E-Bulletin October 14, 2005
You have been referred to us as a strong prospective applicant for UC
Irvine's graduate program in the Department of Planning, Policy, and
Design (PPD). PPD offers both a Masters in Urban and Regional Planning
(MURP) and a Ph.D. in Planning, Policy, and Design. From now until the
January 15, 2006 application deadline, we will be sending occasional
updates about our department, our alumni, and the planning and public
policy professions. The second installment follows.
UC IRVINE / PPD COOL STUFF UPDATE / 2005.10.14
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:
* First-year MURP students board the bus
* UCI best in planning association student competition
* PPD speakers draw full houses
* Upcoming colloquia
* Faculty kudos
* Open House for prospective applicants (Saturday, October 22)
* NEW FEATURE: Ask the Grad Advisor
FIRST YEAR GRADS VIEW COUNTY'S "CHANGING FACE"
The entering MURP class boarded a bus on September 23 to carry out it's first official assignment: a whirlwind bus tour of sites in central and southern Orange County (OC). Sponsored by PPD's Center for Community Outreach Partnerships (COPC) and hosted by Victor Becerra and Kris Day, the annual tour is intended to help students look beyond stereotypes to recognize OC's "changing face."
This year's tour included a stop in Costa Mesa, where a panel of activists (including the former mayor) discussed an ongoing controversy generated by a day-laborer job center, and in San Clemente, where city planners discussed the challenges of incorporating affordable housing with high-end residential development and of downtown redevelopment.
PPD STUDENTS FIRST IN PLANNING FOUNDATION PRIZE WINNERS
PPD's MURP students won more awards than those in any other planning department in the 2005 annual American Planning Association (APA)-California Planning Foundation competition. That's more than Berkeley, or UCLA, or USC. Winners included:
Outstanding Student (State): Waen Messner, 1st place, $4,000 ; Natalia Komar, runner-up, $2,000. Outstanding Student (Orange County): Travis Seawards, $1,000. Munsell/Planning Roundtable Scholarship: Lan Nguyen, $1,000. Outstanding Student (Honorable Mention): Suzy Kim, 1-year APA membership. Student Merit Award: Ryan Graham, $500+1-year APA membership.
STANDING ROOM ONLY: October PPD Colloquia
Capacity audiences heard Professors Michael Woo ("Smart Growth or Dumb Urban Growth in China") and Jim Pick ("The U.S.-Mexico Border Sister Cities") at department colloquia on October 6 and 13. As an unexpected bonus, Michael Woo was named to the Los Angeles City Planning Commission on the same day that he spoke in our department seminar.
UPCOMING NOVEMBER SPEAKERS
Thursday, November 10. "Envisioning Real Utopias," Eric Olin Wright, University of Wisconsin, Madison. Reception 6-7 PM, lecture 7-8:30 PM, at the University Club. Sponsored by PPD's Center for Community Outreach Partnerships (COPC).
Thursday, November 17. "The Labor Market for Drivers at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach," Kristen Monaco, California State University, Long Beach. 12:30-1:30 PM, SE I room 306.
(The November 3 engagement of Irvine Mayor Beth Krom, announced elsewhere, has been canceled.)
FACULTY KUDOS
-||- Sanjoy Mazumdar delivered keynote addresses to the Environmental Design Research Association (Vancouver), the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM)(Mexico City), and the Royal Danish College of Art (Copenhagen) in just a five-week span this summer. Whew!
-||- Victor Becerra (COPC Director) and Kris Day have assembled $37,000 in grants to support "Inequality - Southern California's Hidden Fault Lines," a national conference to be held at UCI in the spring, showcasing influential authors William Julius Wilson and Myron Orfield.
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 at 9 AM; the program (featuring a panel of distinguished alumni) will start at 9:30 AM and run until 11:30.
The alumni panel will address three topics: (1) What do planners do? (2) How do planners train? (3) Why come to UCI?
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: Will unimpressive GRE scores sink my application?
A: Not necessarily. We look for overall strength across a variety of areas, including quality of undergraduate preparation (as shown by total GPA, GPA in the major/during the junior and senior years, and the rigor of courses), letters of recommendation, personal statement, work sample/professional experience (if submitted optionally), as well as test scores. As a rule, most successful applicants have weaker and stronger areas, but always with a positive profile altogether.
Q: How much does professional experience strengthen my application?
A: Roughly one-quarter to one-third of admitted applicants have significant planning-related professional experience. Put another way, the majority of successful applicants do not. Whereas planning-related experience is a definite plus, professional experience by itself is not sufficient to guarantee admission, and the majority of successful applicants are admitted without it.
COMING in "ASK the GRAD ADVISOR"
* Are letters of recommendation really "negotiable"?
* What goes into a good personal statement?
// 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 to .
UC IRVINE / PPD COOL STUFF UPDATE / 2005.10.14
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:
* First-year MURP students board the bus
* UCI best in planning association student competition
* PPD speakers draw full houses
* Upcoming colloquia
* Faculty kudos
* Open House for prospective applicants (Saturday, October 22)
* NEW FEATURE: Ask the Grad Advisor
FIRST YEAR GRADS VIEW COUNTY'S "CHANGING FACE"
The entering MURP class boarded a bus on September 23 to carry out it's first official assignment: a whirlwind bus tour of sites in central and southern Orange County (OC). Sponsored by PPD's Center for Community Outreach Partnerships (COPC) and hosted by Victor Becerra and Kris Day, the annual tour is intended to help students look beyond stereotypes to recognize OC's "changing face."
This year's tour included a stop in Costa Mesa, where a panel of activists (including the former mayor) discussed an ongoing controversy generated by a day-laborer job center, and in San Clemente, where city planners discussed the challenges of incorporating affordable housing with high-end residential development and of downtown redevelopment.
PPD STUDENTS FIRST IN PLANNING FOUNDATION PRIZE WINNERS
PPD's MURP students won more awards than those in any other planning department in the 2005 annual American Planning Association (APA)-California Planning Foundation competition. That's more than Berkeley, or UCLA, or USC. Winners included:
Outstanding Student (State): Waen Messner, 1st place, $4,000 ; Natalia Komar, runner-up, $2,000. Outstanding Student (Orange County): Travis Seawards, $1,000. Munsell/Planning Roundtable Scholarship: Lan Nguyen, $1,000. Outstanding Student (Honorable Mention): Suzy Kim, 1-year APA membership. Student Merit Award: Ryan Graham, $500+1-year APA membership.
STANDING ROOM ONLY: October PPD Colloquia
Capacity audiences heard Professors Michael Woo ("Smart Growth or Dumb Urban Growth in China") and Jim Pick ("The U.S.-Mexico Border Sister Cities") at department colloquia on October 6 and 13. As an unexpected bonus, Michael Woo was named to the Los Angeles City Planning Commission on the same day that he spoke in our department seminar.
UPCOMING NOVEMBER SPEAKERS
Thursday, November 10. "Envisioning Real Utopias," Eric Olin Wright, University of Wisconsin, Madison. Reception 6-7 PM, lecture 7-8:30 PM, at the University Club. Sponsored by PPD's Center for Community Outreach Partnerships (COPC).
Thursday, November 17. "The Labor Market for Drivers at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach," Kristen Monaco, California State University, Long Beach. 12:30-1:30 PM, SE I room 306.
(The November 3 engagement of Irvine Mayor Beth Krom, announced elsewhere, has been canceled.)
FACULTY KUDOS
-||- Sanjoy Mazumdar delivered keynote addresses to the Environmental Design Research Association (Vancouver), the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM)(Mexico City), and the Royal Danish College of Art (Copenhagen) in just a five-week span this summer. Whew!
-||- Victor Becerra (COPC Director) and Kris Day have assembled $37,000 in grants to support "Inequality - Southern California's Hidden Fault Lines," a national conference to be held at UCI in the spring, showcasing influential authors William Julius Wilson and Myron Orfield.
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 at 9 AM; the program (featuring a panel of distinguished alumni) will start at 9:30 AM and run until 11:30.
The alumni panel will address three topics: (1) What do planners do? (2) How do planners train? (3) Why come to UCI?
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: Will unimpressive GRE scores sink my application?
A: Not necessarily. We look for overall strength across a variety of areas, including quality of undergraduate preparation (as shown by total GPA, GPA in the major/during the junior and senior years, and the rigor of courses), letters of recommendation, personal statement, work sample/professional experience (if submitted optionally), as well as test scores. As a rule, most successful applicants have weaker and stronger areas, but always with a positive profile altogether.
Q: How much does professional experience strengthen my application?
A: Roughly one-quarter to one-third of admitted applicants have significant planning-related professional experience. Put another way, the majority of successful applicants do not. Whereas planning-related experience is a definite plus, professional experience by itself is not sufficient to guarantee admission, and the majority of successful applicants are admitted without it.
COMING in "ASK the GRAD ADVISOR"
* Are letters of recommendation really "negotiable"?
* What goes into a good personal statement?
// 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 to .
