#BUCPUA Professor reveals how to land the best job ever
On September 29, more than 250 policymakers and job seekers gathered at the 8th Annual Massachusetts Green Careers Conference, held at the DCU Center in Worcester. BU City Planning and Urban Affairs (BUCPUA) Adjunct Faculty Professor Eugene Benson, JD addressed the entire crowd and also led a smaller breakout session. Benson compelled the audience to pursue the best job ever – municipal conservation agent.
Passionate degree candidates in the #BUCPUA Program assess the social contexts and economic structures that influence the management of fragile open spaces, such as wetlands. The #BUCPUA Program provides students with high-demand tools and pertinent skills to excel as environmental planners. Relevant course offerings include UA 521 Environmental Law, UA 617 Applied Sustainability, UA 654 Geographic Information Systems for Planners, and UA 629 Urbanization and the Environment. Students can complement their Master of City Planning or Master of Urban Affairs degree with a Certificate of Applied Sustainability.
Aside from teaching law to #BUCPUA students, Benson is the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Association of Conversation Commissions (MACC). MACC’s tenants include advocacy, education, and conservation, and the state leader in providing education and training to more than 2,500 conservation commissioners. Benson urged participants to fully grasp the wetlands crisis in the United States, as half the country’s wetlands have disappeared since settlement by Europeans. This loss of wetlands has exacerbated flood conditions, particularly in states like Iowa, which has lost 80 percent of its wetlands. Wetlands perform invaluable functions by buffering floodwaters, capturing carbon, and providing habitats that sustain biodiversity.
As municipal conservation agents, citizens have a direct stake over the protection and management of these vital, yet vulnerable, areas that envelop land, water, and biological resources. Conservation agents are full-time positions that support and guide all-volunteer municipal conservation commissions. On average, volunteer conservation commissions experience a 10 percent annual turnover, which underscores the value of a municipal conservation agent who can create a stable foundation for long-term planning and land management.
At the state level, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, and Massachusetts Regional Planning Agencies also offer full-time positions that directly influence the protection of open spaces. Qualifications required for state or municipal conservation agent positions include a thorough understanding of environmental law and superb communication skills that conform when influencing different stakeholder groups. Organization skills, creativity, and flexibility also help conservation agents preserve open spaces against myriad external factors, including impacts of climate change and ongoing economic development.
Aside from teaching law in the #BUCPUA Program, Professor Benson also instructs courses at the BU School of Public Health.
Professor John Weis Awarded APA-MA Charles E. Downe Memorial Award
Each year the Massachusetts APA chapter recognizes outstanding students, faculty and projects throughout the Commonwealth. It is with great pride that one of our own faculty members was honored during the December 2014 awards ceremony. Boston University adjunct faculty member, John Weis was awarded the Charles E. Downe Memorial Award, which honors a planner who, in the spirit of the late Charles E. Downe, exemplifies public outreach, mentoring of young planners, and has demonstrated patience and the utmost integrity.
John Weis in his own words:
What do you most enjoy about the planning profession?
That you can actually effect change, that you can see it and it lasts for a long time. My whole purpose in being involved in planning… if you wanted to just have things stay the way they are you just do something else. Planning is one of those fields, if you can understand how things work, you can really establish major changes in the way people live their lives. And that’s important.
What has been the biggest lesson you’ve learned as a planner?
I started my career in 1968 and I learned early on. I did a couple of master plans for a community, that to be honest, were not too effective. When I became a neighborhood planner for the BRA, I was first assigned to do a bike path in Dorchester (in 1972). I sponsored a community meeting. I made my presentation. In the meeting there were state senators, representatives and civic leaders and they implied to me that I didn’t know what I was talking about. Dorchester, at that time was experiencing huge housing abandonment issues and fires – it was just before bussing. So for a year after that, I didn’t do anything, but listen. I went to meetings and just listened. I canned the bike path study.
I learned that instead of imposing my ideas on what I thought a community needed or wanted, I have to listen to them and work with them in order to effect change.
With over 30 years of planning experience, John has spent much of his career with two of the most dynamic Public Development entities in the country, the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) and the San Jose Redevelopment Agency. He has also had a hand in shaping the Boston University campus as a project manager for the Campus Master Plan, which converted the former Commonwealth Armory into housing and Agganis Arena. John is currently the Chair of the Newbury Planning Board. You can find him this fall in his class, Urban Landuse Policy and Planning.
Each year the Massachusetts APA chapter recognizes outstanding students, faculty and projects throughout the Commonwealth. It is with great pride that one of our own faculty members was honored during the December 2014 awards ceremony. Boston University adjunct faculty member, John Weis was awarded the Charles E. Downe Memorial Award, which honors a planner who, in the spirit of the late Charles E. Downe, exemplifies public outreach, mentoring of young planners, and has demonstrated patience and the utmost integrity.
John Weis in his own words:
What do you most enjoy about the planning profession?
That you can actually effect change, that you can see it and it lasts for a long time. My whole purpose in being involved in planning… if you wanted to just have things stay the way they are you just do something else. Planning is one of those fields, if you can understand how things work, you can really establish major changes in the way people live their lives. And that’s important.
What has been the biggest lesson you’ve learned as a planner?
I started my career in 1968 and I learned early on. I did a couple of master plans for a community, that to be honest, were not too effective. When I became a neighborhood planner for the BRA, I was first assigned to do a bike path in Dorchester (in 1972). I sponsored a community meeting. I made my presentation. In the meeting there were state senators, representatives and civic leaders and they implied to me that I didn’t know what I was talking about. Dorchester, at that time was experiencing huge housing abandonment issues and fires – it was just before bussing. So for a year after that, I didn’t do anything, but listen. I went to meetings and just listened. I canned the bike path study.
I learned that instead of imposing my ideas on what I thought a community needed or wanted, I have to listen to them and work with them in order to effect change.
With over 30 years of planning experience, John has spent much of his career with two of the most dynamic Public Development entities in the country, the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) and the San Jose Redevelopment Agency. He has also had a hand in shaping the Boston University campus as a project manager for the Campus Master Plan, which converted the former Commonwealth Armory into housing and Agganis Arena. John is currently the Chair of the Newbury Planning Board. You can find him this fall in his class, Urban Landuse Policy and Planning.
Going Beyond the Classroom
Demonstrating the Program’s commitment to Immersive Learning, Sustainable Planning, the graduating class of 2015 for the City Planning and Urban Affairs Programs and other students across Boston University, created a framework for Quincy’s Climate Action Plan. This planning initiative, on which the students collaborated with and were guided by planners from the City of Quincy and the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC), was the focus of this years Boston Urban Symposium – the capstone course for graduating students of the program.
Led by Associate Professor of Practice and Program Coordinator, Dr. Madhu C Dutta-Koehler, and co-taught by Professor John Weis, an award-winning planner and educator with over 30 years of experience in urban development, the students embarked on a challenging project that would make a difference in “real-time”. The goals of the project were twofold: to give our Master’s students hands-on experience in complex planning situations, and to provide data and analysis to aid the community in making crucial decisions about planning for climate change.
In keeping with part of the program’s mission of “preservation and good stewardship of the environment, while being grounded in research from the field”, this Graduate Symposium class has furthered the traditions of community-focused research that have long been the hallmark of the Program. Over the past several years, students in the Program have collaborated and consulted on current planning projects, including the General Management Plan of the Boston Harbor Islands Partnership (2013), which incorporated student recommendations into its final report.
In 2014, students conducted research and drafted recommendations on urban gentrification for the Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corporation (CSNDC). The 2012 Symposium, also working with the CSNDC, focused on the intersection of community development, sustainable urban agriculture, urban entrepreneurship, land use, civic engagement, and fundraising. These projects produced actionable planning initiatives for this vital Boston community.
We would like to congratulate the members of the Symposium on their hard work and practical insights into the issues confronting the city of Quincy. We would also especially like to thank our community partners—the city of Quincy and the MAPC—for their unwavering support throughout the semester.
Patrick Sullivan is the Director of Policy and Outreach for the 128 Business Council
Patrick graduated with a Master in City Planning (MET ’11). He credits the MCP for laying down a “fantastic foundation in planning and transportation that allowed [him] to get a job at the Council and thrive in [his] current role.” While studying part-time for the MCP, he secured a job with the 128 Business Council as a Transportation Management Association Program Manager. In the five years that he has been there, Patrick has taken on more responsibilities, allowing him to rise to his current position.
Here’s Patrick in his own words:
In your professional life, what experience or realization has been especially profound?
Something that is really emphasized in planning school, is how important it is in being collaborative and the inclusion of the public in the decision making process. I constantly heard about the need to work with the public and listen to people…, but I wondered how much of that was just checking a ‘box’ and I questioned how much that was really necessary. But since I’ve been working in planning, I’ve realized that it is crucial to have the input of the people who are impacted by a project… You will have a better project at the end with that public engagement.
What do you consider a major accomplishment or something that you’re proud of?
Last year, I was elected President of the New England Chapter of the Association of Commuter Transportation (ACT). It’s a nationwide organization that advocates for better commuter transportation options. I’ve very proud of that accomplishment because it was a position elected by my peers. Personally, I’ve been fascinated by driverless cars and the evolution of them… how they can reinvent our transportation networks and how we think about mobility. Recently, I wrote an e-book called Getting Ready for Driverless Cars – which launched on September 14th2015. I wrote about the technology behind driverless cars, the economic implications and it looks at a dozen different companies that were involved in the development of those technologies…. I wouldn’t have had the guts to do it if it wasn’t for the fact that I have a master’s degree in planning.
What is your elevator pitch for transportation planning?
I entered planning 100% focused on real estate development, but I quickly realized after entering the planning world, how important transit is. It’s the thread that ties all the disciplines in planning together. It is crucial to the growth and sustainability to our cities. Plus it’s interesting and cool! Shout out to Professors Terry Regan and Josh Hassol who co-teach Urban Transportation and Policy: The transportation class was one of the most important classes I took. It gives you a really interesting perspective on the MBTA and helps frame the issues around the T. It helped me understand how transit agencies make decisions, where they spend money and how their budgets work.
Patrick's advice to current MCP/MUA students:
Seek out a wide variety of experiences – whether it be internships or work with community development. Don’t be shy about asking a lot of questions to the people you are working for. Especially if you have a job with a municipality, don’t be shy about asking to go to meetings. Get out of the office as much as possible. It’ll give you a broader range of experiences and understanding.