Kenneth M. Reardon is Professor and Director of the Graduate Program in City and Regional Planning at The University of Memphis where he is engaged in research and teaching activities focused on neighborhood planning, community development, and municipal reform. Prior to this, Ken was an Associate Professor and Chairperson of the Department of City and Regional Planning at Cornell University. Before joining the Cornell faculty, Ken was an Associate Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Ken began his scholarly career as a Lecturer in Cornell University’s New York City Field Study Program. Ken has involved his students in resident-led organizing and planning projects in low-income urban communities for many years. In the mid-1980s, Ken’s students prepared a plan that led to the preservation of the Essex Street Market which has served NYC’s immigrant families since 1938. At the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the early 1990s, Ken established the East St. Louis Action Research which mobilized students to undertake collaborative research projects designed to advance the economic revitalizations efforts of residents from this severely distressed riverfront community. While at Cornell, Ken founded the Cornell Urban Scholars Program that has provided nearly two hundred Cornellians the opportunity to serve New York City’s most innovative non-profit organizations as paid interns. In 2006, Ken assembled students and faculty from Cornell, Columbia, and Illinois to create a comprehensive recovery plan for residents of New Orleans’ 9th Ward which prompted local, state, and federal officials to make significant infrastructure investments in this community. For his work on these and other community-based planning projects, Ken has been awarded the American Institute of Certified Planner’s President’s Award, the Dale Prize for Excellence in Urban Planning, and the Ernest A. Lynton Award for Faculty Professional Service and Academic Outreach.