Michael Woo is Dean of the College of Environmental Design at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. The College is one of the few university programs in the U.S. linking the allied disciplines of architecture, landscape architecture, and urban and regional planning, and also includes a large art department and the interdisciplinary sustainability programs at the Lyle Center for Regenerative Studies.
Since the 1980s, Dean Woo has been one of the leading figures in Southern California planning and other efforts to shape the urban environment. He was the first trained urban planner elected to the Los Angeles City Council (1985 – 1993) and has served as a member of the L.A. City Planning Commission for the pat six years. During his two terms as the Councilman representing the Hollywood area, Woo initiated the Hollywood Redevelopment Plan which set forth the 30-year legal and financial framework underlying Hollywood’s current revitalization. He also played a key role planning the route and station locations of the Metro Red Line subway connecting downtown Los Angeles and Hollywood. Woo chairs the national board of directors of Smart Growth America and also chairs the nonprofit organization which runs the Hollywood Farmers Market, the largest certified farmers market in the City of Los Angeles. He earned a B.A. in Politics and Urban Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and received his Master of City Planning degree from UC Berkeley.