Updates

June Manning Thomas Appointed as Inaugural Centennial Professor of Urban + Regional Planning

June Manning Thomas, the first Centennial Professor in Urban + Regional Planning, begins teaching at TCAUP in September 2007. Her primary area of interest is social justice, particularly as it relates to race and ethnicity. For Professor Thomas, social justice in urban planning is an article of faith as well as a lifelong goal.

Dr. Thomas' current research focuses on mixed-income neighborhoods, neighborhood planning, and urban revitalization. She recently received research funding to assist the State of Michigan's efforts to create "cool cities," a program announced by Governor Granholm in 2003.

Some of her books include Redevelopment and Race: Planning a Finer City in Postwar Detroit, which earned the 1999 Paul Davidoff award, and Planning Progress: Lessons from Shoghi Effendi. She co-directs an outreach project, funded by MSU Extension, that links planning students and community needs in several Michigan cities.

She received a B.A. in Sociology from Michigan State University in 1970 and a Ph.D. in Urban, Technological and Environmental Planning from the University of Michigan in 1977. So after 30 years, she is returning to Michigan, having spent the intervening years at Michigan State teaching, writing award-winning books, linking faculty and students with community agencies in cities throughout the state and consulting on the implementation of Detroit's Empowerment Zone. In joining the faculty at Taubman College she is excited about being closer to Detroit and Ypsilanti and having the opportunity to renew and enhance her ties to the various neighborhoods. She also welcomes the opportunity to join a well-organized, cohesive program, one that is strongly committed to improving central cities.

7/31/2007  Permanent link to this post.

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