Bachelor of Arts in Geography
Becoming a geographer is much more than memorizing state capitals and reading maps. Today, more and more individuals, private firms, and government agencies are seeking the knowledge and skills that geographers have. Geography majors can expect to find employment as location analysts, environmental managers, consultants or city planners.
Geography is concerned with the study of "place" and especially the processes that shape the natural and built environments around us. The geographical dimensions of neighborhoods and communities, urban and regional development, globalization; land, air and water resources, natural hazards; maps, and geographic information science are cenrtal topics covered in geography courses.
The geography major requires a minimum of 36 units, including six required courses and three electives (12 units) organized around one of the following tracks: urban environments, natural environments, or geographic information science.
The urban environment track emphasizes understanding urban and regional development; race and ethnicity, immigration, social problems and policies; and nature-society relations in cites. The natural environments track examines the key processes, dynamics, and interactions underlying the geographical distribution of land, air and water resources and the identification of problems and solutions affecting them. The geographic information science track examines the special character of geographic information, the three core geographic information technologies (GIS, GPS, Remote Sensing), and how they can be used to help answer geographical questions.
Course Requirements
One course from:
- GEOG 100: Los Angeles and the American Dream
- GEOG 120: Geopolitics
One course from:
- GEOG 160L: The Earth’s Surface
- GEOG 165L: The Atmospheric Environment
- GEOG 265L: The Water Planet
Required courses:
- GEOG 391: Geographic Foundations
- GEOG 392: Geographical Analysis
- GEOG 393: Field Techniques
- GEOG 494: The Professional Geographer
Three courses (12 units) from one of three tracks:
Urban Environments
- GEOG 205: Human Geography
- GEOG 306: Asia and the Global Economy
- GEOG 325: Culture and Place
- GEOG 340: Latino Los Angeles
- GEOG 397: Applied Geography Internship
- GEOG 410: Urban Geography
Natural Environments
- GEOG 260L: Natural Hazards
- GEOG 365L: Fundamentals of Weather & Climate
- GEOG 370: Marine & Coastal Zone Geography
- GEOG 397: Applied Geography Internship
- GEOG 477: Water Resources
Geographic Information Science
- GEOG 281L: Environmental Geographic Information Systems
- GEOG 481: Map Design and Analysis
- GEOG 482L: Principles of Geographic Information Science
- GEOG 483ab: Applied GIS Internship
- GEOG 485ab: Directed GIS Research