The Geography Concentration
How do you see the future?
The world is changing at unprecedented rates, primarily as a result of human actions. Opportunities for increased well-being of humans and the environment abound. On the other hand competition for resources such as fresh water and oil is reaching crisis proportions. Pandemics of infectious diseases, extreme climate events droughts, hurricanes, floods, crime, and social unrest can precipitate disasters that decimate populations, destabilize governments, and may even cause armed conflict.
The future of humanity depends on skillful management of our environment by planning the social, urban, suburban and rural settings where we work, live and play. Expert care of the environment is needed to maintain supplies of food, natural products, water, and the other resources on which life depends. New insights into the social, economic and urban environment can help control poverty and crime.
Geography concerns the relations between people and the natural world, the effects of ecosystems on human beings and vice versa, the choices people make, the effects of past actions on people today, and the effects of today’s choices on future generations. For example, clearing tropical forests in response to human population growth is leading to loss of biodiversity and an increase of the Earth’s atmospheric greenhouse gases that contribute to climate warming and extreme climate events.
Students specializing in Geography will be exposed to a diversity of coursework that will focus on human-environmental interactions, and will choose between two tracks: Development and Sustainability or Environment Systems and Natural Resources.
For Major Coursework Curriculum Sheets please visit our Advising Forms Page.
For a 4-year Plan (complete with General Education requirements) visit the BSOS 4-year Planning Page and scroll down to GEOG.