SPPD News

SPPD Ranks Among Best Public Affairs Schools in U.S.
The USC School of Policy, Planning and Development ranked seventh overall among "America's Best Graduate Schools" for public affairs, according U.S. News & World Report. In addition, SPPD also earned high ratings in several academic specialty areas.
» Read more about SPPD's rankings.

New Center to Study Immigrant Integration
The School of Policy, Planning, and Development and USC College have created a new center addressing the urgent need for knowledge about the successful integration of immigrants. SPPD Dean Jack Knott and College Dean Howard Gillman made the announcement during a recent conference, "Immigrant Integration and the American Future: Lessons From and for California."
» Read the complete article.

SPPD Students Sweep Fellowship Awards
In an unprecedented sweep, all three recipients of the William A. Carlson Fellowship award – presented by the California Redevelopment Agency in March – are current students at SPPD.
» Read the complete article.

SPPD Alumnus Jim Lewis Is Committed to Giving Back to Community — and SPPD
Jim Lewis vividly remembers the kind of enriching “family environment” present at the USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development during his undergraduate years more than a decade ago. “Faculty members exposed me to things I never would have imagined,” Lewis said. “They invested in me.” Now, he’s returning the favor. Lewis, the 33-year-old the assistant city manager of Atascadero, Calif., recently donated a $250,000 insurance trust to SPPD.
» Read the complete article.

SPPD Faculty In the News

Bostic Discusses Impact of Rising Oil Costs on Housing Market
Professor Raphael Bostic was interviewed on CNBC about rising oil prices and the housing market. Expensive fuel will negatively impact the housing market since it is linked, especially psychologically, to consumer spending and people's feelings about the economy, said Bostic, director of the Master of Real Estate Development Program at SPPD. "We know that consumer spending is an important part of the economy, and it provides a benchmark for what people will decide to do in terms of major purchases," he explained. In the long term, increasing fuel costs might affect development patterns, he added. "I think [high prices is] why we're seeing a lot more interest on the part of developers to create urban central core type developments."
» Watch the CNBC video.

Myers Examines Public’s Misperception of Immigrants
Professor Dowell Myers was quoted in a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed about immigration policy. Public discourse on the subject can be classified by what Myers calls the "Peter Pan Fallacy," the story stated. "Many of us assume, unwittingly, that immigrants are like Peter Pan, forever frozen in their status as newcomers, never aging, never advancing economically, and never assimilating," Myers said. In this naïve view, "the mounting numbers of foreign-born residents imply that our nation is becoming dominated by growing numbers of people who perpetually resemble newcomers," he said.
» Read the complete Wall Street Journal article.

Gordon Addresses City Planning and L.A. Traffic Congestion
Professor Peter Gordon wrote an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times about city planning and traffic congestion in L.A. "Lifestyle choices and the demographic composition of our population are ever-changing," Gordon wrote. "It is the job of builders to figure out how to respond, and those who get it right make sales and money. Those who get it wrong suffer losses and end up in another line of work. The only thing that stands in the way is politics. When politicians get involved, as they increasingly want to do, the process favors large and well-connected developers."
» Read the complete Los Angeles Times article.