New Sensation with Ellen Currier, Lane County Council of Governments

Kent Wyatt

Since ELGL is not a big fan of icebreakers and since we would rather not know what animal you want to be, this blog feature will serve as a means of introducing new members. While you won’t learn about their favorite animal, you will learn about their ideal Sunday morning, which dead people would they FaceTime with, and which song best describes their life.

Name: Ellen K. Currier

Email: [email protected]

Title: GIS Analyst and Planner

Organization: Lane Council of Governments

Graduate: University of Oregon

Undergraduate: University of Florida

LinkedIn: Profile

Twitter: @ennkc

Profiling Ellen

Ellen Currier, GIS Analyst, has been at Lane Council of Governments since 2006. She specializes in cartography, spatial analysis, and land use planning. Ellen combines analysis skills and knowledge of land use principles in working with local government staff and citizens on a variety of planning projects. She works on diverse projects including housing needs models for Creswell and Florence, a local street plan for Yoncalla, and a community lands analysis for the City of Eugene.

Additionally, she is responsible for regional data maintenance and is active in the multi-agency land use committee. She is also responsible for custom mapping and data requests.

Ellen holds a B.A. in Anthropology from the University of Florida and a Master’s in Community and Regional Planning from the University of Oregon. Prior to working at LCOG, she was an intern with the City of Eugene where she completed a sustainability analysis of affordable housing.

Q&A with Ellen

Most interesting project you’ve worked on in your current position:

Livability Lane

I’m currently on maternity leave until May, so my primary project right now is taking care of my son, but when I return I will pick back up on writing a data plan for the Lane Livability Consortium and working with the MPO on geocoding transit surveys.

Describe the inside of your car.

It’s filled with baby and kid stuff, but mostly clean. My preferred mode of transport is actually my bike with a burley kid trailer.

Related article featuring Ellen: Business Commute Challenge: Commuting with the Kids

Most recent concert:

Wow, I really had to think about this one. It was Beirut at McDonald Theatre in September of last year.

What sites are bookmarked on your internet browser?

  • Twitter
  • NYTimes
  • the Atlantic Cities
  • 101 Cookbooks
  • Wikipedia

Complete the sentence: “Before I die I want to…download (1)

live in South America

Proudest career/school accomplishment:

I received a fellowship from HUD while in graduate school that allowed me to work with three different local governments or non-profits during my two years there. It was a great way to get experience and get involved with the community. It also lead to my current position and helped me get to know other professionals in the region.

What song best describes your life?

The Avett Brothers- ‘Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise’

If you could FaceTime or Skype with three people either dead or alive, who would they be?

  • Arundhati Roy
  • John Muir
  • Antoni Gaudí

Suggest two or three topics for the ELGL annual conference.

I’m really interested in hearing about public outreach and techniques for getting community members more engaged in planning and transportation. A session on the health insurance exchange would be great to hear as well.

Resume Tip:

Get out there and volunteer and add that experience to your resume (I’m currently working on this myself).

Favorite thing to do on a Sunday morning:

a big family breakfast and a hike.

Government is…..

here to serve the community.

ELGL is….

a great resource that I just discovered. I’m really looking forward to getting involved.

What question(s) should I have asked you?

Where is your favorite summer swimming hole?

Previous Profiles

Original post

Leave a Comment

Leave a comment

Leave a Reply