Courses by Concentration
Courses listed here by topic or geography concentration area are offered by the Department of Geography. The official UW-Madison Undergraduate and Graduate Catalog Geography Course listing is the final authority on courses.
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Key
Course Levels are indicated by: E=Elementary; I=Intermediate; D=Intermediate/Advanced; A=Advanced
Frequency of course offering in recent years shown here as an indication (not a future certainty):
1 = every semester; 2 = every year; 3 = every other year; 4 = irregularly
* Course is cross-listed in more than one Group. Choose the course grouping in which you want to count the course.
Group I. Physical Geography
- 120 Global Physical Environments (E) 1
- 121 Atmospheric Environment and Society (E) 2
- 127 Physical Systems of the Environment (E) 1
- 320 Geomorphology (I) 4
- 321 Climatology (I) 2
- 325 Analysis of the Physical Environment (I) 2
- 326 Landforms-Topics and Regions, (Fluvial Geomorphology) (I) 2
- 328 Arid Lands Geomorphology (I) 3
- 329 Landforms and Landscapes of North America (I) 3
- 331 Climatic Environments of the Past (I) 3
- 332 The Global Warming Debate (I)3
- 338 Vegetation: Stability & Change (I) 4
- 344 The American West (I) 3
- 420 Glacial and Pleistocene Geology (I) 3
- 421 Applied Surficial Geology (I) 3
- 431 Soils of the World (I) 3
- 523 Quaternary Vegetation Dynamics
- 524 Advanced Landform Geography (A) 4
- 525 Soil Geomorphology (A) 3
- 527 The Quaternary Period (A) 3
- 528 Past Climates and Climatic Change (A) 4
- 531 Global Climates (A) 3
Group II. Human Geography
- 101 Introduction to Human Geography (E) 1
- 102 Spatial Organization of Human Activity (E) 4
- 236 Bascom Course: The Power of Place (E)
- 300 Population, Migration, and Diffusion (I) 4
- 301 Geography of Social Organization (I) 4
- 302 Economic Geography: Locational Behavior (I) 4
- 305 Introduction to the City (I) 1
- 311 Industrial Location: Theory and Patterns (I) 4
- 312 Regional Development and Planning (I) 1
- 318 Geography, Politics, and Territoriality (I) 2
- *349 Europe (I) 2
- *353 Russia and the Newly Independent States: Topical Analysis (I) 2
- 444 Health and Social Welfare in Society (I) 4
- 501 Space and Place: A Geography of Experience (S-A) 3
- 502 Spatial Behavior (A) 4
- 503 Researching the City (I) 3
- 505 Urban Spatial Patterns and Theories (A) 4
- 506 Historical Geography of European Urbanization (A) 4
- 507 Historical Geography of Urban North America (A) 4
- *508 Landscape and Settlement in the North American Past (A) 3
- 510 Economic Geography (A) 2
- *553 Russia and the CIS: Problems in Human Geography (A) 4
- 558 The Social Geography of Asian Cities in Comparative Perspective (A) 2
Group III. People-Environment Interaction
- 139 Resources and People (E) 2 or 3
- 230 Soil: Ecosystem and Resource (I) 2 or 3
- 240 Plants and Man (E) 2 or 3
- 303 The Human Role in Changing the Face of the Earth (I) 2
- 309 People, Land and Food: Comparative Study of Agricultural Systems (I) 2
- 319 Environmental Evaluation and Adaptation (Topic: International Environmental Justice) (I) 3
- 332 The Global Warming Debate (I)3
- 336 Our Hazardous Environment (I) 2
- 338 Vegetation: Stability & Change (I) 4
- 339 Environmental Conservation (I) 1
- 344 The American West (I) 3
- 434 People, Wildlife and Landscapes (I) 2
- 460 American Environmental History (I) 3
- *508 Landscape and Settlement in the North American Past (A) 3
- 519 Environment and Human Experience (A) 3
- 534 History and Ideology of Environmentalism (A) 4
- 535 Environmental Geography and Conservation in Developing Countries (D) 4
- 536 American Wilderness: Perception and Preservation (A) 3
- 537 Culture and Environment (A) 2
- 538 The Humid Tropics: Ecology, Subsistence, and Development (A) 4
Group IV. Area Studies and Global Systems
- 140 World Regions: Concepts and Regions (E) 1
- 244 Introduction to Southeast Asia: Vietnam to the Philippines (E) 1
- 253 Russia: An Interdisciplinary Survey (E)
- 260 Latin America: An Introduction (E) 2
- 277 Africa: An Introductory Survey (I) 1
- 340 Regional Cultures and Economies in the North American Past (I) 4
- 342 Geography of Wisconsin (I) 4
- 344 The American West (I) 3
- 345 Ethnicity in North America: A Regional Perspective (I) 2
- 348 Latin America (I) 2
- *349 Europe (I) 2
- *353 Russia and the Newly Independent States: Topical Analysis (I) 2
- 355 Africa, South of the Sahara (I) 2
- 358 China and Southeast Asia (I) 2
- 548 Problems in the Geography of Latin America (A) 4
- 549 Historical Geography of Western Europe (A) 4
- *553 Russia and the CIS: Problems in Human Geography (A) 4
Group V. Cartography and Geographic Information Systems
- 170 Map Reading and Interpretation (E) 1 or 2
- 351 Elementary Photogrammetry (I) 2
- 370 Introduction to Cartography (I) 1
- 371 History of Cartography (I) 3
- 377 Introduction to GIS (I) 2
- 570 Problems in Cartography (A) 4
- 572 Graphic Design in Cartography (A) 2
- 574 Cartographic Methods in Research (A) 4
- 575 Introduction to Computer Cartography (I) 2
- 576 Map Transformations and Coordinate Systems (A) 3
- 578 GIS Applications (D) 2
- 579 GIS and Spatial Analysis (D) 2