Urban Studies
Make a difference in your community.
Photos courtesy of Sam Morris/Las Vegas News Bureau
About the Program
The Bachelor of Science in Urban Studies (BSUS) is the degree for individuals desiring to make a difference in their community. The BSUS at UNLV is an undergraduate degree that provides students with the conceptual knowledge and technical skills they need to understand and analyze the physical, social, political, and economic environment of large and small urban communities. A majority of courses are offered both online and in-class. Students planning to get a B.S. in Urban Studies have the option to complete it all online.
Career Paths
The designed learning objectives of the urban studies program will equip the graduates with the matching skill sets and knowledge required for the following occupations. There can be many other occupations for the graduates of the urban studies program, but the occupations listed below are some examples the graduates can easily qualify for with their B.S. in Urban Studies.
Community and Social Service
Regulatory Affairs
Public Relations
Public Policy
Education Administration
Other Example Careers
- Compliance Officer
- Legislator
- Management Analyst
- Social and Community Service Managers
- Fundraiser
My continuous passion for listening and learning at UNLV inspired me; additionally, I used my mantra “to make a difference” to apply all the information I took in to use it in the real world and grasp its outcomes.
Robin Mendoza, a graduate, former City of Las Vegas Employee and Ph.D. student in Public Affairs at UNLV
Program Competencies
Competence in urban studies means that graduates have the necessary knowledge, skills, and behaviors to identify urban solutions.
Find out more about each of the core competencies and their relevant, related courses by expanding the items below. You can also view the university catalog for additional information.
Sustainability and urban resilience.
Required Courses
- URST 301: Theories of Urban Communities
- URST 303: Introduction to Urbanization and Demography
- URST 498: Capstone in Urban Studies
Leadership, collaboration, communication, and personal growth in ethnically and racially diverse urban communities.
Required Courses
- URST 498: Capstone in Urban Studies
Good indicators (e.g. representation, accountability, stability, etc.). Bad indicators (e.g. corruption, not sharing information about problems in a community, crime, etc.).
Required Courses
- URST 241: Governance in the U.S.: An Urban Focus
- URST 498: Capstone in Urban Studies
Search for information at a library, evaluate information sources, and academic references.
Required Courses
- URST 498: Capstone in Urban Studies
How to get, organize, and evaluate data. Descriptive statistics and data visualizations. Statistical tests. Interpretation of results.
Required Courses
- URST 305: Data Analysis for Urban Studies
- URST 498: Capstone in Urban Studies
Program Partnerships
My experience learning at UNLV has helped me gain a greater insight of the global infrastructure and how spatial information can be analyzed to model how our world can be more efficiently organized and understood.
Shirley Lim, a graduate and GIS Technician for Apple