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Careers and Alumni
The Urban Studies major is not a narrow, pre-professional education, but a broad liberal arts degree combined with valuable, transferable skills.
Careers after graduate school
Careers after graduate school
Jane Lopez, Assistant Professor, Sociology, Brigham Young University
Our alumni network covers a wide range of fields and economic sectors, including:
The Non-Profit Sector, including Community Service and Philanthropy
- Annie E. Casey Foundation (Baltimore, MD)
- St. Anthony Health Foundation (Denver, CO)
- Coro Center for Civic Leadership(Philadelphia, PA)
- SAVE: Shelter Against Violent Environments (Fremont, CA)
- Thrive, The Alliance of Nonprofits for San Mateo County (San Carlos, CA)
- National Trust for Historic Preservation (Washington, DC)
- New School Venture Fund (San Francisco, CA)
- American Civil Liberties Union (San Francisco, CA)
- Service Employees International Union (Washington, DC)
- Enterprise Community Partners (San Francisco, CA)
- Al Otro Lado (Tijuana, MX)
- Chinese Progressive Association (San Francisco, CA)
Urban Planning in the Public or Private Sector
- Recon Environmental, Inc. (San Diego, CA)
- Los Angeles World Airports (Los Angeles, CA)
- Homes USA, Ltd. (Santa Monica, CA)
- Terrell Watt Planning Consultants (San Francisco, CA)
- Gensler (Santa Monica, CA)
- City of San Jose Planning Dept.(San Jose, CA)
- Community Attributes, Inc. (Seattle, WA)
- Nelson/Nygaard (San Francisco, CA)
- Times Square Alliance (New York, NY)
- Urban Ecology (San Francisco, CA)
- Disney Co. Theme Parks Corp Strategic Planning Group (San Francisco, CA)
Real Estate: Development, Consulting, and Management
- Mikiko Corporation (Honolulu, HI)
- Heitman (Chicago, IL)
- Solarium Properties (Boca Raton, FL)
- Grubb & Ellis (San Jose, CA)
- The Rose Company (Columbia, MD)
- The Orosco Group (Monterey, CA)
- Deutsche Bank Real Estate (New York, NY)
- Arthur Andersen (San Francisco, CA)
- The Concord Group (San Francisco, CA)
Law
- Natural Resources Defense Council (San Francisco, CA)
- Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati (Palo Alto, CA)
- Gap, Inc. (San Francisco, CA)
- Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft (Charlotte, NC)
- Intel Corporation (Santa Clara, CA)
- Walt Disney Pictures and Television (Burbank, CA)
- Sheppard Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP (San Francisco, CA)
- Rosenmant Colin LLP (New York, NY)
- Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll LLP (Philadelphia, PA)
- Legal Services of the Hudson Valley (NY)
- Santa Clara County Counsel's Office (San Jose, CA)
Architecture and Urban Design
- Gehry Partners, LLP (Los Angeles, CA)
- Robert A. M. Stern Architects (New York, NY)
- Kaiser Permanente (Portland, OR);
- Ann Cuthberston Architects, PC (Denver, CO)
- Moore Ruble Yudell Architects & Planner (Santa Monica, CA)
- Kenneth Rodrigues & Partners (San Jose, CA)
- Thomas Hacker & Associates (Portland, OR)
- Quinn Evans Architects (Washington, DC)
- Calthorpe Associates (San Francisco, CA)
- LMN Architects (Seattle, WA)
- Hardison Komatsu Ivelich & Tucker (Oakland, CA)
- Studio S Squared Architecture (San Jose, CA)
- Brand & Allen Architects (San Francisco, CA)
- Burt Hill (Washington, DC)
- Keyin Rasmussen PC (Philadelphia, PA)
- Page & Tumbull (San Francisco, CA)
Business and Finance
- American Electronics Association (Santa Clara, CA)
- Salomon Smith Barney (Palo Alto, CA)
- Paramount Publishing (New York, NY)
- Disney Development Co. (Orlando, FL)
- Yahoo! (Santa Clara, CA)
- First Rain, Inc. (Foster City, CA)
- The Quadrant Corporation (Bellevue, VA)
- Galileo International (Englewood, CO)
- Jordan Trading Inc. (Kingston, NY)
- Bank of America (Charlotte, NC)
- Kadisco LLC (San Francisco, CA)
- RBC Capital Markets (Los Angeles, CA)
- Xuny.com (San Francisco, CA)
- The Boeing Company(Huntington Beach, CA)
- Credit Suisse First Boston (San Francisco, CA)
Technology
- Google (Mountain View, CA)
- Apple (Cupertino, CA)
- LinkedIn (Mountain View, CA)
- Eventbrite (San Francisco, CA)
- Clearslide (San Francisco, CA)
Education and Research
- Teach for America (Various locations)
- New York City Department of Education (New York, NY)
- Eastside College Prep (East Palo Alto, CA)
- University of California, Davis (CA)
- Stanford University (CA)
- UCSC Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Development (Santa Cruz, CA)
- The New School at Southshore (S. Seattle, WA)
- Fuller Theological Seminary (Pasadena, CA)
- Girls After School Academy (San Francisco, CA)
- Northwestern University (Evanston, IL)
- Peabody Essex Museum (Salem, MA)
- Columbia University (New York, NY)
Lobbying, Government
- Seattle Office of Housing (Seattle, WA)
- City of Santa Cruz (Santa Cruz, CA)
- City of Los Angeles/City Administration Office (Los Angeles, CA)
- Manatt Phelps & Phillips, LLP (Sacramento, CA)
- Senator Joe Simitian (Palo Alto, CA)
Medicine and Health
- Stanford Prevention Research Center (Stanford, CA)
- Humanistic Alternatives to Addiction Research & Treatment (Hayward, CA)
- Psychiatric Associates (Greenville, SC)
- California Department of Health Services (Sacramento, CA)
Arts and Design
- Design in Wood (Petaluma, CA)
- Regional Arts Coordinator (Portland, OR)
- KBIK Films (San Francisco, CA)
- Federated Department Stores – Macy’s West (San Francisco, CA)
- Write On Freelance (Corona del Mar, CA)
Career Resources
Here are a few selected resources for jobs and internships in fields of interest to many Urban Studies students.
Stanford Resources
Resources for the Nonprofit Sector
Resources for the Public (Government) Sector
- Federal Government Job Search
- Go Government (how to find and apply for federal jobs)
- CalOpps (public sector employment in California)
Hear from our Alumni:
What has your background in Urban Studies has done for you?
Allowed me to leverage my writing and research skills to build one of tech industry's first government relations programs in the 1980s. I still travel a lot and every time I visit a city, I see the architecture, transit systems and commercial core through the eyes of an Urban Studies major.
