Student Profile

During my summer in the Cornell Urban Scholars Program (CUSP), I helped to design a book with profiles of the program participants and descriptions of their incredible experiences in New York City. This past summer, I resumed my design work with CUSP through a part-time job creating a photography and text exhibition to showcase the program. The summer job expanded into an independent study with CUSP Campus Director Ann Forsyth and Program Coordinator Sarah Smith. To bring the exhibition to life, I contacted CUSP participants and alumni, collected photos and quotations, developed a final photo selection process, created a layout, and organized the production and hanging of the exhibit.

In October 2008, the exhibition, which captures fieldwork and reflections — literally, work in progress — by recent urban scholars and urban mentors, was displayed in the John Hartell Gallery in Sibley Dome. The photos and quotations provide a glimpse into the experience of Cornell’s urban scholars and urban mentors. CUSP students captured many of the images while working in the field, and their words are a testament to the power of the program. The project has been developed a web-based multimedia slideshow, which can be found on the CRP website.
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"The past year and a half as an Urban and Regional Studies student has been the most exciting and engaging period in my education."

B.S. Urban and Regional Studies 2009

I entered the Department of City and Regional Planning after two years at Cornell, hoping to integrate an awareness of social issues with my knowledge of the built environment. The past year and a half as an Urban and Regional Studies student has been the most exciting and engaging period in my education. After spending a summer in New York City working with the Cornell Urban Scholars Program and the Center for Urban Pedagogy, I had the opportunity to study urban planning and Spanish during a semester in Barcelona. Upon my return to Ithaca, I delved into classes covering a wide range of topics related to urban studies, from practical applications of GIS to the theory and history of American city planning.

In the process, I have been able to relate my field experiences and travels to assignments, and my classes have allowed for participation in projects with real world clients, from local officials interested in solid waste management to middle schools students from Brooklyn. The issues I have learned about in the City and Regional Planning Department have inspired me to take on more independent and extracurricular activities such as an independent study project centered around designing a photography exhibit for the Cornell Urban Scholars Program, a position on the executive board for the Organization of Urban and Regional Studies (OURS), and weekly tutoring sessions with incarcerated youth at a nearby residential facility. As I near the end of my undergraduate studies, I feel that my classes and experiences in Urban and Regional Studies have prepared me well to combine theory and practice in work with underserved youth and communities in American cities.

work

Urban mentor for a middle-school student in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn as part of CRP 3850: Progressive Education: University-Community Partnerships

Nancy Horton Bartels, Class of 1948, Scholar and Education Intern for Adult and Community Programs, Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University

Cornell Urban Scholars Program Exhibition Coordinator

Cornell Urban Scholars Program and Center for Urban Pedagogy Intern, New York City

Tompkins County Solid Waste Management Reuse Incentive project team member as part of CRP 384: Green Cities

associations

Secretary, Organization of Urban and Regional Studies

Tompkins Learning Partners tutor at Lansing Residential Center

Contributor, Society for MUTT