DEPARTMENT OF URBAN & REGIONAL PLANNING
Jackson State University's historical mission as a quality teaching institution, coupled with its designation as a research intensive university by the Carnegie Melon Foundation, are incorporated throughout its academic and service programs. In aggressively meeting this challenging legacy, the Department has as its vision to "Become a planning program of choice that prepares the next generation of America's urban planners."
Our Master's graduates are pursuing exciting careers as practitioners working to improve urban regions with city planning agencies in Houston, Nashville, Charlotte, Jackson, Orlando; federal and state agencies with the Mississippi Development Agency, the Department of Homeland Security, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency; and private development firms like Lockwood, Andrews, and Newnam. Graduates of the Doctoral program are scholars that have advanced to the academy of teachers and researchers in institutions of higher learning across the nation. Our undergraduate students enter post-graduation well-prepared to pursue options in urban service careers or graduate degree programs.
You will find the faculty engaged in teaching, research, and service with a clear focus on a "students first" perspective. The Department's administrative staff are there to ensure that our students overall well-being is considered as we guide them through a rigorous academic curriculum.
A listing of some of the Departments research agenda includes work with the Lincoln Institute of Land Use, remote sensing and GIS analysis, heritage tourism as local economic development, the Nelson Rockefeller Institute of Government's multi-year assessment of the impacts of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita on local coastal communities, and an assessment of public and specialized transportation services and service areas in Mississippi. The Department's affiliate research and service unit is the Center for Urban Planning and Policy Assessment (CUPPA).
The Department of Urban and Regional Planning welcomes your interest, your inquires, your application, and your commitment to become one of the next generation of America's urban planners.
Otha Burton, Jr., Ph.D.
Message From the Chair
The Urban and Regional Planning Department (DURP) at Jackson State University is the only degree granting program in this field in the State of Mississippi. We offer the Master of Arts Degree in Urban and Regional Planning, the Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Urban and Regional Planning, and the Bachelor of Arts Degree in Urban Studies.
Our impact area includes the State of Mississippi, and the surrounding states that offer limited or no programs in urban and regional planning: Louisiana, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Alabama.