Urban and Public Policy Studies BA - Program Requirements

Students must maintain a minimum GPA of 2.000 in the major. All courses taken by a student that are included in the Urban and Public Policy Studies curriculum will be used in calculation of the major GPA. For example, if the curriculum requires a student to select two courses from a particular section and the student completes three courses from that section, all three courses would be used to calculate the student's major GPA.

All undergraduate majors include at least 24-credit hours at the upper division (at least 300-level).

Each course taken may be counted only once and applied toward only one requirement (e.g. SOC 348 may be used as a required advanced course or an advanced elective but not both).

The Urban and Public Policy Studies major may not be combined with any other major to form a joint major.

Students pursuing a double major may use a maximum of two advanced (300- or 400-level) courses towards both majors. For example a student completing a double major between Urban and Public Policy Studies and Sociology may apply only two advanced level sociology courses toward completion of the Urban and Public Policy Studies major.

All transfer courses officially articulated to UB courses used in the Urban and Public Policy Studies major will be accepted to meet major requirements.

Students should consult with a departmental advisor to determine how any non-articulated transfer courses or exam credit may be utilized in meeting general education, prerequisite, or major requirements.

For students not continuously registered at UB or who are newly admitted transfer students, courses taken more than 10 years prior to the date of admission or readmission to the University may constitute no more than 20% of the coursework applied to the Urban and Public Policy Studies major. Students who have more than 20% of course work over 10 years old will be required to complete additional courses in the major.

There are no Prerequisite Courses required for admission into the Urban and Public Policy Studies BA degree program.

Required Courses (PSC 101 and SOC 101 must be completed with a grade of “C” or better.)
PSC 101 Introduction to American Politics
SOC 101 Introduction to Sociology

Introductory Courses (Choose 3)

• AMS 145 Cities of the World
• ECO 181 Introduction to Macroeconomics
• ECO 182 Introduction to Microeconomics
• ECO 209 Introduction to Urban Economics
• END 120 Introduction to Urban Environments
• END 212 Urban and Environmental Planning
• GEO 102 Introduction to Human Geography
• SOC 206 Social Problems
• SOC 229 Population Dynamics

Statistics (Choose 1)

• CEP 207 Introduction to Statistics and Computing
• PSY 207 Psychological Statistics
• SOC 294 Basic Statistics for Social Sciences
• STA 119 Statistical Methods

Research Methods (Choose 1)

• PSY 350 Scientific Inquiry in Psychology
• SOC 293 Social Research Methods 
• SSC 213 Social Research Methods 

Advanced Courses (Choose 8)
Note: No more than three courses from the same department may be used in this section. A course maybe used to meet a requirement in only one section of the Advanced Courses. Many advanced courses have prerequisites. Consult course catalog for more information.

Section 1 (Choose 1)

• GEO 366 Urban Geography
• GEO 367 Urban Social Geography
• PSC 314 Public Policy Making
• SOC 348 Urban Sociology

Section 2 (Choose 7)

• APY 427 Comparative Urbanism
• APY 474 Cities and Cultures
• ECO 421 Urban Economics
• END 301 Perspectives on Land Use and Development
• END 308 Health and Urban Environments
• END 312 Design of Cities
• END 313 Local Government Policy and Politics
• EVS 317 Environmental Politics
  
• GEO 366 Urban Geography (if not taken above)
• GEO 367 Urban Social Geography (if not taken above)
• GEO 418 Population Geography
• GEO 419 Transportation and Society
• HIS 327 The City in American History
• HIS 448 Race and American Urban History
• PSC 312 Urban Politics
• PSC 314 Public Policy Making (if not taken above)
• PSC 315 American Political Economy
• SOC 315 Sociology of City Life
• SOC 321 Race and Ethnicity
• SOC 328 Social Inequality
• SOC 331 Wealth and Poverty
• SOC 341 Environment and Society
• SOC 342 Social Groups in Urban Space
• SOC 348 Urban Sociology (if not taken above)
• SOC 363 Families and Public Policy
• SOC 384 Social Movements
• SOC 385 Neighborhoods and Health
• SSC 395 Urban Schools and Communities
• SSC 414 Grantwriting for Non-profits
• SSC 451 Program Evaluation
• SSC 452 Fundraising and Philanthropy
• SSC 496 COM Community Internship
  

A student in the SSC/Urban and Public Policy major is eligible for departmental honors based on her/his major grade point average. All courses taken by a student that are included in a student's chosen curriculum within the Social Sciences Interdisciplinary Programs will be used in calculation of the major GPA. For example, if a curriculum requires a student to select two courses from a particular section and the student completes three courses from that section, all three courses would be used to calculate a student's major GPA. Honors levels are Distinction with a GPA of 3.250 to 3.490, High Distinction with a GPA of 3.500 to 3.740 and Highest Distinction with a GPA of 3.750 or higher. A minimum of 50% of credits for the major must be completed at UB to be eligible for department honors.

Students should consult with an academic advisor to determine how any transfer or exam credit might be utilized in meeting general education, prerequisite, or major requirements.

See Baccalaureate Degree Requirements for general education and remaining university requirements.

Total Credit Hours Required represents the minimum credits needed to complete this program, and may vary based on a number of circumstances. This chart should not be used for financial aid purposes.