"A Novel Reality: What Empire Falls Tells Us About Ourselves"
with Professor Bob Forrant from the
Department of Regional Economic and Social Development at the University of Massachusetts Lowell
Wednesday, May 2, 2007 at 1p.m. at the Chelmsford Senior Center
Wednesday, May 2, 2007 at 7 p.m. at the Chelmsford Library

Before taking a position at UMass Lowell, Bob Forrant worked as a machinist at the American Bosch plant in Springfield and served for four years as Business Agent for International Union of Electrical Workers Local 206 there. In 1986, the plant shut down, and for four years Bob directed the Machine Action Project, a community-based economic development effort based in Springfield, Massachusetts before he received his PhD.

Having experienced a large-scale plant -closing in 1986 and living for thirty years in Holyoke and Lowell, two mill towns with many of the characteristics Richard Russo describes in Empire Falls, Bob Forrant will discuss how plant closings and job loss affect the character of a community and how several mill cities and towns in New England have sought to reuse their mill spaces for a variety of new economic activities in hopes of building vibrant places linked to, but not stuck in the past.

Robert Forrant received his PhD in history from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1994. A professor in the Department of Regional Economic and Social Development, he has consulted on development issues for the United Nations Industrial Development Organization and the International Labour Organization.

He serves as a regional economy analyst for the journal "Massachusetts Benchmarks," a joint publication of the University of Massachusetts and the New England Federal Reserve Bank. He is on the editorial boards of two academic journals, "New Solutions" and "Labor Studies," and offers monthly commentaries on Merrimack Valley economic on radio station WUML and in The Sun. Professor Forrant serves as a faculty historian to the “Communities of Scholars—Communities as Classrooms” Teaching American History project at the Tsongas Industrial History Center.

At the University he teaches courses in U.S. history, labor studies, and global development. He received the University of Massachusetts President’s Award for Public Service in 1998 and his Department’s Teaching Award for 2003 and 1998. In 2001 he received an American Antiquarian Society Kate B. and Hall J. Peterson Fellowship and researched the topic: Manufacturer to Industrial America: Worcester-area Machine Tool Firms and Skill, 1830-1875. He has published numerous academic articles and popular studies on the Connecticut River Valley economy and is the author of a forthcoming book on the rise and decline of the Valley’s industrial economy.

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