Professor Megan Horst (PhD, AICP) is a former MURP Program Director and has taught many core urban planning classes. Her research focuses include climate action, food systems and land use planning. In all of her work, she prioritizes environmental sustainability and social justice. Her work has appeared in publications such as the Journal of the American Planning Association, Journal of Planning Theory and Practice, Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development and the Journal of Renewable Agriculture, and in books by the Planners’ Press and the University of Iowa.
Megan values community-engaged and applied research and practice. She is currently serving as co-chair of the Portland Clean Energy Fund, Community Advisory Board. In her work and research, she uses a variety of methods, especially interviewing, focus groups, and spatial analysis.
Megan has a diverse work background. Prior to Portland State University, she worked as a consultant for American Farmland Trust on GIS mapping, for the community-based organization Solid Ground on children's food security issues, for the non-profit Sustainable Seattle on the Communities Count initiative, for King County Metro on community-based social marketing, as a park ranger at Lava Beds National Monument, and as a sustainable agriculture promoter/volunteer for Peace Corps in western Honduras.