In Memoriam: Constance Jordan Wilson, PhD

Adored Alabama A&M University retired professor Constance Jordan Wilson, PhD., passed in October 2022.

Before joining AAMU, she worked as a senior community planner for the Nashville Planning Commission. At AAMU, she held several roles, including head of the Department of Community Planning and Urban Studies. In 2005, she received the Distinguished Professional Planner Award from the APA Alabama Chapter.

Dr. Wilson is fondly remembered for her efforts to engage young planners in the planning profession:

"Dr. Wilson was a skilled planner, an incredible educator, and a respected professional. But most of all, she was 'Doc' to us. She was the person that could lift you up after a defeat, and make you feel like you could conquer any task. She was the person whose words were worth recording on a tape recorder and including in your terminal research. She was the one that saw the potential in each of us when we couldn't see it"
— Michelle Gilliam Jordan, FAICP, Patrice Ruffin Dowdell, Esq., AICP, and Shundreka Givan, AICP

APA President-Elect Angela Brooks, FAICP, shared her memory of Dr. Wilson.

"Dr. Wilson was a true champion of planning students. She had no problem being a resource to me despite not being at her university. Through my different roles at APA, she always reached out to send me a note of encouragement or congrats. While she never convinced me about that PhD, she has always held me accountable for looking out for those behind me. Her legacy is secured in the planning world and she has trained some of the best and the brightest in the profession and certainly got more Black planners through graduate programs than anyone I have known. I for one will ensure your legacy continues."
— Angela Brooks, FAICP

Dr. Wilson's family has established a scholarship in her name for planning students at AAMU.