While there are some core required courses, MURP students choose their own pathway. Check out our detailed pathway descriptions, with example jobs.
Portland State offers many opportunities to expand your knowledge and experience beyond the MURP program. We offer additional degree programs that can complement your MURP, including:
- Graduate Certificates in Sustainable Food Systems, Energy Policy and Management, Real Estate Development, Urban Design, Applied Social Demography, and Transportation. Elsewhere on campus, there are graduate certificates in Gender Race & Nations and Collaborative Governance.
- Dual degree programs with Masters of Public Health and Civil and Environmental Engineering.
Centers in the College of Urban and Public Affairs and campus-wide offer opportunities for engagement in research, practice, and learning.Dr. Marisa Zapata co-leads the Homelessness Research and Action Collaborative, which addresses the challenges of homelessness here in Portland and beyond through research and evidence-based science that uncovers conditions that lead to homelessness.
TREC, the Transportation Research and Education Center for Portland State University, produces timely, practical research useful to transportation decision makers and supports the education of future transportation professionals through curriculum development and student participation in research. TREC is led by Urban Studies and Planning professor Dr. Jennifer Dill.
The Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies (IMS) was created to better connect the university to issues of concern to communities in the six-county Portland-Vancouver Metropolitan Area, and to bring new attention to key issues of metropolitan significance. The Population Research Center (PRC) provides population data, information, research, and analysis for Oregon and its communities. Faculty from both IMS and PRC teach in the Nohad A. Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning, including Dr. Jason Jurjevich, PRC’s Director.
The Institute on Aging is dedicated to enhancing understanding of aging and facilitating opportunities for elders, families, and communities to thrive. The Institute’s faculty, who are prominent leaders in the field of aging and gerontology, prepare students for leadership and success through interdisciplinary learning and applied experience.
The Center for Urban Studies promotes and facilitates research and community service for faculty and students within the Nohad A. Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning. It also houses Community Environmental Services, which uses cutting-edge research, best practices, and our own hands to help organizations reduce, reuse, and recycle waste.