John Randolph wins Dale Prize for Excellence in Urban and Regional Planning
John Randolph, director of Virginia Tech’s School of Public and International Affairs in the College of Architecture and Urban Studies, has won the 2006 William R. and June Dale Prize for Excellence in Urban and Regional Planning from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. The Dale Prize recognizes planning excellence, creates dialogue between scholars and practitioners, and enriches the education of planning students.
The 2006 theme for this prize is “Crossing Boundaries: Fostering a Regional Approach to Environmental Planning.” The prize recognizes work that crosses disciplinary and jurisdictional boundaries, solving environmental problems by integrating analytic environmental studies and participative management strategies. Randolph is receiving the award for his endeavors to foster collaborative planning efforts, which include multiple agencies, multiple levels of government, and multiple professional fields. He will be in residence on the Pomona, Calif., campus during April 18-20, engaging students in classes, participating in a public colloquium, and being honored at a major award banquet. Randolph will also receive a $5,000 prize.
"We are delighted that Dr. John Randolph has accepted our nomination to be the 2006 Dale Prize scholar. His far-reaching scholarship in environmental planning strongly supports this year's Dale Prize theme. The students, faculty, and alumni are looking forward to his contributions to our dialogues on this theme,” said Richard Willson, professor and chair, department of Urban and Regional Planning, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.
In 1973, as a graduate student in Stanford University’s Department of Civil Engineering, John Randolph taught environmental planning, one of the first such titled courses in the country. Randolph came to Virginia Tech in 1979 to lead the environmental planning concentration of the Urban and Regional Planning master’s program and the Environmental Design and Planning doctoral program. He developed an innovative graduate environmental planning curricula, and designed and taught most of the principal courses.
In the mid-1990s, Randolph led the effort to develop a new bachelor of science degree in environmental policy and planning. Again, he designed an innovative interdisciplinary curriculum that blended natural and physical sciences, economics, humanities, policy, and planning.
Randolph has worked closely with other Virginia Tech departments to provide access for planning students to additional related courses in civil engineering, resource economics and forestry, among others. Working with those departments, he led efforts for interdisciplinary university-wide environmental planning curricula, such as the undergraduate minor and the graduate certificate in watershed management.
In addition to curriculum development, Randolph has mentored a large number of graduate students in environmental planning who have played a variety of roles in academia and in the profession. Randolph has mentored nine doctoral students to completion and served on the committees of 19 others; he has chaired 79 master’s students committees, and served on the committees of 57 others; he has taught and advised hundreds of undergraduate planning students; and 1984, Randolph was a recipient of the prestigious University Certificate of Teaching Excellence.
Randolph has held several administrative positions at Virginia Tech, including director of the Virginia Center for Coal and Energy Research and head of Urban Affairs and Planning, yet he has maintained a comprehensive program of research and scholarship. He has led sponsored projects totaling more than $1.2 million sponsored by federal, state, and local agencies, and private and foundation organizations. He received the Virginia Energy Award in 1991 for his groundbreaking evaluation of the Virginia Weatherization Program. His most recent project for HUD investigating the impact of environmental regulations on housing affordability has attracted national interest.
Randolph’s research has resulted in more than 100 scholarly publications and conference papers. The most significant of his publications is the 2004 Island Press textbook, Environmental Land Use Planning and Management.
The Dale Prize is made possible by an endowment provided by the late June Dale, wife of the late William R. Dale. Bill Dale was a founding faculty member, and later the chair and dean, of the department of urban and regional planning at Cal Poly. The prize was inaugurated in 2004 and focuses on a different theme annually.
Virginia Tech’s College of Architecture and Urban Studies is one of the largest of its type in the nation. The college is composed of two schools and the departments of landscape architecture, building construction, and art and art history. The School of Architecture + Design includes programs in architecture, industrial design and interior design. The School of Public and International Affairs includes programs in urban affairs and planning, public administration and policy, and government and international affairs. The college enrolls more than 2,000 students offering 22 degrees programs taught by 160 faculty members.
