The Board of Governors of Lambda Alpha International Land Economics Society (LAI) has awarded Uwe Brandes the 2022 Richard T. Ely Distinguished Educator Award.  This award is presented biennially from nominations submitted by LAI’s 33 local chapters around the world and recognizes distinction by educators in the field of land economics and its related disciplines. 

LAI was founded in 1930 at Northwestern University by students of Professor Richard T. Ely.  This award is a tribute to LAI’s academic roots and expresses its commitment to continuing that legacy.  LAI presented the award to Brandes at its semi-annual Land Economics meeting in Los Angeles on October 14th, 2022.

The award recognizes Brandes’ academic leadership as the founding director of the Masters Program in Urban & Regional Planning at Georgetown University, the Georgetown Global Cities Initiative and the formation of the Georgetown Place Leadership Project, a community-based participatory research project studying the leadership and management of urban spaces in the metropolitan Washington, DC region.  The award states: “His manifest contributions to urban leadership echo the ethos of Professor Ely.”

“This is an extraordinary honor for me,” commented Brandes, “I would like to thank the Board of Governors of the LAI Land Economics Society for this important distinction.  This is an affirmation of the interdisciplinary study of urban development and the education of the next generation of city-builders.”  

Uwe Brandes is Professor of the Practice in Urban & Regional Planning at Georgetown University, where he directs the graduate program in Urban Planning and serves as the faculty director of the university-wide Georgetown Global Cities Initiative.  A scholar-practitioner, Brandes has combined teaching, research, and professional practice throughout his career.