Public Information

The Planning Accreditation Board requires this information be posted for the Master of Urban Planning program.

Student Achievement 

We define student achievement as the demonstration of competence in applying knowledge and skills gained through the “Jayhawk Planner Experience” which includes coursework, advising, and engaging with the profession through real-world projects and the Jayhawk Planners and Friends network (alumni, other professionals, elected officials, and planning commissioners). Such competence is evident both in and beyond the classroom.

Traditional measures of student achievement include degree completion rates, pass rates of final exams (100% for the past 5 years), and pass rates for the AICP (American Institute of Certified Planners) exam (see table). In addition to these traditional measures, we also place a high premium on measures that capture a student's success in advancing the profession and the variety of planning jobs our graduates obtain. Other measures include the percentage of eligible students employed in an internship while a student, students and alumni receiving awards or recognition for their professional work, and their contributions to the body of planning knowledge.

Virtually all domestic students who want an internship are able to be placed in a paid position that is part-time during the academic year and full-time during the summer. Placement is more challenging for international students. Assistance is provided to students studying on an F1 visa to help place them in internships that qualify under the Curricular Practical Training provisions of their visa. For the most recent graduates in 2022, 79% had at least one paid internship.

In terms of job placement rates, 83% of the 2019 graduates had planning related jobs one year after graduating.  In 2020 (at the beginning of the pandemic), 17 (81%) had planning related jobs and 3 were continuing their educations. For the 2021 graduates, those with planning related jobs one year after graduating was 100%. A 2022 survey of all alumni found that 77% of respondents agreed with the statement, “The Program made me feel secure in my prospects for finding employment.”

For engagement with the planning profession, we look at how many alumni are members of the American Planning Association (APA) or other related professional organizations. From the 2022 survey of alumni, 64% of respondents are members of APA, 59% of respondents are AICP (American Institute of Certified Planners) or an AICP candidate. Four of our alumni are FAICP (Fellows of AICP). 57% of respondents are members of other related professional organizations, such as, AIA, COMTO, ULI, WTS, or others.

As a sampling of recent student achievements, KU UBPL students won New Horizon Team Awards from the Kansas Chapter of the American Planning Association (APA) in 2014, 2015, and 2019 and an Individual New Horizon award in 2017. Five students presented posters at the 2015 National APA conference, three at the 2017 conference, one at the 2017 Pacific Northwest Political Science Conference, two at the 2015 Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP) conference, one at the 2019 National Adaptation Forum (Best Student Poster award winner), one poster at the 2019 ACSP Conference, and one presenter at the ACSP Conference. In 2018 three students’ poetry celebrating National Community Planning month was featured in Planning magazine. Two students were in “Student and Active Alum Spotlight” features on the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning website in 2017. KU UBPL students have been Helene M. Overly Scholarship recipients in 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2019 from the WTS-Kansas City (Women’s Transportation Seminar). 

KU alumni, also known as Jayhawk Planners, serve as officers with the Kansas Chapter of APA, Missouri Chapter of APA, the Kansas City Section of APA, and the Missouri APA Ozark Section. They have been honored for state chapter planning awards in Missouri and Kansas. In 2021, alumni also served national APA on the APA Board of Directors as a Director At-Large and as member of the AICP Ethics Committee (2019 – 2021). Alumni regularly present at state, regional and the National Planning Conference. One presented at an international webinar for the Royal Town Planning Institute in 2020. Two were honored as one of “Mass Transit’s 40 under 40” in 2020 and 2021 and another as “Young Water Professional of the Year”. In 2022, an alumnus was honored with recognition by Waste360 40 under 40. Others were honored with the Oregon Tourism Rising Star Award in 2022 and appointed to the NeighborWorks Green Bay Board.

Alumni worked on 2 national APA award winning projects in 2019. In 2022, an alumnus was part of the team that designed the #2 place on the Top 10 rooftop spaces to have Brunch in Los Angeles. Alumni were part of two Great Places in America winners: 2019’s Great Neighborhood – Downtown Lee’s Summit, MO and 2010’s Great Street – Massachusetts Street in Lawrence, KS. Also, two alumni have authored or co-authored two Zoning Practice reports in 2018 and 2019 for APA and 1 has co-authored a PAS Memo for APA in 2018. In 2020, an alumna was a juror choosing the winners of APA’s National Planning Awards and winner of the Rosa Parks Diversity Leadership Award. Other alumni serve on planning commissions, historic resources commissions, public arts commissions, neighborhood associations, foundation boards, and in leadership positions for a variety of non-profits. Recent alumni have been officers for the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials – KC and on the board of WTS-KC.

The variety of planning jobs our alumni have is indicative of their flexibility and the transferability of their skills.  Alumni have positions with cities, counties, states, councils of governments, metropolitan planning organizations, nonprofits, consulting firms, national level agencies in the U.S. and abroad, development companies, law firms, universities, housing authorities, transit agencies, transportation authorities, ports, museums, and other cultural institutions, and some are even elected officials.