UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMS: URBAN STUDIES MINOR

The Urban Studies minor is intended for any undergraduate student seeking to develop a multi-disciplinary but focused exploration of cities, urban life and artifacts, and the design and organization of urban space and experience. It is designed to complement pursuit of any major(s) throughout the Liberal Arts, Science and Engineering, Architecture, Public Health, and Business and offers an excellent academic supplement to pre-professional training for many areas of law, social work, and medicine.

Requirements:*

Six courses (minimum of 18 credits) are required for the minor in Urban Studies which includes URST 201 (“The City I”) and URST 202 (“The City II”) plus four additional electives from among approved urban courses (see list below). Students must ensure that at least one elective course (3 credits) is at the 300 level or higher and that elective courses are drawn at least two departments, programs, or schools.

* Any course in which a student earns less than C- does not count toward fulfillment of the minor program. Students must achieve a C average across all required coursework.

Urban Studies (URST) Course Descriptions

URST 201 – The City I
(3 credits, fulfills Comparative Cultures and International perspectives) City I is the first semester of a two-semester-long survey introduction to the multi-disciplinary field of Urban Studies. Three broad substantive themes are explored: (1) History and Morphology of Cities and City Systems; (2) Urban Ecology & Demographics; and (3) Urban Design/ Aesthetics/ Land Use /Planning. Attention is given to historically, geographically, and culturally diverse cases in order to provide a comparative framework and backdrop to contemporary practices.

URST 202 – The City II
(3 credits, fulfills Comparative Cultures and International perspectives) City II is the second semester of a two-semester-long survey introduction to the multi-disciplinary field of Urban Studies.  Four broad substantive themes are examined: (1) Urban Political Economy; (2) the Social Psychology of Cities; (3) Urban Culture and Expressive Arts; and (4) Urbanism & Urban Issues.  Course employs a modular focus and historical-comparative framework, but primary emphasis will be on the contemporary era.

URST 310 - Urban Geography
(3 credits) Surveys discipline of geography with focus on how various traditions within the discipline analyze cities and other human communities as spatial environments.  Students will learn the tools, techniques, and datasets geographers employ to investigate questions pertaining to the shape, form, origins, transformative processes, and interaction of the natural and built environments; how and why phenomena are distributed spatially and through time; the concept and perception of “place” and how we distinguish places from one another; and how present-day cityscapes reflect these concerns.  Lectures will focus on New Orleans but be comparative and students will be required to apply these approaches to other cities and towns.

URST 330 - Urban Design Processes and Graphic Communication
(3 credits) Urban Design Processes and Graphic Communication is intended to provide immersion into the mind of the designer via lectures, readings, discussion and short lab based projects. The course is based on the premises that design is the organizing and conceiving of place, information and things; and that access to, and the manipulation of, graphic forms of information is an important precursor of the production of knowledge.  For this reason the course is structured around key elements of the design process: 1) posing the question(s), 2) gathering information, 3) analysis and manipulation of information, 4) proposal, and 5) representation.

Approved Elective Courses for Urban Studies Minor**

**Course Table Notes:

1. Inasmuch as course offerings change, students are advised to check with the Urban Studies Program for up-to-date listings and may petition the Urban Studies Steering Committee in advance regarding other course approvals.  

2.  Listed courses may have prerequisites. Prospective students should consult the catalog and/or relevant department.

a)     AHST crosslisted with RBST 691
b)    ECON 342 crosslisted with HISU 342

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UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMS : SOCIAL POLICIES & PRACTICE COORDINATE MAJOR

Social Policy & Practice Sub-Committee

Fred Buttell – Social Work (Chair)
Tom Langston – Political Science
Jonathan Pritchett – Economics
Loretta Pyles – Social Work
Enrique Varlea – Psychology

The Program

The multidisciplinary coordinate Major in Social Policy & Practice introduces students to problems, policies, and methods in the social policy and welfare field through four core courses and additional elective coursework in the social and behavioral sciences. The major is designed to encourage students to explore social policy interests prior to employment or graduate education. It also serves as an excellent pre-professional major for social work, the social sciences, education, law, public health, public policy, and related fields.

The program in Social Policy & Practice is designed to grant students a considerable degree of freedom in the choice of electives and to offer ample avenues for students interested in pursuing independent research and/or internship experiences. The program is particularly interested in encouraging the study of social problems related to living in an urban environment such as issues related to race, class, poverty, gender, social justice and the intersections among them. Students in the program are encouraged to pursue study abroad opportunities. The option to write an honors thesis is available to students who are in the University’s Honors Program.

Social Policy & Practice graduates often find that they have many career options because of their broad academic backgrounds and well-developed writing, critical thinking, and interpersonal skills that are highly valued by employers in a wide variety of settings. Students in the major are well prepared for entering the fields of social work, education, public policy, public health, law, medicine, business, and any other field that values a solid liberal arts education.

Prerequisites

Four prerequisites must be completed with a minimum letter grade of C in order to enroll in SOWK 200-Introduction to Social Policy & Practice (3 credits), the first Social Policy & Practice core course and to declare the major. This applies to courses taken at Tulane University or equivalent courses taken at other institutions.

• ECON 101-Introductory Microeconomics
• POLS 210-American Government
• PSYC 100-Introductory Psychology
• SOCI 106-Urban Sociology

Course Requirements
(30 Credits – At least 10 courses)

A. Core Classes (2 courses, 6 credits)
Social Policy & Practice majors are required to complete two core courses which “bookend” the major:

• SOWK 200-Introduction to Social Policy & Practice (3 credits)
• SOWK 400-Community Organizing for Social Change: Theories and Methods (3 credits)

Each core course is offered every Fall and Spring. Students accepted to the major will be assigned a specific schedule to start the core courses with the gateway course – SOWK 200 – when their declaration is processed.

The first course students take, upon being admitted into the major, is SOWK 200-Introduction to Social Policy & Practice and the final course students take is SOWK 400-Community Organizing for Social Change: Theories and Methods. This latter course is conceptualized as the coordinate major capstone course.

B. Concentration in a Major Social or Behavioral Science (2 courses, 6 credits)
All social policy majors must concentrate in one of three major behavioral science departments: Political Science, Economics, or Sociology. Majors are required to take two approved electives in their concentration department. Refer to the list below for approved concentration electives.

• Economics: ECON 102-Principles of Macroeconomics (3 credits) and ECON 332-Urban Economics (3 credits)
• Political Science: POLA 324-Public Policy (3 credits) and POLA 425 Power & Poverty in America (3 Credits)
• Psychology: details pending and will be submitted for separate approval when completed
• Sociology: SOCI-205 Population and Society (3 credits) and SOCI-218 Wealth, Power & Inequality (3 credits)

C. Additional Electives (At least 6 courses, 18 credits)
In addition to the two courses that form the Concentration, Social Policy & Practice majors must take at least six more approved electives. Two of the six courses may simultaneously fulfill primary or other major and/or minor requirements. Importantly, only 2 of the 6 electives can be taken at the 100 level. The remainder of the electives must be taken at the 200 level or above.

In addition to courses listed above, for the concentrations that lie outside of the student’s chosen concentration, the following is a list of additional approved electives organized by discipline. It is important to note that some of these courses have prerequisites. Students should consult the course catalog prior to registering to ensure that they have met any department-specific prerequisites.

Economics

• ECON 354-Developmental Economics (3 credits)
• Other courses pending

Political Science

• POLA 327-Court and Politics (3 credits)
• POLS 401-Comparative Political Economy of the Welfare State (3 credits)
• POLA 427-Race, Sex, and Power (3 credits)

Psychology

• PSCH 343-Introduction to Social Psychology (3 credits)
• Other courses pending

Social Work

• SOWK 211-Family Violence Intervention: Making A Difference (3 credits)
• SOWK 212-Social Work Intervention With Children & Youth (3 credits)
• SOWK 222-Drug Abuse: Univ. & Innercity (Booze, Pot, Coke, & Crystal Meth: PolyDrug Abuse Among College & Inner-City Residents) (3 credits)
• SOWK 223-Guns and Gangs: At Risk Youth in the Inner City (3 credits)
• SOWK 240-Human Sexuality: Beyond Sex in the City (3 credits)
• SOWK 413-Legal Skills for Social Service Professionals (3 credits)

Sociology

• SOCI 109-Social Problems (3 Credits)
• SOCI 151-Work in American Society (3 credits)
• SOCI 160-Environmental Sociology (3 credits )
• SOCI 250-Organizational Behavior (3 credits)
• SOCI 270-Social Psychology of Everyday Life (3 credits)
• SOCI 612-Race and Ethnicity in America (3 credits)
• SOCI 630-Urban Policy and Planning SOCI 631-Urban Experience

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GRADUATE LEVEL SOCIAL WORK COURSES

Priority for enrollment in graduate level social welfare courses is reserved for graduate students, but instructors will often consider undergraduates for enrollment when space is available. The instructor has total discretion in determining the suitability of the undergraduate for enrollment in a graduate course. The list of courses that will consider undergraduate enrollment is available in the Undergraduate Advisor’s office.

ADVISING AND ORGANIZATION

Until such time that the number of coordinate majors requires additional help, the advising function will be handled by Associate Professor Fred Buttell (Social Work), who will also chair the SPP steering committee. Once the SP&P coordinate major is approved, the steering committee will consist of at least 3 and no more than 5 full-time Tulane faculty members. At a minimum, the steering committee will be comprised of at least one representative from the School of Social Work, the Department of Sociology, and the Department of Political Science. These committee members will be appointed by their respective departments or schools. Additional committee members will be drawn at large from other participating programs/units. Members will serve renewable two-year terms organized on a staggered basis. A quorum will consist of three committee members. Per the Tulane Recovery Plan, the coordinate major will be administered as part of the Partnership for the Transformation of Urban Communities (PTUC). As such, PTUC will provide program support and assistance.

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