Urban Studies Minor

(18 credits)

The Urban Studies minor prepares students to become civically engaged professionals, community leaders, and researchers. Its interdisciplinary courses combine the insights of the humanities with practical methods and skills from other disciplines to equip students to engage the city’s vital processes and tackle its most pressing problems. Topics addressed in the minor include: economic development, social justice, urban planning, urban ecology, community organizing, public administration, social services, housing solutions, transportation planning, nonprofit management, arts and culture, public health, poverty, race, class and gender, immigration, globalization, incarceration and small business growth.

The minor is designed to be paired with any major - including popular majors in business, criminal justice, human services, and social work - and to satisfy general education requirements at the same time, without the burden of additional coursework. Students are trained in the use of professional digital technologies and skills; they are encouraged to develop personalized projects that complement their majors and interests; much of their work occurs outside the classroom; and they develop knowledge and skills identified by executives and hiring managers as the most important qualities they look for in prospective new hires: verbal communication, teamwork, analytical reasoning, and breadth of knowledge about the structural processes that shape the populations and conditions of contemporary urban environments.

To earn the Urban Studies minor, students must complete the courses listed below: 

PO 115 - Introduction to Urban Studies
PO 203 - Urban Gardens Studio

Select four (12 credits):

MG 311 - Introduction to Public Health
PH 261 - Social & Political Philosophy
PH 321 - Modern Art and Architecture
PO 230 - State and Local Government
RS 223 - Religion and Popular Culture
SO 121 - Contemporary Social Problems