Life as Edward Jensen

It was on this day in 1815 that Thomas Jefferson accepted payment of $23,950 for his personal collection of 6,487 books thus establishing the modern-day Library of Congress. Today, the Library has over 30 million books (but over 134.5 million items) for all to see but for only the members of Congress to check out.

So celebrate this day by visiting your local library – be it a city- or county-run library or even a college/university library.

Edward Jensen

I’m watching the State of the Union address now and so I hope to have a policy analysis after the address is finished.

NPR has made the full text of the speech available to read, and it’s here.

Edward Jensen

REMINDER! Dr Nan Ellin’s lecture on her book, Integral Urbanism, is TODAY at 4:30pm in AG250 on the Tempe Campus.

Dear Barrett Students,

When I was your age, one of the ideas I had for a career that seemed extremely useful and sort of romantic was Urban Design. I liked biology, I liked writing, I thought (don’t we all?) that I was a bit artistic, but I wanted to help people directly as well. Urban Design seemed to combine everything I liked.

I still think it combines a lot of the interests that good honors students have, and THIS AFTERNOON, at 4:30 PM, in Room 250 of the Agriculture Building, the Director of ASU’s “Urban and Metropolitan Studies” program, Dr. Nan Ellin, will talk about her work in urban design and about the courses and the major you can take in her department.

Nan is a very nice person and good speaker, and I think her program is an exciting one that is particularly suited to Phoenix as a rapidly developing city. I strongly urge you to attend the talk, and hope to see you there this afternoon!

Mark Jacobs
Dean, Barrett Honors College
Professor, School of Life Sciences

Hope to see you there! -Edward Jensen

Hello everyone!

ASU’s Barrett Honors College sponsors many lectures throughout the year. The next one is on 23 January 2008 at 4:30pm and it features the director of the Urban & Metropolitan Studies program, Dr. Nan Ellin, to talk about “Integral Urbanism”. The lecture is at the Tempe campus in the Agriculture Building, room 250.

Biographical information on Dr Nan Ellin, U&MS director
Dr. Ellin is the Director of Urban and Metropolitan Studies Program and an Associate Professor in the School of Public Affairs at ASU. She holds an M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. from Columbia University and a B.A. from Bryn Mawr College. Before coming to ASU, Ellin held academic positions at University of Cincinnati, Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc), University of Southern California, and New York University. She was a Fulbright Scholar in France, engaging in research on European New Urbanism. Ellin is a celebrated author and editor, with numerous publications nationwide. As a public intellectual, Ellin also writes periodic urban design columns for the Arizona Republic and consults with public and private sectors on issues related to urban revitalization. More biographical information is available at http://honors.asu.edu.

Edward Jensen

Earlier today, Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano (D) delivered her annual State of the State Address to a joint session of the Arizona State House of Representatives and the State Senate. As a student of urban and public policy, it proved to be a delight. Her address is available as a PDF file here, and any background for the proposals she outlined are available here. She outlined proposals in several key areas (or chapters, as she likened Arizona’s history and its future to a book) – and here are a couple:

I. Education
Governor Napolitano proposed making Arizona’s high-school dropout age 18. She recognized that, unlike in ages past, a high school diploma doesn’t stand on its own. To be successful as a person and competitive in the business world, a college degree is needed. But college isn’t always affordable. Tuition always increases year after year, and so Napolitano proposed that the price you pay for in-state tuition at Arizona’s three state universities your freshman year is the price you’ll pay for the next four years. She also proposed making a four-year education for Arizona’s excelling HS students free for all four years.

IV. Transportation and growth
Arizona will be, given its future growth projections and future transportation plans, a traffic nightmare. Getting between Phoenix and Tucson – Arizona’s megapolitan – is horrendous. The Governor wants on Arizona’s 2008 ballot a comprehensive, statewide transportation addressing all modes – because we cannot, in the Governor’s words, “out-freeway” the problem. My favorite line from this section is this: “This plan must include not just necessary freeway construction, but also transit options – including a robust rail element – because we simply cannot out-freeway the problem.”

From a public policy perspective, this will be an interesting year for the Arizona Legislature! Keep tuned as we see how Arizona writes its history.

Edward Jensen

People usually ask me, “What are you going to do with your U&MS degree? How is it useful?” For those that have asked me, and for those who are wondering the same thing, I’ll tell you.

After graduating with my U&MS degree (hopefully in May 2010), I plan to continue on in the School of Public Affairs and get my Master of Public Administration, or M.P.A. degree. The MPA program at ASU is highly-ranked: 26th overall highest MPA program in the USA – and it is the highest-ranked MPA program in Arizona’s state university system (including the University of Arizona and Northern Arizona University). And what about after my M.P.A.? I’m thinking of going all the way – a Ph.D. in Pubic Administration, once again through ASU.

When I chose the ASU U&MS program at Summer 2007, I looked for a program through which I could continue my education. I have most certainly found such a program.

Continued luck in your college searches. Also, feel free to ask any questions you may have!

Edward Jensen

I thought it would be appropriate if I shared some information with you all on my background and how I became the Urban & Metropolitan Studies (U&MS) major that I am.

For all my life, I have been interested in transportation infrastructure and policy. Growing up, my favorite game was (and still is!) SimCity 2000. Within the last few years, I had become incredibly successful at playing the game. Because of my skill at that game, it seemed like the natural fit for my career would be to go into civil engineering.

I entered Arizona State University in the fall semester of 2006 as a Civil Engineering major through the ASU College of Engineering. I started out well with the requisite engineering courses: chemistry, physics, calculus, etc. until I realized that the ASU civil engineering program focused on how to build the various items (e.g. roads, bridges, highways, rail systems, etc.). I have always been more interested in where to build them, and especially the policy behind these various items of transportation infrastructure.

With this, over the summer of 2007, I had to do some serious soul searching. I figured that, given the immense size of Arizona State University, there had to be something out there that would match my desire to go into transportation infrastructure and policy. I looked at ASU’s list of undergraduate majors – all 250 of them – and I stumbled upon two very interesting majors – Urban Planning (through the ASU College of Design) and U&MS (through the ASU School of Public Affairs). Considering both, I realized that I could major in one and take a minor in the other. Here I am today – majoring in U&MS and taking a minor in Urban Planning. I did it this way because the U&MS major offered more flexibility and a minor in Urban Planning – needing only eighteen (18) credit hours – fit in within the required elective courses needed for the U&MS major. To go on top of this, I’m adding a second minor in sustainability through the new School of Sustainability.

The beauty of my present major is that it is incredibly flexible – which is something that my former major lacked.

Best of luck in your college search!
Edward Jensen

Welcome and many thanks for choosing ASU’s College of Public Programs. The College offers six baccalaureate majors across three schools: the School of Public Affairs (my future alma mater!), the School of Social Work, and the School of Community Resources and Development.

Stay tuned as we update this for new information about the College and its Schools. And if you have any questions in the interim, don’t hesitate to leave a comment on any entry on this blog! Leave your e-mail address and your questions and I’ll try and answer them to the best of my ability!

Best of luck in your college search – and also keep in mind if the College of Public Programs doesn’t offer your major, Arizona State University offers over 250 undergraduate majors in many different areas!

Edward Jensen