Dr. Craig L. Wilkins, director of the Detroit Community Design Center and Instructor of Architecture and Urban Planning, has received two Indie Excellence Book Awards for his 2007 publication Aesthetics of Equity: Notes on Race, Space, Architecture and Music. The Indie Awards competition is judged by an independent panel of publishing industry experts with the goal of recognizing and promoting the work of independent authors and publishers. Wilkins was named the winner of the Social Change category and a finalist in the Education/Academic category.

A 3.5 mile stretch of lower Woodward Ave. in Detroit, Michigan is soon to be turned into a light rail transit corridor. A multi-disciplinary team of graduate student planners, architects, and a landscape architect has been working with Professor Emeritus Bob Beckley to explore the design and development opportunities presented by this much anticipated infrastructure improvement.