Prominent voice in urban planning honoured for student mentorship and outstanding contributions to planning profession

School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape (SAPL) professor Dr. Sasha Tsenkova, PhD, has been elected to the College of Fellows of the Canadian Institute of Planners (CIP). The CIP works on behalf of more than 7,000 planning professionals nationally, and has served as the voice of Canada’s planning community since 1919.  

Fellowship is the highest award given by the CIP and is the result of an extremely rigorous selection process. Tsenkova is one of 140 planners elected to the fellowship since 1958.

“Dr. Tsenkova’s recognition as a Fellow of CIP is representative of her more than two decades of outstanding contributions to professional planning in Canada and around the world," says Chris Elkey, VP, Canada Lands Company, who led the fellowship nomination. 

"This is in addition to the hundreds of students she has mentored and inspired in her teaching roles at the Universities of Calgary, Toronto, and York. 

Dr. Tsenkova’s academic research, professional contributions and teaching accomplishments will continue to impact the profession for decades to come.

SAPL graduate Lilit Houlder, MPlan’20, agrees: “I have learned a lot from Sasha’s conference presentations. She also established a heritage conservation curriculum this year, which included one of my favourite courses in graduate school.”

Tsenkova, an award-winning professor, has taught at SAPL for more than 20 years, focusing on the areas of housing, urban policy, planning theory, and international development. She is a prominent voice in the urban planning community, with over 150 publications. She has worked with the World Bank, Council of Europe and the United Nations and played a critical role in projects across Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America and Central Asia. Tsenkova has supervised more than 60 PhD and master’s students.

“I am a passionate advocate for more equitable and resilient cities and believe that planners can make a real difference. During my career I have been honoured in many ways, but this is really an accomplishment that enhances the reputation of our planning program. I look forward to shaping a new generation of planning professionals that have the knowledge to transform our world into a better place,” she says.

President of the APPI and former student Mac Hickley, MEDes’03, says, “Over the past 20 years, I’ve personally borne witness to at least a portion of her prolific output of academic papers and journal articles, and I’ve had the pleasure of participating in her classes at the University of Calgary, both as an enrolled student and as a returning alumnus. I know the CIP’s acknowledgment of her work and dedication to the field of planning is richly deserved.”

The College of Fellows is a distinguished roster of planners who have demonstrated the highest professional attainment. They exhibit a wide breadth of experience within the Canadian or international planning context and have achieved excellence in professional practice, research, teaching and community leadership.