Program in Urban Studies responds to student concerns

The Program in Urban Studies’ faculty advisory board will meet on Monday to discuss changes to the program that are part of a large restructuring following low student ratings in its courses last year. With a newly approved budget, the program is redesigning its website, adding workshops and organizing thesis colloquiums.

In October, Urban Studies co-director and history professor Alison Isenberg hosted a meeting with students participating in the program to open the discussion on potential changes. Within only a few weeks, students say they have noticed significant improvements.

During the October meeting, students voiced concerns about simple problems such as not knowing or being able to find the requirements for the certificate. In a review of SCORE course satisfaction data from fall 2011, Urban Studies received the lowest ratings.

Sean Chen ’14, a Wilson School major who joined the Urban Studies Program last year, found that these gaps of information often left the students unsure of what it meant to be in the program.

“We don’t know if we’ve taken the right courses to get this certificate. We don’t know if our thesis will be covering this topic. We don’t know if it will be accepted by the department or the program,” Chen said. “We don’t know any of those details that you would normally know.”

To address these concerns, Isenberg, who became the co-director in June, quickly stepped in. One of her goals for the program, she said, is for it to provide wider opportunities for students who are still ambivalent about their professions.

“[Courses] may or may not always have a connection to what an undergraduate is going to do for the rest of their career. But I think in Urban Studies” a connection is likely, Isenberg said. “There’s a kind of pragmatic side of using Urban Studies to introduce students to all of the different career paths.”

As an interdepartmental program, Urban Studies works closely with the Wilson School and many other departments such as civil and environmental engineering and music. Isenberg said that the program encourages this crossover between these departments and their research.

In response to the students’ feedback, the faculty advisory board will meet on Monday to set a plan for the upcoming changes. Much of the new activity is a direct result of the new $15,000 budget given to the program by the University. In recent years, the program had not received any University funding.

The board will discuss a proposal to add winter workshops to help juniors working on their papers or seniors working on their theses. It is scheduled for February and would bring together librarians and faculty members to advise students. To complement the workshop, Isenberg said she also plans to have a thesis colloquium in the spring.

Jessica Myers ’13, an architecture major earning the Urban Studies certificate, said she approved of the changes but noted that more immediate concerns such as improving the Urban Studies course offerings should be addressed.

“It’s a good idea to have colloquium and advising and really have the certificate be something that can be a good source of information for the thesis,” Myers said. “But I really feel like they should be focusing more on the practical side of the certificate. As the course requirements stand now, it’s a little rigid and doesn’t really allow you to address every facet of urbanism as it stands on a formal level.”

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Isenberg also said she is looking to increase the interactions between the faculty and students. Chen said he believes that this one-on-one advising time could really benefit students looking for information on internships and careers.

“Career Services know how to help you apply for medical or law school,” Chen said. “They don’t know anything about planning school. And as students, we don’t know because it’s not a well-known profession.”

Though most of these proposals will take time to implement, a few changes have already been made. The program has begun to notify students about events around campus that are related to urban studies and about next semester’s courses that will count toward the program. These simple changes have made a large difference, Chen said.

Having achieved these changes in the short time she has been co-director, Isenberg said she hopes to continue the momentum, using suggestions by students and the enthusiasm of the faculty members to strengthen the program.

“The bottom line is we can put a lot of ideas on the table, and clearly the energy is there,” Isenberg said. “But it will now be up to the faculty and students to take it in the directions that make the most sense.”