Full Time Faculty

Rob Kent (Chair), Ph.D.

Kenya Covington, Ph.D.

Craig Olwert, Ph.D.

Henrik Minassians, Ph.D.

Ward Thomas, Ph.D.

Zeynep Toker, Ph.D.

Mintesnot Woldeamanuel , Ph.D.

Part Time Faculty

Euripedes De Oliveira, M.A.

David Gay, M.S.

Scott Howard, J.D.

Charles Keynejad, M.A.

Carl Morehouse, M.P.A.

Kaizer Rangwala, M.A.

Regina Sadono, Ph.D.

Christopher Teng, M.A.

Abhishek Tiwari, Ph.D.

Dev Vrat, M.A.

David Weintraub, M.A.

Claude Willey, M.A.

Staff

Pat Ordonez (Admin. Support Coordinator)

David De La Cruz (student work-er)

Rawan Al-Jamal (student worker)

Jazmin Roque (student worker)

I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E :

Campus News 2

Graduates, Spring 2013 2

Faculty Achievements 2

Internship partner 2

Alumni 3

Students’ News 3

Farewell and Welcome 3

Contact us 4

S P E E D M E N T O R I N G

Urban Studies and Planning alumni and graduat-ing seniors had an exciting evening speed mentor-ing on Wednesday, April 24, 2013. It was a whirl-wind of excitement as the students only had 7 minutes to meet with each mentor. The first round focused on reviewing resumes. The next topic was cover letters. This round was a little more difficult because there was no specific job that the cover letter was addressing. The final two topics were interview questions and job-seeking advice. The mentors were free to ask the students the most horrible interview questions they could conceive. And the report from the students is that they did get stumped once or twice. However, they weren’t left empty-handed. The mentors gave them good advice on how to answer these tough questions so that they are ready for their actual interviews. Similarly, with job-seeking ad-vice the mentors helped suggest paths to finding career jobs. It was a fun, energizing evening. The students appreciated all the help and good advice. We are looking forward to hosting the event again in spring 2014.

The morning of May 9, 2013 the east wing lobby of Sierra Hall was crowded with people attending a poster presentation. Urban Studies and Planning students were showcasing their research work with creative and innovative posters. They were entertaining questions from the audience in a re-laxed but professional manner. “It was a wonderful experience” said a student presenter. “I learned quite a few new things” was noted by a student who was scanning through different posters. This was not the end of it. A panel presentation was held in the afternoon in the Whitsett Room. Most of the presenters were from the upper division and capstone classes. Their presentations were re-search oriented and informative. The session was opened by a speech from Dr. Rob Kent, the chair of the department and moderated by Dr. Kenya Covington. Five presentations ranging from urban transportation to urban economics were given. The well-dressed and professional-looking students proved that they are ready to face the questions thrown from their professors and friends. It was a very good learning experience .

News let ter of CSUN Department of Urban Stud ies and P lanning

The fall semester is in full swing here at CSUN. The department has already welcomed several guest speakers this semester. Chih-Hao Wang from Ohio State University, James Rojas from Place It, and Yodan Rofe from Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Israel. In addition, in early October several depart-ment alumni gave a panel presentation to graduating seniors on applying and preparing for graduate school (Mike Mendez, Carlos Hernandez, and Nareh Nazary). On Saturday, 9 November, the department’s student organization, The Urban Planning Students of Northridge (UPSN), hosted nearly 100 partic-ipants on the CSUN campus at the 8th Annual Student Symposium of the Los Angeles County Section of the American Planning Association. With about 100 undergraduate majors and 20 graduate students enrolled in the MPA/Urban Planning Specialization this fall, the rest of the academic year promises to be fruitful.

THE U R B S P O ST Fall 2013 Issue

Urban Studies and Planning College of Social and Behavioral Sciences

FROM THE CHAIR

S T U D E N T S ’ R E S E A R C H F O R U M

Oral presentation at the Forum Speed mentoring Poster presentation

CSUN TRANSIT STATION

California State University, Northridge’s new transit center, on campus at the intersection of Darby Avenue and Vincennes Street, offi-cially opened for service in Spring 2013.

“The station will offer Cal State Northridge public transportation passengers a conven-ient on-campus location to be dropped off or picked-up on weekdays (with no weekend service),” said Capt. Alfredo Fernandez of CSUN parking and transportation services.

The station is a stop for both local and non-local public transportation. Local Metro lines such as the 741 Rapid and 167 Metro local buses run normal hours. The 741 makes its daily route between the campus and Ventura Boulevard, in the south end of the valley. Bus 167 runs between Studio City and Chats-

worth. In addition to the local Metro buses the transit station hosts the AVTA 676 Line, to and from Antelope Valley, and the CSUN Metrolink Shuttle Service.

The Transit Station is expected to relieve car traffic on campus and the need for more parking structures.

In the last three years several students have interned at Habitat SF/SCU. These have included Anna Cordova, Alen Estrada, Albert Munoz , Miranda Santisteban, Diana Benitez, Alisha Marshall and Anna Litvinchuk.

helped us track our results in our civilian Pacoima community by going out to our Pacoima site and interviewing every family, house by house. They tally up the results and track the changes from the previous years. This tracking system has allowed our Habitat to continue to build more homes, and to now be able to provide the same program for our veterans. In addition, the students who have worked with us have helped us to create maps showing the high population of veterans by zip codes and where the most need for veteran housing would be. We used that data to choose the site where we are building in Sylmar and in Santa Clarita. They help on our construction site, enrichment services, research on housing and much more. Our CSUN interns are extremely important to the progress and success of our affiliate.”

Page 2

FACULTY ACHIEVEMENTS

CAMPUS NEWS

IN T E R N S H I P P A R T N E R – HA B I T A T F O R HU M A N I T Y

Mark Carter, and Christopher Badu-rek).pp. 41-58.

Craig Olwert particípated in APA training seminar on Sustainable Zo-ning and Development at Seatle , WA, on June 13-14, 2013.

Henrik Minassians’ paper, “California State University, Northridge: Innovative Curriculum Design for Midcareer Professionals” has been published on Continuing Higher Education Review, Vol. 76, 2012.

Zeynep Toker’s paper “Good Cities and Healthy Communities in the United States” has been published

on Urban Design and Planning Journal, Special Issue on Quality of Life. 165:3, 137-145., 2012 (with Minassians, H. )

3Ward Thomas presented a paper “Korean Dry Cleaners in Southern California” at the annual meeting of the Pacific Sociological Associa-tion. Reno, Nevada, (March) 2013.

Mintesnot Woldeamanuel’s paper “Stopping Behavior of Drivers at Stop-Controlled Intersections: Compositional and Contextual Analysis” has been published on Journal of Transport Research Forum 51:3, 109-123, 2012.

Kenya Covington was elected as the member of Urban Affairs Association Emerging Scholar Selection Com-mittee, 2014 and presented a paper “Residential Segregation and the Suburbanization of the Poor: Under-standing the Links.” at the 43rd Annual Urban Affairs Association meeting, April 3-6, 2013; San Fran-cisco, CA.

Rob Kent”s paper “The Value of an Internship Experience for Early Ca-reer Geographers” has been pub-lished in ‘Practicing Geogra-phy:Careers for Enhancing Society and the Environment’ edited by Michael Solem, et al. Boston, MA: Pearson. (with Denise Blanchard,

G r a d u a t e s [Bachelor in Urban Studies and

Planning ]

( S p r i n g 2 0 1 3 ) Summer Aburashed

Grecia Aceves

Dorian Aguilar

Saud Alsair

David Asiss

Carlo Caballero

Jose Castro

Danielle Condit

Jonathan Dizon

Alen Estrada

Jose Fernandez

Adam Garrett

Samuel Gutierrez

Cory Hanh

Brianda Hernandez

Israel Herrera

Christopher Hicks

Christopher Huston

Aida Karapetian

Siranush Karapetyan

Neema Kazemi

Christopher Kim

Victor Kinsey

Brenda Magana

Israel Marin

Ayda Memary

Edward Murillo

Coral O'Riley

Joshua Ogaldez

Mercedes Ortiz

Hakeem Parke-Davis

Richard Rosen

Tommy Simis

Andrew Skolnick

Jose Tchopourian

Edgar Tostado

Antonio Villaraigosa

Diana Yedoyan

The URBS Post , Fal l 2012

Habitat for Humanity SF/SCV is a long term internship partner with our department. It is currently building low income homes for veterans in Sylmar and Santa Clarita. Bridgett Mills, a former student intern herself and an URBS alumni, is the Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative Manager for Habitat. She writes “The Urban Planning Department interns that we have had over the last couple years have helped so much to get to this point by tracking our impact in our other communities and helping to determine the best places to build our homes. They have

The URBS Post , Fal l 2012

Susan Ward (1982) is a property developer who specializes in historic rehabilitation and designa-tion projects in Pagosa Springs, CO.

Eduardo Fuentes (1989) works in Stockton, CA as an associate transportation planner for the Cali-fornia Department of Transportation.

Linda Jones (1990) is a member of the Board of Trustees for the Union School District in Quartz Hill, CA.

Veronica (Orozco) Castañon (1996) is a public health social worker for Ventura County Public Health in Oxnard, CA. She recently completed her MA in school counseling.

Rosalina Salazar (1998) is a school psychologist for the Los Angeles Unified School District. She recently completed a MA in educational counsel-ing.

Mark Chapa (2004) is an outreach coordinator for the VA Community Clinic in Lancaster, CA.

Carlos Contreras (2006) works as an assistant plan-ner for the City of Palmdale, CA.

Freddy Carrillo (2006) is a commissioner for the City of Los Angeles on the city’s Quality and Productivity Commission. He is also employed as a planner in the City of Moorpark.

Matthew Waterman (2007) is an investment bro-ker with Pegasus Investment in Los Angeles. He has been with the company over 13 years.

Rena Kambara (2007) is a regional planning assis-tant for zoning enforcement with the department of regional planning for the County of Los Ange-les.

Tracy D. Williams (2007) is employed by the Los Angeles Department of Transportation. She has recently completed her MURP from Cal Poly Po-mona.

Alexander Balkin (2008) lives in Washington, D.C. where he is currently a program analyst for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Christopher Marks (2009) is a CEQA analyst with TRA Environmental Sciences in Menlo Park,CA.

Mike de Young (2009) is the office manager of DeYoung’s Automotive in Canoga Park, CA.

Paul Leonard (2010) works as a substitute teach-er for the Sierra Sands Unified School District in Ridgecrest, CA.

Ralph Sansano (2010) is a graduate student in architecture at SCI-Arc in Los Angeles where he is also a teaching assistant.

Anna Cordova (2011) lives in Los Angeles and is currently working as a free-lance planner.

Joshua Van Gundy (2011) completed his MPA/Urban Planning specialization at CSUN in Spring 2013. He has since accepted a position with the US Border Patrol in San Diego, CA.

Tammy Williams (2011) has been working as a technician for the Conejo Valley Open Space Conservation Agency. She has also been using GIS and creating maps for the General Plan Update of Thousand Oaks, CA.

Alain Babaian (2012) is a real estate agent in Glendale, CA. He is also enrolled in the MPA/Urban Planning specialization program at CSUN.

Gurgen Yesayan (2012) is a planning intern for the City of La Canada-Flintridge and is currently enrolled in the MPA/Urban Planning specializa-tion program at CSUN.

Lilyana Morejon (2012) is serving as an Ameri-Corp Vista volunteer and working with the Ca-brillo Economic Development Corporation in Ventura, CA.

John Green (2012) is a transportation planning assistant at METRO in Los Angeles.

Nareh Nazary (2012) is an intern at METRO in Los Angeles and is currently working on her MRUP at Cal Poly Pomona.

Joshua Ogaldez (2013) is attending Azusa Pacific Univerisity's Haggard School of Theology. He has received the prestigious Kern Scholarship from the university.

Page 3

ALUMNI

“ G R A D U A T E S ” M P A / U R B A N P L A N N I N G

S P E C I A L I Z A T I O N – S P R I N G 2 0 1 3

Enrique Rubalcava and Nara Gaspar-ian were the recipients of the James H. Ring Scholarship for 2012/13. Both students received scholarships awards of $1000 in recognition of their aca-demic achievements. This scholarship is named for its founder, James H. Ring, an alumni of the department (1972).

Andrew Kent, a junior in the depart-ment, received a scholarship of $1,000 from California Planning Foun-dation.

URBS Student Association hosted the 8th Annual APA Student Symposi-um on November 9, 2013.

Urban Planning Students Association elected new officers in Spring 2013

Amy Turnbull (President)

Diana Benitez (Vice President)

Analisa Campos (Treasurer)

Elena Camacho (Historian)

Rawan Aljamal (Secretary)

URBS department offered a "Graduate Education Night: Depart-ment Alumni Panel on Grad Schools and Options" on October 14 , 2013.

Redel Avila

Julie Brooks

Josue Chavez Chavez

Arsen Dervishian

Sarah Ekeberg

Diana Huezo

Brittany Jackson

Ruben Khosdikian

Yvette Lopez

Michael Norberg

Christopher Palmer

Nasim Pasallar

Norma Rodriguez

Ryan Thompson

Suzan Tovmasyan

Joshua Van Gundy

Nancy Vazquez

Gerald Wooten

Kevin Villalta

ST U D E N T NEW S

U R B S O F F I C E C R E W

Pat Ordonez (Administrative Coordinator); Jazmin Roque, Rawan Al-Jamal and David de la

Cruz (student workers)

Our long-time office administrator Bennie Say resigned in September. Bennie accepted a promotion at CSUN and now works in the Music Department. She created a pleasant environment in the office and offered tremendous help to everyone.

We recently welcome Pat Ordonez as the department's temporary adminis-trative support coordinator. Welcome Pat! Pat is an alumni of CSUN with a BA in Sociology. She also has worked as a student assistant and a teaching assistant on campus previously !

F A R E W E L L A N D W E L C O M E

Contact us: Department of Urban Studies and Planning, SH 220

California State University, Northridge 18111 Nordhoff Street, Northridge CA 91330-8259

urban.studies@csun.edu

Phone: 818-677-2904; Fax: 818-677-5850

http://www.csun.edu/csbs/departments/urban_studies_and_planning/index.html

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Department-of-Urban-Studies-and-Planning-CSUN/315811048432214

Department of Urban Studies and Planning Sierra Hall 220 18111 Nordhoff Street Northridge CA 91330-8259

If you would like to send us information for the upcoming issues, or if you have any questions, contact the Newsletter Editor, Dr. Mintesnot Woldeamanuel at mint-esnot.woldeamanuel@csun.edu; phone: 818-677-7246 or the Chair of the Department Dr. Rob Kent at rkent@csun.edu; phone: 818-677-4372 .

The goal of our newsletter, The URBS Post is to maintain communication be-tween our alumni, faculty, and current students.

We love correspondence from our alumni! Please keep in touch with us– we would like to know what you are doing now, along with learning about exciting events in your life. We welcome new information to be included in our upcoming newsletters. Please also keep us updated on home and e-mail address changes.

Internships

We are trying to expand our internship program. Let us know if your company offers internships and we will share this information with our majors.

Donations

Please consider giving: no donation is too small. Donating provides both financial sup-port and encouragement to students. Information on ways to give can be found at: https://givenow.csun.edu/

Let us know if you have suggestions on how we can improve our newsletter. We hope to hear from you soon!!

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