UPPSA

End of year Showcase and Class Gifts!

2011-04-28T13:55:00.000-07:00

This is just a friendly reminder that we need everyone who intends to go to the End of Year Masters Student Showcase to RSVP at www.uppsa.org. Light refreshments will be provided. There will also be an after hours event, so make sure you RSVP for that as well. Please do so ASAP.

Also, if you are a paid UPPSA member, you may pick up your class gift at the Front Desk of UPP. This year UPPSA ordered Clean Canteens with the UPPSA logo on the side. You will only be able to pick up your canteen during business hours and will have to give the front admin your name. One gift per member

The Second Coming - UPSSA Weekly Roundup and Transition

2011-04-25T08:33:00.000-07:00

· Graduation Night Party Friday 6^th- The night of graduation, after dinner with your benefactor, UPPSA plans to host a house party from 9pm to midnight at The Red Canary- www.theredcanarychicago.com at 695 N. Milwaukee Av.. Count on dancing, socializing, refreshing beverages and some music. Attendees can buy a $33 wristband for all-you can imbibe beer wine and call drinks, so feel free to invite friends and family. If you haven’t received the facebook invite email UPPSAinfo@gmail.com and we’ll rectify the situation as soon as possible.

· CUPPA End of the Year Party and Student Work Showcase- On Thursday, May 5^th (the night before graduation) CUPPA will host an end of year celebration tentatively scheduled from 5-7pm at the Illini Center at South Wacker and West Adams. Included in this celebration is the opportunity open to students who completed their masters’ projects to show their work during the reception. Presentations are limited to a single poster, handouts or a brief presentation. This is a great opportunity to feature your work as planning professionals and alumni join us to celebrate the end of the year. If you plan on presenting email UPPSA at UPPSAinfo@gmail.com. We will be joined by MPA and UPA students showcasing their capstone projects. For those of you with conflicts that will prevent you from getting to this event before 7pm, the party will continue at Currents On the River http://www.currentsontheriver.com/ in the basement level of the Illini Center beginning at 7pm. Drop by to continue the conversation, enjoy the view of the Chicago River and celebrate Cinco de Mayo.

· Complete the MUPP Exit Survey before Submitting Your Masters’ Project- The final item on the submission checklist for submitting your masters is completion of the MUPP exit survey. Fill it out here http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MUPP_Exit_SP2011 and print out the certificate at the end in order to submit your masters’ project. Best of luck!

· Graduation Speech- Hear What You Want to Hear- UPPSA President, Bob Fuller, was asked to speak and represent MUPP students at the CUPPA graduation on May 6^th. He could guess what folks want to hear, but in the age of electronic communication why not actually get your feedback. Email UPPSAinfo@gmail.com with your suggestions for topics Bob should cover in his brief address at graduation- “A Review of Peter Hall’s Cities of Tomorrow,” “What I plan to do with a MUPP degree,” a mashup of “Wear Sunscreen,” and “The Gettysburgh Address,” are just a few ideas he’s already had. Send in your suggestions with the subject line Graduation Address before he comes up with a topic on his own.

· “I Love Logan Square” Party April 30^th- Logan Square's favorite party, back for a third smash year! Mark your calendars for Saturday, April 30th, 8pm-1am, for the "I Love Logan Square" party, a fundraiser for Logan Square Neighborhood Association (http://www.lsna.net/calendar/437).- 8:30pm Zumba lesson, 9:30pm LIVE AUCTION (auctioneers: Raul Islas and Sara Mathers), 10:30pm Dancing, music provided by the PEOPLE'S DJ COLLECTIVE

· Book Exchange- As this semester is ending, a new one is going to begin shortly. Don’t forget to sell your books for some extra holiday cash, or rent them out, if you are attached to them. UPPSA book exchange in online! Go to http://www.uppsa.org/forum.html to post your books.

· 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 Board Member Meredith Klekotka is 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 her at UPPSAinfo@gmail.com to get connected with the GEO’s grievance resources.

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.

Aaron Renn - Urbanophile set to give 2 lectures

2011-03-31T07:00:00.000-07:00

Email forwarded: One week from today on Thursday, April 7th at 12:15pm (lunch time), I’ll be giving a lecture at the Chicago Cultural Center (78 E. Washington St at the corner of Washington and Michigan). My topic will be the past, present, and future of transportation and quality of space in downtown Chicago. I’ll be reviewing the significant positive legacy of change of Mayor Daley in upgrading the quality of streets and the transportation infrastructure of downtown Chicago, take a look at some of the best that is going on elsewhere in the world today, and then take a look at where the city should be going next. This is sponsored by Friends of Downtown Chicago. This one is perfect if you work downtown. On Tuesday, April 12th at 6pm, I’ll be part of a panel debating the future of public transit in Chicago. This is at Cactus Bar and Grill, 404 S. Wells. and is sponsored by the Chicago Architecture Foundation.

UPPSA Presidential Roundup- March 27th

2011-03-27T20:25:00.000-07:00

• Graduate Assistance Taxation Meeting with the GEO on Tuesday, March 29th at 5pm in SCE Room 329- Come out to our GA Taxation meeting on Tuesday, March 29, at 5:00 PM in SCE 329 to plan what to do now that the University rejected calls by the GEO to assess GA’s in-state assistance (done at UIUC) and to extend emergency grants into the fall semester. GEO members working together can pressure the university to bring a long-term solution to the tax withholding problem to the table. Fight back against $0 paychecks!
• UPP Next: Presentation Skills Event changed to Friday, April 22nd- Prepare for your next class presentation, job interview or presentation at a community meeting by attending the next UPP Next event focusing on presentations skills. Led by Max Dieber and Nina Savar, this event is sure to be chock full of ideas, tips and a few funny jokes. Join us on Friday, March 31st (time TBD) and get ready to be a better presenter.

• Chicago Loop Alliance Looking for April 5-8 Conference Volunteers- Chicago Loop Alliance is looking to provide some highly capable students interested in a wonderful volunteer opportunity. April 5-8 we are hosting the International Downtown Association (IDA) Spring Conference throughout the Loop. It will bring together some of the world’s premier urban planners, architects, designers, real estate developers, government officials and more for a week of workshops, city tours and networking receptions showcasing our world-class city. The conference—themed “Policy’s Role in Shaping Place”—will feature intensive and interactive dialogue among national and international delegates to explore the vital issues that affect our city centers, including transportation, technology, social issues, public/private collaborations and effective management.
If interested, individuals should email Dillon Goodson at dillon@chicagoloopalliance.com with their name, email, cell phone # and availability (Tu-Fri). For more information on the event, visit www.ida-downtown.org/ or call Dillon at 312-782-9160.
• Spring 2011 CUPPA Commencement- Graduation is just a couple months away. Learn details about deadlines, locations, costs and what color your hood is visit the UPPSA blog at http://www.uppsa.org/blog.html
• Book Exchange- As this semester is ending, a new one is going to begin shortly. Don’t forget to sell your books for some extra holiday cash, or rent them out, if you are attached to them. UPPSA book exchange in online! Go to http://www.uppsa.org/forum.html to post your books.
• 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.
• 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.

March 20th Presidential Roundup

2011-03-21T14:58:00.000-07:00

UPPSA Board Elections- This past week the democratic process was once again fulfilled and now begins the peaceful transition of power for the UPPSA executive board. UPPSA is excited to announce the Academic Year 2011 UPPSA board—Your new President…..Vice President…Treasurer… and Secretary…. This was a tremendous election with a historic level of participation. Thank you to everyone who voted and thank you to everyone who ran for a position. Congratulations to the new board—President-elect Whitney Panneton, Vice President-elect Rebecca Geissler, Treasurer-elect Michael Carney, and Secretary-elect Jack Eskin. Congratulations and thank you for all the candidate, voter and support staff participation.
· UPP Next: Presentation Skills Event Friday, March 31st- Prepare for your next class presentation, job interview or presentation at a community meeting by attending the next UPP Next event focusing on presentations skills. Led by Max Dieber and Nina Savar, this event is sure to be chock full of ideas, tips and a few funny jokes. Join us on Friday, March 31st (time TBD) and get ready to be a better presenter.
· Part-time MUPPs, let us know what you think!- In order to best represent all MUPPs UPPSA put together a survey to better capture the part-time student experience. Please take a few minutes to let us know your opinion on the status of part-time and currently practicing students at the following link http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NPPPHHY
· Chicago Loop Alliance Looking for April 5-8 Conference Volunteers- Chicago Loop Alliance is looking to provide some highly capable students interested in a wonderful volunteer opportunity. April 5-8 we are hosting the International Downtown Association (IDA) Spring Conference throughout the Loop. It will bring together some of the world’s premier urban planners, architects, designers, real estate developers, government officials and more for a week of workshops, city tours and networking receptions showcasing our world-class city. The conference—themed “Policy’s Role in Shaping Place”—will feature intensive and interactive dialogue among national and international delegates to explore the vital issues that affect our city centers, including transportation, technology, social issues, public/private collaborations and effective management.
If interested, individuals should email Dillon Goodson at dillon@chicagoloopalliance.com with their name, email, cell phone # and availability (Tu-Fri). For more information on the event, visit www.ida-downtown.org/ or call Dillon at 312-782-9160.
· 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.
· 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.

Help Japan: An email from Kazuya Kawamura

2011-03-16T10:54:00.000-07:00

My sincere thanks to all of you for the support. Fortunately, all my family members live in the Tokyo area or to the west. They are safe and although they are experiencing blackouts and food and grocery shortages, they are in no danger. I am monitoring the situation at the nuclear power plant, which is the most serious concern for the people in the Tokyo area at the moment. We can only hope that they will succeed in stabilizing the reactors.

Even though Japan is a wealthy country, past experiences, such as 1995 Kobe Earthquake, show that monetary donations provide significant relief and are more effective than goods that will require distribution and logistics process. Donations can be made at the following site.:

http://www.google.co.jp/intl/en/crisisresponse/japanquake2011.html

Graduate Assistant Taxation Hardship Grant

2011-03-14T20:10:00.000-07:00

This message was sent to UIC graduate students on Monday, March 14th.

To all UIC Graduate Students

As you may have heard, federal law requires the university to withhold taxes on the value of tuition and fee waivers in excess of $5,250 per year from the salary of graduate assistants who are neither teaching assistants nor research assistants. We are concerned that some students may suffer undue hardship because of this withholding.

The UIC Graduate College, and its faculty, all former graduate students themselves, understand the financial challenges that students face. I therefore want to let you know that an emergency grant program will be made available to help graduate students here at UIC who may experience an unexpected financial hardship, including as a result of the taxation of tuition and service fee waivers.

While the Graduate College at the Urbana-Champaign Campus has an existing emergency hardship grant program which can be used to address this problem, we here at the UIC Graduate College have not had such a program in place. A lot of effort has taken place over the past several days in putting this program together. Because of the start-up work needed to create the infrastructure, many of the details are still being thoroughly and expertly evaluated. We understand the urgent nature and critical importance of getting a process in place as soon as possible. I want to assure you that this is my top priority.

Another more detailed announcement regarding specific program information will be forthcoming in the next day or two. An FAQ document and detailed information will also be posted on the UIC Graduate College website as soon as available, but no later than Friday.

Sincerely,
Henri Gillet

Professor of Mathematics and Interim Dean, Graduate College

Master's Project Help Tip - Write and Cite & Bibliographic Programs

2011-03-14T10:48:00.001-07:00

Did you know that CUPPA has a links to technology questions on the FAQ page?

And did you know that UIC students can use EndPoint or RefWorks for cheap or free?

And did you know that these programs hold your bibliographic content, and allows you to write and cite seamlessly, saving you time and headache?

Now you do

March 13th Presidential Roundup

2011-03-13T15:39:00.000-07:00

• Next General Assembly Meeting/TOD Bowling Tournament for the CUPPAH Cup- Friday, March 18th will be the date of the next GA/TOD. It will look a little different to accommodate the intra-college slugfest known as the CUPPAH Cup. Last spring MUPPs effectively won honor and glory by knocking down the most pins in a bowling showdown at Fireside Bowl in Logan Square. The MPA students asked for a chance at vengeance that also includes students from the undergraduate program. We obliged. The General Assembly meeting will take place in the Graduate Student Lounge at 6pm. We will then travel to Fireside to protect our title as best bowling students in CUPPA. Are you with us? You can RSVP for the General Assembly meeting and to bowl at www.UPPSA.org. If you don’t plan on bowling, we could still use your emotional support. No need to RSVP for bowling if you plan to cheer us on..
• CUPPA Business Card Holder- Following up on the plethora of career development events at CUPPA this year, our friends at PASA are selling stainless steel travel business card holders engraved with CUPPA on the lower right side for only $10. A travel business card holder is a great asset as you invest in developing, growing, and maintaining your network. Do not be caught with bent business cards because you keep them in your purse or in your wallet. Be professional. Be smart. Be CUPPA.
We are accepting cash payments only. Please be sure to order by 5:00pm Thursday March 17. Please speak or email with Bob Fuller at UPPSAinfo@gmail.com regarding ordering. Please direct nonpayment related questions to Adam Rowe, arowe4@uic.edu
• Spring 2011 CUPPA Commencement- Graduation is just a couple months away. Learn details about deadlines, locations, costs and what color your hood is visit the UPPSA blog at http://www.uppsa.org/blog.html
• Book Exchange- As this semester is ending, a new one is going to begin shortly. Don’t forget to sell your books for some extra holiday cash, or rent them out, if you are attached to them. UPPSA book exchange in online! Go to http://www.uppsa.org/forum.html to post your books.
• 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.
• 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.

Defend the CUPPAH Cup!- UPPSA Presidential Roundup- March 6th

2011-03-06T17:34:00.001-08:00

Next General Assembly Meeting/TOD Bowling Tournament for the CUPPAH Cup- Friday, March 18th will be the date of the next GA/TOD. It will look a little different to accommodate the intra-college slugfest known as the CUPPAH Cup. Last spring MUPPs effectively won honor and glory by knocking down the most pins in a bowling showdown at Fireside Bowl in Logan Square. The MPA students asked for a chance at vengeance that also includes students from the undergraduate program. We obliged. The General Assembly meeting will take place in the Graduate Student Lounge at 6pm. We will then travel to Fireside to protect our title as best bowling students in CUPPA. Are you with us? You can RSVP for the General Assembly meeting and to bowl at www.UPPSA.org. If you don’t plan on bowling, we could still use your emotional support. No need to RSVP for bowling if you plan to cheer us on.
• 2011 APA National Conference Reimbursement Policy Information- Conference attendees, please find a quick list of important dates for reimbursement for Conference expenses. We will be working with UPP to create a smooth re-payment process. Please make note of deadlines, so that you will be eligible for reimbursement. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at jscanl4@uic.edu. Thanks!
- April 9-12--Conference in Boston. Whoo hoo!
- April 26--Last day to submit ORIGINAL travel and lodging receipts with STA
application to UPPSA, in order to be considered for reimbursement.
• UPPSA Board Elections- The Academic Year 2012 candidates for UPPSA board are official. Running for President are Whitney Panneton and Adam Moore, for Vice President is Rebecca Geissler, Michael Carney for Treasurer, and Emily Sipfle and Jack Eskin are running for Secretary. Their full profiles can be found at www.UPPSA.org/elections Voting will take place starting Monday, March 14th and concluding Friday, March 18th. If you have questions regarding the process, qualifications or how UPPSA functions please email us at UPPSAelections@gmail.com
• CUPPA Business Card Holder- Following up on the plethora of career development events at CUPPA this year, our friends at PASA are selling stainless steel travel business card holders engraved with CUPPA on the lower right side for only $10. A travel business card holder is a great asset as you invest in developing, growing, and maintaining your network. Do not be caught with bent business cards because you keep them in your purse or in your wallet. Be professional. Be smart. Be CUPPA.
We are accepting cash payments only. Please be sure to order by 5:00pm Thursday March 17. Please speak or email with Bob Fuller at UPPSAinfo@gmail.com regarding ordering. Please direct nonpayment related questions to Adam Rowe, arowe4@uic.edu
• Spring 2011 CUPPA Commencement- Graduation is just a couple months away. Learn details about deadlines, locations, costs and what color your hood is visit the UPPSA blog at http://www.uppsa.org/blog.html
• Lodging During the APA National Conference in Boston- The American Planning Association has secured a block of rooms at the Midtown Hotel in Boston for the National Conference. Located just across the park from the Conference Hotel and at a rate of $155/night, you will not likely find a better deal. Please reserve your rooms by March 11 in order to receive this special rate. See http://www.planning.org/conference/boston/housing/student.htm for details.
• APA National Conference 2011 in Boston Massachusetts April 9-12- The American Planning Association National Conference is right around to corner. Check out the APA website for details on speakers, programs, and student opportunities. http://www.planning.org/conference/
Early registration ends February 10, 2011 so sign up early to save money, or apply to be a student volunteer for a $100 refund if you are an APA Student Member. http://www.planning.org/conference/registration.htm
UPPSA will be providing more information regarding accommodations, travel, and partial reimbursement in the next few weeks! Join us for a great networking and learning opportunity!
• Book Exchange- As this semester is ending, a new one is going to begin shortly. Don’t forget to sell your books for some extra holiday cash, or rent them out, if you are attached to them. UPPSA book exchange in online! Go to http://www.uppsa.org/forum.html to post your books.
• 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.
• 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

February 28th UPPSA Roundup

2011-02-27T14:37:00.000-08:00

• 2011 APA National Conference Reimbursement Policy Information- Conference attendees, please find a quick list of important dates for reimbursement for Conference expenses. We will be working with UPP to create a smooth re-payment process. Please make note of deadlines, so that you will be eligible for reimbursment. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at jscanl4@uic.edu. Thanks!
- Informational meeting for those interested in group lodging and those
with questions to be announced soon!**
- March 1st--Last Day to submit your Conference registration via email to
uppsainfo@gmail.com. ($20 Intent to Register checks are also expected, to
be returned upon registration submittal.)
- April 9-12--Conference in Boston. Whoo hoo!
- April 26--Last day to submit ORIGINAL travel and lodging receipts with STA
application to UPPSA, in order to be considered for reimbursement.
• UPPSA Board Elections- The deadline for filing as candidate for President, Vice President, Secretary or Treasurer is Monday, is tomorrow Monday, February 28th at 5pm. You can learn about the process in the appendix to the UPPSA constitution at http://www.uppsa.org/uppsa-documents.html. If you have questions regarding the process, qualifications or how UPPSA functions please email us at UPPSAelections@gmail.com
• CUPPA Business Card Holder- Following up on the plethora of career development events at CUPPA this year, our friends at PASA are selling stainless steel travel business card holders engraved with CUPPA on the lower right side for only $10. A travel business card holder is a great asset as you invest in developing, growing, and maintaining your network. Do not be caught with bent business cards because you keep them in your purse or in your wallet. Be professional. Be smart. Be CUPPA.
We are accepting cash payments only. Please be sure to order by 5:00pm Thursday March 17. Please speak or email with Bob Fuller at UPPSAinfo@gmail.com regarding ordering. Please direct nonpayment related questions to Adam Rowe, arowe4@uic.edu
• Spring 2011 CUPPA Commencement- Graduation is just a couple months away. Learn details about deadlines, locations, costs and what color your hood is visit the UPPSA blog at http://www.uppsa.org/blog.html
• Lodging During the APA National Conference in Boston- The American Planning Association has secured a block of rooms at the Midtown Hotel in Boston for the National Conference. Located just across the park from the Conference Hotel and at a rate of $155/night, you will not likely find a better deal. Please reserve your rooms by March 11 in order to receive this special rate. See http://www.planning.org/conference/boston/housing/student.htm for details.
• APA National Conference 2011 in Boston Massachusetts April 9-12- The American Planning Association National Conference is right around to corner. Check out the APA website for details on speakers, programs, and student opportunities. http://www.planning.org/conference/
Early registration ends February 10, 2011 so sign up early to save money, or apply to be a student volunteer for a $100 refund if you are an APA Student Member. http://www.planning.org/conference/registration.htm
UPPSA will be providing more information regarding accommodations, travel, and partial reimbursement in the next few weeks! Join us for a great networking and learning opportunity!
• Book Exchange- As this semester is ending, a new one is going to begin shortly. Don’t forget to sell your books for some extra holiday cash, or rent them out, if you are attached to them. UPPSA book exchange in online! Go to http://www.uppsa.org/forum.html to post your books.
• 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.
• 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.

2011 APA National Conference Reimbursement Information

2011-02-21T12:53:00.000-08:00

March 1st--Last Day to submit EITHER a copy of the Conference registration via email OR a $20 Intent to Register check to UPPSA to be eligible for the Student TravelAward (STA) reimbursement

April 9-12--National Conference in Boston, Massachusetts

April 26--Last Day to submit ORIGINAL travel and lodging receipts with properdocuments for reimbursement consideration (we will provide you with thedocuments needed) to UPPSA

In order to be eligible for Student Travel Award reimbursement, you have to submit a copy of your Conference Registration by March 1st. The department needs a total count of MUPP participants by March 1st. We realize that pre-registration continues online until March 10th. So, if you have not registered for the Conference by March 1st, but intend to sign-up, you can submit a $20.00 check to UPPSA by the March 1st deadline in order to hold your spot to be eligible for the STA reimbursement. Once you sign up and submit your Conference registration, we will return your check to you.

If you do not submit either your registration or “placeholder” check by March 1st, you will not be eligible for the Student Travel Award reimbursement fund. The STA fund is the overwhelming bulk of our reimbursement funds, so we highly recommend that you submit either document by March 1st.

The reimbursement totals will vary based on how many MUPPs apply for reimbursement. Each student will receive a maximum of $200.00 from the STA fund. This final amount will be determined by how many MUPPs apply for reimbursement, so the $200 maximum is not guaranteed. The STA funds come from the Department, but all transactions must go through UPPSA.

In addition, alternate funds directly from UPPSA will be used for reimbursement. If you are an UPPSA member, but do not register with UPPSA by March 1st, you may still be eligible for the non-STA funds. However those amounts have not been set and will likely be much smaller amounts.

Please be aware of the deadlines above, as there will be no extensions granted. Please contact me at uppsainfo@gmail.com if you have any questions.

We will be having an information session soon for those who are interested!
Thanks!
Jackie Scanlan

Neighborhoods Go Green:Exhibit Viewing and Gallery Talk

2011-02-17T21:48:00.000-08:00

MUPPs---Join us for this unique event to learn about USGBC LEED-ND standards. Take advantage of this opportunity to meet Doug Farr of Farr Associates and ask him about his planning experiences and his work with the LEED-ND standards. Please find the information below!

******Free event for UIC CUPPA Students & Alumni******

UPPSA, CUPPA Alumni Association & Farr Associates invite you to join us for:

"Neighborhoods Go Green" Exhibit Viewing & Gallery Talk: A first ever exhibit about LEED-ND

Join UPPSA, Farr Associates, and the CUPPA Alumni Association at this event for an exclusive viewing of the latest exhibit at the Chicago Architecture Foundation– “Neighborhoods Go Green: Scaling Up Sustainability.” The exhibit focuses on LEED for Neighborhood Development, the newest U.S. Green Building Council LEED rating system, which specifically relates to urban planners and policy makers. USGBC and Chicago-based planning firm Farr Associates co-curated the exhibit.

The exhibit viewing will be followed by an informal gallery talk with Doug Farr of Farr Associates, chair of the USGBC LEED-ND Core Committee that wrote the rating system between 2003 and 2009. He will speak to the group about his experience developing LEED-ND and will give exhibit highlights– focusing on successfully messaging urban planning issues to a popular audience.

Thursday, March 3

Chicago Architecture Foundation- 1st Floor Gallery

224 S. Michigan Avenue

5:30-6:00 Exhibit Viewing & Light Reception

6:00-7:00 Gallery Talk with Q&A and Networking

Please RSVP to christinab@farrside.com

Thanks,

Jackie Scanlan
Treasurer

Class of 2011--Commencement Information

2011-02-17T21:43:00.000-08:00

The RSVP date for commencement ceremony attendance totals (graduates, candidates, and guests) need to be to the contact listed below (Hazel for MUPPs) by April 8.

**Don't forget to RSVP**

(Please note NO TICKETS are issued but we still request your RSVP.)

Commencement Information

University of Illinois at Chicago
College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs

For Public Administration and Urban Planning and Policy and Urban and Public Affairs graduates and degree candidates for the following academic terms: July 2010, December 2010 and May 2011.

Graduates, degree candidates, and guests are invited to:

CUPPA Commencement
Friday, May 6, 2011

UIC Forum
725 Roosevelt Road (Corner of Halsted Street and Roosevelt Road), Chicago
Brief reception to follow.

RSVP required by April 8th, 2011 to:

UPA Students: Contact Danielle Cheatom, dcheat2@uic.edu, 312.413.2565

PA Students: Contact Sharon Sanders, shar@uic.edu, 312.996.3109

UPP Students: Contact Hazel Brown, memi@uic.edu, 312.996.6211

ON THE DAY OF COMMENCEMENT: BE PRESENT AND DRESSED BY 9:40 A.M.

All degree candidates and CUPPA faculty must be present, dressed in academic regalia, and ready to assemble for the processional by 9:40 a.m. on Friday, May 6. Dressing areas at the UIC Forum will open at 9:00 a.m. Enter through the main entrance.

TRAVEL AND PARKING INFORMATION
Please see http://www.vcsa.uic.edu/MainSite/departments/commencement/home/directions.htm for travel directions to Student Center East and parking information for the UIC Forum.

CAPS AND GOWNS
Academic regalia will be available for purchase at the Student Center East Bookstore beginning April 28. The base cost (excluding sales tax) for regalia is as follows:
Bachelor: $28.95, Master’s: $54.95, PhD: $82.95

If you're eligible to attend this year's commencement ceremony and plan to
attend, please see www.commencement.uic.edu for instructions on how to purchase a cap and gown. You **must** purchase a cap and gown before the event. When purchasing a master's gown, be sure to clearly convey your degree title (i.e., MPA or MUPP) to Bookstore staff.

* MPA candidates and graduates should receive a Peacock Blue hood and tassel.
* MUPP candidates and graduates should receive a Wedgewood Blue hood and
tassel.
* Bachelor: blue cap, blue gown, white tassel.

Hint: Peacock Blue is the brighter of the two. Wedgewood Blue has a "dusty" appearance.

All PhD candidates wear the same color regalia, regardless of major.

Caps and gowns will go on sale at the UIC Bookstore on April 28, 2011. See http://www.uicbookstore.org for their hours of operation.

FOR MORE INFORMATION
For more information, please contact Jodi White Jones, jmwhite@uic.edu, 312.413.9127.

Eating, Voting and Bleeding- - UPPSA Presidential Roundup- February 13th

2011-02-13T14:05:00.001-08:00

• February General Assembly and Transit Oriented Dining at the Triple Crown Dim Sum Restaurant- Come out to the 2nd general assembly of the semester for all MUPP students, hosted once again by your favorite graduate student board, UPPSA:
Triple Crown Dim Sum Restaurant 2217 Wentworth Ave. Chicago, IL 60616 Tel: 312.842.0088
Fax: 312.842.0080 www.triplecrownchicago.com/ Menu: http://www.triplecrownchicago.com/chinese-restaurant-chicago/
Directions: Right off of the CTA Red Line stop at Cermak-Chinatown, on Wentworth Ave.
Date/Time: Friday, 2/18 @ 6:00 p.m.
Please RSVP at www.UPPSA.org before Wed. 2/16 so we can get a rough head count to make our reservation. Please let us know if you have any other questions. We hope to see you there!
• UPPSA Board Elections- It’s just the beginning of the semester but UPPSA will soon hold its annual board member elections soon. The deadline for filing as candidate for President, Vice President, Secretary or Treasurer is Monday, February 28th at 5pm. You can learn about the process in the appendix to the UPPSA constitution at http://www.uppsa.org/uppsa-documents.html. If you have questions regarding the process, qualifications or how UPPSA functions please email us at UPPSAelections@gmail.com
• UPP Faculty Candidate Job Talk, Monday February 14th in Room 262 at Noon- Come hear Nebiyou Tilahun present “Matching Home and Work: Job Search, Contacts and Travel” as part of his candidacy to become a member of the UPP faculty. Students are also encouraged to stick around afterwards for a round table with the candidate to ask him questions and field his. If you are able to attend please RSVP by sending an email to UPPSAinfo@gmail.com
• Spring 2011 CUPPA Commencement- Graduation is just a couple months away. Learn details about deadlines, locations, costs and what color your hood is visit the UPPSA blog at http://www.uppsa.org/blog.html
• CUPPA Blood Drive on February 15th from 10am-3pm in CUPPAH Rm 110- Among those recovering from the Blizzard of 2011 are Blood Banks across the Chicago area: http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2011/02/04/blood-bank-blizzard-cut-into-donations/ In an effort to help Blood Banks meet patient demands, please consider participating in the next CUPPA Blood Drive: CUPPA Blood Drive-Tuesday, 02/15/2011-Room 110 CUPPA HALL- 412 S. Peoria Street- 10:00am to 3:00pm. Please visit the Dean's Office (Rm 115 CUPPAH) or email sgordo4@uic.edu for eligibility requirements and/or to sign up.
• Lodging During the APA National Conference in Boston- The American Planning Association has secured a block of rooms at the Midtown Hotel in Boston for the National Conference. Located just across the park from the Conference Hotel and at a rate of $155/night, you will not likely find a better deal. Please reserve your rooms by March 11 in order to receive this special rate. See http://www.planning.org/conference/boston/housing/student.htm for details.
• Non-Profit Panel on Feb. 23rd at 6pm in CUPPAH Rm 413- The Public Administration Student Association (PASA) will host a panel featuring Tom Galassini of the United Way and Greg Cameron of the WTTW Channel 11. There will be food and light refreshments. RSVP for this event at uicpasa.weebly.com
• UPPSA Membership- For those students new to the program, those who have been around for a while but haven’t become members and students who became members last spring, enrollment in the Urban Planning and Policy Student Association is open during the first month of the spring semester. You can turn in forms all this week through the General Assembly meeting on Friday, February 18th. Visit http://www.uppsa.org/uppsa-documents.html to download the membership form. Return it and your check for $15 to Ann Barnds or any UPPSA board member to enroll or renew your membership. Membership benefits include higher reimbursement rates for approved conference travel, the annual UPPSA gift, and the satisfaction of being a part of one of UIC’s most dynamic and good-looking student associations. Email us at UPPSAinfo@gmail.com with any questions.
• APA National Conference 2011 in Boston Massachusetts April 9-12- The American Planning Association National Conference is right around to corner. Check out the APA website for details on speakers, programs, and student opportunities. http://www.planning.org/conference/
Early registration ends February 10, 2011 so sign up early to save money, or apply to be a student volunteer for a $100 refund if you are an APA Student Member. http://www.planning.org/conference/registration.htm
UPPSA will be providing more information regarding accommodations, travel, and partial reimbursement in the next few weeks! Join us for a greatnetworking and learning opportunity!
• Book Exchange- As this semester is ending, a new one is going to begin shortly. Don’t forget to sell your books for some extra holiday cash, or rent them out, if you are attached to them. UPPSA book exchange in online! Go to http://www.uppsa.org/forum.html to post your books.
• 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.
• 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.

Resurgent Rust-belt Cities Forced by Economic Elites to Compete in Sunbelt Setting- UPPSA Presidential Roundup- February 7th

2011-02-07T06:47:00.001-08:00

• Urban Innovation Symposium, A Great Success- More than 100 people attended each of the symposium’s 3 sessions and were comprised of a great mix of students, planners, community members and academics. Thanks to everyone who attended the Innovation Symposium. This was a fantastic event and the entire team that created it should be proud of this accomplishment. A big thank you goes out to Sara Amaral, Luke Hogan, Adam Moore, Whitney Panneton, Meredith Klekotka, Jack Eskin, Ian “Stix” Ludwig, Arnold Kasemsam, Joseph Van Dyk, Emily Spifle and David Gleicher for planning and implementing this event, as well as Lauren Smith, Tim Jeffries, Jesse Ackles and Chelsea Ross for volunteering during the events. Special thanks to Ann Barnds for all her insight and professional advice. Support for this event was provided by the Great Cities Institute, the Department of Urban Planning and Policy at UIC, and the American Planning Association of Illinois. Each of our presenters and community organizations were thought-provoking and gracious with their time. Finally, Work Studio was a fantastic and flexible host for the PechaKucha event in the evening.
• UPPSA Board Elections- It’s just the beginning of the semester but UPPSA will soon hold its annual board member elections in soon. We will hold information sessions for students interested in running for board positions this Wednesday, February 2nd from 4-6pm in the CUPPAH graduate lounge (basement) and from 5-6pm on Tuesday, February 8th from 5-6pm in Lecture Center C (where 505 meets). You can learn about the process in the appendix to the UPPSA constitution at http://www.uppsa.org/uppsa-documents.html. If you have questions regarding the process please email us at UPPSAelections@gmail.com
• UPP Faculty Candidate Job Talk, Tuesday February 8th in Room 110 at Noon- Come hear Hilary Shaffer present “Contentious Politics in Liquefied Natural Gas Facility Siting” as part of her candidacy to become a member of the UPP faculty. Students are also encouraged to stick around afterwards for a round table with the candidate to ask her questions and field hers.
• Lodging During the APA National Conference in Boston- The American Planning Association has secured a block of rooms at the Midtown Hotel in Boston for the National Conference. Located just across the park from the Conference Hotel and at a rate of $155/night, you will not likely find a better deal. Please reserve your rooms by March 11 in order to receive this special rate. See http://www.planning.org/conference/boston/housing/student.htm for details.
• Non-Profit Panel on Feb. 23rd at 6pm in CUPPAH Rm 413- The Public Administration Student Association (PASA) will host a panel featuring Tom Galassini of the United Way and Greg Cameron of the WTTW Channel 11. There will be food and light refreshments. RSVP for this event at uicpasa.weebly.com
• UPPSA Membership- For those students new to the program, those who have been around for a while but haven’t become members and students who became members last spring, enrollment in the Urban Planning and Policy Student Association is open during the first month of the spring semester. Visit http://www.uppsa.org/uppsa-documents.html to download the membership form. Return it and your check for $15 to Ann Barnds or any UPPSA board member to enroll or renew your membership. Membership benefits include higher reimbursement rates for approved conference travel, the annual UPPSA gift, and the satisfaction of being a part of one of UIC’s most dynamic and good-looking student associations. Email us at UPPSAinfo@gmail.com with any questions.
• APA National Conference 2011 in Boston Massachusetts April 9-12- The American Planning Association National Conference is right around to corner. Check out the APA website for details on speakers, programs, and student opportunities. http://www.planning.org/conference/
Early registration ends February 10, 2011 so sign up early to save money, or apply to be a student volunteer for a $100 refund if you are an APA Student Member. http://www.planning.org/conference/registration.htm
UPPSA will be providing more information regarding accommodations, travel, and partial reimbursement in the next few weeks! Join us for a greatnetworking and learning opportunity!
• Book Exchange- As this semester is ending, a new one is going to begin shortly. Don’t forget to sell your books for some extra holiday cash, or rent them out, if you are attached to them. UPPSA book exchange in online! Go to http://www.uppsa.org/forum.html to post your books.
• 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.
• 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.

UPPSA Presidential Roundup- January 30th

2011-01-30T18:37:00.000-08:00

UPPSA Board Elections- It’s just the beginning of the semester but UPPSA will soon hold its annual board member elections in
soon. We will hold information sessions for students interested in running for board positions this Wednesday, February 2nd from 4
6pm in the CUPPAH graduate lounge (basement) and from 5-6pm on Tuesday, February 8th from 5-6pm in Lecture Center C (where
505 meets). You can learn about the process in the appendix to the UPPSA constitution at http://www.uppsa.org/uppsa
documents.html. If you have questions regarding the process please email us at UPPSAelections@gmail.com
· 2010 Urban Innovation Symposium- Friday, February 4th Make sure to sign up for the Urban Innovation Symposium, this Friday, Feb 4th. More info can be found on the UPPSA website www.UPPSA.org
CUPPA Blood Drive on February 3rd- The Healthy CUPPA Committee along with the UIC Blood Donor Center is sponsoring a Blood Drive: Date: Thursday, 02/03/2011, Place: Room 110 CUPPA HALL 412 S. Peoria Street, Time: 10am to 3pm. Please visit the Dean's Office (Rm 115 CUPPAH) or email sgordo4@uic.edu for eligibility requirements and/or to sign up.
· UPPSA Membership- For those students new to the program, those who have been around for a while but haven’t become members and students who became members last spring, enrollment in the Urban Planning and Policy Student Association is open during the first month of the spring semester. Visit http://www.uppsa.org/uppsa-documents.html to download the membership form. Return it and your check for $15 to Ann Barnds or any UPPSA board member to enroll or renew your membership. Membership benefits include higher reimbursement rates for approved conference travel, the annual UPPSA gift, and the satisfaction of being a part of one of UIC’s most dynamic and good-looking student associations. Email us at UPPSAinfo@gmail.com with any questions.
· APA National Conference 2011 in Boston Massachusetts April 9-12- The American Planning Association National Conference is right around to corner. Check out the APA website for details on speakers, programs, and student opportunities. http://www.planning.org/conference/
Early registration ends February 10, 2011 so sign up early to save money, or apply to be a student volunteer for a $100 refund if you are an APA Student Member. http://www.planning.org/conference/registration.htm
UPPSA will be providing more information regarding accommodations, travel, and partial reimbursement in the next few weeks! Join us for a greatnetworking and learning opportunity!
· Book Exchange- As this semester is ending, a new one is going to begin shortly. Don’t forget to sell your books for some extra holiday cash, or rent them out, if you are attached to them. UPPSA book exchange in online! Go to http://www.uppsa.org/forum.html to post your books.

· 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.

· 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.

Spring Economic Development Committee Notes

2011-01-24T07:37:00.000-08:00

Classes to be offered next year:

Fall 11:

Ashton: UPP 205, UPA Capstone
Drucker: UPP 531, possibly 502
Parker: UPP 501, 588
Theodore: UPP 594, UPP 536 (Workforce Development - possibly adjunct Marc Doussard)
Weber: UPP 535 Dealmaking, possiblyl 583, 533, or 500

Spring 12:

Ashton: UPP 541, UPP 594 (Community Reinvestment)
Drucker: UPP 530, possibly 500, 502, UPA 306
Parker: UPA 308, UPP 493 (Gender and the City), possibly 501 or 540
Theodore: possibly UPA 308, an International Development Course or UPA 308
Weber: Undecided

UPP 533 may be taught by an adjunct next year, and there are plans to offer Commercial Strip Revitalization next year as well.

***Given the two new profs that will be brought on for next year, decisions for who will be teaching core classes are still undecided, so the classes listed above are not set in stone yet.

Classes that may be in the works if there is an interest in them:

Innovations Elective - Drucker
Market Analysis course (not necessarily in ED) - adjunct Linda Goodman

Possible Studios:

Village of West Chester Economic Development Project

Rosenwald Apartments (Chicago) - ULI has created a technical assistance panel program to assist and advise on land use and real estate development issues for this development. Might be used as a case study in UPP 533

Connect to Jobs and Internships- UPPSA Presidential Roundup- January 23rd

2011-01-24T07:36:00.000-08:00

• Networking Event for Current and Recent Students- The CUPPA Alumni Association's Student Alumni Connections Committee is hosting the 2011 Career Prep Event for students on Friday, February 25th. This popular event allows students to brush up their resume and improve interview skills prior to job hunting season. This is a great opportunity for alumni to help students prepare for their career andstay involved with CUPPA. The event will kick off at CUPPA Hall at 3:00pm followed by a networking social at Jak's Tap. More details to come.
• UPPSA Board Elections- It’s just the beginning of the semester but UPPSA will soon hold its annual board member elections. Be on the look-out for information helpful if you are interested in running for President, Vice President, Treasurer or Secretary. You can learn about the process in the appendix to the UPPSA constitution at http://www.uppsa.org/uppsa-documents.html. We expect to hold an open house for prospective candidates at the beginning of February. If you have questions regarding the process please email us at UPPSAelections@gmail.com
• 2010 Urban Innovation Symposium- Friday, February 4th A day–long, 3–part event bringing together pioneering professionals from various industries for a series of interactive discussions and presentations on recent innovations in urban development, technology, and culture. RSVP at www.UPPSA.org as space is filling up quickly.
Opening Session (1pm, Location: UIC Student Center East (Room 602), 750 S. Halsted St.)
Introductory Presentations from: Aaron Renn of Urbanophile, Marcia Caton Campbell of the Center for Resilient Cities, James Patchett of the Conservation Design Forum, Associate Dean Annette Valenta of UIC's Health Informatics and Technology program, Elise Zelechowski of the Delta Institute, And More...
Breakout Session (3pm, Location: TBA)
Innovators hold 1 hour long discussion seminars with symposium attendants
Pecha Kucha/Networking (6:30pm, Location: TBA)
7 minute multimedia presentations from emerging innovators; Dave Snyder of the Chicago Rarities Orchard Project, Jamie Simone of the Wicker Park Business Chamber, Kyle Smith of the Center for Neighborhood Technology
Refreshments Included. Stay tuned for more information!
• CUPPA Blood Drive on February 3rd- The Healthy CUPPA Committee along with the UIC Blood Donor Center is sponsoring a Blood Drive: Date: Thursday, 02/03/2011, Place: Room 110 CUPPA HALL 412 S. Peoria Street, Time: 10am to 3pm. Please visit the Dean's Office (Rm 115 CUPPAH) or email sgordo4@uic.edu for eligibility requirements and/or to sign up.
• UPPSA Membership- For those students new to the program, those who have been around for a while but haven’t become members and students who became members last spring, enrollment in the Urban Planning and Policy Student Association is open during the first month of the spring semester. Visit http://www.uppsa.org/uppsa-documents.html to download the membership form. Return it and your check for $15 to Ann Barnds or any UPPSA board member to enroll or renew your membership. Membership benefits include higher reimbursement rates for approved conference travel, the annual UPPSA gift, and the satisfaction of being a part of one of UIC’s most dynamic and good-looking student associations. Email us at UPPSAinfo@gmail.com with any questions.
• APA National Conference 2011 in Boston Massachusetts April 9-12- The American Planning Association National Conference is right around to corner. Check out the APA website for details on speakers, programs, and student opportunities. http://www.planning.org/conference/
Early registration ends February 10, 2011 so sign up early to save money, or apply to be a student volunteer for a $100 refund if you are an APA Student Member. http://www.planning.org/conference/registration.htm
UPPSA will be providing more information regarding accommodations, travel, and partial reimbursement in the next few weeks! Join us for a greatnetworking and learning opportunity!
• American Planning Association- Chicago Metro Section Networking Event- Thursday, January 27th, 5:30-7:30pm at Jak’s Tap- Join fellow Chicago area planners for a fun networking opportunity to meet your peers in the profession, or reacquaint with familiar faces. We are bringing together planners from every stage of planning careers, from seasoned professionals to those new to the profession. This reception is also an opportunity for members participating in the Illinois Chapter Mentoring program to meet with students and recent graduates.
Please e-mail apachicagometrosection@yahoo.com by January 21st, please include the number of years of experience you have as a planner or if you are currently a student.
• Book Exchange- As this semester is ending, a new one is going to begin shortly. Don’t forget to sell your books for some extra holiday cash, or rent them out, if you are attached to them. UPPSA book exchange in online! Go to http://www.uppsa.org/forum.html to post your books.
• 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.
• 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.

UPPSA Presidential Roundup- January 17th

2011-01-17T16:33:00.000-08:00

• General Assembly and Transit Oriented Dining- On Friday, January 21st UPPSA will hold the first GA/TOD of the new semester at Paul Zakopane Harnas Restaurant, known for its fine central-European faire. We will meet at 6pm, have brief update of UPPSA news and then socialize. This will be a great opportunity for new MUPPs to meet returning MUPPs, for folks to catch up with fellow students as the new semester kicks off. Please RSVP at http://www.uppsa.org/home.html. Email uppsainfo@gmail.com if you have suggestions for future TOD locations.
• UPPSA Board Elections- It’s just the beginning of the semester but UPPSA will soon hold its annual board member elections. Be on the look-out for information helpful if you are interested in running for President, Vice President, Treasurer or Secretary. You can learn about the process in the appendix to the UPPSA constitution at http://www.uppsa.org/uppsa-documents.html. In the meantime, UPPSA is looking for 2-3 people to aid the board in running a free and fair election. If you are not interested in running for office or are ineligible to run (will graduate before Spring 2012 or will not be on campus for all of Academic Year 2012), please consider serving in this very important role. If you are interested please email Bob at uppsaelections@gmail.com
• 2010 Urban Innovation Symposium- Friday, February 4th A day–long, 3–part event bringing together pioneering professionals from various industries for a series of interactive discussions and presentations on recent innovations in urban development, technology, and culture. RSVP at www.UPPSA.org as space is filling up quickly.
Opening Session (1pm, Location: UIC Student Center East (Room 602), 750 S. Halsted St.)
Introductory Presentations from: Aaron Renn of Urbanophile, Marcia Caton Campbell of the Center for Resilient Cities, James Patchett of the Conservation Design Forum, Associate Dean Annette Valenta of UIC's Health Informatics and Technology program, Elise Zelechowski of the Delta Institute, And More...
Breakout Session (3pm, Location: TBA)
Innovators hold 1 hour long discussion seminars with symposium attendants
Pecha Kucha/Networking (6:30pm, Location: TBA)
7 minute multimedia presentations from emerging innovators; Dave Snyder of the Chicago Rarities Orchard Project, Jamie Simone of the Wicker Park Business Chamber, Kyle Smith of the Center for Neighborhood Technology
Refreshments Included. Stay tuned for more information!
• CUPPA Blood Drive on February 3rd- The Healthy CUPPA Committee along with the UIC Blood Donor Center is sponsoring a Blood Drive: Date: Thursday, 02/03/2011, Place: Room 110 CUPPA HALL 412 S. Peoria Street, Time: 10am to 3pm. Please visit the Dean's Office (Rm 115 CUPPAH) or email sgordo4@uic.edu for eligibility requirements and/or to sign up.
• UPPSA Membership- For those students new to the program, those who have been around for a while but haven’t become members and students who became members last spring, enrollment in the Urban Planning and Policy Student Association is open during the first month of the spring semester. Visit http://www.uppsa.org/uppsa-documents.html to download the membership form. Return it and your check for $15 to Ann Barnds or any UPPSA board member to enroll or renew your membership. Membership benefits include higher reimbursement rates for approved conference travel, the annual UPPSA gift, and the satisfaction of being a part of one of UIC’s most dynamic and good-looking student associations. Email us at UPPSAinfo@gmail.com with any questions.
• APA National Conference 2011 in Boston Massachusetts April 9-12- The American Planning Association National Conference is right around to corner. Check out the APA website for details on speakers, programs, and student opportunities. http://www.planning.org/conference/
Early registration ends February 10, 2011 so sign up early to save money, or apply to be a student volunteer for a $100 refund if you are an APA Student Member. http://www.planning.org/conference/registration.htm
UPPSA will be providing more information regarding accommodations, travel, and partial reimbursement in the next few weeks! Join us for a greatnetworking and learning opportunity!
• American Planning Association- Chicago Metro Section Networking Event- Thursday, January 27th, 5:30-7:30pm at Jak’s Tap- Join fellow Chicago area planners for a fun networking opportunity to meet your peers in the profession, or reacquaint with familiar faces. We are bringing together planners from every stage of planning careers, from seasoned professionals to those new to the profession. This reception is also an opportunity for members participating in the Illinois Chapter Mentoring program to meet with students and recent graduates.
Please e-mail apachicagometrosection@yahoo.com by January 21st, please include the number of years of experience you have as a planner or if you are currently a student.
• MUPP Committee Representative- We need a first year who is interested in helping
UPPSA attend these faculty meetings that specifically discuss the MUPP experience.. Topics include course development and hiring of professors. A 1st year MUPP would be an ideal candidate since they will be working with the department going forward and any changes might directly affect them and their student body. Email UPPSAinfo@gmail.com to express interest.
• Be the MUPP Representative to the Graduate Student Council- An opportunity to serve as the MUPP representative to the GSC, UIC’s graduate student representative body, has opened up. In an ongoing effort to get as many MUPPs involved in representing the student association and keeping the student body well-informed. Meetings take place the second Thursday of each month between now and May from 5pm to 7pm. This opportunity is open to all MUPPs who can attend this monthly meeting and will be able to coordinate with the UPPSA leadership. If you are interested please send a brief statement of interest to uppsainfo@gmail.com Thank you to Joe van Dyk who served in this position during the fall semester.
• Book Exchange- As this semester is ending, a new one is going to begin shortly. Don’t forget to sell your books for some extra holiday cash, or rent them out, if you are attached to them. UPPSA book exchange in online! Go to http://www.uppsa.org/forum.html to post your books.
• 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.
• 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

An Invitation from our planning friends in Amsterdam

2011-01-11T15:36:00.000-08:00

Dear UPPSA,

I'm a member of the Amsterdam Student Association of Planning (ASAP) and your organization helped us to orginize activities on our studie trip to Chicago in the summer of 2009. We are currently organising an international symposium with Susans Fainstein as keynote speaker and her 'Just City' concept as the main theme. The symposium provides an interactive program through workshops. The cases of the workshop are the Zuidas (South axis business district), the reprofiling of the red light district and the Overhoeks redevelopment project. I believe this symposium offers an unique opportunity for students interested in urban planning and form to apply the learned theory in practice. And the symposium is attracting students from all over the world, so we are confident on a fruitful transfer of knowledge.
With this e-mail I would like to invite you to our symposium and ask you to help us promote our symposium by forwarding the information below. Furthermore, I hope our associations will continue to cooperate when the occasion occurs.

Many thanks,

Jasper van Dongen

Amsterdam: Just City?

The Amsterdam Student Association of Planning organizes a symposium about the Just City concept from Susan Fainstein. This professor from the Harvard University is our keynote-speaker. She observes a slow decay of Amsterdam as a 'just city'. Can Amsterdam remain a Just City while globalization forces cities to adopt neo-liberal policies? What are the conclusions for other European cities? The symposium takes four days in February and students can join workshops, lectures and explore the city of Amsterdam. The workshop cases are the Zuidas (South Axis business district), the Overhoeks redevelopment project and the reprofiling of the red light district. This event will take place on February 14-17. Visit the Website and check out the Brochure for more information. Email to info@asapnetwork.nl to register or help us advertise!

Website: www.asapnetwork.nl
Brochure: http://www.asapnetwork.nl/pdf/brochure_participants.pdf

A brief preview of the program:

Monday: You may check in at the hostel from 15:00. This is followed by a canal cruise through Amsterdam to introduce the participants to the city and each other. After dinner it is time for the opening of the symposium, with the first key-note speaker Eric Corijn, who is going to outline the conditions of the network society that effect today’s urban planning practices. After a brief discussion on the subject this day's program ends with the opportunity of informal drinks.

Tuesday: The morning will start with a lecture at the university that outlines the Dutch planning tradition and the context of Amsterdam. After the lunch you will be introduced to your workshop assignment with a site visit and by attending a presentation on the project. After dinner it is time for the main lecture of Fainstein on the Just City concept and her view on Amsterdam. Justus Uitermark, criticizer of Fainstein's theories, will react on her speech. Afterwards there is an opportunity, like the evening before, to socialize.

Wednesday: The Wednesday starts of with an optional visit to a museum. After noon you will start working out the assignment with your workgroup. For this, there will be a teacher of the university present to assist with any questions about the material and assignment. In the evening the Physical Planning Department of Amsterdam (Dienst Ruimtelijke Ordening, or DRO) will provide a lecture on the Structural Vision: Amsterdam 2040. This plan is a statutory planning instrument. It is a long-term strategy and implementation package in which choices are made regarding the functions of living, working, recreation, accessibility, social amenities and sustainability.

Thursday: On this final day of the symposium the workgroups write a small essay on their assignment and prepare a short presentation. The assignment will be about analyzing the case of your workshop within the Amsterdams structural vision by using the Just City concept as an analytical framework. The groups give a short presentation on their findings at the end of the afternoon. There will be a prize contest for the best proposal and all reviews will be bundled into one 'treaty for Amsterdam'. The symposium will be closed on a happy note with a closing dinner and party.

January 10th Presidential Roundup

2011-01-10T17:56:00.000-08:00

• UPPSA Board Elections- It’s just the beginning of the semester but UPPSA will soon hold its annual board member elections. Be on the look-out for information helpful if you are interested in running for President, Vice President, Treasurer or Secretary. You can learn about the process in the appendix to the UPPSA constitution at http://www.uppsa.org/uppsa-documents.html. In the meantime, UPPSA is looking for 2-3 people to aid the board in running a free and fair election. If you are not interested in running for office or are ineligible to run (will graduate before Spring 2012 or will not be on campus for all of Academic Year 2012), please consider serving in this very important role. If you are interested please email Bob at uppsaelections@gmail.com
• 2010 Urban Innovation Symposium- Friday, February 4th A day–long, 3–part event bringing together pioneering professionals from various industries for a series of interactive discussions and presentations on recent innovations in urban development, technology, and culture.
Opening Session (1pm, Location: UIC Student Center East (Room 602), 750 S. Halsted St.)
Introductory Presentations from: Aaron Renn of Urbanophile, Marcia Caton Campbell of the Center for Resilient Cities, James Patchett of the Conservation Design Forum, Associate Dean Annette Valenta of UIC's Health Informatics and Technology program, Elise Zelechowski of the Delta Institute, And More...
Breakout Session (3pm, Location: TBA)
Innovators hold 1 hour long discussion seminars with symposium attendants
Pecha Kucha/Networking (6:30pm, Location: TBA)
7 minute multimedia presentations from emerging innovators; Dave Snyder of the Chicago Rarities Orchard Project, Jamie Simone of the Wicker Park Business Chamber, Kyle Smith of the Center for Neighborhood Technology
Refreshments Included.
Go to uppsa.org for more info!
• General Assembly and Transit Oriented Dining- On Friday, January 21st UPPSA will hold the first GA/TOD of the new semester. The location is yet to be determined but we will meet at 6pm, have brief update of UPPSA news and then socialize. This will be a great opportunity for new MUPPs to meet returning MUPPs, for folks to catch up with fellow students as the new semester kicks off. We’ll keep you posted for the location of this meeting. Email uppsainfo@gmail.com if you have suggestions for this or future TOD locations.
• UPPSA Membership- For those students new to the program, those who have been around for a while but haven’t become members and students who became members last spring, enrollment in the Urban Planning and Policy Student Association is open during the first month of the spring semester. Visit http://www.uppsa.org/uppsa-documents.html to download the membership form. Return it and your check for $15 to Ann Barnds or any UPPSA board member to enroll or renew your membership. Membership benefits include higher reimbursement rates for approved conference travel, the annual UPPSA gift, and the satisfaction of being a part of one of UIC’s most dynamic and good-looking student associations. Email us at UPPSAinfo@gmail.com with any questions.
• APA National Conference 2011 in Boston Massachusetts April 9-12- The American Planning Association National Conference is right around to corner. Check out the APA website for details on speakers, programs, and student opportunities. http://www.planning.org/conference/
Early registration ends February 10, 2011 so sign up early to save money, or apply to be a student volunteer for a $100 refund if you are an APA Student Member. http://www.planning.org/conference/registration.htm
UPPSA will be providing more information regarding accommodations, travel, and partial reimbursement in the next few weeks! Join us for a greatnetworking and learning opportunity!
• American Planning Association- Chicago Metro Section Networking Event- Thursday, January 27th, 5:30-7:30pm at Jak’s Tap- Join fellow Chicago area planners for a fun networking opportunity to meet your peers in the profession, or reacquaint with familiar faces. We are bringing together planners from every stage of planning careers, from seasoned professionals to those new to the profession. This reception is also an opportunity for members participating in the Illinois Chapter Mentoring program to meet with students and recent graduates.
Please e-mail apachicagometrosection@yahoo.com by January 21st, please include the number of years of experience you have as a planner or if you are currently a student.
• Be the MUPP Representative to the Graduate Student Council- An opportunity to serve as the MUPP representative to the GSC, UIC’s graduate student representative body, has opened up. In an ongoing effort to get as many MUPPs involved in representing the student association and keeping the student body well-informed. Meetings take place the second Thursday of each month between now and May from 5pm to 7pm. This opportunity is open to all MUPPs who can attend this monthly meeting and will be able to coordinate with the UPPSA leadership. If you are interested please send a brief statement of interest to uppsainfo@gmail.com Thank you to Joe van Dyk who served in this position during the fall semester.
• Book Exchange- As this semester is ending, a new one is going to begin shortly. Don’t forget to sell your books for some extra holiday cash, or rent them out, if you are attached to them. UPPSA book exchange in online! Go to http://www.uppsa.org/forum.html to post your books.
• 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.
• 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.

December 17th Presidential Roundup

2010-12-17T08:03:00.000-08:00

The entire UPPSA board wishes you a relaxing winter break and happy holidays. The Presidential
Roundup will be taking a much-needed vacation to San Diego until after the first of the New Year. Feel
free to email UPPSAinfo@gmail.com with any concerns or questions in the meantime.

• Update on Meeting with CUPPA Dean Pagano Friday, December 10th- On the Friday of finals week representatives from the CUPPA student associations met with CUPPA dean and College of Business Administration (CBA) acting dean Michael Pagano to discuss the ongoing efforts to evaluate a potential CUPPA-CBA merger. We were joined by professors Karen Mossberger and David Merriman, CUPPA faculty serving on the CUPPA-CBA committee to explore this change. Based on conversations with students in the weeks preceding this meeting the multi-association representatives asked Dean Pagano and the committee members questions regarding the ultimate goal of any such merger, the status of research centers and how this will affect the university’s Great Cities Commitment. Professor Perry assured us that building a stronger academic environment, improving the school’s reputation and further refining its mission are paramount to any possible financial savings a merger might produce. Dean Pagano supported this, noting that savings resulting from a merger would most likely be marginal.
The work of the CUPPA-CBA committee has just begun. UPPSA and our partners in the other student associations will continue to work to ensure student voices are heard throughout this exploratory process. Please send any questions, suggestions or concerns to uppsainfo@gmail.com
• Graduate Employee Organization update on Assistantship Taxation Changes- Many people with assistantships noticed a recent change in their level of withholding on their pay. The following is the GEO’s explanation of the situation.
The waivers that come with Teaching Assistantships and Research Assistantships are, and will remain, tax free. Graduate Assistants however fall under another tax code and do pay tax on their waivers- at a rate of 25% Federal and 3% State. In the past that hasn't been a real issue as the first $5250/ year was tax-exempt and for amounts exceeding the $5250 the university used other IRS codes available to graduate students to claim exemptions.
That changed this Fall semester for a number of reasons and over 100 GAs saw paychecks of between $0 and $300. Some of those of those small paychecks were attributed to a series of errors in the Payroll department - however more than 40 mostly out of state GAs received paychecks that left them almost nothing to live on. We now know that the University of Illinois is currently being audited by the IRS and that it is taking a very rigid approach to withholding- essentially allowing nobody to be tax-exempt above the $5250.
Another issue is that after December 31st it is likely that the ruling which allows the $5250 exemption will expire- meaning every dollar of the value of a waiver will be taxable. In-state tuition rates for 6-11 credit hours are $3238/ semester. Out of state rates are $7237/semester. That will mean that in-state students will pay over $800/semester in tax and out of state will owe over $1800/semester.
GEO recently filed a demand to bargain with the UIC administration over this- while we cannot bargain that the university does not withhold tax at all we can have a say in how the university does that in order to make the effects on GEO members as small as possible. One way to do that would be to have all graduate employees have in-state tuition assessed and waived, regardless of their actual residency. Another way would be to have the withholding spread out over the whole term of the appointment. GEO will also be demanding that the university notify all GAs in their letter of appointments as to possible taxation of GA positions so that GAs know in advance of the affects this may have on their paychecks
We hope to start bargaining early next semester and we need input from as many graduate employees as possible. Please contact GEO at geo@uic-geo.net to get involved!
• New MUPP Orientation- On Wednesday, December 8th several dozen new MUPPs attended departmental orientation. Following the orientation, UPPSA members welcomed these new students during a social at Jak’s Tap. The new group includes a fantastic mix of locals, people new to Chicago, experienced planners and folks joining us from other professions or right out of undergrad. Both new and veteran MUPPs are encouraged to join UPPSA at our next General Assembly Meeting and Transit Oriented Dining social in January. Watch your email for news on the date and location of this meeting!
• UPPSA Membership- For those students new to the program, those who have been around for a while but haven’t become members and students who became members last spring, enrollment in the Urban Planning and Policy Student Association is open during the first month of the spring semester. Visit http://www.uppsa.org/uppsa-documents.html to download the membership form. Return it and your check for $15 to Ann Barnds or any UPPSA board member to enroll or renew your membership. Membership benefits include higher reimbursement rates for approved conference travel, the annual UPPSA gift, and the satisfaction of being a part of one of UIC’s most dynamic and good-looking student associations. Email us at UPPSAinfo@gmail.com with any questions.
• Retirement of Atanacio Gonzalez from GCI- The Great Cities Institute announced the retirement of Atanacio "Nacho" Gonzalez from his position as Associate Director of the UIC Neighborhoods Initiativewith GCI. After 16 years of service to the University of Illinois, Nacho will be starting a new chapter of his life on January 1, 2011.
Before starting at the university Nacho worked as a Journeyman Rotary Collator Operator in the printing industry, a community organizer, and an organizer trainer. At UIC, he has worked on an astonishing variety of projects: first at the Center for Urban Economic Development, then at the
Natalie P. Voorhees Center for Neighborhood and Community Development, and finally with the Neighborhoods Initiative at the Great Cities Institute where he was a researcher, community development specialist, and fellow. In his capacity as Associate Director of the UIC Neighborhoods Initiative, he managed projects and raised over $3.745 million from foundation and federal agencies. Author and co-author of numerous participatory research studies, Nacho has also taught non-profit management classes for GCI’s Professional Education program.
For his extensive contributions to UIC and to Chicago communities and beyond, we are grateful. For the passion that he applies to his work and to the other activities and people in his life, we are inspired. His leadership and camaraderie have made a lasting impact. We warmly wish
Nacho the best of everything in the new adventures that will surely follow his retirement.
• Process Over Outcomes: Blog Your Masters Project- UPPSA gets a lot of questions about how students formulate their masters projects, organize themselves to get the work done and stay sane while working on their masters projects. If you would like to blog about your masters project experience contact us at uppsainfo@gmail.com and let us know what your particular take is and whether you would like your own thread or would like to contribute to more of a discussion.
• Mayoral Candidate Forum, December 14th- The Jewish Council on Urban Affairs is convening a forum of candidates for the first open mayoral race in Chicago since 1989. Join us at the UIC Forum Tuesday, December 14th from 6:30-8pm. To reserve a seat visit www.jcua.org/townhall
• Mentorship Program Comments and Feedback- If you are currently participating in either the APA-IL or CUPPA Alumni mentorship program, we would like to know what you think about your experiences in the program! Let us know what is working well, what is not, and any recommendations or other comments you may have. Please visit http://www.uppsa.org/contact-uppsa.html and leave your feedback using the appropriate form. Your comments are important and will help to improve the future of both programs, so please share your thoughts!
• UPP Accreditation Student Participation- In the coming months the Urban Planning and Policy department will undergo its self-study as part of the work to be accredited. Be on the lookout for opportunities to provide the department your feedback and help with the study. In partnership with the department, UPPSA will help disseminate surveys, host focus groups and help analyze how the department tracks outcomes. For more information about accreditation take a look at http://www.planningaccreditationboard.org.
• Book Exchange- As this semester is ending, a new one is going to begin shortly. Don’t forget to sell your books for some extra holiday cash, or rent them out, if you are attached to them. UPPSA book exchange in online! Go to http://www.uppsa.org/forum.html to post your books.
• Masters Project Forum- Based on a past 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.
• 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

Presidential Roundup- December 5, 2010

2010-12-06T06:52:00.000-08:00

• New Student Orientation on Wednesday, December 8th- Come meet UPP students joining us in January at 8pm at Jak’s Tap this Wednesday. They will just have finished their orientation and will surely like to meet their future classmates. Look for the group of cool people hanging out by the bar talking about planned unit developments.
• Meeting with CUPPA Dean Pagano Friday, December 10th at noon, CUPPAH rm 110- Join your fellow students from Public Administration and the undergraduate program for an open forum with Dean Pagano. On the agenda are questions regarding university reorganization and the tuition differential, but please bring your other questions as well.
• American Planning Association- Young Planners Group Meeting on Monday, December 6 at 6:30pm at 134 N. LaSalle St. #1100 (Houseal Lavigne)- Hear from Leslie Kirchler of Environmental Resources Management and Todd Vanodilok of Teska and Associaties about “What to do and NOT do as a planner new to the field.” RSVP at www.uppsa.org.
• Process Over Outcomes: Blog Your Masters Project- UPPSA gets a lot of questions about how students formulate their masters projects, organize themselves to get the work done and stay sane while working on their masters projects. If you would like to blog about your masters project experience contact us at uppsainfo@gmail.com and let us know what your particular take is and whether you would like your own thread or would like to contribute to more of a discussion.
• Mayoral Candidate Forum, December 14th- The Jewish Council on Urban Affairs is convening a forum of candidates for the first open mayoral race in Chicago since 1989. Join us at the UIC Forum Tuesday, December 14th from 6:30-8pm. To reserve a seat visit www.jcua.org/townhall
• Mentorship Program Comments and Feedback- If you are currently participating in either the APA-IL or CUPPA Alumni mentorship program, we would like to know what you think about your experiences in the program! Let us know what is working well, what is not, and any recommendations or other comments you may have. Please visit http://www.uppsa.org/contact-uppsa.html and leave your feedback using the appropriate form. Your comments are important and will help to improve the future of both programs, so please share your thoughts!
• UPP Accreditation Student Participation- In the coming months the Urban Planning and Policy department will undergo its self-study as part of the work to be accredited. Be on the lookout for opportunities to provide the department your feedback and help with the study. In partnership with the department, UPPSA will help disseminate surveys, host focus groups and help analyze how the department tracks outcomes. For more information about accreditation take a look at http://www.planningaccreditationboard.org.
• Book Exchange- As this semester is ending, a new one is going to begin shortly. Don’t forget to sell your books for some extra holiday cash, or rent them out, if you are attached to them. UPPSA book exchange in online! Go to http://www.uppsa.org/forum.html to post your books.
• Masters Project Forum- Based on a past 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.
• 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.

UPPSA Presidential Roundup- November 28th

2010-11-28T14:06:00.000-08:00

• CUPPA Alumni Party- All current graduate students in Urban Planning and Public Administration are invited to the CUPPA Alumni Association Holiday Party- Wednesday, December 1st, 6pm at Jaks Tap, 901 W. Jackson. Meet MUPPS and MPA’s from years past who are out working and may be a great connection. Great networking opportunity!
• Meeting with President Hogan- You are invited to an Open Forum with President Hogan on Monday, November 29 from 11:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. in Room 302 of Student Center East. All UIC students are welcome to attend, so bring your study partner, roommate, or student organization peer. Participants will have chances at door prizes and will receive co-curricular credit for The UIC Experience http://www.uic.edu/depts/ovcsa/uicexperience.html. Plus, the first 75 students to RSVP will be treated to free lunch after the meeting. What are you waiting for? RSVP by Monday, November 22 to ovcsa@uic.edu.
• CUPPAH Turkey Bowl Results- The Turkey Bowl was awesome. More than 50 people participated and we collected many meals worth of canned goods for the Greater Chicago Food Depository. While UPPSA lost our first game, we assisted SUPA with a win and then we took on all the undergrads and won, but that didn’t count towards the standings. Pictures (and they are awesome) will be posted to the website tonight www.upppsa.org. Thank you to Eden Sabala for organizing the event and thank you to Sara Amaral for coaching the UPPSA team.
• Process Over Outcomes: Blog Your Masters Project- UPPSA gets a lot of questions about how students formulate their masters projects, organize themselves to get the work done and stay sane while working on their masters projects. If you would like to blog about your masters project experience contact us at uppsainfo@gmail.com and let us know what your particular take is and whether you would like your own thread or would like to contribute to more of a discussion.
• Mayoral Candidate Forum, December 14th- The Jewish Council on Urban Affairs is convening a forum of candidates for the first open mayoral race in Chicago since 1989. Join us at the UIC Forum Tuesday, December 14th from 6:30-8pm. To reserve a seat visit www.jcua.org/townhall
• Mentorship Program Comments and Feedback- If you are currently participating in either the APA-IL or CUPPA Alumni mentorship program, we would like to know what you think about your experiences in the program! Let us know what is working well, what is not, and any recommendations or other comments you may have. Please visit http://www.uppsa.org/contact-uppsa.html and leave your feedback using the appropriate form. Your comments are important and will help to improve the future of both programs, so please share your thoughts!
• UPP Accreditation Student Participation- In the coming months the Urban Planning and Policy department will undergo its self-study as part of the work to be accredited. Be on the lookout for opportunities to provide the department your feedback and help with the study. In partnership with the department, UPPSA will help disseminate surveys, host focus groups and help analyze how the department tracks outcomes. For more information about accreditation take a look at http://www.planningaccreditationboard.org.
• Book Exchange- As this semester is ending, a new one is going to begin shortly. Don’t forget to sell your books for some extra holiday cash, or rent them out, if you are attached to them. UPPSA book exchange in online! Go to http://www.uppsa.org/forum.html to post your books.
• Masters Project Forum- Based on a past 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.
• 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.

UPPSA Presidential Roundup- November 21st

2010-11-21T14:19:00.000-08:00

• University Reorganization and Tuition Differential Discussions- You may not know it, but there are serious discussions in the university administration to reorganize the structure of UIC colleges. UPPSA and the 3 other CUPPAH student associations met with Dean Pagano this past week to learn more and express our desire that students are included in this conversation. We will hold 3 discussion sessions Monday, November 22nd at 12pm, 3pm and 5:30pm in the Graduate Student Lounge. You need only attend one session during which student association leaders will give a brief overview of the current debate, record how you feel about the situation and take notes on your suggestions. All are encouraged to also join us for a roundtable discussion with Dean Pagano on Friday, December 10th. RSVP for this event and read about the debate at www.uppsa.org.
• CUPPA Alumni Party- All current graduate students in Urban Planning and Public Administration are invited to the CUPPA Alumni Association Holiday Party- Wednesday, December 1st, 6pm at Jaks Tap, 901 W. Jackson. Meet MUPPS and MPA’s from years past who are out working and may be a great connection. Great networking opportunity!
• Meeting with President Hogan- You are invited to an Open Forum with President Hogan on Monday, November 29 from 11:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. in Room 302 of Student Center East. All UIC students are welcome to attend, so bring your study partner, roommate, or student organization peer. Participants will have chances at door prizes and will receive co-curricular credit for The UIC Experience http://www.uic.edu/depts/ovcsa/uicexperience.html. Plus, the first 75 students to RSVP will be treated to free lunch after the meeting. What are you waiting for? RSVP by Monday, November 22 to ovcsa@uic.edu.
• CUPPAH Turkey Bowl Results- The Turkey Bowl was awesome. More than 50 people participated and we collected many meals worth of canned goods for the Greater Chicago Food Depository. While UPPSA lost our first game, we assisted SUPA with a win and then we took on all the undergrads and won, but that didn’t count towards the standings. Pictures (and they are awesome) will be posted to the website tonight www.upppsa.org. Thank you to Eden Sabala for organizing the event and thank you to Sara Amaral for coaching the UPPSA team.
• Process Over Outcomes: Blog Your Masters Project- UPPSA gets a lot of questions about how students formulate their masters projects, organize themselves to get the work done and stay sane while working on their masters projects. If you would like to blog about your masters project experience contact us at uppsainfo@gmail.com and let us know what your particular take is and whether you would like your own thread or would like to contribute to more of a discussion.
• Mayoral Candidate Forum, December 14th- The Jewish Council on Urban Affairs is convening a forum of candidates for the first open mayoral race in Chicago since 1989. Join us at the UIC Forum Tuesday, December 14th from 6:30-8pm. To reserve a seat visit www.jcua.org/townhall
• Mentorship Program Comments and Feedback- If you are currently participating in either the APA-IL or CUPPA Alumni mentorship program, we would like to know what you think about your experiences in the program! Let us know what is working well, what is not, and any recommendations or other comments you may have. Please visit http://www.uppsa.org/contact-uppsa.html and leave your feedback using the appropriate form. Your comments are important and will help to improve the future of both programs, so please share your thoughts!
• UPP Accreditation Student Participation- In the coming months the Urban Planning and Policy department will undergo its self-study as part of the work to be accredited. Be on the lookout for opportunities to provide the department your feedback and help with the study. In partnership with the department, UPPSA will help disseminate surveys, host focus groups and help analyze how the department tracks outcomes. For more information about accreditation take a look at http://www.planningaccreditationboard.org.
• Book Exchange- As this semester is ending, a new one is going to begin shortly. Don’t forget to sell your books for some extra holiday cash, or rent them out, if you are attached to them. UPPSA book exchange in online! Go to http://www.uppsa.org/forum.html to post your books.
• Masters Project Forum- Based on a past 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.
• 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.

UPPSA Roundup- November 15th

2010-11-15T07:20:00.001-08:00

• University Reorganization and Tuition Differential Discussions- You may not know it, but there are serious discussions in the university administration to reorganize the structure of UIC colleges. UPPSA and the 3 other CUPPAH student associations met with Dean Pagano this past week to learn more and express our desire that students are included in this conversation. We will hold 3 discussion sessions Monday, November 22nd at 12pm, 3pm and 5:30pm in the Graduate Student Lounge. You need only attend one session during which student association leaders will give a brief overview of the current debate, record how you feel about the situation and take notes on your suggestions. All are encouraged to also join us for a roundtable discussion with Dean Pagano on Friday, December 10th. RSVP for this event and read about the debate at www.uppsa.org.
• Mentorship Program Comments and Feedback- If you are currently participating in either the APA-IL or CUPPA Alumni mentorship program, we would like to know what you think about your experiences in the program! Let us know what is working well, what is not, and any recommendations or other comments you may have. Please visit http://www.uppsa.org/contact-uppsa.html and leave your feedback using the appropriate form. Your comments are important and will help to improve the future of both programs, so please share your thoughts!
• Urban Innovation Symposium- There is lots to do before the symposium in January. Interested in helping out? There will be a meeting on Monday, November 15th, in the grad student basement lounge, at 3pm. RSVP at www.uppsa.org
• UPP Accreditation Student Participation- In the coming months the Urban Planning and Policy department will undergo its self-study as part of the work to be accredited. Be on the lookout for opportunities to provide the department your feedback and help with the study. In partnership with the department, UPPSA will help disseminate surveys, host focus groups and help analyze how the department tracks outcomes. For more information about accreditation take a look at http://www.planningaccreditationboard.org.
• Green Building Council Event- The Emerging Professionals of the USGBC are putting on a huge event Tuesday night Nov. 16th after Greenbuild and they would love to have any interested MUPPs attend to network and have a fun time. Cost is about $10.00 for the event, open bar, and food. Here is the link to the event website. http://take5greenbuild.eventbrite.com/
***Additionally they're looking for 10 responsible and enthusiastic volunteers to help staff the event (they would also get free admission)!***
If you are interested in volunteering or if you have any questions, please feel free to contact Candis Queen, candisq@gmail.com.
• GCI Lecture Series "Building the Speculative City" with Faculty Scholar Rachel Weber- Associate Director of CGI & Associate Professor for UPP, Dr. Weber will discuss her work on periods of rapid change in the physical fabric of the city, from construction booms to financial systems, to public planning. November 16th, 2pm at CGI, 4th floor of CUPPA. RSVP atwww.uppsa.org
• Wanna play some flag football and help out the local food bank for Thanksgiving?? PASA (public administration grads), UPA (urban and public affairs undergrad), UPPSA , the history department, & Student National Pharmaceutical Association (SNPhA) are teaming up for a flag football tourney on Nov 20th, all to benefit a local soup kitchen. Each team needs at least 5 people, of which 2 have to be girls and everyone needs to bring a valid icard and a canned or boxed good for charity to be eligible. Good, cold, clean fun will ensue. Dress appropriately. When: Nov 20th at 1:30pm, Where: The field at Harrison and Halsted, right next to the Highway, Who: Teams of 7(have to have 2 girls) with a canned or boxed good item for each player. RSVP at www.uppsa.org
• Book Exchange- As this semester is ending, a new one is going to begin shortly. Don’t forget to sell your books for some extra holiday cash, or rent them out, if you are attached to them. UPPSA book exchange in online! Go to http://www.uppsa.org/forum.html to post your books.
• Masters Project Forum- Based on a past 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.
• 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.

November 7th UPPSA Presidential Roundup

2010-11-07T16:46:00.000-08:00

Hello,
Now that you are refreshed from an extra hour of sleep (be sure you changed your clocks back to standard time) take a gander at this week’s UPPSA announcements.
• UPPSA Board Leadership: American Planning Association First Year Representative- The UPPSA board is excited to announce that the new First Year Representative to the APA-IL is Meredith Klekotka. Meredith will serve an 18 month term beginning in January, during which time she will represent UIC Planning students as a voting member of APA-IL’s executive board. Her responsibilities also include publicizing APA events and initiatives at CUPPAH. She was chosen from a strong pool of candidates and will work with Sara Amaral, current APA-IL representative until her term expires in May. Thank you Meredith for taking on this responsibility and thank you to all the great candidates who took the time and energy to apply for this position.
• 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, November 10th so we can get a rough headcount to make our reservation. Please let me know if you have any other questions. We hope to see you there!
• CUPPAH Gridiron Challenge- On Saturday, November 20th at 1:30 pm 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. The game(s) will take place at Harrison Field (just across the expressway from CUPPAH). We are asking all participants to bring a canned good or non-perishable item to be donated to a local food pantry.
• UPP Next: Informational Interviews as a Networking Tool- Learn about networking and informational interviews and also practice conducting them at this UPP Next event! Find out how to develop a plan for informational interviewing that will help you learn more about what interests you in planning, identify how your interests fit into a possible career path, and begin to build your own professional network.
Marva Boyd, the Acting Chief of Staff at the Illinois Department of Transportation, will be presenting on this important career development tool. Participants will have the opportunity to put what they learn into action during the session--you'll leave prepared to use what you've learned to expand your networks well before you need a job! Join us Friday, November 12th @ 12 PM in the Great Cities conference room, 4th floor of CUPPA Hall.
• 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.
• 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

UPPSA Presidential Roundup- October 31st

2010-10-31T19:14:00.000-07:00

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

October 24th UPPSA President’s Roundup

2010-10-24T17:36:00.000-07:00

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

UPPSA Notes from Community Development and Economic Development Concentration Meetings

2010-10-15T09:09:00.000-07:00

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.

Environmental Planning Curriculum and Goals Proposal - OPEN FOR REVIEW

2010-10-13T14:51:00.000-07:00

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.

October 10th UPPSA President’s Roundup

2010-10-11T07:05:00.000-07:00

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

UPPSA President's Weekly Roundup- September 26th

2010-09-27T11:06:00.000-07:00

Greetings from "the new" Normal! This past week 11 UIC MUPPs attended the American Planning Association Illinois Chapter state conference in Normal, IL. It was a great chance to network, learn about what’s hot in Illinois planning, match wits in a geography-heavy pub quiz and explore many of Normal’s interesting features, such as the extensive Constitution Trail. Conference presentations should be posted to http://www.ilapa.org/ by Monday, September 27th.

Please peruse this week’s UPPSA news and action items:·

APA-IL conference attendees should submit related receipts to Jackie Scanlan jscan14@uic.edu as soon as possible.
Applications to become the new APA-IL student representative are due on October 15th. Further information about the position and the application are available at http://www.uppsa.org/uppsa-documents.html
UPPSA dues and membership forms are due to Ann Barnds by October 1st. This document is also available at http://www.uppsa.org/uppsa-documents.html and checks or money orders should be written to UPPSA.
A 30-mile bike tour of Chicago is planned for Saturday, October 16th. Join UPPSA members on a fun way to see the city and enjoy that fall air. RSVP at www.uppsa.org
MUPPs involved in UIC’s chapter of Engineers Without Borders were featured in the UIC Alumni Magazine http://www.uiaa.org/uic/news/uicalumni/1009c.html
Great Cities Insitute is hosting a speaker event: New Urban Development Looking Back to See Forward, with Claude Gruen from Gruen Gruen + Associates. This Friday, October 1, 20102:00pm – 3:30pm at The Great Cities Institute, 412 S. Peoria St, 4th FL, CUPPAH 400. Please RSVP at www.uppsa.org
Friday, October 1st, UPP and UPPSA bring you the first event in "UPP Next: A professional development series" with a mentorship roundtable with APA-IL and CUPPA Alumni, from 12-1 in Room 110 of CUPPA Hall.

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

President's Roundup- September 14th

2010-09-14T18:51:00.000-07:00

Happy September!

This new semester is off to a busy start. The UPPSA board hopes to keep all MUPPs well informed. We will institute a weekly update of all UPPSA news and as always our http://www.uppsa.org/ is your one-stop shopping for association news, documents and discussions. If you miss a General Assembly meeting, notes from each meeting will be posted on the websited.

UPPSA Membership-
UPPSA Membership Applications, Renewals, and Dues are due by October 1st, 2010. You can download an application from www.uppsa.org (it is attached to this email too) and turn in your application and $15 check (made out to UPPSA) to Ann Barnds' or directly to Jackie Scanlan or any UPPSA board member. If Ann's door is closed, you can slip your documents under the door.
UPPSA members will recoup their $15 dues when they apply for reimbursement for any APA Conference. While all MUPPs who apply for reimbursements receive funds, depending on the amount of applicants, UPPSA members may receive additional reimbursements on top of the total determined for all MUPP applicants!

APA-IL Conference -
Just because the conference registration date has passed, doesn't mean you have to miss out on the event! You can sign up for the event on the day of, by paying cash, check or credit card, either for the individual day or for the whole conference! There are a bunch of great events planned, such as a 5k on Thursday morning, economic development with promotion a wineries, bike tours, an international film festival, and a wind farm tour. If you are still interested in attending the conference AND have not already sign up, please email uppsainfo@gmail.com so that we can get a head count

And if you are worried about the cost of the conference, dont be! UPP has agreed to pay for the student's registration cost(up to $90). In addition, UPPSA will be giving up to $50 to students who have paid their membership dues by the date of the conference, and APA-CMS has offered some more money to offset the costs, is you are an UPPSA member as well. So get your dues in on time!

First Year Representative Application -
The APA-IL 1st year Student Representative application is now online (http://www.uppsa.org/uppsa-documents.html). Applications are due to UPPSA by October 15th electronically. If you need more info about what the APA-IL rep does, you can download UPPSA's Constitution at the same link, or contact Sara Amaral at samara2@uic.edu .

Park(ing) Day –
On Friday, September 17th students from the Department of Urban Planning and Policy, the Urban Planning and Policy Student Association (UPPSA), and the Office of Sustainability will collaborated to transform 4 metered parking spots into miniature parks on the UIC Campus. Students and passersby are invited to use the parks located in Parking Lot 4 at the corner of Halsted Street and Polk Street to the east of Student Center East. Take the time enjoy an urban sustainability brown bag lunch discussion at noon, toss some bags, or just lounge in the landscaped setting while enjoying bike valet or a basic maintenance provided by your local campus cycle shop, Rapid Transit.

PARK(ing) Day is an annual, worldwide event that inspires city dwellers everywhere to transform metered parking spots into temporary parks for the public good. PARK(ing) Day was first conceived of by an art and design studio named Rebar out of San Francisco to invite civic participation in shaping our public space, and to question how we are using our public streets. In particular it intends to get people thinking about how much of our public landscape is dedicating to parking and automobile use. More info can be found at http://parkingday.org
We are looking for volunteers to help organize, set up, clean up and man the site during the day as well. If you are interested, please visit UPPSA's website at www.uppsa.org, or send an email to samara2@uic.edu

In addition, MUPPs and community volunteers from the Edgewater community will be having a satellite PARK(ing) Day at 5838 N. Broadway on Friday from 11am-1pm and Saturday from 9:30am-12 noon. The focus of our PARK will be on-street bicycle parking and will feature a bike valet. Stop by and join us if you are in the neighborhood.

General Assembly/Transit Oriented Dining-
Following PARK(ing) Day we will hold the September GA meeting and TOD at the Twisted Spoke, 501 N. Ogden Ave, at 6pm. Join us for further discussion of UPPSA events and news, and to have a good time.We hope you can join us for the General Assembly, the TOD or both.

See you there,
Bob Fuller- President

Sept 17th - General Assembly meeting & TOD - In one location!

2010-09-13T16:33:00.003-07:00

Hello everyone.

We hope your first few weeks of class are going well. Please come out to the 2nd general assembly of the year for all MUPP students, hosted once again by your favorite graduate student board, UPPSA.

You will be receiving another email shortly about the terrific Parking Day event happening on Friday afternoon. After the event, the student assembly meeting will start at 6:00 at a nearby bar/restaurant in the upstairs patio:

Twisted Spoke
501 N. Ogden Ave.
Chicago, IL 60642
(312) 666-1500

http://www.twistedspoke.com

Directions: Walking/Cycling/Driving -- Take Halsted north for about 1 mile until Grand. Go West on Grand for a half-mile until the intersection with Ogden Ave.

CTA -- Take the Blue Line north until the Chicago stop. Then walk 3 blocks southwest on Ogden towards the intersection with Grand Ave.

To RSVP for the event, please go to www.uppsa.org before Thursday 9/16 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!

APA-IL Reimbursement

2010-09-13T08:32:00.000-07:00

As the APA-IL State Conference approaches, many of you may be curious as to how the reimbursement process will work. The Conference is September22-24. In short, it will be necessary for you to either scan in or forward your conference receipt showing your payment on or before **SEPTEMBER 15, 2010** to uppsainfo@gmail.com. After the 15th, no more receipts will be accepted! UPPSA will then be able to assess how many students have requested reimbursement against the exact amount of funding for reimbursement, at which time we will calculate the amount that will bereimbursed per student.

Anyone interested in volunteering should contact Sara at samara2@uic.edu

Urban Planning and Policy Student Association
2010 APA Illinois State Planning ConferenceReimbursement Policies and Procedures
Reimbursement Guidelines

a ) Funding for reimbursement of conference-related expenses is being provided by theChicago Metro Section of the APA and is being supplemented by UPPSA funds. UPPSAhas agreed to take on the responsibility of administering all reimbursements.
b ) The amount of subsidy that an eligible student will receive will depend on the amount offunds available as well as the number of students submitting receipts. Therefore, finalsubsidy amounts will not be known until at least two weeks after the final date of theconference.
c ) Where UPPSA funds are used to supplement reimbursements, the subsidy amountallocated to UPPSA Members will be greater than that allocated to non-members. Thedifferential will be $15 at a minimum, which is the cost of UPPSA membership.
d ) It is not anticipated that there will be sufficient funds to cover the full cost of registration.
e ) Sufficient funds are not available to cover any other cost of attending the conference (forexample, food, incidentals, etc.).

Eligibility
f) All MUPP students who have submitted a receipt for 2010 APA Illinois State PlanningConference registration by the deadline of September 15th to uppsainfo@gmail.com willbe considered eligible for reimbursement.

Additional Notes
g ) Receipts can be submitted as soon as they are available. Please use “APA-IL ConferenceReceipt” as your e-mail subject line.
h ) Receipts as well as questions and concerns should be sent to the UPPSA Board atuppsainfo@gmail.com.

"Transportation Design: Expanding the Frontiers" Conference

2010-09-09T10:42:00.000-07:00

Transportation sector is a BIG part in the new world equation, where everything is in a state of change, local and global. All the facets in this world of motion share this space, the trucks, the railways, the ATV's, the buses, the bicycles, the metros, the motor homes, the motor bikes... But can they work together? Can they build upon each other, are there any overlaps?
Let’s see the future of mobility. How things may evolve for transportation. What might be the needs of the emerging cities? Let’s see the world from the people, who are designing the next of these mobile worlds, let’s see how they perceive the future. Let’s see how they study the next trends and how vehicles are designed and developed to cater to the unmet needs of the end users, let’s see how the world can be greener and sustainable.
Let’s see how we can, together, strive for a better world…

Conference micro site: www.midesignexchange.com When: 2010 Sept 17, Friday, Full day event Where: Michigan State University, Troy, MIExpected Audience: About 300Mix: Designers, Students, Educators, Creative Professionals, Design Studio Vendors...Conference Chair: jeevak.badve@ascglobal.com

http://midesignexchange.com/Please register by sending an email to : jeevak.badve@ascglobal.com

Graduate Student Oppotunities!

2010-09-07T21:57:00.000-07:00

Graduate Student BBQ:

*GSC & GC 2nd Annual Graduate Student BBQ*
*Date/Time: *Thursday, Sept 16 2010, 4pm-6pm
*Location:* SEO Field (corner of Taylor + Morgan St.)
Sponsored by the GSC and the Graduate College.
Mark your calendars for an afternoon of food, fun and games!

See the flyer http://www2.uic.edu/stud_orgs/gsc/documents/GSCBBQ-2010.pdf.

Open to ALL graduate students but you *must* show a print-out of this
ticket http://www2.uic.edu/stud_orgs/gsc/documents/GSCBBQ-ticket.png

2) Call for Student Participation:

*SIGMA XI Annual Meeting and International Research Conference: Call for
Student Participation*

The 2010 Annual Meeting will be held at the Raleigh

Convention Center in Raleigh, North Carolina on November 11 - 14 with
Student

Conference events on Friday the 12th and Saturday the 13th.

Registration is currently online at www.sigmaxi.org. Abstracts should be
submitted by October 15, 2010.

Awards will be given for outstanding student poster presentations in all
fields of science and engineering.

APA-IL Conference - Update - RSVP for Thursday's cocktail reception

2010-08-30T23:56:00.001-07:00

What a great opportunity to meet other planners and network?
Hurry though, sign up closes on September 1st and you need to be pre-registered for the conference!!

Thursday Evening, September 23, 2010
Cocktail Reception Hosted by Houseal Lavigne Associates

Metropolis-level sponsor, Houseal Lavigne Associates, will host a cocktail
reception for conference attendees at Medici's in Uptown Normal on
Thursday, September 23rd. Join us for appetizers and beverages in what
promises to be a memorable evening of connecting and reconnecting with
friends and colleagues. Medici’s is a one-of-a-kind space that has been a
vital part of the redevelopment of Uptown Normal.

Medici’s façade is a recreation of the historic storefront destroyed by a
fire in the 1980s. The interior of Medici includes a two-story tree,
Amish-made tables, and amazing brick work. The reception will occur in
their private banquet area complete with bar and outdoor patio. Medici’s
is within walking distance of the conference hotel.

The event is complimentary for conference attendees but pre-registration
is required. To reserve your space, please email your name to Debi
Nechleba at dnechleba@hlplanning.com by September 1, 2010.

Hope to see you there!

Join UPPSA & SUPA and Active Transportation at the Boulevard Tour!

2010-08-12T08:37:00.000-07:00

On August 29th, SUPA & UPPSA will be volunteering for Active Transportation Alliance, working their lakefront tour bike ride. It will be relatively easy work, as in most likely guiding bikers or passing out water. We're doing this to help build a relationship between ourselves and Active Transportation. But not only that, if we get 15 volunteers by Friday, August 13th to commit we could get $150 dollars donated to our student groups! What a great way to help your student organization!

The Boulevard Lakefront Tour is a fundraiser for the nonprofit Active Transportation Alliance, Chicagoland’s voice for better biking, walking and transit.

To sign up and receive your free T-shirt please go to www.uppsa.org and scroll down on the first page to RSVP!

2nd Annual CUPPA New Student Orientation Block Party

2010-08-11T18:16:00.000-07:00

You are cordially invited to attend the CUPPA Block Party on August 19th, from 5-9pm, right outside of CUPPA Hall.

The event is sponsored by CUPPA and will include live music, games, bike maintenance classes with Rapid Transit and free food!

Come and mingle with new students, alumni, staff, and current students from all departments.

For more info check out the attached flyer or www.uppsa.org

Hope to see you there!

APA-IL Conference, Bloomington/Normal, September 22nd-24th, 2010

2010-07-29T10:27:00.000-07:00

MUPPS,

As you probably know, the APA-IL conference is coming up in September in Bloomington/Normal. I went on the conference website today to look at all the options and sign myself up for the full event as there seem to be so many great mobile workshops lined up, such as biking around Normal-Bloomington’s Constitution Trail, Canoeing the Mackinaw River, going to a cheese farm and vineyard, and touring a wind farm! To see the schedule of events, go here.

As you can see, so much is planned! There will also be events with other student organizations and young planners groups, as well as movie night for the international film festival and a pub quiz! Unfortunately, there will not be an opportunity for free or discounted admission to the conference for volunteering this year. However, we still encourage student to offer up volunteering for opportunities to network with other professionals in the field. Who knows, this might even lead to an internship, as it has for others in the past!

Attendance
I have signed up for the conference ($90) and have also signed up for the bike ride, the vineyard and the wind farm tour (total another $85). I encourage all of you to attend the conference, even if you do not attend any of the mobile workshops. You do not need to sign up for everything and the conference has student discounts if you want to attend for just one day, instead of all 3. New MUPPS, if you do not have an APA account yet, have no fear! Hazel sends an email to APA for your free 1 yrs student membership once everyone has been accounted for. You might have to wait to sign up for the event, but you can certainly plan ahead and book your transportation and lodging in the interim.

Transportation
In addition, I have contacted Amtrak to see about taking my bike to the conference. The cost for the train there, including return is $36, with the bike cost being another $20, however, there are certain trains bikes are allowed on during rush hours and you need to reserve a spot. If other people are planning on bringing their bikes, we should plan a night ride through the city, or out to the fields! Call 1-800-USA-RAIL to book your trip and reserve the space for your bike. Some seats on the train are already filling up.

Hotels
The conference is being held at the Marriott in Bloomington, with a room cost per night of $119 for a double. I did a quick hotels. com search and found rooms as low as $51 for the 21st-24th, 2 miles away from the site (Bring your bike!) If we get a group together for the event, we might be able to get a cheaper deal at one of these hotels. Also, please access the UPPSA website forum to put down your dates, logistics, and find a room mate!

Costs
As you can see, things start to add up very quickly for the event. As a member of UPPSA, you will get some of your costs for the conference reimbursed; the amount depends on how many students attend, which we will not know until closer to the date. If you are not a member of UPPSA, or need to pay your new semester dues, please check out the form on the website.

Action items:
-sign up or pay for your dues to UPPSA. The form can be handed in electronically with a bill pay sent to UPPSA , or a paper copy and check to Ann Barnds in UPP.
-sign up for the conference here
-book your transportation options early, here
-add a post for room mates and lodging on the forum here
-send your receipts to uppsainfo@gmail.com once EVERYTHING has been paid and closer to the conference date

Please let me know if you have any other questions or need anything from me!

Sara F. Amaral
samara2@uic.edu

Friday - July 9th General Assembly meeting and TOD

2010-07-08T09:45:00.000-07:00

Hello returning MUPPs and welcome to the newest MUPPs!

Join us for the first UPPSA event of the year.

We will be gathering to discuss goals and initiatives for the upcoming year, and to introduce you to the new executive officers on the UPPSA board. The event will be Open House style, so please drop in whenever you can and stay for as long as you would like!

The meeting itself will be from 6:00-7:00 at Charlie's Ale House bar in Andersonville (5308 N. Clark St.) A quick introduction to our new board members, followed by a presentation of the board's ideas for the upcoming academic year. Afterwards, we'll walk over as a group to Chase Park:

When: Friday, July 9th 6:00pm-10:00pm (maybe later??)

Where: Movies in the Park -- "The Neverending Story" (Chase Park, 4701 N. Ashland Ave.) [movie starts at 8:30]
http://www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/events.results/object_id/b85d63cb-6aec-45f0-8cdb-9c38d0a57e19.cfm

Why: To mingle with fellow MUPPs, of course! For our newest MUPPs, this provides you a great chance to make new friends with people you'll be sharing classes and the computer labs with.

Benefit Show for Natasha McShane and Stacy Jurich

2010-05-03T17:10:00.001-07:00

Chicago punk band The Lawrence Arms (http://www.myspace.com/thelawrencearms) will be playing a benefit show for Natasha and Stacy on May 19 at Subterranean at 9 pm. Subterranean is located at 2011 W. North, right next to the Damen blue line.

Ticket information is here:
http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?dispatch=loadSelectionData&eventId=2010085

They may go fast because it's a small place, and this band has some really dedicated fans. And, even if this kind of music isn't your cup of tea, it's great that they're taking the time to do this for two girls that they have never met.

Hope to see you there!
Sarah Sherburn

Chicago Care's Serv-a-thon, June 12th! And Pub Quiz, May 16th!

2010-04-29T10:52:00.000-07:00

ATTENTION MUPP STUDENTS!!

CHICAGO CARES NEEDS OUR HELP!!

Please join your fellow MUPP students as we come together to revitalize Chicago’s public schools and raise money for Chicago Cares, Chicago’s leading community service organization. We are seeking various students who want to show the City of Chicago how dedicated Urban Planning Students are to improving the quality of our communities. The UPPSA Board is dedicated in assisting with the 17th Annual Chicago Cares’ Serv-a-thon, but we can’t do it alone. We need your help to reach our fundraising goal and in joining us on the day of action!

When: Saturday, June 12th 2010

What: Serve-a-thon volunteers will:

o Add fresh coats of paint to classrooms, transforming bland spaces into vibrant ones.

o Organize libraries to provide environments conducive to learning.

o Transform indoor and outdoor spaces with bright, colorful murals.

o Paint bright, colorful line games on playgrounds to encourage activity.

o Plant flowers and create landscapes to beautify the schools.

Where: Various Chicago Public Schools (location based on size of volunteer team)

How: Fundraising will occur through several activities planned up until June 12th (If you would like to help with fundraising ideas/activities please let us know. We would love to work with you!)

Visit http://uppsa.org/ to

register as a volunteer and/or help with fundraising activities.

FIRST FUNDRAISING ACTIVITY – INVITE ALL YOUR FRIENDS

PUB QUIZ - Sunday, May 16th 2010 @ 5pm

Participant Suggested Donation - $5

Free Pitchers of Beer to Winning Team

Location: Rocking Horse (in Logan Square)

2535 N. Milwaukee Avenue @ Sacramento Avenue

RSVP at www.uppsa.org

A Plan to Spur Growth Away From Haiti’s Capital - NYT article

2010-04-15T16:52:00.000-07:00

Found Here

By NICOLAI OUROUSSOFF
Published: March 30, 2010

Even as outsiders feel sympathy for Haiti’s suffering, they tend to look upon it as a country beyond saving.

Now there is a plan to do just that, and it is surprisingly convincing. The lucid, far-reaching reconstruction guidelines that the Haitian government is scheduled to unveil on Wednesday at a donors’ conference at the United Nations should give all who care about Haiti’s future cause for hope.

Prepared by a group of urban planners from the Haitian government agency responsible for the country’s development, the plan is built around a bold central idea: to redistribute large parts of the population of Port-au-Prince to smaller Haitian cities, many of them at a safe distance from areas most vulnerable to natural disaster. In the process the plan would completely transform Haiti from a country dominated by a single metropolis to what the planners call a network of smaller urban “growth poles.”

The guidelines are still in a nascent stage, and Haiti’s fate will ultimately have a lot to do with economic and political developments beyond the scope of planners. But the guidelines already surpass any of the early reconstruction plans for post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans or for the parts of Asia affected by the tsunami in 2004. The guidelines’ well-reasoned thinking about environmental threats and the history of urban development in Haiti suggests that they could become a reliable blueprint not just for reconstruction, but also for solving many of the urban ills that have plagued the country for decades.

The causes of those troubles can be traced back a century. Haiti was once primarily rural, with its major economic activity distributed among several ports along the northern, western and southern coasts. But after the United States invaded in 1915, the Americans began to concentrate most trade operations in Port-au-Prince, the site of their military headquarters. The port was dredged to make room for big new steamships; other major ports, to the north and west, began to lose their importance. By the middle of the 1960s, François Duvalier had shut down the other ports entirely as part of an effort to concentrate his power base in the capital.

The growth of Port-au-Prince accelerated in the political turmoil after Duvalier’s son and heir, Jean-Claude, fled the country in 1986. Over the next 20 years, the city’s population nearly doubled, to close to three million people, according to some estimates.

The effect of this shift was an urban disaster — one that has put more and more pressure on the capital while draining the provinces of economic opportunity.

“You need to restore a balance,” said Leslie Voltaire, an urban planner and a special envoy to the United Nations, in an interview on Tuesday. “If we don’t do anything, Port-au-Prince is expected to grow to 6,000,000 in the next 15 years. It will become an incubator for further crime and violence. Our economic advantage is in agriculture and tourism, and these are by nature decentralized.”

The notion of shrinking the capital and reviving provincial cities dates back to 1987. It was enshrined as a goal in the post-Duvalier constitution by a government seeking to redistribute political power and has been brought up periodically by urban planners ever since, to little effect.

The environmental and geological concerns raised by the earthquake have made this approach seem all the more critical. Geologists point out that the dangers posed by the fault line running across Port-au-Prince are compounded by others, like landslides and flooding.

In essence, the guidelines treat the recent disaster as an opportunity. Thousands of public buildings in Port-au-Prince were destroyed by the earthquake, including schools, hospitals and markets. Around 600,000 survivors have since fled the capital for cities like Cap Haitien, in the north, and Hinche, in the central plateau. The population of Gonaïves, a port city on the west coast roughly midway between the country’s two major fault lines, has swollen to 300,000 from 200,000 in less than three months.

By relocating many schools and hospitals to smaller cities, planners hope to create an economic incentive to keep people from returning to Port-au-Prince once reconstruction begins. The new buildings could be organized around public squares and parks to provide civic centers to communities sorely lacking in them.

Planners have outlined a similar approach for rural villages, with farms encircling a communal core containing a market, a school and health-care facilities. The public structures would be built by the government; much of the housing could be put up privately by Haitians but under stricter building regulations. (Mr. Voltaire even imagines a prototype for basic shelter that could be transformed into a more permanent house over time.)

“This will only work if these poles become magnets of attraction — with agriculture, tourism, industry and especially jobs,” Mr. Voltaire said. “Otherwise, these people are going to come back.”

If they do return, it will be to a Port-au-Prince that was already stretched beyond capacity before the quake. International aid organizations invested heavily in the city’s infrastructure in the 1970s, building sewers and expanding the electrical network, but there has been almost no investment since. Sewage treatment facilities are more or less nonexistent. The city’s building code is barely two pages long.

The guidelines could lead to new zoning regulations that would at least begin to segregate residential from commercial activities in some of the densest downtown areas. A light rail system, running on a north-south axis through the city center, would help relieve traffic congestion. The millions of cubic tons of debris resulting from the earthquake would be used as landfill at the water’s edge, creating room for a waterfront park in a city in dire need of public space. Sites that were once occupied by schools and hospitals that have been moved out of town would be turned into other parks and public squares.

“The best thing that could happen is to insert public spaces — new parks, squares, exchange centers, markets — into these voids,” Mr. Voltaire said. “We should think in terms of the city’s urban evolution rather than large-scale development.”

More than a few of the renderings at this early stage suggest conventional planning formulas found in Southern California, suburban Boston or Beijing. But what matters is the underlying principles that inform the guidelines and that treat the reconstruction effort as an opportunity to build community.

What Haiti’s planners will need next is not just money, but also access to ideas. Mr. Voltaire and a group of Haitian planners spent several days last week refining their plan at the University of Miami, for example. The institution’s faculty and students provided much-needed logistical support, helping to produce maps and renderings. It was also an opportunity for the university, a stronghold of New Urbanism, to promote that movement’s small-town planning philosophy.

In New York the architect Steven Holl recently completed a proposal for urban reconstruction, though he has had no direct contact with the Haitian government. In contrast to the New Urbanist model, his proposal, though few have seen it, favors urban density over suburbanization.

I’ve had reservations about New Urbanist theory in the past. But the point is that those who are planning Haiti’s reconstruction should have access to the widest range of talent and ideas. International development authorities could set up such a framework. Haiti can then determine the best fit for itself.

This will not be an easy task. Americans may remember the good will that swirled around New Orleans in the months after Hurricane Katrina. Architects and planners, moved by what they saw, churned out plans for the city’s recovery. Some of these plans — environmentally sensitive, rooted in a knowledge of New Orleans and its racial and social tensions — could have formed the foundation for something of genuine value. But a connection between good urban planning ideas and political realities on the ground was never made. The best plans went nowhere. Let’s pray that doesn’t happen in Haiti.

Join the fun and be active in your planning careers!

2010-03-31T12:12:00.000-07:00

It's back! Mark your calendars for Friday, April 9th for the second
(annual?) "I Love Logan Square" Party, a fundraiser for the mighty
Logan Square Neighborhood Association (www.lsna.net). See attachment
for official invitation.

Who: You and all your friends (it's a great group outing!)
Must be 21+ or with a parent

What: "I Love Logan Square" party, a fundraiser for Logan Square
Neighborhood Assoc.

When: Friday, April 9th 8pm- 1am

(Salsa lessons at 8:30pm; Live Auction at 9:30pm; DJ at 10:30pm)

Where: Elastic Arts, 2830 N. Milwaukee, a hidden spot upstairs from
Friendship Chinese

How much: A mere $10 gets you in the door, and additional donations
will get you drinks, prizes and photo ops with SUPER-LSNA, the
official superhero of Logan Square.

The action-packed, thrilling Liiiiive Auction, which starts at 9:30pm, includes one-of-a-kind prizes such as:
- Garage (or other wall) mural consultation by Marcelo Ferrer
- A Day on the Farm with Radical Root
- An opera serenade at the time and place of your choosing by a professional opera singer
- Custom bike painting by Chester Cycles www.chestercycles.com
- Gift certificates for massage and stress relief yoga
- Neighbor-to-neighbor lessons in beer-making, meat-curing,
tamale-making, poker, guitar, drums and more!
- Laughter and merriment for all provided by our two auctioneers--Raul Islas and Sarah Mathers

Cash, check and credit card accepted. Roughly 90% of money donated will go directly to LSNA. Show some love for Logan Square, and forward along this invitation to your friends. Please RSVP to bmurphy@lsna.net or rwalz@lsna.net so we can get a sense of our head count.

See you April 9!

P.S. Let me know if you have any talents/skills/services to auction
off OR if you would like to volunteer--we could always use more help
greeting people, serving drinks, printing SUPER-LSNA's photos, etc.

P.P.S. If you don't take our word for it, check out the rave review of
last yea's party in New City, Not Just for Squares: Everyone Loves
Logan Square
http://newcity.com/2009/04/21/not-for-squares-everyone-loves-logan-square/

Call for Papers

2010-03-31T11:47:00.000-07:00

This year the Upper Midwest Regional Planning Conference held in Mankato, MN on September 22 through September 24 will include a Student Presentation session that will allow you the opportunity to showcase projects you have completed as part of your curriculum. As you complete projects or prepare for final projects please consider presenting them at the conference. Presentation format for this session may vary from a presentation and Q&A session to an informal booth session with visuals that showcases work completed.

This should be a terrific opportunity to display your talents and skills to professionals and spark dialogue on planning issues important to you and central to this conference’s topic: “Planning in a New Decade.” To submit a project or for more information please contact Alex Conzemius at AlexCo@Bolton-Menk.com

Frank Gehry presents the Cindy Pritzker Lecture on Urban Life and Issues

2010-03-24T07:13:00.000-07:00

Date: Tue. April 06, 2010

Time: 6:00 pm

Location:
Harold Washington Library Center
Cindy Pritzker Auditorium
400 S. State Street
60605

About this event:
The Board of Directors of the Chicago Public Library annually honors its former President, Cindy Pritzker, by presenting the Cindy Pritzker Lecture on Urban Life and Issues. This year's lecture features renowned architect Frank Gehry, interviewed by Tom Pritzker, Chairman and CEO of the Pritzker Organization.

More information at http://www.chipublib.org/events/details/id/42162/

Spring Break Itinerary to The Big D!

2010-03-17T20:12:00.000-07:00

For our trip to the Motor City on Monday, I thought I would pass along the itinerary as well as some "non-required" readings:

Leave CUPPA around 8 or 9am
Arrive in Detroit about 2
Tour of the Motor City by 2 wheels at 3ish:
we will see:

Urban blight
Heidelberg Project heidelberg.org
Urban Farms, specifically, Earthworks
Belle Isle- like they're Central Park, but an island. Great architecture
views of city and Canada
Indian Village Low-density (as much of Detroit always has been), beautiful, single-family residential area
Eastern Market- Country's oldest farmer's market for a food stop
Dequindre Cut- Rail to trail back to the bike shop, goes through Lafayette Park a residential neighborhood with the most Mies Van Der Rohe homes

Following the tour, a bunch of us are going to Windsor, ON, for some food and bev options. OH and gambling! Additionally, I hear that Slows BBQ is awesome, as well as...

Also, on Tuesday, we are meeting with some planners with Data Driven Detroit,
Please take a look at recent work of Data Driven Detroit:
Detroit Residential Parcel Survey, http://www.detroitparcelsurvey.org/
Powerpoint Overview
http://www.detroitparcelsurvey.org/pdf/Detroit_Residential_Parcel_Survey_Presentation.pdf
Reports - (Download the Citywide reports for the higher resolution maps)
http://www.detroitparcelsurvey.org/interior.php?nav=reports
Data Definitions pdf
http://www.detroitparcelsurvey.org/pdf/DRPS_Definitions_021510.pdf

News Articles
Survey finds third of Detroit lots vacant: Positive news uncovered, too, BY JOHN GALLAGHER, Detroit Free Press, February 20, 2010
http://www.freep.com/article/20100220/BUSINESS04/2200371/1318/Survey-finds-third-of-Detroit-lots-vacant
Maps and Charts: See results of the survey, Graphics by MARTHA THIERRY, MOSES HARRIS, ERIC MILLIKIN, KRISTI TANNER and JOHN GALLAGHER, Detroit Free Press, Febraury 20, 2010
http://www.freep.com/article/20100220/BUSINESS04/100220001/Maps-See-results-of-the-survey
Refit the city to its reality: Population data point to smarter schools and policing, EDITORIAL, Detroit Free Press, Feb. 28, 2010
http://www.freep.com/article/20100228/OPINION01/2280424/1069/opinion01/Refit-the-city-to-its-reality
Getting to a smaller Detroit, COMMENTARY BY ROBIN BOYLE, Detroit Free Press, Feb. 28, 2010
http://www.freep.com/article/20100228/OPINION05/100226057/1068/OPINION/Getting-to-a-smaller-Detroit
Flash Map - Interactive: The challenges of Detroit's vacant homes
http://www.detnews.com/article/20100309/SPECIAL01/100308001

See you Monday!!!

March 19th TOD!! Come one, come all!

2010-03-12T06:57:00.000-08:00

***Celebrate the start of your Spring Break with us!***

Where: Heartland Cafe 7000 N. Glenwood Ave. one block North of Red Line Morse Stop

When: Friday, March 19th, 8-10pm, after the 6pm March General Assembly meeting in CUPPA Hall basement lounge

Why: Enjoy great food and drinks on the ***heated patio*** of the Heartland Cafe (one of TimeOut Chicago's Essential Restaurants in Chicago) and relax with your fellow MUPPs!

***Support a local restaurant whose owners are interested in urban planning, TOD, and creating a "green stop on the Red Line."***

Hope to see all of you there!

Farming to save Detroit?

2010-03-09T17:34:00.000-08:00

To get you excited about our upcoming UPPSA field trip during spring break, here is an article from CNN about Detroit's possible turnaround....

Can farming save Detroit?

By David Whitford, editor at largeDecember 29, 2009: 11:37 AM ET

DETROIT (Fortune) -- John Hantz is a wealthy money manager who lives in an older enclave of Detroit where all the houses are grand and not all of them are falling apart. Once a star stockbroker at American Express, he left 13 years ago to found his own firm. Today Hantz Financial Services has 20 offices in Michigan, Ohio, and Georgia, more than 500 employees, and $1.3 billion in assets under management.

Twice divorced, Hantz, 48, lives alone in clubby, paneled splendor, surrounded by early-American landscapes on the walls, an autograph collection that veers from Detroit icons such as Ty Cobb and Henry Ford to Baron von Richthofen and Mussolini, and a set of Ayn Rand first editions.

Green acreage

Fortune asked artist Bryan Christie to imagine how Detroit's thousands of abandoned residential acres might be transformed into cutting-edge, city-style farms (see illustration above): Solar panels and windmills power vertical growing systems that are efficient, attractive, and tourist-friendly. Greenhouses allow crops to grow year-round. And new development sprouts on the periphery.

Stockbroker John Hantz is scouting empty acres in Detroit and says he'll start planting in the spring.

With a net worth of more than $100 million, he's one of the richest men left in Detroit -- one of the very few in his demographic who stayed put when others were fleeing to Grosse Pointe and Bloomfield Hills. Not long ago, while commuting, he stumbled on a big idea that might help save his dying city.

Every weekday Hantz pulls his Volvo SUV out of the gated driveway of his compound and drives half an hour to his office in Southfield, a northern suburb on the far side of Eight Mile Road. His route takes him through a desolate, postindustrial cityscape -- the kind of scene that is shockingly common in Detroit.

Along the way he passes vacant buildings, abandoned homes, and a whole lot of empty land. In some stretches he sees more pheasants than people. "Every year I tell myself it's going to get better," says Hantz, bright-eyed, with smooth cheeks and a little boy's carefully combed haircut, "and every year it doesn't."

Then one day about a year and a half ago, Hantz had a revelation. "We need scarcity," he thought to himself as he drove past block after unoccupied block. "We can't create opportunities, but we can create scarcity." And that, he says one afternoon in his living room between puffs on an expensive cigar, "is how I got onto this idea of the farm."

Yes, a farm. A large-scale, for-profit agricultural enterprise, wholly contained within the city limits of Detroit. Hantz thinks farming could do his city a lot of good: restore big chunks of tax-delinquent, resource-draining urban blight to pastoral productivity; provide decent jobs with benefits; supply local markets and restaurants with fresh produce; attract tourists from all over the world; and -- most important of all -- stimulate development around the edges as the local land market tilts from stultifying abundance to something more like scarcity and investors move in. Hantz is willing to commit $30 million to the project. He'll start with a pilot program this spring involving up to 50 acres on Detroit's east side. "Out of the gates," he says, "it'll be the largest urban farm in the world."

This is possibly not as crazy as it sounds. Granted, the notion of devoting valuable city land to agriculture would be unfathomable in New York, London, or Tokyo. But Detroit is a special case. The city that was once the fourth largest in the country and served as a symbol of America's industrial might has lately assumed a new role: North American poster child for the global phenomenon of shrinking postindustrial cities.

Nearly 2 million people used to live in Detroit. Fewer than 900,000 remain. Even if, unlikely as it seems, the auto industry were to rebound dramatically and the U.S. economy were to come roaring back tomorrow, no one -- not even the proudest civic boosters -- imagines that the worst is over. "Detroit will probably be a city of 700,000 people when it's all said and done," says Doug Rothwell, CEO of Business Leaders for Michigan. "The big challenge is, What do you do with a population of 700,000 in a geography that can accommodate three times that much?"

Whatever the answer is, whenever it comes, it won't be predicated on a return to past glory. "We have to be realistic," says George Jackson, CEO of the Detroit Economic Growth Corp. (DEGC). "This is not about trying to re-create something. We're not a world-class city."

If not world class, then what? A regional financial center? That's already Chicago, and to a lesser extent Minneapolis. A biotech hub? Boston and San Diego are way out in front. Some think Detroit has a future in TV and movies, but Hollywood is skeptical. ("Best incentives in the country," one producer says. "Worst crew.") How about high tech and green manufacturing? Possibly, given the engineering and manufacturing talent that remains.

But still there's the problem of what to do with the city's enormous amount of abandoned land, conservatively estimated at 40 square miles in a sprawling metropolis whose 139-square-mile footprint is easily bigger than San Francisco, Boston, and Manhattan combined. If you let it revert to nature, you abandon all hope of productive use. If you turn it over to parks and recreation, you add costs to an overburdened city government that can't afford to teach its children, police its streets, or maintain the infrastructure it already has.

Faced with those facts, a growing number of policymakers and urban planners have begun to endorse farming as a solution. Former HUD secretary Henry Cisneros, now chairman of CityView, a private equity firm that invests in urban development, is familiar with Detroit's land problem. He says he's in favor of "other uses that engage human beings in their maintenance, such as urban agriculture." After studying the city's options at the request of civic leaders, the American Institute of Architects came to this conclusion in a recent report: "Detroit is particularly well suited to become a pioneer in urban agriculture at a commercial scale."

In that sense, Detroit might actually be ahead of the curve. When Alex Krieger, chairman of the department of urban planning and design at Harvard, imagines what the settled world might look like half a century from now, he sees "a checkerboard pattern" with "more densely urbanized areas, and areas preserved for various purposes such as farming.

The notion of a walled city, a contained city -- that's an 18th-century idea." And where will the new ideas for the 21st century emerge? From older, decaying cities, Krieger believes, such as New Orleans, St. Louis, Cleveland, Newark, and especially Detroit -- cities that have become, at least in part, "kind of empty containers."

This is a lot to hang on Hantz. Most of what he knows about agriculture he's picked up over the past 18 months from the experts he's consulting at Michigan State and the Kellogg Foundation. Then there's the fact that many of his fellow citizens are openly rooting against him. Since word leaked of his scheme last spring, he has been criticized by community activists, who call the plan a land grab. Opponents have also raised questions about the run-ins he's had with regulators at Hantz Financial.

But Detroit is nothing if not desperate for new ideas, and Hantz has had no trouble getting his heard. "It all sounds very exciting," says the DEGC's Jackson, whose agency is working on assembling a package of incentives for Hantz, including free city land. "We hope it works."

Detroit's civic history is notable for repeated failed attempts to revitalize its core. Over the past three decades leaders have embraced a series of downtown redevelopment plans that promised to save the city.

The massive Renaissance Center office and retail complex, built in the 1970s, mostly served to suck tenants out of other downtown buildings. (Today 48 of those buildings stand empty.) Three new casinos (one already bankrupt) and two new sports arenas (one for the NFL's dreadful Lions, the other for MLB's Tigers) have restored, on some nights, a little spark to downtown Detroit but have inspired little in the way of peripheral development. Downtown is still eerily underpopulated, the tax base is still crumbling, and people are still leaving. The jobless rate in the city is 27%.

Nothing yet tried in Detroit even begins to address the fundamental issue of emptiness -- empty factories, empty office buildings, empty houses, and above all, empty lots. Rampant arson, culminating in the annual frenzy of Devil's Night, is partly to blame. But there has also been a lot of officially sanctioned demolition in Detroit. As white residents fled to the suburbs over the decades, houses in the decaying neighborhoods they left behind were often bulldozed.

Abandonment is an infrastructure problem, when you consider the cost of maintaining far-flung roads and sewer systems; it's a city services problem, when you think about the inefficiencies of collecting trash and fighting crime in sparsely populated neighborhoods; and it's a real estate problem. Houses in Detroit are selling for an average of $15,000.

That sounds like a buying opportunity, and in fact Detroit looks pretty good right now to a young artist or entrepreneur who can't afford anyplace else -- but not yet to an investor. The smart money sees no point in buying as long as fresh inventory keeps flooding the market. "In the target sites we have," says Hantz, "we [reevaluate] every two weeks."

As Hantz began thinking about ways to absorb some of that inventory, what he imagined, he says, was a glacier: one broad, continuous swath of farmland, growing acre by acre, year by year, until it had overrun enough territory to raise the scarcity alarm and impel other investors to act. Rick Foster, an executive at the Kellogg Foundation whom Hantz sought out for advice, nudged him gently in a different direction.

"I think you should make pods," Foster said, meaning not one farm but many. Hantz was taken right away with the concept of creating several pods -- or lakes, as he came to think of them -- each as large as 300 acres, and each surrounded by its own valuable frontage. "What if we had seven lakes in the city?" he wondered. "Would people develop around those lakes?"

To increase the odds that they will, Hantz plans on making his farms both visually stunning and technologically cutting edge. Where there are row crops, Hantz says, they'll be neatly organized, planted in "dead-straight lines -- they may even be in a design." But the plan isn't to make Detroit look like Iowa. "Don't think a farm with tractors," says Hantz. "That's old."

In fact, Hantz's operation will bear little resemblance to a traditional farm. Mike Score, who recently left Michigan State's agricultural extension program to join Hantz Farms as president, has written a business plan that calls for the deployment of the latest in farm technology, from compost-heated greenhouses to hydroponic (water only, no soil) and aeroponic (air only) growing systems designed to maximize productivity in cramped settings.

He's really excited about apples. Hantz Farms will use a trellised system that's compact, highly efficient, and tourist-friendly. It won't be like apple picking in Massachusetts, and that's the point. Score wants visitors to Hantz Farms to see that agriculture is not just something that takes place in the countryside. They will be able to "walk down the row pushing a baby stroller," he promises.

Crop selection will depend on the soil conditions of the plots that Hantz acquires. Experts insist that most of the land is not irretrievably toxic. The majority of the lots now vacant in Detroit were residential, not industrial; the biggest problem is how compacted the soil is. For the most part the farms will focus on high-margin edibles: peaches, berries, plums, nectarines, and exotic greens. Score says that the first crops are likely to be lettuce and heirloom tomatoes.

Hantz says he's willing to put up the entire $30 million investment himself -- all cash, no debt -- and immediately begin hiring locally for full-time positions. But he wants two things first from Jackson at the DEGC: free tax-delinquent land, which he'll combine with his own purchases, he says (he's aiming for an average cost of $3,000 per acre, in line with rural farmland in southern Michigan), and a zoning adjustment that would create a new, lower tax rate for agriculture. There's no deal yet, but neither request strikes Jackson as unattainable. "If we have reasonable due diligence," he says, "I think we'll give it a shot."

Detroit mayor Dave Bing is watching closely. The Pistons Hall of Fame guard turned entrepreneur has had what his spokesman describes as "productive discussions" with Hantz. In a statement to Fortune, Bing says he's "encouraged by the proposals to bring commercial farming back to Detroit. As we look to diversify our economy, commercial farming has some real potential for job growth and rebuilding our tax base."

Hantz, for his part, says he's got three or four locations all picked out ("one of them will pop") and is confident he'll have seeds in the ground "in some sort of demonstration capacity" this spring. "Some things you've got to see in order to believe," he says, waving his cigar. "This is a thing you've got to believe in order to see."

Many have a hard time making that leap. When news of Hantz's ambitious plan broke in the Detroit papers last spring, few people even knew who he was. A little digging turned up a less-than-spotless record at Hantz Financial Services. The firm has paid fines totaling more than $1 million in the past five years, including $675,000 in 2005, without admitting or denying guilt, "for fraud and misrepresentations relating to undisclosed revenue-sharing arrangements, as well as other violations," according to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. (Hantz responds, "If we find something that isn't in compliance, we take immediate steps to correct the problem.")

Hantz Farms' first hire, VP Matt Allen, did have an established reputation in Detroit, but it wasn't a good one. Two years ago, while he was press secretary for former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, Allen pleaded guilty to domestic violence and obstructing police after his wife called 911. He was sentenced to a year's probation. Hantz says he has known Allen for many years and values his deep knowledge of the city. "He has earned a second chance, and I'm willing to give it to him," he says.

Some of Hantz's biggest skeptics, ironically, are the same people who've been working to transform Detroit into a laboratory for urban farming for years, albeit on a much smaller scale. The nonprofit Detroit Agriculture Network counts nearly 900 urban gardens within the city limits. That's a twofold increase in two years, and it places Detroit at the forefront of a vibrant national movement to grow more food locally and lessen the nation's dependence on Big Ag.

None of those gardens is very big (average size: 0.25 acre), and they don't generate a lot of cash (most don't even try), but otherwise they're great: as antidotes to urban blight; sources of healthy, affordable food in a city that, incredibly, has no chain supermarkets; providers of meaningful, if generally unpaid, work to the chronically unemployed; and beacons around which disintegrating communities can begin to regather themselves.

That actually sounds a lot like what Hantz envisions his farms to be in the for-profit arena. But he doesn't have many fans among the community gardeners, who feel that Hantz is using his money and connections to capitalize on their pioneering work. "I'm concerned about the corporate takeover of the urban agriculture movement in Detroit," says Malik Yakini, a charter school principal and founder of the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network, which operates D-Town Farm on Detroit's west side. "At this point the key players with him seem to be all white men in a city that's at least 82% black."

Hantz, meanwhile, has no patience for what he calls "fear-based" criticism. He has a hard time concealing his contempt for the nonprofit sector generally. ("Someone must pay taxes," he sniffs.) He also flatly rejects the idea that he's orchestrating some kind of underhanded land grab. In fact, Hantz says that he welcomes others who might want to start their own farms in the city. "Viability and sustainability to me are all that matters," he says.

And yet Hantz is fully aware of the potentially historic scope of what he is proposing. After all, he's talking about accumulating hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of acres inside a major American city. And it's clear that he views Hantz Farms as his legacy. Already he's told his 21-year-old daughter, Lauren, his only heir, that if she wants to own the land one day, she has to promise him she'll never sell it. "This is like buying a penthouse in New York in 1940," Hantz says. "No one should be able to afford to do this ever again."

That might seem like an overly optimistic view of Detroit's future. But allow Hantz to dream a little. Twenty years from now, when people come to the city and have a drink at the bar at the top of the Renaissance Center, what will they see? Maybe that's not the right vantage point. Maybe they'll actually be on the farm, picking apples, looking up at the RenCen. "That's the beauty of being down and out," says Hantz. "You can actually open your mind to ideas that you would never otherwise embrace." At this point, Detroit doesn't have much left to lose.

Infamous housing project goes down!

2010-02-26T06:27:00.000-08:00

A great time-lapse video made entirely of photographs on the demolition of Cabrini-Green

Taken from Planetizen Article, here

Detroit has enough money in its coffers for 1/3 tear down

2010-02-26T06:23:00.000-08:00

Bridging the gap in public and private fund, Detroit aims to demo some of its vacant properties that have brought increased blight to the city. Read more here

Detroit can afford to tear down at least 2,500 homes, council is told

By Suzette Hackney, 2/22/10
Detroit has the funding to tear down 2,500 to 3,000 of the roughly 10,000 dangerous houses that are on the demolition rolls, according to city officials.

About $14 million in federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program money and about $6 million from other funds will be used to demolish the homes, Karla Henderson, director of Detroit’s Buildings & Safety Engineering Department, told City Council this morning. It costs the city about $10,000 to demolish each single-family home.

“A lot of it comes down to funding,” Henderson said.

The city also is pursuing options to collect the cost of demolition from property owners.

Council members also said they want a better working relationship with the utility companies, which must shut down electricity, gas or water, before demolitions can begin. Council President Pro Tem Gary Brown suggested a task force to address the eight- to nine-month lag time it can sometimes take to cut off utility services.

But Councilwoman Brenda Jones said she would prefer the city use a computerized system to prioritize and track houses that have been on the demolition list for years.

Henderson said she was not confident that the housing information in the city’s current computer system is accurate.

“We are operating like 30 years ago,” she said.

Charles Beckham, Detroit Mayor Dave Bing’s group executive for operations, said a new system is 80% in place, and the city is just awaiting some additional software.

What's it worth in the long term?

2010-02-26T06:19:00.000-08:00

Great Article from our very own Chicago Tribune about the effects of the Stimulus Package:

Obama's stimulus package, one year later: Too much quick fix; too little long-term infrastructure

By Blaire Kamin, 2/18/10

Here’s something you probably haven’t heard lately: a stimulus story where Democrats and Republicans aren’t hurling accusations at each other.

As the Chicago Transit Authority was rebuilding its heavily used Red and Brown Line stations at Fullerton and Belmont Avenues in 2007 and 2008, cash ran short. That forced the canopies over the stations’ platforms to be only about 125 feet long—nowhere near the length needed to protect all the passengers from the elements. Then, last year, the CTA got $1.9 million in stimulus funds to extend the canopies, making them roughly 300 feet long.

Now, rain and snow fall on far fewer riders than before. Passengers are less likely to bunch up under the canopies. Because the riders are evenly distributed, boarding and exiting the trains goes more smoothly. The canopies, made of a translucent plastic supported by steel columns, even upgrade their neighborhoods, gliding airily over the streets—and subtly encouraging more people to use transit.

As shaped by the station’s designers, Ross Barney Architects of Chicago, the canopies offer precisely the kind of benefit that the $787 billion stimulus package is supposed to provide. They’re useful, handsome and, above all, durable. Check back in 25 years and they’re sure to be around. Here’s the trouble for President Barack Obama: So far, they’re an exception to the kind of public works the controversial stimulus package is producing, not the rule.

In a bid to preserve or create much-needed jobs, most of the stimulus spending for infrastructure is pushing short-term fixes, like repaved roads. Such projects have undeniable added value, allowing traffic to flow more smoothly and preventing crater-sized potholes from blowing out tires. Yet the roads will simply have to be repaved a few years down the line. In the long run, whether the stimulus helps bring down unemployment or not, little will have changed.

“Few of the [stimulus] projects are transformative,” said Joseph Schofer, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Northwestern University.

Not all of them were supposed to be, of course. Given the economic crisis that attended the passage of the stimulus package, tensions were bound to surface between putting people back to work quickly and building a lasting framework of public works. The construction of such a framework was always one of the animating ideas behind the package, officially known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Obama aimed to create public works on a grand scale, embracing traditional infrastructure projects, like fixing roads and bridges, as well as new ones such as extending broadband service to rural communities. The idea was to simultaneously jump-start and reshape the moribund economy, making it greener and more competitive. But the bill the president signed into law a year ago this week departed from this strategic vision in crucial ways.

With congressional Democrats crafting the measure, it funded a grab bag of tax cuts, jobless benefits and other measures. Infrastructure is just one piece of the sprawling piece of legislation and by no means the biggest one. The American Society of Civil Engineers puts the bill’s infrastructure spending at $71.8 billion, or less than one-tenth of the package. And, as a look at Obama’s home state of Illinois reveals, much of the money being spent is simply fixing existing infrastructure rather than building a new framework.

The state’s top recipient of stimulus funds is the Illinois Department of Transportation, which has received more than $845 million, according to the government’s stimulus Web site, www.recovery.gov. Give IDOT that kind of money and it will spread asphalt and concrete like peanut butter. And that’s what the department is doing, hiring contractors by the score to resurface roads from the Wisconsin border to the state’s southern tip.

This Friday: Bike for Your Rights, a Chicago Benefit for Mariel Mentink

2010-02-23T13:09:00.000-08:00

What better way to enjoy a cold Friday night? Critical Mass, then come out and support a fundraiser for Mariel Mentink, this Friday at the Viaduct Theater at 9pm. Bikes, beer, and advocacy go hand in hand!!

The background: Early on New Years Day, Chicago resident, Mariel Mentink and a friend were riding home after a group bike ride around Austin. Riding westbound on Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard near Springdale, Mariel was hit from behind by a motorist in a grey SUV or pickup truck that immediately fled the scene. This near fatal hit and run has left Mariel with an uncertain future and a recovery time estimated to be 3 years that consists of intensive care, rehabilitation and physical therapy. This event's purpose is to support Mariel financially and also to help to increase bike safety and driver to bicycle awareness. Join us for live music, beer, and bike mechanics working for donations to give your ride a tune up or repair.

More information can be found here and here

So, dust off your bike and meet me Daley Plaza at 5:30pm for the start of critical mass, where we will ride over as a group to the Viaduct Theater. More info on Critical Mass can be found here. Questions about where to meet? Email samara2@uic.edu

Don't forget to dress warm!

Bike Parking: High Density Style

2010-02-21T07:53:00.000-08:00

In Japan, they have created a bike parking structure that rivals all over bike parking structures, leaving us here, in the US, dreaming of this type of security.

Read the Article, taken from Planning Commissions Journal:
Given the high population density in Japan's metropolitan area, it shouldn't come as a surprise that a Japanese firm has come up with an automated bicycle storage facility. Take a look at this short video from The Guardian newspaper's website.

As Guardian editor David Munk describes it: "Has Japan designed the world's best bike shed? It's not often something stops you in your bike tracks. But a spectacular "bike tree" invention from Japan bowled me over when I was in Tokyo a couple of weeks ago.

Fed up with bicycles locked to railings, piled on top of each other, blocking doorways and roads, a local council in the city installed the mechanical masterpiece. It's basically an automatic storage system for cycles and operates with computer tagging of bikes and either storage in a building or a basement structure.

There are a number of locations where these bike trees are now in place in Tokyo some hold 600-odd bikes, others more than 6,000. The concept came from the massive Japanese steel company JFE, whose engineering works division first started them in 2007 but are now spreading.

... The process of retrieval normally takes 15 seconds but can be slightly longer (it took 30 seconds in my experience). The advantages are plain your bike becomes theft-proof, you are encouraged to cycle to work and local authorities don't have to deal with unsightly and sometimes annoying bicycle clutter. The downside is that it costs a lot of money and the infrastructure involves serious resources."

For more details on the bicycle storage facility, see:

CYCLE TREE: Multi-level Mechanical Bicycle Parking System (from JFE Engineering corporation, which built the facility)
Yet Another Video of Amazing Japanese Bike Storage System (from Treehugger.com)

Watch the Video:

Forgivable Student Loans?

2010-02-20T08:57:00.000-08:00

Hey MUPPS! Did you know that if you work in the public service field after graduation AND you have made 120 payments to your Federal Student Loans, that the government will FORGIVE you of the rest of your payments? No kidding?!

Check it out. More information can be found here

Prepared by Federal Student Aid
U.S. Department of Education
February 3, 2010

The Questions & Answers (Q&As) that follow provide information about the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program that is available to most borrowers with loans made through the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program (Direct Loan ProgramSM). We have grouped the Q&As into four categories: General Information, Eligible Loans, Qualifying Payments, and Qualifying Employment. Following each answer is the date we posted that response. We will include a new date each time we add a question or when we update a previously posted response.

Public Service Loan Forgiveness – General Information

Q1 What is the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program?
A1 The Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program was established to encourage individuals to enter and continue in full-time public service employment by forgiving the remaining balance of their William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program loans (Direct LoansSM) after the borrower has made 120 qualifying monthly payments (beginning anytime after October 1, 2007) while employed full-time by a public service organization. (February 3, 2010)

Q2 What are the borrower eligibility requirements for loan forgiveness under the PSLF Program?
A2 You must be employed full-time by a public service organization (see Q&A #26) when you made each of the required 120 monthly loan payments on your Direct Loan and at the time you apply for loan forgiveness, after making the last of those 120 payments.

Q3 Are loan amounts forgiven under PSLF considered taxable income?
A3 No. According to the IRS, student loan amounts forgiven under PSLF are not considered income for tax purposes.

Q4 Is income a factor in determining my eligibility for PSLF?
A4 Not directly, but you will not have any remaining balance to be forgiven after 120 payments unless, at some point, your payments have been reduced through your use of the Income-Based Repayment (IBR) Plan or the Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR) Plan (see Q&A#15).

Q5 If I have student loans through the FFEL Program, the Perkins Loan Program, or private non-federal student loan programs, can I take advantage of PSLF?
A5 Although PSLF is available only for Direct Loans, borrowers with FFELSM or Perkins loans may qualify for PSLF by consolidating those loans into the Direct Loan Program. Payments made on the FFEL or Perkins loans before they were consolidated into the Direct Loan Program are not counted toward the required 120 monthly payments. Non-federal student loans are not eligible for either consolidation into the Direct Loan Program or for PSLF. For more information about consolidating into the Direct Loan Program, go to www.loanconsolidation.ed.gov, or call 1-800-557-7392.

Q6 Will my interest rate change if I consolidate my FFEL or Perkins loans into the Direct Loan Program to take advantage of PSLF (see Q&A #5)?
A6 The interest rate on a Direct Consolidation Loan is a fixed rate that is based on a weighted average of the interest rates of the loans that you consolidate, rounded up to the next higher one-eighth of one percent. Because of this rounding up, the new fixed interest rate may be slightly higher.

Q7 Are loans that are in default eligible for PSLF?
A7 No. However, a borrower with a defaulted loan may be eligible for PSLF by consolidating the defaulted loan (see Q&A #5) or by rehabilitating the defaulted loan. Rehabilitation includes the making of at least nine on-time payments on the defaulted loan. Specific information on the rehabilitation of a defaulted loan is available from the holder of the defaulted loan.

Q8 Are joint Direct Consolidation Loans (consolidation loans made jointly to married borrowers) eligible for PSLF?
A8 Yes. However, if only one of the two borrowers meets the eligibility requirements for PSLF, the forgiveness after 120 qualifying payments applies only to the remaining balance of the joint consolidation loan that is attributable to the loans originally received by the borrower who performed the qualifying employment.

Q9 My spouse and I have a joint FFEL consolidation loan and we both work in public service jobs. Can we consolidate our joint consolidation loan into the Direct Loan Program to take advantage of PSLF?
A9 No. Because the law no longer permits joint consolidation loans to be made, you cannot reconsolidate an existing FFEL joint consolidation loan into the Direct Loan Program.

Q10 Are PLUS loan borrowers eligible for PSLF?
A10 Grad PLUS borrowers can benefit from PSLF by working in public service employment and making at least some of the required 120 payments under the IBR or ICR plans (see Q&A #13).
Parent PLUS loans are not eligible to be repaid under IBR or ICR. However, a parent PLUS borrower could consolidate the PLUS loans and then choose ICR for the new Direct Consolidation Loan. While a Direct Consolidation Loan that repaid a parent PLUS loan may not be repaid under IBR, it can be repaid under ICR. Note that if you are a parent PLUS borrower, your eligibility for PSLF is based on your own public service employment, not the employment of the student on whose behalf you obtained the PLUS loan.

Q11 What are the specific loan repayment requirements for loan forgiveness under the PSLF Program?
A11 You must have made 120 separate monthly payments (beginning after October 1, 2007) on the Direct Loan Program loans for which you are requesting forgiveness. Each of the monthly payments must have been made for the full scheduled installment amount within 15 days of the due date for the payment.

Q12 I have been making payments on my Direct LoansSM since before October of 2007. Will these payments count towards the required 120 payments for PSLF?
A12 Under the law, only payments made after October 1, 2007 may be counted towards the required 120 payments for PSLF.

Q13 What Direct Loan Program repayment plans qualify under the PSLF Program?
A13 The 120 required monthly payments must be made under one or more of the following Direct Loan Program repayment plans –
•The Income Based Repayment (IBR) Plan;
•The Income Contingent Repayment (ICR) Plan;
•The Standard Repayment Plan, with a 10 year repayment period; and
•Any other Direct Loan repayment plan, but only payments that are at least equal to the monthly payment amount that would have been paid under the Standard Repayment Plan with a 10-year repayment period may be counted toward the required 120 monthly payments.

Q14 What other Direct Loan repayment plans would give me a monthly payment that is at least equal to the payment that would be required under a 10-year Standard Repayment Plan?
A14 In some cases, payments made during the later portion of the repayment period under the Graduated Repayment Plan may equal or exceed the payment amount that would be required under a 10-year Standard Repayment Plan. Under the Graduated Repayment Plan, payments start out lower and then gradually increase, generally every two years.

Q15 Is it true that, while payments made under the Standard 10-Year Repayment Plan are eligible for PSLF, if I make all required payments under a 10-year plan, there will not be any remaining balance to be forgiven?
A15 Yes. The Standard Plan is included because some borrowers may have made payments under a Standard Plan for a portion of the 120 months and made the remaining payments under either IBR or ICR, leaving them with a remaining balance after 120 payments have been made. While payments under certain other repayment plans may be counted toward the required 120 payments, to receive any forgiveness under the PSLF Program it is likely that you must make at least some of your loan payments under IBR or ICR.

Q16 Must the 120 required payments be consecutive?
A16 No. You must make 120 separate on-time, full monthly payments while you are employed by an eligible public service organization, but the payments do not have to be consecutive.

Q17 If I pay more than the required amount of my monthly student loan payment, can that be counted as more than one qualifying payment for PSLF? For example, if I make a single payment that is equal to three monthly payments, will that be counted as three payments toward the required 120 monthly payments?
A17 No. You must make 120 separate monthly payments. There is a limited exception to this requirement for Peace Corps and AmeriCorps volunteers – see Q&A #19.

Q18 What happens if I can't afford to make the required monthly payment under IBR? Are other repayment options available if I want to qualify for PSLF?
A18 Payments made under certain other Direct Loan repayment plans may be counted toward the required 120 payments for PSLF (see Q&A #13), but the IBR Plan will generally provide you with a lower monthly payment than you would be required to make under any of the other plans. Therefore, changing from IBR to one of the other repayment plans that qualifies for PSLF would most likely increase your required monthly payment amount. If you cannot afford to make your required IBR payment, contact the Direct Loan Servicing Center to discuss deferment or forbearance options that would allow you to temporarily stop making payments
or, in the case of a forbearance, to temporarily make smaller payments. However, the months when you are in a deferment or forbearance do not count toward the 120 on-time, full monthly payments required for PSLF.

Q19 I’m thinking of serving as a Peace Corps or AmeriCorps volunteer and plan to request a deferment or forbearance on my loans, since I won’t be able to afford to make loan payments while I am serving. If I’m not making payments during my service period, can my Peace Corps or AmeriCorps service count for PSLF?
A19 Yes, Peace Corps and AmeriCorps volunteers were afforded special treatment under the PSLF regulations to recognize their service. Peace Corps volunteers receive a transition payment after completing their period of service, and AmeriCorps volunteers receive a Segal Education Award after a year of service. If you use some or all of your Peace Corps transition payment or AmeriCorps Segal Education Award to make a lump sum payment on your Direct Loans, your service will be considered PSLF-eligible service and you will receive credit for up to 12 qualifying payments for PSLF. The number of payments that you receive credit for will be determined by dividing the amount of your lump sum payment by your scheduled full monthly payment amount, not to exceed 12 payments.

Q20 If my monthly payment under IBR or ICR is zero, does each month during which my calculated payment is zero count towards the required 120 payments?
A20 Yes. Any month when your calculated payment under IBR or ICR is zero will count toward your required 120 monthly payments.

Q21 How do I know if my employer is a “public service organization” that is an eligible employer for the PSLF Program?
A21 The term “public service organization” covers a broad range of employers, including any federal, state, or local government organization or agency and most charitable non-profit organizations.

Q22 What public (government) employers qualify as eligible employers for the PSLF Program?
A22 Any federal government, state government, local government, or tribal government entity (including the military, public schools and colleges, public child and family services agencies, and special governmental districts) is an eligible employer for the PSLF Program.

Q23 What private non-profit employers qualify as eligible employers for the PSLF Program?
A23 Eligible non-profit employers include those that have received a 501(c)(3) designation from the IRS. These include most private schools, colleges, and universities, as well as thousands of other organizations, agencies, and charities. Your employer will easily be able to tell you if it has the required IRS designation. The IRS has a searchable database of 501(c)(3) organizations at http://www.irs.gov/app/pub-78/.

Q24 Can a private employer that has not received a 501(c)(3) designation qualify as a public service organization for the PSLF Program?
A24 Yes, if the employer is a non-profit organization that meets certain requirements (see below) and provides one or more of the following public services:
•Emergency management,
•Military service,
•Public safety,
•Law enforcement,
•Public interest law services,
•Early childhood education (including licensed or regulated childcare, Head Start, and state-funded pre-kindergarten),
•Public service for individuals with disabilities and the elderly,
•Public health (including nurses, nurse practitioners, nurses in a clinical setting, and full-time professionals engaged in health care practitioner occupations and health care support occupations),
•Public education,
•Public library services, and
•School library or other school-based services.
In addition, the employer must not be a labor union, a partisan political organization, or an organization that is engaged in religious activities (unless the qualifying public services it provides are unrelated to religious instruction, worship services, or proselytizing).

Q25 What types of public service jobs will qualify me for loan forgiveness under the PSLF Program?
A25 The specific job that you perform does not matter, as long as you are employed by a public service organization. For example, if you are a full-time employee of a public school system, your employment would meet the requirements for PSLF, regardless of your position (teacher, administrator, support staff, etc.).

Q26 What is considered full-time employment for PSLF?
A26 Generally, this means you are working an average of at least 30 hours per week or the number of hours the employer considers full-time. For more detailed information about what is considered full-time employment for PSLF purposes, see the definition of “full-time” in the PSLF regulations at 34 CFR 685.219(b).

Q27 Will the Department of Education track my qualifying employment and payments while I am working toward meeting the 120 months of required payments for PSLF?
A27 It is the borrower’s responsibility to have documentation that supports a request for loan forgiveness under the PSLF Program. This includes documentation from the borrower’s employer or employers. Based on this employment documentation, the U.S. Department of Education will be able to identify qualifying employment and payments. The U.S. Department of Education is developing a PSLF application that borrowers may use to document their qualifying employment while they are making the required 120 payments.

Q28 What kind of documentation do I need to keep to show that I worked for a qualifying employer while making the required 120 payments?
A28 A PSLF application form that may be used to document qualifying employment is being developed. Until the form becomes available, you should keep records that clearly identify your employer, show that your employer meets the definition of a public service organization (see Q&As #23 and #24), show your dates of employment, and demonstrate that you are a full-time employee.

Q29 Does Peace Corps service qualify as public service employment?
A29 Yes, if you are serving as a full-time Peace Corps volunteer. (See Q&A #19)

Q30 I am employed full-time by a private company, doing work under a contract with a state government agency. Does this employment qualify for PSLF?
A30 No. You must be directly employed by the public service organization.

Q31 I know that employment with a public school qualifies for PSLF. What about employment with a private school?
A32 Most private schools, colleges and universities are not-for-profit entities that are tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organizations. Therefore, they would qualify as public service organizations for PSLF purposes.

Q33 May I hold several different qualifying jobs while making the required 120 payments for PSLF and still be eligible for forgiveness?
A33 Yes. As long as you can provide documentation verifying that you were employed full-time by a public service organization (or by a combination of public service organizations) at the time you made each of the 120 required payments, and also at the time you applied for and received the PSLF benefit.

Q34 If I receive my pay in the form of a stipend, will my employment qualify for PSLF?
A34 The determining factor for PSLF eligibility is whether you made each of the required 120 payments while you were employed full-time by a public service organization. The form of payment you received from the public service organization does not matter.

Additional information on the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program is available at: http://studentaid.ed.gov/students/attachments/siteresources/LoanForgivenessv4.pdf

APA Conference: Last Day to Register at $100 Student Rate

2010-02-18T10:03:00.000-08:00

A reminder that today is the last day to take advantage of the student registration price of $100 before it increases to $120. Register today to save money and don’t forget to submit a copy of your receipt to UPPSAINFO@gmail.com to be eligible for reimbursements. Thanks to all who have already sent in their receipts!

Some extra tidbits of information that may help you plan your trip follow:

1. Some transportation options to and from New Orlean’s Louis Armstrong Int’l Airport and the city centre are:

· Deluxe Shuttle If you want a little more leg room at an affordable price. They provide transportation between the airport and any downtown location for $25 each way. Contact us at 1-877-546-8788 or at www.deluxeshuttle.com

· Jefferson Transit: The Airport-Downtown Express (E-2) Bus picks up outside airport Entrance #7 on the upper level.

o Bus Fare: The fare for Airport-Downtown Express (E-2) is $1.10. The fare boxes will accept $1, $5, $10, $20 dollar bills and all U.S. coins. The fare boxes will provide change in the form of a value card that can be used for future fares.

o About the Airport-Downtown Express (E-2) Route: The Airport-Downtown Express (E-2) provides service from the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport in Kenner, down Airline Drive into New Orleans. The Airport bus stop is on the second level of the Airport, near the Delta counter, in the median (look for the sign and bench). At Carrollton at Tulane it connects with RTA's 27-Louisiana and 39-Tulane buses. (Visit the RTA website to check their current schedules.)

o For more information on public transit in the area, visit the Jefferson Transit website, www.jeffersontransit.org, or the RTA website www.norta.com.

· Taxicabs: A cab ride costs $33.00 from the airport to the Central Business District (CBD) for one or two persons and $14.00 (per passenger) for three or more passengers. Pick-up is on the lower level, outside the baggage claim area. There may be an additional charge for extra baggage.

2. The location of the Conference will be at the Morial Convention Centre (900 Convention Center Blvd. New Orleans, LA 70130.) http://www.mccno.com/ The Centre is located just south of the Vieux Carre and downtown (walking distance for some).

3. Through Kayak.com, the lowest airfare from Friday 4/9 through Tuesday 4/13 is $236 on Delta Airlines (via Atlanta).

o Alternatively, Amtrak.com has published roundtrip fares for 4/9 – 4/13 of $220 per reserved coach seat. Greyhound.com has fares for the same dates, roundtrip at $154.

4. For those less selective as to which hotel they stay at, Hotwire.com is offering a three-star hotel room at $98/night pre tax.

o For hostel accommodations in New Orleans, visit http://www.hostels.com/new-orleans/usa . Nightly rates range roughly in the neighborhood of $16-20.

o A hotel thread has been started on UPPSA’s Blogspot under the February 7th post. Feel free to make a posting should you need a roommate or have a hotel room already with extra space @ http://uppsa.blogspot.com/2010/02/hotel-pool-and-information-board.html

5. Finally, volunteer applications are still being accepted through March 9th. http://planning.org/conference/registration/pdf/studentvolunteerform.pdf

6. Lonely Planet’s thorough website has great reviews on where to eat and what to see while down in the “Crescent City.” http://www.lonelyplanet.com/usa/new-orleans

CREATE, other rail and transit projects receive TIGER funding

2010-02-17T16:58:00.001-08:00

One year after the stimulus bill was signed into law, the Department of Transportation unveiled the winners of its big TIGER grants, which are transportation projects awarded on merit to cities and transit agencies from around the country.

For proponents of new streetcar projects in cities like Cincinnati, Charlotte, and Atlanta, today’s announcement is a major let-down. Each had hoped to win but a small portion of the U.S. Department if Transportation’s $1.5 billion in discretionary funds for meritorious transportation projects.

Alas, applicants from all fifty states demanded a total of more than $56 billion in federal grants, and there simply is not enough money to spread around.

But the Department of Transportation is moving in a positive direction: only 23% of investment went to highway projects, compared to 26% for transit and much more for intermodal and freight rail. It also has invested big bucks in pedestrian improvement programs. Indeed, TIGER says a lot about how this DOT works when it’s not under the direct control of Congress: it is prioritizing spending that is not car-centric.

Read more...

APA Conference - Sessions v Mobile Workshops

2010-02-17T07:32:00.000-08:00

The APA Conference website, and organization of the conference in general can be a bit confusing to those who have not attended. Here is a response to a recent student question outlining the difference between sessions, mobile workshops, and training sessions and how you sign up for them. Enjoy! ~ Katie

At the conference there are several kinds of activities - sessions (or could be called panels), mobile workshops, and training sessions.

The sessions are the bread & butter of the conference - they are what is included in your registration fee and there are multiple sessions going on in each time slot throughout the day at the conference. They are basically talks and presentations from practicing planners, etc, about the topic. You do not have to sign up for these sessions and can choose right before you go to them (or even go to one and leave for another one) - open door policy. You can view the session in the conference section by going to Program/ Browse and then clicking on the different tracks (They are the ones that say 0$). There is the tab to add the session to your schedule, though you don't have to. This schedule of sessions that you set up is only for your convenience and you can change it. You will receive a brochure in your registration packet when you arrive that shows all of the sessions for each day and is much clearer.

The mobile workshops and training session are extra (however much noted next to their tab). You do need to sign up (and pay for) these ahead of time. When you register you will be given the option to do this. Once you are signed up for them, you are not able to change the workshop. When you arrive at the conference, your registration packet will include a ticket for this workshop. They may have a bulletin board at the conference where people can put up tickets that they are not using, so you could try to trade out a ticket there.

"Downsizing" Detroit

2010-02-16T12:03:00.000-08:00

Interesting article from the Detroit News:

Detroit --Mayor Dave Bing said today his troubled city could have a bright future if it properly downsizes, markets its positives and find ways to re-create vibrant, safe communities to attract new growth.

"Without a doubt, we've got to downsize the city," Bing said of the city's shrinking population.

He said the city needs to "market our strengths" such as the casinos and the Detroit River.

Read more...

Last Call: UPPSA Membership!

2010-02-13T09:17:00.000-08:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, this semester's episode of Jason Letterman's "Top 10 Reasons to Join or Renew your UPPSA Membership." (where's my drum roll?)

#10... UPPSA does a body good
#9... Our name backwards is ASPPU... wait... forget this one
#8... We put the dungeon... I mean Basement Lounge... to good use
#7... The best part of wakin' uppa is UPPSA in your CUPPA

#6... (a Fall 2009 classic) You're tired of blowing $15 on lattes every week and want it to go to a better cause (i.e., your own professional development)
#5... (another Fall 2009 classic) UPPSA is green, sustainable, LEED Certified, photovoltaic, and the Board Members all wear green collars
#4... $1.25 = parking for one hour, or membership for a whole month!
#3... UPPSA makes it happen! (this one's serious)
#2... Being an UPPSA member makes more sense than the iPad
.

.
And the number one reason to join or renew your UPPSA membership...
NOLA 2010!

UPPSA Membership applications are due Monday, February 15!

Don't have a membership form? Download one here:
http://bit.ly/d6Z8Wl

Jason Saavedra
Candidate, Master of Urban Planning and Policy '10
President, Urban Planning and Policy Student Association

Beyond Burnham

2010-02-10T11:23:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, February 23, 2010 • 5:00 p.m.

Burnham Conference Center at the American Planning Association
122 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 1600
Chicago, IL

Since the publication of Burnham and Bennett's Plan of Chicago in 1909, powerful institutions such as the Chicago Plan Commission and Regional Transportation Authority, among others, have emerged to promote metropolitan goals in the Chicago region. In their new illustrated book on the topic, Joseph Schwietrman and Alan Mammoser show how the human face of planning appears in the interplay between public officials and citizen advocates.

Schwieterman and Mamoser will share how a century of visionary planning for metropolitan Chicago has shaped the region's identity and character. From Daniel H. Burnham and Edward H. Bennett's famed 1909 Plan of Chicago to the push for superhighways and airports to battles over urban sprawl, they will describe the big personalities and the "big plans" they espoused.

Traffic Jams, Crowds and Human Behavior

2010-02-09T07:59:00.000-08:00

Date/Time: Wednesday, February 17, 2010 - 6:15pm - 7:45pm

Location: The Firehouse Grill, 750 Chicago Ave, Evanston, IL 60201

Early morning traffic jams, real-time traffic alerts, traffic reports, late afternoon traffic snarls, road conditions, accidents, and more cars added to the mix every day! It’s enough to raise your blood pressure just reading those words.

Let’s talk about it with Hani Mahmassani, professor of civil engineering in the McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern and director of the Transportation Center.

Science Cafe Evanston is an informal event where, for the price of a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, anyone can come to explore the latest ideas in science and technology.

For more information, click here.

Hotel Pool and Information Board

2010-02-07T09:35:00.000-08:00

As we chatted about at last Friday's conference planning meeting, it might be a nice option for those attending the conference to be able to create hotel pools to split lodging costs. As such, UPPSA is structuring this post on its blog for those who have yet to book a hotel room and are either looking for a hotel partner(s) to split costs with, or just looking for a cheap hotel rate. All you need to do is add a comment to this post to keep the thread alive and other attendees informed.

So if you find a cheap hotel or hostel rate--post it! (along with the date you found it and where online) If you're in need of a hotel buddy, post your contact information.

February APA-CMS Program - Planning for a Sustainable Future: Hot Topics and Cool Examples

2010-02-05T12:25:00.001-08:00

Hey MUPPS, here is a great Sustainability event, brought to you by the APA-CMS. Sign up early to reserve your seat!

The AMERICAN PLANNING ASSOCIATION – CHICAGO METRO SECTION
and the
CHADDICK INSTITUTE OF DEPAUL UNIVERSITY
invite you to attend the
February 25, 2010 Program
Planning for a Sustainable Future:
Hot Topics and Cool Examples

Among the skills of an effective and successful planner is the ability to identify sustainable best practices that conserve environmental resources while improving government performance. Join APA-CMS in hearing local experts discuss aspects of planning for a sustainable future. We will hear regional and municipal perspectives about water conservation, energy planning and financing strategies to implement the initiatives of comprehensive sustainable plans

SPEAKERS:
Timothy T. Loftus, Ph.D. Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning
As a Principal, Tim leads CMAP’s Environment and Natural Resources planning group and is involved with various water resource planning efforts, including the Project Director for the eleven county Northeastern Illinois Regional Water Supply Plan. He will provide an overview of the state-sanctioned three year planning initiative that will be completed in early 2010 and discuss what has been learned from the science and what the region should be doing now.

Grace Rink, Senior Project Manager at AECOM
Ms. Rink will discuss opportunities for funding the development of sustainability plans and securing the funds to put sustainable initiatives into action, including EECBG. As a senior project manager for AECOM, she provides strategic services for clients seeking to improve their environmental performance, including developing and implementing sustainability programs and policies.

Carolyn Collopy, Sustainable Programs Coordinator for the City of Evanston
Ms. Collopy will present the municipal perspective. She will discuss Evanston's sustainability initiatives to create a healthy environment and strong economy by implementing best practices and policies in infrastructure and services. The City’s Climate Action Plan includes recommendations on: transportation, land use, energy efficiency, renewable resources, waste reduction, food production, carbon offsets, as well as research, communication and education.

WHEN:
Thursday, February 25, 2010, 9:00 a.m. to noon

WHERE:
DePaul University School of Public Service
14 East Jackson, Room 1601
Chicago, IL 60604

COST:
$15 paid at the door (or $5 for students that RSVP by February 19). Session fee is
payable at registration. Checks should be made payable to APA-CMS.

RSVP:
Please e-mail apachicagometrosection@yahoo.com by February 19. NOTE: Seating
for this event is very limited, so please RSVP as early as possible.

QUESTIONS:
For information about the program, please contact Laurie Marston, Chaddick Institute Technical Advisor at (847)681-1680 or laurie.marston@comcast.net

CM CREDITS: AICP CM Credits pending.

2010 National Conference Planning Meeting

2010-02-03T13:36:00.000-08:00

UPPSA would like to invite all MUPPS to a meeting next Friday, February 5th at 6:00pm, to talk about the upcoming APA National Conference in New Orleans (tentatively scheduled for room 110). We will be hosting a brief presentation outlining the reimbursement process, key dates you should be aware of, as well as sharing the board's previous experiences and recommendations from last year's conference. Please join us!

Mike Sobczak
Treasurer

UPPSA and APA-CMS co-host Paths in Planning Careers Event

2010-01-30T13:22:00.000-08:00

On January 14, 2010 at 6:00pm, UPPSA and the Chicago Metro Section of the American Planning Association (APA-CMS) co-hosted a Paths in Planning Careers event at Jak's Tap near UIC.

Two local planners shared their planning experience, knowledge, and insight into their career paths. Michael Blue, Director of Community Development, City of Highland Park and Brad Winick, Principle Urban Planner, URS Corporation, shared many great stories for practicing planners and students alike. They discussed why they chose planning as a career, the differences between the public and private sectors, their experiences in changing sectors, and what they find to be the most important traits of planners.

Among their many pieces of advice, they emphasized that to be successful planners must have that extra drive and patience. They must learn to incrementally and creatively work in an interdisciplinary and political process. In a competitive professional market, they should highlight their ability to understand the overall community and urban context. They discussed the positive and negative aspects of working in the private and public sectors, emphasizing the ability of public sector planners to work with a community over a long period of time and the ability of private sector planners to develop expertise that can be shared with many different communities. They find that planners can start in either sector and later transfer to the other. Though their role contrasts - with the private sector searching for projects and the public sector managing many projects - they are increasingly working together.

This is the first event co-hosted by APA-CMS and UPPSA, with opportunities for more in the future. Let us know if you have any suggestions/ideas. APA-CMS events are held monthly and are a great opportunity for students to connect with local professionals. Register ahead of time and get the discounted rate of $5!

If you are interested in more planning advice like this, check out the APA Mentorship Program! Many planners are interested in helping you. It is a casual program in which you can meet as often as you like. Go to the UPP website/ Current Students/ Career Development, http://www.uic.edu/cuppa/upp/current_students/cs_career_dev.html, to learn more. For more info and to view mentor profiles, contact Michael Mays at mmays@vil.woodridge.il.us.

Katie Bowman
UPPSA VP
khogan9@uic.edu

FREE AICP Exam Study Session

2010-01-21T13:28:00.000-08:00

Friday, March 19, 2010
9:00am – 4:30pm

Sponsored by: Illinois Chapter of the American Planning Association (APA-IL)

The APA-IL is offering an exciting and effective all-day session for AICP exam test-takers led by the creators of Planningprep. The ultimate goal of the workshop is to provide a thorough look at the exam and its major (typical) topic areas, to make candidates aware of the format and difficulty of test questions, and to provide strong, focused direction for individual study and preparation. The program helps candidates focus on topics that may show up on the exam they take. These workshops have proven to be an invaluable part of the preparation process for candidates in past years.

This session will include:

+ Overview of the structure of the exam
+ Potential areas of focus for the exam
+ Sample questions
+ Facilitated discussions with your peers and people who have taken the exam
+ The style of questions you can expect
+ A kick-off to your study efforts
+ Demonstration of the Planning Prep website

What is PlanningPrep?

+ PlanningPrep ( http://www.planningprep.com ) was created in 2002 specifically for AICP exam preparation
+ Includes practice questions, practice exams, planning related links, article summaries, and discussion forums.
+ Membership is good until you pass the exam
+ Includes 1025 questions and 7 practice exams
+ Each multiple-choice question contains an explanation for each correct answer
+ Links for further reading are also provided with our questions
+ User statistics are tracked for each area of focus

Note: Planningprep has no affiliation with the APA or AICP

Financial Awards through the APA

2010-01-20T14:03:00.000-08:00

The APA has some funding options that MUPP students can apply for to help alleviate the financial burdens of graduate school.

Master's level students from PAB-accredited planning departments may apply for the Economic Development Division's graduate scholarship. The recipient of the $1,000 award will be chosen based on a faculty recommendation and an original paper or work on a topic related to economic development and planning. Apply by February 18.
http://www.planning.org/divisions/economic/scholarships/

The Housing and Community Development Division Research Grant program identifies innovative housing or community development methods, practices, or programs. The 2010 grant recipient will receive $1,000 for materials and activities directly related to research for a master's thesis or other project. The submission deadline is February 18.
http://www.planning.org/divisions/housing/grants.htm

The student writing competition sponsored by the Transportation Planning Division recognizes and rewards student work completed for courses in PAB-accredited programs on current transportation planning or policy issues. Submit entries by February 18.
http://www.apa-tpd.org/competition.html

GIS in Haiti

2010-01-20T09:10:00.000-08:00

The skills we learn in the MUPP program are also applicable for emergency preparedness and emergency response. For example, this New York Times article shows an interesting use of GIS to determine destruction resulting from the earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/01/14/world/20100114-haiti-imagery.html

Planning to attend the APA National Conference in New Orleans?

2010-01-19T10:47:00.000-08:00

Students get a discount of over $40 if you register before February 18th! In addition, you could volunteer at the conference to make the conference FREE to you (minus travel expenses of course). But by joining your graduate student association, UPPSA, some of your travel costs could be reimbursed, making the conference affordable to every starving student out there!

The details:
Volunteer your time at the conference, and earn $100 — the exact amount of the early registration fee for student members. Students volunteer 8 hours at the conference, while networking with practicing planners, working with APA staff, and meeting other students.

Guidelines: Students must be registered for the conference at the time they apply to be a volunteer and must be student members of APA. Volunteers are reimbursed on site upon completion of eight hours of work. You must be available to work the full 8 hours in one shift, but APA reserves the right to schedule multiple shifts should it be necessary. All 8 hour shifts are scheduled to include a one-hour break for lunch, not included in the 8 hour total. If you cannot work your assigned shift, you forfeit the opportunity to volunteer. For more information contact: Julia Krol at jkrol@planning.org

Application Deadline
March 9, 2010

More information can be found on the APA National Conference Web page, here

And as a reminder to new students, you can sign up for UPPSA by submitting the membership form (email the UPPSA Board at uppsainfo@gmail.com for the form) and either turn it in along with a check or money order made out to 'UPPSA' for (a measly) $15 to Ann Barnds (CUPPA room 225) OR bring it to the first UPPSA General Assembly meeting of the semester on January 22nd. (6pm, basement lounge). Then join us afterward for our Transit Oriented Dining and get to know your fellow MUPPS!

Friday (1/22) TOD at La Taberna Tapatia!!!

2010-01-19T09:52:00.000-08:00

Join UPPSA after its 6:00pm General Assembly meeting this Friday, January 22nd at La Taberna Tapatia, a Mexican watering hole off of the Paulina Brown line stop (across from the restaurant El Tapatio). For more information, directions and reviews, check out what Yelp has to say at here. Hope to see y'all there!!!

Guest Lectures on Urban Politics @ UIC

2010-01-17T20:29:00.000-08:00

Title of Talk: Inside the Political Machine
Speaker: Burton Natarus (Former Chicago Alderman of the 42nd Ward)
Date and Time: Thursday, January 28, 2010/11 AM-12:15 PM

Title of Talk: Race, Poverty, and Community Development in Bronzeville
Speaker: Johnnie Blair (President and Founder of Bronzeville Chamber of Commerce)
Date and Time: Tuesday, February 9, 2010/11 AM-12:15 PM

Both talks are hosted in E112 2LCE. Talks are held in conjunction with POLS210.

FAQ on CUPPA Graduate Tuition Differential

2010-01-15T11:08:00.000-08:00

CUPPA has, after consultation with the UPP and PA Departments, posted an FAQ website on the topic of Graduate Tuition Differential--

http://tigger.uic.edu/cuppa/admin/students/CUPPA_TuitionDifferentialsFAQ_011410.htm

Please contact--

cuppa@uic.edu,

if you have further questions or comments on this important topic.

A Nation of Hunkered-Down Homebodies

2010-01-11T21:17:00.000-08:00

by editors of the New York Times
Posted January 10, 2010

The nation’s mobility rate fell last year to its lowest level since World War II, according to the latest census data. Growth is slowing in Sun Belt states and Northeastern states are holding on to more people. The current recession and lack of jobs are big factors, but the trend has been gaining force since the 1950s, when nearly one-fifth of all Americans moved every year.

Why are Americans becoming less nomadic? Greater labor mobility helps the economy, but are there other kinds of effects — negative or positive — related to a more rooted population? Is there an upside to more Americans staying closer to their hometowns?

Click HERE to continue reading . . .

Welcome New Spring 2010 MUPPs!

2010-01-10T14:54:00.000-08:00

Fellow MUPPs,

Please join me in welcoming the new cohort of Spring 2010 MUPP students as they begin the next exciting phase of their lives. We're glad you're here!

To our new colleagues: you are now part of an awesome community of engaged scholars and intelligent professionals, and you have joined the largest, strongest Planning network in the country. Please take full advantage of the resources and opportunities that are being made available to you.

To aid in your last-minute preparations for classes, I offer a brief to-do list:

Double-check your schedule in the self-service application, find your classes, and make sure your finances are in order
Log in to Blackboard, make sure the courses you've registered for show up under "My Courses"
Browse around each course's Blackboard site and check for a syllabus - particularly check whether or not there is a reading assignment due before the first class
While you're at it, get a good planner/organizer or invest in a good calendar app for your phone ...trust me on this one
Become a fan of UPPSA on Facebook and befriend all of your UPPSA Board members (see names below). Also follow UPPSA on Twitter and join our LinkedIn group!

Phew! After you've completed these activities, you'll be as ready as you'll ever be.

Please also keep your eyes peeled for your UPPSA Board members:

Sara Amaral: First Year Representative and News Team Member
Jennessa Berg: Secretary
Katie Bowman: Vice-President
Valbona Kokoshi: APA Representative
Jason Saavedra: President
Mike Sobczak: Treasurer and Chief Activities Officer
Andy Waggoner: Professional Development Officer

Please also welcome two of our newest Board Affiliates:
Anjali Alva: Book Exchange Manager
Sarah Jane Sherburn: News Team Member
Noah Gordon: News Team Contributor

Look for them in class and don't be shy - just introduce yourself! Soon we will have photos and bios up online so you can get to know us better.

I will be there during your rescheduled orientation along with some other UPPSA Board members, and we look forward to meeting you then. Here's to a successful semester!

Regards,

Jason Saavedra
Candidate, Master of Urban Planning and Policy
President, Urban Planning and Policy Student Association
University of Illinois at Chicago

APA-Chicago Metro Section Calendar of 2010 Events

2010-01-03T12:01:00.000-08:00

Below is a program schedule of the 2010 APA-Chicago Metro Section Events:

January 14th @ Jaks Tap (901 W. Jackson): "Career Paths in Planning: A Networking & Roundtable Event"

February 25th @ DePaul University Downtown Campus: "Planning for a Sustainable Future: Hot Topics and Cool Examples"

March 17th @ DePaul University Downtown Campus: "Planning for High-Speed Rail"

April 10th-13th in New Orleans, LA: 2010 National Planning Conference

May 14th @ CMAP Offices, Willis Tower: "Right Sizing Cities and Suburbs: Matching Capacity and Demand"

June 23rd @ CMAP Offices, Willis Tower: "Overcoming (Re-)Development Obstacles"

July 21st @ Arlington Heights Village Hall: "TOD: Lessons Learned and Looking Ahead"

August 12th @ Naperville City Hall: "Planner Toolbox: Creating Better Landscape and Sign Codes"

September 22d-24th @ Bloomington-Normal, IL: 2010 State Planning Conference

October 14th @ CMAP Offices, Willis Tower: "Planning for the Recovery"

November 10th @ CMAP Offices, Willis Tower: "The Many Shapes, Colors and Applications of Design Guidelines"

December: No Event, Happy Holidays!

Metro areas get chunk of rural stimulus aid

2009-12-28T10:36:00.000-08:00

By Brad Heath from the USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — More than $2.7 billion of stimulus aid for struggling parts of rural America has gone to the nation's biggest metropolitan areas.

That's nearly a quarter of the $12 billion in rural assistance the government has paid out so far under President Obama's economic stimulus package, a USA TODAY review shows. It went to small, far-flung suburbs in metropolitan areas with more than a million residents, including growing towns around Atlanta and Phoenix. . . . [click here to continue reading]

Community Scholars Event - Friday!

2009-12-08T13:27:00.000-08:00

Fellow MUPPs,

On behalf of the UPPSA Board and the Community Scholars team, I would like to extend this gesture of encouragement for you to attend the fundraising event for the Community Scholars program. This initiative is not just about MUPP master's projects. It is about starting a new approach to applying our learning and unique expertise in an effort to address real community problems. Our hope is that this program will continue on and develop further in future years.

We have high hopes for this initiative, but in order for it to succeed the team needs your support. UPPSA has expressed its support for the Community Scholars team's endeavours in pledging funds to assist with putting on this event. Please express yours by attending on Friday. Meet new fellow MUPPs, learn more about what is to come, hear some music, and enjoy the Pilsen Art Walk!

Details:
When?: Friday, December 11th, 6 - 10pm
Where?: Per Populus Gallery in Pilsen, 626 W. 18th Street (at Des Plaines)
What else?: $10 suggested donation, raffle with some great prizes (one month unlimited yoga, free bike maintenance, more), Pilsen Art Walk!

Link to event invite on Facebook: http://bit.ly/7gnMXN

Hope to see you there,

Jason Saavedra
Candidate, Master of Urban Planning and Policy '10
President, Urban Planning and Policy Student Association

P.S. - if I have not yet met you, please find me at the event and introduce yourself!

Regional Planning and Sustainability: Chicago’s Future

2009-11-30T06:24:00.001-08:00

Date: Monday, November 30
Time: 6 - 7 pm
Place: Northeastern Univ., in the CBM (College of Business and Management), Room 111

Speaker: Hala Ahmed, AICP
www.cmap.illinois.gov
Hala Ahmed holds a Masters in Urban and Regional Planning from Virginia Tech and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP). Since 1994, she has worked as an architect and urban designer in many parts of the world including Sudan, the United Arab Emirates and Malaysia as well as an urban and regional planner in Decatur and Peoria, IL. Ms. Ahmed joined the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) in 2007 where she worked on a variety of projects including the Regional Water Supply and Demand Study (to be released in February 2010) the Regional Comprehensive Plan- GO TO 2040- (to be released on October 2010) as well as watershed and other natural resource plans.

GIS ArcView Workshops

2009-11-22T12:06:00.000-08:00

The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) throughout the year offers two-day workshops in the GIS software ArcView 9.3. This is a great way to get an introduction to GIS if you don't have room for the course in your schedule. Each workshop has room for 5 students and costs $350.

The workshop is held from 9:30am to 4:30pm both days with a 1 hour break for lunch on your own. Scheduled dates for future workshops thus far are:

Wed-Thu, Dec 2-3, 2009 (this date is flexible if anyone wants to attend in December, but needs that time to study, etc.)

Wed-Thu, Jan 27-28, 2010

Wed-Thu, Mar 10-11, 2010

Wed-Thu, May 26-27, 2010

Wed-Thu, June 23-24, 2010

If you would like to reserve a seat or have any questions, contact Jan Drennan(jdrennan@cmap.illinois.gov, 312-386-8686)

Thursday 11/19: Mixer with MBA, Real Estate and Public Administration

2009-11-16T08:33:00.000-08:00

This Thursday (November 19th) at 8:45PM, come schmooze and chat with your friends and colleagues from the MBA, Real Estate and Public Administration programs over drinks at Jaks Tap (901 W. Jackson).

TOD and Meeting Friday, November 19th

2009-11-13T08:11:00.000-08:00

On Friday November 19th, UPPSA will be holding its next General Assembly meeting and TOD. The meeting will begin at 6pm in the CUPPAH basement lounge followed by a taste of Polish cuisine at very affordable yet highly rated Czerwone Jabluskzo/Red Apple at 3121 N. Milwaukee Ave.

Please plan on joining us at both events!

Images of Northeastern Illinois Photo Contest

2009-11-06T12:20:00.001-08:00

Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) has launched their 2009 Images of Northeastern Illinois Photo Contest, which will continue throughout the month of November. MUPPs are encouraged to submit photos for consideration, and two winners will be selected in each of the following categories:

Diversity (people, places, art, culture, food)
Community Vitality (walkable, vibrant places; retail; neighborhood pride)
Natural Environment (lakes, rivers, preserves, parks, sky, wildlife)
Architecture/Urban Design (plazas, buildings, neighborhoods, boulevards)
Transportation (pedestrians, bikes, cars, boats, trains, planes, etc.)

Prizes currently include:

1 Bootcamp from Richard Stromberg's Chicago Photography Classes
$30 off coupons to Richard Stromberg's Chicago Photography Classes
Copies of "Sidewalks: Portraits of Chicago" from the Illinois Humanities Council
Certificates for a Fresh Picks Double Box of seasonal vegetables from Irv & Shelly's Local Organic Delivery
Tickets to Chicago Architecture Foundation's Walking Tours
and MORE!

Not to mention, it will be another item to add to your resume and/or portfolio. Visit CMAP's website for additional information here.

[Photo Courtesy of CMAP]

MPC Placemaking Roundtable, October 28th

2009-10-21T14:14:00.000-07:00

*What Makes Your Place Great? Roundtable*

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Noon – 1:30 p.m. **

Metropolitan Planning Council Conference Center

140 S. Dearborn St., Suite 1400, Chicago, Ill. 60603

Cost for MPC donors: $15.00
Cost for non-donors: $30.00

(The above prices apply to students as well.)

With hundreds of parks and community gardens, miles of lakefront
beaches, bustling neighborhoods and city centers, and world-class
architecture, everyone is sure to have a favorite public space in the
Chicago region. This summer, the Metropolitan Planning Council
<http://www.metroplanning.org/> asked residents to pick their favorite
place and submit it to the "What Makes Your Place Great
<https://dnbweb1.blackbaud.com/OPXREPHIL/Link.asp?link=396985>"
contest. The response was overwhelming – more than 50 submissions from
around the region – from gardens and public plazas to coffee shops and
hiking trails – were nominated.

More than 8,000 votes later, four public spaces emerged as shining
examples of the amazing public spaces in Chicagoland. These four spaces
exemplify the way people in the region use and love their public spaces,
and the positive impact the spaces have on their neighborhoods.

On Wednesday, Oct. 28, the people behind the four winning submissions
will talk about the history of their space and how it has influenced
their community at MPC’s What Makes Your Place Great? Roundtable
<http://www.metroplanning.org/calendar.asp?objectID=5053>. Come learn
about how a community garden in South Chicago is helping to make the
neighborhood safe, ways the retail stores in the Shops of Long Grove
contribute to a sense of community, how a garden in Albany Park has
brought neighbors together, and the pride Aurora resident’s have in
their beautiful and historic Phillips Park.

Space is limited, so register now! Register online at
http://www.metroplanning.org/calendar.asp?objectID=5053
<https://dnbweb1.blackbaud.com/OPXREPHIL/Link.asp?link=396988>.
Questions? Contact Karin Sommer at ksommer@metroplanning.org
ksommer@metroplanning.org> or 312-863-6044.

Interested in learning more about the contest? Check out this
eight-minute /feature from the Sept. 24^th broadcast of Chicago Tonight
<http://www.wttw.com/main.taf?p=42,8,80,3&player=LKuixhzDPK&rel=he37xcwEidskvzQavtjBxfitIHlGRmg9>/.

Sept.22 -Chicagoland Car-Free Day

2009-09-19T14:26:00.000-07:00

Here is an excuse to explore other ways of getting around.

On Tuesday Sept. 22, Active Trans will partner with RTA, Pace, Metra, CTA and communities around the region for Chicagoland Car-free Day. The event is part of World Car-free Day, the one moment when people around the world pledge to go sans auto.

The day will only work if we get everyone involved. The more people we get to pledge to go car-free, the more fun the day will be! Plus, when you take the pledge on our website, you get a coupon for $1 off a large drink at Caribou Coffee on Sept. 22 (We’re not that crazy to ask you to go caffeine-free). Find a Caribou Coffee location near you.

http://www.activetrans.org/carfree

Chicago Tops USGBC's List of U.S. Cities with Most Green Buildings

2009-09-18T13:29:00.001-07:00

According to the Chicago Tribune, the Windy City has won top honors in a recent ranking of U.S. cities with the most LEED Certified buildings. According to the Tribune, "88 projects in Chicago have earned [LEED] certification. Portland, Ore., was next, with 73 LEED buildings, and Seattle was third, with 63. New York was seventh with 46, and Los Angeles ninth with 40."

Bicycling for College Students

2009-09-09T08:32:00.000-07:00

The following is selected text from MUPP student Steve Vance's article titled "Bicycling for College Students"

Introduction

If you haven’t yet chosen to bike to campus, don’t read this – I’ve got another article in the works for you. Essentially, I gained my advice and education from information I found in multiple documents published by the Chicago Bicycle Program. But you can read my post in less than 10 minutes. I give my friends the same spiel, and now I’ve finally published it for everyone’s benefit.

My credentials: I’ve been commuting safely and effectively to the University of Illinois at Chicago campus for four years, attending undergraduate and graduate class. I’ve been bicycling all around Chicago (I can prove it with these maps) for the same period.

I divide my advice into three sections: Safety, Getting There, and The Right Equipment. You should have a copy of the Chicago Bike Map at your side (download as PDF; tambien disponible en espanol; request one to be mailed) . . . . [click here to read more]

Public Meeting Regarding Albany Whipple Park

2009-08-28T14:18:00.000-07:00

Public Meeting Regarding Albany Whipple Park

This may be considered the first step towards the realization of the Bloomingdale Trail!

The Chicago Park District is holding a meeting for the public to learn more about the development of the Albany Whipple Park.

The meeting will be held at Simons Park field house, 1640 N. Drake, at 6pm on Tuesday, September 1, 2009.

The Trust for Public Land and Friends of the Bloomingdale Trail would greatly appreciate your presence and input at this important meeting.

Please join us and bring your questions, concerns and ideas!

Please Contact The Trust for Public Land with any questions.
Andrew Vesselinovitch
120 S. LaSalle Street, 2000
Chicago, Illinois 60603
Direct line: 312-750-9821

Friends of the Bloomingdale Trail - http://www.bloomingdaletrail.org/