E-Bulletin September 12, 2005

E-Bulletin September 12, 2005 

UC IRVINE / PPD COOL STUFF UPDATE / 2005.9.12

From the UCI Department of Planning, Policy, and Design (PPD)
One in an occasional series for PPD supporters and prospective students

By Ken Chew, Graduate Advisor

||||| OCTOBER OPEN HOUSE for PROSPECTIVE APPLICANTS (see below) |||||

In this issue:

* Our hurricane story
* MURP students to attend planning association meeting at Yosemite
* PPD's Scholarly Mint
* Fifteen Thursdays (PPD colloquia)
* Faculty kudos
* Open House for prospective applicants (Saturday, October 22)
* NEW FEATURE: Ask the Grad Advisor

OUR HURRICANE STORY

You may have heard more compelling Katrina stories, but this features our own Planning, Policy, and Design housing policy expert, Victoria Basolo. Basolo has two connections to Katrina. After finishing her doctorate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Basolo taught for several years in the planning department at the University of New Orleans (UNO) before coming to UCI. She's also the principal investigator on a six-figure National Science Foundation (NSF) grant for examining civic use of the Internet in disaster preparedness.

Basolo's ties with New Orleans spurred PPD to be the first grad program at UCI to officially seek a way to help displaced Katrina students continue their studies. With additional leadership from PPD professor Kristen Day, PPD is presently collaborating with Cal Poly Pomona in an attempt to enable a displaced UNO planning student to enroll in Cal Poly's planning program.

Professor Basolo teaches the required Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) introduction to statistical analysis. She's also a friendly presence in the PPD hallways. Either way, there's a good chance that you'll meet her.

STUDENTS AWARDED Cal-APA TRAVEL GRANTS

MURP students Suzy Kim, Natalia Komar, Waen Messner, Lan Nguyen (all class of '06) and Seth Connolly (class of '07) have been awarded PPD travel grants to represent UCI at the annual meeting of the American Planning Association, California Chapter (Cal-APA), October 30-November 2 at the Ahwanee Lodge in Yosemite National Park. Because of the unusually high expense of meeting in Yosemite, this year's travel grants were larger than usual.

PPD HOUSES SCHOLARLY JOURNALS

If publications are the coin of university researchers, then PPD has become a mint. PPD faculty members Victoria Basolo and Rodolfo Torres have been chosen to edit the Journal of Urban Affairs (JUA), one of the most widely cited scholarly journals in urban studies. The journal’s editorial offices moved to UCI on July 1, 2005, joining the editorial offices of the Journal of Regional Science, which has been edited since 2002 by PPD chair Marlon Boarnet. PPD faculty member Scott Bollens has joined the JUA editorial team as an associate editor.

2005-06 COLLOQUIA - FIFTEEN THURSDAYS

Thursdays are PPD colloquium day. All department colloquia -- Practice Seminars, Research Seminars, and Community Outreach Partnership Seminars -- are lined up for Thursdays - making scheduling easier for everyone. Watch this bulletin for some of the upcoming BIG names and GOOD speakers. (Some of the big names will also be good speakers.) And check the PPD website for time and place.

FACULTY KUDOS

-||- Joe DiMento is one of only 30 senior scholars across the U.S. this year to receive a Fulbright Distinguished Chair award. The award will enable DiMento to serve as a faculty member in environmental policy at Italy's Polytechnic Institute of Turin. DiMento teaches PPD's environmental law and land use classes.

-||- Jean-Daniel Saphores has received a multi-year, seven-figure grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for a study of e-waste recycling behavior. Saphores teaches environmental economics and a required MURP course in planning analysis.

OCTOBER OPEN HOUSE FOR PROSPECTIVE APPLICANTS

Please join us for breakfast at the PPD Open House for prospective graduate program applicants (masters and doctoral). The event will be held on Saturday morning, October 22, 2005 at the UCI Alumni House. Breakfast will be served starting a 9 AM; the program will start at 9:30 AM and run until 11:30. RSVP appreciated but not necessary. For more information or RSVP, please contact Janet Gallagher .

** New Feature **
ASK the GRAD ADVISOR
Questions from real prospective applicants
Answered by PPD Grad Advisor Ken Chew

Q: Should I apply for the MURP or the PhD program?

A: Are you a "doer" or a "thinker"? MURP training is for students who like to "do something" about planning issues, PhD training is for students who like to "think about" them. MURP training is for students who want to put their hands on a problem, PhD training is for students who'd like to sit back and write about it. It takes both kinds of dispositions to make the planning profession go 'round, but which better describes you?

Q: I still have some courses to choose before applying for grad school. Which courses will help me most?

A: Pick the courses that require the most writing and independent research and thought. Seek rigorous training in research design, whether using qualitative or numeric methodology. Admissions reviewers look at the quality of your course list, not just the GPA. They are apt to view these kinds of courses favorably (providing, of course, that you also do well in them!).

COMING in "ASK the GRAD ADVISOR"

* Are letters of recommendation really "negotiable"?
* What goes into a good personal statement?
* My GPA or test scores are unimpressive -- is my application a lost cause?
* How much does professional experience strengthen my application?

// PPD Cool Stuff Update // is written by Ken Chew, Associate Professor and PPD Graduate Director, with help from Karen Morris, Janet Gallagher, and Marlon Boarnet. Please send ideas or contributions or, to remove your address from this e-mail list, contact .