The Ph.D. program in Urban Studies and Public Affairs integrates urban-related knowledge from a number of academic disciplines. Through disciplinary integration, doctoral students analyze, design, test, and evaluate strategies for urban policy-making and management within the public and private sectors. The mission is to prepare scholars for research, teaching, and reflective practice in positions related to urban studies and public affairs in universities or public-policy organizations. The goals of the program are: To graduate scholars who possess a strong methodological foundation within the field of urban studies and public affairs together with an in-depth knowledge that enables them to recognize, identify, and articulate the frontiers of scholarship in a specialization. To graduate scholars able to construct, execute, and present scholastically sound, independent research of either a theoretical or applied nature that expands the frontiers of knowledge within the field of urban studies and public affairs.