Schools

School of Natural Sciences

Geoscience (Bachelor of Arts)

Mission/Vision Statement

The mission of the Geoscience program is to provide an excellent scientific education through teaching, scholarship, and service.  Our program offers a number of tracks in the Geosciences that support student career goals and aspirations.  This program has a history of providing students with the knowledge and skills necessary for pursuing professional development and/or advanced education; and in preparation for employment.  

Student Learning Goals

  1. Geoscience majors will acquire substantive knowledge of global spatial patterns and concepts central to the study geoscience.
  2. Geoscience majors will acquire the analytical and technical skills necessary to perform spatial analysis and research using GIS or other technologies.
  3. Geoscience majors will compete successfully in the professional job market or gain admittance to an advanced Geoscience graduate program.
School Policies

No grade less than a C (2.0) will be accepted in any required School of Natural Science course.

Degree Requirements

See “General Requirements for Undergraduate Degrees at IU Southeast” and “General Requirements for the Bachelor of Arts Degree.”

General Education Component

Note: This is not a re-statement of the University’s General Education Requirement but a list of specific General Education courses which are also requirements or pre-requisites for course work in the school/major.

FOR ALL GEOGRAPHY TRACKS

Note:  Students are eligible to complete no more than two geography tracks.

Dept. Course Number Title Credit Hours Minimum Grade Co-Reqs (C) or Pre-reqs (P)
MATH-M 118 or higher level Finite Mathematics 3 C P:MATH-M101 or placement

FOR GEOLOGY TRACK

Dept. Course Number Title Credit Hours Minimum Grade Co-Reqs (C) or Pre-reqs (P)
MATH-M 215 Calculus I 5 C P:MATH-M125 or M126 or Placement

Geoscience Core Requirements for all Geography and Geology Tracks

Dept.  Course Number Title Credit Hours Minimum Grade Co-Reqs or Pre-Reqs
GEOL-G 100 General Geology 5 C None
GEOG-G 107 Physical Systems of the Environment 3 C None
GEOG-G 338 Geographic Information Science 3 C None

Courses required for all Geography Tracks: 

Dept. Course Number Title Credit Hours Minimum Grade Co-Reqs or Pre-reqs
GEOG-G 108 Physical Systems of the Environment - Lab 2 C C:GEOG-G107
GEOG-G 110 Introduction to Human Geography 3 C None
GEOG-G 201 World Regional Geography 3 C None
GEOG-G 333 Introductory Cartography 3 C None

Environmental Geography Track

Additional course work required outside of Geosciences.

Dept. Course Number Title Credit Hours Minimum Grade Co-Reqs (C) or Pre-reqs (P)
BIOL-L 200 Environmental Biology & Conservation 3 C None

Specific Requirements for Track - Upper Level Course

Dept. Course Number Title Credit Hours Minimum Grade Co-Reqs (C) or Pre-reqs (P)
GEOG-G 315 Environmental Conservation 3 C P:GEOG-G107

Track Concentration: Students must select one.

Dept. Course Number Title Credit Hours Minimum Grade Co-Reqs (C) or Pre-reqs (P)
GEOG-G 307 Biogeography 3 C P:GEOG-G107
GEOG-G 308 Disasters: Natural/Human Induced 3 C P:6 credits in physical/bio sciences
GEOG-G 432 Current Issues in Environmental Conservation 3 C P:GEOG-G 315
GEOL-G 300 Environmental and Urban Geology 3 C
P:GEOG-G107 or GEOL-G100

Electives: Students must select 6 additional credit hours at the 300-400 level, from Geography and Geology courses, that relate to the track, with approval of the Geoscience advisor.

Capstone

Students must select one capstone course, with approval of the Geoscience advisor.

Dept.

 Course Number Title Credit Hours Minimum Grade Co-Reqs (C) or Pre-reqs (P)
GEOG-G 450 Undergraduate Readings and Research in Geography 3 C P: Junior/Senior standing & Permission
GEOG-G 460 Internship Geographical Analysis 3 C P: Junior/Senior standing & Permission
GEOG-G 490 Senior Seminar in Geography 3 C P: Junior/Senior standing & Permission

Geographic Information Science Track 

Additional coursework required outside of Geosciences

Dept. Course Number Title Credit Hours Minimum Grade Co-Reqs (C) or Pre-reqs (P)
MATH-K 300 Statistics 3 C None
Choose one of the following Computer Science courses:
CSCI-A 201 Introduction to Programming 3 C One Algebra course
CSCI-N 211 Introduction to Databases 3 C None

Specific Requirements for Track - Upper Level Course

Dept. Course Number Title Credit Hours Minimum Grade Co-Reqs (C) or Pre-reqs (P)
GEOG-G 438 Advanced Geographic Information Science 3 C P:GEOG-G338

Track Concentration

Dept. Course Number Title Credit Hours Minimum Grade Co-Reqs (C) or Pre-reqs (P)
GEOG-G 439 Seminar in Geographic Information Science 3 C P:GEOG-G438 & Permission of Instructor

Electives

Students must select 6 additional credit hours at the 300-400 level, from Geography and Geology courses, that relate to the track, with approval of the Geoscience advisor.

Capstone

Students must select one capstone course, with approval of the Geoscience advisor.

Dept. Course Number Title Credit Hours Minimum Grade Co-Reqs (C) or Pre-reqs (P)
GEOG-G 450 Undergraduate Research and Readings in Geography 3 C P: Junior/Senior standing & Permission
GEOG-G 460 Geography Internship 3 C P: Junior/Senior standing & Permission
GEOG-G 490 Senior Seminar in Geography 3 C P: Junior/Senior standing & Permission

Human Geography Track

Specific Requirements for Track - Upper Level Courses: students must select one.

Dept. Course Number Title Credit Hours Minimum Grade Co-Reqs (C) or Pre-reqs (P)
GEOG-G 323 Geography of Latin America 3 C None
GEOG-G 326 Geography of North America 3 C None
GEOG-G 425 Africa:  Contemporary Geographic Problems 3 C None

Track Concentration - Students must select one.

Dept. Course Number Title Credit Hours Minimum Grade Co-Reqs (C) or Pre-reqs (P)
GEOG-G 213 Introduction to Economic Geography 3 C None
GEOG-G 307 Biogeography: Distribution of Life 3 C P: GEOG-G 107
GEOG-G 418 Historical Geography 3 C None

 

Electives: Students must select 6 additional credit hours at the 300-400 level, from Geography and Geology courses, that relate to the track, with approval of the Geoscience advisor.

Capstone: Students must select one capstone course, with approval of the Geoscience advisor.

 

Dept. Course Number Title Credit Hours Minimum Grade Co-Reqs (C) or Pre-reqs (P)
GEOG-G 450 Undergraduate Research and Readings in Geography 3 C P: Junior/Senior standing & Permission
GEOG-G 460 Internship Geographical Analysis 3 C P: Junior/Senior standing & Permission
GEOG-G 490 Senior Seminar in Geography 3 C P: Junior/Senior standing & Permission

 

Physical Geography Track

Additional coursework required outside of Geosciences

Students must select 5 additional credit hours from approved laboratory courses in Biology, Chemistry, or Physics.

Specific Requirements for Track - Upper Level Courses (Students must select one)

Dept. Course Number Title Credit Hours Minimum Grade Co-Reqs (C) or Pre-reqs (P)
GEOG-G 304 Physical Meteorology & Climatology 3 C P:GEOG-G107
GEOG-G 308 Natural Disasters 3 C P:6 credit hours in science
GEOG-G 404 Geography of Soils 3 C P:GEOG-G107 or GEOL-G100
GEOL-G 415 Geomorphology 3 C P:GEOL-G100 or GEOG-G107

Track Concentration

Students must select one course, but that course must be different than the one chosen as an upper level course.

Dept. Course Number Title Credit Hours Minimum Grade Co-Reqs (C) or Pre-reqs (P)
GEOG-G 304 Physical Meteorology & Climatology 3 C P:GEOG-G107
GEOG-G 308 Disasters: Natural/Human Induced     P:6 credits in physical/bio sciences
GEOG-G 404 Geography of Soils 3 C P:GEOG-G107 or GEOL-G100
GEOL-G 415 Geomorphology 3 C P:GEOL-G100 or GEOG-G107
GEOL-G 451 Principles of Hydrogeology 3 C P:GEOL-G100 or GEOG-G107

Electives: Students must select 6 additional credit hours at the 300-400 level, from Geography and Geology courses, that relate to the track, with approval of the Geoscience advisor.

Capstone: Students must select one capstone course, with approval of the Geoscience advisor.

Dept. Course Number Title Credit Hours Minimum Grade Co-Reqs or Pre-reqs
GEOG-G 450 Undergraduate Research and Readings in Geography 3 C P:Junior/Senior standing
GEOG-G 460 Internship Geographical Analysis 3 C P:Junior/Senior standing
GEOG-G 490 Senior Seminar in Geography 3 C P:Junior/Senior standing

Geology Track

Additional coursework required outside of Geosciences

Students on the Geology Track are required to complete 15 additional credit hours in Biology, Chemistry, or Physics.  It is recommended that students take a 10 credit hour sequence from one Natural Science Discipline approved by the Geoscience Advisor.

Courses Required for Geology Track

Dept. Course Number Title Credit Hours Minimum Grade Co-Reqs (C) or Pre-reqs (P)
GEOL-G 221 Introductory Mineralogy 4 C P:GEOL-G100
GEOL-G 222 Introduction to Petrology 4 C P:GEOL-G221
GEOL-G 334 Principles of Sedimentology and Stratigraphy 4 C P:GEOL-G221 or Permission of Instructor

Specific Requirement for Track - Upper Level Course

Dept. Course Number Title Credit Hours Minimum Grade Co-Reqs (C) or Pre-reqs (P)
GEOL-G 415 Geomorphology 3 C P:GEOG-G107 or GEOL-G100

 Track Concentration: students must select one course

Dept. Course Number Title Credit Hours Minimum Grade Co-Reqs (C) or Pre-reqs (P)
GEOG-G 304 Physical Meteorology and Climatology 3 C P:GEOG-G107
GEOG-G 404 Geography of Soils 3 C P:GEOG-G107 or GEOL-G100
GEOL-G 300 Environmental and Urban Geology 3 C P:GEOL-G100 or GEOG-G107
GEOL-G 415 Geomorphology 3 C P:GEOG-G107 or GEOL-G100

Electives: Students must select 6 additional credit hours at the 300-400 level, from Geography and Geology courses, that relate to the track, with approval of the Geoscience advisor.

Capstone: Students must select one capstone course, with approval of the Geoscience advisor. 

Dept. Course Number Title Credit Hours Minimum Grade Co-Reqs (C) or Pre-reqs (P)
GEOL-G 410 Undergraduate Research in Geology 3 C P: Junior/Senior Standing & Permission
GEOL-G 460 Internship in Geology 3 C P: Junior/Senior Standing & Permission

Academic Bulletins

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