Degree Requirements
The Master of Arts degree in Geography requires either 24 hours of approved graduate work in geography or related disciplines and six semester hours of thesis for a total of 30 semester hours (for a thesis degree), or 36 hours of approved graduate work for a non-thesis Master’s degree.
The thesis option requires the successful completion of two courses: GEOG 8000 - History and Philosophy of Geography and GEOG 8700 - Research Methods. The non-thesis option also requires GEOG 8026 - Quantitative Analysis in Geography in addition to GEOG 8000 and GEOG 8700. Students are expected to attend General Seminar. The remainder of the program consists of courses scheduled by the student with the approval of the Graduate Program Committee. One course in each of the following areas of geography is also required: Geographic Methods and Techniques, Human Geography and Physical Geography. At least one-half of all course work must be graduate only "0"-level courses. Procedures for examinations and theses are outlined in the Geography Graduate Student Handbook.
To earn a graduate minor in geography, a student must earn grades of at least "B" in three graduate level geography courses. One of these must be GEOG 8000, History and Philosophy of Geography.
Three graduate concentrations in Geography are available in:
Human Geography
The geography graduate program recognizes a concentration in the area of human geography. This shall consist of a minimum of nine graduate hours in human geography courses, to be completed with a grade of "B" or better, to include:
Required Course:
GEOG 8000 History and Philosophy of GeographySelect two additional courses from this list:
GEOG 8500 Special Topics in Geography*
GEOG 8650 Land Use
GEOG 8130 Economic Geography
GEOG 8800 Internship in Env/Reg Planning
GEOG 8126 Urban Geography
GEOG 8156 Geography Gender and Work
GEOG 8210 Seminar in Cultural Geography
GEOG 8906 Urbanization of Developing Areas
Physical/Environmental Geography
The geography graduate program recognizes a graduate concentration in the area of physical/environmental geography. This shall consist of a minimum of nine graduate hours in physical /environmental geography courses, to be completed with a grade of "B" or better. To include:
Select three courses from this list:
GEOG 8580 Soils
GEOG 8500 Special Topics in Geography*
GEOG 8016 Conservation of natural Resources
GEOG 8106 Biogeography
GEOG 8266 Process Geomorphology
GEOG 8326 Climatology
GEOG 8336 Soil Genesis, Morphology and Classification
GEOG 8346 Water Resources
Geographic Information Science and Technology
The geography graduate program recognizes a graduate concentration in the area of geographic information science and technology. This shall consist of a minimum of nine graduate hours geographic information science and technology courses, to be completed with a grade of "B" or better. To include:
GEOG 8670 Advanced Cartography
GEOG 8630 Advanced Remote Sensing
GEOG 8500 Special Topics in Geography*
*courses offered through GEOG 8500 will be submitted for inclusion in a concentration accompanied by a letter from the student's adviser or from the graduate program chair with the course title and specifying the concentration to which it applies.