Brian Guenzel

Biography: Brian T. Guenzel Director, Institute of Urban Studies University of Texas Arlington Arlington, TX Brian Guenzel is the Director of the Institute of Urban Studies (IUS) at the University of Texas at Arlington in the School of Urban and Public Affairs. The IUS serves Texas communities state wide and provides training and research opportunities for the next generation of planners, administrators, and academics. Prior to this position he worked as the Planning Official for the City of Burleson and was responsible for directing the City’s long range planning efforts, code amendments, and managing the planning division operations. His special interests in planning are the challenges of balancing the preservation of historic buildings with economic growth (or the lack thereof) and planning for healthy communities with an emphasis of reducing chronic diseases. Before his career in planning he worked in public health with a focus on health policy research. He worked as a consultant to Robert Wood Johnson Health & Society Scholars at UC Berkeley, served as the principal research associate and manager for the Center for Philosophy, Health, & Policy Sciences, and contributed to fieldwork conducted by UTSPH faculty in the East End of Houston and Socorro, Texas. He has an M.C.R.P. from the University of Texas at Arlington in City & Regional Planning and a B.S. in Social Sciences from the University of Houston-Clear Lake. August 2013