Departments & Programs

Geography

Major in Geography—B.A.
Purpose

The B.A. degree is intended to provide a strong liberal arts degree focusing on the major subject areas of geography while maintaining a great deal of flexibility. The flexibility allows students to focus on a particular transcriptable concentration area while also pursuing additional majors or minors in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Required Courses

Students must complete the following:

  1. The B.A. degree requirements of the College of Arts and Sciences.
  2. A minimum of 30 credit hours in geography, with at least 18 credit hours at the 300-400 level.
  3. One course each in physical geography (either G107 or G109) and human geography (either G110 or G120) and two courses in geographic methodology (to be selected from G235, G237, G250, G336, G338, G350, G436, G438, or G488).
  4. Students may choose:
    1. the "Comprehensive" option, where courses are chosen from a number of Geography concentration areas or
    2. a particular concentration from the list below.

For option (i), students may choose from all Geography courses such that requirements 1–3 above are met. For option (ii), at least 18 credit hours must be from a single concentration area. See below for course lists for the concentration areas (when the topic is relevant, G450 and G460 may be used as part of the concentration area). If a student chooses option ii, the selected concentration will appear on the student's transcript.

Concentration Areas

Students may select one of the following concentration areas. Participating faculty are listed below with the appropriate specialties. Alternatively, the "Comprehensive" option may be chosen for students who want to draw courses from the full breadth of geography.

A. Climate and Environmental Change

Select from G237, G250, G304, G305, G307, G336, G338,G350, G405, G444, G450, G452, G460, G477, G488, and G489. (Ficklin, Maxwell, Rahman, Robeson)

B. Human-Environment Interaction

Select from G208, G235, G237, G302, G305, G306, G307, G315, G320, G329, G336, G338, G341, G343, G405, G411, G436, G438, G440, G444, G449, G450, G452, G460, G461, G478, and G488. (Evans, Lave, Roy Chowdhury)

C. Geographic Information Science

Select from G235, G237, G250, G336, G338, G436, G438, G439, G450, G460, and G488. (Evans, Ficklin, Maxwell, Rahman, Robeson, Roy Chowdhury)

D. Human Geography

Select from G235, G237, G302, G306, G314, G316, G320, G323, G325, G326, G332, G369, G380, G415, G417, G427, G428, G449, G450, G460, and G488. (Evans, Knudsen, Lave)

E. Sustainable Systems

Select from G208, G235, G237, G302, G305, G307, G315, G316, G320, G329, G332, G341, G343, G411, G415, G417, G440, G444, G449, G450, G460, G461, G478, and G488. (Evans, Lave, Robeson, Roy Chowdhury)