Independent Study Project (ISP)

All students pursue independent research projects related to their academic and professional goals, drawing on the city’s resources to create something original -- a work of art, a research paper, a service project, a business prospectus.

Urban Studies links the ISP to its unique Precept -- clusters of students actively engaged in a Chicago neighborhood, living and learning as citizens.

Students may also find ways to link the ISP with the Internship. For example, a student in Business, Entrepreneurship, and Society who has an internship with a non-profit corporation might want to conduct independent research into non-profit funding and development; or a student completing an internship at a major corporation may want to focus an ISP on a neighborhood start-up initiative as a point of contrast.

Chicago Arts students might choose to locate master artists or art classes as means of developing their art through the ISP.

Above: Students work on a project in the Logan Square neighborhood.