Changes Afoot at UW-Madison's Department of Urban and Regional Planning

Significant changes have taken place at the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Wisconsin-Madison. After almost two years of planning, the Department is now a cross-college department jointly administered by the College of Letters and Science and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. The Department continues its linkages with University Extension, a "Wisconsin Idea" connection unique among American planning programs.

Four senior faculty have joined the new cross-college department: Professors Richard Chenoweth, Herman Felstehausen, Bernard Niemann, and Associate Professor James LaGro. Niemann is Director of the Land Information & Computer Graphics Facility within the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and is nationally-recognized for his work in planning applications of geographic information systems. Vice-President Al Gore recently selected a joint county/UW-Madison proposal developed by Niemann and colleagues as one of six nationwide to demonstrate how Geographic Information Systems can be used to involve citizens in growth management planning. Chenoweth, a social psychologist, has done pioneering work in the assessment of resource aesthetics (particularly applied research done with Niemann in the establishment of the Lower Wisconsin State Riverway), and will be expanding his work in the environment-behavior areas. Felstehausen will continue his work in land tenure and local policy analysis, as well as assume the directorship of the Center for Development. La Gro's interests include landscape ecology, land use spatial analysis, and diffuse urbanization. A licensed landscape architect, La Gro is continuing research on farmland conversion while writing a textbook on site analysis. The new faculty greatly enlarge the Department's capabilities in land resources policy, planning, and analysis, as well as strengthen capacity in spatial analysis and GIS and planning methods. The Department is presently pursuing new space on campus to house the merged department and associated units.

Two new faculty have joined the Department. Marcia Caton Campbell completed her Ph.D. from Ohio State University and will be pursuing research in the resolution of social and environmental disputes. Her teaching emphases include planning theory, planning ethics, housing and historic preservation planning. Caton Campbell was Managing Editor of the Journal of Planning Literature prior to joining the faculty. Sandra Hoffmann will be joining the Department and the LaFollette Institute of Public Affairs faculties in January 1999. Hoffmann completed her doctorate in environmental economics at the University of California-Berkeley; she also has a J.D. from the University of Michigan and practiced law in Washington, D.C., focusing on federal regulation of pesticides and chemical manufacturing. Her current areas of research include the impact of federal forest policy on rural poverty and employment and economic analysis of environmental regulation.