About the Master of Urban and Regional Planning Program
In order to graduate with a Master of Urban and Regional Planning, students must complete 48 credit
hours of coursework, detailed in the Program Guide. All classes are three-
credit-hour classes except for the Studio II or Thesis, which are six credit hours. As in most
graduate programs, a thesis is an independent paper based in theory and heavily research-oriented
and serves as the culminating project for a master's candidate. Students in the MURP program may
opt to complete a thesis, but most elect instead for a studio, which serves the same purpose as a
thesis, but is a professional-quality plan which incorporates the concepts learned throughout the
MURP program in a document similar to those produced by professional planners.
In addition to coursework, all students must complete an internship, working at least 120 hours in
an approved internship that is relevant to the planning field. There are many internship and
planning-related job opportunities in the Richmond metro area. The internship requirement may be
waived upon request for students with substantial work experience.
Students also have the option of participating in a dual-degree program to receive both a MURP from
VCU and a Juris Doctor (JD) from the University of Richmond's T. C. Williams School of Law. This
arrangement allows students who would like to receive both degrees to complete the programs in a
total of four years instead of five. Interested students must apply separately for and be admitted
to each degree program.
Advising
Our program has a two-tier advising structure.
Tier-one: Dr. Suen, as the program chair, serves as the
general advisor for all our students. When you have questions or need assistance, Dr. Suen will
always be the first person you should contact. These may include, but are not limited to,
questions about course scheduling, degree requirements, policies and guidelines, credit transfers,
requests for waivers, etc.
Tier-two: In cases for which Dr. Suen cannot provide the best answers or assistance, he will
refer you to the appropriate faculty members or other Wilder School and/or VCU offices for
assistance.
In addition, our faculty members often post job/internship information or make announcements to the
MURP-L list so it is important that you check your VCU email on a regular basis. We also
understand that you may have other email account(s) you prefer to use but please keep in mind that
we can only consider your VCU email address as the official one when it comes to email
communication.
Dr. Suen's contact information is in the panel to the left.
