Undergraduate Department of Geography
College of Social Sciences and Public Policy
Website: https://geography.fsu.edu
Chair: Mark Horner; Professors: Horner, Mesev, Yang; Associate Professors: Billo, McCreary, Uejio, Zhao; Assistant Professors: DeJohn, Johnson, Li, Ponder, Velasquez; Affiliate and Adjunct Faculty: Cofield, Doel, Hart, Lewers, Miller, Molina, Quinton, Weisman
The Department of Geography offers two separate degrees reflecting the discipline's position straddling the social and natural sciences: one is the bachelor's in Geography and the second, a STEM bachelor's in Environment & Society. While these programs overlap to some extent, they differ in how society interacts with the natural environment: Geography examines how location and scale affect human behavior within urban, rural, and natural environments, while Environment & Society explores how humans both affect and are affected by changes in the natural environment. Students may double major in Geography and Environment & Society; with a maximum of six semester hours allowed to overlap. The Department also offers Pathways programs from both the Geography major and the Environment & Society major to the Applied Master's program in Geography Information Science.
Geographers are concerned with mapping how changes to the landscape, vegetation, animals, and climate impact where humans live, socialize, work, trade, and form cultural and nationalist identities. They examine industry, environmental health, boundary disputes, urban financialization and decay, political ecology, social movements, race and indigeneity, Black geographies, cultural identities, and how these relate to the protection, justice, and concern for the environment, including climate change and recycling/sustainability practices. On the other hand, Environmentalists work as policy analysts and natural resource conservationists, dealing with issues as wide-ranging as food production, marine exploitation, soil pollution, land use planning, coastal protection, severe storm mitigation, waste disposal, environmental health, and urban sustainability. Many of these are mapped and monitored using geographic information systems (GIS), including remote sensing and spatial statistics. Students are encouraged to use the College of Social Sciences and Public Policy's GIS laboratory, running the market-leader ArcGIS software. The two degrees provide access to jobs that help determine where public facilities, infrastructure, and environmental resources are located, counted, measured, and evaluated so that they provide benefit to as many people as possible within the best interests of the natural environment. Amongst the breadth of jobs, students are employed as planning and development surveyors, environmental consultants, real estate appraisers, land use analysts, park rangers, market researchers, cartographers, GIS analysts, foresters, demographers, natural resource managers, tour guides, soil scientists, and teachers.
For a complete education in Geography or Environment & Society, all students are given the opportunity to take courses that reflect the Department's research strengths in transportation optimization, land use/land cover change, urban growth, population mapping, regionalization and location theory, political ecology, race and identity, environmental conflict and policy, urban sustainability, environmental health, hurricane forecasting, tropical forests and grasslands, coastal and estuarine ecosystems, energy consumption and conservation, and biodiversity and resource management. Visit the department website (https://geography.fsu.edu/) or contact Undergraduate Program Director, Dr. Rachael Cofield (rcofield@fsu.edu) or Academic Program Coordinator, Allison Young (aryoung@fsu.edu) in Bellamy 313.
Digital Literacy Requirement
Students must complete at least one course designated as meeting the Digital Literacy Requirement with a grade of “C–” or higher. Courses fulfilling the Digital Literacy Requirement must accomplish at least three of the following outcomes:
- Evaluate and interpret the accuracy, credibility, and relevance of digital information
- Evaluate and interpret digital data and their implications
- Discuss the ways in which society and/or culture interact with digital technology
- Discuss digital technology trends and their professional implications
- Demonstrate the ability to use digital technology effectively
- Demonstrate the knowledge to use digital technology safely and ethically
Each academic major has determined the courses that fulfill the Digital Literacy requirement for that major. Students should contact their major department(s) to determine which courses will fulfill their Digital Literacy requirement.
State of Florida Common Program Prerequisites for Geography
The Florida Virtual Campus (FLVC) houses the statewide, internet-based catalog of distance learning courses, degree programs, and resources offered by Florida's public colleges and universities, and they have developed operational procedures and technical guidelines for the catalog that all institutions must follow. The statute governing this policy can be reviewed by visiting https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2021/1006.73.
FLVC has identified common program prerequisites for the degree program in Geography. To obtain the most up-to-date, state-approved prerequisites for this degree, visit: https://cpm.flvc.org/programs/29/192.
Specific prerequisites are required for admission into the upper-division program and must be completed by the student at either a community college or a state university prior to being admitted to this program. Students may be admitted into the University without completing the prerequisites but may not be admitted into the program.
Geography Major
Geography bridges the social sciences and physical sciences in the pursuit of how humans affect, and are affected by, natural environment. Geographers examine many social/physical issues at every scale, such as housing development and habitat loss, insurance premiums and storm damage, commercial fishing and marine sustainability, transport flow and air pollution, energy needs and mineral exploitation, and intensive farming and deforestation. Geography is the study of place and space, in the same sense that history is the study of time. Geographers ask: Where are things located? Why are they located where they are? And how do we map them? Geographers are concerned with mapping how changes to the landscape, vegetation, animals, and climate impact where humans live, socialize, work, trade, and form cultural and nationalist identities. They examine agricultural practices, industry, boundary disputes, urban decay, political ideologies, religious principles, and how these relate to perceptions of the environment, concern for global warming, and recycling/sustainability practices. All of these can be mapped using computer-based GIS, GPS, and satellite surveillance techniques with ever-improving geographic accuracy and precision.
Major Requirements
A major in Geography consists of 34 semester hours. All courses must be completed with a grade of “C–” or better.
These Required Core Courses (19 Hours)
GEA 1000 World Geography (3) (Diversity)
GEO 1400 Human Geography (3) (Diversity)
GEO 2200C Physical Geography (3)
GEO 4162C Spatial Data Analysis (3)
GIS 3015 Map Analysis (3)
GIS 4043 Geographic Information Systems (3)
and
GIS 4043L Geographic Information Systems Lab (1)
Human Geography (Three Hours)
Select one course from the following:
GEO 3502 Economic Geography (3)
GEO 4357 Environmental Conflict & Economic Development (3)
GEO 4404 Black Geographies (3)
GEO 4412 Environment and Gender (3)
GEO 4421 Cultural Geography (3) (Diversity) (Upper-Division Writing)
GEO 4450 Medical Geography (3)
GEO 4471 Political Geography (3)
GEO 4503 Globalization (3)
GEO 4505 Fossil Fuels and Environmental Conflict (3)
GEO 4602 Urban Geography (3)
GEO 4700 Transport Geography (3)
GEO 4804 Geography of Wine (3)
IDS 2180 Dead Cities (3)
IDS 2492 Sport: Place, Competition, and Fairness (3) (Ethics) (E-Series & “W” State-Mandated Writing)
IDS 3336 “Great” Britain? Geography, Imperialism, Industry, and Culture (3) (Diversity) (E-Series & “W” State-Mandated Writing)
IDH 3404 Environmental Justice (3) (Honors)
Physical Geography (Three to Four Hours)
Select one course from the following:
GEO 4210 Landforms and Landscapes (3)
GEO 4280 Geography of Water Resources (3)
GEO 4300 Biogeography (3)
GEO 4376 Landscape Ecology (3)
GEO 4392 Geography of Marine Resources (3)
GEO 4114 Environmental Field Methods (3)
GIS 4035 Introduction to Remote Sensing (3)
And
GIS 4035L Introduction to Remote Sensing Lab (1)
IDS 2471 Glaciers, Geysers, and Glades: Exploring U.S. National Parks (3)
IDS 2473 Putting Science into Action: Field Methods in Plant Ecology (3)
General Geography Courses (Eight or Nine Hours)
Students must select additional geography courses (GEA/GEO/GIS) at the 3000/4000 level to bring the total credits in the major to thirty-four; coursework may include a maximum of nine credit hours of GEO 4930 (Special Topics) classes. A maximum of three credit hours may be used from GEO 4905 DIS or GEO 4941 Internship.
No credit for geography courses with a grade below “C–” will be applied towards completion of the major.
Minor Coursework
Geography majors are required to complete a minor in any departmental or interdisciplinary area of interest. Minors must be at least 12 hours but can range up to 18 hours.
Minor in Geography
The Geography minor consists of 15 semester hours of coursework in geography from the following choices:
GEA 1000 World Geography (3) (Diversity)
GEO 1400 Human Geography (3) (Diversity)
GEO 1330 Environmental Science (3)
Or
GEO 2200C Physical Geography (3)
GEO 4162C Spatial Data Analysis (3)
Or
GIS 3015 Map Analysis (3)
Any GEA/GEO/GIS 3000 or higher elective
All courses must be completed with a grade of “C–” or better. If the Geography minor is combined with the Environment & Society major, GEO 2200C counts toward both the major and the minor. For more information contact the Department of Geography or visit the department's website at https://geography.fsu.edu/.
Environment & Society Major
Environment & Society is an interdisciplinary STEM program of study that explores how humans affect and are affected by changes in the natural environment. It combines courses from the social sciences and the natural sciences to investigate today's pressing environmental issues, such as ecosystem management, climate change, natural resource conservation, food production, marine exploitation, urban sustainability, land use planning, severe storm mitigation, and environment health—including how these issues are debated, measured, evaluated and then formulated into public policy. The major is highly flexible and allows students to explore a wide variety of classes when choosing how to study how humans interact, control, and live in harmony with nature. It requires forty-one semester hours with a grade of “C–” or better in each course; at least eighteen semester hours must be taken in upper-level (3000- and 4000-level) courses. A maximum of three credit hours may be used from GEO 4905 DIS or GEO 4941 Internship.
Note: Some of the following courses have prerequisites.
- Basic Core Curriculum: all the following courses (total of 14 credit hours):
BSC 1005 (or higher) General Biology for Non-Majors (3)
and
BSC 1005L (or higher) General Biology for Non-Majors Lab (1)
CHM 1020C (or higher) Chemistry for Liberal Studies (4)
GEO 1330 Environmental Science (3)
GEO 2200C Physical Geography (3)
- Natural Science Courses: three courses (total of nine credit hours) with at least one from the core list:
Core List (three to nine hours)
GEO 4210 Landforms and Landscapes (3)
GEO 4251 Geography of Climate Change and Storms (3)
GEO 4280 Geography of Water Resources (3)
GEO 4300 Biogeography (3)
GEO 4340 Living in a Hazardous Environment (3)
GEO 4376 Landscape Ecology (3)
GEO 4392 Geography of Marine Conservation (3)
IDS 2471 Glaciers, Geysers, and Glades: Exploring U.S. National Parks (3)
Elective List (zero to nine hours)
BOT 3143 Field Botany (4)
BSC 3016 Eukaryotic Diversity (3)
BSC 3052 Conservation Biology (3)
BSC 3312 Marine Biology (3)
BSC 4821C Biogeography (3)
CHM 4080 Environmental Chemistry I (3)
CHM 4081 Environmental Chemistry II (3)
GEO 4930 Special Topics in Geography (3) (Note: content varies and not all GEO 4930 courses will count as electives)
GLY 1030 Environmental Issues in Geology (3)
GLY 2010C Physical Geology (3)
GLY 3039 Energy, Resources, and the Environment (3)
IDS 3232 Living Green, Theory to Action (3)
ISC 2003 Global Change, Its Scientific and Human Dimensions (3)
MET 1010 Introduction to the Atmosphere (3)
MET 1050 Natural Hazards & Disasters: From Hurricanes to Meteorites (3)
MET 2101 Physical Climatology (3)
MET 3231 Introduction to Thermodynamics and Dynamics (3)
OCE 1001 Elementary Oceanography (3)
OCE 4008 Principles of Oceanography (3)
OCE 4017 Current Issues in Environmental Science (3)
OCE 4265 Coral Reef Ecology (3)
OCE 4930 Special Topics Oceanography: Needs Dept Approval (3)
PCB 3043 General Ecology (3)
PCB 4402 Ecology of Infectious Diseases (3)
- Social Science Electives: four of the following courses (total 12 credit hours) with at least one from the core list:
Core List (three to 12 hours)
GEO 3502 Economic Geography (3)
GEA 3563 The Mediterranean (3)
GEA 4250 Great Britain and Ireland (3)
GEO 4344 Environmental Disasters & Apocalypse (3)
GEO 4355 Geography: Food and Environment (3)
GEO 4357 Environmental Conflict & Economic Development (3)
GEO 4404 Black Geographies (3)
GEO 4412 Environment and Gender (3)
GEO 4421 Cultural Geography (3) (Diversity) (Upper-Division Writing)
GEO 4450 Medical Geography (3)
GEO 4471 Political Geography (3)
GEO 4503 Globalization (3)
GEO 4505 Fossil Fuels and Environmental Conflict (3)
GEO 4602 Urban Geography (3)
GEO 4700 Transport Geography (3)
GEO 4804 Geography of Wine (3)
IDH 3404 Environmental Justice (3) (Honors)
IDS 2180 Dead Cities (3)
IDS 2227 Sustainable Society (3) (Honors)
IDS 2492 Sport: Place, Competition, and Fairness (3) (Ethics) (E-Series & “W” State-Mandated Writing)
IDS 3336 “Great” Britain? Geography, Imperialism, Industry and Culture (3) (Diversity) (E-Series & “W” State-Mandated Writing)
Elective List (zero to six hours)
AMH 2097 Nationality, Race, and Ethnicity in the United States (3)
AMH 4630 North American Environmental History (3)
AMH 4634 Florida Environmental History (3)
CTE 4470 Sustainability & Human Rights in the Business World (3)
ECP 3113 Economics of Population (3)
ECP 3302 Econ of Natural Resources, Energy, & the Environment (3)
EVR 4314 Energy and Society (3)
GEO 3423 Sports Geography (3)
GEO 4930 Special Topics in Geography (3) (Note: content varies and not all GEO 4930 courses will count as electives)
IDS 2240 Sustainable Food (3)
IDS 2431 Thinking beyond Ourselves: Global Perspectives (3)
IDS 2460 Global Perspective: Communication (3)
IDS 2156 Environment & Society (3)
IDS 3164 Media, Culture, & Environment (3)
IDS 3169 Art & the Environment (3)
INR 2002 Introduction to International Relations (3)
PAD 3003 Public Administration in American Society (3)
PAD 4382 Disaster Recovery and Mitigation (3)
PAD 4391 Foundations in Emergency Management (3)
PAD 4393 Emergency Management Programs, Planning & Policy (3)
PAD 4603 Administrative Law (3)
PHI 2620 Environmental Ethics (3)
PUP 3002 Introduction to Public Policy (3)
PUP 4203 Environmental Politics and Policy (3)
SYD 3020 Population and Society (3)
SYD 4510 Environmental Sociology (3)
URP 3000 Introduction to Planning and Urban Development (3)
URP 4318 Growth Management and Environmental Planning (3)
URP 4402 Sustainable Development Planning in the Americas (3)
URP 4404 River Basin Planning (3)
URP 4423 Environmental Planning and Resource Management (3)
URP 4710 Introduction to Transportation Issues and Transportation Planning (3)
URP 4936 Special Topics in Planning (3) (if approved by advisor; subjects vary)
- Methods Electives: two of the following courses (total six to seven credit hours) with at least one from the core list:
Core List (3/4 to 6/7 hours)
GEO 4162C Spatial Data Analysis (3) (cannot take along with SYA 4400)
GIS 3015 Map Analysis (3)
GIS 4006 Computer Cartography (3)
GIS 4035 Introduction to Remote Sensing (3)
and
GIS 4035L Introduction to Remote Sensing Lab (1)
GIS 4043 Geographic Information Systems (3)
and
GIS 4043L Geographic Information Systems Lab (1)
GIS 4330 Florida GIS Applications (3)
GIS 4402 GIS Applications for Social Sciences (3)
GIS 4421 GIS & Health (3)
IDS 2473 Putting Science into Action: Field Methods in Plant Ecology (3)
Elective List (zero to three hours)
ENV 4611 Environmental Impact Analysis (3)
GEO 4114 Environmental Field Methods (3)
STA 3024 SAS for Data and Statistical Analysis (3)
SYA 4300 Methods in Social Research (3)
SYA 4400 Social Statistics (3) (cannot take along with GEO 4162C)
Minor in Environment & Society
A minor in Environment & Society consists of a minimum of fifteen credit hours, composed of the following:
GEO 1330 Environmental Science (3)
GEO 2200C Physical Geography (3)
One Natural Core Course
One Social Science Core Course
One Methods Core Course
All courses must be completed with grades of “C–” or better. If an Environment & Society minor is combined with a Geography major, GEO 2200C is applied to both the major and the minor.
For more information, contact the Department of Geography, or visit the department's website at https://geography.fsu.edu/.
Bachelor's/Master's Pathways
Students in either the Geography major or the Environment & Society major can apply for a pathway to the MS degree in Geographic Information Science by sharing or ‘double counting' up to 12 graduate credit hours with their undergraduate program. This means 12 graduate credit hours can count towards your undergraduate degree AND count towards the 30 graduate credit hours for the master's degree in GIS, leaving you 18 graduate credit hours to complete the master's program after you complete your major. The following course must be completed with a C- or higher (note: this course does NOT double count with the GIScience Master's Degree):
GIS 4043/L Geographic Information Systems & Lab (4)
You must have a desire to improve your skill levels in using computer software, statistics, mapping, and geographic relevance for resource monitoring. You must also maintain a GPA of 3.0. For more information visit https://geography.fsu.edu/programs/undergraduate/bachelorsmasters-pathways or contact the MIS GIS Pathways Program Director, Dr. Xiaojun Yang (xyang@fsu.edu) or the Undergraduate Program Director, Dr. Rachael Cofield (rcofield@fsu.edu) in Bellamy 313 or Allison Young (aryoung@fsu.edu) in Bellamy 301.
Graduate Programs
Graduate programs are available leading to the Master of Arts (MA), the Master of Science (MS), the MS in GIScience, and the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Geography. The graduate programs in the Department of Geography lead to an applied or a research-oriented degree centered on geographic information science (GIScience), environmental management, or human-environmental interactions.
Undergraduates contemplating a graduate degree in geography should take the Graduate Record Examination prior to submitting an application. Interested students should contact the Graduate Program Director, Dr. Chris Uejio (cuejio@fsu.edu), 317A Bellamy.
Definition of Prefixes
EVR—Environmental Studies
GEA—Geography: Regional Areas
GEO—Geography: Systematic
GIS—Geography: Information Science
IDH—Interdisciplinary Honors
IDS—Interdisciplinary Studies
Undergraduate Courses
EVR 4314. Energy and Society (3). Prerequisite: GEO 1330. This course explores the demand and efficient use of energy from fossil fuels and alternate renewable sources, and how energy impacts urban and environmental sustainability.
GEA 1000. World Geography (3). This course is a regional survey of the human occupation of the face of the earth, local cultures, political systems, and development problems.
GEA 2210. United States and Canada (3). This course examines the physical diversity and the cultural and political patterns of North America.
GEA 2270. Florida (3). This course focuses on the physical, social, and economic geography of the state, including growth and environmental issues.
GEA 3563. The Mediterranean (3). This course analyzes the Mediterranean region as a unified totality (southern Europe and North Africa), focusing on historical changes that underpin current geography.
GEA 4213. U.S. National Parks (3). This course reviews the history, social, and environmental significance of America's national parks.
GEA 4405. Latin America (3). This course focuses on the contemporary Latin American landscape, its historical formation, societies and problems.
GEA 4500. Europe (3). This course focuses on Europe's terrain, variety of cultures, economies, and recent trends toward unity.
GEA 4520. Britain and Ireland (3). This course examines the physical and human geography of the United Kingdom and Ireland.
GEA 4554. Russia and Southern Eurasia (3). This course explores the peoples, cultures, and places of the former Soviet Union. Discusses the region's natural environment, historical development, and contemporary politics.
GEA 4635. Geography of the Middle East (3). This course reviews the history and essential economic and environmental factors of the Middle East region. The centrifugal and centripetal forces affecting development, culture, religion, ethnicity, and geopolitics.
GEO 1330. Environmental Science (3). This course explores the causes of local and global environmental problems and their impacts, including resource use, pollution, ecosystems, and population growth.
GEO 1400. Human Geography (3). This course is an introductory survey of geographic theories, issues and applications from the human perspective. The course discusses how people interact with each other politically, economically, culturally and socially across distances, scales and within various physical environments. In addition, global contrasts are examined using urban versus rural habitation, local versus transnational trade, and uneven economic development.
GEO 2200C. Physical Geography (3). This course is an overview of earth-sun relations, weather, climate, landforms, water systems, soils, and vegetation.
GEO 3423. Sports Geography (3). This course focuses on the 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 3502. Economic Geography (3). This course examines the geography of economic activity at local, national, and global scales: historical development of capitalism, regional development, spatial structure of agriculture, manufacturing and services, the global economy, third world poverty, and population growth.
GEO 4114. Environmental Field Methods (3). This course focuses on the design and implementation of a field-based project employing field sampling, GIS, GPS, and exploratory statistical methods.
GEO 4162C. Spatial Data Analysis (3). This course is an introduction to the quantitative analysis of geographic data that explores clustering, spatial patterns, and intrinsic relationship between geographic variables.
GEO 4210. Landforms and Landscapes (3). This course is on the spatial distribution of geomorphic landforms across landscapes: how they form, how they change over time, how they are designated, and their nomenclature. Emphasis is given to how humans interact with these landscapes and how these landscapes can impact human habitation.
GEO 4251. Geography of Climate Change and Storms (3). This course explores the critical debate on global climatic fluctuations and extreme weather frequency in relation to human impact and interference. Particular focus is given to geographic variations and temporal validity.
GEO 4280. Geography of Water Resources (3). This course provides students with a comprehensive overview of the natural processes associated with water occurrence and resources. Focus is given to water's unique properties, how it occurs and moves through Earth's environment; how it impacts human habitation, and its future as a critical and valuable natural resource. Development of socio-economic concepts of management, supply, use, reclamation, and sustainability are also emphasized.
GEO 4300. Biogeography (3). This course examines the spatial distributions of flora and fauna, ecosystem change, and human interventions such as logging, invasive species, and wilderness preservation.
GEO 4340. Living in a Hazardous Environment (3). This course explores types of environmental hazards (natural and human-made) and their effects, techniques for the analysis of risks, and strategies for recovering losses.
GEO 4344. Environmental Disasters and Apocalypse (3). This course covers theoretical debates on climate change and the Anthropocene, linking them to cinematic and cultural tropes of disaster and apocalypse. Students explore how anthropogenic climate change is being shaped by the actions of humans who have solely contributed to the massive build-up of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere since industrialization; the increased amounts of radioactivity in the layers of earth and ice; and repercussions from over-population.
GEO 4355. Geography: Food and Environment (3). This course explores food production, distribution and consumption by intensive global agro-food and local organic farm operations, and their impacts on environmental sustainability.
GEO 4357. Environmental Conflict and Economic Development (3). This course examines controversies over the use, transformation, and destruction of nature, including political ecology.
GEO 4376. Landscape Ecology (3). Prerequisites: GEO 1330, GEO 2200C, and GIS 4043. This course offers a review of methods on analyzing geographic patterns of natural phenomena, including ecological conservation, natural resource management, landscape and urban planning, as well as human-environmental interactions and implications. Familiarity with software packages such as ArcGIS is assumed.
GEO 4392. Geography of Marine Conservation (3). This course outlines the major conservation issues in coastal and marine systems worldwide, including the science, management and policy dimensions of marine conservation. The course explores critical conservation problems facing marine ecosystems; and at the same time explores their causes and threats from climate change, over-fishing, and other types of natural resource extraction and management failures. Students explore solutions, both science-based and social science-based (particularly economics, management and policy implementation).
GEO 4403. Global Change, Local Places (3). This course examines four aspects of global change—economic, environmental, cultural, and political—with a focus on how globalization is impacting individual countries and how places are responding to globalization's challenges.
GEO 4404. Black Geographies (3). This course addresses the historical, political, and spatial contexts in which geographies of black populations emerge throughout the United States and beyond. The course seeks to investigate ways in which black communities throughout the African Diaspora are spatially marginalized, and the ways in which Black communities produce space. The course discusses race, racism, alongside conversations of spatial marginalization (e.g. segregation).
GEO 4412. Environment and Gender (3). In this course, students look at how physical space (be it national boundaries or public parks) and the terrain of the symbolic realm are sometimes at odds. Included in the investigation is the examination of how ideas of gender, place and space affect individuals' experiences and how said experiences are created and limited by ideas at various geographical scales and contrasts between more and less economically developed nations.
GEO 4421. Cultural Geography (3). This course studies the processes by which various cultural features have diffused throughout the world. Emphasis is on the contemporary cultural landscape
GEO 4450. Medical Geography (3). Prerequisite: GEO 1400. This course applies geographical concepts and techniques to health-related problems, including the ecology of health, disease diffusion, medical cartography, and health care access.
GEO 4471. Political Geography (3). This course focuses on the spatial dimensions of political processes from the local to the global level, including elections and geopolitics of the world system.
GEO 4503. Globalization (3). This course explores the concepts and processes that define a world system of commodity production, labor costs, and cultural exchange.
GEO 4505. Fossil Fuels and Environmental Conflicts (3). This course addresses the politics of oil, not simply in terms of the policies that governments adopt, but also in terms of how petroleum has fundamentally shaped conceptions of what is politically possible, necessary, and good. Following oil from production, along pipelines, through refineries, and to consumers, this course engages with themes related to the political, economic, environmental, developmental, cultural, and urban geography.
GEO 4602. Urban Geography (3). This course explores 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 4700. Transport Geography (3). This course offers a review of the literature and techniques for the spatial impacts of transportation systems, including functionality, and their role on society, the economy, energy, the environment, and sustainability.
GEO 4703. Communications Geography (3). This course examines the geopolitics and space-shrinking effects of telecommunications as well as economic and social impacts of several technologies, including the Internet and cyberspace.
GEO 4804. Geography of Wine (3). This course discusses the interplay of geographic factors that result in types and qualities of wine. Climate, soil, terrain, latitude, surrounding plants, and the tradition/culture of wine-making techniques determine the unique terroir of a wine region. As such, wine is tied to place, identified by place, made unique by place, and even made valuable by place. Topics discussed include how wine production (viniculture) has made social, economic, political, and cultural impacts around the world.
GEO 4905r. Directed Individual Study (1–5). May be repeated to a maximum of nine semester hours.
GEO 4930r. Special Topics in Geography (1–3). May be repeated to a maximum of nine semester hours.
GEO 4932r. Honors in the Major Research (1–6). In this course, students accepted into the Honors in the Major program complete an original research or creative project in their major area of study. This course must be repeated at least twice to complete a minimum of six (6) credit hours total but may be repeated up to a maximum of twelve credit hours in total.
GEO 4941r. Internship (3–6). This course provides students with an opportunity to apply skills in supervised situations off-campus. May be repeated to a maximum of six (6) credit hours; repeatable within the same term.
GIS 2040. Essentials of GIS (3). This course is an introduction of the basic principles and techniques of geographic information systems (GIS) for students with no or rudimentary knowledge of geographic concepts and practices.
GIS 3015. Map Analysis (3). This course is an introduction to the acquisition, processing, and presentation of cartographic data.
GIS 4006. Computer Cartography (3). This course is an examination of computer mapping systems, theory, methodology, and applications.
GIS 4035. Introduction to Remote Sensing (3). Corequisite: GIS 4035L. This course covers remote sensing foundations and the use of remote sensing for environmental and cultural applications. Focus is on the foundations of remote sensing, aerial photography and photogrammetry, characteristics of various sensing systems, remote sensing applications, and an introduction to digital image processing.
GIS 4035L. Introduction to Remote Sensing Lab (1). Corequisite: GIS 4035. This lab provides practice with the concepts and techniques in remote sensing. Specifically, the lab covers the foundations of remote sensing, aerial photography and photogrammetry, characteristics of various sensing systems, remote sensing applications, and basic skills in digital image processing.
GIS 4043. Geographic Information Systems (3). Corequisite: GIS 4043L. This course is a survey of GIS topics, including locational control, spatial data structures, modeling and analysis, and future trends in decision support, sensors, and geographic methods.
GIS 4043L. GIS Lab (1). Corequisite: GIS 4043. This course is a survey of GIS topics, including locational control, spatial data structures, modeling and analysis, and future trends in decision support, sensors, and geographic methods.
GIS 4330. Florida GIS Applications (3). This course is an evaluation of the breadth of environmental and social applications of geographic information systems specific to the State of Florida.
GIS 4402. GIS Applications in Social Sciences (3). This course emphasizes quantitative applications but also explores qualitative critiques of GIS applications. Attention is given to measuring and interpreting social science processes, and the statistics behind analytical applications.
GIS 4421. GIS & Health (3). This course introduces the theory and practice of Geographic Information Science (GIS) and health geography. Students learn how to apply geographic theory and tools to public health considerations, such as where disease outbreaks are located, where there are shortages in health-care services, and how the places people live, work, and play affect well-being.
IDH 3404. Environmental Justice (3). This course engages with the history, core concepts, and effects of the environmental justice movement, examining how race and class interact to produce and sustain environmental inequities. It highlights the need to address the disproportionate burdening of historically marginalized communities with environmental harms.
IDS 2180. Dead Cities (3). This course poses the question: How can we understand and respond to urban decay and decline? Using examples from the U.S. and abroad, students explore the differences between “conventional” urban poverty (which may be a necessary part of successful cities), systematic urban decline, new suburban poverty, favelas and shantytowns, etc. Students also examine recent strategies to “reclaim” failing cities.
IDS 2227. Sustainable Society (3). This course provides students with the opportunity to observe and inquire about sustainable practices through field studies at local organic farm, hydro-power station, new urbanism community, and recycling facilities, etc., as well as through interactions with community-based programs. Students engage in critical thinking about the sustainability of human society and the environment from various aspects, which include producers, consumers, public-service sectors, and policy makers.
IDS 2471. Glaciers, Geysers, and Glades: Exploring U.S. National Parks (3). This course explores the sustainability of the National Parks of the United States; their geographic distribution, physical structure, economic management, and cultural recreation.
IDS 2473. Putting Science into Action: Field Methods in Plant Ecology (3). This course addresses scientific research design and field data collection, drawing on principles in biogeography and ecology. Students focus on sampling design and survey methods for plants on three scales: populations, communities, and ecosystems. Students also gain insight into field-based inquiry and techniques to monitor and assess plant populations, communities, and ecosystems.
IDS 2492. Sport: Place, Competition, and Fairness (3). This course investigates the uneven distribution of sport and attitudes to sport; where money drives competition, and where culture dictates ‘acceptable' levels of competition. Students evaluate the ethics and fairness of gamesmanship and sportsmanship, and how ‘success' in sport has various definitions, including personal satisfaction, tribal coherence, and externalities linked with ‘psychic income.'
IDS 3336. “Great” Britain? Geography, Imperialism, Industry, and Culture (3). This course studies the regional geography of the island of Great Britain; its changing position from a “great” imperial and industrial power to a “great” financial and cultural leader.
For listings relating to graduate coursework, consult the Graduate Bulletin.