And he uses his experience to create a project that he thinks will work well for UNC and the Chapel Hill community.
"In a way, it fell naturally into my duties - the chancellor wanted me to undertake it because the Master Plan tended to crystallize issues with Chapel Hill and Carrboro," he said.
Howes oversees all the committees that make up the plan, and said he tries to bring the process to a coherent vision.
"The campus of UNC was planned from the very beginning . to accommodate the educational mission of the University," he said. "I place the opportunity in that context - our historical opportunity is to look at how we reuse some spaces that are not used well and reuse that space so it serves the educational mission of the University."
Though the work can often be difficult, Howes said, thinking about the long-term rewards for UNC is enough to make him feel his planning is being put to good use.
"If you think about your child coming here some day, it will be a much better place for them, and you really have to look at it in those terms," he said. "I think just having the give and take of ideas has really been an exciting opportunity to reshape (UNC)."
<b>Linda Convissor</b>
Linda Convissor knows firsthand what it's like to be a victim of urban expansion and growth.
As controversy brews over the construction of a road through the Mason Farm area of Chapel Hill, Convissor is confronting a similar problem. One of the drafts of the expansion plans for her Durham neighborhood has a road slated to run directly through the area where her house now stands.
But Convissor, project manager for campus facilities planning, says being an advocate for her home has given her compassion and experience to inspire her in planning for UNC's growth.
"I know how deeply people love where they live, and I have to balance out doing right by them and right by the University," she said.
Although Convissor has worked with groups in her own neighborhood, her experience with planning goes far beyond these casual associations. Born in New Jersey, she received her master's degree in city and regional planning from UNC after working for several years as a planner in Bradenton, Fla.
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"My background is in local government work - I never worked on a campus before here, but they're very analogous to each other," she said.
Convissor's job includes a number of administrative tasks, mostly centered on organizing the people and planners associated with the Master Plan.
"Someone recently referred to my job as the nervous system for the Master Plan - I think that's pretty apt," she said. "I am sort of a central gate for people's concerns and communications to go through."
Convissor said a main demand of her job is to convert the complex Master Plan into a vision to share with everyone involved. "The essence of being a planner is communicating with people and getting them information," she said.
Convissor said she enjoys working with the Master Plan largely because of the commitment of the entire UNC community. She said she can relate to the strong ties that people at UNC feel for their university, similar to the attachment she feels for her neighborhood, and that it allows her to bring her best to the job.
"I couldn't help but care passionately because everyone else did - it's hard to be dispassionate when everyone else was so excited," she said. "That's the first thing you learn about being a planner - you have to be passionate because you can't do it justice if you don't care."
<b>Adam Gross</b>
Architectural and consulting firm Ayers Saint Gross works with a number of college and university campuses across the campuses.
But partner Adam Gross said he was inspired by UNC in a way different from campuses traditionally considered beautiful, like the University of Georgia and the University of Virginia. "We were really thrilled to be selected - we used to visit UNC before we were hired and use it as a paradigm for a beautiful campus," he said. "(UNC) feels more like a private school to me - I don't mean that as an insult to other public schools I've worked with, but it feels more like a community."
Gross now has the chance to work hands-on with the school he terms "unique and wonderful." He said he has enjoyed the work he has done along with Ayers Saint Gross planners Luanne Greene and Chris Rice.
"It's an amazing thing to walk around Polk Place and McCorkle Place between meetings and know that I am planning for such a beautiful place."
Gross grew up in Westport, Conn., and went to Syracuse University, where he played basketball and went to architectural school. He later moved to Philadelphia where he joined Ayers Saint, where he later became partner at age 29.
Gross said his job mostly includes working to develop workable designs and traveling to UNC for about three days a month for an intense series of meetings.
"When I work on a project like UNC, I get very involved - I've been very hands-on," he said.
Gross said he thinks the vision of the project is unique and exciting, but he said his favorite part of working at UNC is the combination of physical beauty and energy from the community.
"I don't know of another campus we've worked with that has such good spirit, sense of humor and a love for the place as pervasive as it is at Chapel Hill."
<b>George Alexiou</b>
The job of transportation planner might seem like a dry, academic calling - but the role of the Master Plan's transportation consultant is filled by a friendly man with a penchant for colorful socks.
"My clothes are generally drab, but I try to wear bright socks," he said. "I've learned to be more colorful from working with architects."
Alexiou indeed works closely alongside architects - as well as planners and consultants - with the Master Plan, overseeing local and regional transportation elements of the plan.
"I try to make sure we're not planning in a vacuum," he said. "We've all worked together as a team from day one."
Alexiou grew up in Australia, working as a teacher before he moved to the United States in the 1970s. He received a master's degree in urban and regional planning and civil engineering and transportation from the University of Pittsburgh.
Alexiou and two partners started the Raleigh-based transportation consulting firm Martin Alexiou Bryson about six months ago, but he has been working with UNC on various jobs for the last 10 years.
He said this project has been particularly exciting because of the level of interest it sparked in the community.
"My favorite part has been the interaction and the lively and very constant input we get from so many parties, including the town and all the University folks," he said. "It adds a real touch of reality to the planning."
He said his job is particularly unique because transportation is an issue that reaches far beyond UNC.
"It's like planning a little piece of fabric within a much larger cloth."
<b>Anna Wu</b>
Architects don't usually have to live and work in the buildings they design.
But for Anna Wu, project studio leader in the facilities planning department, the situation will be a little different.
"Most architects work within a set context, and don't necessarily have to live with the results of their labor day in and day out like a university does," Wu said.
"I think when you're an architect working at an institution, you have to take your responsibility of being a steward of campus really seriously."
Wu, a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania who earned her master's degree in architecture at Harvard Graduate School of Design, came to UNC in 1994. She said she is able to bring a useful perspective to the planning process.
"I think understanding how the plan is developing as a spatial framework is something I've really been focusing on," Wu said. "I've been really trying to bring an architect's eye to it."
Wu said she became involved with the Master Plan after the facilities planning office realized the job was too big for Convissor to handle alone.
Wu said she was able to adapt her talents to the project because she realized how important the undertaking could be.
"It's a changing environment, but also a delicate one," she said. "You want to consider carefully how you change it and make sure improvements are made with each element."
Wu said she was excited to plan the future face of UNC. "I think we've all bought into the plan, and I think we all understand what we're trying to accomplish. It's not just a design exercise, it's something we really want to see happen."
The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.
