Portland State Nohad A. Toulan School of Urban Studies & Planning

Graduate Research Assistantships (GRAs)

GRA positions include full or partial tuition and a stipend for work. The School has a very limited number of these available as part of the admissions process. Research institutes and individual faculty members sometimes hire GRAs using external funding (e.g. research grants and contracts). These GRA positions are handled directly by the center/institute or faculty member. So, it is sometimes worth contacting a faculty member directly (someone who matches your interests) to see if they have positions. I've listed a few of the research centers where MURPs have found GRA positions.

Community Environmental Services (CES)

http://www.ces.pdx.edu/home/index.html

Community Environmental Services (CES) is a research and service unit within the Center for Urban Studies in the College of Urban and Public Affairs <http://www.pdx.edu/cupa/> at Portland State University. CES has provided high quality research, technical assistance, data collection, and educational outreach services in the areas of solid waste management, recycling, waste prevention, and other resource conservation and business sustainability issues since the late 1980's.

CES employs between 15-20 students annually. Over 80% of CES staff are graduate students from programs within Portland State University including Urban and Regional Planning, Urban Studies, Public Administration and Portland International Initiative for Leadership in Ecology, Culture and Learning (PIIECEL). CES usually continues employing students over the summer. The best way for students to get hired is to drop the director Shanna Eller an email along with a resume. When they know they are hiring they contact those who they have resumes for. They also post to USP and UPA listserves.

Intelligent Transportation Systems Laboratory

http://www.its.pdx.edu
Professors Robert Bertini and Chris Monsere have hired several MURP students as GRAs in the ITS Lab. The ITS lab web site has additional information.

Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies

http://www.pdx.edu/ims/
The Institute was created to better connect the university to issues of concern to communities in the six-county Portland-Vancouver Metropolitan Area, and to bring new attention to key issues of metropolitan significance. Acting as both a broker and a catalyst, the Institute has been serving the region since 1992. IMS sometimes hires GRAs on externally funded projects. Contact the Director, Sheila Martin, for more information: sheilam@pdx.edu

University Studies Mentor Program

http://www.pdx.edu/unst/mentors-and-mentored-inquiry
University Studies hires graduate students to mentor Sophomore Inquiry courses. This is an option for your second year.

Internships

Scholarships

Oregon Chapter of the American Planning Association

OAPA offers a scholarship each year.
http://www.oregonapa.org/scholarships.htm

The "Portland Edge" MURP Scholarship

In 2006, the Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning will award a $2000 Portland Edge Scholarship to an incoming student in the Masters of Urban and Regional Planning degree program who is a member of an under-represented group. Interested candidates should include a separate letter applying for the Portland Edge Scholarship along with their other application materials, due January 15, 2006.

The award will be made in spring 2006 along with other offers of financial assistance for the 2006-2007 academic year. The scholarship is funded with the royalties from The Portland Edge (Island Press, 2004), an anaysis of Portland area planning authored by faculty and graduates of the Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning.

Office of Graduate Studies page on funding and scholarships

http://www.gsr.pdx.edu/ogs_funding_scholarships.html

Oregon Student Assistance Commission (OSAC)

http://www.ossc.state.or.us/
The OSAC is the state student financial aid agency for Oregon. Their web site offers a wealth of financial aid and scholarship information and visitors can apply online for both Federal and Oregon programs through the FAFSA and the OSAC ESA. The OSAC also administers over 150 Private Award & Business Scholarship Programs. (The OSAC was formerly known as the "Oregon State Scholarship Commission (OSSC).")

PSU Scholarship Handbook and other Information

http://www.ess.pdx.edu/fao/scholarships.html
A "must have" document for all students, the PSU Scholarship Handbook offers information and application deadlines for more than 100 PSU scholarships, arranged by department

PSU Educational Equity Programs and Services

http://www.ess.pdx.edu/eeps/
The EEPS office administers most of the ethnic scholarship programs at PSU and maintains a complete notebook of minority scholarships.

PSU Information and Academic Support Center

http://www.ess.pdx.edu/iasc/
The IASC, located in Smith Memorial Center, is an advising center for PSU students. This office offers access to the College Cost Explorer Fund Finder database.

Women in Transportation Seminar's Portland Chapter.

http://www.wtsinternational.org/sub.php?section=chapters&section_id=05.00&chapter_id=24
A scholarship for women pursuing education in transportation-related field, such as transportation engineering, planning, finance, operations or logistics.

Norris & Stevens Real Estate Scholarship

Two $1,000 scholarships for students in the Real Estate Development Graduate Certificate program with an interest in commercial and investment real estate. Please see the Norris & Stevens Fellowship website or contact Dr. Gerard Mildner at the School of Urban Studies and Planning at (503) 725-5175, mildnerg@pdx.edu

Commerical Real Estate Women (CREW) Scholarship

One $1000 renewable award for women in Real Estate Development Graduate Certificate Program. Please contact Dr. Gerard Mildner for more information at (503)725-5175, mildnerg@pdx.edu

Additional information about graduate scholarships is available through PSU's Office of Graduate Studies and Research Scholarships and Awards page
www.gsr.pdx.edu/ogs_funding_scholarships.html

Financial Aid