Geography Program
What is Geography?
The study of Geography fosters understanding of the relationships between human activities and the physical environment on global, regional, and local scales.
Geography draws upon natural and social science concepts and skills, and acts as a bridge between the sciences. Fundamental geographic methodology asks: What is it? Where is it? Why is it there?
The study of geography explores subjects as varied as mid-latitude weather phenomena, the mosaic of human settlement in Africa, regional voting patterns in the United States, and the depletion of natural resources in developing countries.
The specific goals of the Geography program are to:
- Prepare students in geographic methodology by encouraging thinking in a spatial context and asking students to observe, develop hypotheses, analyze and explain physical and cultural landscapes at various scales.
- Develop the geographer's fundamental map reading, aerial image interpretation, and field research skills.
- Enable students to explain geographic distributions, geographic interactions, and the nature of place.
- Improve the student's ability to rigorously synthesize data from diverse sources to better understand the physical and cultural environments in which people live.
- Prepare students in the application of geographic knowledge and skills through experiences with local and regional public resource agencies and in private enterprise.
- Encourage the pursuit of geographic knowledge and the application of that knowledge in the evaluation of world-wide political environmental and social issues.
