ACSP Presidency 2001-2003
Wim Wiewel, University of Illinois at Chicago
Summary of main activities and accomplishments
It has been a pleasure and a privilege to serve as ACSP
president during these past two years. I particularly appreciate the
confidence placed in me by everyone since my shift from the deanship of Urban
Planning and Public Affairs at UIC to its College of Business Administration
created an unusual situation. I also am grateful for the support of my
colleagues at UIC who allowed me to fulfill the commitment I had made to ACSP.
Beyond that, all of the following activities and accomplishments are the
result of the hard work of many people, almost all volunteers, without whom
this organization would not exist.
As I said upon assuming the presidency, the first task is
to make sure ACSP’s main activities continue to function well. This has
indeed been the case, even as we have faced some challenges:
Conferences. The 2002 conference in
Baltimore was very well attended and was the most successful financially of
any we have had. The third joint conference with AESOP was held this summer
in Leuven. While attendance was a bit below projections, due to the SARS fears
earlier in the year and budget problems at U.S. universities, there was
widespread praise for the high quality of the sessions, and we made a little
money on it. This fall’s Administrator’s Conference was our largest ever.
Plans for future conferences, through 2007, are well underway.
JPER. The new publishing arrangement
with Sage is working out reasonably well. It has significantly reduced the
workload for the editors and is more favorable financially, although not yet
at the level we had anticipated. The new editorial team will start to take
over next year.
Planning Accreditation Board. The
biggest crisis of the past two years no doubt was the conflict with the AICP
about leadership of PAB. With the assistance of many, this was ultimately
resolved without disruption to the ongoing activities, although the
substantive disagreements about planning education and accreditation will
continue to be debated. Fritz Steiner, R.E. LeMon, Tridib Banerjee, and Genie
Birch were appointed or reappointed to the PAB.
Organizational structure. ACSP passed
new bylaws and implemented its new governance system, including the new
position of Vice President/President Elect, and a split of the Treasurer and
Secretary positions. We incorporated for the first time, and successfully
obtained tax-exempt status for the new
corporation. Organizational staffing was regularized, with
Donna Dodd serving as conference planner, ACSP staff, and bursar. New chairs
and members were appointed for virtually all committees, including the four
Standing Committees and the ten Special Committees and Taskforces.
Presidential priorities
In addition to maintaining the major organizational
activities, I identified four priorities (see ASCP Presidential Agenda,
2001-2003, JPER 21:424-425, 2002).
1. Increase the Visibility of
Planning and Planning Education.
Within ACSP, several committees deal with this goal. The
Strategic Communications Committee has prepared materials to assist programs in
marketing, and is planning a recruitment initiative. The Committee on the
Academy and the Profession assisted several threatened programs and also
organized the Administrators Conference and New Chairs School. A new joint
committee with the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture and a book
on smart growth jointly produced by ACSP and the U.S. EPA further contribute to
our visibility.
2. Increase Global Awareness in Planning
Education and Research.
Thirty-three people volunteered for the newly formed
Planning Globally Taskforce and its subcommittees on curriculum, study and
research abroad, and international associations and conferences. The task force
is undertaking or proposing a wide range of activities, including an edited
volume, the 2006 World Planning Schools conference, a charter for the Global
Planning Education Association Network, new accreditation criteria regarding
global education, etc., and will be continued into the future.
3. Increase Diversity.
The Diversity Committee has started discussions with the
APA about the creation of internships for minority students with large planning
agencies. The Committee has also proposed the appointment of diversity
coordinators at member schools. Progress in achieving these goals has
unfortunately been limited so far.
4. Increase Collaboration with the
Profession.
Relations with the profession were tainted because of the
conflict over the PAB. However, in many areas collaboration proceeded
productively, including meetings on practice-oriented research and the
accreditation process itself. ACSP leadership participated in the recent APA
Education Summit, and our 2004 conference in Portland will be held concurrently
with the APA’s Leadership Conference. New joint committees are being formed to
move forward initiatives related to curriculum, education, and public relations.
Conclusion
Especially from my vantage point in a business school, I
continue to be amazed and impressed with the commitment and values of planning
educators. Our field has increased in visibility over the past few years, as
suburban sprawl, urban revitalization, environmental awareness, and disaster
preparedness command national attention. Many of our programs are growing, even
as budgets are tightened. The organization is in good shape, structurally,
financially, and in terms of human resources. Given the demands on everyone’s
time, a volunteer organization must be selective in setting its agenda. We are
able to conduct our core business with experience and relative ease, albeit with
considerable volunteer effort. Beyond that, we are capable of marshalling the
people and resources to attack selected additional priorities. I urge ACSP to
continue with most of the priorities I set two years ago, and wish us all well
as we continue to make, and use, better plans.
