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 and a final exam/thesis tied to learning objectives, 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 for the AICP (American Institute of Certified Planners) exam, employment (see the Public Information table below), and tracking learning objectives. Other measures include student exit survey and alumni survey results indicating the percentage of eligible students employed in an internship while a student and actionable feedback. We also place a premium on measures that capture a student's success in advancing the profession and the variety of planning jobs our graduates obtain.

Exit Surveys

Graduates complete exit surveys for the program to assess on an annual basis. For the class of 2022, 79% had at least one paid internship, and for the 2023 class, it was 86%. The 2023 exit surveys indicated a need for more GIS training, which was added in collaboration with the Professional Science Master’s program and Environmental Studies effective Spring 2024.

Virtually all domestic students who want an internship may 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.

Alumni Surveys

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, the program assesses how many alumni are members of the American Planning Association (APA) or other related professional organizations. In the 2022 survey, 64% of respondents are members of APA, 59% of respondents are AICP (American Institute of Certified Planners) or an AICP candidate. Four alumni are FAICP (Fellows of AICP). 57% of respondents are members of other related professional organizations, such as, AIA, COMTO, ULI, WTS, or others.

Student and Alumni Achievements

In 2023, a student won the prestigious Don Schön Award for Excellence in Learning from Practice (Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning) and the Brosseau Creativity Award for Diverse Media (KU Spencer Museum of Art). Four student teams competed in the 2023 American Planning Association (APA) Design Competition. In 2018, three students’ poetry celebrating National Community Planning month was featured in Planning magazine. Two students were featured in the “Student and Active Alum Spotlight” on the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning website in 2017.

KU alumni 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 alum 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. Four alumni have been inducted as Fellows of the American Institute of Certified Planners.

Alumni worked on 2 national APA award winning projects in 2019. In 2022, an alum 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, four alumni have authored or co-authored eight Zoning Practice reports from 2013 to 2023 for APA and one co-authored a PAS Memo for APA in 2018. In 2020, an alum 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 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, financial institutions, ports, museums, and other cultural institutions; some are even elected officials.