Pirates at the 2024 APA-NC Conference
Beyond networking, planners learn new skills, opportunities, and ideas by sharing research projects, best practices, and certification training at the American Planning Association (APA) conferences.
The ECU’s Community and Regional Planning program has participated in the state APA conference every year. The 2024 APA-North Carolina chapter conference was held in our Pirate Nation, Greenville, NC, on October 16-18, 2024. With funds raised by alumni, we could register 20 undergraduate students to attend the conference.
We have announced two great achievements of our undergraduate students. Cameron Brown received the 2023-2024 American Planning Association-North Carolina Chapter’s Marvin Collins Planning Award for the Outstanding Student Award, and Mary Archibald received the Marvin Collins Planning Award for the Outstanding Student Project Award category.
Group photo after the Lightning Round presentations
Since 2023, the Community and Regional Planning program has hosted a Lightning Round Session at the APA-NC conference to showcase our student work to the planning profession. It encourages students This year’s session included three undergraduate student projects completed during the 2023-2024 academic year (moderated by Dr. Misun Hur). The first project, Housing Market Study and Affordable/Workforce Housing Strategic Vision: Beaufort County, NC, was Mary Archibald’s summer internship project. Mary received the Outstanding Student Project Award for this project. The second project was a class-wide project of PLAN4075: Transportation Planning in Fall 2023 (instructor Dr. Kaylyn Levine). The Rural On-Demand Transportation: Recommendations for Microtransit in Pitt and Beaufort Counties, was presented by Cooper Hilbert on behalf of the class. The last project presented was Isabella Sardina’s senior practicum project with the Town of Tarboro as the client: Town of Tarboro’s Flood Land Reuse Plan (instructor Prof. Merrill Flood, Planner-in-Residence).
During the award ceremony, there were several announcements celebrating the achievement of our alumnae Michelle Nance’s FAICP induction at the national APA conference, Cameron Brown’s national APA leadership as Student Representatives Council Representative, Region 2, and Isabella Sardina’s APA Outstanding Student Award.
A sincere appreciation to Mr. Thomas McNair Cassell, Mr. James Oscar Duncan, Jr., Mr. Walter Geddie Fields, III., Mrs. Michelle English Nance, Mr. Christopher Normile, Mr. James Franklin Rhodes, and Mr. Chad David Sary (alphabetic order by last name) for generous donations! You gave 20 students lifetime memories and solid motivations for their careers. Go, Pirates! Go, Planning!