Planning department celebrates 30 successful years
As they celebrate the 30th anniversary of their Geography and Regional Planning (GARP) Department, professors are basking in the glory of longevity.
For William Bennett, Ph.D., professor of geography and regional planning, the victory is especially sweet because he and others fought hard for the department’s creation.
When Dr. Bennett started teaching at Westfield State in 1979, Geography was its own department, but the subject area was not a major. Knowing the state would not approve a geography major because it was available elsewhere, he worked with fellow professors Karl Leiker, Ph.D., and Peter Bulkley, Ph.D., a political science and history professor, to create a proposal for the Regional Planning major. The proposal was approved by then-Academic Dean John Nevins, Ph.D., who saw it approved by the Board of Higher Education.
“We were delighted to have created a unique new program and a new major,” Dr. Bennett says. “I recall being personally happy, because we structured the planning program’s coursework to include so many of the courses that we each wanted to teach. It was like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to write your own job description.”
The department has much to celebrate. Regional planning is still the only major of its kind at a public institution in New England, and GARP faculty and students alike have been recognized for their research and dedication in the field.
Professors Marijoan Bull, Ph.D., Carsten Braun, Ph.D. and Brian Conz, Ph.D., are all recipients of the Westfield State Semester Time Award for Research and Scholarship (STARS). And Professor Emeritus Stephanie Kelly, Ed.D.,was the 2011 recipient of the Faye Seigfriedt Award, an honor given once a year by the Massachusetts Chapter of the American Planning Association to a planner who has significantly contributed to the advancement of women in the field of planning.
Regional planning students conduct and present their own research at conferences, such as the annual UMass Undergraduate Conference, and their research has been published in The Northeastern Recreation Research Symposium and other journals.
Chair of Geography and Regional Planning Robert Bristow, Ph.D., says the most important trait in GARP majors is determination.
“Our typical regional planning student is one who is naturally inquisitive and wants to do something about it,” Dr. Bristow says. “It might be making our cities a better place to live, or it might be trying to protect our natural environment for future generations. So our students become informed citizens who can help in the decision-making process.”
One of those students, Alexandra “Ola” Smialek ’15, says the work experience she got through her Land Use and Regional Planning course helped her develop tactics useful to the field.
“I believe the fieldwork we did gave us skills in research, socializing, time management and teamwork,” Smialek says. “I really found it enjoyable and worthwhile.”
The department sets its students up with in-depth internships that allow them to work hands-on in the planning field. Smialek participated in an internship with the Westfield Planning Department and Conservation Commission, for which she created an updated open space inventory of Westfield, focusing on privately owned land.
“I had my own desk and worked beside my site supervisors,” Smialek says. “The lessons I learned through that internship could not be taught in a classroom.”
The department has blossomed to nine full-time faculty members with a half-dozen adjunct professors and 60 majors, most of which Dr. Bristow says transferred into regional planning.
“Most students don’t come to Westfield State to be a planner,” he notes. “We are not well-known in high schools. But after they take one of our core classes, some ‘find’ us.”
Dr. Bristow’s advice to students considering becoming regional planning majors is simple: Test the major out.
“Take one of our core classes,” Dr. Bristow says. “If you want to be part of the solution, consider a planning career.”
