J. Eugene Grigsby III

J. Eugene Grigsby III, received his Ph.D. degree in sociology from the University of California at Los Angeles. Currently, he is Director of the Advanced Policy Institute and Professor of Planning at UCLA's School of Public Policy and Social Research. Dr. Grigsby has conducted research and published on urban housing, land use and economic development strategies. His books are entitled: Shaping A National Urban Agenda: The Role of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning, Residential Apartheid: The American Legacy, which received the 1996 Gustavus Myers Center Outstanding Book Award, and Regions That Work: How cities and Suburbs Can Grow Together. Dr. Grigsby is recognized nationally and internationally as an expert in urban development strategies. In 1978, Stanford University selected Dr. Grigsby as its first recipient of the United Parcel Services Visiting Scholar award. He was also the recipient of the 1987 Occidental College Booker T. Washington Outstanding Alumni Award, and the 1996 International House of Blues Foundation Educators Achievement Award. In 1997, the Nelson Mandela Government, invited Dr. Grigsby to give a key note address to the State of Transformation In South Africa Conference held in Durban on April 29.

In addition to his academic post, Dr. Grigsby in 1972 founded The Planning Group, Inc., an urban planning and management-consulting firm. His firm has conducted planning studies throughout the United States and Canada. He has also received awards of excellence from the American Institute of Architects, and the California and Los Angeles chapters of the American Planning Association.

Dr. Grigsby is a Trustee of Occidental College, a board member of the California Hospital Medical Center, Catholic Healthcare West Southern California, the National Civic League, and the Los Angeles Community Development Bank. He sits on the editorial boards of the American Planning Association, The Western Journal of Black Studies, The Planning Report, and is a past member of the Los Angeles Times Board of Advisors where he wrote a regular column on urban economic issues.