Interested in Urban Issues?
Why Not Consider the New Urban Studies Minor
at Texas A&M University-Kingsville

South Texas, particularly the Rio Grande Valley, is one of the fastest growing areas in the nation because of the influx of people from Mexico, increasing interaction with Mexico due to NAFTA and additional increase in population due to “Winter Texans”. Other areas not in this boom region are experiencing economic decline despite growing influence of the surrounding areas and the United States as a whole. In addition, South Texas contains the metropolitan areas of McAllen, Edinburgh, San Antonio, Laredo and Corpus Christi. These areas presently need people who are well versed in urban, regional and small town problems and able to provide management or planning strategies to mitigate their environmental, economic and growth-related impacts or to provide solutions to provide a catalyst in their elimination in South Texas. It is anticipated that the need for those with expertise in solving urban problems will only increase as the pressures on the water, economy, agriculture and fragile environment of South Texas become more severe. While those outside of this area may be competent to fill these positions, the best qualified would be those that have lived their lives here and completely understand South Texas with all its advantages and disadvantages.

If you want an understanding of urban issues to serve the urban needs of South Texas and other portions of the United States, you can now pursue a minor in urban studies at TAMUK. This minor relates to various careers such as urban planning, public administration (particularly, city and county management), zoning and subdivision administration, environmental planning and management, accounting, property development and management, location analysis, economic development, geographic information systems, remote sensing, transportation planning, public housing administration and marketing.

A minor in urban studies requires a minimum of 18 semester hours. At least six hours must be drawn from each of the major sub-categories and the following associated prescribed courses:

1) Political Science:

POLS 4314: State and Local Government and Administration

POLS 4315: Urban Politics

POLS 4361: Public Administration

POLS 4370: Special Studies in Political Science: Politics of Environmental Protection

2) Geography, Sociology and History:

GEOG 3450: Field Mapping, Cartography and Global Positioning

GEOG 4315: Elements of Urban Planning

GEOG 4425: Geographic Information Systems

GEOG 4435: Remote Sensing

SOCI 3351: Urban Sociology

HIST 4380: Urban History

2) Economics and Finance, and Accounting

ECON 2301: Principles of Economics I

ECON 2302: Principles of Economics II

FINC 3344: Principles of Real Estate Practice

ACCT 2301: Principles of Accounting

ACCT 4307: Accounting for Governmental and Non-Profit Entities

Twelve (12) hours must be from the 3000 to 4000 level.