A gallery of photos taken during WRSA’s recent meeting in Kauai, Hawaii is now posted. The pictures can be found under the Annual Meeting tab or here. Take nice photos at the meeting? Feel free to send them along and I’ll be happy to post them!

The preliminary program has been posted for the 51st annual meeting of the WRSA, to be held February 8-11, 2012 – just click the tab for “Annual Meeting” above and look for the link on the left.

Program Participants: Please check your session assignments and let me know if you spot any errors. Due to the fullness of the Program we consider the Program final with respect to the scheduling of assignments. The Program Committee attempted to honor all scheduling requests received.

For those still undecided about attending the conference: There’s still time to make your plans (and even find a place on the program as a chair or discussant)!

If you’ve not already done so, now is the time to preregister for the meeting – rates go up after January 6! Please book your room at the Sheraton Kauai as soon as possible, as well. As you’ll see from the program, we’re expecting a pretty full house!

November 14 is the final date for submitting papers for the 51st annual meeting of the WRSA, to be held February 8-11, 2012 in Kauai, Hawaii. To be considered for the meeting program, simply email your paper submission (draft format is OK, as long as final version of paper is received by December 31) to wrsa@brown.edu. Questions? Contact WRSA Executive Director, Rachel Franklin, at rachel_franklin@brown.edu.

We are now less than two weeks away from the traditional October 15 deadline for paper submissions for the WRSA annual meeting. Now’s the time to get your papers submitted! If you plan to attend the meeting but won’t be presenting a paper, the program committee will be happy to assign you paper discussant and/or chair duties – just drop a line letting us know you’d like to be included in the program.

The deadline is also fast approaching for the Tiebout Prize – we’ve had several submissions but would definitely like to see a few more! The Tiebout Prize will be awarded for the best paper submitted by a full-time graduate student enrolled at an accredited academic institution (currently or having completed studies during Academic Year 2010–2011). To be considered, papers should be in the general multidisciplinary realm of regional science: topics in the fields of regional economics, urban economics, urban/regional planning, economic and quantitative geography, and local public finance are especially encouraged. The winning author will receive $1,000 to help defray the costs of attending the Meeting. The paper may be published in The Annals of Regional Science (published by Springer) following standard review/revision procedures. Deadline for submissions is October 15, 2011. For further details, see the WRSA website at www.wrsa.info.

Finally, if you’ve recently completed your PhD studies (within the past five years), consider submitting your WRSA conference paper for the Springer Prize. This prize is awarded annually at the WRSA Annual Meeting for the best paper presented by an early career scholar (doctoral studies completed within the past five years) on a regional science topic. The prize consists of a certificate and selection of Springer books as chosen by the winner, worth $300. Following standard review/revision procedures, the paper may be published in The Annals of Regional Science and announced on the Springer Website. To have a paper considered for the Springer Prize simply inform me of this wish at the time of paper submittal for the conference (or no later than January 1).

Further details on paper submission and meeting logistics are available on the WRSA website: www.wrsa.info.

The WRSA Fall Newsletter is now available under the Newsletter tab – see inside for meeting details and much more!

The Tiebout Prize is presented annually to recognize the best paper presented at the conference by a graduate student (currently enrolled or having completed graduate studies during the 2010-2011 academic year).  Full entry details can be found on the WRSA site under the Tiebout tab.

The Spring-Summer WRSA Newsletter is now posted, under the Newsletter tab on this site.  Take a look – the Newsletter is chock full of preliminary information regarding next year’s meeting in Kauai, Hawaii, as well as a round-up of the 50th anniversary meeting earlier this year in Monterey.  A hearty thank you to outgoing WRSA Executive Secretary, Dave Plane, for this valedictory issue of the Newsletter (and twenty years of wonderful service to the Association)!

Michael Wenz is organizing special sessions on casinos, gambling, and development at WRSA’s 2012 annual meeting in Kauai, Hawaii.  See below for further information.

Please direct submissions or questions for the special issue and/or special sessions to:

Dr. Michael Wenz, Special Issue Editor

Assistant Professor, Economics

Northeastern Illinois University

5500 N. St. Louis Avenue

Chicago, IL 60625

m-wenz@neiu.edu

We encourage papers presented in the special sessions at the 2012 WRSA or 2012 SRSA to be submitted for consideration in a special issue of Growth and Change after undergoing the standard peer review process.  Authors who wish to submit papers for the special issue but do not wish to present at the conferences may do so as well.

The 2012 Western Regional Science Association annual meetings will be held February 8-11 in Kauai, Hawaii.  Please send your submission to Dr. Wenz  by October 15, 2011 if you wish to present.

The 2012 Southern Regional Science Association annual meetings will be held March 22-24 in Charlotte, NC.  Please send your submission to Dr. Wenz by December 15, 2011 if you wish to present.

Completed submissions for the special issue of Growth and Change will be due in late Spring 2012.

Growth and Change is a broadly based forum for scholarly research on all aspects of urban and regional development and policy-making. Interdisciplinary in scope, the journal publishes both empirical and theoretical contributions from economics, geography, public finance, urban and regional planning, agricultural economics, public policy, and related fields. Growth and Change is edited by Dan Rickman and Barney Warf.

The Call for Papers is available for download (here).

Pengyu Zhu, of the University of Southern California, was awarded the 25th Annual Charles M. Tiebout Prize at WRSA’s 50th anniversary meeting in Monterey, California. Pengyu is a PhD student in USC’s School of Policy, Planning, and Development, studying with Peter Gordon. His paper is titled, “Are Telecommuting and Personal Travel Complements or Substitutes?” Congratulations Pengyu! We look forward to hearing more on your research over the coming years!

The pool of applicants for this year’s Prize was a terrific one – more details and pictures from the luncheon awards ceremony to follow soon.