Ball State University

The Ball State Master of Urban and Regional Planning degree teaches students to do good work in the places that need it. Located in the heart of the rustbelt, our program is a blend of hands-on community-based studio experiences and planning theory and policy that will give you the skills you need to succeed in up-and-coming cities like Denver, Indianapolis, Chicago and Fort Wayne. Through deep connections in our home city of Muncie, and throughout the region, our students and graduates also work with small towns and shrinking cities that need more talented, caring professional planners.

At Ball State we approach planning as practical idealism.

Through coursework, field trips, and a capstone project, you will learn the practical and technical skills to work as a city or small-town planner, as a planning consultant, developer, an economic development expert or in many other in-demand professions.

Our students learn how to live out their ideals through a purposeful life-long career by working closely with communities and faculty members who care. Recent classes have worked on consequential planning issues: the rejuvenation of the oldest residential neighborhood in Muncie, a sustainability plan for the university, or a comprehensive plan for small cities around Indiana. Planners who graduate from our program take on the big environmental, social and economic issues facing our cities.

Our program enables you to strive for your ideals through a job and successful career. Within one year of graduation, 96% of our graduates have a job in planning. Our alumni network is unparalleled in the region, with graduates working in major planning and planning advocacy organizations. Our focus on professional development, through our internship program, our portfolio development and graduate assistantships, enables students to get great jobs.

Meet our Alumni

Connect with alumni stories via our “Where do you fit in?” page, and read on to learn about the careers of two recent grads:

• Kenneth Hughes, AICP a 2016 graduate who currently works as a project manager for the U.S. Department of Defense reflects on his experience: “The department size at Ball State means your professors and instructors get to know you and in turn you get to make your education what you want it to be. Ball State has been a large part of my success in my career because I honed in on skills to look at problems comprehensively and develop research tools to create solutions even as I have ventured out of working strictly in planning.”

Kenneth started his career with four years spent as plan director in Noble County, Ind., followed by more than two years as community development director in St. Marys, Ga., and a two-year stint with the Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command.

• Meghan Jennings, AICP, a 2021 graduate, describes her career: “Ball State helped sculpt my knowledge of planning history, my marketables (like design, presentations, writing, zoning research, etc.), and my self-confidence to pursue the planning career I desired for myself. Since graduating from Ball State, my career has grown in a way I could not have expected. I’ve worked as a planner for both big cities and small towns. Each has their own set of challenges but serving the community and getting to be a part of real, practical progress is worth it all.”

Meghan started her career as executive director of the Muncie Land Bank before what she called her “dream job” opened up in Lexington, Ky. A chance to move to her hometown in Athens, Ohio, two years later proved irresistible.

Meet the faculty

Our faculty are experienced planners, nationally known authors of books and journal articles, and committed educators. Just to share a few highlights:

Chair Dr. John West leads the only accredited urban planning program in Indiana. He is proud to support Ball State students and alums, who serve in positions of leadership across the region and throughout the country. Drawing on the university’s strengths as an innovator in community-engaged, student-driven learning, West has established firm links between the program and local units of government and non-profits doing important work, in cities big and small. Through classes and then through their careers, our students have had a hand in the major planning successes in Indiana, including the revitalization of downtown Fort Wayne, the establishment of the Muncie Land Bank and the development of the Indianapolis Bus Rapid Transit system (IndyGo).

West has an extensive background in planning history and theory, land banking, tenant rights, low-income housing policy research, and program evaluation. His theoretical interest is in how ideas, technology and local political action shape urban citizenship.

As an engaged teacher scholar West is the founding chair of the Muncie Land Bank, a planning agency that seeks to address property abandonment. He and his students have partnered with non-profits to create The Renter’s Book, an extensive collection of information, sample forms, and procedural steps to help renters understand their rights and advocate for their interests. They also spearheaded creation of the state’s first landlord-tenant mediation program through partnerships with the Delaware County courts and others. Hear him share the story of the land bank.

Graduate Director Dr. Sanglim Yoo is passionate about sustainability and protecting communities from rising temperatures. She teaches students to analyze and map data …. One recent class project has been adopted by the city …. She describes her research to Ball State Magazine here.

Associate Professor Lohren Deeg is a design expert whose artwork and urban designs have won national and international awards. Watch him in action in this Charrette Graphics course.

Professor Dr. Michael Burayidi an author and editor of multiple books about downtown revitalization and multiculturalism. With Dr. Yoo, he recently wrote “Shopping Malls: Predicting Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why?” in the Journal of Real Estate Literature, (Vol. 29, 2021.) You can read it via your school library: https://doi.org/10.1080/09277544.2021.1952050