Program Overview

Introduction to the Geography Program

The Department of Geography at Rutgers offers a comprehensive program that allows students to explore the spatial dimensions of life on Earth. The program is designed to provide students with a broad understanding of the subject, covering topics such as global culture, economics, society, environment, and geographical techniques.

Program Structure

The Geography program at Rutgers is structured to provide students with a solid foundation in the subject. The program offers three tracks:

• Global Culture, Economics, and Society: This track focuses on human geography, addressing topics such as global political systems, dynamics of race, gender, and other aspects of identity, international development, urbanization, international economic networks, and regional geographies.
• Environment: This track covers a range of environmental topics from both human and physical geography, including environmental hazards and disasters, global climate change, the Earth's physical geography, and human responses to global environmental issues.
• Geographical Techniques: This track focuses on the development of expertise in using spatial data to create maps and other visual tools, including cartography, remote sensing data, GIS (Geographic Information Systems), spatial data analysis, and critical understanding of maps and their power.

Course Offerings

The program offers a variety of courses that cater to the different tracks. Some of the current courses include:

• Transforming the Global Environment (450:102)
• Maps, Power, and The Digital World (450:208)
• Natural Hazards and Disasters (450:311)
• Climate Change (450:313)
• Geographic Information Systems (450:321)
• Geography of the Development (450:363)

Why Study Geography?

Studying geography at Rutgers provides students with a unique opportunity to develop a broad range of critical and technical skills. The program prepares students for careers in environmental agencies, government service, regional and city planning, international humanitarian aid, private sector business, and graduate studies in geography and related fields.

Program Benefits

The geography program at Rutgers offers several benefits, including:

• A well-established internship program that provides valuable real-world experience
• A good record of majors going on to graduate work at the masters and doctoral levels
• A curriculum that provides technical training and theoretical grounding to meet today's environmental challenges
• A program that is big enough to equip students with a full portfolio of essential techniques but small enough to accommodate individual needs

Conclusion

The Geography program at Rutgers is a comprehensive and exciting program that offers students a unique opportunity to explore the spatial dimensions of life on Earth. With its three tracks, variety of course offerings, and benefits, the program provides students with a solid foundation for careers in geography and related fields.