Lauren Deaderick, MPL 2018

University of Southern California Associate Professor Lisa Schweitzer was recently awarded the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP) 2016 Margarita McCoy Award. As the ACSP writes on its website, the Margarita McCoy Award is presented biannually to “recognize individuals who have made an outstanding contribution toward the advancement of women in planning at institutions of higher education through service, teaching, and/or research.”  This award honors the legacy of Margarita Piel McCoy who obtained her master of planning degree from USC in 1970 and served as an administrator and faculty at USC.

Dr. Schweitzer was nominated by USC faculty and colleagues at other institutions for her mentorship of junior faculty, significant research contributions, and innovations in her field. She has consistently been a strong advocate for women in the arena of planning and has positively impacted the field of research on gender issues. One example of her innovative research is her work on No-Notice Evacuations. Schweitzer found that federal and local agencies were not accounting for the complicated travel patterns and child-care duties that often fall on women, while making these evacuation plans. The plans were inclusive of primarily male-oriented travel patterns and subsequently disadvantaged women, particularly low-income and non-white.

I was fortunate to be able to interview Dr. Schweitzer about her thoughts on winning this prestigious award.  She humbly stated that she felt that she had received an award for merely doing her job. She explained that it is important for planners to understand how the urban system affects different people, by race, income, or gender, and her research simply promotes that notion. Additionally, she noted that as a professor it is necessary to involve young people in planning work, since the field needs more interested students to solve the problems plaguing urban areas. She would encourage young female planners to “hang in there” through the tough times and stick with the people that support them.

Dr. Schweitzer is an Associate Professor at the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy and has been with USC since 2007. She made her start in planning while she was pursuing a PhD in Economics. Her advisor at the time told her that she seemed more interested in problem-solving for cities and labor rather than the typical issues addressed by economists. Schweitzer’s advisor recommended to her that she work with a colleague at the University of Iowa and it was there that she was able to develop her interest in cities as well as transportation. Currently, her research focuses on urban studies as they relate to social justice, the environment, and transportation. For more information on Professor Schweitzer’s work, you can access her blog on sustainable urbanism at:  www.lisaschweitzer.com. 

METRANS congratulates Dr. Schweitzer on this prestigious and well-deserved award!

(Photo by Lisa Schweitzer)

Lauren Deaderick

Lauren Deaderick is a first year graduate student at the USC Price School of Public Policy pursuing dual degrees in Master of Planning and Master of Public Policy. She previously worked for the USDOT Volpe Center as a transportation planner. She can be reached at [email protected].