News from School Year 2009-10


Alumni donations


PLACE members wish to thank alumni who recently donated to the club to help with costs of club activities. Our special thanks go to Amy Jordan, Leslie Kettren, Jeff Schroeder, Sherrie Pryor, and Liz Hendley for your continued support.


Awards for Graduating Seniors

Five graduating seniors in the Planning Program received university awards for having a GPA of 3.5 or better. Congratulations go to Elery Regis, Kate Rogers, Mark Ferrall, Kris Kleinsmith, and Andy Rector. We are very proud of each of you, and especially pleased with the number of students who received the award this year.


Undergrad Program Reaccredited!

Bob Jones recently announced that the undergraduate Urban and Regional Planning Program has been reaccredited for a 4-year period. Bob worked diligently on the report and made the trip to the APA conference in New Orleans to meet with the Accreditation Board, leading to this renewal for the program. The program is one of only fifteen accredited undergrad Planning programs in the country.


Faculty Research Project

Faculty in the Department of Geography and Geology have received a $500,000 grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for the EMU-Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge project. Faculty involved include Yichun Xie and Bill Welsh. Congratulations to them for procuring funding for this significant project.


Detroit Trip

Grad student Steve Holowicki is shown taking photos of downtown Detroit at the PLACE club's recent tour of the city. As Steve commented after the tour, "Thanks for all those who attended the Saturday Preservation Wayne Tour. Anyone can look at old buildings in Detroit and marvel.....understanding their past and the how they were planned gives you a totally different perspective on downtown and what was going on in the late 19th and early 20th century."


Students and Alums at MAP Conference
Some of the EMU students and alums attending the conference...

Fifteen or so current Planning students and many program alums attended the annual conference of the Michigan Association of Planning (MAP). We are proud that each year EMU sends many more planning students to the conference than any other program in the state.

The conference took place at the Soaring Eagle Resort in Mt. Pleasant from September 30 through October 3. Students learned a lot by attending the sessions, but gained just as much by mixing with former students and having a chance to meet planners from across Michigan. On Thursday evening we "took over" the Water Lily Lounge at the resort for an informal time together before breaking into groups to have dinner or go explore downtown Mt. Pleasant.

The conference included presentations by EMU alums, including Amy Chestnut on Locally Unwanted Land Uses, James Schafer on Planning Ethics, Rodney Nanney on Zoning, Michelle Reardon on Lansing's Housing program, and Leslie Kettren on the Congress of New Urbanism. The Executive Director of MAP, Andrea Brown, is a program alum and led many of the general sessions.


German Students Visit

On Sunday, September 13, fourteen Planning students and faculty from the University of Kassel in Germany visited Ann Arbor. Norm Tyler led them on a tour of the city's revitalization projects. They also had a chance to speak with Andrea Brown, director of the Michigan Association of Planning, and Lis Knibbe and Ilene Tyler, restoration architects with Quinn Evans Architects.

The students were on a one-week tour of rust-belt cities, traveling from Chicago to Cleveland. After visiting Ann Arbor, they were to tour Detroit. They were especially interested in the evolution of American downtowns and suburbs.


Rick Sambrook, new department head

The Department of Geography and Geology had a new department head beginning July 1st. Richard (Rick) Sambrook comes from Eastern Kentucky University, where he served as interim chair of the department. With degrees in geography and anthropology, his areas of specialization included Latin America, economic development, travel and tourism, and cartography. He also has experience with planning and historic preservation, has served as director of an Ecuador program, and has been on many professional committees relating to geography.

Sambrook's arrival allows Bob Jones to return to the faculty from his role as last year's interim department head. It also is good timing, allowing Bob to facilitate the arrival of a site visit team, coming in October, which will review the undergraduate Planning program and hopefully recommend its continued accreditation.

Planning Awards Announced

It is with great pleasure the recipients of this year's Planning Program awards are announced.

Each year a recognition award is given to graduating seniors with a GPA of 3.5 or better. This year's recipients are Shane Dillon, Will Grapentine and David Nestor.

The Robert M. Ward PLACE Scholarship is given to individuals who will be full-time students in the Fall semester. They are selected by a faculty/alumni committee, based on four criteria: GPA, an essay, involvement in activities, and need. This year the committee had difficulty selecting from a large pool of deserving applicants, but ultimately decided to give $600 scholarships to Mark Ferrell and Kate Rogers.

The selection committee also decided to give a Planning Student of the Year Award to graduate student Adam Cook for his contributions in Planning Program activities over the past year. This year the award includes an honorarium, based on donations from three individuals.


Accreditation Site Visit Team

On Monday through Wednesday, October 12-14, three planners from the American Planning Association were at Strong Hall as part of the undergraduate Planning Program accreditation process. They had continuous meetings throughout the day with students, faculty, administrators, alumni, our advisory board, employers and others. After meeting many individuals, they said their overall impression was that students and alums seemed to really like the program. That was encouraging.

We will let you know more about their comments as we receive them in their report to the Accreditation Board, who will make a final decision in April.


Building Place Notebook

Planning Program alumnus Rodney Nanney AICP has extablished a website with a selection of articles on planning. Called the Building Place Notebook, it includes special articles on zoning, economic development, advice for planning students, and other topics. You can find it at www.buildingplace.net.


PLACE party

The student planning club, PLACE, had its summer organizing party on Thursday evening, July 23. It was a potluck picnic in Norm's backyard in Ann Arbor. The grille was going, and there was plenty of food for everyone. After sharing food, PLACE president Scott Kree and club officers Jonathan Liabenow, Ron Akers and Steve Holowicki led a discussion of possible club activities for the coming year.