New: Ph.D. in Urban Studies | MA in Geography & Urban Studies
Phasing Out: MA in Geography | MA in Urban Studies

Ph.D. in Urban Studies Fall 2009

Number of Credits Required Beyond the Baccalaureate: 61

Required Courses:

History and Theory of Urban Studies (3 credits)
Geographic Inquiry (3 credits)
Critical Issues in Globalization, Sustainability, and Social Justice (3 credits)
Public Policy for Urban Regions (3 credits)
Introduction to Statistics (3 credits)
Methodology courses (12 credits) Students choose four methods courses from list.
Research Design (3 credits)
Electives (21 credits)
Qualifying Exam (1 credit)
Dissertation Proposal and Departmental Colloquium (3 credits)
Dissertation Research (6 credits)
Dissertation Defense

Foreign Language Requirement (determined on an individual basis)

Students who complete the M.A. in Geography and Urban Studies within this department may count all 36 credits from the master's level toward the Ph.D. requirements. Students who enter this doctoral program with master's degrees from other departments may have up to a maximum of 24 credits accepted toward the Ph.D. requirements, subject to a departmental review of the suitability of those prior courses for our program.

Reasonable Academic Progress

Students are expected to maintain reasonable academic progress once they are admitted to the program. Full-time M.A. students in Geography and Urban Studies should finish all of their courses within two calendar years of starting, and should graduate within three years. Part-time students should finish the courses within three years, and graduate within four years. Students should maintain a G.P.A. of at least 3.0. Full-time doctoral students should finish all of their courses within three years of starting, and should graduate within five years. For all doctoral students, the expectation is that it will take no more than 7 years to complete the degree. Failure to maintain reasonable academic progress may result in dismissal from the program.

Standards of Scholarship

1. Students are expected to maintain satisfactory progress toward a degree. A student's graduate record begins with the first course credited to the degree and includes all subsequent courses.

2. No more than two grades below “B-“ may be earned in courses taken after acceptance into a graduate program. An average of "B" (3.0 GPA) is required for graduation.

3. No candidate may be graduated with an incomplete "I" or a no record "NR" on his or her transcript.

4. No student may receive more than one grade of "F" in courses taken after acceptance into the graduate program.

5. All graduate students undergo a formal evaluation by the faculty of the department as well as affiliated faculty serving on committees. The evaluation is to determine the student's readiness to continue in the program. The evaluation includes inspection of the transcript and commentary by the Graduate Advisor and relevant instructors. The possible outcomes of this review are:

PASS (student continues with the normal next year of the program)
FAIL (student is recommended for academic dismissal)
PROBATION (student is counseled to take specific actions to achieve the necessary readiness to continue in the program. In the case of a recommendation of Probation, the student will be re-evaluated after an additional semester. If this second review does not result in a decision to PASS, the student will be recommended for academic dismissal.)

M.A. in Geography and Urban Studies Fall 2009

Number of Credits Required Beyond the Baccalaureate: 36

Required Courses

History and Theory of Urban Studies (3 credits)
Geographic Inquiry (3 credits)
Critical Issues in Globalization, Sustainability, and Social Justice (3 credits)
Public Policy for Urban Regions (3 credits)
Introduction to Statistics (3 credits)

Methodology courses (6 credits) Students choose two methods courses from list.
Electives (12 credits)

Master's Research Paper (3 credits)

In their final semester, students work with an advisor to develop a high quality paper on a topic of their choice. The students will meet as a class to facilitate their projects. The class will be graded on a pass/fail basis. The instructor of the course and the paper advisor both must agree in order for the student to pass the course. If the student passes the class, but fails the paper, s/he will have one more semester to write an acceptable paper. If the student passes the paper, but fails the class, s/he must pass the class the next time it is offered.

M.A. in Geography (phasing out)

Required Courses

Geographic Thought (3 credits)
Research Methods (3 credits)

Two Practical Skills courses in Geography taken from the following: GUS 5062, 5065, 9087, or other skills course approved by Graduate Chair (6 credits)

5 elective courses (15 credits), which should include basic statistics course if statistics has not been taken as an undergraduate

Student chooses either thesis research (6 s.h.) or internship paper (9 s.h.)

Number of Credits Required Beyond the Baccalaureate : 33 if the student chooses to write a thesis, or 36 if the student chooses the internship paper.

Culminating Event : Comprehensive Examination

M.A. in Urban Studies (phasing out)

Required courses

Modern Urban Analysis (3 credits)
Research Methods (3 credits)

One additional course in Research Methods (3 credits) selected from:

Community Program Evaluation
Fundamentals of GIS
Qualitative Methods
Other course approved by Graduate Chair

One Policy Analysis course (3 credits) Select from:

Land Use Planning
Economic Development Planning for Cities
Urban Housing
Seminar in Environmental Policy
Other course approved by Graduate Chair

Five Elective courses (15 credits) ), which should include basic statistics course if statistics has not been taken as an undergraduate