The Bloustein School honored four alumni with distinguished alumni awards at the 2014 Bloustein School Alumni Awards Celebration on Friday, November 14. The event was held at The Heldrich Hotel, 10 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ from 6:00-8:00 p.m. This annual event brings together EJB alumni and friends for a celebratory reception and networking event. Proceeds from the event benefitted the Bloustein School Alumni Association Annual Graduate Fellowship, an annual award providing up to $2,000 in annual support to a student in the urban planning or public policy programs. The cost of $50 per person was 100% tax-deductible. Registration requested by November 7, 2014.
Since the first formal alumni award was presented in 1994, the Bloustein School Alumni Association has aimed to present awards to accomplished alumni each year, recognizing those alumni who have made exemplary contributions to their professions and communities, while demonstrating support of the Bloustein School. The Bloustein School Alumni Association Hall of Fame was inaugurated in 2013 to showcase and honor the current and all previous recipients of the Alumni of the Year award whose personal and professional accomplishments have been of the highest caliber and brought credit to the school. In 2013, the school designated two Alumni of the Year categories: the Career Achievement Award, recognizing those alumni 15 or more years beyond completion of their studies whose personal and professional accomplishments have demonstrated the highest standard of the public service ethic and whose commitment to civic improvement have brought credit to themselves, their communities, and the Bloustein School; and the Young Alum Award, recognizing those Bloustein School Alumni, fewer than 15 years beyond completion of their studies, whose personal and professional accomplishments have been of the highest caliber and have brought credit to the school.
In addition to the Alumni Awards, the school recognized Richard K. Brail, Professor Emeritus, as a Distinguished Retired Faculty member, and give a special donor recognition to The Louis Berger Group, Lawrence B. Burrows, Walter Cope Evans, and Steven and Maryann Allard for recent gifts to the school.
The 2014 Award Recipients are:
2014 Career Achievement Awardees
Joseph Burgis, MCRP ’75
President, Burgis Associates, Inc.
Joseph Burgis has been actively engaged in the field of planning for over 35 years. He founded Burgis Associates in 1988 and has extensive experience in both private and public planning matters, having testified before hundreds of municipal approving authorities and governing bodies and recognized as a planning expert in New Jersey Superior Court and in New York. Joe has extensive knowledge in land use planning, the preparation of comprehensive master plans, and related planning studies. He is considered a leading expert on affordable housing (COAH) and redevelopment issues, as well as RLUIPA matters. He has been a guest speaker at the New Jersey League of Municipalities Convention, American Planning Association’s National Convention, Institute of Continuing Legal Education, New Jersey Municipal Managers Association, Commerce and Industry Association of New Jersey, Bergen County Bar Association, and various forums on affordable housing and redevelopment. He also devotes time, under the auspices of the New Jersey Planning Officials organization, instructing new planning and zoning board members on their responsibilities, and is a past member of the State Board of Professional Planners. Both he, and Burgis Associates, have received numerous awards and recognitions for their work in the field, including multiple Planning Achievement and Comprehensive Planning Awards from the New Jersey Planning Officials.
Lawrence B. Burrows, BA Urban Planning ’74
Retired Senior Executive, Weyerhaeuser, Inc.
Lawrence B. Burrows has 38 years of experience in real estate consulting, real estate development and wood products manufacturing. Much of his experience was gained with The Weyerhaeuser Company where he served in a variety of positions, including as President of Winchester Homes, a regional homebuilder; President and CEO of the Weyerhaeuser Real Estate Company, a top 20 national homebuilder; and Senior Vice President of Wood Products, the second largest global wood products company. He is presently a visiting Senior Planning Fellow at the Bloustein School where he is teaching real estate development studio. Larry serves on the boards of Tri Pointe Homes, a top 10 national homebuilder; and the Chesapeake Multicultural Resource Center, which empowers people from different cultures to become successful community members. Larry received his BA in Urban Studies from Rutgers University, his MCP from the University of Pennsylvania, and is a graduate of the Advanced Management Program from the Wharton School of Business. He is the author of Growth Management: Issues, Techniques and Policy Implications. Larry and his wife Dawne Widener-Burrows reside in Annapolis, Maryland.
2014 Young Alum Awardees
Nina Haiman, MCRP ’06
Deputy Manhattan Borough Commissioner, New York City Department of Transportation
Nina Haiman is the Deputy Manhattan Borough Commissioner at the New York City Department of Transportation. Nina joined DOT upon graduation and worked in the Office of Strategic Planning, the office that wrote the Transportation section of PlaNYC, Mayor Bloomberg’s 2030 sustainability blueprint for the city. Following that, Nina worked in the policy unit in the Commissioner’s Office, contributing to major policy initiatives like bike share. For the last three years she has been at the Manhattan Borough Commissioner’s Office, where she has been actively engaged in coordinating and building support for the agency’s safety, bus and bicycle projects throughout the borough.
Jason Redd, MCRP ’04
Deputy Executive Director and General Counsel, New Jersey Senate Majority Office
Jason Redd currently serves as Deputy Executive Director and General Counsel to the New Jersey Senate Majority Office. In this role he is responsible for advising the Senate President and members of the Democratic Caucus on legal and policy issues. He previously served as chief of staff to Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg. Jason has spent his legal career in public service. After completing law school, Jason clerked for the Honorable James A. Farber, J.S.C and then worked for Speaker Joseph Roberts of the New Jersey General Assembly. Prior to coming to the Senate, Jason served as Deputy Policy Director to Governor Corzine during his 2009 reelection campaign. Education and access to health care have always been important issues to Jason. He currently serves as Vice President of the Trenton Board of Education and also serves as a board member of the Mercer County chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. He holds a law degree from Brigham Young University. Currently, Jason resides in New Jersey’s Capital City with his puppy, Jackson.