Joseph Heathcott, associate professor of Urban Studies and associate dean for Academic Initiatives at The New School for Public Engagement, was recently elected to be the next President of the Society for American City and Regional Planning History (SACRPH). He will succeed Lawrence Vale of MIT, and will serve a two-year term starting in 2013.

SACRPH is one of the main scholarly associations dealing with the history of the American built environment. SACRPH’s biennial conferences draw hundreds of academics, practitioners, community leaders, and students for four days of panels, workshops, and urban tours. The Society also publishes the Journal of Planning History, which serves as the leading peer review journal for the field. SACRPH was founded in 1986, with Eugenie Birch serving as the first President.