Master of Community Planning

The following is a list of courses that URSP faculty members have approved to be taken as specialization electives. Please note that some of the categories listed below are not those in which URSP specializes, which is why there are listings of courses offered by other academic units on this campus, other schools in the University system, by schools participating in the Consortium of Universities in the Washington Metropolitan Area (see http://registrar.umd.edu/current/registration/consortium.html), and other universities. Students are also able to create their own specializations. This list is organized alphabetically (by specialization). In each category, URSP classes are listed first, followed by courses listed by alphabetical order of program. For updated course descriptions from other UMCP departments and programs, please refer to the official Schedule of Classes. The list is not exhaustive; you are free to propose to your mentor other courses that are not currently on the list. This is a work in progress: we will update the list periodically.
 
Community Development
Specialization courses in community development fall into three general areas: (1) courses about the nature of communities and community development and their social, political, and economic environments; (2) courses about approaches to community development and strategies of community development, (3) courses in analytic and organizing methods and skills useful in community development. Specific courses may cover material in more than one area. Students specializing in community development should select courses with the aim of building strength in all three areas.  The following list of electives is suggestive:

• URSP 688Z-Planning and Design in the Multicultural Metropolis.  Exploration of the emerging social and spatial landscape of urban diversity, with a focus on the DC Metro area. The changing patterns of immigration and ethno-cultural diversity that are shaping new geographies of race and immigration, and various forms, meanings, and uses of urban space.  Types of theories helpful for understanding how these issues intersect with the professions of urban planning and design and our roles in shaping the built environment.  Exploration of various ways in which social inequality is manifested and reinforced through the politics, policies, and design of the built environment.  Planning and design strategies for fostering and nurturing ethno-cultural diversity, equality, and the possibilities and potentials of bringing people together in the city. Strategies for Improving planning processes, policies, built spaces, and the culture of planning to support an appreciation of and right to difference in the city and the ethical and equitable treatment for all.

• ANTH 610: Advanced Studies in Theory and Practice of Health and Community Development Also offered as ANTH 410. Credit will be granted for only one of the following: ANTH 610 or ANTH 410. Introduction to the relationships between culture, health status and practices, and the design of community-based initiatives. The focus is on the use of anthropological knowledge and skills in the analysis of such relationships and in the design of community-based initiatives.

• EDPS (Education Policy Studies) courses, such as the following:
• EDPS 614: Politics of Education. Educational institutions as political entities. Focuses on conceptual perspectives for examining political dynamics in governmental and organizational contexts. Provides opportunities to carry out original case studies of policy making processes at various levels of the education policy system.
• EDPS 620: Education Policy Analysis. Policy making in education from planning to evaluation with emphasis on the identification of policy problems and the resources available to analysts through multi-disciplinary approaches. An introductory experience with education policy analysis.
• EDPS 621: Education Policy/Program Evaluation and Organizational Decision Making. Alternative approaches to the evaluation of education policies programs. Provides opportunities to design and conduct an evaluation. Addresses the various uses of evaluative information including its role in organizational decision making and improvement.
• EDPS 622: Education Policy, Values, and Social Change. Examination of relationships among educational policy, values, and social change. Roles of educational organizations and institutional change in such social issues as equity and cultural diversity.
• EDPS 623: Education Policy and Theories of Change. The work of change theorists in history, economics, political science, philosophy, sociology and anthropology as it impinges upon education policy.

• HLTH 490: Principles of Community Health II. Two hours of lecture and four hours of laboratory per week. Prerequisite: HLTH391. Students will be involved in the applied aspects of community health education. They will work with specific local community groups, planning, developing, implementing and evaluating a community health project. Health agencies and community health marketing techniques will be investigated.

• PUAF 692: Leadership Principles and Practices Prerequisite: permission of instructor. This course will introduce leadership principles and practices to students by focusing on the theory of leadership, different leadership themes and skills, and discussions with practitioners.
• PUAF 715: Government and Non-Profit Accounting Prerequisite: permission of instructor. Basic accounting practices of governmental and non-profit organizations. Emphasis on presentation of data in assessing an organization's financial health, financial data by organizations, structuring of accounting information to achieve management control, way in which evolving national standards influence kinds of information organizations have to apply in the future.
• PUAF 734: Foundations of Social Policy. Provides an overview of government's role in social policy and the history of the development of federal and state policies with respect to welfare, aging, education, and housing. Analyzes current federal institutions and legislation in the same policy areas and the demographic history of the United States. Develops skills in analytic writing and presentation of descriptive data.
• PUAF 752: Managing Differences: Resolving Conflict and Negotiating Agreements. Prerequisite: permission of instructor. Enhances the student's negotiation and leadership skills for managing differences between individuals and groups. Students study the nature of conflict, learn how to handle two and multiparty conflicts, exerting leadership where there are no hierarchy leaders, and explore the impact of facilitators and mediators on the negotiating process. Blends skill building exercises and theory discussions about the behavior of groups and individuals in groups to understand negotiation dynamics.
• PUAF 753: Advanced Negotiations. Prerequisite: PUAF752. Credit will be granted for only one of the following: PUAF698C or PUAF753. Deepens the student's negotiation and leadership skills for managing differences between individuals and groups. Cover conflict, escalation, dealing with intractable conflicts, sustaining agreements in inter-group conflicts, and the effects of trauma on negotiations.

• SOCY 671: Sociology of Development. Prerequisite: permission of instructor. Third World development at institutional, organizational, and community levels; factors contributing to success, effectiveness and sustainability of development and to problems and hindrances.

• SWOA 705: Community Economic Development (School of Social Work, UM Baltimore). This course helps students build upon, expand, and refine their organizational development and capacity-building skills. The course covers a number of themes, including small communities, factors leading to the health or decline of communities, community economic development strategies, community development corporations, advocacy and development organizing, various action programs, and social development strategies. Specific knowledge, skills, and values will be discussed in relation to these themes. Ethnically sensitive practice principles will be woven into class discussions on a regular basis.
• SWOA 706: Multicultural Practice in Organizations and Communities (UM Baltimore). This course is designed to provide students with an understanding of multicultural practice in organizational and community settings. It examines concepts and techniques of multicultural macro practice and considers and evaluates relevant strategies and tactics that promote multiculturalism, including pluralistic coalition-building, empowerment processes, intercultural communication, diversity training, and cross-cultural supervision. This course will help prepare students for the roles that social workers can expect to serve in building a multicultural society. This course fulfills the diversity requirement.
• SWOA 732: Resource Development for Nonprofit Groups (UM Baltimore). Nonprofit organizations operate in a climate of increasingly scarce resources. In recent years, because of government cutbacks, many charitable agencies have had to curtail services, merge, or go out of business. As a result, nonprofits have had to seek new avenues for funding and other needed resources. This course explores the resource climate of nonprofit voluntary organizations, identifies different ways of acquiring resources, and develops knowledge of and skill in a variety of techniques. The techniques reviewed include marketing, grant development, workplace fundraising, direct mail, telephone, face-to-face solicitation, and earned income from operations.

Local and Community Economic Development
This specialty prepares students to work as economic development practitioners. The curriculum emphasizes understanding of the theory and practice of urban and regional economic development. It gives special attention to understanding the economy and market failures, location decisions of population and business, development models of regional growth and decline, development politics, and techniques for development planning:

• URSP660: Function and Structure of Metropolitan Areas Theoretical and historical examination of basic urban functions. Intra-metropolitan location of activities. Role of metropolitan planning in a market economy. Examination of cases of metropolitan planning to assess alternative strategies for future metropolitan development.
• URSP 661: City and Regional Economic Development Planning Prerequisite: URSP 606 or URSP 660. Spatial patterns of employment and populations, and models of urban and regional growth and decline. Focus on application of economic theory and urban planning techniques to issues of local economic development and planning.
• URSP 664: Real Estate Development for Planners Prerequisite: URSP 606 or permission of instructor. Planning, Architectural and Public Policy students are introduced to the real estate development process primarily from the point of view of the private entrepreneurial developer. It will include the steps in undertaking a real estate development from the initial concept to the property management and final disposition, the basic financial and tax concepts underlying real estate development, a review of national housing policy, including public-private partnerships, and solving specific real estate development problems using financial spread-sheets.

• ECON 416: Theory of Economic Prerequisite: ECON 305 or ECON 405. Credit will be granted for only one of the following: ECON 315 or ECON 416. Economic theory of the developing nations; role of innovation, capital formation, resources, institutions, trade and exchange rates, and governmental policies.
• ECON 454: Theory of Public Finance and Fiscal Federalism Prerequisite: ECON306 or ECON406; or permission of department. For ECON majors only. Credit will be granted for only one of the following: ECON450 or ECON454. Study of welfare economics and the theory of public goods, taxation, public expenditures, benefit-cost analysis, and state and local finance. Applications of theory to current policy issues
• ECON 615: Economic Development of Less-Developed Areas Prerequisite: ECON 603 or permission of department. Analysis of the forces contributing to and retarding economic progress in less-developed areas. Topics include the relationship of international trade to development, import-substituting and export-led industrialization, the effects of population growth on economic development, and the analysis of institutions and institutional change in land tenure, finance, and labor markets.

• PUAF 744: Environment and Development Analyzes sustainable development and its conflicting interpretations. The dominant view, as expressed in the World Bank's 1992 World Development Report, is studied, along with some critical responses. Further readings on issues of population, consumption and development indicators.
• Special Topics Courses offered in the Fall or Spring 2007-08:

• URSP 688M Recent Developments in Urban Studies: Introduction to US Housing Policy. Credit will be granted for only one of the following: URSP 612 or URSP 688M. Now called URSP612.An introduction to GIS and its application to urban planning. Topics include: thematic mapping, GIS data structure, spatial analysis, Internet GIS, using census data to study urban areas, and examples of urban GIS application. Weekly laboratory and project work use ArcGIS software.

Housing
The study of housing entails knowledge of the physical structure of housing; housing finance; the socioeconomic relationship between the housing unit, the user, and the community at large; and the political infrastructure responsible for the delivery of housing services. To this end, the housing specialization provides students with the intellectual background and technical skills to address problems designing, building, and delivering housing that is appropriate, affordable, and accessible. Courses for this specialization can include, but are not limited to, the following:

• URSP 612: Geographic Information Systems for Urban Planning An introduction to GIS and its application to urban planning. Topics include: thematic mapping, GIS data structure, spatial analysis, Internet GIS, using census data to study urban areas, and examples of urban GIS application. Weekly laboratory and project work use ArcGIS software.
• URSP 688L:Planning Technology.  An introduction to technologies vital for contemporary planning. Fundamental concepts, hands-on experience and real-world applications of such urban planning technologies as Geographic Information Systems (GIS), data visualization, 3D modeling, mash-ups, digital design tools, web surveys, photo/video sharing (web/video conferencing), crowdsourcing web publishing and tools, search engine optimization, blogs, Twitter and social networking.
• URSP 688O: Introduction to U.S. Housing Policy and Planning Critical appraisal of U.S. housing policy in terms of production and allocation of housing services. An historical overview of federal, state, and local policy, followed by analysis of the organizational infrastructure around which housing is produce. (Previously URSP688M).
• URSP 660: Function and Structure of Metropolitan Areas Theoretical and historical examination of basic urban functions. Intra-metropolitan location of activities, role of metropolitan planning in a market economy, examination of cases of metropolitan planning to assess alternative strategies for future metropolitan development.
• URSP 661: City and Regional Economic Development Planning Spatial patterns of employment and populations, and models of urban and regional growth and decline. Focus on application of economic theory and urban planning techniques to issues of local economic development and planning.
• URSP664: Real Estate Development for Planners Planning, Architectural and Public Policy students are introduced to the real estate development process primarily from the point of view of the private entrepreneurial developer. It will include the steps in undertaking a real estate development from the initial concept to the property management and final disposition, the basic financial and tax concepts underlying real estate development, a review of national housing policy, including public-private partnerships, and solving specific real estate development problems using financial spread-sheets.

• HISP 680: Preservation Economics Students are introduced to a range of economic theories, methods, and issues that must be considered in the practice of historic preservation. Case studies related to community economic development, adaptive reuse, tax credit programs, project finance, and land use will be presented.

• PUAF 670: Finance Introduction to principles of resource allocation over time, role of debt in context of changing sources of governmental revenues, long- and short-term debt instruments, analysis of mixed public-private economic development projects, leasing, and the impact of borrowing devices.

International Urban and Regional Development Planning
Students in this specialization begin by developing two basic foundations: (a) an understanding of urbanization and urban-related conditions and change-processes, with special attention to the less well-developed countries of the two-thirds world, and (b) an appreciation of the challenges of cross-cultural and cross-national planning, including the ethical implications. Students develop special knowledge and skills in one or more focus areas on the basis of substance (e.g., international aid, the urban environment) and/or region (e.g., Africa, Latin America).

• ANTH 610 Advanced Studies in Theory and Practice of Health and Community Development (3 credits) Also offered as ANTH 410. Credit will be granted for only one of the following: ANTH 610 or ANTH 410. Introduction to the relationships between culture, health status and practices, and the design of community-based initiatives. The focus is on the use of anthropological knowledge and skills in the analysis of such relationships and in the design of community-based initiatives.

• ANTH 650 Advanced Studies in Theory and Practice of Environmental Anthropology (3 credits) Also offered as ANTH 450. Credit will be granted for only one of the following: ANTH 450 or ANTH 650. An overview of contemporary application of cultural theory and methods to environmental problems. Topics include the use of theories of culture, cognitive approaches, discourse analysis, and political ecology. Case studies from anthropology, other social sciences, humanities, conservation, and environmental history are used to demonstrate the applied value of a cultural-environmental approach.

• GVPT 406: International Organizations A basic introduction to the full range of international organizations that have come into being over the past century and one-half, including those that aspire to be universal or global, those with a geopolitical or regional focus, and those that address specific structural or functional areas of human endeavor or issue areas.
• GVPT 407 International Political Economy Prerequisite: GVPT200 and GVPT241. Junior standing. Introduces the field of international political economy, which analyzes the ways in which economic and political changes produce both economic and political reactions.

• PUAF 698Q: Special Topics. Democracy and Democratization Prerequisites: none. Theory and Practice focuses on the theory and practice of democracy and democratization as well as related themes of civil society and civic engagement. Considers various theories that seek to understand and defend democratic governance, examines and evaluates past and present contours of American democracy, assesses theories that explain and justify transitions from authoritarianism to democracy as well as various approaches to democracy promotion, considers democracy and the global order, and addresses the strategies and tactics for making democracy (at various levels) more inclusive and deeper.
• PUAF 744: Environment and Development Analyzes sustainable development and its conflicting interpretations. The dominant view, as expressed in the World Bank's 1992 World Development Report, is studied, along with some critical responses. Further readings on issues of population, consumption and development indicators.

• SOCY 410 Social Demography (3 credits) Prerequisite: permission of department. Types of demographic analysis; demographic data; population characteristics; migration; mortality; fertility; population theories; world population growth; population policy.

Land Use and Environmental Planning
Courses in this specialization area examine a range of concepts and strategies associated with land use and environmental planning. Among the topics are land classification systems; land use and environmental ethics; the connection between land use and overall environmental quality; the concept of "sustainability"; and the range of methods for creating more sustainable metropolitan areas. Of particular concern in this specialization area are technical aspects, data base requirements, legal and constitutional issues, political conflicts, equity concerns, socioeconomic impacts and overall effectiveness of land and environmental policies and regulations. Students have the opportunity to conduct case studies of regulation at the federal, state and local levels. Courses in this specialization include, but are not limited to, the following:

• URSP 603: Land Use Planning: Concepts and Techniques Required course. Basic techniques for regulating the use and appearance of land. Legal framework, social implications, planning approaches, communicating land use information.
• URSP 612: Geographic Information Systems for Urban Planning An introduction to GIS and its application to urban planning. Topics include: thematic mapping, GIS data structure, spatial analysis, Internet GIS, using census data to study urban areas, and examples of urban GIS application.
• URSP 630: Introduction to Transportation Planning An introduction to the planning of all transportation modes, concentrating on automobile and public transit. Characteristics of each mode, including capacity, right of way requirements, cost, and relationship with land use. Forecasting travel demand, determining levels of service, traffic operations techniques, parking, demand management, pedestrian and bicycle facility planning and transportation modeling.
• URSP 631: Transportation systems are essential in people's lives - connecting places and accommodating people's travel and good movement.  Without the transportation system, we don't get to work, school, recreation and health care, and don't get to drink wine produced in Bordeaux, France, wear cashmere sweater produced in the UK, and play with toys produced in China.  Efficient, safe, and sustainable transportation systems are essential to the social, economic, and environmental well-being of cities and regions.  In this course, the emphasis is on "connection between places" under varying conditions of land and urban form.  This course in urban transportation planning explores the complex relationships between transportation, land use, built environment, and urban form.  It's main focus on U.S. metropolitan areas and the central role of transportation in shaping cities and the lives in the people in them.  We begin with a historical look at planning and development of transportation systems and urban form in the United States.  We then examine, more conceptually and theoretically, the relationship between land use and transportation and how people's travel behavior is influenced (or not influenced) by built environment, and also discuss a number of current transportation-land use issues facing planners today (e.g., traffic congestion, sprawl, sustainability, jobs-housing imbalance).
• URSP 640: Growth Management and Environmental Planning Topics associated with growth management, defined as policies and strategies by which governments attempted to control the amount, location, pace, pattern and quality of development within their jurisdictions. Readings and discussion on "sustainability" and its relationship to growth management.
• URSP 688L:Planning Technology.  An introduction to technologies vital for contemporary planning. Fundamental concepts, hands-on experience and real-world applications of such urban planning technologies as Geographic Information Systems (GIS), data visualization, 3D modeling, mash-ups, digital design tools, web surveys, photo/video sharing (web/video conferencing), crowdsourcing web publishing and tools, search engine optimization, blogs, Twitter and social networking,
• URSP 688O: Land Use Planning for Watershed Protection Offered in Spring 2007. An intensive survey of watershed planning methods to protect and restore water bodies from negative growth-related impacts. Reviews watershed basics, discusses the impact of land development on the water quality and living resources, and reviews the management practices that can mitigate its impacts to streams, wetlands, forests, and estuarine water quality.

• AREC 453 Natural Resources and Public Policy Prerequisite: ECON306. Rational use and reuse of natural resources. Theory, methodology, and policies concerned with the allocation of natural resources among alternative uses. Optimum state of conservation, market failure, safe minimum standard, and cost-benefit analysis.
• AREC 455 Economics of Land Use Prerequisite: ECON306. Fundamentals of location theory. Microeconomics of land use decisions, including determination of rent and hedonic pricing models. Impacts of government decisions on land use, including regulation (e.g., zoning), incentives (transferable development rights), provision of public services, and infrastructure investments. Impacts of land use on environmental quality, including issues relating to sprawl, agricultural land preservation, and other topics of special interest.
• AREC 645 Environment and Development Economics (3 credits) Also offered as AREC 845. Credit will be granted for only one of the following: AREC 645 or AREC 845. Relationships between the environment and the speed and structural characteristics of economic growth and the consequences of economic globalization for the environment in developing countries. Considers neoclassical and endogenous growth models; international trade theory; the role of property right institutions and factor markets; the environmental impact of trade liberalization in developing countries and the environmental effects of increasing international capital mobility; empirical studies relating the environment to growth and globalization; and policy analyses.
• AREC 753 Economics of Renewable Natural Resources (3 credits) Prerequisite: AREC 610; and AREC 620; or permission of department. Basic models of renewable natural resources. Current research issues concerning natural resources with emphasis on problems in commercial and recreational fisheries, forestry, water, fugitive wildlife, and agriculture. Policies to correct related market failures.

• LARC 450: Environmental Resources Permission of department. A review of ecosystems and an examination of planning strategies for preservation, conservation, management and development of sensitive natural and cultural landscape resources in the mid-Atlantic region.
• LARC 451: Sustainable Communities Explores concepts, strategies and examples of community design which address the needs of a growing population while preserving the environment and its resources.

• PUAF 740: Public Policy and the Environment For PUAF majors only or permission of department. Surveys of major federal environmental legislation; the development and implementation of laws, and alternative ways of thinking about the relationship between humans and the environment.
• PUAF 741: Global Environmental Problems For PUAF majors only or permission of department. Suitability of analytic tools for examining global environmental problems, human overpopulation, land abuse, ozone depletion, climate change, acid rain, loss of biological diversity, the scarcity of food, fresh water, energy and nonfuel mineral resources, and health hazards of pollutants toxic metals and radiation.
• PUAF 742: Environmental Ethics For PUAF majors only or permission of department. Analyzes issues such as the relation between human beings and nature from the perspectives of the science, history, philosophy, and religion. Considers the bases for policies such as environmental regulation, public lands, and international conventions with respect to the environment.
• PUAF 743: Ecological Economics For PUAF majors only or permission of department. Course is based upon the text valuing the Earth: Economics, Ecology, and Ethics.
• PUAF 744: Environment and Development Analyzes sustainable development and its conflicting interpretations. The dominant view, as expressed in the World Bank's 1992 World Development Report, is studied, along with some critical responses. Further readings on issues of population, consumption and development indicators.
• PUAF 745: Human Health and Environmental Policy Reviews the major human physiological systems and their integrated toxicological functions; considers key bodily defenses; and discusses classic, emerging, and ambiguous risks; in all ecological context. Applies to scientific controversy, the methods of policy formation, such as risk analysis, social-cost analysis, "outcomes" analysis, and decision analysis, all in political-economic context.
• PUAF 746: Dynamic Modeling for Environmental Investment and Policy Making For PUAF majors only or permission of department. Formerly PUAF 698M. Examines the theory, methods and tools to dynamic modeling for policy and investment decision making, with special focus on environmental issues. Provides extensive hands-on modeling experience and makes use of state-of-art computing methods to translate theory and concepts into executable models.

Social Planning, Organization and Administration
Social planning is a broad field. It is generally concerned with designing social settings (such as organizations, communities, and programs) and developing and implementing social interventions (such as social programming, community organizing, partnership-development, and community planning). Social planners work in various substantive fields (such as health, education, child welfare, aging, and criminal justice). Social planners have a variety of roles (such as planner, organizer, researcher, and advocate). For these reasons, there is no single set of ideal social planning courses. Students specializing in social planning should try to develop strengths in three areas: (1) courses about the content and context of a specific substantive field; (2) courses in research and analytic methods for formulating and understanding issues in a substantive field; and (3) courses in methods for working with other people in groups, organizations, and communities. Specific courses may cover material in more than one area. The following list of electives is suggestive:

• URSP 688Z-Planning and Design in the Multicultural Metropolis.  Exploration of the emerging social and spatial landscape of urban diversity, with a focus on the DC Metro area. The changing patterns of immigration and ethno-cultural diversity that are shaping new geographies of race and immigration, and various forms, meanings, and uses of urban space.  Types of theories helpful for understanding how these issues intersect with the professions of urban planning and design and our roles in shaping the built environment.  Exploration of various ways in which social inequality is manifested and reinforced through the politics, policies, and design of the built environment.  Planning and design strategies for fostering and nurturing ethno-cultural diversity, equality, and the possibilities and potentials of bringing people together in the city. Strategies for Improving planning processes, policies, built spaces, and the culture of planning to support an appreciation of and right to difference in the city and the ethical and equitable treatment for all.

• PUAF 736: Managing Social Services For PUAF majors only or permission of department. Credit will be granted for only one of the following: PUAF736 or PUAF698V. Formerly PUAF 698V. Focuses on managing social services across federal, state, and local jurisdictions with an emphasis on how strong management can improve results. Exposes students to management thought and philosophy as applied to different social services and social policy challenges within various operating environments and programmatic settings. The watchwords for this course are "management" and "applied".
• PUAF 737: Strategies of Equality For PUAF majors only or permission of department. Formerly PUAF 698Y. Concentrates on the institutional and political means by which disadvantaged segments of the United States population have sought to enhance their social, economic and political prospects. Race, gender and disability are the substantive focal points, with considerable attention given to the challenges of African American socio-political uplift. Also explores legislation, litigation, administration, agitation (i.e. protest), and constitutional reform. Students become familiar with alternative conceptions of equality and the modes of argument employed in different institutional and political contexts.
• PUAF 752: Managing Differences: Resolving Conflict and Negotiating Agreements For PUAF majors only or permission of department. Enhances the student's negotiation and leadership skills for managing differences between individuals and groups. Students study the nature of conflict, learn how to handle two and multiparty conflicts, exerting leadership where there are no hierarchy leaders, and explore the impact of facilitators and mediators on the negotiating process. Blends skill building exercises and theory discussions about the behavior of groups and individuals in groups to understand negotiation dynamics.
• PUAF 692: Leadership Principles and Practices For PUAF majors only or permission of department. This course will introduce leadership principles and practices to students by focusing on the theory of leadership, different leadership themes and skills, and discussions with practitioners.
• PUAF 711: Public Management and Leadership For PUAF majors only or permission of department. Reviews the managerial, political, and ethical problems faced by public sector managers and leaders, including setting an organization's goals, obtaining and protecting a program mandate, designing a service delivery system and implementing a new program.
• PUAF 734: Foundations of Social Policy For PUAF majors only. Provides an overview of government's role in social policy and the history of the development of federal and state policies with respect to welfare, aging, education, and housing. Analyzes current federal institutions and legislation in the same policy areas and the demographic history of the United States. Develops skills in analytic writing and presentation of descriptive data.

• HIST 428M: Foreigners as Citizens: Recording Oral Histories of Immigration -- to the Areas of Specialization

CCJS (Criminology and Criminal Justice) courses, such as the following:

• CCJS 455: Dynamics of Planned Change in Criminal Justice I Prerequisite: CCJS300 and permission of department. An examination of conceptual and practical issues related to planned change in criminal justice. Emphasis on the development of innovative ideas using a research and development approach to change.
• CCJS 456: Dynamics of Planned Change in Criminal Justice II Prerequisite: CCJS455 or permission of department. An examination of conceptual and practical issues related to planned change in criminal justice. Emphasis on change strategies and tactics which are appropriate for criminal justice personnel in entry level positions.
• CCJS 600: Criminal Justice Prerequisites: admission to the graduate program in criminal justice or permission of department. Formerly CJUS 600. Current concept of criminal justice in relationship to other concepts in the field. Historical perspective. Criminal justice and social control. Operational implications. Systemic aspects. Issues of evaluation.
• CCJS 635: Minorities and Criminal Justice Prerequisite: CCJS 600 or equivalent. Role minorities play in the criminal justice system: as victims, offenders and professionals. Also provides theoretical framework for examining these roles.

EDPL (Education Policy and Leadership) courses, such as the following:

• EDPL 614: Politics of Education Educational institutions as political entities. Focuses on conceptual perspectives for examining political dynamics in governmental and organizational contexts. Provides opportunities to carry out original case studies of policy making processes at various levels of the education policy system.

• EDPL 620: Education Policy Analysis Formerly EDPA 620. Policy making in education from planning to evaluation with emphasis on the identification of policy problems and the resources available to analysts through multi-disciplinary approaches. An introductory experience with education policy analysis.
• EDPL 621: Education Policy/Program Evaluation and Organizational Decision Making Formerly EDPA 621. Alternative approaches to the evaluation of education policies programs. Provides opportunities to design and conduct an evaluation. Addresses the various uses of evaluative information including its role in organizational decision making and improvement.
• EDPL 622: Education Policy, Values, and Social Change Formerly EDPA 622. Examination of relationships among educational policy, values, and social change. Roles of educational organizations and institutional change in such social issues as equity and cultural diversity.
• EDPL 623: Education Policy and Theories of Change Formerly EDPA 623. The work of change theorists in history, economics, political science, philosophy, sociology and anthropology as it impinges upon education policy.

FMST (Family Studies) courses, such as the following:

• FMST 603: Programmatic Approaches to Family Problems Theories, assumptions, and principles that guide the design, implementation, and evaluation of family-focused prevention and intervention programs.

• FMST 606: Ethnic Families Historical, cultural, social and economic factors influencing the structure and functioning of ethnic families. Implications of research for service delivery and family policy.
• FMST 660: Program Planning and Evaluation in Family Studies Theory and methods of program planning and evaluation with special emphasis on family programs. Assessment of program goals and the social and psychological factors involved in program implementation. Methods for measuring the effectiveness of program delivery, as well as the impact of services on family functioning.
• FMST 750: Development and Analysis of Family Policy Development and analysis of public policies affecting families, and the values that enter into family policy choices and debates.

• GVPT 462: Urban Politics Prerequisite: GVPT260. Urban political process and institutions considered in the light of changing social and economic conditions.

HLTH (Health) courses, such as the following:

• HLTH 460: Minority Health Prerequisite: HLTH140 or HLTH230 or permission of department. Health concerns of U.S. ethnic minority groups and factors placing them at elevated risk for disease and injury. Health education concepts and strategies to reduce disparities between their health status and the health status of the general population.
• HLTH 471: Women's Health Also offered as WMST471. Credit will be granted for only one of the following: HLT471 or WMST471. The historical, physiological, psychological, and sociological mechanisms which contribute to women's health. Topics will include gynecological concerns and reproductive health; nutrition, exercise; violence; substance use/abuse; and the health of special populations.
• HLTH 490: Principles of Community Health Two hours of lecture and four hours of laboratory per week. Prerequisite: HLTH391. Students will be involved in the applied aspects of community health education. They will work with specific local community groups, planning, developing, implementing and evaluating a community health project. Health agencies and community health marketing techniques will be investigated.
• PUAF 650: Moral Dimensions of Public Policy For PUAF majors only or permission of department. Explores the moral issues involved in public policy questions; the limits and usefulness of decision-making tools; problems of choosing, justifying and using criteria to judge a program's success and suitability; ethical issues involving the welfare state and income distribution; and possible obligations beyond one's political community and generation.
• PUAF 732: Policy and Politics of Education Reform For PUAF majors only or permission of department. Examines education reform in its historical, fiscal, cultural, and legal contexts, and the changing relationship between education and economic opportunity. Focuses on institutional and normative issues, including national standards, public school choice, charter schools, vouchers and funding equity.
• PUAF 735: Health Policy Analyzes the origins, history, status, and future of health care as problems in political and economic theory and as puzzles in policy formation. Considers current American reform controversies in the light of several disciplines and in comparison to foreign experiences and structures.

• SOCY 642: The Sociology of Mental Health Social factors that influence mental health. Group dynamics of mental health preservation.
• SOCY 644: Gender, Work, and Family The interrelationships among gender, work, and family in contemporary societies. Major research issues addressed from an interdisciplinary and comparative (international) perspective.
• SOCY 682: Race, Gender and Class: Theory and Research Prerequisite: permission of instructor. Theory and research on the ways in which class position, race, and gender function simultaneously to produce outcomes in the lives of individuals and in society; historical development and current patterns in the United States, in developing countries and in the global economy.

• PUAF 753: Advanced Negotiations (3 credits) Prerequisite: PUAF752. Credit will be granted for only one of the following: PUAF698C or PUAF753. Formerly PUAF 698C. Deepens the student's negotiation and leadership skills for managing differences between individuals and groups. Cover conflict, escalation, dealing with intractable conflicts, sustaining agreements in inter-group conflicts, and the effects of trauma on negotiations.

• SOWK 600: Social Welfare and Social Policy (School of Social Work, UM Baltimore) Analyzes conceptual approaches to policy analysis and assesses selected social policies, programs, and services in income maintenance, health care, and personal social services in accordance with these approaches and with specific reference to their impact on special populations. The social work profession's role in the formulation and implementation of social policy and its tradition of advocacy, social action, and reform are explicated.
• SOWK 706: Mental Health and Social Policy (UM Baltimore) Examines the growth of community mental health in the United States and its relationship to sociological and psychological approaches to various communities and cultural groups. Approaches to mental health, mental illness, problems of service delivery, professional roles, and the possibilities and problems of community mental health are discussed.
• SOWK 713: Social Policy and Health Care (UM Baltimore) This course is designed to prepare students to assess and understand the impact of American medical and health service programs and policies on human well-being. It has several purposes: (1) to understand the political process through which health service delivery policy evolves; (2) to provide students with background on the organization of health care services so that they have some understanding of the origins and current directions of health care programs; (3) to understand the relationship of medical care and health care programs to other community programs and their impact on various communities; and (4) to enable students, as future social workers, to assess and evaluate program directions and proposals for change.
• SOWK 715: Children and Social Services Policy (UM Baltimore) An overview of the current situation in social services for children as well as a historical perspective on the development of our society's perception of children's needs. Children and Social Services Policy attempts to go beyond the traditional definitions of child welfare services as an institution and encompasses consideration of a social services system for children and families of diverse ethnic, racial, and cultural identities that would include family policy, advocacy, programs to enhance socialization, and development of public social utilities.  Like this like this
• SOWK 726: Aging and Social Policy (UM Baltimore) Provides an empirical and analytical base for understanding the major issues and trends involved in existing and proposed programs and services for older people at federal, state, and local levels. Social service, long-term care, health care, income maintenance programs, and policies for the aging are emphasized. Age-related policies are examined in terms of: relevant historical and contemporary forces; the policy objectives involved; distributive impacts, underlying values (including assumptions about older Americans); impact on special populations of older persons, and the administrative structure for service provisions.

Transportation Planning
This specialization prepares students to work in the area of transportation planning. The curriculum emphasizes understanding of the theories, policies, and techniques related to the design, planning, and evaluation of transportation infrastructure and services. The curriculum gives special attention the requirements necessary to support a multi-modal transportation system. Theories and methods focus on forecasting demand; assessing systems performance; connection between land use, urban form and urban design; understanding relationships with social and economic trends and the ties to other planning areas.

• URSP 688T: Introduction to Transportation Planning, Policy and Decision-Making Provides an introduction to the policy making process, levels of decision-making, transportation planning paradigms and milestones, public participation, the role of analysis, and current issues and trends.
• URSP 688F/ENCE 673: Urban Transportation Planning Methods. Focuses on modeling and planning techniques including: the four-step process, activity-based approaches, land use inputs, GIS, applied network assignment, environment-air quality assessment, and performance and evaluation measures.
• URSP 631: Coordinating Land Use and Transportation. Explores this new subfield which is neither land use nor transportation planning but a hybrid; examines impacts of land use patterns on travel decisions and impacts of transportation investments on development decisions; introduces performance measures and travel demand model enhancements to capture land use-travel interactions; covers regional growth management, transit-oriented development, and pedestrian-oriented design.
• URSP 688W: Planning for Non-motorized Modes. Incorporates a variety of interdisciplinary (planning, engineering, design) approaches and methods for the planning and design of bicycle and pedestrian facilities and support systems, multi-modal facilities, forecasting demand, urban design considerations, special populations, interactions with automobiles and transit.
• URSP 660: Function and Structure of Metropolitan Areas. Covers the theoretical and historical examination of basic urban functions. Intra-metropolitan location of activities. Role of metropolitan planning in a market economy. Examination of cases of metropolitan planning to assess alternative strategies for future metropolitan development.

• ENCE 674: Urban Transit Planning and Rail Transportation Engineering. Provides the fundamentals of transit modes and their characteristics, sketch planning, transit routes and schedules,

     operations issues, facility and terminal design, transit-oriented development, paratransit and demand response, and the use of technology.

Recommended Alternative Electives:

• URSP 612: Geographic Information Systems for Urban Planning An introduction to GIS and its application to urban planning. Topics include: thematic mapping, GIS data structure, spatial analysis, Internet GIS, using census data to study urban areas, and examples of urban GIS application. Weekly laboratory and project work use ArcGIS software.
• URSP 603: Land Use Planning: Concepts and Techniques Basic techniques for regulating the use and appearance of land. Legal framework, social implications, planning approaches, communicating land use information.
• URSP 632: The Urban Neighborhood Urban neighborhoods as physical, socio-political and geographic entities. Residents' perceptions, urban/suburban differences, neighboring behavior, organization, planning, design concepts.

• ENCE 672: Regional Transportation Planning Factors involved and the components of the process for planning statewide and regional transportation systems, encompassing all modes. Transportation planning studies, statewide traffic models, investment models, programming and scheduling.

Prior to graduation, each MCP candidate has the option of submitting and receiving faculty approval for a professional or academic paper that is well organized, logically argued, uses evidence appropriately, and shows a command of the English language.  This paper should be strong enough to warrant publication in an academic or professional publication and should show potential employers what the student is capable of.  For this purpose, a student may submit a paper written specifically for this purpose, or a rewrite of a paper done for another course, or a paper written as independent study, or a paper based on work done during an internship, or job, or a community planning studio. The final paper must be the student’s individual and original work.

Topic

Papers may be directed at educators and scholars (“academic papers”), or at practicing planners and the interested public (“professional papers”). In academic papers the emphasis should be on contributing to theory and knowledge; appropriate methods include data collection and analysis, the systematic observation of activities or attitudes, and a critical review of current theory. In professional papers the emphasis should be on providing information and models that planners can apply in practice; appropriate methods include case histories and comparisons, and reviews of the nature, origin, purpose, effectiveness and consequences of particular applications or programs. Both types of papers must display a solid knowledge of relevant material in the courses of the graduate program.

Requirements and Format

The final paper should be 20-40 double-spaced pages with 12 point type and one-inch margins. It should include a brief abstract. It should follow conventions of style and organization required for articles in academic publications such as the Journal of the American Planning Association or the Journal of Planning Education and Research, or in professional publications such as Planning magazine and reports published by reputable planning agencies.

In all cases, students should demonstrate an ability to think critically and analytically, and to write clearly and concisely. As to content, the paper should:

• Define the problem or issue and indicate why it is important.
• Place the problem or issue within the context of theory and/or current discourse.
• Show familiarity with available information, the state of knowledge, and previous studies on the topic.
• Explain the methodology used.
• Spell out implications for planning theory and/or practice.
• Indicate the limitations of the paper and suggest follow-up research.

Approval Process

• During the first year: The student should discuss possible topics with his/her mentor.
• In the semester prior to the one in which the student plans to graduate: Inform his/her mentor, in writing, of the topic of the paper. Include a brief outline, and indicate potential sources of information.
• Three months before graduation (see dates under Deadlines): Submit completed draft to his/her mentor. The mentor will review the manuscript and may approve it, approve with changes, or require extensive additional work. The student is responsible for making needed revisions by the final deadline. 
• One month before graduation (see dates under Deadlines): Submit the completed final paper.

At any point in the review process the mentor has the option of giving the paper to another faculty member for review. However, it is the mentor who makes the final approval/disapproval decision, which (if negative) can be appealed to the full faculty.

Deadlines

For December graduation, a student should submit a final draft of the paper to her/his mentor by the end of September. This will enable the mentor to provide the student with feedback and allow sufficient time for revisions. The final, revised paper is due to the mentor by the Monday prior to the Thanksgiving break.

For Spring graduation, the final draft should be submitted to the mentor by the end of February, and the revised draft by the third Monday in April.

For Summer graduation, the final draft should be submitted to the mentor by the end of May, and the revised draft by the second Monday in July.

A student who does not meet the deadlines in an appropriately substantive manner may be denied graduation in the semester in question.

Academic Integrity 

In writing and submitting final papers, students are held accountable to the University of Maryland's Code of Academic Integrity. The code includes sanctions against fabrication and plagiarism. According to the code, fabrication is "intentional and unauthorized falsification or invention of any information or citation in an academic exercise". Plagiarism is "intentionally or knowingly representing the words or ideas of another as one's own in an academic exercise". Students who are suspected of fabrication and/or plagiarism in writing their final paper are subject to the University's formal review procedures for cases of alleged academic dishonesty.