Joseph D.Grengs has been promoted to associate professor of urban planning, with tenure. He is an enthusiastic and highly regarded instructor whose teachings in the Urban and Regional Planning program make significant contributions to the curriculum. His public policy and transportation course serves a central function in transportation planning and has brought some of his critical research into the classroom. Also, a majority of urban planning students take Grengs’ course on Geographic Information Systems, which is also popular with students from across campus.

Grengs has a strong commitment to student learning inside and outside the classroom and is consistently praised for his enthusiasm for the topics he teaches, his ability to establish connections between theory and practice and his willingness to devote considerable time to student organized events.

Grengs pursues a focused and coherent research agenda resulting in significant theoretical, methodological and empirical contributions to the field of urban planning and in the areas of urban spatial change, social equity, and transportation access in American cities. He has disseminated the results of his research in nine peer-reviewed journal articles. These articles appear in some of the top journals in urban and transportation planning including; the Journal of the American Planning Association and the Journal of Planning Education and Research.

He has a strong record of acquiring research funding from diverse sources and has published five professional reports since his arrival at Taubman College, four sole authored and one as lead author. His research findings have had a significant impact on urban planning theory and practice, and he has made a real contribution to understanding the role of accessibility in employment and related outcomes in a way that may positively affect public policy.