Geography B.A.

Geography is a discipline for the curious and the open-minded. It answers the need in our society for an integrated, critical understanding of the relation between people and their built and natural environments. As a geography major, you will develop the knowledge and skills to confront the challenges of a changing world. There is no one way to be a geographer: climate scientists, ecologists, economists, planners, and scholars of race and gender, all find their home in a field that builds an integrative approach to problem-solving.

Geographers integrate theory and method from the social sciences, natural sciences, data sciences, and humanities to solve pressing contemporary issues. What roles do geographies of social difference play in constructing and resisting power structures? Why is it important to understand struggles over the meaning of common lands and other natural resources? How can we design cities to be more affordable, humane, healthy, and sustainable? Why does climate change vary from place to place and who is impacted by these changes? And how might we employ GIS technologies to determine how to serve different people and different needs in our communities, such as by locating facilities, planning transportation routes, and planning services?

Students who major or double-major in Geography build expertise that matches their interests and pursue many professional trajectories. Students usually choose a theme:

- Urban Geography fosters critical and creative thinking on the social-spatial processes and patterns that lead to and result from humans (and nonhumans) living together in cities.
- Environment, Health, and Society examines the intersection between the human and natural world and the way those intersections impact communities, human health, and natural environments.
- Political Economy and Development looks at how economic relationships and power differentials result in diverging life conditions for populations across the world.
Environmental Geography studies interconnected components of our natural environment—atmosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere—and how they interact across space and time.
- Geographic Information Science (GIS) uses digital data with computational methods and theory to analyze and visualize geospatial issues of social and environmental significance.
- Geographies of Justice cuts across all subfields and explores how people and communities organize to achieve social and environmental justice in a world marked by economic and racial inequalities.

You can build on these foci in a number of related disciplines. For examples, please visit z.umn.edu/geogfoci.

The Geography B.A. prepares students for numerous rewarding career paths. While some go on to graduate school in order to obtain a position in a university, most graduates find jobs in the private and public sectors. Geographers obtain positions in land use and natural resource planning agencies, environmental consulting firms, housing, retail, and transportation sectors, and the non-profit sector.