About PLACE

Hi everyone,

Welcome to EMU and to a new semester. All of PLACE members are excited to get the club up and running again. We held an orientation for new students in mid-September and got a chance to meet some of you and give you an idea of who we are and what we're trying to accomplish.

Essentially, we feel that school - be it graduate or undergraduate is what you make of it. However many years it takes you to complete your education, at some point you'll be finished and on your way. While you're here why not get as much out of it as possible?

We hope (with your help) to offer a range of opportunities for professional, educational and social growth. When it's all said and done, what you learn in school is important but who you know can sometimes be just as important. Take these opportunities (and create your own) to network with your fellow students and professionals working in the field.

To wrap up, these are some of the main projects that the core PLACE group is working on:

1) Increasing the program's outreach efforts to recruit new students and increase the size of the program
2) Raising funds to supplement and increase the club's scholarship fund
3) Foster networking with each other, alumni and the planning community

These are general goals, with specific activities that need to happen to accomplish them. These activites include: registering PLACE as an official club with the university, starting up the PLACE Journal again, organizing fundraisers, regularly updating the blog and keeping members informed through emails and the web, continuing the Mentoring Program that was started last year, planning field trips and hosting guest speakers and starting an Alumni Association specific to the program.

There is obviously a limit to what a few people can do. If any of these activities sound interesting to you and like something that you would like to either organize or support, please contact any of us and we will be more than happy to work with you. We would really like for this club to be a success.

Thank you for taking the time to check out the blog. We'll see you at the meeting on Thursday, October 4!

The PLACE Club

Jenny Bruen (jbruenplanning@hotmail.com)

Jessica Corsi (jcorsi@emich.edu)

Erik Dotzauer (edotzauer@gmail.com)

Kristen Hatfield (kristenhatfield@gmail.com)