Dual Master of Public Administration - Master of Urban and Regional Planning

Program Details

To be eligible for the dual MPA/MURP degree program, students must be admitted to each of the two schools under their respective admission procedures and standards and indicate an intention to pursue the dual degree. Students will take all the core courses and the capstone required for an MPA, plus the core and concentration requirements necessary for the MURP.

Students in each school must apply to the other school before completing 18 hours in their respective programs. Upon admission to both schools, students will be assigned an advisor in each school to work out a specific degree plan.

General requirements

Review CU Denver's Graduate Academic Policies.

Program requirements

• The dual degree program requires 66-72 credit hours of graduate coursework
• A maximum of 6 transfer credit hours may be applied to the degree requirements.
• Students at the University are expected to maintain progress in their degree program, as defined by being in "good academic standing." Good academic standing requires minimally a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 on all University of Colorado course work.

Required courses

Students must complete the 15 required courses below, for a total of 51 credit hours. All course descriptions can be found in the Graduate Academic Catalog.

• PUAD 5001 - Introduction to Public Administration and Public Service (3 credit hours)
• PUAD 5002 - Organizational Management and Behavior (3 credit hours)
• PUAD 5004 - Economics and Public Finance (3 credit hours) -OR- PUAD 5503 - Public Budgeting and Finance (3 credit hours)
• PUAD 5005 - The Policy Process and Democracy (3 credit hours)
• PUAD 5006 - Public Service Leadership and Ethics (3 credit hours)
• PUAD 5008 - Evidence-Based Decision-Making (3 credit hours)
• PUAD 5361 - Capstone Seminar  (3 credit hours)
• URPL 5000 - Planning History and Theory (3 credit hours)
• URPL 5020 - Planning Law and Institutions (3 credit hours)
• URPL 5030 - Planning Technologies (3 credit hours)
• URPL 5040 - Urban Sustainability (3 credit hours)
• URPL 5050 - Urban Development (3 credit hours)
• URPL 5060 - Planning Workshop (3 credit hours)
• URPL 5070 - Planning Practice and Technology (3 credit hours)
• URPL 6000 - Planning Project Studio (6 credit hours)
• PUAD 5003 - Research and Analytic Methods* (3 credit hours) -OR- URPL 5010 Planning Methods** (3 credit hours)

*If PUAD 5003 is selected, then students must complete one PUAD elective course from the list below and four MURP elective courses at the 5000-level or above.

**If URPL 5010 is selected, then students must complete two PUAD elective courses from the list below and three MURP elective courses at the 5000-level or above.

Elective courses

In addition to the required courses, students must complete a combination 15 credit hours of elective courses from the School of Public Affairs and Urban and Regional Planning. The elective course must be approved by the program directors. All course descriptions can be found in the Graduate Academic Catalog.

Internship

Students without pre-service experience in the government or nonprofit sectors will also be required to take the 3-credit PUAD 6910 Internship course, bringing the total number of semester hours to 69.