Megan Banks

Director
Sustainable City Year Program
University of Oregon
University of Oregon
mbanks@uoregon.edu
(541) 346-6395

Favorite Place

My favorite thing about Eugene, Oregon, is the livability/quality of life, and the beautiful trees!

What was your first interaction with a school-community partnership project? 

My first interaction was an open house with forty students and dozens of community members who were obviously impressed with the students’ thoughtfulness, presentation skills, and design concepts. I was reminded, having been away from academia since graduate school, how passionate students are about working to create a better world.  

How did you first learn about EPIC-N?

I learned about EPIC-N at my first national conference, hosted by the University of Minnesota. I had not yet started in my position as Sustainable City Year Program Manager at the University of Oregon so I came in excited and motivated to learn and absorb everything about EPIC and how programs were organized at their different colleges and universities.

What are some of the top priorities you are working on this year?

Recruiting partners for next school year, maintaining great relationships with current partners and faculty.

In what ways are you looking to engage, or work with others, either from within the EPIC-Network, or in general?

We are always looking to improve our engagement with our partners and faculty. Connecting with EPIC members helps think about and consider new ideas and other ways of doing things that I could apply at the University of Oregon.

Why do you think the EPIC-Network is important?

EPIC-N is important on a number of levels–comradery, common purpose, and mutual support.

Bio

Megan Banks directs the Sustainable City Year Program (SCYP), an internationally recognized and award-winning university-community partnership program within the University of Oregon’s Sustainable Cities Institute, a cross-disciplinary, applied think tank focused on the design and development of sustainable cities. As the UO liaison, Megan is integral to the success of the SCYP partnerships. Prior to SCYP, Megan spent more than 20 years as a planner, project manager, and facilitator in the public sector, as well as a practicing landscape architect. She understands and navigates complex administrative structures to accelerate the implementation of knowledge to practice.