[Src_execcmte] [Fwd: Award Program Review]

Seth Lorson seth_lorson at yahoo.com
Mon Aug 20 09:52:33 CDT 2007 

Greetings SRC,
 
This is pressing close to our conference call, but here's some comments about the PSO Awards Program:
 
I concur with much of what Lindsey and Morgan have already said.  Especially, I think it is a good idea to start off small and let the awards categories grow with time.  
 
We certainly need to make public who is on the awards committee when we announce the awards so students will know if they are eligible or not.
 
A good discussion point would be the committee and limits for those on that committee.  We want to be fair in allowing eligibility for all schools at least every other year.
 
Another good discussion point, I think would be to more concisely define the criteria of the awards.  For example, in the Support of Planning category, do we want to focus on certain "positive/progressive" categories in planning such as sustainability, smart growth, green building, affordable housing etc...?
 
Where would students/PSOs who are very involved with their school be recognized.  Such as, working with faculty on new certification programs, curriculum, and campus involvement, or excellence in research or academia?
 
Talk to you all soon.
 
Cheers,
 
Seth E Lorson
University of Colorado at Denver, MURP Candidate
American Planning Association (APA), Student Representative
APA Colorado, Student Representative
UCD Student APA, Public Relations Officer
970 275-1054 



----- Original Message ----
From: Morgan R. Landers <morganr.landers at gmail.com>
To: Lindsey Morse <lmorse at gsd.harvard.edu>
Cc: src_execcmte at list.planning.org
Sent: Saturday, August 11, 2007 10:28:28 AM
Subject: Re: [Src_execcmte] [Fwd: Award Program Review]


Here is some feedback that I can offer regarding the program in addition to what Lindsey added. 
 
1. I think we may want to consider whether National Community Planning Month category should be included as of right now. It is a fairly new component of APA and I am reluctant to think that there will be as many PSOs that do something for this month right now. I also think that we should try to steer away from having too many awards categories starting out until we can get the program up and running. 
 
2. The committee this year has been selected. We have three students for the committee that we have already contacted. Also, Scott, as outgoing Chair will serve as chair of this committee.
 
3. I think that it is a good idea to think about submittal limits on the schools that submit for the same category all the time, I know that this is an issue with the National Awards because they have schools that dominate the awards every year. We can talk about this one... 
 
4. As for Division Membership, we could talk to the Divisions to find out what they are thinking as far as how many memberships and to who gets them. I had thought at one point that it would be the officers of the PSO and then the key coordinators of the project, but that is often times hard to pinpoint because a lot of people are invovled. Maybe it is just a set amount. 
 
Remember to get your comments about the awards program to everyone by the end of this week so we can talk about them.
 
Thanks
Morgan
 
On 8/10/07, Morgan R. Landers <morganr.landers at gmail.com> wrote: 
Hey All-
Thanks for the input Lindsey, those were all valid points. We will be sure to talk about all of those on the conference call. I am expecting that that call will be dominated by the awards program and general questions about the Fall leadership meetings. I will also send out an email prior to the leadership meetings to help you figure out the large amount of paper that you will receive in the mail a couple weeks before hand. 
 
Everyone else...please send your comments asap regarding the awards. We want to be able to address everyone's questions.
 
Thanks a ton!!
Morgan

 
On 8/8/07, Lindsey Morse <lmorse at gsd.harvard.edu > wrote: 
fyi, I sent this with an attachment but got a bounce-back waiting for
moderator approval, so here's my email at least (my revisions to the 
document were fairly minimal and mainly captured below).

---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: Award Program Review
From:    "Lindsey Morse" < lmorse at gsd.harvard.edu>
Date:    Wed, August 8, 2007 11:26 pm
To:      src_execcmte at list.planning.org 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Hi everyone -

The Award Program draft looks great.  I'm very willing to work more on the
actual text (attached are some revisions), but below are my main 
comments/suggestions.  Sorry to be a little long-winded, but hope these 
are helpful/interesting.  My biggest 2 points are: 1) I definitely think
we should and need to confirm the award categories, come up with a 
deadline and initial guidelines, and get the info out! if this means
starting off with just 3 awards and expanding in future years, I think
it's worth it and 2) I would like to recommend that the 2008 winners 
provide jury reps (and thus are ineligible) for the 2009 awards.

Best. - Lindsey


- What do we need to do to get the announcement/categories at least done
for the special Student Interact?

- Award Ceremony: What happens if the PSO(s) to be recognized are not 
present at the National Conference?  I just want to make sure that 
attendance at the Conference is not mandatory to receive the award.

- I think these awards could serve another purpose beyond recognizing and 
supporting PSOs: helping prospective students become aware of the APA 
activity at potential schools (and thus encouraging schools/programs to
support their PSOs because it's part of what can attract students).  This 
can be advanced in part by having PAB put some type of recognition by each 
school listed (unless it is against their policy to do so).

- Ideas for award category(s).  Related to the point above, about
prospective students, it would be really helpful, I think, for prospective 
students to get a sense of which schools excel in which areas.  This might 
be too work-intensive and too controversial (as it would border on
ranking).  But each division involved could present a short list of PSOs 
that are best taking action on that division's focus and/or which PSOs 
have the most student members of each division.  This could be a
non-monetary, recognition-only component of this program that would help 
divisions buy in.

- The Jury (Committee): did the committee get appointed this spring? I'm 
confused how we will know who is not eligible (i.e. reps from schools who
are submitting an entry) before we receive the submittals or at least 
until we get the categories and criteria out there.  Also, I'm not sure 
the best people to judge are reps from PSOs that wouldn't receive awards .
. . (see below for a suggestion - that winners from one year become part 
of the jury (and thus ineligible) for the next year)

- Multiple-year eligibility: are we going to put any limits on the same
PSOs winning year after year?  It could make sense that all the PSOs that
win become members of the judging committee for the next year (and thus 
ineligible to apply).  This is good because these are the PSOs that would
have the highest standards and though it does limit that PSO's
opportunities, it does so only every other year.

- When do we need to outreach to the divisions to confirm/establish 
sponsorships?

- Other possibilities for awards: free division membership for officers,
for all students, for x number of students

- Membership.  I'm confused about how this works.  What do I need to do to 
make sure once my free student membership is up, I stay a member?  Will I
get an email asking me to continue my membership?

- Award categories.  I think we need more specific examples.  Also, I
think we need to set up additional criteria or some type of guidance for 
each award for what we are looking for (this could be for internal jury
use only).  Number AND variety of events held?  Attendance?  Number of
students involved and/or intensity of student involvement? (All the
students are involved somewhat, a few students are involved intensely,
etc.)

- What will the verification process be (if there will be any) for
evaluating the entries?  I.e., calling PSO's academic department, state's 
Chapter President, etc.


--
Lindsey Morse
MUP '08
lmorse at gsd.harvard.edu
617-680-2827 





--
Lindsey Morse
MUP '08
lmorse at gsd.harvard.edu
617-680-2827

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-- 
Morgan R. Landers
American Planning Association 
Student Representative Council- Chair
Cell: 720.365.0290 



-- 
Morgan R. Landers
American Planning Association
Student Representative Council- Chair
Cell: 720.365.0290


       
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