Faculty and Staff
Faculty, Webmaster
Assistant Professor
Graduate Coordinator
Dina Abdul Karim, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning. Her research interests include broad areas in urban design and environmental psychology such as walkable environments, livable public spaces, and restorative urban places.
Professor
Chair, Department of Urban and Regional Planning
Dr. Kim's research and practice focus on sustainable transportation planning including active transportation, land use/transportation scenario planning, and GIS applications.
Faculty
Assistant Professor
So-Ra Baek is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning. She teaches demography and statistics for planning, GIS for planning, research approaches to planning, and local transportation planning.
Professor
Co-Director, California Center for Land and Water Stewardship
Dr. Delgado is a Professor of Urban and Regional Planning and is a co-director of the California Center for Land and Water Stewardship (CCLAWS).
Lecturer
Elizabeth Gallardo is an urban planner at the City of Los Angeles and has been a Lecturer at Cal Poly Pomona since 2013. Elizabeth's planning practice has a special focus in community planning, outreach, land use, active transportation, transportation demand management, behavior change, community development, urban design, and the integration of streets and culture.
Assistant Professor
Brian Garcia, Ph.D., is an urban designer with experience on large development projects in the United States, Hong Kong, India, Kazakhstan and Malaysia. His current research interests include internationalism, active transport environments and comparative urbanism.
Lecturer
John Hildebrand is the Administrative Services Manager (Current Planning – Planning Manager) for Riverside County. John manages the day-today operations of the Current Planning staff.
Assistant Professor
Dr. Alvaro Huerta holds a joint faculty appointment in Urban & Region Planning (URP) and Ethnic & Womenâs Studies (EWS) at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. As an interdisciplinary scholar, Dr. Huerta teaches and conducts research on the intersecting domains of community & economic development, Chicana/o & Latina/o studies, immigration & Mexican diaspora, social movements, social networks and the informal economy. Among other scholarly publications, he is the author of the book Reframing the Latino Immigration Debate: Towards a Humanistic Paradigm (San Diego State University Press, 2013) and Defending Latina/o Immigrant Communities: The Xenophobic Era of Trump and Beyond (Hamilton Books | Rowman & Littlefield, 2019). He is also the lead editor of People of Color in the United States: Contemporary Issues in Education, Work, Communities, Health, and Immigration (Volume 4). Born in the U.S., he was raised in a Mexican colonia (Colonia Libertad in Tijuana, Baja California) and an American barrio (Ramona Gardens housing project or Big Hazard projects in East Los Angeles, Alta California). As a Ford Fellow recipient (among others), he holds a Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning from UC Berkeley. He also holds an M.A. in Urban Planning and a B.A. in History from UCLA.
Lecturer
Since receiving his doctorate in Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Dr. Edward Jepson has taught courses at several institutions, including currently at the universities of Oregon, Wisconsin and Idaho, the Catholic University and Cal Poly Pomona. He has published numerous articles with an emphasis on sustainable development and co-authored a textbook on planning methods. In addition to his academic career, Dr. Jepson has also been a community development consultant and a local economic development director.
Lecturer
Shawnika Johnson, AICP, MURP, has over 20 years of experience in community development, urban planning, project management, economic development, and public engagement.
Lecturer
Annette Koh's research and practice is focused on placemaking and the politics of public participation.
She/her/hers pronouns.
Lecturer
Nicole is an architect with experience in urban design, public housing, and private institutions, with a particular focus on environmental design. Nicole received an M.Arch. from Yale University and is currently pursuing a PhD in Urban Planning from UCLA's Luskin School of Public Affairs.
Professor
Dr. Mitchell teaches planning law, environmental planning, and seminars. His research concerns property rights and ecological integrity.
Lecturer
Tony Perez is the director of Form-Based Coding, Opticos Design, Inc. With 30 years of experience—12 as a public sector planner and the past 18 as a consulting professional writing Form-Based Codes—Tony works with communities to establish and translate policy direction into clear and implementable development standards that deliver the expected vision.
Lecturer
Marta Perlas obtained architectural degrees from the Southern California Institute of Architecture (Sci-Arc) and the Escola Superior d’Arquitectura de Barcelona, Spain. She began teaching at Woodbury University in 1994, and since 1999, she has been an instructor at Cal Poly Pomona, teaching all levels of design studio.
Lecturer
A proud product of Cal Poly Pomona, Steve Preston’s focus includes policy administration, historic preservation and communications. He received the APA President’s Award in 2016 for Leadership in the Planning Movement.
Lecturer
Brettany Shannon, Ph.D., is an urban planning and development scholar who studies how people use digital communications for urban and social placemaking.
Lecturer
Professor
Dr. Gwen Urey is a Professor in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning. Her research interests include broad areas relating to planning for non-transportation infrastructure: she has published book chapters on telecommunications and ports.
Professor
Richard Willson's recent publications include A Guide for the Idealist: Launching and Navigating Your Planning Career (Routledge 2017), Parking Management for Smart Growth (Island Press 2015), and Parking Reform Made Easy (Island Press 2013). Dr. Willson's research addresses parking policy, climate change planning, transit-oriented development, planning theory, and professional development. He writes a bi-weekly blog for the American Planning Association concerning idealism in the environmental design professions. Dr. Willson teaches regional transportation planning, climate change planning, planning theory, policy analysis, and professional practice. Click on my name (above) for more details.
Lecturer
Richard Zimmer AICP is a full-time adjunct faculty member in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning.
Staff
Administrative Coordinator
Laura Fujimoto oversees all aspects of the department office and provides administrative and technical support to the Chair and faculty. Laura's main role is assisting faculty and students navigate "the system".