Program Outcomes and Courses of Study

Students interested in careers in public policy, social work, government, psychology, language and literacy, education/teaching, sociology, criminal justice and more will benefit from the connections (it's who you know, right?), the real-life experience, and the additional skills and knowledge you will have, verified by having these programs on your transcript. Non-profits are looking for creative and critical thinkers who have had real-life leadership experience. Educational institutions want staff who are experienced and understand diversity and local context. Businesses want to hire employees who can work with members of the community. RUX and YES will make your graduate school application - whether in social work, education, criminal justice, business, law, medicine, psychology, history or any other discipline or professional program - stand out.

Our Program Goals

I. Understand urban contexts. 

RUX students know how addressing systemic injustices (racism, socioeconomic inequality, etc.) at the communal, institutional and individual levels is critical to justice in urban communities. 

II. Invest in urban communities.  

RUX students demonstrate a commitment to enhance their own and others' capacities for further effective struggle regardless of objective conditions, possible current limitations, or short-term strategic outcomes. 

III. Create change.  

RUX students apply the principles and craft of doing strategic “public work” to specific social change endeavors, particularly in urban areas.

Student Learning Outcomes

Students completing our programs will gain the following knowledge, dispositions and skills:

KNOWLEDGE to understand justice in the urban context 

  • Describe the urban context 
  • Distinguish strength-based from deficit-based approaches to understanding urban communities and families 
  • Describe the political and social-psychological systems and institutional relationships at work on urban youth and communities, including power analysis of specific issues 
  • Identify principles of empowerment and positive action for urban communities and youth, including hope, voice and collective agency

DISPOSITIONS that cultivate courage for struggle

  • Demonstrate empathy across and within populations particular with regard to age, race and socioeconomic status 
  • Demonstrate willingness to take creative intellectual and constructive social risks, including envisioning and strategizing for the “the long game” versus short-term, easy wins 
  • Demonstrate complex attitudes and beliefs about urban populations, embedded in historical context 

SKILLS to do urban public work 

  • Communicate effectively across different contexts, including specific skills essential to community change work (such as running meetings, taking notes, conducting one-on-ones, and traditional and multimedia written products) 
  • Extend principles and strategies of democratic organizing work to help solve community problems 

RUX Overview 

CORE: 21 credits 

  • RUX 110: Introduction to Urban Community Change (Humanities intro) 
  • YES 250: Introduction to Youth & Urban Community Work (Intro seminar) 
  • RUX/PSY 215: Liberation Psychology: Sustaining Urban Community Change (Speaking intro) 
  • RUX/PAX 377: Community Organizing (hands-on organizing campaigns) 
  • YES 300: Youth Empowerment and the Urban Context (20+ field hours) 
  • RUX 400: Critical Urban Work Practicum and Seminar (6 credits, 100 internship hours) 

ELECTIVES: 18 credits. 
Choose courses from directed electives from other departments covering cognate knowledge (Urban Contexts and Communities, Critical Consciousness and Grassroots Democracy, Race and Social Class) and skills (Methods of Research and Assessment, Communication Skills for Justice Workers, Public Administration). 

YES Overview 

CORE: 9 credits 

  • YES 250: Introduction to Youth & Urban Community Work (Intro seminar) 
  • YES 300: Youth Empowerment and the Urban Context (20+ field hours) 
  • YES 301: Seminar in Youth-Led Media (3 credits, 30+ field hours) 

ELECTIVES: 9 credits
Choose courses from directed electives from other departments covering cognate knowledge (Urban Contexts and Communities, Youth and Social Systems) and skills (Empowerment Work in Diverse Communities).