The Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Geography is a STEM degree (CIP code 30.4401) that focuses on the discipline's environmental and technical perspectives.
In contrast to the broader liberal arts-oriented (yet still STEM-designated) B.A., the Bachelor of Science (B.S.) major is a more disciplinary-focused program, emphasizing technical skills and preparation across the human/physical spectrum of geography. It includes rigorous training in the use of geographic tools and technologies as well as core and advanced courses on the ways people use environmental resources and how they arrange themselves and their economic, social, and political activities on the Earth's surface.
In both the B.S. and B.A., students can customize and specialize their programs through the completion of undergraduate certificates. The Geography major can provide preparation for a career in business, industry, or government. Geographers with bachelor's degrees are currently being placed in federal, state, and local administrative and planning agencies and in private firms that specialize in planning and development or in environmental, socioeconomic, or location analysis.
Program Learning Objectives
- Majors in Geography will demonstrate knowledge of fundamental geographic skills and concepts and apply them to complex spatial relationships (interactions, patterns, processes) within the human socio-cultural and natural environments at global, regional, and local scales.
- Majors in Geography will engage in spatial and environmental critical thinking by analyzing, discussing and synthesizing geographical information that may include professional/technical documents, primary data, maps, graphics, and/or archival data.
- Majors in Geography will communicate geographic information utilizing oral, written, and visual formats to effectively process and integrate facts, ideas, and research results.
- Majors in Geography will develop research skills by locating, understanding, and explaining geographic challenges and opportunities related to human socio-cultural and/or environmental phenomena at global, regional, and local scales.
