NOTE: We currently have a moratorium on admissions to the Masters of Urban Studies program. We will not be accepting applications for the next three academic years (Fall 2024-26), while we re-envision the curriculum. If we are able to lift the moratorium early, we will share that information here.
The Master of Urban Studies program is a 52-credit graduate program that gives students skills to study and interpret urban phenomena from a variety of social science perspectives. The substantive knowledge and analytical skills provide excellent preparation for employment in public agencies, private firms, and non-profit organizations. Since the core curriculum of the MUS program mirrors that of the Urban Studies Ph.D. program, MUS students can make a relatively easy transition into the doctoral program, if they apply and are accepted. In any case, the MUS program is academically focused on researching issues in the urban setting.
Students in this program delve into such things as problems associated with growing social and economic inequalities between different places and population groups within the metropolitan region; environmental problems related to the prevailing pattern of urbanization; the lack of effective institutions of regional governance; and challenges such as unemployment, affordable housing and gentrification, environmental and food justice, and sustainable transportation.
The program explores these issues from multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary points of view. Through participation in classes and seminars, and supervised research activities, MUS graduates are prepared to work in applied research and community-based advocacy settings.