Planning, Public Policy and Management

A&AA welcomes five new tenure-track faculty members for the 2013-14 academic year. Here’s a look at who they are and what they bring to the A&AA community.

Dean Frances Bronet and Associate Professor Nico Larco led a panel discussion in September at the University of Maryland, which is exploring the possibility of establishing an institute similar to UO’s Sustainable City Year Program (SCYP).

Bronet and Larco, along with City of Springfield Assistant City Manager Jeff Towery, led the hour-long “Panel: Oregon Model” at the daylong workshop in College Park, Maryland, in late September.

A new book by Assistant Professor Gerardo Sandoval, of the Department of Planning, Public Policy and Management, was selected for Honorable Mention for the 2013 Paul Davidoff Book Award. Immigrants and the Revitalization of Los Angeles: Development and Change in MacArthur Park was chosen from twenty-one nominated books.

MCRP student Geoff Ostrove is recipient of the 2013-14 University of Oregon Public Impact Graduate Fellowship from the UO Graduate School. The fellowship is given for student work that has achieved excellence and addresses critical issues facing society. The Graduate School deans' selection committee indicated the research has the "potential to make a significant impact on society."

The Sustainable Cities Initiative was featured in the Chronicle of Higher Education on May 20. The story shares the UO’s innovative community engagement model with the nation's higher education community. SCI is a cross-disciplinary program at UO involving architecture, landscape architecture, planning, product design, art, law, journalism and business. While the Sustainable City Year Program (SCYP) pioneered in Oregon, SCI has been training other universities interested in adopting the model and implementing a version of it in their local communities.

The Department of Planning, Public Policy and Management is honoring three individuals with the department’s top awards for 2013. Genevieve (Genny) Nelson is being recognized for Outstanding Service to Oregon. Terry Moore, MA ’77 public affairs, MUP ‘77, is being honored as Distinguished Alumnus. And Jennifer M. Wagner, BS ‘05, is being recognized as Distinguished Recent Alumna.

Community and Regional Planning master's student and LiveMove President Joe McAndrew is among just 20 graduate students nationwide selected as Eno Fellows for the 21st annual Eno Leadership Development Conference June 2-6 in Washington, D.C. The goal is to cultivate the next generation of leaders in all modes of transportation.

This is the 11th year that Wells Fargo has teamed up with University of Oregon students to provide funding to one or more Lane County community organizations – a collaboration that has resulted in a total of $55,000 in grants to local nonprofits.

Stephen Wright, MS '81 Public Affairs, never expected while a graduate student in the School for Community Service and Public Affairs (later PPPM) that he would become CEO of a $3 billion annual revenue organization.

“Going to UO changed the arc of my life in really powerful and beneficial ways,” says Wright, who retired as administrator of the Bonneville Power Administration in January 2013 after beginning in an entry-level position and working his way up to lead the 3,000-employee federal agency.

Today’s college graduates must be prepared to enter a far more diverse workforce than that of their parents or even those who graduated just 10 years prior. An interdisciplinary two-year pilot program at UO that combines intercultural competency training with professional development is designed to address the increasing need for diversity in the workplace. Registration for this year’s program closes March 15.