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| FSU > Registrar > Bulletins > Undergraduate > TOC > Geography | |
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Department of GEOGRAPHYCollege of Social SciencesChair: Barney Warf; Professors: Kodras, O'Sullivan, Warf; Associate Professors: Baker, Elsner; Assistant Professors: Leib, Savitsky, Steinberg, Jacobson; Affiliate and Adjunct Faculty: Anderson, Martin, Meisen, Molina The Department of Geography offers two separate majors reflecting the discipline's position straddling the social and natural sciences: the geography major and the interdisciplinary environmental studies major. While these programs overlap to some extent, they differ in their substantive focus: the geography major is oriented to social, economic, and political concerns, while the environmental studies major revolves more explicitly around human interactions with the natural, physical, and biological environment, with a stronger interdisciplinary focus. Students may double major in geography and environmental studies; a maximum of ten (10) semester hours may be double-counted toward both majors. Several career paths await the graduating geographer in the public and private sectors. Geographers bring important knowledge and analytical techniques to resource management and planning agencies. Their training enables geographers to determine where public facilities and infrastructure are best located so that the greatest number of people benefit. These skills are also valued by private firms investing in residential or commercial development; a geographer can pinpoint where investments are likely to yield the best returns. Geographers fill such job titles as cartographer, intelligence officer, economic analyst, and soil conservationist. Another field is metropolitan and regional planning, in which geographers are engaged in monitoring environmental problems, land use changes, waste disposal, housing, transportation patterns, and poverty. Geographers in private business are involved in industrial location research, marketing, planning for utility companies, environmental and site location consultants, real estate firms, port and airport authorities, travel agencies, and in transportation planning for airlines or trucking firms. Many institutions use geographic information systems (GIS), and consulting firms serving state and local governments are increasingly called on to provide GIS expertise. The College of Social Sciences has a geographic information systems laboratory with several microcomputers running GIS, remote sensing, and statistical software. Finally, geographers find many jobs as teachers in a world integrated to the point that an understanding of geographic differences is essential to a basic education. The geography department has expertise in the two areas of human geography and environmental problems. Students can concentrate in one of these areas but the natural linkages between them mean that courses in both are necessary for a complete geographical education. In human geography, faculty interests cover a number of interrelated topics, including global power relationships; the terrain tactics of war; social problems such as poverty and residential segregation, and the impact of policies designed to alleviate them; and the spatial structure of services, telecommunications, and international trade. The faculty also focuses on a number of environmental and resource issues, including the impacts of natural hazards such as hurricanes, the causes and effects of deforestation, and the development of policies to solve these and similar problems. State of Florida Common Course PrerequisitesThe State of Florida has identified common course prerequisites for this University degree program. These prerequisites are lower-level courses that are required for preparation for the University major prior to a student receiving a baccalaureate degree from The Florida State University. They may be taken either at a community college or in a university lower-division program. It is preferred that these common course prerequisites be completed in the freshman and sophomore years. The following lists the common course prerequisites or approved substitutions necessary for this degree program:
Geography MajorGeography is an integrative discipline bridging the social sciences, physical sciences, and humanities in the study of the relations between human beings and the earth. Geography is fundamentally the study of space, much as history is the study of time. Why phenomena and events occur where they do, and the ramifications they have for other places and cultures, are essential geographic questions. Within this framework, geographers examine such issues as the linkages between international development and environmental conservation, the opportunities and problems associated with growth in Florida, the geographic bases of religious and linguistic conflicts, and the implications of economic restructuring on regional power balances, deforestation, and hunger. The value of a geographic perspective is that such issues become more than isolated events when they are given theoretical grounding and are placed in a broader context of global understanding. In an interdependent world where decisions made in one country affect the lives of people in all societies, responsible world citizenship requires a solid foundation in geographic knowledge. Major RequirementsA geography major consists of thirty (30) semester hours, including GEO 1400, 3140, 3200C, 3540, and 4162C. No geography course with a grade below "C" will apply toward completion of the major. As part of the required (30) semester hours, the student must take at least six (6) semester hours of courses at the 4000 level (excluding GEO 4162C). A maximum of three (3) semester hours of GEO 4905 Directed Individual Study (DIS) internship will be credited toward the major. Requirements for MinorA geography minor consists of twelve (12) semester hours of course work in geography (including GEO 1400) completed with a grade of "C" or better. For more information contact Dr. Basil Savitsky, Undergraduate Advisor, Department of Geography, 321 Bellamy, (850) 644-8377, bsavitsk@mailer.fsu.edu or visit our World Wide Web site at http://www.fsu.edu/~geog. Environmental Studies MajorHoused within the Department of Geography, environmental studies is an interdisciplinary program of study that provides an in-depth understanding of the social and institutional context of contemporary environmental concerns. Environmental studies offers a broad-based program that gives students a grounding in the physical sciences but emphasizes the social and policy dimensions of environmental issues, such as land use, ecosystems management, resource conservation, pollution, natural hazards, and the relations between economic development and environmental degradation. After completing the core, students are given considerable latitude to choose from among a wide number of optional courses, essentially tailoring the major to fit their own interests. The major is especially valuable for those who plan to conduct graduate work in urban planning, various social sciences, business, or law. Major RequirementsThe major in environmental studies requires forty-one (41) semester hours with a grade of "C" or better in each course; at least eighteen (18) semester hours must be taken in upper level (3000 and 4000) courses.
Requirements for MinorA minor in environmental studies consists of Part I of the major requirements described above (twenty [20] semester hours), not including the liberal studies requirements. All courses must be completed with grades of "C" or better. For more information, contact Dr. Basil Savitsky, Undergraduate Advisor, (850) 644-8377 or bsavitsk@mailer.fsu.edu, or visit the department's web site at http://www.fsu.edu/~geog. Graduate ProgramsGraduate programs are available leading to the master of arts (MA) and master of science (MS) degrees, and the PhD in geography. The graduate program in geography leads to a research-oriented degree centered around two intellectual foci corresponding to the faculty's expertise: environmental management and social systems analysis. Undergraduates contemplating a graduate degree in geography should take the Graduate Record Examination prior to submitting an application. Interested students should contact the Graduate Advisor, Dr. Phil Steinberg, at (850) 644-8378, or psteinbe@coss.fsu.edu. Definition of PrefixesGEA - Regional Geography Undergraduate CoursesGEA 1000. World Geography (3). A regional survey of the human occupation of the face of the earth, local cultures, political systems, and development problems. GEO 1331. Environmental Science (3). The causes of local and global environmental problems and their impacts, including resource use, pollution, ecosystems, and population growth. GEO 1400. Human Geography (3). Introductory survey of world cultures, population problems, global economic restructuring, international development, and political interdependence. GEA 2210. United States and Canada (3). The physical diversity and the cultural and political patterns of North America. GEA 2270. Florida (3). The physical, social, and economic geography of the state, including growth, and environmental issues. GEA 3704. East and Southeast Asia (3). Survey of the societies of East and Southeast Asia, including their historical development, cultural diversity, linkages to the world economy, and current socio-political structures. GEO 3040. Map Analysis (3). An introduction to the acquisition, processing, and presentation of cartographic data. GEO 3200C. Physical Geography (3). An overview of Earth-sun relations, weather, climate, landforms, water systems, soils, and vegetation. GEO 3423. Sports Geography (3). Geographical basis of sports at different spatial scales, including locational strategies of franchises, recruiting patterns and the urban political economy of professional sports arenas. GEO 3540. Economic Geography (3). The geography of economic activity at local, national and global scales: regional development, spatial structure of agriculture, manufacturing and services, the global economy, third world poverty, and population growth. GEO 3949r. Cooperative Education Work Experience (0). (S/U grade only.) GEA 4400. Latin America (3). The contemporary Latin American landscape, its historical formation, societies and problems. GEA 4500. Europe (3). Europe's terrain, variety of cultures, economies, and recent trends toward unity. GEA 4520. Britain and Ireland (3). The physical and human geography of the United Kingdom and Ireland. GEA 4554. Russia and Southern Eurasia (3). The peoples, cultures, and places of the former Soviet Union. Discusses the region's natural environment, historical development, and contemporary politics. GEO 4151. Geographic Information Processing and Systems (3). Prerequisites: CGS 2060; GEO 3140; or consent of instructor. Survey of GIS topics, including locational control, spatial data structures, modeling and analysis, and future trends in decision support, sensors, and geographic methods. GEO 4162C. Spatial Data Analysis (3). Introduction to quantitative analysis of spatial data including measures of central tendency and dispersion, probability, sampling, statistical testing, correlation, point pattern analysis, and trend surface analysis. GEO 4184. Computer Cartography (3). Examination of computer mapping systems, theory, methodology, and applications. GEO 4261C. Soils and Landforms (3). Hydraulic and geomorphological processes, and soils types and management. GEO 4340. Living in a Hazardous Environment (3). Types of environmental hazards (natural and human-made) and their effects, techniques for the analysis of risks, strategies for recovering losses. GEO 4357. Environmental Conflict and Economic Development (3). Examines controversies over the use, transformation, and destruction of nature, including political ecology. GEO 4372. Natural Resource Assessment and Analysis (3). Assessment and analysis of policies concerning natural resources and environmental management in the U.S. and internationally. GEO 4420. Cultural Geography (3). The study of the processes by which various cultural features have diffused throughout the world. Emphasis is on the contemporary cultural landscape. GEO 4450. Medical Geography (3). Prerequisites: GEO 1400, 4185C. Applies geographical concepts and techniques to health-related problems, including the ecology of health, disease diffusion, medical cartography, and health care access. GEO 4460. Historical Geography (3). Concepts, approaches, and research methods for analysis of spatial patterns of the past and changes through time. GEO 4471. Political Geography (3). The spatial dimensions of political processes from the local to the global level, including elections and geopolitics of the world system. GEO 4480. Military Geography (3). The geography of warfare; tactics and terrain, strategy and the theater of war, insurgency, war in cities, geopolitics and grand strategy. GEO 4602. Urban Geography (3). The historical growth of cities; spatial structure of commercial, industrial, and public facilities within cities; residential segregation; urban poverty and fiscal distress, and urbanization in the third world. GEO 4905r. Directed Individual Study (1–5). May be repeated to a maximum of nine (9) semester hours. GEO 4930r. Special Topics in Geography (3). May be repeated to a maximum of nine (9) semester hours. GEO 4932. Honors Work (3). May be repeated to a maximum of six (6) semester hours. GEO 4941r. Internship (3–6). Provides students with an opportunity to apply skills in supervised situations off-campus. Course may be repeated to a maximum of six (6) semester hours. Only three (3) may be counted toward the major. Graduate Courses
For listings relating to graduate course work for thesis, dissertation, and master's and doctoral examinations and defense, consult the Graduate Bulletin. |
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