Ken Reardon, Professor and Director of the graduate program in City and Regional Planning at the University of Memphis. Reardon is a nationally renowned expert in community organizing, community-based neighborhood planning, and university-community partnerships. He received the American Institute of Certified Planners President's Award for his role in establishing and directing the highly-regarded East St. Louis Action Research Project, while a professor at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and more recently has been involved in recovery planning for New Orleans’ Ninth Ward in collaboration with a group of planning students.