2022 Spring Banquet

The Community and Regional Planning program hosted an alumni-sponsored annual Spring Banquet at the Main Student Center on April 9, 2022. About 90 alumni, faculty, and family attended to celebrate graduating seniors, scholarship and award recipients, and the Student Planners’ Action Network (SPAN) officers on their accomplishments over the year. The Spring Banquet is a long tradition in the Planning program.

The banquet speaker, Holly White

It began with remarks by Dr. Jeff Popke (Chair, Department of Geography, Planning, and Environment), Dean Allison Danell (Dean, THCAS), and Mr. Lee Padrick (Chair, Planning Alumni Advisory Board). Ms. Holly White, AICP, CFM (Principal Planner, Town of Nags Head, NC), offered an inspiring keynote speech for soon-to-be planners. The successful annual celebration ended with a closing remark made by Dr. Dwane Jones (Planning Alumni Advisory Board member and Dean, College of Agriculture, Urban Sustainability, and Environmental Sciences of the University of the District of Columbia).

In addition to the celebrations of students and the program, three Planning Distinguished Alumni were awarded: James Rhodes (Assistant County Manager for Planning and Environment of Pitt County, Planner-in-Residence), Merrill Flood (Director of Planning & Development Community Engagement and Research of ECU, Planner-in-Residence), and Michelle Nance, AICP (Director of the Centralina Regional Planning). The awardees were chosen for their outstanding achievements to the planning profession, service to society, and the ECU planning program.

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