Sunday, October 31, 2010

UPPSA Presidential Roundup- October 31st

Happy Halloween!
Take a look at this week’s announcements as you excite and inform your trick or treaters by handing out candy wrapped in excerpts of Lefebrve’s “Right to the City.”
• GA/TOD- The next UPPSA General Assembly/Transit Oriented Dining will be Friday, November 12th starting at 6pm. The meeting will take place at the TOD location in the Pilsen neighborhood- Nuevo Leon 1515 W. 18th St. Chicago, IL 60608 (312) 421-1517 www.nuevoleonrestaurant.com
Directions from UIC: Cycling/Driving -- Take Van Buren west for about 3/4 mile until Ashland Ave. Take a left onto Ashland Ave. and go south for 2 miles until 18th St. Then make a left and go east for 1 block.
CTA -- Walk west on Van Buren for about 3/4 mile until Ashland Ave. Take the Ashland bus (#9) south until the 18th St. stop. Then take a left and walk 1 block east on 18th St.
To RSVP for the social event, please go to www.uppsa.org before Wednesday, 3-NOV so we can get a rough head count to make our reservation. Please let me know if you have any other questions. We hope to see you there!
• CUPPAH Gridiron Challenge- On Friday, November 19th the combined athletic abilities of UPPSA, SUPA (undergrads), PASA (Public Administration) and CUPPS (Phd’s) students will create an unbelievably awesome flag football game. Email UPPSAinfo@gmail.com if you are interested in playing, cheering on or coaching for the game. Most likely the game will take place the afternoon of the 19th. We’ll finalize that once we have a better idea of interest.
• Great Cities Institute Forum, Friday November 4th from 3-4:30pm- GCI will host Manuel Albers for a discussion on the Production of the Financial Crisis in New York City. This event will take place in GCI on the 4th floor of CUPPAH. For more information search for Great Cities Institute on Facebook.
• The Illinois Student Environmental Coalition (ISEC) is holding its Annual Fall Conference on Saturday, November 6th, 2010 at Columbia College. This conference will feature State Senator Heather Steans as the keynote speaker, student led workshops, and opportunities for students to share ideas and inspiration for environmental projects on campus. I wanted to personally invite the Urban Planning & Policy Association to the event as a way to get to our organization. To RSVP for this event visit www.GreenStudents.org
• Masters Project Forum- Based on this past Friday's UPP Next event during which UPP faculty and former students presented on the MUPP masters project, we thought it would be a good idea to begin an on-going discussion board for students to put their ideas out into the MUPP community, learn about resources and find people for collaboration. One of the ideas that came up was the disconnect between completing a solely individual masters project and then working in careers that will almost never involve purely individual work. Us this thread as a forum for collaboration. Feel free to post 1) your idea for a masters project 2) requests for information, sources or people to connect with 3) provide feedback to others and 4) begin the process of pursuing a collaborative masters project. To view it go to http://www.uppsa.org/forum.html
• Academic or Assistantship Advocacy- Any MUPPs with concerns about department-wide academic issues are encouraged to contact UPPSA at UPPSAinfo@gmail.com with your feedback about the program. The Board of UPPSA meets regularly with the UPP department and the Dean of CUPPA. Let us be your advocate. Also, for those students with assistantships, UPPSA President Bob Fuller is also the Graduate Employee Organization (GEO) steward for CUPPAH. If you feel you have been treated unfairly in your assistantship (Teaching, Graduate or Research) feel free to contact him at rfulle5@uic.edu to get connected with the GEO’s grievance resources.
• Halloween Critical Mass- Get your bike on and show your style: Halloween Critical Mass (http://chicagocriticalmass.org/about/whenwhere). Like always, Critical Mass takes place on the last Friday of the month and in October it is all about Halloween. Celebrate everyone’s favorite holiday and bring awareness that bicyclists are traffic too. This month’s critical mass is the most fun. Riders will gather down at Daley Plaza (around the Picasso Sculpture) and leave at 5:30pm. Yes, 5:30. So try not to be late. And don’t forget your costume. If you are interested in attending, email Sara Amaral @ samara2@uic.edu.
• If you have important news for fellow MUPPs and you would like it included in the President’s Weekly Roundup and/or on the UPPSA website email UPPSAinfo@gmail.com by 2 p.m. each Sunday.
Have a great week,
Bob Fuller
President- UPPSA

Sunday, October 24, 2010

October 24th UPPSA President’s Roundup

Hello,
Below are this week’s announcements from UPPSA. If you enjoy interesting lectures, this is the week for you.
• MPA Sponsors Annenburg Speaker and Reception-The Department of Public Administration is excited to sponsor several events on campus to heighten student awareness and interest in careers with the Federal government. On Tuesday October 26th, Kimberly Ainsworth, Executive Director of the Federal Executive Board for the Greater Boston Region, will be the featured speaker throughout the day in various locations. There will also be a webinar for all interested students on how to apply for jobs in the Federal sector. The day will culminate with a reception featuring Director Ainsworth and her fellow directors from the Chicago and Minneapolis regions of the Federal Executive Board. For further information contact Margaret LaPorte at mlapor1@uic.edu
• SUPA Lecture Series- Please join us for the first installment of the SUPA Lecture Series, where speakers from three different field of planning will be speaking about any past or present projects, as well as professional work with their respective organizations. The speaking time will be 10 minutes each followed by a short Q/A. The panel is focused on city planning, and the theme is "Diversity in Planning." It is scheduled for October 28th(Thursday) at 4:30pm in CUPPAH room 110, sandwiches and snacks will be provided. Please RSVP by emailing sviran3@uic.edu the 25th (Monday) to RSPV for the event.
• Great Cities Institute Forum, Friday November 4th from 3-4:30pm- GCI will host Manuel Albers for a discussion on the Production of the Financial Crisis in New York City. This event will take place in GCI on the 4th floor of CUPPAH. For more information search for Great Cities Institute on Facebook.
• Real Estate Group Real Estate in Real Life Series- Come hear Rux Currin, Senior VP of Mesirow Financial, talk about the experience of building a skyscraper. The event will take place in Lincoln Hall (the cool one) room 210 from 4-6pm on October 27th. To learn more and RSVP visit www.UPPSA.org
• Masters Project Forum- Based on this past Friday's UPP Next event during which UPP faculty and former students presented on the MUPP masters project, we thought it would be a good idea to begin an on-going discussion board for students to put their ideas out into the MUPP community, learn about resources and find people for collaboration. One of the ideas that came up was the disconnect between completing a solely individual masters project and then working in careers that will almost never involve purely individual work. Us this thread as a forum for collaboration. Feel free to post 1) your idea for a masters project 2) requests for information, sources or people to connect with 3) provide feedback to others and 4) begin the process of pursuing a collaborative masters project. To view it go to http://www.uppsa.org/forum.html
• Academic or Assistantship Advocacy- Any MUPPs with concerns about department-wide academic issues are encouraged to contact UPPSA at UPPSAinfo@gmail.com with your feedback about the program. The Board of UPPSA meets regularly with the UPP department and the Dean of CUPPA. Let us be your advocate. Also, for those students with assistantships, UPPSA President Bob Fuller is also the Graduate Employee Organization (GEO) steward for CUPPAH. If you feel you have been treated unfairly in your assistantship (Teaching, Graduate or Research) feel free to contact him at rfulle5@uic.edu to get connected with the GEO’s grievance resources.
• Halloween Critical Mass- Get your bike on and show your style: Halloween Critical Mass (http://chicagocriticalmass.org/about/whenwhere). Like always, Critical Mass takes place on the last Friday of the month and in October it is all about Halloween. Celebrate everyone’s favorite holiday and bring awareness that bicyclists are traffic too. This month’s critical mass is the most fun. Riders will gather down at Daley Plaza (around the Picasso Sculpture) and leave at 5:30pm. Yes, 5:30. So try not to be late. And don’t forget your costume. If you are interested in attending, email Sara Amaral @ samara2@uic.edu.
• Early Voting/Grace Period Voting- In case you are busy on Election Day, Tuesday, November 2nd, you can vote ahead of time at locations throughout the City of Chicago starting Tuesday, October 11th. To learn more and find the closest early voting polling place visit http://www.chicagoelections.com/page.php?id=9,
If you didn’t already register to vote, you still can by visiting the Chicago Board of Elections where you can still register until October 26th, but you’ll have to vote when you register. For more information visit http://www.chicagoelections.com/page.php?id=14
• If you have important news for fellow MUPPs and you would like it included in the President’s Weekly Roundup and/or on the UPPSA website email UPPSAinfo@gmail.com by 2 p.m. each Sunday.

Have a great week,
Bob Fuller
President- UPPSA

Friday, October 15, 2010

UPPSA Notes from Community Development and Economic Development Concentration Meetings

Below are notes taken by UPPSA representatives at faculty concentration committee meetings this month. UPPSA has a welcome seat at the table for faculty meetings. Let us know at uppsainfo@gmail.com if you would like further information or are interested in representing students in your concentration.

October 12, 2010 Community Development Concentration Meeting

Main focus of the meeting was confirming classes for next semester and planning for summer classes and the 2011-2012 academic year. Some highlights:
• Classes confirmed for Spring 2011 as posted on CUPPA’s website with the addition of Professor Gills teaching 547 Community Organization Practice on Wednesday night from 6-9
o Teaching assignments for 506 were not discussed
• In addition to UPP 543 Health Communities, Professor Winkle will likely also teach a course on food system planning in Spring 2011
• Expecting two new faculty by Spring 2011, especially looking for people with methods skills who could teach 502
• Possible elective courses:
o Health and food system
o Public participation
o Banking
o Grant writing, more hands on practical experience

Tossed around ideas for seminar courses, particularly for PhD courses
• In the past have analyzed dissertations
• Ann Barnds noted that PhD students are interested in methods classes, need both qualitative and mixed method
• Professor Kawamura noted that they are planning on restructuring the PhD program generally

There was also discussion of restructuring the summer class structure
• Professor Betancur is concerned that classes suffer when students take two at a time
• Proposed a shift from the 4 week/8 week structure to 6 week courses
o This would mean meeting more frequently than an 8 week class
o Professors think it would mean students could be more invested in each class by eliminating any overlap
• Ann pointed out that more students are taking more classes in the summer, and overall
o Professors are concerned that learning, and readings in particular, get slighted when students try to overload
o Some professors are concerned that students are just trying to get a degree, understand economic pressures
• Ann is investigating with summer school options with the University, though they have to commit by the end of the month
o Looking for input

Classes have been affected by changes in student demographics
• This falls community development cohort had almost 35 students
• Students have also been younger with fewer practitioners
• Short discussion about increase attempts to draw in part-time students and practitioners in the future.


October Economic Development Concentration Meeting Notes
Minutes:

Oct 11th fall classes will go online for students to see in the 2 year plan
For Spring 2011
New adjunct faculty -Bridget Lane, owner of Business Districts, Inc.- will be teaching Commercial Strip Revitalization with Ivan Baker
Rachel Weber will not be teaching any courses
Nik Theodore will be teaching Planning for the Informal Economy
Phil Ashton will be teaching Development Finance

For Year 2011/2012
2 new faculty members, possibly taking on some of the core classes which would free up Econ profs to teach more classes
Possibility of bringing on Tom Snyder to teach a budgeting course, he is currently teaching UPP 514. It's his first year teaching here, and he is getting good responses.

CGI working with undergrad college to put on Cinema in the Cities, which could possibly create scheduling problems for Ashton and Weber
Possibility of offering Deal Making & Negotiation Strategies - best taught by practitioner
Ashton interested in teaching Community Reinvestment Course

Possible new courses in the future
Regional economics course
Innovation course
Effects of new Environmental concentration on ED
Environmental Economics course will be renumbered in the 570s, but will still also count as an ED elective.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Environmental Planning Curriculum and Goals Proposal - OPEN FOR REVIEW

The Urban Planning and Policy Department is adding a new concentration: Environmental Planning.

The department has asked for student feed back on the Curriculum and Goals. Please post your comments to the forum at uppsa.org. We will gather them all at the end of Business on November 1st and offer them to the Dean.

You can find the documents under the resources page, here. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Monday, October 11, 2010

October 10th UPPSA President’s Roundup

Good morning,

Happy Columbus Day/Canadian Thanksgiving! Before you pour gravy from your gravy boat, the Santa Maria, onto your Poutine, check out the news for this week. Mmmmmm.
Below are important news items for the coming weeks:

· GA/TOD- The next UPPSA General Assembly/Transit Oriented Dining will be Friday, October 15th starting at 6pm. The meeting will take place at the TOD location-
Marrakech Cuisine- 1413 N. Ashland Ave. Chicago, IL 60642 (773) 227-6451 http://www.marrakechcuisine.com
Directions from UIC: Walking/Cycling/Driving -- Take Halsted north for about 1 mile until Milwaukee Ave. Take a slight left onto Milwaukee Ave. and go until Ashland Ave. (just past Division). Hang a right on Ashland for 2 blocks.
CTA -- Take the Blue Line northwest (towards O’Hare) until the Division stop. Then walk 2 blocks on Ashland Ave.
To RSVP for the social event, please go to www.uppsa.org before Wednesday, 13-OCT so we can get a rough head count to make our reservation. Please let me know if you have any other questions. We hope to see you there!

· UPP Next: Professional Development Series
The second "UPP Next" event of the year will be on the topic of Planning Your Master's Project. Professors and past students will provide tips on how to successfully plan and complete your final master's projects. UPP Next: Planning Your Master's Project-- CUPPA Hall, room 110
Friday, October 15th, 2010 from 1:00pm-2:00pm

· Bike Tour- Saturday October 16th, 11am - meet at Buckingham Fountain and enjoy a casual ride along the blvds of this fair city, with adequate stops for rest and drinks. Dress accordingly, and bring a packed lunch. To RSVP and check out the bike route visit www.UPPSA.org

· CUPPA Intramurals- UPPSA member Ian Ludwig is organizing intramural Dodgeball and Volleyball teams for the upcoming season. All levels of skill and commitment are welcome. To learn more and sign up visit www.UPPSA.org

· APA-IL First Year Representative- There is still time to submit your application to become UPPSA’s representative to the American Planning Association of Illinois. Not only is this a great networking and leadership opportunity, but the First Year Rep has a voting membership on the APA-IL board and the UPPSA board (put that on your resume). For further information reply to this email with “First Year Rep” in the subject line, and the application can be found at http://www.uppsa.org/uppsa-documents.html .

· Dues and Membership Extension- UPPSA dues and membership forms can still be submitted until the October 15th General Assembly meeting. Those who missed the October 1st deadline are still welcome to association membership. The membership document is available at http://www.uppsa.org/uppsa-documents.html and checks or money orders should be written to UPPSA. Those who already paid their dues, please note there will be a mass-deposit of checks on the 16th so be aware of that for your accounts.

· MPA Sponsors Annenburg Speaker and Reception-The Department of Public Administration is excited to sponsor several events on campus to heighten student awareness and interest in careers with the Federal government. On Tuesday October 26th, Kimberly Ainsworth, Executive Director of the Federal Executive Board for the Greater Boston Region, will be the featured speaker throughout the day in various locations. There will also be a webinar for all interested students on how to apply for jobs in the Federal sector. The day will culminate with a reception featuring Director Ainsworth and her fellow directors from the Chicago and Minneapolis regions of the Federal Executive Board. For further information contact Margaret LaPorte at mlapor1@uic.edu

· SUPA Bake Sale- The Students of Urban Planning and Public Affairs (SUPA) will be holding a bake sale in the SCE: by the student resident halls between the food shop and elevators on Oct. 18th from 1 pm to 5 pm. The funds raised through this bake sale will support a lecture series in CUPPA’s undergraduate program.

· Academic or Assistantship Advocacy- Any MUPPs with concerns about department-wide academic issues are encouraged to contact UPPSA at UPPSAinfo@gmail.com with your feedback about the program. The Board of UPPSA meets regularly with the UPP department and the Dean of CUPPA. Let us be your advocate. Also, for those students with assistantships, UPPSA President Bob Fuller is also the Graduate Employee Organization (GEO) steward for CUPPAH. If you feel you have been treated unfairly in your assistantship (Teaching, Graduate or Research) feel free to contact him at rfulle5@uic.edu to get connected with the GEO’s grievance resources.

· Early Voting/Grace Period Voting- In case you are busy on Election Day, Tuesday, November 2nd, you can vote ahead of time at locations throughout the City of Chicago starting Tuesday, October 11th. To learn more and find the closest early voting polling place visit http://www.chicagoelections.com/page.php?id=9, If you didn’t already register to vote, you still can by visiting the Chicago Board of Elections where you can still register until October 26th, but you’ll have to vote when you register. For more information visit http://www.chicagoelections.com/page.php?id=14

· If you have important news for fellow MUPPs and you would like it included in the President’s Weekly Roundup and/or on the UPPSA website email UPPSAinfo@gmail.com by 2 p.m. each Sunday.
Have a great week,
Bob Fuller
President- UPPSA