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Urban Education Semester

Bank Street College and Brown University share a commitment to fostering civic responsibility. Since 1987, their collaboration has presented the intensive and challenging experience, Urban Education Semester (UES).

The Program

Employing the powerful lens of urban public schools in New York City to examine a network of disciplines – urban studies, public policy, community development, system reform – UES uniquely combines a graduate-level, demanding course of theoretical study with hands-on, supervised fieldwork. Participants spend three days a week working in public policy or classroom placements, and in their evenings, take on a full semester of graduate-level study with the prestigious faculty of the Graduate School of Education at Bank Street College. Weekly group field trips and discussion group seminars; individual advising conferences; and monthly on-site visits by faculty advisors encourage participants to integrate their field placement experiences with the theoretical frameworks they examine in coursework.

Group living is a fundamental component of the UES experience – participants live together at the 92nd Street Y's de Hirsch Residence, located on Manhattan's Upper East Side, three blocks from Central Park and the Museum Mile. Click here for an online tour of the de Hirsch Residence.

Application Procedures

Download the Urban Education Semester application. Applications are welcome any time right up until each semester's deadline.