APA-IL News BLAST! University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Student News


	University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Student News By Kathleen Duffy, SPO President

	For the 2006-2007 school year, the University of Illinois Student Planning Organization (SPO) took on its three-pronged mission--providing social, professional, and educational opportunities for students--wholeheartedly. A series of lunch discussions were held where students discussed summer internships, research, and capstone projects and local practitioners and alumni came in to talk about planning career opportunities. SPO sponsored several lunchtime and evening social activities from cookouts to happy hours and boardgame fun. Students took active roles in a college dean, department head, and junior faculty search as well as welcoming prospective students, providing insight and a welcoming department to visitors. Several students represented the university at both the Four-State Conference in October and the National APA Conference in April. A highlight for the department was the participation of two Illinois teams in the Urban Land Institute Urban Design Competition. One team was one of four finalist teams, traveling to Los Angeles in March to present their design. The team, advised by Professor Brian Deal, consisted of five graduate students, four of whom were graduating urban planning master's students: Todd Bjerkaas, Anuttama Dasgupta, Leah Ostenberg, and Samantha Singer. The department was very proud to be represented nationally alongside two teams from Harvard and the winning Berkeley team.

	Kathleen Duffy Graduate Research Assistant Student Planning Organization President duffy3@uiuc.edu