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.

Students should read the KEY and always talk to your advisor.

Also view:

• Course descriptions
• Next semester's courses
• Past Course Syllabi

Courses by Concentration

Jump to:
Group I.  Physical Geography
Group II.  People-Environment Interaction
Group III.  Human Geography
Group IV.  Area Studies and Global Systems
Group V.  Cartography and Geographic Information Systems

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
• 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.  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
• 336 Our Hazardous Environment (I) 2
• 338 Vegetation: Stability & Change (I) 4
• 339 Environmental Conservation (I) 1
• 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 III. 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 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