to rejoin DUSP as Strategic Advisor for CoLab," said Dr. Harriel. "In this past year, being back at DUSP, I developed a deep appreciation for what makes CoLab so special. CoLab's influence worldwide has always been rooted in its robust Participatory Action Research methodology. I look forward to working with our US and international community partners to co-create solutions to systemic problems of the built and social environment, steward local community knowledge, and re-imaging our future cities to be just, equitable and inclusive.”

"Dr. Holly Harriel is exactly the right person to lead CoLab at this time," said Dayna Cunningham, Pierre and Pamela Omidyar Dean of Tufts University's Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life and former CoLab executive director. "In a time of mounting urban challenges due to climate risk, racial injustice and growing inequality, the call for universities to apply their technical skills to work with communities on emerging problems in cities has never been more urgent."

“Holly's appointment comes at just the right moment — as DUSP is rethinking and reaffirming its commitment to clinical and client-based education," said Lawrence Susskind, Ford Professor of Urban and Environmental Planning at MIT's Department of Urban Studies and Planning. "Holly can help us reflect on the key differences between our classroom and our clinical pedagogy and help to guarantee that the various clinical components of our MCP degree enable us to train a new generation of practitioners who put economic and racial justice, climate resilience, and empowerment of marginalized populations at the forefront of planning practice."

As Strategic Advisor, Dr. Harriel assumes a redefined set of responsibilities previously carried out by the Executive Director, assuming the primary leadership of the day-to-day supervision of the CoLab. She will report to the DUSP Department Head, overseeing CoLab staff and consultants and ensuring quality supervision for all Research Assistants (RAs) assigned to work together on CoLab projects with CoLab staff and faculty. Dr. Harriel will lead the organization's work with MIT students, faculty, and technical resources to build collaborations with communities. Leveraging multi-disciplinary expertise from urban planning, she will work to deepen the linkages between municipal government, business, community, and labor to drive inclusive economic development in cities worldwide.

"I am thrilled to have Holly Harriel back at MIT, in a role that brings together innovation and academic excellence, while centering urban community development and prosperity, said Blanche E. Staton, senior associate dean and director, Office of Graduate Education. “As a graduate alumna of MIT who was actively and productively engaged in our community as a student, Holly is uniquely poised to support and advance the 3 pillars of MIT's new strategic plan- composition, belonging and achievement. Her leadership competency will serve the program well, as CoLab builds on an honorable legacy.”

"I am glad that MIT CoLab has a new leader with the experience and spirit of Holly Harriel. This is very important to keep the critical work that CoLab has been doing in Colombia for the past 9 years moving. I wish the best in this new chapter of CoLab’s history and I’m pretty sure CoLab will be expanding its impact throughout all the communities, cities and regions it works in," said Angelica Mayolo Obregon, Former Minister of Culture of Colombia.

About CoLab

The Community Innovators Lab (CoLab) is a center for planning and development within the MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP).  CoLab supports the development and use of knowledge from excluded communities to deepen civic engagement, improve community practice, inform policy, mobilize community assets, and generate shared wealth. We believe that community knowledge can drive powerful innovation and can help make markets an arena for supporting social justice.  We engage students to be practitioners of this approach to community change and sustainability.