Seizing opportunities has since become her hallmark.

In December 2023 she graduated from UofL with dual  degrees from the College of Arts & Sciences.

It is a program she had not planned to pursue after she earned her bachelor’s degree in 2020 from the just as the pandemic set in.

But there she was, and, given a chance to put her classroom learning to work through contact tracing, she jumped into the unknown. Soon, she was supervising UofL’s pandemic contact tracing team.

Owens, who had paid her own way through her undergraduate years, dreamed of getting a master’s degree. She was attracted to the dual degree master’s program because it offered a graduate assistantship that would pay for her tuition. She jumped again into the unknown.

“If I’m being completely honest,” she said, “I didn’t know anything about urban planning before I went into the degree. Then I fell in love with urban planning!”

She didn’t get discouraged by being one of only three African-American students or being younger than many of her older professional classmates. And soon, the more she learned, the more she connected what she was learning to her public health foundation.

This time around, Owens also took another leap and became more involved in student life on campus. Her undergraduate years were consumed by the demands of jobs and commuting, but the graduate assistantship meant she had more time to explore being a student.

Owens “got involved in anything I could get my hands on,” she said. “I was like, well, I have the free time. I’m going to try to pour myself into the school.” One highlight was presenting research at the 2022 (SECoPA), where she was a runner-up for a prestigious award for most outstanding paper.

“I was that kid that got taken out of class to take extra reading classes and needed tutors,” she said. “Just to be where I am today and do as well as I’m doing, I’m really proud of that because it took a long time to get over those hurdles growing up.”

Owens, a graduate of Louisville’s Butler Traditional High School, said she has always been inspired by her mother, a server who works multiple jobs as a single parent of three. She hopes earning her master’s degree will help set her on a career path that leads to financial longevity for generations to come. She even earned her state license to sell life insurance to help others plan for the future.

For now, she plans to pursue a career in philanthropy. Owens is a coordinator of corporate and foundation relations in UofL’s . She thinks often about the generous donors whose gifts made her graduate assistantship possible.

“I don’t know who to thank, but someone out there made that possible,” she said. “I want to learn all that I can learn to better help other students and our university be successful.”

The College of Arts and Science added two brand new undergraduate real estate courses to their Urban and Public Affairs department for the spring 2023 semester after receiving a $27,730 grant from KREC.

Sumei Zhang, associate professor in the Department of Urban and Public Affairs and director of the graduate certificate in real estate program, saw an opportunity to grow real estate courses at the university after closely collaborating with KREC and understanding the field’s needs.

UofL is the only four-year accredited university listed as a qualified pre-license course provider by KREC. Twenty-two students enrolled in the courses for the spring semester.

“One big reason for adding the two classes is there was high demand,” Zhang said. “We wanted to expand to undergrad because the demand is coming more from that group than graduate students.”

The first course, Real Estate Development, is offered in person and gives students an overview of the real estate development process, including land acquisition, development administration and the management of completed projects. The second course, Introduction to Real Estate Principles, is offered online and provides a basic understanding of real estate principles that will help students make informed business and development decisions relating to real estate development.

Completion of the two classes means students will meet the Kentucky Real Estate License exam education requirement for sales associates.

“It is a great opportunity to get your career going,” Zhang said, adding that taking the courses as electives allows students to meet expectations for their degree programs while getting an edge toward earning a license in real estate.

Having qualified instructors who were also real estate practitioners was very important to Zhang while planning the curriculum.

“If you take the license exam, it is important to understand the practitioner’s language and vocabulary” she said.

The faculty team includes Andrew Schuhmann ’11, ’20, ’20 who earned a bachelor’s, master’s and law degree from UofL and who has experience in titles and commercial real estate, and Tommy Clark ’09, who earned a master’s degree at UofL and has held his real estate license since 1998 and is active in commercial real estate. 

UofL also offers a graduate certificate in real estate development which can be completed as a stand-alone certificate to fulfill continuing education requirements for practitioners already in the field.

The Envirome Institute has secured a 30-year lease with Louisville Metro Government to use Founders Square as an outdoor laboratory to research innovative ideas in urban greening. Patrick Piuma, director of the Envirome Institute’s Urban Design Studio, will oversee a project to intensely plant Founders Square with native plant and tree species while creating an accessible, inviting and functional public space for anyone to enjoy. The project at Founders Square will build on the Envirome Institute’s groundbreaking work with the , which is examining the scientific link between nature and human health.

“The Trager Micro-Forest Project is a transformative project connecting people with nature, starting in the heart of our city,” said Michael Trager-Kusman. “The members of our family are honored to support learning about the impact of scientifically planned and planted green spaces in the city we love.”

The project will provide an opportunity for UofL researchers in multiple disciplines to work with members of the community and other organizations to track and measure changes in human health and well-being and to study the project’s impact of biodiversity, micro-climates, economic development and public safety. The learning from this project can be used to inform the way city planners integrate nature into urban environments everywhere.

“This is an exceptional project for UofL’s Envirome Institute at the New Vision of Health Campus, and we are delighted to have the Trager family’s generous support as we embark on new fields of inquiry into the impact of the built environment on human health,” said Lori Stewart Gonzalez, interim president of UofL.

“The Envirome Institute is committed to the health and vitality of downtown Louisville, which is why we’re establishing our New Vision of Health Campus downtown at Fifth Street and Muhammad Ali Boulevard,” said Aruni Bhatnagar, director of the Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute. “The Trager Micro-Forest Project is not simply a beautification project. It is a scientific project, which will be the first of its kind in our region of the country.”

“The Trager Micro-Forest Project and the Envirome Institute’s New Vision of Health campus are catalysts for positive momentum during this pivotal time for downtown Louisville. These initiatives complement our commitment to a sustainable future, a commitment that requires vision and action. We expect these initiatives will spur additional economic development in the area while adding well-planned and maintained green spaces that make our downtown area more attractive for those who live, work and visit there. Thank you to the Trager family for their support of the Envirome Institute’s innovative and forward-thinking project,” said Mayor Greg Fischer.

In the past, Louisville’s downtown was a vibrant hub of activity, from shopping and industry to entertainment and culture. The Trager Micro-Forest Project is intended to excite and engage the community while changing perceptions of downtown and promoting a greener and healthier city.

Initial work on the Trager Micro-Forest Project is already underway. Researchers are analyzing current park usage and taking air and surface temperature measurements in Founders Square and surrounding properties, and they have completed an inventory of the existing trees. This past summer, they used ground-penetrating radar to peer beneath the surface of Founders Square to identify any possible underground obstacles. Community members will be invited to participate in activities on site and provide input into the project over the next few months, with plantings to follow.

Louisville’s areas needing improvement in this system are easy transportation or walkability to workplaces and availability of affordable housing across the city. Students approached this task by mapping out likely areas for transit oriented development or TODs. 

Check out more about their research below: 

Fischer touched on a number of topics including:

• Jobs in west Louisville: “Walmart is dead (but) I think something better there is going to happen anyway” at 18th and Broadway.
• Population growth: “We need more steady growth … we could fit 200,000 more people in the old city because we’ve got land and 6,000 vacant houses.”
• Density: Most of the people developing downtown aren’t from Louisville. Our local developers prefer to build on green space outside the urban core, but “I think they’re missing out on a real opportunity if downtown continues to develop as it is.”
• Affordable housing: “Hot cities are big on affordable housing…great cities are integrated.”
• Immigration: “We want our foreign born population to be around 15 percent by 2025. It’s 8 or 9 percent right now.”
• Light rail: “The numbers just don’t work” and it is not a priority, especially with the federal government requiring matching funds from local governments before investing in large transportation projects.

Several students had questions for the mayor, asking about health and economic help for west Louisville, policing and whether the mayor had any ideas for research projects for students studying urban planning. The mayor tasked one of his aides, UofL graduate Tommy Clark, with getting a list for the students.

The board of trustees approved a new Bachelor of Arts in Sustainability degree at its meeting Sept. 22. Classes will begin next fall.

The degree will be the first undergraduate degree housed in the Department of Urban and Public Affairs (UPA), which coordinates several master’s degrees including the new Master of Interdisciplinary Studies: Concentration in Sustainability that began enrolling students this fall.

“We have been working for several years to make this bachelor’s degree a reality,” said David Simpson, PhD, chair of UPA and of the university’s 60-member Sustainability Council. “I know that graduates of this degree will make a difference in their own communities and the world.”

UofL is leading the way in programs and education in sustainability, he said, adding that creating the degree “positions graduates to be thought leaders and solution seekers in the many facets of sustainability, from the environment to health, conservation and community quality of life, among many others.”

Simpson noted that UofL is the only university in the state to receive the top sustainability ranking from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher ����ֱ��, earning a gold STARS ranking earlier this year. In addition, The Sierra Club ranked UofL in the Top 50 of its 2016 “” (No. 43).

The new bachelor’s degree program will train students to research, identify, implement and monitor sustainable processes and systems. It is designed to prepare students for future careers in sustainability-related endeavors, including the environment, energy, climate change, public policy, transportation, and urban and regional planning. It will also serve as a well-rounded base to allow students to pursue graduate training in affiliated fields of study. The degree is designed as an interdisciplinary program and will require a minimum of 124 hours to complete.

The degree program proposal was based on models from other university programs, several years of discussion at the university among interested departments, and through the Sustainability Council. The Faculty Senate recommended the creation of the Bachelor of Arts degree in Sustainability during its May meeting, and the Council on Postsecondary ����ֱ�� 45-day review of the preproposal was completed on July 22.