News Archive: Summer 2004
Graduate Planning Studio Wins Planning Award.
“Food for Growth: A Community Food System Plan for Buffalo's West Side,” the product of a Fall 2003 graduate planning studio led by Dr. Samina Raja, has received the Student Project Award for Planning Excellence from the Western New York section of the American Planning Association. Honored for its comprehension, originality, expert analysis, and thoughtful inclusion of community residents, the project is now under consideration for similar top honors from the Upstate New York Chapter of the APA.
Master Plan Award to Urban Design Project Collaboration with City of Buffalo.
In June, 2004, Professor Robert Shibley and the UB Urban Design Project Team received kudos for Queen City Hub: Regional Action Plan for Downtown Buffalo, which was awarded the 2004 Outstanding Planning Project for Comprehensive Planning from the Western New York Section of the American Planning Association. Developed in collaboration with Buffalo Place, Inc., and the City of Buffalo, this innovative, thoughtful, and graphically smart plan is now under consideration for awards from the Upstate New York Chapter of the American Planning Association.
Students Experience Summer Abroad in Havana, Cuba
Calling the program “rich,” “extremely challenging,” and “life-changing,” leaders and 23 student participants in “Cuba Down on the Ground: Experiencing the Socialist City” returned from the four-week summer program with deep understanding and knowledge of Cuban neighborhood life, society, and culture. Led by Professor Henry Louis Taylor, Jr., the group of undergraduates and graduates in planning and other fields explored in depth the unique and historic city of Havana, encountering daily its people and environments.
Dr. G. William Page receives the Jay Chatterjee Award for Distinguished Service to ACSP
Professor Bill Page (above right) received a top national honor in October 2004 when he received the Jay Chatterjee Award for Distinguished Service to the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP). The award cited Bill’s intellectual and service contributions as founder and operator of PLANET, the major online listserv for academic planners, and also noted his decades of service on ACSP committees and the Planning Accreditation Board. In his remarks at the honors ceremony held in Portland, Oregon, Bill told the gathering of the challenges of developing such an online community back in the days when e-mail was a novel and rarely used communications tool.
Dr. Daniel B. Hess takes Best Article honors from ACSP and Journal of Planning Education and Research
Assistant Professor Daniel B. Hess, together with co-authors Jeffrey Brown of Florida State University and Donald Shoup of UCLA, was last year’s winner of the Chester Rapkin Award for the Best Article in the most recent volume (2003-04) of the Journal of Planning Education and Research, the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning’s premier publishing outlet. The article, “Fare-Free Public Transit at Universities: An Evaluation,” uses the Los Angeles and UCLA case to demonstrate the enormous potential for fare-free transit programs on college campuses. The Rapkin Award Committee cited the research’s excellence in conception, analysis, execution, and application, including “sparkling writing” in a sub-discipline unaccustomed to such praise.
