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Urban and Public Affairs
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Master of Urban PlanningMUP ProgramThe Department of Urban and Public Affairs offers a Master of Urban Planning (MUP) degree in cooperation with the Department of Geography and Geosciences. The MUP Program prepares students to work in a wide variety of fields, including land use and environmental planning, parks and recreation planning, urban design, historic preservation, transportation planning, open space planning, regional planning, and in the development of geographic information systems. With the continuing expansion of Louisville and the nation's other metropolitan areas, urban planning is one of the leading professional fields in terms of demand and job satisfaction, according to surveys by Jobs Rated Almanac and Encyclopedia of Careers and Vocational Guidance. The MUP program is fully accredited by the Planning Accreditation Board. Students can specialize in one or two of four areas: land use and environmental planning; administration of planning organizations; spatial analysis for planning; and housing and community development. Students have the opportunity to benefit from working on real planning problems through the required internship and studio courses. Studio courses are taught at the Urban Design Studio, located in downtown Louisville and operated by the MUP Program in cooperation with the City of Louisville and the College of Design of the University of Kentucky. The degree requires 48 hours (two years of full-time study or the equivalent in part-time study), although up to 12 hours of relevant graduate course work may be transferred into the program. Students may enroll on a part-time or full-time basis. A Master of Public Administration/Master of Urban Planning joint-degree program and a Master of Urban Planning/Juris Doctor joint-degree program are available. AdmissionApplicants must have a bachelor's degree (any major is acceptable), and provide a completed application form, a transcript of all undergraduate course work, scores for the Graduate Record Examination, a statement of purpose, and two letters of recommendation. Admission is competitive and generally requires a minimum combined quantitative and verbal GRE score of 1000 and a GPA of 3.00. Those applicants whose native language is not English and who do not hold a degree from a university where the language of instruction is English, must complete the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) with a score of at least 210 on the computer-based test. Financial AidThe Department of Urban and Public Affairs administers a number of Graduate Research Assistantships (GRAs) which are awarded competitively and are intended to support full-time study. Students in the MUP Program may receive a maximum of two years of support as a GRA. The GRAs provide a stipend of $1,350 a month for 20 hours of work per week over a ten-month period. They also provide for remission of tuition and health insurance. Early application is encouraged. Core CoursesThe core consists of eight required courses, or 24 credits. Core courses may be waived by the Program Director based on previous study. PLAN 500 Economics for Public Affairs (3 credits) Elective and Advanced CoursesElective and advanced course work includes 9 credits in an area of specialization, 9 additional credits of electives (which can be in a second area of specialization), plus two 3 credit required courses: PLAN 649 Planning Internship and PLAN 650 Capstone Studio. The Planning Internship involves a minimum of 200 hours of practical planning experience, while the Capstone Studio involves working on a team to address real planning problems under the guidance of a faculty member. The courses available for each specialization are as follows. Other courses not listed below may be substituted with the permission of the Program Director. Specialization in Land Use and Environmental Planning PLAN 501 Urban Environmental Quality (3 credits) Specialization in Administration of Planning Organizations PADM 608 e-Government (3 credits) Specialization in Spatial Analysis for Planning PLAN 608 Geographic Information Systems (3 credits) Specialization in Housing and Community Development PLAN 614 Retail Site Analysis (3) MUP FacultyTony Arnold, J.D., Boehl Chair in Property and Land Use Law and Professor of Law. Land use and environmental law. Steven C. Bourassa, Ph.D., KHC Real Estate Research Professor and Director, Department of Urban and Public Affairs. Housing and land markets and policy, urban planning. Carrie G. Donald, J.D., Associate Professor of Urban and Public Affairs and Director, Labor Management Center. Labor law, health care, labor relations, workplace issues of women and minorities. John I. Gilderbloom, Ph.D., Professor of Urban and Public Affairs. Research methods, housing, community development, planning and design. Frank Goetzke, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Urban and Public Affairs. Urban economics, spatial analysis and transportation policy. Lauren Heberle, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Sociology. Environmental policy, community development. Steven G. Koven, Ph.D., Professor of Urban and Public Affairs and Director, Master of Public Administration Program. Organizational administration, research methods, public budgeting. Clara A. Leuthart, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Geography and Geosciences and Chair, Department of Geography and Geosciences. Urban environmental analysis. H.V. Savitch, Ph.D., Brown and Williamson Distinguished Research Professor of Urban and Public Affairs. Public management and planning, urban government, comparative urban systems. David M. Simpson, Ph.D., AICP, Fifth Third Bank Professor of Community Development, Associate Professor of Urban and Public Affairs and Director, Center for Hazards Research and Policy Development. Planning, environmental policy, disaster preparedness. Sumei Zhang, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Urban and Public Affairs. Location theory, quantitative methods, geographical information systems. Contact DetailsDavid M. Simpson, Ph.D., AICP, Program Director Master of Urban Planning Program Phone: (502) 852-7906 Additional InformationMUP Student Guide |
