2017-2018 Catalog

Major Requirements

COURSEWORK

All students majoring in Urban and Environmental Policy are required to take the following courses in the freshman or sophomore year:

ECON 101Principles of Economics I

4 units

POLS 101American Politics and Public Policy

4 units

UEP 101Environment and Society

4 units

*Or another Economics course approved by the chair.

Upper Division Coursework

Students majoring in UEP are required to take the following upper division courses:
UEP 301/POLS 301Urban Policy and Politics

4 units

 

UEP 304Research Methods for Urban and Environmental Policy

4 units

Or

UEP 305Urban Data Analysis

4 units

 

UEP 310Community Organizing and Leadership

4 units

UEP 311Community Internship

4 units

UEP 410Controversies in Policy and Politics

4 units

UEP 411Applied Public Policy Practicum

4 units

Additional Electives

Majors are required to complete two additional UEP electives. Students may also choose courses from the list below as approved by the chair. Additionally, one study abroad course will be allowed to count as a UEP elective as approved by the chair.

ECON 301Environmental Economics and Policy

4 units

ECON 324The Economics of Immigration

4 units

ECON 328Economics of Race and Gender

4 units

PHIL 255Environmental Ethics

4 units

POLS 206Race and American Politics

4 units

POLS 207Los Angeles Politics

4 units

POLS 208Movements for Social Justice

4 units

POLS 260Community Law Internship

4 units

RELS 242Environmental Ethics and Religion

4 units

SOC 250Race and Ethnicity in American Society

4 units

SECOND-STAGE WRITING REQUIREMENT

Students majoring in UEP will satisfy the second-stage component of Occidental College's writing requirement by successfully completing:

UEP 301/POLS 301Urban Policy and Politics

4 units

Students should familiarize themselves with the departmental requirement at the time of declaring the major. Contact the department chair for more information.

COMPREHENSIVE REQUIREMENT

During their senior year, UEP majors design and complete a policy-oriented comprehensive project that has an applied focus and includes original research. This project may take several forms. It can be a traditional research paper, a hands-on policy research report, a project in collaboration with other students, or a study conducted for a community-based "client" or "partner" organization. Students should enroll in UEP 410 in the fall semester and UEP 411 in the spring semester to undertake their comprehensive project.

HONORS

Students are required to have an overall grade point average of 3.50. See the Honors Program and contact the department chair for more information and specific requirements.

Recommended Math/Science courses

For their college math/science requirement, we strongly encourage UEP majors to take at least one of the following:

GEO 150Geographic Information Science I

4 units

GEO 245Earth's Climate: Past and Future

4 units

GEO 255Spatial Analysis with Geographic Information Science

4 units

UEP 201Environmental Health and Policy

4 units

UEP 305Urban Data Analysis

4 units

*UEP 201 and GEO 150 satisfy the lab science requirement.