Why is the study of urban life — of living in cities — an important area of study? The answer is simple. As a result of increasing urbanization (i.e., the dynamics that result from people moving into densely populated areas), worldwide projections show that increases in urban populations are occurring everywhere. World cities are growing by one million people per week, and demographers suggest that, by 2050, more than two-thirds of the planet's population will be urban dwellers. The issues that affect our densely populated cities and the people who inhabit them will be the focus of substantive research and policy debates in the 21st century. Because we seek to prepare our students to be leaders on the world stage, the in-depth study of urbanism and urbanization on both the national and international scales is critical.
The Graduate Certificate Program in Urban Studies is administered by the Urban Studies program and the Office of Graduate Studies, Arts & Sciences. The Urban Studies program director, Professor Carol Camp Yeakey, is responsible for the Graduate Certificate Program.
Founding Director
Carol Camp Yeakey
Marshall S. Snow Professor of Arts & Sciences
Founding Director, Interdisciplinary Program in Urban Studies
Founding Director, Center on Urban Research & Public Policy
PhD, Northwestern University
(Education and Social Policy)
Professors (partial listing)
John G. Baugh Jr.
Margaret Bush Wilson Professor in Arts & Sciences
PhD, University of Pennsylvania
(Linguistics)
John R. Bowen
Dunbar–Van Cleve Professor in Arts & Sciences
PhD, University of Chicago
(Anthropology)
Gerald L. Early
Merle Kling Professor of Modern Letters
PhD, Cornell University
(English)
Steven Fazzari
Bert A. and Jeanette L. Lynch Distinguished Professor of Economics
PhD, Stanford University
(Economics)
James L. Gibson
Sidney W. Souers Professor of Government
PhD, University of Iowa
(Political Science)
John Hoal
PhD, Washington University
(Architecture)
Bruce Lindsey
E. Desmond Lee Professor for Community Collaboration,
Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts
MArch, Yale University
(Architecture)
Eric Mumford
Rebecca & John Voyles Professor of Architecture
PhD, Princeton University
(Architecture)
Will R. Ross
Alumni Endowed Professor of Medicine
MD, Washington University
(Medicine)
Karen L. Tokarz
Charles Nagel Professor of Public Interest Law & Policy
JD, Saint Louis University
LLM, University of California, Berkeley
(Law)
James V. Wertsch
David R. Francis Distinguished Professor
PhD, University of Chicago
(Anthropology)
Associate Professors
Assistant Professor
Senior Lecturer
Graduate Certificate in Urban Studies
The Graduate Certificate in Urban Studies is open to PhD students in any discipline. It is administered by the Center on Urban Research and Public Policy in accordance with the general requirements for graduate certificates of the Office of Graduate Studies, Arts & Sciences.
Specifically, the graduate certificate requires the successful completion of five courses (two core courses and three electives) for a total of 15 graduate units. A maximum of two of these five courses may also be counted toward the PhD.