Ten students from the ECU Urban and Regional Planning Program attended the 49^th Annual North Carolina Planning Conference. Co-sponsored by the North Carolina Chapter of the American Planning Association (NCAPA) and the Institute of Government at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the conference was held in Hickory, North Carolina, October 4-6. Planning students attending the conference included Katherine Baucom, Kyle Breuer, Landon Chandler, Jessica Gladwin, Elizabeth Jones, Steve Nalley, Christopher O’Connell, Joseph Reilly, Brandan Stringer, and Catherine Whitehurst. Also in attendance were two planning faculty members, Dr. Dan Marcucci, Assistant Professor, and Wes Hankins, Associate Professor Emeritus.

 

The 2006 Planning Conference featured former Governor of Maryland, Parris Glendening, as the keynote speaker.  Governor Glendening is nationally known as an advocate of “Smart Growth” stressing preservation of open space, ending sprawl, walkable communities, neo-traditional design, and revitalization of American communities.  Additional conference sessions included the topics of politics and planning, diversity in the planning profession, historic preservation/adaptive reuse, gentrification, downtown revitalization, and regional recreation planning.

 

Michelle Nance, NCAPA President, and an ECU planning alumna, welcomed conference participants and presided at the NCAPA Executive Committee and Chapter Membership meetings. Wes Hankins, retired ECU planning faculty member, and co-chair of the NCAPA Awards Committee, presided at the Awards luncheon.  Steve Nalley, President of the ECU Student Planning Association Network (SPAN), received the 2006 Outstanding ECU Planning Student Award.

 

For Wes Hankins, and ECU planning alumnus, Fred Papa, the conference provided the opportunity for a reunion with Governor Glendening.  Wes Hankins and Parris Glendening were graduate students in a Municipal Government class at Florida State University in 1966. Fred Papa had served on the Governor’s Economic Growth Resource Protection and Planning Commission while employed in Maryland.  He is currently employed as a planning consultant in Cary, North Carolina.     

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ECU Planning Students Touring the Market on Main Street in Hickory, N.C.

 

Karen Smith, NCAPA Awards Co-chair and Steve Nalley, 2006 ECU Outstanding Planning Student

 

Wes Hankins, Gov. Parris Glendening, and Fred Papa