Urban Planning and Policy: review of 2003/2004
Director: Curtis
R. Winkle
Director of Graduate Studies: Doug Gills
1.
Introduction and highlights
The Urban Planning and
Policy (UPP) Program continues to be among the largest graduate planning
programs in the nation. The program
taught a near record number of students with reduced faculty resources bringing
our faculty to student ratio to near 1 to 10, or just within Planning Accreditation
Board standards. Much of the year was
spent finding ways to increase efficiency by increasing average class size (which
is not sustainable in the long-run), and making student services and advising
more efficient.
Much effort was also spent
working toward the development of longer-term resources to improve the student
experience. Initiatives include the
tuition differential proposal and a joint UPP and PA proposal for a BA in Urban
and Public Affairs which received UIC Senate approval and is pending funding
and approval by the Illinois Board of Higher Education.
Personnel/management
Curt Winkle was appointed
Director, Doug Gills as Director of Graduate Studies and Valerie Werner was
hired as Assistant to the Director.
Janet Smith and Rachel Weber were promoted to the rank of associate
professor with tenure.
Teaching/students/pedagogy
Student enrollment remained
about even with the previous year (204 students). We conferred 47 degrees. We did a systematic assessment of the Master
of Urban Planning and Policy Program, implemented incremental improvements to
the program and set strategic goals in order to prepare for a reaccredidation
site visit in AY 2005. The new Ph.D. in
Urban Planning and Policy program now has a new student handbook. Strong recruitment efforts into the Ph D program paid off with 8 new students joining
the program in the fall 2004. We offered
67 courses. Average teaching evaluations
in those classes were over 4.0 on a 5 point scale in every class but three.
Scholarship/research
Lack of faculty annual
reviews last year make it difficult to measure change in scholarly
productivity, but the level is high. UPP
faculty produced 24 journal articles, 15 chapters in books and 2 books. An additional 19 articles and 4 chapters were
accepted for publication. UPP faculty
submitted 70 grant proposals and had 29 of them funded.
Service
UPP
faculty serve a wide range of professional, community, university, college and
program roles. We are particularly well
represented on Chancellor’s “Status of…” committees, journal editorial boards,
and boards of community organizations.
UPP resource development
Resource development through the
tuition differential program and the BA in Urban and Public Affairs were major activities
for the year as described above. In
addition, the program applied for and received a HUD Community Development Work
Study grant to support three students for the period of 2004-2006.
Relations with other units
The BA proposal was jointly
developed with the Public Administration Program, UPP and the PA program
consolidated redundant Ph.D. level methods courses, and the joint
UPP/Architecture physical planning studio was reinstated.
2. Aims of the unit overall
The UPP Goals and Objectives
(as revised and approved on
1
(Approved on
The Urban Planning and Policy Program fosters scholarship about cities,
educates people to plan for cities and offers advice to city makers and users.
(Approved on
Goal 1. Offer
graduate professional education for people who want to do city planning, study
urban policy and create innovative improvements for human settlements in the
region, the nation and abroad.
1.1
Objectives for each type of program participant are as follows:
a.
Prepare
undergraduate students to understand cities and urban problem remedies
b.
Prepare masters
students to perform high quality professional planning services
c.
Prepare doctoral
students to conduct high quality planning and policy research
d.
Prepare
experienced professionals and citizens to improve their knowledge of city
problems and specialized knowledge used to help remedy these problems
1.2
Learning objectives for participants are as follows:
a.
Knowledge of
forces shaping urban areas, impacts on quality of life and potential remedies.
b.
Competence in
techniques and methods needed to conduct good planning analysis.
c.
Skill designing
and evaluating alternative projects, policies or plans for diverse clients.
d.
Knowledge of
plan and policy implementation.
e.
Practical
experience learning from professional on-the-job planning work
f.
Knowledge of
ethical and political values guiding city building and planning
g.
Knowledge and
experience of collaboration, diversity and democracy in professional practice.
h.
Knowledge and
experience conducting urban policy research*
*For doctoral students
or masters students seeking a thesis
Goal 2.
Create, disseminate, and apply multi-disciplinary knowledge about urban and
public affairs.
2.1 Create and sustain scholarship that advances the boundaries of
knowledge about cities, their problems and possible remedies for these.
2.2 Develop and promote the practical use of critical and relevant
scholarship in the conduct of local, regional, national and international urban
planning and policy.
2.3 Foster mutual collaboration and learning among scholars,
practitioners, students and clients to create knowledge and action that expands
scholarship as it improves the quality of city life.
Goal 3.
Conduct educational, research and public service activities that improve human
settlement, especially in metropolitan regions.
3.1 Create, sponsor and support continuing education and professional
development activities for public officials, civic leaders and other citizens
seeking knowledge and skills about urban planning.
3.2 Create and support research institutions and
practices that expand city knowledge while providing both immediate and long
term attention to pressing urban problems.
Goal 4. Receive recognition as one of the top five
planning schools in the
(Approved on
1. Replenish Faculty. Expand the number of UPP faculty to
compensate for recent losses due to attrition, particularly in economic
development and sustainability.
(Short-term)
2. Undergraduate Program. Hire additional faculty and provide a BA
in Urban and Public Affairs, in partnership with the Public Administration
Program, as a means of helping the university fulfill its Great Cities
Commitment and expanding the range of faculty expertise available to all UPP
students.
3. Tuition Supplement. Create a tuition supplement for Urban
Planning and Policy Students to fund additional faculty so that a full range of
courses and smaller class sizes will be possible. (Medium-term) (Approved
4.
Conference papers. Encourage faculty and student
conference papers though travel funding to increase national reputation of our
faculty and program. (Short-term)
5.
Ph.D. Focus. Expand the reputation of the program by
attracting strong, research-oriented Ph.D. students and placing UIC Ph.D.
graduates on planning faculties nationally and internationally. (Medium-term)
6.
Visiting scholars. Attract well-know visiting
scholars as a way of expanding our national reputation and insuring that our
faculty and students are exposed to a wide range of perspectives. (Short-term)
7.
Graduate Assistantships. Continue to
find graduate assistantship placements for a large number of graduate students
as a way to attract the best students nationally. (Short-term)
8.
Urban Environment.
Take advantage of
9.
Great Cities Commitment. Continue
to capitalize of UIC’s Great Cities Commitment.
10. Continued
International Focus. Take advantage of the international diversity
of our faculty and development research interests of some of our faculty to
provide courses and encourage research on globalization and international
development. (Medium-term)
11.
12. Practitioner
Professor. Explore means of creating continuing relationships
with one or more teaching practitioners.
(Short-term)
13. Diversity. Work
to diversify the student, faculty and staff to reflect the composition of the
Chicago Metropolitan areas, particularly as it concerns members of
underrepresented groups. ((Long-Term)
Approved
5) Goals
and Objectives of Master of Urban Planning and Policy Degree Program
(Approved
There are ten long-term goals of the Masters of Urban
Planning and Policy Program that are intended to provide students with the
knowledge, skills and competence to become planning practitioners.
Goal
1: An awareness of the institutional and
structural forces that influence the development of urban areas and the lives of
urban residents.
Objective
1: Unless a waiver is granted, all
students must pass UPP 500, History and Theory of Urban Planning, and UPP 501,
Urban Space, Place and Institutions as required courses for the MUPP degree.
Objective
2: The curricula of UPP 500 and UPP 501 will be designed to minimize redundancy
in lecture materials and assigned texts.
Objective
3: Students electing to specialize in one or more of the MUPP Program’s
concentrations must take a policy course within the specialization course sequence
addressing the structural and institutional forces influencing that area of
planning specialization.
Goal
2: Competence in state-of-the-art technology used in planning analysis.
Objective
1: Unless waived, all students must take UPP 502, Computers, Methods and
Communication as a required course for the MUPP degree.
Objective 2: Incoming students will be
better prepared with respect to technical and computer skills.
Objective
3: Specialization courses and electives will offer opportunities for using
software packages for analysis, presentation and problem solving.
Goal
3: The skills necessary to design and evaluate the feasibility, fairness, and
potential effectiveness of alternative projects, programs, and policies.
Objective
1: Improve students’ abilities to design projects and programs by offering a
greater range of studio experiences within the specializations.
Objective
2: Improve students’ ability to evaluate projects, programs, and policies.
Goal
4: Knowledge of the processes for implementing public plans and programs,
particularly in the chosen area of specialization.
Objective 1: Students within each specialization
course sequence will take appropriate policy and methods courses within that
course sequence.
Objective 2: All students will have the opportunity
to independently write a major paper, under faculty guidance, addressing an
issue of applied planning practice within their area of specialization.
Objective 3: Students will have the opportunity to
collaboratively develop implementable planning proposals within their
specialization sequences.
Objective 4: Specialization committees will
periodically meet to ensure that implementation knowledge is addressed within
each specialization sequence.
Goal
5: A comprehensive program offering specializations in community development,
economic development, physical planning, transportation planning and global and
international planning, as well as the opportunity to develop a user-defined
specialization subject to faculty approval.
Goal
6: Exposure to the issues of efficiency, equity and social justice.
Objective 1: All MUPP students will be exposed to planning
theories that address issues of efficiency, equity and social justice.
Objective 2: Students will have the opportunity to
participate in engaged research involving social justice and equity.
Goal
7: Experience in planning through internships, masters’ projects, studios or
research assistantships.
Objective 1:
The MUPP Program will continue to work with employers in the region to
help provide internship opportunities for students.
Objective 2: Faculty will continue to work with
students to improve timely completion of masters’ projects.
Objective 3: MUPP students will have an opportunity
to participate in a studio experience within the degree program.
Objective 4: The MUPP Program will work with CUPPA’s
research centers to provide research assistantships for MUPP students.
Goal
8: Exposure to practitioners through guest lectures and site visits.
Objective 1.
Promote more effective use of practitioners in
course delivery.
Objective
2. Faculty should encourage fieldwork within the specialization curricula so
that students better understand physical implications of urban policy and
planning recommendations.
Objective
3. Promote CUPPA Alumni Association involvement.
Goal
9: Exposure to a diverse faculty and student body.
Objective
1. All students can have access to CUPPA faculty for academic assistance and advising purposes.
Objective
2. Student recruitment should promote a
diverse student body.
Objective
3. UPP faculty recruitment should
promote a diverse faculty.
Goal
10: An advanced degree in urban planning and job placement assistance.
In addition to UPP’s mission, goals, objectives and
strategies, UPP faculty helped to shape The College of Urban Planning and
Policy strategic plan over the course of the 2002-2003. The College faculty approved it in April of
2004. The plan is shown in Volume III,
Attachment 12 of this report.
Urban Planning and Policy program strategies, goals, and
objectives were revised during this same period and so have many of the same
key components including the creation of an undergraduate degree in Urban and
Public Affairs, continuing to develop an international focus, and create a
Municipal Finance Center. (Volume III,
Attachment 12: CUPPA 2010 Strategic Plan, April, 2004: 13-14.)
3. Goals for 2003/2004
Personnel/management
Teaching/students/pedagogy
·
Increase external funding
·
Increase publications
·
Increase conference papers delivered
·
Increase faculty
service to the profession to increase visibility of the program.
·
Increase
visibility to regional and national professional groups.
Relations with other units
4. Main Activities in 2003/2004
Personnel/management
Teaching/students/pedagogy