Master of Urban and Regional Planning

Our unique educational experiences prepare you for a rewarding and successful career in urban planning. Our student internships, studio classes, immersive learning courses, and graduate assistantship opportunities give students the opportunity to learn about planning through structured work experiences. The MURP capstone research sequence gives you the opportunity to hone your knowledge and expertise on a planning topic of your choosing. Our industry-aligned curriculum and hands-on learning will equip you with the expertise and confidence to make an impact immediately upon graduating. Students with design experience or undergraduate degrees in communications, marketing, public relations, sociology, art, English, history, political science, geography, finance, and natural resources thrive in the Urban Planning profession!

Students in the MURP program have contributed to important and meaningful work through their courses. Ball State University in general stands out for its excellence in immersive community-based educational experiences, and the Department of Urban Planning has long been at the vanguard of this effort. Previous students in our master’s program have completed neighborhood and city-wide comprehensive plans that were adopted by local jurisdictions. As part of their coursework, students worked for a semester to devise the Muncie Renters Handbook, which provided advice, information, and resources for renters and landlords. The skills and expertise of MURP students lead to the adoption of the Muncie Renters Handbook by a local non-profit as a tool for improving housing conditions. In another course, students created a plan for acquiring abandoned properties for the Muncie Land Bank.

Graduates of our MURP are able to move directly into professional positions; recent graduates of our program currently serve as the town manager in Albion, Indiana, as the principal planner for land use strategy for the City of Indianapolis, as a community outreach planner in Austin, Texas, and as a neighborhood planner in Fort Wayne. As the pressing issues of the future begin with urban planning, we invite you to help shape the future of communities.