Shifting Landscapes: Strategies and Ideas for Navigating Your Early Career Plans
- Webinar Date: Friday, November 7, 2025
- Time: 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM Eastern Time
- Where: Zoom (link will be provided to registrants no later than 2 days prior to the webinar)
- Target Audience: Early Career (EC) Professionals (dissertation-stage students, postdocs and recent graduates)
- Cost: Free and open to both non-UAA and UAA members!
- Registration Deadline: Tuesday, November 4, 2025
NOTE: Webinar will NOT be recorded, so you must be able to attend live.
Webinar Description
Webinar discussants will share their experiences and survival strategies in navigating early career plans. This includes but is not limited to:
- navigating a difficult academic job market
- facing loss of funding for research and assistantships
- finding opportunities in non-academic or hybrid work
- balancing academic, career and personal lives
The overall goal of this webinar is to be a virtual support space to connect and share with others facing similar challenges, or to just listen in! All those navigating early career planning and challenges are encouraged and welcome to attend!
Coordinator
Bill Holt, Associate Director, Land Use & Natural Resources Center, Cumberland School of Law, Samford University
Holt’s work focuses on environmental issues concerning managing land use and natural resources including energy, marine, property, and real estate law. Also, Holt is involved in U.S. EPA Superfund remediation and community revitalization in deindustrialized places in the American South.
Speakers
Claire Cahen, Assistant Professor, Urban & Environmental Policy, Occidental College
I study the relationship between inequality and the privatization of public goods, especially public education.
Scott Markley, Research Director, National Zoning Atlas (NZA)
I am currently working on several projects at the NZA. These include writing reports about the zoning landscapes in Virginia and Massachusetts, preparing a zoning-census crosswalk file to enable demographic and socioeconomic analyses of zoning rules, and improving our data visualization processes.
Christopher Marco, Michigan Economic Development Corporation
Christopher J. Marco holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in Political Science and Public Administration from Grand Valley State University. He is currently a Program Specialist at the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), where he manages state community and economic development incentive programs, and serves as a senior policy advisor on Opportunity Zones, Smart Zones, and Brownfield Redevelopment.
Simon Donkoh, AICP Candidate, Urban Planner at Fisher Associates
My work spans comprehensive planning for both counties and municipalities, zoning, and community revitalization initiatives, emphasizing equitable development, sustainability, walkability, housing affordability, environmental resilience, and inclusive public engagement. I also support clients with environmental review and permitting processes, including SEQR and NEPA compliance, to ensure context-sensitive and sustainable project implementation.
Lucía Cerrada Morato, Assistant Professor (tenure-track) in Urbanism, Territory and Landscape, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya
I am an architect and urban researcher working on metropolitan governance, housing policy, and urban transformations. My work examines how housing crises and inequalities are produced and governed, and how planning and design can contribute to more equitable and sustainable urban futures.
This fall webinar is part of the UAA Professional Development series for early career and mid to advanced career professionals.
