Undergraduate Program in Geography

To qualify for a major in Geography, a student must earn a minimum of 30 credits in geography and meet requirements A through C below.

A. Breadth Study
At least one course in each:

1. Physical Geography (Group I course groupings).
2. People-Environment Interaction (Group II course groupings).
3. Human Geography (Group III course groupings).
4. Area Studies & Global Systems (Group IV course groupings).

B. Skills, Techniques, and Methods
Each of the following, or an equivalent approved by the adviser:

1. Geography 170: Map Reading and Interpretation, or Geography 370: Introduction to Cartography.
2. Geography 360: Quantitative Methods in Geography.
3. Geography 565: Undergraduate Colloquium.

C. Depth and Quality of Study
1. A minimum of 15 credits at the intermediate level or above.
2. A concentration, approved by the advisor, consisting of at least three related intermediate or advanced level courses (including at least one advanced level course). Choose among options A, B, or C.
3. A grade-point average of 2.0 or higher for courses in the major.

Option A. Concentration from one of the Groups I, II, III, IV or V .

Option B. Concentration from one of the Area Clusters below:

1. North America: 305*, 329*, 340, 341, 342, 344, 345, 431*, 460*, 506*,507*, 508*, 531*, 536*, 67
2. Middle and South America: 303*, 348, 531*, 535*, 538*, 548, 675
3. Europe and former USSR: 349, 353, 371*, 444, 506*, 531*, 549, 553, 675
4. Africa: 277, 355, 356, 531*, 537*, 538*, 675*
5. Asia: 358, 531*, 538*, 553*, 558, 675

*Denotes courses having substantial regional content; often satisfies Group IV concentration requirement; see instructor. No more than one course identified with * may count toward the Group IV concentration. For the appropriateness of Geog 675 in any given semester, see instructor. With advisor's written consent, one course with an area focus from outside of the Geography Department may count toward the concentration. This course will not count for credit in Geography.

Option C. Individual concentration proposed by the student and approved by the advisor. (With approval, an appropriate course or courses may count toward both Requirements A and C. Students pursuing a joint degree in Geography and Cartography cannot use the Cartography concentration towards their Geography degree).

Options Within the Geography Major:

Geography
Cartography and GIS
Double Major
Honors in the Major

Undergraduate Program: Cartography and Geographic Information Systems

The Undergraduate Catalog is always the final word on major requirements. An undergraduate major in cartography and GIS requires a minimum of 30 but not more than 40 credits in geography. The major must include:

A. Core
Each of the following are required; Geog 370 and 377 should be taken before cartography elective

1. Geog 360: Quantitative Methods in Geographical Analysis.
2. Geog 370: Introduction to Cartography
3. Geog 377: Introduction to Geographical Information Systems.
4. Geog 565: Colloquium for Undergraduate Majors.

B. Electives
Three (3) of the following courses (one of which must be Geog. 578 or Geog. 579):

1. Geog 570: Problems in Cartography.
2. Geog 572: Graphic Design in Cartography.
3. Geog 575: Animated and Web-based Mapping.
4. Geog 576: Map Transformations and Coordinate Systems.
5. Geog 578: GIS Applications.
6. Geog 579: GIS and Spatial Analysis.

C. Topical Breadth
One course in each of the following groups:

1. Physical Geography: Earth Systems and Processes (Group I).
2. Human Geography (Group III).
3. People-Environment Interaction (Group II) or Area Studies & Global Systems (Group IV).

D. Other Related Courses
At least 11 credits must come from:

1. 8 credits of college-level mathematics.
2. Comp Sci 302: Introduction to Programming (3 credits).
3. At least 5 credits from the following courses in Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE):

1. Remote Sensing: CEE 301, 302, 303, 304, 556.
2. Photogrammetry: CEE 301, 403, 404, 551.
3. Surveying: CEE 251, 450, 452, 454.
4. Land Information Systems: CCE 307, 308, 309.

Undergraduate double major in Geography and Cartography and GIS

Students pursuing a double major in Geography and Cartography/GIS must meet the requirements of each major and cannot use the cartography concentration toward the geography degree.

Honors in the Major

The L&S Honors Program encourages participation in advanced courses, independent research, and graduate seminars that provide a sound foundation for the completion of a Senior Honors Thesis.

To earn a BA or BS with Honors in the Geography Major, students must complete:

A. The breadth requirements for the major.
B. The skills requirements for the major plus Geog 766 (Introduction to Research Methods) for 1 credit, preferably during the junior year.
C. A minimum of 21 credits at the intermediate and advance levels.
D. Two advanced courses in the area of concentration with at least one of these being a graduate seminar (Geog 766, 681, 682 may not be counted towards this requirement).
E. Senior Honors Thesis, Geog 681-682, during the senior year.

To earn a BA or BS with Honors in the Cartography and Geographic Information Systems, students must complete:

A. The breadth requirements for the major.
B. The core requirements for the major plus Geog 766 (Introduction to Research Methods) for 1 credit, preferably during the junior year.
C. The electives requirement for the major, with the additional requirement that at least one of the electives must be a graduate seminar.
D. Senior Honors Thesis, Geog 681-682, during the senior year.

Students are urged to take geography courses for honors credits whenever offered, but there is no minimum number of honors credits. A cumulative GPA of 3.3 in the major is required. Honors candidates must plan their program in consultation with the department honors Students should be aware that Honors in the Major is a new program and is still under development, and so should not assume that the requirements specified above are complete or fully described. Students should check with the department honors advisor at least once a year to make sure that requirements have not been modified, as well as to seek guidance about planning the best possible Honors in the Major curriculum that reflects their special interests.

Concentrations Within the Undergraduate Geography Major (Course Groupings)

Courses in Group I:
120 Global Physical Environments
121 Atmospheric Environment and Society
127 Physical Systems of the Environment
320 Geomorphology
321 Climatology
325 Analysis of the Physical Environment
326 Landforms-Topics and Regions, (Fluvial Geomorphology)
328 Arid Lands Geomorphology
329 Landforms and Landscapes of North America
331 Climatic Environments of the Past
420 Glacial and Pleistocene Geology
421 Applied Surficial Geology
431 Soils of the World
435 Soils of Wisconsin Field Study Tour
524 Advanced Landform Geography
525 Soil Geomorphology
527 The Quaternary Period
528 Past Climates and Climatic Change
531 Global Climates

To find more information about a specific course, go to the course descriptions page.

Group II. Environmental Studies: People-Environment Interaction. This group of courses deals with the human use, perception, and modification of environments.

Courses in Group II:
139 Resources and People
230 Soil: Ecosystem and Resource
240 Plants and Man
303 The Human Role in Changing the Face of the Earth
309 People, Land and Food: Comparative Study of Agricultural Systems
319 Environmental Evaluation and Adaptation
336 Our Hazardous Environment
338 Vegetation: Stability & Change
339 Environmental Conservation
434 People, Wildlife and Landscapes
460 American Environmental History
508* Landscape and Settlement in the North American Past
519 Environment and Human Experience
534 History and Ideology of Environmentalism
535 Environmental Geography and Conservation in Developing Countries
536 American Wilderness: Perception and Preservation
537 Culture and Environment
538 The Humid Tropics: Ecology, Subsistence, and Development

To find more information about a specific course, go to the course descriptions page.

Group III. Human Geography. This group of courses deals with the location and organization of human settlements and activities over earth's space.

Courses in Group III:
101 Introduction to Cultural Geography
102 Spatial Organization of Human Activity
236 Bascom Course
300 Population-Migration, and Diffusion
301 Geography of Social Organization
302 Economic Geography: Locational Behavior
305 Introduction to the City
311 Industrial Location: Theory and Patterns
312 Regional Development and Planning
318 Geography, Politics, and Territoriality
349* Europe
353* Russia and the Newly Independent States: Topical Analysis
444 Health and Social Welfare in Western Society
501 Space and Place: A Geography of Experience
502 Spatial Behavior
503 Researching the City: Qualitative Strategies
505 Urban Spatial Patterns and Theories
506 Historical Geography of European Urbanization
507 Historical Geography of Urban North America
508* Landscape and Settlement in the North American Past
510 Economic Geography
553* Russia and the CIS: Problems in Human Geography
558 The Social Geography of Asian Cities in Comparative Perspective

To find more information about a specific course, go to the course descriptions page.

Group IV. Area Studies and Global Systems. This group of courses deals with the ways in which regions, places, and landscapes have acquired distinctive characteristics and problems as a result of their locations and resource potentials of their settlement, appraisal, and use by particular people and cultures.

Courses in Group IV:
140 World Regions: Concepts and Problems
244 Introduction to Southeast Asia: Vietnam to the Philippines
253 Russia: An Interdisciplinary Survey
260 Latin America: An Introduction
277 Africa: An Introductory Survey
340 Regional Cultures and Economies in the North American Past
341 United States and Canada
342 Geography of Wisconsin
344 The American West
345 Ethnicity in North America: A Regional Perspective
348 Latin America
349* Europe
353* Russia and the Newly Independent States: Topical Analysis
355 Africa, South of the Sahara
358 China and Southeast Asia
548 Problems in the Geography of Latin America
549 Historical Geography of Western Europe
553* Russia and the CIS: Problems in Human Geography

* Course is cross-listed in more than one Group. Students must choose the course grouping in which they want to count the course.

To find more information about a specific course, go to the course descriptions page.

Group V. Cartography and Geographic Information Science
This group of courses deals with the the creation and use of maps.

Courses in Group V:
170 Map Reading and Interpretation
351 Elementary Photogrammetry
370 Introduction to Cartography
371 History of Cartography
377 Introduction to Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
570 Problems in Cartography
572 Graphic Design in Cartography
574 Cartographic Methods in Research
575 Animated and Web-based Mapping
576 Map Transformations and Coordinate Systems
578 GIS Applications
579 GIS and Spatial Analysis

To find more information about a specific course, go to the course descriptions page.

Lakeshore path on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus