2005 – Greg Longhini, MUPP ’79
Since 2004, the CUPPA Alumni Association Board of Directors has presented the Alumni Appreciation Award recognizing individuals or groups for their dedication to the fields of urban planning and public administration and their contributions to the development of the college's students and alumni. The recipient of this year’s award is Greg Longhini, MUPP ’79.
Greg came to Chicago from Joliet in 1968, to attend college at Loyola. He enrolled in UIC's Graduate School of Planning in the Fall of 1974, the second class since the program started in 73. In the fall of 1977, he was hired by the old American Association of Planning Officials on the research staff. Dave Mosena was the director of research and hired him. ASPO merged with the American Institute of Planners in 1978 and became the American Planning Association. He eventually became a senior research associate, managing the inquiry answering service of the Planning Advisory Service, edited various newsletters, and researched and wrote planning reports. Greg left APA in May of 1984.
In October of 1985, Greg started working for the old Department of Economic Development. When Dave Mosena became commissioner of planning in 1989, he made Greg his assistant in charge of media relations and intergovernmental affairs.
In 1991, Greg and a few others were asked by the Mayor's Office to come up with the blueprint of a merged agency--DOP, DED, an whatever other agencies made sense. That's what led to the creation of the current DPD, started in January of `1992, under Valerie Jarrett. They merged DOP, DED, the staff of the Economic Development Commission then under Ron Gidwitz, the urban renewal section of DOH, moved the energy division of DOP to a new Department of Environment.
Many congratulations to Greg on this achievement.
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The CUPPA Alumni Association has presented the CUPPA Alumni Appreciation Award recognizing individuals or groups for their dedication to the fields of urban planning and public administration and their contributions to the development of the college's students and alumni. In November 2010, the Board of Directors of the CUPPA-AA voted unanimously to rename the award to the Jim Marek Alumni Appreciation Award honoring the former CUPPA assistant dean for student services, Jim Marek. Marek retired from his post in CUPPA on February 6, 2007 after over twenty-nine years of service to the university, its students and alumni. He unexpectedly died on August 13, 2010.