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Planning DesignerGraduates of the Community and Regional Planning program at
1. Graduates will be able to critically examine community problems and issues, design an appropriate planning process and collaborate in leading the development and implementation of public plans and policies.
2. Graduates will be able to maintain a working knowledge of the organizations and institutional frameworks of planning practice, law and policy, at the local, state and regional level.
3. Graduates will be skilled in facilitating citizen involvement for plan development or for the evaluation of existing programs.
4. Graduates will demonstrate management and leadership skills, including well developed people skills, an understanding of organizational behavior and context, and familiarity with public budgeting and finance.
5. Graduates will have the capacity to develop and answer research questions for policy application in their substantive area of planning practice.
6. Graduates will understand and practice to the ethical professional standards outlined by the American Institute of Certified Planners.
Communication Skills
Graduates will be able to communicate effectively in a variety of settings using a variety of methods. Their communication skills will support the collaborative and public nature of their work. Graduates will design and make effective presentations verbally and visually. Graduates will write well-supported argumentative papers with a clear main idea using credible sources.
1. Graduates will demonstrate effective written communication skills
2. Graduates will demonstrate effective oral communication skills
3. Graduates will demonstrate effective visual communication skills
Management and Leadership Skills
Graduates will be able to assume leadership and management roles within the planning community. They will be trained in leadership and organizational skills and have a knowledge management practices frequently employed within planning environments. Furthermore, graduates will be able to employ skills related to fiscal management and policy, inter-organizational collaboration, team building, and data management necessary to develop collaborative planning efforts.
1. Graduates will have a working knowledge of group dynamics and team building.
2. Graduates will have the ability to assess and evaluate competency in planning skills, and work with project-related budgets.
3. Graduates will know alternative methods of organizing and managing planning in both private and public settings.
4. Graduates will have an understanding of fiscal policy in the context of the implementation of plans and policy.
Measures would include knowledge of public organization of planning systems (e.g. community development vs. planning office etc.) as well as the functions of planners in closed, open and natural systems of organizations. Example: how planners function in hierarchical vs. matrix systems.
Life-Long Learning Outcomes
Graduates students have demonstrated many life-long learning skills when they begin their graduate education. Graduates will demonstrate continued commitment to life-long learning through their research and citizen involvement skills and practices. Graduates will demonstrate their ability to integrate formal, informal, experiential and research learning in their work as effective planners, researchers and citizens. Graduates will demonstrate leadership in their approach to new situations.
Research Outcomes
1. Problem formulation: Graduates will have the ability to break down complex real world problems into research worthy questions and make them meaningful to stakeholders.
2. Research skills and data gathering: Graduates will have the ability to design and conduct various types of research, including case study methods, survey design, and primary data collection methods such as observation, open-ended interviewing and the design of questionnaires. Graduates will have the ability to assess quality and relevance of secondary data and gather it effectively.
3. Quantitative skills and Qualitative skills: Graduates will have the ability to use statistical and other techniques, skills, and tools of the planning profession to analyze planning problems, generate alternatives and evaluate their consequences.
4. Use of Computers: Graduates will be able to demonstrate competency in basic computer programs, including planning-related software and other modern computer-based tools of the planning profession.
5. Evaluate and critique research methodology: Graduates will be able to evaluate data quality and distinguish/identify quality research methodology.
Knowledge Outcomes (Core):
Students will be able to reason using knowledge from the following areas in order to accomplish planning tasks.
1. Human settlements: structure, process and function
a. knowledge of human settlements in their regional context
i. forces and influences shaping form, economics, demographics and governance
ii. political & socioeconomic structure, including multicultural and gender dimensions
iii. role of the city in shaping the region
b. urban finance and urban infrastructure
i. economic analysis
ii. political analysis, including multicultural and gender implications
c. land use
i. traditions of land use governance
ii. implications of land use structures
iii. interrelationships between land use and transportation, environment and social life(including race, ethnicity, class and gender dimensions)
2. History and theory of planning process and practice
a. descriptive theory of planning
i. as related to 1), especially
ii. History and theory of planning process and practice
iii. socio-economic theory and governance
iv. political theory and governance
b. normative theory of planning
i. theories of knowledge
ii. theories of ethics and distributive justice
iii. planning process theory: theories of planning/governance as allocation, as resolution of conflicts
c. history of the profession of planning
d. process of planning
3. Administrative/legal/political context
a. legal context:
i. enabling legislation, laws of process and substance, legal interpretation
ii. zoning, general plans, planning law
iii. public finance
b. planning agencies: powers and obligations
c. administration: political and organizational behavior
4. An area of specialized knowledge developed through course work and thesis/ professional report
Updated 06/07/06-09:21 PID:909