The geography program gives students an appreciation and understanding of the human environment on global, regional, and local scales. It provides background and requisite training for careers in resource, planning, environmental, or education fields. Geography majors find work in urban and natural resource management, spatial/GIS analysis, urban planning, map design and production, and statistical analysis. Geography is the lead department on campus for training in GIS, remote sensing, cartography, and spatial analysis.
Requirements
Physical Geography (12 credits chosen from the following courses):
- Geog 210 Physical Geography (4 credits)
- Geog 310U/Sci 333U Climate and Water Resources (4 credits)
- Geog 311U Climatology (4 credits)
- Geog 312U/Sci 334U Climate Variability and Change (4 credits)
- Geog 313U Biogeography (4 credits)
- Geog 314U Severe Weather (4 credits)
- Geog 320/G 374 Geomorphic Processes (4 credits)
- Geog 322U Alpine Environments (4 credits)
- Geog 333U/Ph 333U Weather (4 credits)
- Geog 340U Global Water Issues and Sustainability (4 credits)
- Geog 407 Seminar in Physical Geography (4 credits)
- Geog 412 Global Climate Change Science and Socio-environmental Impact Assessment (4 credits)
- Geog 413 Disturbance Biogeography of Pacific Northwest (4 credits)
- Geog 414 Hydrology (4 credits)
- Geog 415 Soils and Land Use (4 credits)
- Geog 418/ESM 418 Landscape Ecology (4 credits)
- Geog 440/ESM 440 The Ecology & Management of Wildfire (4 credits)
Geog 210: required
Human Geography: (12 credits chosen from the following courses):
- Geog 230 Environment and Society: Global Perspectives (4 credits)
- Geog 321 Mt. Hood (4 credits)
- Geog 331U Geography of Globalization (4 credits)
- Geog 332U Urban Geography (4 credits)
- Geog 345U Resource Management (4 credits)
- Geog 346U World Population and Food Supply (4 credits)
- Geog 347U Environmental Issues and Action (4 credits)
- Geog 348U Cultural and Political Ecology (4 credits)
- Geog 349U Mountain Geography (4 credits)
- Geog 350U Geography of World Affairs (4 credits)
- Geog 351U Pacific Northwest (4 credits)
- Geog 352U The Himalaya and Tibet (4 credits)
- Geog 353U Pacific Rim (4 credits)
- Geog 354U Europe (4 credits)
- Geog 360U Latin America (4 credits)
- Geog 363U Geography of sub-Saharan Africa (4 credits)
- Geog 364U The Middle East (4 credits)
- Geog 366U Historical Geography of North America (4 credits)
- Geog 368U United States and Canada (4 credits)
- Geog 375U Maps, Culture and Society (4 credits)
- Geog 407 Seminar in Human Geography (4 credits)
- Geog 430 Cultural Geography (4 credits)
- Geog 432 Urban Landscapes (4 credits)
- Geog 442 Sustainable Cities (4 credits)
- Geog 445 Resource Management Topics (4 credits)
- Geog 446 Water Resource Management (4 credits)
- Geog 447 Urban Streams (4 credits)
- Geog 448 The Urban Forest (4 credits)
- Geog 462 Sense of Place (4 credits)
- Geog 465 Tuscany: Sustainability in City and Country (4 credits)
- Geog 467 Community Resilience in Coupled Socio-Ecological Systems (4 credits)
- Geog 472 Critical GIS (2 credits)
Geog 230: required
Geographic Techniques (12 credits chosen from the following courses):
- Geog 380U Maps and Geographic Information (4 credits)
- Geog 407 Seminar in Research Skills (4 credits)
- Geog 420 Field Methods in Physical Geography (4 credits)
- Geog 425 Field Methods in Human Geography (4 credits)
- Geog 472 Critical GIS (2 credits)
- Geog 475 Spatial Database Design and Applications (4 credits)
- Geog 476 3D Terrain Analysis & Visualization (2 credits)
- Geog 477 Photogrammetry and LiDAR (2 credits)
- Geog 480 Fundamentals of Remote Sensing (4 credits)
- Geog 481 Digital Image Analysis I: Introduction (4 credits)
- Geog 482 Digital Image Analysis II: Advanced Remote Sensing (4 credits)
- Geog 484 Cartographic Applications of GIS (4 credits)
- Geog 485 Map Design and Production (4 credits)
- Geog 488 Geographic Information Systems I: Introduction (4 credits)
- Geog 489 Building a GIS Database with GPS (4 credits)
- Geog 490 GIS Programming (4 credits)
- Geog 492 Geographic Information Systems II: Advanced GIS (4 credits)
- Geog 494 GIS for Water Resources (4 credits)
- Geog 495 Maps, Models, and GIS (4 credits)
- Geog 496 Introduction to Spatial Quantitative Analysis (4 credits)
- Geog 497 Advanced Spatial Quantitative Analysis (4 credits)
Geog 380U: required
Geography Electives (16)
52 total credits. All courses used to satisfy the departmental major requirements must be graded C- or above. The 52 credits of coursework in Geography must include a minimum of 16 credits at the 400-level.
Please note: the B.S. in Geography requires STAT 243 and STAT 244 OR GEOG 496 (Introduction to Spatial Quantitative Analysis).
For the University Studies requirements at PSU, visit the University Studies website.