Public Information

The Planning Accreditation Board requires this information be posted for the Bachelor of Science in Regional Planning program.

Student Achievement¹

The Bachelor of Science in Regional Planning strives to prepare students for leadership positions as professional planners. Program graduates acquire ethical and conceptual knowledge, as well as a broad range of technical skills, land use, environmental training to articulate community problems and plan for sustainable communities. The capstone course RGPL 498: Planning Practicum taught in the Fall semester is used to determine program student achievement. The course introduces students to the process of formal inquiry and helps them develop the skills needed to read and evaluate the research of others.

Students are exposed to the development of structured questions to guide inquiry, bibliography research to set their inquiry in the context of the work of other scholars, research design and the selection of research methods, and takes them through the development of an original research project paper. The course uses three assessment indicators: 1) Portfolio, 2) Research Paper, 3) Research Presentation to determine mastery of Program Outcome 2: Analytic, Design and Communication skills: Apply written, oral, graphic and visual communication skills in preparation and presentation of plans and research. A summary of performance of graduating seniors follows:

Summary of Indicator 1: Portfolio

Students are required to develop a professional portfolio that includes a resume, reflective essay on the major, highlights of at least six of their best work (projects/papers), and 2) a research project paper.

Eight student portfolios were evaluated by three faculty members and two external evaluators over the Fall and Spring semesters of AY 2018-19. The average evaluation scores are reported here. Out of eight students, five students (62.5%) exceeded expectations of the evaluators and three students (37.5%) met expectations of the evaluators.

Summary of Indicator 2: Research Paper

Eight student research papers were evaluated by the instructor of the course. Out of eight students, four students (50%) exceeded requirement by scoring more than 90%, three students (37.5%) met the requirement by scoring in between 80-89%, and 1 student (12.5%) met the requirement but below expectation by scoring in between 70-79%.

Summary of Indicator 3: Research Presentation

Eight students presented their research orally to a jury of at least two faculty members and the instructor. The average evaluation scores are reported here. Out of eight students, five students (62.5%) exceeded expectations of the evaluators and three students (37.5%) met expectations of the evaluators. In addition, students are required to present their research papers at the annual IUP Scholars Forum², sponsored by the Graduate School during Research Week, prior to a final grade for the course. During the 2019 Scholars Forum, two students received university awardsone for oral presentation and another for best poster.

¹2019 data is reported as it represents sizable graduating class compared to the 2020 small graduating class.
²The 2020 IUP Scholars Forum was canceled due COVID-19.