Urban Studies Minor

As an urban studies minor, you will examine the forces that shape cities and their surrounding metropolitan areas. The minor is ideal for students drawn to serious examination of the profound issues confronting urban/metropolitan America.

sample courses:

Education, Childhood, and Society

This course examines the social and developmental experiences of children and adolescents at the national and international level. Readings will focus on the development of children and adolescents from historical, sociological, psychological, and political perspectives. Students will examine how both internal and external forces impact the developmental stages of children and adolescents. Students will investigate the issues that impact children and adults such as poverty, war, media, schooling, and changes in family structure. Students will explore some of the issues surrounding the education of children such as the effects of high quality preschool on the lives of children from low income families and the connection between poverty and educational achievement.

Power, Justice, and the City

This course examines normative theoretical questions of power and justice through the lens of the contemporary city, with a particular focus on American urban life. It explores urban political economic problems, questions of racial hierarchy and racial injustice in the modern metropolis, and the normative and practical dilemmas posed by "privatism" in cities and their suburbs.