Program of Study
The department offers a Master of Arts (MA) and a Master of Science (MS) degree in geography. Please note alternative requirements for non-thesis practicum and capstone project options.
Geography M.A. & M.S. Course Requirements
Total Credit Hours: 40 hours minimum to consist of the following:
Thesis or Independent Study hours (12 credit hours min.; 4 hours min. for capstone project students):
- GEOG 6950 - Thesis (Thesis students)
- GEOG 6930 - Independent Study (Non-thesis students)
One Required Course (4 credit hours):
- GEOG 5000 - Geographic Research and Writing
One Method/Technique Course (4 credit hours):
- GEOG 5600 - Cartography I
- GEOG 5610 - Cartography II
- GEOG 5650 - Air Photo Interpretation
- GEOG 5660 - Remote Sensing
- GEOG 5670 - Advanced Remote Sensing
- GEOG 5710 - Quantitative Methods
- GEOG 5711 - Qualitative Methods in Geography
- GEOG 5712 - Geographic Field Methods
- GEOG 5730 - Principles of GIS
- GEOG 5740 - GIS Design & Application Development
- GEOG 5750 - GIS & Landscape Analysis
- GEOG 5760 - Geographic Information Analysis
Two Seminars (minimum 8 credit hours): with permission, one seminar can be from outside Geography.
For the M.S. degree select at least one of the two seminars from:
- GEOG 6010 - Seminar in Atmospheric Sciences
- GEOG 6150 - Seminar in Geomorphology
- GEOG 6160 - Seminar in Biogeography
- GEOG 6660 - Seminar in Cartography
- GEOG 6730 - Seminar in GIScience
Other Graduate-Level Courses (minimum 12 hours): with permission, one course can be from outside Geography for thesis and practicum students; two courses can be from outside Geography for capstone students
- GEOG 5030, 5040, 5910, 5911, 6930, 6950, OPIE, and AGC courses do not count.
For the M.S. degree, select at least two (any two) of these GEOG courses if pursuing a thesis or practicum project; select a minimum of three of these courses if pursuing the capstone project:
- 5010 - Meteorology
- 5020 - Climatology
- 5060 - Synoptic Meteorology
- 5070 - Mesoscale Meteorology
- 5080 - Dynamic Meteorology I
- 5090 - Dynamic Meteorology II
- 5050 - Physical Meteorology
- 5110 - Advanced Physical Geography
- 5130 - Arid Lands Physical Geography
- 5150 - Landforms & Landscapes
- 5160 - Biogeography
- 5170 - Landscape Ecology
- 5530 - Environmental Planning & Assessment
- 5580 - Environmental Hazards
- 5600 - Cartography I
- 5610 - Cartography II
- 5650 - Air Photo Interpretation
- 5660 - Principles of Remote Sensing
- 5670 - Advanced Remote Sensing
- 5710 - Quantitative Methods
- 5712 - Field Methods in Geography
- 5730 - Principles of GIS
- 5740 - GIS Design & Application Development
- 5750 - GIS & Landscape Analysis
- 5760 - Geographic Information Analysis
Credit Hour and Course Requirements
Students pursuing the thesis or practicum must complete a minimum of 40 hours of graduate credit, consisting of at least 12 hours of thesis or independent study credit in addition to 28 credit hours of courses. The 28 credit hours count includes required courses, seminars, and the other approved graduate courses selected by the student in consultation with their academic advisor. MS degree students must select from a curated list of physical and environmental seminars and courses, as indicated in Table 1 above. At 4 credit hours per course, this is seven courses. With the approval of the academic advisor and Graduate Chair, a maximum of one seminar and one elective course may be taken outside of the Department of Geography. Students pursuing the capstone research project must complete a minimum of 40 hours of graduate credit, consisting of at least 4 hours of independent study in addition to 36 hours of coursework. The 36 hours count includes required courses, seminars, and the other approved graduate courses selected by the student in consultation with their academic advisor. MS degree students must select from a curated list of physical and environmental seminars and courses, as indicated in Table 1 above. At 4 credit hours per course, this is nine courses. With the approval of the academic advisor and Graduate Chair, a maximum of one seminar and two of the five elective courses may be taken outside of the department. For cases in which extra-departmental seminars or courses are fewer than 4 credits each, students should discuss options for attaining the minimum number of credits with the Graduate Chair and their academic advisor.
Hours in GEOG 5030, 5040, 5910, and 5911 are excluded from the count toward 40, as are credits from classes in the 51社区 Program in Intensive English (OPIE), Academic and Global Communication (AGC), other English language proficiency-focused coursework, and any course that you audit. It is your responsibility to confirm whether a course counts toward the degree or not.
The department requires all students to complete Geographic Research and Writing (GEOG 5000), and to do so in their first fall semester. All students are required to take at least one method/technique course, selected in consultation with their advisor. You must complete at least two graduate seminars totaling at least 8 hours of credit. Ideally, seminars give you an opportunity to do some preliminary work on a thesis topic or to acquire a deeper understanding of the geographic subfields in which you are most interested. If possible, seminars should be completed no later than the fall term of your second year. In addition to the seminars, 12 hours of elective coursework are required for thesis and practicum students; students who select the capstone research project alternative to the thesis (see Non-Thesis Options below) are required to complete 20 hours of elective coursework rather than 12. Lastly, all graduate students must enroll each semester in the 1 credit hour Colloquium in Geography (GEOG 5911).
We encourage students to take courses in cognate fields. For example, if you are interested in historical geography, you may wish to take a graduate class in History, or if you are interested in biogeography, you may want to take a relevant course from the Department of Environmental and Plant Biology.
Graduate students who receive a tuition scholarship as part of a financial aid award (e.g., TA, GA, RA, GRS), are expected to enroll in 18 credit hours per semester. In your first year, this typically consists of three courses (12 credit hours), the one-credit colloquium (GEOG 5911), and five credit hours of thesis research (GEOG 6950) or independent study (GEOG 6930) each semester. In the second year, with most of your courses completed, you will enroll in a larger number of thesis or independent study credit hours per semester. As a result, by the end of your program, you will have signed up for many more than the minimum required total of thesis or independent study credit hours.