About the Urban Issues Workshop at UT Dallas
Mission
The Urban Issues Workshop promotes analysis, innovation, knowledge enhancement and community empowerment through an applied academic research program, serving as a resource nexus where community-based organizations benefit from disciplined research and analytical support, and student researchers put to practical use a superior level of statistical and methodology training, as they participate in the study of social phenomena through the employ of quantitative and qualitative empirical methodology.
Vision
The vision of the Urban Issues Workshop includes:
- Enhanced information resource for community based organizations;
- Opportunities through which communities will be better informed;
- Increased student exposure to current issues that impact the community; and,
- Opportunities to apply the research skills students have learned to pressing problems facing the organizations that serve Dallas’ communities.
Students of the workshop learn in seminar format, targeted to small groups. They cover common core topics every semester, including key components of urban development, general orientation to Dallas and North Texas. The format fosters collaboration that crosses disciplines, programs and other institutional divides to generate more successful inquiry, learning, and service outcomes than insulated approaches.
In addition, students engage in community-based research projects that provide them opportunities to apply their research design and methods skills to actual community issues. The Workshop features 6 to 10 lecturers per semester. These guest lecturers are recognized names from Dallas who can speak to important issues facing Dallas and other communities. These issues include such areas as: economic development, crime, homelessness, health care, social justice, community organizing and engagement, and others that speak to the current climate.