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URBAN AND REGIONAL PLANNING
Head of the Department: Christopher Silver
Correspondence and Admission Information: Department of Urban and Regional Planning, 111 Temple Buell Hall, 611 Taft Drive, Champaign, IL 61820; (217) 333-3890; E-mail: j-terry@uiuc.edu
URL: www.urban.uiuc.edu
GRADUATE DEGREE PROGRAMS
The Department of Urban and Regional Planning offers graduate programs leading to the degrees of Master of Urban Planning and Doctor of Philosophy in Regional Planning. Students can also apply to
joint degree programs to obtain a Juris Doctor and a Master of Urban Planning or a Master of Architecture and a M aster of Urban Planning.ADMISSION
The social sciences, the physical sciences, the design professions, engineering, and urban planning are relevant undergraduate backgrounds for graduate work in planning. Consideration will also be given to students prepared in the humanities and other fields. The Graduate College admission requirements apply. International applicants must score 590 or better on the paper-based Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), or 243 or better on the computer-based test. The Graduate Record Examination (GRE) is required for all applicants. The additional requirements described below apply for admission to the doctoral program. Spring admission may be permitted in exceptional circumstances.
GRADUATE TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Although teaching is not a general Graduate College requirement, experience in teaching is considered an important part of the graduate experience in this program.
MASTER OF URBAN PLANNING
The professionally accre dited master's degree program prepares students for careers in planning practice. Such careers involve public service at all levels of government, private consulting practice, and a large range of organizations in need of planning services. The program also prepares students for advanced work leading to the Ph.D. degree and a career in teaching and research. The program requires core courses, an area of concentration, electives, and a capstone experience. Core courses focus on the basic elements of planning, including theory, land use, history, analytical methods, spatial organization, public organizations, and law. Concentrations include community and economic development, environmental science and sustainable development, planning information and decision support systems, and land use and infrastructure. Within these concentrations, students can further specialize in topics such as urban design transportation, historic preservation, housing, growth management, and international planning. A capstone experie nce is required in the form of a master's project, advanced workshop, concentration paper, or thesis. Internships during the summer are highly recommended.
Candidates from a wide variety of undergraduate degrees may qualify for the Master of Urban Planning degree by completing one of the following options for total number of units: (1) 16 units, including core courses, if an internship is not completed; (2) 15 units, including core courses, if a zero-credit internship course (Urban Planning 490) is successfully completed; or (3) eight units if a student has a B.A. in Urban Planning from Urbana-Champaign and was admitted to the accelerated program so that most of the core master's courses were completed as an undergraduate. Only students selected by the faculty as outstanding planning undergraduates at the end of their junior years are eligible for this third option. Up to four units of the core courses may be waived if a student has an undergraduate professional degree in urban planning and the departme nt approves a petition for this option. This reduction in core courses cannot be combined with option 3, and the student must take at least 7.5 units of his or her coursework in urban planning.
For options 1 and 2, at least ten units must be in urban and regional planning courses. In option 3 at least five units must be in urban and regional planning courses. Candidates admitted to the joint Master of Urban Planning and Juris Doctor or the Master of Urban Planning and Master of Architecture shall complete a minimum of eight units in urban planning, including core courses and the requirements of the other program. The thesis or master's project of a joint degree student may be taken in either program, with faculty in each program participating on the committee.
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN REGIONAL PLANNING
The doctoral program is offered in close cooperation with an interdisciplinary program faculty. The program is designed to educate researchers and teachers for university positions as well as specialized practitioners for the public and private sectors. The program emphasizes environmental science and social science aspects of regional planning and incorporates the necessary background in research methods and planning theory and application. Students wishing to pursue environmental science aspects of regional planning should have completed at least three courses in physics, chemistry, or biology; one semester of college-level calculus or linear algebra; one semester of statistics; and one semester of economics. Students wish
ing to pursue social science aspects of regional planning should have completed at least one semester of economics; three semesters of other social sciences courses, such as economics, political science, or sociology; one semester of statistics; and one semester of college-level calculus or linear algebra. Students otherwise qualified may be admitted with deficiencies in these areas. Deficiencies may be removed by passing proficiency examinations or by taking courses after admission to the program, but courses taken for this purpose will not count toward fulfillment of degree requirements.To qualify for the Ph.D. in regional planning, 24 units of credit must be completed. The student entering with the baccalaureate degree will be required to complete at least 16 units of course credit and up to eight units of dissertation credit. The student entering with a master's degree in planning or a closely allied field generally will be required to complete a minimum of eight units of course credit and up to eight units of dissertation credit. A maximum of eight units of advanced-standing credit may be granted. All student programs will consist of courses in planning research methods and planning theory and application. Depending on the program emphasis that a student selects, appropriate courses in environmental science or social science aspects of regional planning will be chosen in consultation with the student's academic adviser. The student must pass a qualifying exam ination, a preliminary examination of the dissertation proposal, and a final examination on the dissertation.
FACULTY RESEARCH INTERESTS
Members of the faculty are engaged in research, professional applications, public service, and continuing education. These efforts are undertaken in the areas of land use, economic development, environmental planning, geographic information systems, housing, information systems, international planning, planning history and theory, social planning, transportation, preservation planning, and regional science.
LIBRARY RESOURCES
The department has one of the finest planning libraries in the world, with a collection of books and reports developed during the more than seventy-five years that planning education has been offered at this University.
COMPUTING RESOURCES
The department has an instructional computing laboratory with sophisticated graphic workstations to support planning decision making.
FINANCIAL AID
F ellowships, tuition and service fee waivers, teaching assistantships, and research assistantships are available each year. Financial aid is awarded on the basis of the student's previous academic record and other indicators of potential. In the case of assistantships, the possession of specific teaching or research capabilities is a consideration.