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Undergraduate Major and Minors

Thanks for your interest in the Department of Geography’s undergraduate major and minors!

Geography is a growing field that offers a wide range of career options, or can be a useful addition as a minor to others. We offer a major and minor in Geography, and minors in Geographic Information Science (GIS)climate changeurban studies, and environmental studies.

What’s geography?

Geographers study both natural science (spatial patterns of rocks, soils, animals, plants, climate and weather) and social science (spatial patterns of sociology, culture, politics, conflict, demographics, economics, resources, waste), with an emphasis on the intersection of human activity and environmental processes. We use data (statistics, interviews, documents) to describe the natural and social patterns we see and then we use our knowledge of human and environmental processes to analyze why these patterns exist. Basically, we ask “Where?” and then we ask “Why?” For this reason, many of us are a “jack-of-all-trades,” and know a lot about a combination of topics including: economics, sociology, and environmental sciences and how these vary across space. We also often have spatial analysis and mapping skills using ESRI’s ArcGIS software.

What do geographers do?

As a geography major, you’ll have a vast array of career options available to you. In fact, there are few positions called “geographer.” Instead, we work in environmental, social and GIS fields, where we use our spatial skillsets to solve problems and produce solutions. Below is a visualization of many of the jobs available to geographers (click on image to enlarge).

What courses can I take?

We offer introductory courses (many of which fulfill Core requirements), as well as advanced classes in environmental, social, and GIS topics.

See the schedule below for when we expect these courses will be offered. This only reflects courses on the ֱ campus.

Offered every Fall, Spring, and Summer:
ENVS 22070 Nature and Society
ENVS 46092 Internship in Environmental Studies
GEOG 17063 World Geography
GEOG 17064 Geography of the US & Canada
GEOG 21062 Physical Geography
GEOG 21063 Physical Geography Lab
GEOG 22061 Human Geography
GEOG 46092 Internship Geography and Plan
GEOG 49070 Geographic Information Science
Offered each Fall and Spring:
ENVS 32091 Environmental Studies Sustain.
ENVS 42099 Integrative Senior Project
GEOG 31080 Geography of Wine
GEOG 40285 Field Experience in Geography
GEOG 41066 Global Climate Change
GEOG 41073 Conservation of Natural Resources
GEOG 49072 GIS and Health
Offered each Fall:
ENVS 30000 Environmental Protection Regulations / Assessments
GEOG 10160 Introduction to Geography
GEOG 31062 Fundamentals of Meteorology
GEOG 31070 Population and the Environment
GEOG 36065 Cities and Urbanization
GEOG 37045 Geography of the Middle East
GEOG 37072 Geography of China
GEOG 39002 Statistical Methods in Geography
GEOG 41051 Natural Disasters and Society
GEOG 41077 Water and Society
GEOG 46080 Urban Sustainability
GEOG 49073 Environmental Analysis in R
GEOG 49078 GIS Environmental Hazards
GEOG 4XXXX Drones
Offered each Spring:
ENVS 30105 Career Pathways in ENVS
ENVS 49195 Special Topics in ENVS
GEOG 29160 Mapping Our World
GEOG 31064 Climate and the Environment
GEOG 37066 Geography of Europe
GEOG 40191 Seminar in Geography
GEOG 41065 Applied Climatology
GEOG 41800 Global Environmental Issues
GEOG 42052 Health Geography
GEOG 42195 Special Topic: Social Geography
GEOG 49076 Spatial Programming
GEOG 49080 Advanced Geographic Information Science
GEOG 49195 Special Topic: GIS
GEOG 49230 Remote Sensing
GEOG 4XXXX Landscape Ecology
Offered each Summer:
GEOG 49075 GIS | Social Problems
Offered every other year:
GEOG 32080 Politics and Place
GEOG 34070 Economic Geography
GEOG 37085 Geography of Latin America
GEOG 42064 Settling of the North American Environment
GEOG 44010 Geographies of Global Development
GEOG 45085 Urban Transportation
GEOG 46060 Food Security & Sustainability
GEOG 46070 Urban and Regional Planning
GEOG 46081 Seminar in Urban Geography
GEOG 49162 Cartography
GEOG 4XXXX Biogeomorphology
Courses you can take in Florence:
GEOG 31080 Geography of Wine
GEOG 41066 Global Climate Change
GEOG 41073 Conservation of Natural Resources
GEOG 41800 Global Environmental Issues
GEOG 49072 GIS and Health

For more information on careers in geography, course scheduling, and internships, contact Undergraduate Coordinator Dr. Emariana Widner.