Interdisciplinary Studies: Sustainability and Urban and Regional Planning Combined Bachelor’s and Master’s

To facilitate graduate-level education for exceptional undergraduate students through a combined pathway so they can complete the BA degree and MA degree in less time by double-counting coursework (3 courses, 9 credits) at the undergraduate tuition rate. The pathway is designed for students to graduate with both degrees in as few as five years.

The Institute for Sustainability and Resilience (ISR) and the Department of Urban and Regional Planning (DURP) offer this BAM pathway because Sustainability and Urban Planning are complementary BA and master’s degree programs. Sustainability provides students with an understanding of human and natural systems, while planning is largely about processes and outcomes of human interactions with the built and natural environments. Many Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) graduates take jobs in environmental planning, which encompasses topics such as low-carbon and active transportation, climate change adaptation and coastal planning, agricultural and food systems planning, and natural resource management.

The new combined BA+MURP program in Interdisciplinary Studies: Sustainability / Urban and Regional Planning will require students to take a minimum of 153 credits, reflecting 120 credits for the BA and 42 credits for the MURP, with 9 credits double-counted to both degrees (162 total credits with the double count).

Double Counting

Up to nine (9) credits of coursework may be double-counted toward both the bachelor’s and master’s degree, as follows:

  • SUST/PLAN 620 (offered every fall; required and fulfilling MURP core and either BA upper-division major core or elective), and
  • SUST/PLAN 625: Climate Change, Energy and Food Security in the Asia/Pacific Region (offered every fall; required and fulfilling MURP elective and either BA upper-division major core or elective)

And one of the following (fulfilling either MURP elective or method, and a BA upper-division major elective):

  • PLAN 473: GIS for Community Planning (offered 2-3 times annually), or
  • PLAN 414: Environmental Hazards and Community Resilience (offered 1-2 times annually)

Gateway Course

Students must complete the gateway class, PLAN 310: Introduction to Planning, with a B or better to be eligible for the program. This class is the first foundational planning course offered to undergraduate students; however, the content is broad and therefore not identified as sustainability-focused. As such, this course is not cross-listed SUST. PLAN 310 meets an upper-division writing-intensive elective. However, it would be taken in addition to the SUST BA requirements as it is not part of the Upper-Division Major Core Courses for the Interdisciplinary Studies: Sustainability degree.

Students must submit the Graduate Admissions Application and fee as well as all required program admission materials in the second term of the junior year (6th semester, Spring) for admission in the first term of the senior year (7th semester, Fall). Admission will be only for the Fall semester.

Accepted students will receive notice of “admission,” typically in the spring of the junior year (6th semester). The following semester, which would generally be the fall of senior year (7th semester), pathway students begin the double-counted coursework at the undergraduate tuition rate. Pathway students are considered dual program students. Admissions requirements for BAM students are the same as regular MURP applications, with the addition that BAM students must maintain an overall cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher (upon graduation with the baccalaureate degree) to continue in the graduate program.