APA Scholarship Applications Due

APA Washington Chapter Scholarship applications are due to me no later than 5 pm on Friday, April 29th, 2011.

Thanks
Rose

Studio Computers

Students:

I realize that we have problems with the computers in the studio. I am in the process of trying to find the funds to purchase two new computers and monitors; however, you need to know several factors.

First, your tech fee does not support the studio computers. It does support work you need to do for regular classes. The studio computers are for studio work and for faculty field projects. You need to use the computers in the computer lab and other labs on the Cheney campus for your normal work such as papers.

Second, you do pay a lab fee for some of your courses. These funds are used for maintenance of the studios. These fees are marginal. For example, the course fee for most of the those courses is approximately $17. If you take the number of students in the class times the fee, you can generate the income. If a class has 15 students in it, the income is $255. The cost for a roll of large scale copier paper is $50. The cartridges for the copiers are $200. The annual maintenance fee for these copiers is over a $1000. Thus, you can see that the course fees are not keeping up with the costs associated with them. We try to make up the difference from our contracts with clients but when the materials used in the two studios are for personal printing, we have no way to sustain the costs.

Therefore, you all need to be patient and utilize the computer labs when you should and the studio computers for studio work only.

Fred A. Hurand, Chair
Department of Urban Planning, Public and Health Administration
Eastern Washington University
668 N. Riverpoint Blvd.
Spokane, WA 99202
509-828-1217
fhurand@mail.ewu.edu

ASP Meeting Annoucement

There will be an ASP meeting on Tuesday, April 26th at 11:45 in the planning studio.

ASP 2001 strategic plan

At the ASP general meeting two weeks ago, a new strategic plan was discussed as the previous plan is 10 years old. The old plan was generated by Dr. Winchell's 2001 Strategic Planning class, but we were told that they already have a project for this quarter. So, it was suggested that we may be able to update the plan we already have.

As a consequence, since it was only available in hardcopy, the old plan was digitized and I have made it available for download at http://studentweb.ewu.edu/bsayrs33/ASPStrategicPlan2001.pdf.

Meeting Canceled

The meeting originally scheduled for Tuesday, April 12, has been canceled due to the APA Annual Conference in Boston. The next regularly scheduled meeting will be April 26 at 11:45 AM in the Riverpoint Planning Studio. A special meeting may be called. At least 72 hours notice will be given should it be necessary.

Technology Committee

On Tuesday, I reauthorized the Technology Committee and appointed Jeremy Kulm its chair. Some of the projects the committee will be taking on include:

• Evaluation and replacement of computers in the Riverpoint Planning Studio, ASP office and GIS lab as part of a department technology needs assessment and plan;
• Investigating and recommending policies regarding the use of the printing facilities in the Riverpoint Planning Studio;
• Investigate the possible integration of the GIS Certificate program into the Riverpoint site and improve coordination with the planning program; and
• Set up the technology necessary to conduct ASP meetings at the Riverpoint and Cheney campuses simultaneously.

Participation in this committee is a great opportunity to have a lasting impact on the department and improve the quality of your own education. If you would like to participate, please contact Jeremy directly at jkulm@hotmail.com.

ASP Meeting Notes - March 29, 2011

The meeting was called to order at 11:45 AM.

The meeting agenda was presented and accepted without change.

• We discussed a donation from the Inland Empire APA Chapter; we expect them to be sending money soon to help with conference funds.

o The question was raised as to whether or not the chapter officially recognizes Amy as their new rep from our ASP because their elections are held in July. However, they have a new rep as well, so she did not know the answer to that question.

• Chris and Will want to hold re-votes for their positions – Chris thinks that an undergrad should hold a position on the board.

President’s Report:

• We must have a member present at at least 4 ASEWU meetings in order to be recognized as a club; Steve told Brian that we have met that requirement already this year, but that someone should continue to attend meetings b/c paperwork can get lost.

o We have requested $1700 from them for ASP, but this request has been stalled in their review process, so we still don’t know exactly how much we will be receiving from them.

• Changes are coming to the department:

o Fred will be stepping down as chair at the end of this school year and handing the responsibilities to Dr. Winchell

o We will also be adding two new P/T faculty members

o Dotson is also planning to leave

· Winchell has volunteered to be our advisor.

• It is the role of 2^nd year grad students to clean the planning studio and the issue was discussed about all the extra junk around the room.

o Question was raised about who is responsible for all the media pieces lying around the room.

o Also, computers are getting worn out faster than is really necessary – too many printing jobs, people suggested that professors are doing large print jobs in the studio.

o Chris suggested adding and ID card monitor, not to charge people for prints, but merely to monitor who is printing, so we might be able to determine where are the printing is going and how the computer are wearing out so quickly.

o There are also a number of non-working computers – Ben suggested that we have someone shut off the monitors at night b/c those are wearing out faster than the computers themselves.

o Anna mentioned that in order to really make anything happen, we need to have a professor contact the tech guy, Howard.

o Brian suggested we have a technology committee – Jeremy volunteered himself to head that up, Chris offered to help.

• Brian suggested an ASP community project for the group.

o Kelsey and Nate are currently spearheading the community garden project on the Cheney campus. Nate is running the meetings in Cheney to implement a community garden that the cafeteria can utilize for food.

§ We should be expecting a request for labor help and money from the ASP ($500)

• Brian has created multiple media outlets to share and receive information for all students involved in ASP.

o Blog: www.ewuasp.blogspot.com

o Facebook: EWU Association of Student Planners

o Email: ewuasp@gmail.com

o Wikispace: www.ewuasp.wikispaces.com ; (a place to collect stories or information about the program and which Brian hopes can eventually be used in recruitment)

We encourage everyone to check these out.

• Along these same lines, we discussed why it is important to maintain the program for our future careers and future students. Karl suggested that things like the wikispace be connected to the program website on the EWU page b/c Eastern doesn’t do a great job of promoting their program in comparison to schools like UW.

• Ethics Code: why do we have it? Is it really necessary? Is it off-putting to new students?

o It was discussed that the code was originally conceived because of students’ frustration with other student’s lack of commitment to group projects and teachers showing up late to class.

o Many people expressed feelings that it is not our job to police other people – if they show up to class, that is their decision. Plus it was found to be a rather harsh introduction to the ASP when presented at the beginning of the year.

o We decided to drop the code of ethics

• Brian presented the idea of having Winchell’s Strategic Planning class create a strategic plan for the ASP (one was created almost 10 years ago and this could be revised)

o Chris mentioned that they already have a project for their class, so our answer was no.

o Should we create a plan ourselves? Revise the old one?

• We will be holding elections to fills the positions that Will and Chris want to vacate. Dates have not been decided.

• The idea was also discussed about holding meetings simultaneously at the Riverpoint and Cheney campuses through Skype. This was not discussed further.

The meeting was adjourned at 12:45 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Ali Kara