News from the Schools: September - October 2002

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Portland State University

Portland State University
College of Urban and Public Affairs Founding Dean Announces Retirement

Contact: Erin Malecha (malecha@pdx.edu)

Doctor Nohad A. Toulan, founding dean of the College of Urban and Public Affairs, announced today that he will retire in June 2003. Under Toulan's 30 years of leadership, the College of Urban and Public Affairs has gained national and international prominence. Toulan will remain involved with the College, working on a part-time basis within the Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies.

"Nohad has been an invaluable advisor to me on urban growth and planning," said Portland Mayor Vera Katz. "His legacy as an urban planner and dean of the College of Urban and Public Affairs is reflected all around the region in our wonderful quality of life. I know that retirement will open doors to new adventures and opportunities, and I know we can count on him to continue his vital involvement in the life of our city and in planning its future."

Portland State President Daniel O. Bernstine said, "Nohad Toulan's well-deserved reputation as an urban planner and a leader in higher education has brought regional, national and international distinction to the College of Urban and Public Affairs. Under Nohad's leadership, PSU has also gained national recognition as an urban university. The University District and the Urban Center and Plaza would not have happened without his vision and tenacity. His extraordinary commitment to his students and faculty has enriched this institution and left a legacy we can all be proud of in the years to come. His plan for retirement will allow us to engage in a national search for only the second dean of the College of Urban and Public Affairs and we are delighted that he will continue to be involved in the community, the College, and in PSU."

Toulan came to Portland State in 1972 to direct the Urban Studies Ph.D. program and subsequently became the founding dean of the College in 1976. Prior to joining Portland State he held a faculty position within the Architecture and Planning program at New York's Columbia University. Toulan, an internationally renowned urban planner, has been instrumental in the development of Egypt's Greater Cairo Region, writing and directing much of its urban policies. In 1965 he became the Greater Cairo Region's first planning director, and in 1979 he guided the development of its new urban policy. While on leave from Portland State in 1984 and 1985 he prepared the Regional Plan for the Holy City of Mecca. He has been recognized as a visionary and a leader throughout the world.

Under Toulan's leadership, the College marked many milestones: in 1976 the Master's in Urban and Regional Planning was established; the College's work in community health began in 1975 with bachelor's and master's degrees in health education; health administration and policy was added in the early 1980s and in the late '90s the Master of Public Health program was established as a joint effort between Portland State, Oregon Health & Science University, and Oregon State University; the Institute for Portland Metropolitan Studies was established in 1992; and the Mark O. Hatfield School of Government was established in 1997.

This May the College celebrated its 25th anniversary during the first-ever Urban Pioneer Awards Dinner, where Neil Goldschmidt and Fred Stickel received Urban Pioneer Awards for their contributions to the vitality of the region. In September 2000, the College dedicated its new Urban Center and Plaza and the state-of-the-art Distance Learning Facility. At the dedication of Urban Center and Plaza, Toulan said, "This new building is just a means to an end. The end is to match the highest quality students with exceptional faculty to meet the needs of our communities. The extent that this wonderful new facility helps us accomplish this goal will be a measure of its value . . . just as cities are constantly evolving, the College of Urban and Public Affairs will continue to progress in the future."

"Dean Toulan's vision has helped to propel the College, the university, and the metropolitan area to national and international recognition," said Ethan Seltzer, director of the Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies. "His work, and his way of working are an inspiration and model for all of those seeking to make a difference on behalf of this community in the future."

The College is currently divided into three schools - the School of Community Health, the Mark O. Hatfield School of Government and the School of Urban Studies and Planning. It also includes eight public service and research centers and institutes that contribute knowledge and service not only to academia, but to the city, county and state. These include: the Institute on Aging, the Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies, the Center for Public Health Studies, the Center for Population Research and Census, the Criminal Justice Policy Research Institute, the Institute for Nonprofit Management and the Executive Leadership Institute. Today, the College offers the only Ph.D. programs in Urban Studies, Regional Science, and Public Administration and Policy between Berkeley and Seattle.

For a complete history of the College of Urban and Public Affairs, visit www.upa.pdx.edu/history.html. For a complete biography on Dr. Nohad Toulan, please contact David Santen at 503-725-8789.

Release Number: 02-088
Date: May 17, 2002

Clemson University
July, 2002

Ø      Dr. J. Terrence Farris, AICP, has been appointed Program Director of the graduate City and Regional Planning Program. He replaces Dr. Barry Nocks, AICP, who was appointed the Associate Dean of Research and Outreach for the College of Architecture, Arts, and Humanities.  Barry will remain a member of the planning faculty teaching Planning Theory and an active member of ACSP.   Terry is an Associate Professor, who has been with the Clemson Planning faculty since August, 1994 and has taught planning process and administration, housing issues in the U.S., real estate development, economic development, and growth management and legal issues.  Dr. Farris is also the first Director of Clemson’s Center for Real Estate Development, an initiative between the College of Architecture, Arts & Humanities and the College of Business & Behavioral Science. He is a member of the Executive Committee of SCAPA and provides substantial public service to the SC planning community as a founding member/instructor of the SC Academy for Planning and a principal instructor for the AICP exam.

Prior to shifting to academia in 1991, Dr. Farris had a 17-year planning consulting, homebuilding, and administrative career in St. Louis including being a Vice-President of a 20-person planning consulting firm and the Director of Development for the St. Louis Community and Economic Development Agencies.  He has worked in 40 cities in 10 states on public-private partnerships for $1.5 billion of development.  He received a BA. in Urban Geography from   St. Louis University in 1972, a Master’s in Urban Planning in 1974 and the Ph.D. in Urban and Regional Planning from Michigan State University in 1996.

Ø      Stephen L. Sperry has been appointed an Associate Professor in City and Regional Planning.  His teaching emphasis is land use planning applications using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). With over 25 years of experience in GIS applications, he has been a pioneer in the industry.  His teaching, research, and consulting have long focused on the development and application of GIS in a variety of environmental science and management settings. As former Director of Strategic Planning at ERDAS, INC., he worked with ESRI, Microsoft, IBM, Autodesk, MapInfo and others. He led the development of the first raster/vector integration, the ERDAS/ArcInfo Live Link. He also developed Model Maker-the first object-based graphical interface for integrated raster and vector spatial analysis.  He won many research grants including over $2,000,000 from NASA for Expert Classifier and MapSheets, the first desktop GIS to incorporate Microsoft’s Excel for spatial analysis. He previously taught at The Ohio State University and received bachelor and master’s degrees in Landscape Architecture from SUNY, College of Environmental Sciences and Forestry at Syracuse University in 1970 and Harvard University in 1975.  While at Harvard, Mr. Sperry was part of the NSF study, which established the first major GIS software development and the catalyst for today’s GIS industry.

Ø      Professor Daniel J. Nadenicek of The Pennsylvania State University was appointed by Dean Janice C. Schach (past president of ASLA) as Chair of the Department of Planning and Landscape Architecture.  He has the Bachelors and Masters in Landscape Architecture from the University of Minnesota as well as a Bachelors and Masters of Science in History from Mankato State University.  He was the overall graduate coordinator and the BLA/MLA coordinator for five years and the Director of the Center for Studies in Landscape History.  He also chaired the international studies task force after teaching in Italy for a semester.  He is a noted landscape historian and has numerous published articles and applied research initiatives including work with the Presidio in San Francisco and Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Park in Woodstock, VT. 

Ø      Dr. Jim London is directing two research projects. "Transportation Funding Options" funded by the Federal Highway Administration and "A Framework for Comprehensive Economic Development Strategies" funded by the U.S. Economic Development Administration. Dr. London’s recent presentations include "The Implications of Climate Change on Small Island Developing States" presented at the First World Planning Schools Conference in Shanghai and "Funding Transportation Infrastructure Options" at the Annual Meeting of the North American Regional Science Association in Charleston, SC.

Ø      Clemson has established the Center for Community Growth and Change (CCGC) under the leadership of Dr. Barry Nocks AICP.  Recent research and public service includes: 

o       Reedy River Master Plan  This year-long study in Greenville, SC. (380,000 pop.) included a participatory process and master planning effort for the first 16 miles of the Reedy River.  This project was directed by   Dr. Barry Nocks, assisted by Dr. Umit Yilmaz.  Dr. Grant Cunningham and Jeff Parkey were faculty for the Master’s Comprehensive Planning Studio class. Papers on this project were presented at ACSP, the 32^nd Livable Cities Conference, and at the Environmental Systems Research Institute’s GIS User Conference in San Diego.  Five studios in planning, architecture, and landscape architecture worked on aspects of this project.

o        Meeting Air Quality Standards through Alternative Scenarios in Transportation Modeling  Funded by SC DOT,  this project includes developing expertise in TransCad, a GIS-based transportation modeling software, then testing this software in a recognized planning area for an MPO, developing and running the model under various development scenarios, and running the results through a SC Dept. of Health and Environmental Quality air pollution model. Emily Terrell is the principal investigator. 

o       LESA (Land Evaluation System and Analysis) Use Survey, funded by the USDA--National Resources Conservation Services in partnership with the University of New Mexico.  Jeff Parkey is Clemson’s principal investigator for this grant, a national survey of local governments regarding their use of the LESA system. 

Ø      Dr. Terry Farris has been appointed the first director of Clemson’s new Center for Real Estate Development, a joint initiative between the College of Architecture, Arts, and Humanities and the College of Business and Behavioral Science.  He is facilitating The Ad Hoc Committee on Planning and Development comprised of six members each from the Home Builders Association of SC and SCAPA in quarterly meetings discussing growth issues in the state of SC. 

Ø      Dr. Terry Farris had the lead article in the Forum Section,  “The Barriers to Using Infill Development in Achieving Smart Growth.”  Housing Policy Debate.  12 (1): 1-30.  Based on this article, he was a panelist on Housing Affordability at the Fall National Conference, Urban Land Institute, Boston.  He was also one of 35 invited panel members, Joint Forum on Housing Density, sponsored by the Urban Land Institute, National Multi-Family Housing Association, and the American Institute of Architects held at AIA Headquarters, Washington D.C. in February 2002 including Paul Farmer, Emil Malizia, Chris Nelson, and a variety of stakeholders in the development related arena.

Ø      Clemson University is honored and excited to be the host of the 2005 ACSP Conference in Charleston, SC.