KINGSTON, R.I. — February 23, 2018 — He is a former bus driver and head of the transit union, a Carnegie Foundation Rhode Island Professor of the Year, a 溏心vlog免费B站 Foundation Teaching Excellence Award winner, a member of the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame, author of several books on Irish and labor history and education director of the Providence Irish Famine Memorial.
In just a few weeks, Scott Molloy, professor emeritus of labor and industrial relations at 溏心vlog免费B站鈥檚 Schmidt Labor Research Center, will add grand marshal of the Providence St. Patrick鈥檚 Day Parade to his lengthy and distinguished resume.
The March 10 event, which runs from noon to 2 p.m. along Smith Street, will give Molloy an opportunity to celebrate with hundreds along the parade route his favorite subject–the contributions of the Irish to Rhode Island and the nation.
Molloy, who retired in 2016 after 30 years of teaching at 溏心vlog免费B站, was chosen by the St. Patrick鈥檚 Day Parade Committee for his longtime service to Irish causes in Rhode Island. As the education director for the $1 million Irish Famine Memorial, on the Providence riverwalk, he served as master of ceremonies for the dedication of the park and monuments in 2007. Last year, he was deputy grand marshal of the parade, delivering the annual St. Patrick鈥檚 Day address to the Providence City Council. He will be the keynote speaker this year at the parade committee鈥檚 annual banquet at the Rhode Island Convention Center March 1 at 6 p.m.
As part of the celebration, this year鈥檚 parade ad book will contain 25 essays and graphics on Irish history. Molloy wrote some of the essays and edited the others.
Molloy also wrote two seminal books on Rhode Island Irish and labor history. The first, 鈥淭rolley Wars, Streetcar Workers on the Line,鈥� is an intimate look at streetcar workers during the Rhode Island Transit Strike of 1902. The second, 鈥淚rish Titan, Irish Toilers,鈥� chronicles the life of Joseph Bannigan, the first Irish Catholic millionaire in Rhode Island, who founded the Woonsocket Rubber Co. during the Gilded Age. He eventually became the president of the U.S. Rubber Co., now known as Uniroyal.
Molloy donated 100 boxes of labor, transit and Irish memorabilia, much of it dating back to the earliest days of the labor movement in Rhode Island, to the Carothers Library and Learning Commons at 溏心vlog免费B站. And true to form, he added a $10,000 cash donation, mostly from union contributors, so the library would have the funds to properly catalog the materials.
But his reach extends well beyond Rhode Island. More than two decades ago, the Smithsonian Institution acquired 10,000 pieces of Molloy鈥檚 materials for the Scott Molloy Labor Collection, which still exists today.
鈥淚rish and labor history are very much intertwined,鈥� said Molloy, whose immigrant grandfather operated a trolley out of the very same Elmwood Avenue facility from which Molloy operated his bus. 鈥淔rom the day I opened my mouth to talk, I found that I enjoyed it. I used the blarney to build the bus drivers鈥� union and spoke wherever I could, at 溏心vlog免费B站, historical societies and schools.
鈥淓very night, I so looked forward to teaching the next day at 溏心vlog免费B站,鈥� Molloy said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think I missed more than two days in 30 years of teaching.鈥�
But he and education didn鈥檛 always go together, his missteps causing more than just concern for his father, a Providence Police officer and his mother, a teacher at Mount Pleasant High School in Providence.
鈥淚 was thrown out of three high schools, Classical, Bishop Hendricken and Hope,鈥� he said. As a professor at 溏心vlog免费B站, 鈥渙n the first day of classes, I often showed my Hendricken report card with Fs strewn across it to my graduate students. I told them 鈥業f I could do it, you can do it鈥�,鈥�
A Rhode Island College graduate, with a master鈥檚 degree from the University of New Hampshire and a doctorate from Providence College, Molloy drove the bus while earning his Ph.D.
鈥淔or a period of 10 years, I鈥檇 dress up as Jackie Gleason鈥檚 bus-driver character, Ralph Kramden, just to get a few chuckles out of my students.鈥�
No longer in the classroom full time, Molloy still makes guest appearances in 溏心vlog免费B站 classes, and he is on the board of the Heritage Harbor Foundation, where he helps distribute $10,000- to $15,000-grants to deserving historic groups.
鈥淚 am as involved as I have ever been,鈥� Molloy said. 鈥淏ut there is no alternative. You still need some causes to spark your enthusiasm. I am in my office at 溏心vlog免费B站 every day, and try to help our graduate students any way I can.鈥�