Career Pathways
Unlike many professional programs, there is no traditional career trajectory for planners. DUSP students enter the program with diverse backgrounds and interests, and graduates work in almost every conceivable type of organization, in varied capacities.
Whether or not “Planner” is in the job title, DUSP graduates tend to take on interdisciplinary roles and responsibilities, bridging sectors and specialties as they work on innovative and impactful projects across a wide variety of fields. DUSP alum are well represented across all sectors.
Planners Across Sectors
In the public sector, DUSPers are working at all levels—municipal, state, and federal government, in the US and abroad. They serve as city/town planners and designers, transportation planners, economic and policy advisors, and top-level managers and directors.
Many DUSP graduates work for community development corporations, community action agencies, neighborhood-based associations, and other nonprofit organizations. Dedicated to a wide range of causes nationally and across the globe, they serve as educators, advocates, organizers, developers, and more.
DUSP alumni play an active role in the private sector as well, working in small and large planning, design, engineering, technology and consulting firms. They are technical experts providing critical support to a wide array of projects, and entrepreneurs starting their own companies with social impact at their core.
DUSP alum, especially from our PhD program, often go on to have successful careers in academia and research. Serving as professors and post-doc researchers at universities and think tanks, they are tackling complex economic, policy, and design problems, and driving forward the field of planning.
2018-2019 Career Report
To learn more about the companies and institutions where recent DUSP graduates are working, please read our 2018-2019 Employment Report.
Class of 2020 Employment Report
Learn more about the companies and institutions where recent DUSP graduates are working.
Class of 2021 Employment Report
Learn more about the companies and institutions where recent DUSP graduates are working.