Summer 2002 news

The New Century's Boom in Planning School Enrollments

Enrollments are up at the nation's top planning schools, but will the trend continue?

By Dowell Myers
Jun 24, 2002

As we move into the 21st century, planning schools nation-wide are experiencing a profound boom in applications for their graduate professional degrees in urban planning. Many of the schools are hard-pressed to cope and have been forced to cap their enrollments at levels dictated by limitations of room capacities or available faculty.

A recent survey I conducted of the "Big 12" planning schools found widespread incidence of surging applications and enrollments over the past two years. The Big 12, defined for the survey based on enrollment levels and faculty size, includes MIT, UC-Berkeley, North Carolina, USC, UCLA, Rutgers, Cornell, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Illinois-Urbana/Champaign and Illinois-Chicago, and Georgia Tech. Where capacity is available, current enrollments for fall 2002 are running an average of 40% ahead of last year, repeating approximately the same rate of increase as experienced in 2001 over 2000. Sources of increases are primarily among domestic applicants, but substantial growth is also being drawn from abroad, especially from Chinese and Indian applicants.

 

Hugh Semple comes from Toronto

This Fall semester will find a new faculty member in the Department and the Urban and Regional Planning Program.

After an international search, the selection of Dr. Hugh Semple was the conclusion of an intense effort to find someone to coordinate the many GIS courses being developed in the department. Semple was born in Guyana and had his early planning experience there. More recently, he has worked at the University of West Indies in Jamaica, where he set up the initial GIS curriculum and was also involved as a GIS consultant. He did most of his advanced studies in Canada, where he and his family are currently living near Toronto. They will be moving to Michigan during the summer and he will take on the permanent position of GIS program coordinator.

Welcome Hugh to our program when you meet him.

 

Rocky retiring

It is official. After thirty years or so with the EMU faculty, Rocky Ward has announced his retirement, effective May 2003. Rocky has had a storied history with the Urban and Regional Planning Program, initiating the program, along with Gene Jaworski, in 1975 as an undergraduate Land Use Analysis Program. It became popular immediately, in large part because of the enthusiasm of its faculty and the focus it had on applied skills. The program was changed to a Land Use Planning Program in the 1980s, and to its current Urban and Regional Planning in the 1990s

Rocky has served for many years as advisor to the graduate program, and was author of the new program in GIS/Planning. He has also served as Planning Program Alumni Coordinator and Chair of the Department Personnel Committee for many years.

A request has been made to the University to begin a search for a replacement for rocky for Fall 2003, but it will be difficult to replace his dedication to the program and the department, and especially to his students and alumni, which over many years have become his family.

 

Student resumes

Over and over we have heard that employers love hiring EMU Planning students. If you would like to consider some of the current crop, there is an online location where you can look at their resumes. Just click in the left column on Students and find the link to resumes.

It will be updated and expanded regularly, so make a point of checking it out.

 

Scholarship winners

Three students were awarded Urban and Regional Planning Program scholarships this year. They were Michelle Cousineau, Chris Gruba, and Karen Pohl. Congrats to all three deserving candidates.

Money for these scholarships comes from the endowment created through the annual golf outing, and is the result of the volunteer efforts of students in PLACE, the Planning Program's student club.

 

Golf Outing 2001: The Results

This year's golf outing coordinator will be undergrad student Michelle Cousineau, who has already begun early planning. The date of this fall's golf outing is Friday, the 13th, in September, a good day to try out your luck (good or bad)!

More information and photos on the 2001 Golf Outing can be found at the PLACE link.

 

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