EMU Planning Program Main Page

Eastern Michigan University Planning & GIS Programs

Planning/GIS Student Orientation

Planning faculty and PLACE officers announce a "Welcome!/Welcome Back!" party for Planning and GIS students on Thursday, September 7th, at 4:30 in the glass room (201 Strong). This is a very important meeting for both new students and returning students, since there are many significant events happening in the first weeks of the Fall semester, and we need to fill you in on them.

Plan to attend.

Annual Golf Outing

This year's "Links to the Future" golf outing will take place on Friday, September 22, at beautiful Eagle Crest Golf Course in Ypsilanti. This fun event is a golf "scramble," using the best shot from a foursome and allowing golfers at all levels to have fun. The outing includes greens fees, cart, continental breakfast, lunch at the turn, a full dinner and prizes, and at $115 is a bargain, so we expect a lot of participants.

The golf outing is organized by the student club, PLACE (PLanning Awareness Club of Eastern) and benefits the Robert M. Ward Scholarship Fund for Urban and Regional Planning and GIS programs, which has given scholarships to deserving students for five years.

Something new: The team with the lowest score will be able to keep the Silver Trophy (shown here) to display during the next year. Team members will have to decide who gets it!

Click here if you’d like to see photos of previous golf outings.

Students, alumni, golfers and supporters look forward to this special event every year. We hope you'll be joining us this year; help the students by sending in your registration or donation early. For information or questions, contact PLACE president Ken Bouchard (kenbouchard@kbautomation.com) or faculty adviser Norm Tyler (ntyler@emich.edu or 734.761.5549). You can download a .pdf of the flyer at: http://www.emich.edu/public/geo/EMUGolfFlyer2006.pdf

Glass room cleanup There is some cleanup work that is necessary in the glass room, the home room for Planning students. It includes moving desks, updating the book shelves, and creating more of a student lounge area. We've scheduled Friday afternoon, September 8, as a time to "improve" the room. Feel free to contribute both your ideas and your help.

Fall Classes

Here is some of the latest information for upcoming classes. This is not a complete list (refer to the schedules for that), but includes what might be useful information for you.

GEOG 678 Advanced Applications of GIS has been added to the fall schedule. The instructor is Wang, the CRN is 17557, and it will be taught Thursdays at 5:30-8:10 in Room 226.

A new course is being offered for Fall, GEOG 694 Seminar in Downtown Revitalization (CRN 17247). It will be taught by Bob Donohue, an expert on the Main Street Program and very involved in Oakland County. It is included in a new Specialization in Downtown Revitalization, being offered for the first time. See Norm Tyler or Ted Ligibel for more information on this specialization.

New prerequisites have been approved for many of the Planning and GIS courses. For instance, GEOG 557 Community Development and Downtown Revitalization, will require completion of the Intro. to Planning course (GEOG 553) as a prerequisite.

GPLN 435 History of Urban Form and Function (CRN 10524) is listed as a course acceptable for graduate credit. Grad students may take this as a Planning elective. The class meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 3:30-4:45.

Undergraduate Program Re-accreditation

This year the undergraduate Planning Program will be reviewed by the APA's Planning Accreditation Board. Three representatives will visit EMU September 11-13. They will want to discuss the program with many individuals, including current students and alums.

We hope you'll be willing to be part of this review, if asked. Our accreditation is important, and significant since we are one of only about a dozen such accredited undergrad programs in the nation. There will be an update on this in the near future, as the date of their visit gets closer.

State Planning Conference in Detroit

The Michigan Association of Planning has announced the dates for its annual conference, to take place this year in Detroit. The conference will be held on October 11-14 at the Renaissance Center, along the river in downtown. It will include mobile workshops, a review of Detroit planning, the southeast Michigan transit challenge, and many other topics.

Planning students are encouraged to attend, either at the special student rate or as volunteers. Some EMU Planning classes will be cancelled during the conference to avoid schedule conflicts.

More information can be found at the M.A.P. Web site at http://www.planningmi.org

Lost emails

We have email addresses for hundreds of our students and alumni. However, sometimes we lose contact when someone changes their email address and doesn't let us know. Look at the following list and see if you can help us by forwarding to Norm the email address of one of our "Lost Alums." And thanks in advance for your help.

Scott Barb; Beverly Barton; John Bayerl; Tony Bedogne; Scott Black; Chad Canfield; Sheela Das; Megan Etue; Chandra Gouchanour; Casey Hanson; Stacy Haynes; Leonard Ivezaj; Cathy Kleiner; Carol Konieczki; Karen Kuhn; Kevin Kwiatkowski; Lyndsey Martin; Vicki and Steve May; Eric Mondrush; Quanita Nolen; Mario Ortega; Sean and Angela Peecher; Glenn Perian; Grit Peters; Amy (Bavin) Pintus; Matt Raschke; James Sabo; Michael Schocker; Mike Schutz; Teddy Simmons; Tracy Slintak; Brian Smart; Jason Smith; Justin Snyder; William (Chip) Thomas; Steve Timbrook; Andrew Vanover; Shannon (Mosier) Williams; Michael Zeek.

Attention International Students All international students with an "F" or "J" visa status will be billed for student health insurance UNLESS you have applied for and received an "approved" waiver from Snow Health Center NO LATER than July 21, 1 p.m. For information, call Pat Short, 487-3048.

MDOT survey Are you interested in letting the Michigan Department of Transportation know how they should spend our transportation dollars? MDOT has a brief online survey asking for your opinions. You can find it at www.Michigan.gov/slrp.

PLACE scholarships awarded

PLACE is proud to announce the winners of this year's $1,000 scholarships, made available through the club's Robert M. Ward Planning and GIS Program Scholarship Fund. Dave Krzeminski is a graduate student in the GIS-Planning Program and has kept a 4.0 GPA. He has been active with PLACE and is coordinator of this fall's golf outing fund-raiser. Jessica Tenbusch is an undergraduate in the Urban and Regional Planning Program, has a 3.7 GPA, and has also been active with the club and participated in many of its events.

Dave and Jessica will be recognized at the department's Awards Program on April 7th and will receive their scholarship checks when classes begin in September. CONGRATULATIONS to both!

Undergraduate Symposium

The Undergraduate Symposium provides an important venue for students to present a research project. Students presenting this year in the Undergraduate Symposium were Jennifer White, who reviewed a survey she conducted of ridership on the San Diego Trolley and its route to the Mexican border. Jennifer Davies looked at neighborhood bars as "third places" in both Curitiba, Brazil and Detroit, based the the book, The Great Good Place. The presentations were very well received, and we are proud of both Jennifers.

New degree specialization

Ted Ligibel, director of the Historic Preservation Program, is announcing a new graduate degree specialization. Beginning this Fall semester, students will be able to take a M.S. degree in Preservation Planning with a specialization in Downtown Revitalization. The curriculum will include two new courses, a Seminar in Downtown Revitalization taught by Bob Donohue, preservation specialist, and Downtown Planning Studio, taught by Russ Lewis, a planner for Oakland County. Talk with Ted or Norm for more details.

Alumni Update Bulletin Board

Here is a spot that will give regular updates on program alumni, where they are now and what they're doing

Here's an email letter from recent grad program alum Jim Singelyn (MS 2005), who has a job as Senior Planner II:
I moved on to more fun, sun, girls and way more work.. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to live and work in Key West. Things are good I can wake up to a sunrise and chill out with a beer at sunset. Life is good. (jsingely@keywestcity.com)

Here's an email letter from recent alum Joel Klug (BS 2006)
Hey thanks for the jpeg of our studio project. The people that interviewed me were really impressed by it and I was offered a position 40 miles east of Portland! This will be a great learning oppurtunity for me because I will be taking plans similar to the ones in the studio class and taking them to the next level. The position is an 11 month commitment that begins in October sponsored through the University of Oregon Americorps and several other grants. In return for my service, I receive a living stipend, 9 grad credits, and an educational award. I just thought that I would let you know about where I'll be for the next year and that if any other EMU planning students were looking for something to do before grad school, there are still a few positions left through the RARE progam in Oregon, and it would be great to some more EMU people out there! More info is listed on the jobs page at planning.org

Dave Schneider (BS 1983, MS 1985) has taken on an interesting building project along the river in Mt. Clemens. This old house has had many additions, and Dave is trying to restore as much of its original integrity as possible. Good luck in the quest.

Sherrie Pryor (BS 1999), in addition to being Assistant DDA director in Plymouth, Michigan, has become a newspaper correspondent. She wrote an article on the Freecycle program for the Westland Observer. Freecycle is a good way to recycle stuff you no longer need. (Look it up on the web.)

GIS student Faris Al-Hadi has been working as a volunteer in Iraq, helping improve the system of irrigation canals. He recently received a certificate from the U.S. Army for his work.

Candice Elkins (BS 2000?) is now Candice Briere. She is working at Atwell-Hicks in their Ann Arbor office, in their commercial group. She's been working with clients such as Wal-Mart, Lowe"s and CVS.

Justin Snyder (MS 2005), working as a planner in Columbia County, Georgia: Things are going very well here. I make about $45,000 a year in my first year after starting at $33,900 last May. I was promoted from Planning Technician to Planner I, and I see the likelihood of becoming Planner II or Senior Planner in another year once I take the AICP exam. Everyone I work with is very nice, friendly, and fun, which makes working here a blast. I get to work with the public, private developers, elected and appointed officials, intra and inter-governmental agencies, land surveyors, and civil engineers on a daily basis, which has taught me so much. Finally, I am getting lots of experience in everything from soil erosion and sedimentation control to transportation planning to current planning to comprehensive planning. This should be a great job to help me quickly climb the ladder of success.

Joe Meyers (BS 2005) now has a position as Associate Planner in Antrim County, Michigan.

This note came from Jim Singelyn (MS 2006). I just took a job with the City of Gallatin, TN and will be moving there real soon to start planning as well as a lot of work in some capacity of helping residents through the devastation they took from the recent tornado that blew through there. Also, I just wanted to say thanks for everything at school and always taking an interest in me both personally and academically; it really meant a lot.

Andre Stone (BS 2004) obtained a position in the Planning office of the Department of Community Development for Lewis County in the state of Washington.

Bonnie Wessler (BS 2005) now has a position with the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG).

Take a class at another university?

Are you a grad student who would like to take a class at UofM, or MSU, or Wayne State. The Michigan Intercollegiate Graduate Studies (MIGS) program allows you to do just that. If the Host University has room in the class, your advisor can set it up with the host instructor. You pay the tuition rate of the Host University, and you grade applies to you degree requirements at EMU.

For more information, check out MIGS online or see your advisor, Norm Tyler.

Guide to Planning Programs

Are you an undergrad student considering going into a graduate Planning program. Norm Tyler has a copy of the latest Guide to Programs in Urban and Regional Programs. This book covers in significant detail programs in the U.S. and is a great resource when comparing schools and programs. Drop in at any time to look at it and make copies of relevant pages. You can also look for schools online at: http://www.acsp.org/org/links_to_planning_schools.htm

"Planetizen" There's an online service that will send you twenty interesting articles on planning twice a week. It also lists job openings for planners. It's called "Planetizen" and it's free. Look it up on Google and see for yourself. The Planning faculty use it regularly to stay updated on news.

Contact For information on the Urban and Regional Planning and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) programs, contact Norm Tyler at ntyler@emich.edu or 734.487.8656.