Contact Me

Office Location

370P Urban Center (URBN)
506 SW Mill St
Portland, OR 97201

Mailing Address

Mail Code USP
PO Box 751
Portland, OR 97207-0751

E-mail

jdill _at_ pdx.edu

Phone

(503) 725-5173

Notes to Prospective Students

If you are a prospective student and have questions about our graduate programs, curriculum, classes, etc., in the School of Urban Studies & Planning please first contact Tracy Braden in the CUPA advising center at tbraden@pdx.edu.

Prospective MURP students often ask me about opportunities to work with me on research. That's a difficult question to answer clearly. First of all, I often do not know too far ahead how many and what type of graduate research assistants (GRAs) I need. I am unlikely to know in the spring what I will need in the fall. That's the nature of many of the funding sources for my research. Second, I try to first hire PhD students, who are pursuing a research degree. It's important to remember that the MURP degree is a professional degree, aimed at preparing you to work professionally in the planning field, as opposed to the MUS or PhD degrees, which focus on research. Therefore, I tend to advise MURP students to focus more on internships during their two years in the program, rather than research assistantships (in addition to their coursework, of course). That being said, I have had many strong MURP students work for me as research assistants.

Prospective PhD students should e-mail and tell me about their background, experience and objectives. I encourage all prospective PhD students to think about and clearly articulate why they want to pursue a PhD. Too often I encounter masters students who really enjoy the topics they are studying and want to continue doing so and thus enter a PhD program. Simply wanting to continue learning about a topic isn't enough for pursuing a PhD. I also generally recommend that in the field of planning, students get some professional experience before pursuing the PhD.

Miscellaneous Policies

I do not "friend" current students on Facebook. Instead: