Maze honored for community service

Haila Maze (MPlanning '98) received the 2012 Outstanding Community Service Award for a Community Partner at an awards reception on April 23 sponsored by the University of Minnesota's Offices of Equity and Diversity and Public Engagement. Maze is a senior planner with the City of Minneapolis Department of Planning and Economic Development where, for the last four years, she has specifically partnered with the University of Minnesota, tackling complex issues dealing with many facets of planning. Some of the projects she has undertaken include facilitating partnerships within the Central Corridor LRT project and engaging the Cedar Riverside/West Bank community.

In accepting the Outstanding Community Service Award for Community Partner, Maze writes, "it continues to be a delight to work with the thoughtful, well-educated, and interesting stakeholders who populate this area - including when they challenge my own viewpoints with new information and perspectives."

Maze is in a unique position because the University of Minnesota's Twin Cities campus has constitutional powers to regulate its own land use and, as a result, many conflicts arise among stakeholders around development. Her nominators, Jan Morlock, Director of Community Relations, and Monique MacKenzie, Director of University Planning, note that "it would be the path of least risk and resistance for Haila to avoid the inevitable sturm und drang by keeping as great a distance as possible from the University ... [but] Haila changed the pattern. Her leadership and collaboration have been critical. ... The impact of Haila's thoughtful and creative work can be seen everywhere around the campus area communities."