After CEO and co-founder of L+M Development Partners Ron Moelis noticed a dearth in the number of diverse students entering the urban planning field, he decided to fund a new scholarship program at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn).
Under UPenn’s Stuart Weitzman School of Design, the Moelis Fellows Program aims to diversify the field by covering the cost of tuition for two students. The goal was to provide financial support to those students pursuing careers in public or private development as well as community and economic development.
“Financial assistance is always really critical to us when we are trying to recruit new students,” said Dr. Lisa Servon, professor and chair of the Department of City and Regional Planning at UPenn’s School of Design. “We were sometimes missing out on getting good students because we weren’t able to offer them competitive financial aid packages. So, this has really enabled us to go after some the best students and get them to come to Penn.”
Eboni Senai Hawkins and Sean Dajour Smith were named as the first cohort of students. In addition to tuition coverage, they are given a stipend and opportunity to build relationships with professors to help assist with finding internships.
For the application process, students applied to the master’s program as well as wrote a 550-word essay depicting their future career goals. The scholarship also funds an annual lecture which will focus on topics such as food insecurity in low-income communities.
“I think it’s a great fellowship,” said Servon. “People who want to pursue degrees in planning can certainly make a comfortable living but often our students are really nervous about taking on a lot of debt. Many are coming to us having already taken out loans so it’s a terrific opportunity to get your education paid for and participate in a really cool field.”
Hawkins had always been intrigued with major cities. Living in Brooklyn, San Francisco and Chicago made her become interested in the policies and financial aspects associated within public spaces.
