Program Overview

Geography Program Overview

The Geography program at the University of New Hampshire is an undergraduate-focused department that offers both major and minor degree programs. The program aims to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the factors that make a place or environment unique, by uniting social and biophysical sciences, humanities, and technology.

Program Details

• Major and Minor Programs: The department offers a Geography Major (B.A.) and two minor programs: Environmental Justice (Minor) and Geography (Minor).
• Course Offerings: The program includes a wide range of courses that cover various aspects of geography, including world regions, human-environment relations, geographic information systems, and more.
• Faculty: The Geography Department Faculty at the University of New Hampshire are dedicated to providing students with a high degree of individual attention and personalized advising.

Course Descriptions

World Regions

• GEOG 401 - World Regions: Europe and the Americas: Examines the rich diversity of human life in North America, Middle and South America, Europe, Russia, and Oceania.
• GEOG 402 - World Regions: Asia and Africa: Explores the unique integration of human and physical phenomena in the Middle East, North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and East Asia.

Human-Environment Relations

• GEOG 405 - There Is No Planet B: Introduces human-environment relations as a central focus of geography, spanning social and environmental sciences.
• GEOG 473 - Elements of Weather: Covers the basic principles of weather phenomena and the physical processes underlying these phenomena.

Geographic Information Systems

• GEOG 591 - Making Maps: GIS Fundamentals: Introduces Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to design digital maps, integrate diverse data sources, and conduct basic spatial analyses.

Specialized Courses

• GEOG 500 - Making Change: Social and Environmental Justice in Practice: Provides students with opportunities to consider a personal philosophy and professional action plan for social and/or environmental justice.
• GEOG 530 - China: People, Politics and Economy: Examines China's diverse physical environments, politics, economies, and cultures.
• GEOG 550 - Sub-Saharan Africa: Environmental Politics and Development: Explores the political ecologies of development in sub-Saharan Africa.
• GEOG 560 - Natural Hazards and Human Disasters: Surveys natural hazards, including earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunami, floods, drought, hurricanes, and severe weather.
• GEOG 572 - Geography of the Natural Environment: Provides an introduction to the geography of the natural environment, including landforms, weather and climate, water resources, and biogeography.
• GEOG 574 - Global Landscapes and Environmental Processes: Surveys earth's major landforms and the geographic factors that influence their development, distribution, and morphology.

Human Geography

• GEOG 580 - Human Geography: People and Places: Provides an overview of human geography as a social science, including the "why of where" and human-environment relationships.
• GEOG 581 - Society, Environment and Justice: Introduces human geography with an emphasis on social justice and environmental justice.
• GEOG 582 - Global Trade and Local Development: Examines the ways in which global trade interacts with local development across the world.
• GEOG 584 - Political Geography: Interactions between geographic and political phenomena at the sub-national, national, and international levels.

Advanced Courses

• GEOG 670 - Climate and Society: An introduction to climate science and the interaction between humans and climate.
• GEOG 673 - Political Ecology: Examines human-environment relations through the geographic subfield of political ecology.
• GEOG 695 - Internship: Provides an opportunity for on-the-job skill development and practical experience in a closely supervised work setting.
• GEOG 701 - Environmental Justice: A seminar-style discussion course in Environmental Justice, covering topics including origins and theory of environmental justice, environmental toxins, hazards, and public health.
• GEOG 795 - Special Project: Readings, library, archival, and fieldwork, primarily for geography seniors.

Learning Outcomes

• Understand how the study of human geography differs from other social sciences.
• Demonstrate familiarity with key concepts and processes relating to space and place, globalization, population and migration, urbanization, and development.
• Apply quantitative and/or qualitative data to investigate the dynamics of social interactions.
• Develop testable hypotheses regarding the social and cultural world they examine.
• Analyze human geography problems from a cross-scalar perspective.
• Relate particular cases to generalizable theory.