Meet our Students: Steve Rafuse / Environmental Planning and Water Issues

Meet our Students: Steve Rafuse

Environmental Planning and Water Issues

What city, region, state do you call home?

Eugene, Oregon

In which graduate program are you enrolled?

Community and Regional Planning

What is your area of concentration?

Environmental Planning and Water Issues

What will you be doing for the Community Service Center(CSC)?

Project Manager for the Community Planning Workshop.

How does your involvement with the Community Service Center relate to or inform your graduate studies?

My role as project manager for the Community Planning Workshop is a full year Graduate Fellowship.

What can you say about the value of your Community Service Center experience?

Working with the Community Planning Workshop has been the ideal transition from academic realm to professional world. I place considerable value in my time spent working with CSC staff, project advisers and clients, all of whom have greatly enriched my learning experience here at the University of Oregon.

What outcome are you hoping for when your project ends?

I know that I will be able to take the skills I learned working with the Community Planning Workshop and the CSC and apply them to wherever my career takes me.

More about the Community Planning Workshop(CPW)

Meet our Students: Paul Hicks / Social and Housing Policy and Collaborative Management

Meet our Students: Paul Hicks

Social and Housing Policy and Collaborative Management

 What city, region, state do you call home?

Eugene, OR

In which graduate program are you enrolled?

The master of public administrationThe community and regional planning 

What is your area of concentration?

Social and Housing Policy, and Collaborative Management

What will you be doing for the Community Service Center (CSC)?

Community Planning Workshop (CPW) Project Manager

How does your involvement with the Community Service Center relate to or inform your graduate studies?

There is no substitute for “real world” experience, accordingly, CSC programs provide a nexus between the field and the classroom allowing me to gain a genuine perspective on how planning and policy interact at the community level.

What can you say about the value of your Community Service Center experience?

This program supports the precise reason I came to graduate school – to further build a knowledge base on how to best bring innovative solutions to a variety of interconnected community challenges.

What outcome are you hoping for when your project ends?

I’m hoping to provide our client and interested stakeholders with a blue print, formed from evidence-based practices, on how how to create a dynamic network of business support services using existing community assets and resources.

More about the Community Planning Workshop(CPW)