UT Community and Regional Planning Student Forum

HOME * SPRING 2006

title:
Below are the written and spoken comments of session attendees - in response to the following dialogue point presented at the conclusion of the presentation:

How does the CRP program allow for the experiences that students are seeking from the program and/or that shape their future work and academic choices?"

- coming into the CRP program, I really knew nothing about CRP – the rhetoric of the website really struck a chord with me, though . . .

- the CRP program is so short, that by the time you figure out what you want to do / what your specialization is, you’re done.

- as more of a "professional program," I wonder why there is hesitancy to allow students to do the CRP program part-time . . . and/or why the program isn’t structured in such a way as to allow students to practice in the field while studying (in the past, a private practice was maintained within the SOA, to allow professors time and space to do private work, and also to offer students a source of part-time employment related to their studies).

- the CRP faculty response to getting involved in actual planning work outside of class (with neighborhood planning, ECT work, etc.) seems to be: “that’s nice, but where’s your homework / reading?”

- through the CRP program, you are not really getting professional experience or design experience - and some would question the quality of the academic experience. It feels like the program is trying to do everything, and is doing nothing very well.

- participating in ULI really was a wake-up call – I quickly became aware that I didn’t know that much (in terms of what others thought that a planner should be able to do – e.g., GIS).

- I wish that there were more opportunities for CRP students to take studio courses – one studio course is probably not enough.

- a “dual degree” program is the cheap and easy answer (and possibly a placation – remember when the “urban design” dual degree program was announced? There was a lot of immediate interest from students, but the response seemed to be “thanks for coming out - we’ll have this in place after you’re gone). In general, the CRP program needs to be better meshed with the other programs within the SOA and across disciplines, and the core curriculum needs to be condensed – the “fluff” eliminated. There needs to be greater continuity built between classes, including with class projects.

- I found out recently that undergraduate ARC students are required to take an “intro to CRP” course, comprised of guest lectures from the CRP faculty. Why aren’t CRP students given similar exposure to the work of other programs within the SOA?

- In general, existing SOA studios could be structured in such a way as to allow CRP students to participate (similar to how CRP students and ARC students shared courses in the early history of the CRP program).

- Courses and events (across the SOA) need to be scheduled in such a way as to allow for greater collaboration / cross-listing.

- The course-integrated community-based project work / "academic service-learning' work that the CRP has done has been better than the “lecture-read-report” format of other CRP classes, but the impacts of these experiences aren’t being maximized. In one class (with a community-based project), we repeated base research that had already been done by another class. In another course, the community project has been so poorly defined that the work that we eventually produce will most likely be totally cursory. . . . the “wealthy dreamer” is probably the best client for these kinds of community-based projects, based on what we are offering now.

- If the CRP program is more of a professional program, how does the incentive structure for CRP professors support this (if it is based on academic publishing, what is the benefit for students in a professional program)?

- It would be great if professors would announce when they publish – that published works were more accessible to the school and program (via the web, etc.) and more heavily publicized.

- However the CRP program is structured, I think that there will always be students seeking a more academic track within CRP– and academic mentorship.

- To support this, how the CRP utilizes its human resources needs to be examined. Should the director of the CRP program really be burdened with facilities responsibilities (changing locks, assigning rooms, etc.)? How up-to-date / public are job descriptions? What “gaps” or services could student employment provide for?

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HOME * SPRING 2006

the university of texas at austin, school of architecture * community and regional planning program