Matt Mars, Professor and Interim Head of the Department of Public & Applied Humanities, has won the 2025 Ted K. Bradshaw Outstanding Research Award from the Community Development Society.
Presented at the CDS Annual Conference on July 8 in Geneva, New York, the award “recognizes completion of superior research which exemplifies and positively impacts community development practice.”
“Dr. Mars is an interdisciplinary scholar whose research significantly advances community development. His work is widely published in Community Development and other top journals in cultural geography, sociology, and marketing,” said the award nomination from Craig A. Talmage, Associate Professor and Co-Chair of Business Management & Entrepreneurship at Hobart and William Smith Colleges and Editor of the Community Development Society’s flagship publication – the journal Community Development.
Mars’ research focuses on community innovation, creative placemaking, and entrepreneurial development, including how community and market logics blend to sustain alternative production and consumption models, using diverse empirical contexts such as craft beer, local food and thrifting, Talmage wrote.
“With nearly 60 peer-reviewed journal articles and 25 book chapters, monographs, and edited volumes, he has established himself as a thought leader,” Talmage wrote. “By integrating theories of entrepreneurial martyrdom, structures of common difference, and value narratives, he has expanded the theoretical foundation of community development. His work has resisted narrow, single-context approaches, instead broadening its relevance through comparative studies that enhance the transferability of key insights across multiple settings.”
“Dr. Mars’s scholarship is theoretically rich, methodologically innovative, and deeply engaged with real-world community issues. His unwavering commitment to advancing community development research and practice makes him an outstanding candidate for this award,” Talmage wrote.
Since 2021, Mars has served as an Associate Editor for Community Development, handling numerous submissions and conducting over 30 peer reviews. He is also a member of the Local Development and Society Editorial Board and co-edits Advances in the Study of Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Economic Growth.
“My work has long focused on the power of collaboration and collective creativity to foster social innovation and transform communities in ways that elevate local connectivity and belongingness, sustainability, and universal health and well-being. It is my sincere hope that award is an indication that this work is sticking and having impact on both research and practice,” Mars said.