10/16/2025
By Jasmina Burek
The Patrick J. Mogan Learning City Awards Committee has announced that the 2025 award will be given to Alana Griggs, a Mechanical Engineering Ph.D. Candidate in the Burek Lab at UMass Lowell.
The Patrick J. Mogan Learning City Awards Committee has announced that the 2025 Patrick J. Mogan Learning City Award will be presented to Alana Griggs, a Mechanical Engineering Ph.D. candidate in the Burek Lab at UMass Lowell and alumna of the Class of 2022.
Alana’s leadership of UMass Lowell’s Food Forest initiative exemplifies Mogan’s vision of a “classroom without walls” by transforming shared urban green space into a vibrant, living laboratory for the entire Lowell community. Through her work, Alana has brought together students, faculty, and local residents to learn from and care for the environment, embodying the spirit of community-based education and lifelong learning that Mogan championed.
The Patrick J. Mogan Learning City Award honors individuals, groups, or organizations that best reflect Mogan’s belief that meaningful human development grows from lived community experiences. Mogan envisioned an “educative city”, a place where “various elements of the city could serve as educational resources and experiences for preschoolers and the elderly alike.” His legacy continues to inspire the Lowell City of Learning initiative.
Please join Lowell City of Learning and its partners in celebrating Alana Griggs—her leadership in the UML Food Forest project and her many contributions to community life at UMass Lowell.
Monday, Oct. 20
5 to 7 p.m.
Richard & Nancy Donahue Family Academic Arts Center
Middlesex Community College
240 Central St., Lowell
The program will include light refreshments, brief presentations, and great company.
Please respond to lowellcityoflearning2019@gmail.com.