Upcoming Meeting

There is a PLACE meeting on

Thursday, November 1
4:30 in the Studio at Strong Hall

Agenda Items:

Planning Tours
Holiday Party
Fundraising

Hope you can make it!

Perfect for Planners

Several months ago I had the great pleasure of hearing Paul Schutt, publisher of Model D Media, speak at a conference put on by the Michigan Suburbs Alliance. Paul's talk centered on the importance of changing the paradigm through which the media views a city like Detroit. While there was plenty of bad to focus on, Model D left the "if it bleeds it leads" mindset behind, in order to focus on the good that was happening in the city. As it turns out they found plenty of good there, and in cities like Pittsburgh, Grand Rapids and Lansing.

If you haven't already seen these publications, do yourself a favor and check them out.

Model D in Detroit

Pop City in Pittsburgh

Rapid Growth in Grand Rapids

Capital Gains in Lansing

Back from the MAP Conference

For those of you who attended the MAP Conference last weekend, what were your thoughts? Would you recommend that other students attend and what, if anything did you learn from the experience??

Economic Development & GIS Positions

The City of Clawson is looking for a DDA Intern.
You can find out about the position here.

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Job Title: PROPERTY ASSESSMENT TECHNICIAN (GIS), Wayne County

Annual Pay Rate: 0 $31,425

About the Job: Working for the Assessment and Equalization Division of Management and Budget, employees in this class perform specialized work duties that include: plotting legal descriptions and subdivisions of any scale and shape on both paper maps and as part of a computerized Geographic Information System; editing and correcting parcel images using ArcGIS software or other comparable mapping software; creating maps, drawings and charts using ArcGIS software or other comparable mapping software; inputting and updating tax parcel description data and other relevant data into Equalizer assessment administration software; making composite maps by joining existing map data and section map data; operating electronic scanners, printers and plotters in the development of digital maps and map products; helping in the development of GIS training course materials and classes for county and local governmental employees; and other duties as assigned.


Qualifications: An Associates degree or higher, from an accredited college or university, in Engineering, Land Surveying, Geography, Urban Planning, Computer Science or similar discipline; AND At least one (1) year full time paid professional experience in Geographic Information Systems applications using ArcInfo and ArcGIS software programs; AND A valid State of Michigan driver's license and an acceptable, safe driving record.


Career Opportunities:


Posted Date: 10/9/2007

Closing Date: Until Filled

Exam Needed: NO
http://www.waynecounty.com/personnel/asps/search_results.asp?jobs_listing=152

Hi URP and GIS Fellow Classmates!

Planetizen, the leading online news and information source for the urban planning and development community, has begun work on the next edition of its popular Guide to Graduate Urban Planning Programs.

To help provide prospective planning students more information about each program, Planetizen is asking current and recent urban planning graduate students to participate in an online survey about their master's degree program.

The survey only takes 5-10 minutes, and all respondents will be entered in a drawing to win a 4GB video iPod Nano.

You can take the survey by visting:
http://survey.planetizen.com/students/

Don't forget to forward this to other planning students and recent grads.

Thanks.

What happened at the Oct.4th party/meeting?

We began the meeting with some light discussion about how to expand and grow the URP and GIS programs. There were suggestions from Ian, Greg, Joe, Kevin, Erik, and others about how we can reach out to communities, high schools and the freshman/sophmore here at EMU. We talked about the brochure that is currently being used for marketing the program and discussed some ways to distribute it. Next, we moved onto the topic of some potential off campus events and/or tours that the club could partake in..... Aaron Flohr is heading this up. We brainstormed some ideas... Michigan Ave, Canton.... Cherry Creek, Midtown Detroit, Howell's New Urbanism town and we included tours of historic structures. Joe has offered to speak with a friend that is involved in "green building" about making a visit to one of our club meetings for an informal educating session.

Aaron is looking for more ideas and some contacts for tours. Please let him know if you have connections with new or old developments that may interest the club as a tour. His email is aflohr@emich.edu.

After the meeting part, we gathered around the drafting tables and created some sculptures for the studio room. We used foam core, fabric, cardboard cylinders and other nifty junk. We also worked on a "My Favorite PLACE "banner that is now located on the green wall. We encourage you to add YOUR favorite place to ours..... we'd like to display it in a better location so that those in the halls can see what we are up to.. and what urban planning is about.

We have a bake sale coming up this Wednesday, October 10th. All baked goods should be dropped off at Dr. Jones's office by Tuesday Oct.9th evening.... and we need all the baked goods we can get, as well as some help that day! Please consider 30min. to an hour of your time. We could use the money for a variety of fun activities! Contact Kristen... khatfield@gmail.com if you need more info or have some suggestions.

Our NEXT MEETING will be Thursday November 1st... all of our meetings are on the 1st Thursday of the month.
In the meantime, look for other events.... I look forward to seeing all of you real soon!

Jenny

Please Leave Comments - Your Internship Experience

For those of you who've completed internships, or are currently in an internship - what has your experience been like so far? Would you recommend the experience to another student or has it not been a good experience? If it hasn't been a good experience, why is that?

Please leave comments to let others know about your experiences and vote on the poll in the sidebar to the right.

Job Hunting?

Penelope Trunk writes an excellent blog about work, life and how the two intersect. This article is especially relevant for those just starting out:

5 Most Violated Resume Rules

This is the problem with the resume-writing world: Everyone thinks they’re an exception to the rules. Everyone thinks they can pick and choose which rules are important. Do not do this. Until you work in human resources and personally scan 300 resumes a day, you are in no position to discard rules of resume writing. Here are the six most violated rules among the resumes that people send to me to review (read more)

Don't forget...

There's a PLACE meeting this week:

Thursday, October 4
4:30 pm
Planning Studio, Strong Hall

Hope you can make it!