May 9, 2006

April/May CUPPA Briefing


ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Students Honored
The following students have received a select group of awards and honors during the Spring Semester. Congratulations!

Founders' Forum Fellowship American Society for Public Administration: Kseniya Kovanova (PA PhD)

  • Rob Mier Memorial Award: Matthew Jacobson (MUPP)
  • Thelma Jackson Scholarship Award: Sean Terry (MUPP)
  • Best Graduate Student of the Year Award Chicago Chapter of the American Society for Public Administration: Daniel Weiske (MPA)
  • Outstanding Student of the Year Award American Planning Association: Sarah Klipfel (MUPP)
  • U.S. Presidential Management Fellow: Amanda Eichelkraut (MUPP)
  • U.S. Government Accountability Office's Professional Development Program: Ryan Siegel (MUPP)
  • City of Chicago Mayor's Fellow: Jennifer Burkhardt (MPA)
  • City of Chicago Mayor's Fellow: Nadia Shams (MPA)
  • Trkla Scholarship: Geoff Moen (MUPP)
  • Trkla Scholarship Runner-Up: Amanda Eichelkraut (MUPP)
  • UIAA Student Leadership Award: Tara Childs (MPA)
  • UIAA Student Leadership Award: Noel Henderson-James (MUPP)

New UPPSA Board Members
Congratulations to the new UPPSA Board members for the 2006-2007
academic year:

  • President: Tonya Sanders
  • Vice-President: Emily Tapia
  • Secretary: Nicolette Jurgens-Taminga
  • Treasurer: Nic Crite
  • APA Reps: Kyle Smith, Monique Lehman

New PA DGS in August
PA Associate Professor Eric Welch will step down from his post as PA director of graduate studies in August and will be replaced by PA Associate Professor Karen Mossberger.

Faculty Awarded Sabbaticals
PA Associate Professor Rebecca Hendrick will be on sabbatical during the fall semester to complete a book-length manuscript on the financial management practices and fiscal conditions of suburban municipalities in the Chicago metropolitan region.

UPP Professor and Director of the Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy Phillip Bowman will be on sabbatical for the next academic year to complete research for a book on Globalization and African American Family Poverty: Challenges for the 21st Century; and
to develop strategies for new collaborative race and public policy research.

UPP Associate Professor Rachel Weber will be on sabbatical for the next academic year to conduct research in preparation of a book examining the institutional context for demolishing the built environment.

New Chicago Chapter ASPA President
PA Assistant Professor Sharon Mastracci was elected president of the Chicago Chapter of the American Society of Public Administration and began her role on May 5.

Smith, Wright, and Bennett Publish New Book
UPP Associate Professor and Voorhees Center Co-Director Janet Smith, Former Voorhees Director Pat Wright, and Larry Bennett released their latest book, Where Are Poor People to Live? Transforming Public Housing Communities, published by M.E. Sharpe on April 1. This groundbreaking book shows how major shifts in federal policy are spurring local public housing authorities to demolish their high-rise, low-income developments and replace them with affordable low-rise, mixed income communities. It focuses on Chicago and that city's affordable housing crisis, but it provides analytical frameworks that can be applied to developments in every American city.

MPA Alum Receives Model Administrator Award from ASPA Chicago
Terrence Moore, MPA '94, city manager of Las Cruces, NM, received the Chicago Chapter of the American Society of Public Administration's Model Administrator Award on Friday, May 5 at the group's annual meeting. PA Student Daniel Weiske was also honored with the Best Graduate Student of the Year Award from the group.

Great Cities Scholars
The following have been appointed Great Cities Scholars for the 2006-2007 academic year:

  • John Betancur, Associate Professor, Urban Planning and Policy Program, College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs, Dynamics of Neighborhood Change in the Era of Globalization
  • Robert Bruegmann, Professor and Chair, Department of Art History, College of Architecture and the Arts, University and Community/Lawndale and Heritage
  • Olivia Gude, Associate Professor, School of Art and Design, College of Architecture and the Arts,
    The Space We Share: A Community Based Public Art Investigation
  • David Mayrowetz, Assistant Professor, Policy Studies, College of Education, Researching Distributed Leadership Practice for Special Education Reform
  • Thomas Moher, Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science, College of Engineering, Embedded Phenomena: Technology Support for Embodied Learning in Urban Science
  • Kimberly Potowski, Assistant Professor, Department of Spanish, French, Italian, and Portuguese, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Arresting Attrition: Spanish Language Maintenance in Chicago's Elementary Schools
  • Barbara Ransby, Associate Professor, Department of African American Studies/Department of History, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Eslanda Robeson and the Multi-Cultural Urban Arts Communities or Harlem, Paris, and London, 1920s-1940s

Russians Visit SRL
A group of eight participants from Russia including regional sociologists, pollsters, and analysts focused on conducting political polls and public opinion surveys toured SRL on May 1. The group discussed US methods of gathering, storing, and processing sociological information and interpreting and presenting poll results.

CUPPA Alumni Association Board Meeting and Annual Elections June 6
The annual meeting and election of the CUPPA Alumni Association will be held in CUPPA Hall room 110 on Tuesday, June 6, 2006 at 6:00 p.m. Those interested in joining the board or those in need of more information should contact Jodi White Jones, jmwhite@uic.edu, by May 24. The slate of nominatees will be posted on the CUPPAAA website, www.uic.edu/cuppa/alumni, and will be distributed on the alumni listserve after May 24.

UIC Hosts Planners Network 2006 Conference Coming Soon
From June 8th through 11, UIC CUPPA will host over 300 guests from around the world for the 2006 Planners Network conference. This year's theme "Tending the Garden: From Grass Roots to Green Roofs" will bring together an array of planning practitioners, community and economic development professionals, organizers, policy analysts, students, and faculty to explore the history and future of planning as a progressive profession. Events will be held in CUPPA Hal and around campus and the
city. For more information on the conference please go to: http://www.uic.edu/cuppa/upp/pn/index.html.

SAVE THE DATE:

May 29: Memorial Day - Campus Closed

May 30: Summer Session Begins

June 6: CUPPA Alumni Association Annual Board Meeting and Election, 6 p.m., CUPPAH 110

June 8-10: Planners Network Conference, UIC

July 21: Summer Session Ends

August 28: Fall Semester Begins

September 4: Labor Day - Campus Closed

December 11-15: Fall Semester Final Exam Week

WORTH REPEATING

Podcasts Appearing Now on CUPPA Website
If you missed a recent CUPPA special event or lecture, check out the CUPPA website Podcast link at www.uic.edu/cuppa. You can download various recorded college events in .mp3 format.

CUPPABriefing is an electronic publication by the College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs for faculty, staff, students, and alumni. Published and distributed via email monthly following the meeting of the CUPPA Cabinet, CUPPABriefing will contain announcements, updates, and facts that are important to those working and/or studying in CUPPA. Questions, comments, or announcements may be sent to Jodi White Jones, Assistant Dean for Communications, jmwhite@uic.edu, 3-9127.