MRP- PAB Public Information, 2023-2024

We assess student achievement by the many awards and accolades of our students, their service to the community, and by the professional achievements of alumni. Some of our recent successes include:

• Each year, MRP students and faculty introduce city planning to roughly 50 High School students from the Springfield Honors Academy through studio-based class exercises, walking tours of Springfield neighborhoods, and student workshops held at the UMass Design Building.

• The Regional Planning Studio earned the MA APA student award in 2020 for Economic Development planning in the Town of Boxborough, MA.

• MRP student Janelle Franklin was awarded a 2023 grant from the Lincoln Land Institute to design scenario planning workshops exploring affordable housing opportunities for rural communities in Western Massachusetts.

• MRP/MS Civil Engineering student Henry Mulvey was awarded the American Public Transportation Foundation’s George M. Smerk Scholarship for 2020.

• The Fall 2021 Regional Planning Studio partnered with Pioneer Valley Transit Authority on a federal HOPE funded grant to study regional transit equity and accessibility.

• The Fall 2022-23 Regional Planning Studio was awarded a two-year EPA grant to -year to assist the South Central Regional Council of Governments (SCRCOG) develop a Comprehensive Climate Action for the New Haven, CT region.

• MRP/MLA Marcos Gonzalez was nominated as a Frederic Law Olmsted Scholar in 2021.

• MRP/MS3 Lee Halasz received a Student Paper Award from the Federal Planning Division of the APA in 2021.

• The department provides funding to support student attendance at national and regional APA conferences.

• We have nearly 400 graduates actively working in planning and related professions in the United States and abroad many of whom remain actively engaged with the department.

• LARP consistently ranks near the top of our college in Alumni fundraising, most of which is used to support student scholarships and program enhancement.

Percentage of all graduates obtaining professional planning, planning-related, or other positions within 12 months of graduation, graduating class of 2022