The mission of the Geography Department is to prepare students to engage in the processes that create more sustainable environments and communities throughout the world.
- We offer students the highest quality geographic education through innovative teaching, interactive field experiences, and integrative research.
- We provide students with foundational geographical knowledge and skills that focus on the interconnection and interdependency of Earth’s complex natural systems and diverse human societies.
Consistent with the mission, the department strives to achieve the following objectives:
- To provide students with knowledge about the earth’s natural environment and its relationship to society.
- To provide students with knowledge about the world’s peoples, nations, cultural environments and spatial organization.
- To provide students with a good grounding in the modern technical skills of the discipline, including computer cartography, spatial analysis, spatially oriented quantitative methods and techniques and geographic information systems.
- To provide interested students with training that emphasizes a comprehensive grasp of the planning profession and issues related to that field.
- To instill within each student an appreciation for the great variety of cultural forms and ways of thinking throughout the world and to help students formulate a worldview that uses this appreciation to become responsible citizens in America.
Meeting these objectives prepares students to function within American society as informed and engaged citizens by equipping them with specific job skills that help them gain employment and/or admission to graduate schools.