Urban Education Ph.D. Program at the CUNY Graduate Center

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Contact Information:
Ph.D. Program in Urban Education
CUNY Graduate Center
365 Fifth Avenue
Rm. 4201
New York, NY
10016-4309

Tel: 212-817-8280
Fax: 212-817- 1515
urban_ed@gc.cuny.edu

Executive Officer:
Anthony Picciano (Interim)

Assistant Program Officer:
Christine Saieh

Diversity, Complexity, Scale

The Ph.D. Program in Urban Education prepares leaders in educational research and policy analysis who have a broad understanding of the complex issues facing urban education and are well prepared to contribute to the knowledge base needed to improve educational practice.

The Ph.D. Program in Urban Education is designed to prepare leaders in educational research and policy analysis who have a broad understanding of the complex issues facing urban education. The unique focus of this program is at the intersection of two principal research agendas: (1) research on issues of curriculum and instruction in urban schools, and (2) policy analysis research on broader social, political, and economic issues that determine the context of urban education.

The intellectual challenges of investigating the processes and practices of urban education as a social and cultural institution require the broad intellectual base and diverse critical perspectives that only an integrated program of studies across a wide range of specialist disciplines can provide. The intellectual resources of the CUNY Graduate Center enable students in this program to draw on elective courses and research faculty in many relevant partner disciplines, including History, Philosophy, Psychology, Sociology, Anthropology, Economics, and Political Science, as well as more broadly on expertise in the humanities, mathematics and computer science, and the natural sciences, when appropriate to their interests.

Five core courses are required of all students. To ensure that students achieve a high level of disciplinary sophistication within at least one professional specialization, further course work is concentrated within one of three Studies Specializations:

Arts, Humanities, and Social Studies in Urban Education (AHSS)

Science, Mathematics, and Technology in Urban Education (SMT)

Urban Education Policy Studies (POL)

Examples of anticipated areas of research for student dissertations include: 1) systemic renewal of urban education, 2) including teacher education, 3) new information and communication technologies in education, 4) issues of language, representational media, and cultural diversity in urban education, 5) mobilization of urban resources to prepare all students for full participation in global society.

Graduates of this program are prepared to take on a wide variety of important roles in urban education: research and teaching in universities, including teacher education programs; research and leadership positions in urban school districts and in state and federal government agencies; policy analysis positions for private foundations; and staff positions with legislators and legislative committees.

The program provides students with a unique access to and understanding of the New York City public schools, the nation’s largest system of urban public education. The many teacher education and educational outreach programs of the CUNY colleges have long-established relationships with the city’s diverse schools and districts. Through research mentoring, internship, and teaching fellowship arrangements for doctoral students at all the participating CUNY colleges, the Ph.D. program works to connect conceptual perspectives with the realities of urban schools and school systems.

FAQ's on a doctoral education can be found at http://www.PhDInfoFIND.org.