Community Development & Planning, BA/MA

Overview

---

Master’s in Community Development and Planning BA/MA

 

Community development isn’t a one-size fits all endeavor

Community development is so much more than blueprints and zoning. It’s about cultivating spaces where people can flourish. Spaces with enough green space to play and relax. Spaces that offer economic opportunities that allow people to realize their dreams and aspirations. Places where people have access to quality, culturally responsive food, education, healthcare, and housing. At Clark, you will learn about the power structures that shape community spaces, and how to create processes in which community members have a say in those power structures.

Change happens at the speed of trust

Community development happens in the context of relationships. As practitioners, we can’t impose our own visions on communities. Rather, through community-engaged learning, students collaborate with community members and other stakeholders to understand each community’s unique strengths, and then collectively create strategies so that people’s dreams can take root and grow.

Be a partner in a community’s transformation

Grounded in principles and practices of ethical community engagement, we provide students with knowledge and skills in finance, project management, monitoring & evaluation, geo-spatial analysis, and non-profit leadership. These skills are needed to be a practitioner who can be a partner and ally in a community’s transformation.

Departmental Eligibility Requirements

---

This program is open to all majors, minors and concentrations in the social and natural sciences, and humanities, especially International Development and Social Change, Urban Studies, Geography, Environmental Science, Management/Business, Economics, Sociology, Political Science, and Community, Youth, and Education Studies (CYES).  

Students are required to meet with the Community Development and Planning Accelerated Degree Program adviser before April 1 as a formal part of the admissions process. This meeting is intended to assist prospective students in assessing the appropriateness of the degree to their professional aspirations. The student applies to the MA program by completing the Online Application no later than April 15 of the junior year. Please note that application deadlines differ for students who are graduating off cycle (either a semester early or late) or who have advanced standing; such students should contact Graduate Admissions for alternative dates.

Program Adviser

---

Students are required to meet with the designated program adviser before starting their application. The adviser will sign the Accelerated Degree Program Adviser Form through the Graduate Slate system.The signed form confirms the student and program adviser have discussed the requirements of the program. 

The designated program adviser is:
Professor Laurie Ross
SSJ Department
lross@clarku.edu
508-793-7642

Any students considering applying to the Accelerated Degree Program should read and understand the Accelerated Degree Program Policies and Procedures  .

Program of Study

---

The M.A. in Community Development and Planning requires a minimum of 10 graduate course units, combining skills/methods courses and elective courses that link theory with practice. Students in the CDP BA/MA program are required to take one internship/ experiential learning unit.

Program Requirements

• Students will take the following courses: Core Courses (2 units), Sustainability Studies (1 unit), Social Change and Institutional Transformation (1 unit), Fundamental Skills (2 units), Methods of Inquiry and Subject Matter Electives (1.5 to 2 units), Intersectionality (.5 to 1 unit), Common Seminar (.5 unit) and one Experiential Learning unit.

 

Core Courses (2 units)

• SSJ 344 Going Local: Community Development and Planning  
• SSJ 30289 Community Development Finance  

Sustainability Studies (select 1 unit)

• SSJ 367 - Climate Change Adaptation  
• SSJ 365 - Cities, Regions, Climate Change & Health  
• SSJ 332 - Sustainable Development Assessment and Planning  
• SSJ 334 - Planning and Zoning for Community Developers  
• SSJ 30701 - Beyond the Population Bomb: Rethinking Population and The Environment in an Era of Climate Change  
• SSJ 30245 - Natural Resource Management  
• SSJ 30205 - Climate Change, Energy and Development  
• SSJ 30117 - Place-Based Ecological Knowledge  

Social Change and Institutional Transformation (select 1 unit)

• SSJ 3xx - Climate Change and Social Justice
• SSJ 30297 - Refugees, Forced Migration, and Belonging  
• SSJ 341 - Nongovernment Organizations: Catalysts for Development  
• SSJ 309 - Policy Analysis  
• SSJ 30115 - Community Power, Community Change  
• SSJ 30247 - Development Economics, its Discontents and Alternatives  
• SSJ 30101 - The Political Economy of Food and the Ethics of Eating  

Fundamental Skills (select 2 units)

• Project Management
  • SSJ 361 - Project Management for Social Change  
• Monitoring and Evaluation
  • SSJ 319 - Quantitative Methods and Statistics For Evaluators  
  • SSJ 30281 - Community Needs and Resource Analysis  
  • SSJ 30229 - Program Monitoring and Evaluation Fundamentals  
  • SSJ 30203 - Program Evaluation for Youth and Community Development Initiatives  
• Spatial Analysis
  • SSJ 302 - Python Programming  
  • SSJ 310 - Intro to Geographic Information Science  
  • SSJ 30262 - Web Mapping and Open Source GIS  
  • SSJ 30274 - Computer Programming for GIS  
  • SSJ 30306 - GIS for International Development  
  • SSJ 30393 - Social Applications of GIS  
  • SSJ 376 - Spatial Database Development  
  • SSJ 388 - Advanced Vector GIS  
• Organizational Change and Leadership
  • SSJ 335 - Strategies for Community Organizing  
  • SSJ 341 - Nongovernment Organizations: Catalysts for Development  
  • SSJ 345 - CDP Practice: Reflection and Deliberate Practice  
  • SSJ 31118 - Non Profit Resource Development  
  • SSJ 30296 - Nonprofit Management  

Methods of Inquiry and Subject Matter Electives (select 2 units)

• Research Methods and Design
  • SSJ 30291 - Qualitative Research Methods  
• Human Rights and Mobilities Inquiry
  • SSJ 347 - Human Rights Strategy, Tactics, and Practice  
  • SSJ 330 - Theory and Methods in Genocide and Human Rights Studies  
  • SSJ 30108 - Research Methods for Forced Migration  
• Climate Change and Justice Inquiry
  • SSJ 30334 - Special Topics   (Climate Narratives)
• Independent Research Options
  • SSJ 399 - Directed Study  
• Development
  • SSJ 395 - Culture, Environment, and Development  
  • SSJ 333 - Development Mgmt in Developing Countries  
  • SSJ 329 - Property and Community  
  • SSJ 30204 - Advanced Community Development Finance and Research  
  • SSJ 30112 - Housing Policy and Practice  
• Global and Community Health
  • SSJ 377 - Approaches to Global Health  
  • SSJ 308 - Health (in)Equity: Social Determinants and Policy Solutions  
• Refugees, Migrants, and Human Rights
  • SSJ 30235 - Trafficking: Globalization and Its Illicit Commodities  
  • SSJ 30231 - Humanitarian Assistances in Complex Emergencies/Disasters  
  • SSJ 30107 - Forced Migration and the City  
• Education, Youth, and Development
  • SSJ 314 - Education and Youth in a Global Context  
  • SSJ 340 - Fundamentals of Youth Work  
  • SSJ 30365 - Global Issues in Education  

Intersectionality (0.5 to 1 unit)

• SSJ 357 - Sex and development: the intersection of sexuality, morality, and modernity  
• SSJ 30322 - Adolescent Girls and International Development   
• SSJ 303 - Youth Work: Practice and Social Justice  
• SSJ 383 - Cultures of Exile  
• SSJ 30248 - Gender and Health  

 Common Seminar (0.5 units)

• SSJ 30180 - Principles and Ethics in Community Engagement  

 

Experiential Learning Credit- (select 1 unit)

• SSJ 30240 - Community Development Planning Studio  
• SSJ 398 - Internship  

 

Prior to Senior Year:

Students must demonstrate before their senior year an interest in community development by taking four courses that are central to the CDP Program. One of these courses should be at the 100-level and three at the 200-level. Because multiple majors are eligible to apply, there isn’t a master list of courses. Check with the CDP Program Adviser to determine course eligibility.

Senior Year:

Two 300-level courses approved by the Community Development and Planning Program Adviser. 

Graduate Year:

During the fifth year of study, the remaining required coursework is completed, including an experiential learning option for one unit.

Students in this program may take longer than the fifth year to complete the culminating requirement. Students must register as a non-resident if they do not complete the requirements in time for August degree conferral. Students have up to one year of non-­residency status (fall and spring) to complete all requirements for the master’s degree.

Fees

---

This program is eligible for up to 100% tuition remission rate for a student’s fifth year graduate program.  There is a one-time program fee in the first semester of graduate study.  The student continues to be responsible for paying other enrollment and activity fees as well as their housing, books and personal items.  Tuition and fees are set annually by the Board of Trustees.

Students in the Accelerated Degree Program are allowed two semesters of non-residency status (fall and spring) after the fifth year presumably to complete research and the practitioners report or master’s paper. Please note there is a $200 fee (per semester) associated with the non-residency status registration.

Sustainability and Social Justice Program Faculty

---

David Bell, Ed.D.

Ramón Borges-Méndez Ph.D
Nigel Brissett, Ph.D.
Cynthia Caron, Ph.D.

Timothy Downs D.Env.
Anita Fábos, Ph.D.
Jude Fernando, Ph.D.
Ellen Foley, Ph.D.
Denise Humphreys Bebbington Ph.D.

Eman Lasheen, Ph.D.
Ken MacLean, Ph.D.

Yelena Ogneva-Himmelberger Ph.D.
Margaret Post, Ph.D.
Laurie Ross, Ph.D.

Morgan Ruelle, Ph.D.

Department Instructors

---

Jennifer Safford-Farquharson M.Ed

Dodi Swope M.Ed

Lionel Romain, MBA

Liz Hamilton, MBA

Linda Cavioli, M.A.

German Chiriboga, M.P.H

Frank Kartheiser, M.A.