2002
Kenneth Michael Reardon
Associate Professor
City and Regional Planning
Cornell Urban Scholars Program
Professor Kenneth Reardon is a nationally recognized faculty member in the field
of service-learning and civic engagement. In the year 2000, he received the Ernest
A. Lynton Award for Faculty Professional Service & Academic Outreach from
NERCHE—the New England Resource Center for Higher Education—for his lasting contribution
to community development, as well as the impact he has had on the institutions
of which he has been a part through courses and curricula he has developed, and
the collaborative action research activities in which he has engaged colleagues,
students and communities. In 2001, Professor Reardon was asked by Ithaca Mayor
Alan Cohen and City Common Council to work with the City Planning and Development
Department in developing a neighborhood–based planning program for the older residential
neighborhoods. As a result of this collaboration, Professor Reardon organized
a Neighborhood Planning Workshop as a Special Topics Course in the College of
Architecture, Art, and Planning to involve students in this grassroots community-building
effort. Thirty-one students enrolled in the course, which used participatory
action research methods to develop a 5-year revitalization plan for Ithaca’s poorest
and most diverse residential community.
The strong continuing interest of students maintained the course for a second
semester, where the focus was to devise a strategy for implementing the “Northside-Turning
the Corner Plan.” The students of this workshop presented a proposal for plan
implementation to the JP Morgan Chase Community Development Competition in New
York City, securing a third-place finish in this prestigious competition. Professor
Reardon used his Kaplan Family Distinguished Faculty Fellowship Award to develop
two new service-learning courses in the Department of City and Regional Planning
to introduce to and prepare students for participatory approaches to community
problem-solving planning and design, with appropriate pre-field preparation for
such activities.
