Strategic PLAN 2023-2028
I. INTRODUCTION
The University of Puerto Rico Graduate School of Planning (GSP), founded in 1965, is the oldest planning school in Latin America. It is the only Planning Accreditation Board (PAB)-accredited institution in Puerto Rico, and a leader in teaching and developing applied research on planning on the Island. The GSP master’s in planning (MP) program focuses on fostering an integral and multidisciplinary education of its students promoting intellectual curiosity, critical thinking capacity, continuous learning, effective communication, and appreciation for and cultivation of ethical values, social awareness and social responsibility.
The GSP is committed to diversity, equity and inclusion through the continued recruitment of a diverse body of professors and students; curriculum and course development; and community service. A diverse faculty includes professors with different areas of planning expertise, including social issues, environmental justice, economic development and urbanism. It also includes having the Latin American perspectives from visiting professors that can share their experiences and knowledge in social, politically and economically disadvantaged contexts. This is a new area of the Plan that will add to diversity and social justice perspectives to the Programa in the years to come. Recruiting a diverse, inclusive body of students that respects equity, requires developing promotional materials that are culturally sensitive, as well as reaching out to towns or municipalities with low income populations beyond the San Juan area. To support students with unequal access to high quality educational backgrounds, the Program will start offering new leveling workshop to first-year students. Students will have the opportunity to hone writing and informational skills, team work dynamics, and graduate level study techniques. In terms of the curriculum and community service, the Programa integrates them by servicing communities interested in inclusive planning processes and products, free of charge. Many of these relationships develop over time and promote social justice through planning initiatives with historically disadvantaged and excluded communities in Puerto Rico.
The Program also supports a graduate professional education of the highest level, which key elements are research and creation of new knowledge to solve needs and problems, and training, committed to the ideals and values of the Puerto Rican society. The Program also develops innovative, relevant initiatives for research and development of community services; contributes to the transformation and continuing progress of Puerto Rican society; analyzes the socio-economic and political problems of the Island; and formulates solutions to these problems, focused on improving quality of life.
GSP’s uniqueness lays in its professional program offering as the only two-year master’s degree in planning in Spanish within territories of the United States of America. The natural market area for this program is Puerto Rico (PR), the Caribbean Basin and all Latin America.
II. MISSION AND VISION
Mission
To offer an interdisciplinary learning environment that inspires and prepares students committed to socially inclusive planning processes and embracing a sustainable future. We strive to provide rigorous planning training that integrates theory and practice with a solid historical foundation that fosters forward-thinking and drives cutting-edge research.
Vision and Value Statement
To excel as the leading planning program in the Caribbean and Latin America that values the following:
- The applied and theoreticaldimensions of the planning discipline that focuses on the improvement of human settlements and their intertwined forms of organization, physical development, well-being, environmental stewardship, and changing social and economic conditions and their future pathways.
- Indigenous and scientific knowledge to inform practice and as a basis for finding creative solutions to complex planning problems,
- New technologies, while we foster sensibility and willingness to confront tough planning challenges,
- Civic Engagementand meaningful collaborations and partnershipsthat embrace new ways to incorporate stakeholders’ voices,
- Critical thinking and research as a means to support people, communities, policymakers, and other stakeholders in identifying problems, capacities, capabilities, assets, and solutions,
- Diversity, inclusion, and belonging while coproducing effective strategies for equity and justice.