Employee Profiles

Dana Jensen is an associate planner in Vandewalle & Associates’ growth management division who specializes in long-range community and land use planning. An experienced project manager and process coordinator, Dana provides a wide variety of planning services that range from the preparation of long range plans (“Smart Growth” comprehensive plans, extraterritorial area plans, park and conservation plans), guiding public participation strategies, assisting with current planning and development review, to regional visioning and opportunity analysis.

While at Vandewalle & Associates Dana has led “Smart Growth” comprehensive planning processes for more than thirteen Wisconsin communities, including the villages of Mount Horeb, DeForest, and Brooklyn. Dana coordinated Marquette County’s multi-jurisdictional planning process involving the County, as well as sixteen participating local communities. Dana’s experience has included preparing an extraterritorial area plan for the Village of New Glarus and conservation planning for the Macon County Conservation District in Illinois. Dana also provides current planning services and development review to the villages of DeForest and Cottage Grove. Innovative public participation, well-coordinated and efficient processes, and effective communication are common threads to Dana’s work that are evident in all of her projects.

Dana’s interest and experience includes thinking outside the boundaries of individual communities to more comprehensively understand regional systems and opportunities. Dana helped staff a team of experts that provided the Collaboration Council, an executive leadership group in Dane County, Wisconsin, with a comprehensive analysis that inventoried the physical, economic, social and cultural assets of the region to help define its future economic role and growth strategy.

Prior to joining Vandewalle & Associates, Dana gained experience in the public and non-profit sectors where she developed her strong research, writing, public outreach, and advocacy skills focused on community development, land use and environmental planning.

Education

M.S. Urban and Regional Planning
M.S. Land Resources
University of Wisconsin
Madison, Wisconsin

B.S. Biology (Phi Beta Kappa)
Hope College
Holland, Michigan

Professional Licenses, Registrations, and Memberships

Member, American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP)
Fellow, Doris Duke Conservation Foundation
Fellow, American Planning Association: Environment, Natural Resources, and Energy Division
Member, American Planning Association, National and Wisconsin Chapters

Publications

Jensen, Dana and Field, Donald. “Managing Growth and Development in a Natural-Amenity Rich Landscape: Landowner Attitudes Towards Planning in Northwest Wisconsin.” Amenities and Rural Development. E.d. Gary Paul Green et al. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2005: 259-281

Field, Donald; Clendenning, Greg, and Jensen, Dana. “A Survey of Seasonal and Permanent Landowners in Wisconsin’s Northwoods: Following Dillman and Then Some.” Society and Natural Resources 17 (2004): 431-442