Amplifying Student Voices: Kristina Currans, MSUP Program Chair

“As the new chair, my current goal is to aim for stability and continued excellence in our classes, teaching and research. I think students should really contribute to informing those decisions, and I'm looking forward to working with our students to identify opportunities to develop and improve our classes and program in the coming years.”

Associate Professor of Urban Planning Kristina Currans is taking on a new role as Master of Science in Urban Planning Program Chair. She has a vision for the program centered around the voices of students and consistency. 

1. What got you into your practice area? 
I originally went to school for civil engineering, with a pretty traditional background. But in graduate school, I started studying travel behavior and travel demand modeling, as an input into transportation engineering. This area of the field is deeply interdisciplinary, with folks studying similar topics in engineering, planning, geography, economics, consumer behavior, sociology, etc.

I suppose I became really interested in this area because of the deep practical and academic roots focused on understanding why, where and how people make decisions across space and time, as well as how our understanding of those behaviors influences practical planning and engineering decisions and how those practical decisions then influence behavior right back. 

2. What brought you to CAPLA and the U of A?
When I was looking for positions, I was debating going into academia versus practice. The MSUP program was interesting to me because there were clear ties between most faculty research and what they teach, and the programs focus more on preparing students for practice, which to me is an important area of focus. 

Outside of that, Tucson is just lovely with lots of great landscapes, activities, food and people. It’s a great place to live.

3. Are you currently practicing in the field?
A little bit. For a while, I was supporting projects with evidence-based analysis (e.g., literature, methods, data analysis). Currently, I'm focusing on advising and evaluating projects or analysis for transportation planning-related programs. 

It’s an opportunity to help translate what we know in research with agencies aiming to adopt new knowledge in their methods, but I think I also benefit because I get to learn more about their procedures and programs and some of the challenges in practice that are often missing from discourse in academic circles. 

4. What are you teaching this upcoming semester, and what do you most enjoy about teaching?
I am teaching Urban Transport Planning, which is a blast to teach because it covers key issues corresponding with transportation more generally. I will also be teaching the latter half of Planning Methods, which will cover methods that support comprehensive planning (e.g., population forecasts, community service gap analysis), and a prep course supporting Projects in Urban Planning, which is our MSUP capstone course focused on community-based projects for our soon-to-be-graduating planners. 

I feel lucky that I often get to see students during their first term in our MSUP program and their last. There’s nothing more joyful than watching students learn something in one class and then apply it in another!

5. As the new program chair, what are your goals and what can students expect?
As the new chair, my current goal is to aim for stability and continued excellence in our classes, teaching and research. I think students should really contribute to informing those decisions, and I'm looking forward to working with our students to identify opportunities to develop and improve our classes and program in the coming years. 

6. What makes your program unique/special? How would you describe the community within your program?
To me, I might call our students more mission-driven than in many programs. I really appreciate how students in our program often care deeply about their work and their communities, and that practice-driven and compassionate focus is both important and impactful. I hope that as faculty, we're doing good work to foster those behaviors as well. 

7. What advice do you have for students?
Stay curious! I think many students assume that graduate school is all about writing essays and memorizing texts, etc., but it’s much more important, fun and engaging when we approach it with a deep curiosity towards understanding the “why” and the “how.”

Ask questions. Explore different texts to identify different reasons. Recognize that there are many ways to do things. Approach your work with curiosity, and you'll never stop growing!

8. Beyond teaching, what are your passions?
I love lifting weights, reading, comedy and photoshopping silly family photos. And I really enjoy making and fixing things – from cooking to the fiber arts to electronics. I hate having to throw things out unnecessarily, so a fair amount of my free time is spent learning how to crack things open and fix them.