The Urban & Public Affairs B.S./B.A. degree is an interdisciplinary program designed for students interested in tailoring their education to suit their broad interests in public affairs, policy, and service. Through this flexible degree, students develop a broad, versatile skill set that helps them stand out in the job market for their ability to draw connections, see the big picture, and identify effective solutions to challenging public policy problems. Urban & Public Affairs students choose from coursework in the following subjects: Economics, Criminology & Criminal Justice, International & Global Studies, Public Administration (Civil Leadership), Political Science, Public Health, and Urban Studies & Planning.
Program Requirements
The UPA B.A./B.S. degree requires students to complete 56 credits distributed as follows: choose 6 courses (24 credits) from the list of required courses, choose 6 courses (24 credits) from the list of electives, choose 1 research skills course (4 credits), and complete UPA 425 Urban & Public Affairs Seminar (4 credits).
Students must receive a "C-" or better in all required coursework. At least 24 of the required 56 credits must be taken at PSU.
Required courses (24 credits)
Students must complete 6 courses representing at least 2 of the 7 academic disciplines (CCJ, PA, PS, USP, PHE, Ec, and Intl) listed below:
| CCJ 200 | Criminology and Criminal Justice | 4 |
| CCJ 320U | Theories of Crime & Justice | 4 |
| CCJ 330U | Crime Control Strategies | 4 |
| PA 311U | Introduction to Civic Engagement | 4 |
| PA 312U | Foundations of Community Leadership | 4 |
| PA 313U | Fundamentals of Public Service | 4 |
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| PS 101 | United States Government | 4 |
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| PS 102 | United States Politics | 4 |
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| PS 204 | Comparative Politics | 4 |
| PS 205 | International Politics | 4 |
| PS 431 | State and Local Politics | 4 |
| USP 300U | Introduction to Urban Studies | 4 |
| USP 301U | Introduction to Community Development | 4 |
| USP 313U | Urban Environmental Issues | 4 |
| PHE 350 | Health and Health Systems | 4 |
| PHE 446U | Health Equity and Social Justice | 4 |
| PHE 250 | Our Community: Our Health | 4 |
| Ec 201 | Principles of Microeconomics | 4 |
| Ec 202 | Principles of Macroeconomics | 4 |
| Ec 316U | Introduction to Health Care Economics | 4 |
| Ec 332U | Economics of Environmental Issues | 4 |
| Intl 201 | Introduction to International Studies | 4 |
| Intl 202 | The United States and the World | 4 |
| Intl 203 | International Development Strategies | 4 |
Elective courses (24 credits)
Choose 6 courses from CCJ, PA, PS, USP, PHE, Ec, Intl, or UPA. Five elective courses (20 credits) must be upper-division (300- or 400-level) courses and one course (4 credits) may be either upper or lower division.
Research skills course (4 credits)
Complete one pre-identified and approved research methods, statistics, or data analysis course from any of the participating academic units.
| CCJ 336 | Applied Crime Mapping | 4 |
| CCJ 340 | Crime Analysis | 4 |
| CCJ 380 | Criminal Justice Research | 4 |
| Ec 469 | Applied Econometrics | 4 |
| PS 491 | Testing Theories in Political Science | 4 |
| USP 430 | Participatory Research Methods | 4 |
| USP 440 | Critical Analysis of Community Data | 4 |
| USP 436 | Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for Urban Studies and Planning | 4 |
Urban & Public Affairs Seminar (4 credits)
| UPA 425 | Urban and Public Affairs Seminar | 4 |
Total Credit Hours: 56