Tufts University Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning

Friday, June 12, join us for Connecting Sectors, Connecting People: Tufts Public Health for Critical Impact, a day-long symposium designed to initiate dialog, fire the imagination, and create connections in Public Health.

The keynote speaker is Gina McCarthy, UEP alum and former EPA administrator under the Obama administration as well as the first climate advisor to the White House.

June 12, 2026 at the Joyce Cummings Center on the Tufts Medford Campus from 9:30am-6:00pm. Lunch and refreshments will be provided.

Students and alums, join us for a pre-symposium mixer the evening before in Davis Square!

Register for Connecting Sectors, Connecting People: Tufts Public Health for Critical Impact via the QR code or here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/connecting-sectors-connecting-people-tufts-public-health-tickets-1987941099342?aff=oddtdtcreator&keep_tld=true

Congratulations to all our graduating UEPers! We are so proud of you. Go Jumbos! 🐘🩵

Congratulations to UEP Associate Teaching Professor Rebecca Shakespeare for winning the 2026 Tufts Excellence in Online Teaching Award!

The award is presented by Tufts Educational Technology Services to celebrate the outstanding dedication, creativity, and innovative teaching practices of instructors in Tufts’ online and blended academic programs. Students nominate course instructors whose teaching in the online space had a positive impact on their learning and engagement.

Learn more about the award here:
https://sites.tufts.edu/ets/twt-and-eot-awards/

UEP first years just wrapped up their Field Projects presentations this week! Congratulations to all the teams on their incredibly fascinating and impactful research and hard work this semester. A huge shoutout to all the project partners who attended and supported the teams throughout their project.

Our last Cities@Tufts lecture for Spring 2026 is this Wednesday, April 22nd from 12 - 1PM ET! We will be joined by Tufts University Visiting Scholar Elizabeth Barron who will share "Emplacing Sustainability," the topic of her current book project.

Register for Zoom link here: https://citiesattufts-emplacing-sustainability.eventbrite.com

Elizabeth Barron is professor of environmental geography at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), in Trondheim, Norway and is trained as an interdisciplinary scholar with degrees in conservation biology, anthropology, forest ecology and geography.

Geographers understand the term place to be short-hand for a diverse set of perspectives and practices. Place is space made real and thick with description, history, and experience. It can incorporate fixed and fluid ideas about the physicality of landscapes, the political negotiations of boundaries, ideas about identity, and attachments to each other and nature. How can we use the richness of the concept of place to reframe sustainability - how we understand it for ourselves, how we work on it as scholars, and how we communicate it to the public? This is the topic of Emplaced Sustainability, Dr. Barron’s current book project, which she will present at the upcoming lecture.

Art competition!!! Submit designs for UEP merch to be gifted to the graduating class of 2026!

Deadline extended -> To enter the competition, email a digital copy of your art by midnight on Sunday 4/26/26!

All art submissions will be displayed at the UEP Art Showcase on 4/27/26 in JCC 160 at 12PM. This event is open to all in the UEP community to celebrate all art submissions. Food and drinks will be provided! Online voting will commence shortly after.

Submission details below and in Canvas announcements. https://tufts.app.box.com/s/a5357h9v39dj02sijhqbl86fmyod9yp7

*Only students who are eligible to participate in the 2026 graduation should submit designs or vote.*

This Wednesday's Cities@Tufts lecture is with UEP's Penn Loh, presenting on Solidarity Economy Movements in Massachusetts.

Register here for the Zoom link: https://bit.ly/4cfu1XW
For those on the Tufts Medford campus, Penn will be presenting LIVE in the UEP Viewing Room in Bromfield-Pearson! Lunch provided.

This talk will share stories of the emergence of solidarity economy movements in Massachusetts. There is increasing recognition that colonial capitalist modernity is not only wreaking havoc on people and the planet, but that this world cannot sustain itself. Loh will trace how these movements, many of which he has been involved with, have been fighting for and building over the past fifteen years various ways of living in interdependence and collective care, around projects such as worker-owned cooperatives, community land trusts, community investment funds, mutual aid, and more.

Penn Loh is Teaching Professor and Director of Community Practice at Tufts University’s Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning. He is also a faculty member of the Tisch College of Civic Life at Tufts. He partners with various community organizations through the Solidarity Economy Initiative, Right to the City Alliance, and Center for Economic Democracy.

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Join Cities@Tufts this Wednesday to hear Emma Osore, Executive Director of BlackSpace (), present: Designing with Artists & Aunties

Register for the Zoom link: https://bit.ly/4uZy5D1
Watch Party and lunch in Bromfield-Pearson (Tufts Medford Campus)

Emma Osore, Executive Director of BlackSpace and Brooklyn-based community and participatory designer, discusses how community cultural leaders can shape more just and resilient neighborhoods.

What if the most effective designers of a neighborhood are already embedded within it? Designing with Aunties and Artists reframes community development by highlighting cultural producers and trusted community caretakers as key partners in building imaginitive, resilient, inclusive places, especially during periods of neighborhood stress or transition. Drawing on ten years of leading BlackSpace, this talk offers practical insights into culture-first approaches that help organizations design more durable, trusted, and community-aligned projects.