By Vernon K. Walker
In 2024, the Robert Schalkenbach Foundation (RSF) and the Trustees of Tufts University entered a gift agreement allowing for the RSF to support the Massachusetts Distinguished Planner Lectureship Fund at the Tufts University School of Arts and Sciences. The purpose of the gift is to fund the annual lecture series that happens during the spring semester.
The lecture series features a keynote speaker who will be a Massachusetts-based retired or retiring practitioner in the area of urban, regional, or community planning. The lecture celebrates the accomplishments of the keynote speaker while offering a unique educational experience to planning students in the Boston area. The funds are managed by the Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning at Tufts University.
Tufts University led the effort to partner with the Massachusetts Chapter of the American Planning Association (APA-MA), along with other planning departments at other Massachusetts universities, such as Boston University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, and Northeastern University. Tufts also partners with philanthropic organizations, and other donors, to make the lectures happen. All members of the APA-MA, as well as students and faculty at all Massachusetts planning schools, are invited to attend.
In 2023, the lecture series keynote speech was delivered by Peter C. Lowitt, FAICP, former Director of Planning and Economic Development for the Town of Londonderry, New Hampshire. In 2024, the lecture series keynote speech was delivered by Ralph Willmer, FAICP. Ralph currently serves as the Ethics Officer for the American Institute of Certified Planners; he retired from work in 2022 after a career as a planning consultant and Technical Assistance Program Manager for the Metropolitan Area Planning Council based in Boston.
Peter mostly worked in the public sector, and his remarks included sharing some compelling stories about his career. For most of his career, Ralph worked in the private sector, but he ended his career working in the public sector, for the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, a regional planning agency.
In October 2024, we at the Robert Schalkenbach Foundation did an interview with Ralph along with Justin Hollander, a professor at Tufts University, who helped lead the organizing of the 2023 and 2024 lectures. Ralph mentioned that during the lecture series, he’d remarked: “Regardless of where you end up working, you want to make sure that you really understand the nuances of planning law, zoning laws in the state in which you work or in which you would like to work. Especially if you decide that you want to stay in Massachusetts, Massachusetts has a very quirky and archaic planning statutes and zoning statutes, so take advantage when you’re in school of the opportunities that are given to you to work on projects where you may learn these things.”
Justin mentioned during the interview that the benefit of doing the lecture series each year is: “We get a different set of advice, a different kind of perspective.” For more insight from the interview we conducted with Justin and Ralph, visit this url link to the Youtube video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZMwiT1tauA
Next year the lecture series will be hosted in the month of March and it will be held at Northeastern University. Once we have more details, we will share them publicly. Staff from the RSF will be present at the event and will say a few remarks during the program.
