Community and Regional Planning-About Us

The Department of Community and Regional Planning, located in the College of Design at Iowa State University believes that working with citizens, planners advance change for the betterment of community life locally, regionally, nationally and internationally. Our multicultural department engages with planning practice in integrating research, teaching and outreach consistent with the tenets of the Land Grant Mission. We are known for our strong community-based learning and scholarship in an applied context including a commitment to Extension and Outreach that strengthens the sustainable relationship between people and the land.

The Department offers the Master of Community and Regional Planning (MCRP) degree (in addition to a Bachelors degree) with areas of concentration in land use and transportation, community design and development, and rural and environmental planning. In addition, students can design their own area of concentration with the assistance of their major professor. The program of graduate study is accredited by the Planning Accreditation Board of the American Institute of Certified Planners and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning.

Double degree programs are offered with architecture (MCRP/MARCH), business (MCRP/MBA), public administration (MCRP/MPA), and landscape architecture (MCRP/MLA). The department also participates in the interdepartmental major in transportation.

The department also offers a 13-credit graduate certificate in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in spatial analysis, GIS applications and program management. The program is open to graduate students in all disciplines of the University.

ISU Design West is a new satellite program aimed at expanding regional educational opportunities in the disciplines of architecture, landscape architecture, community and regional planning, and interior design. ISU Design West is headquartered in the Fourth Street Historic District of Sioux City, in a renovated studio space housed in one of the oldest remaining buildings in Sioux City , an 1890s-era former steam-boiler plant with a four-story smokestack. Students, faculty and community partners will draw on this setting and the distinctive late 19th-century architecture of the city as their inspiration for developing regional design projects.

The Center for Town/Craft is charged with identifying and developing new "ideas and strategies that strengthen small communities". Housed in refurbished historic buildings across from the restored Carnegie Library in Perry, Town/Craft combines the resources of the cultural studies of Hometown Perry, Iowa , the multidimensional outreach network of Iowa State University Extension, and the students, staff and faculty ISU into a comprehensive vehicle for envisioning a sustainable future for Iowa towns and surrounding landscapes.

The Department of Community and Regional Planning at Iowa State University is one of the nation's largest and longest-established planning programs. The department has an outstanding international faculty committed to excellence in the teaching of planning at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. With strong linkages to planning practice and other professions our graduates are fully prepared for exciting careers in planning, urban and regional governance, and a wide range of related activities.

The following are venues for contacting the Department of Community and Regional Planning:

146 College of Design
Iowa State University
Ames, IA 50011

Department Office . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . 515-294-8958
Fax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 515-294-2348
Chair, Doug Johnston.... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 515-294-8958
Academic Advisor, Mindy Cooper . . . . . . . . . . . . . 515-294-3680
Administrative Specialist, Jodi Hilleman . . . . . . . . . 515-294-5677
Extension, 126 College of Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . 515-294-8707
Graduate Education, Director, Francis Owusu . . . .515-294-7769

Updated 04/04/08-04:40 PID:279