Geography, BA
Introduction
Please click here to see Geography and Environmental Sciences department information.
The Geography program (within the Department of Geography and Environmental Sciences) offers a BA degree that includes a full range of courses in the fundamentals of geography taught mainly by full-time faculty.
These degree requirements are subject to periodic revision by the academic department, and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences reserves the right to make exceptions and substitutions as judged necessary in individual cases. Therefore, the College strongly urges students to consult regularly with their major advisor and CLAS advisor to confirm the best plans of study before finalizing them.
Program Delivery
- This is an on-campus program.
Declaring This Major
- Click here to go to information about declaring a major.
General Requirements
To earn a degree, students must satisfy all requirements in each of the three areas below, in addition to their individual major requirements.
- CU Denver General Graduation Requirements
- CU Denver Core Curriculum
- College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Graduation Requirements
- Click here for information about Academic Policies
Program Requirements
- Students must complete a minimum of 33 credit hours from GEOG, GEOL and ENVS courses.
- Students must complete a minimum of 24 upper division (3000-level and above) credit hours from GEOG, GEOL and ENVS courses.
- Students must earn a minimum grade of C- (1.7) in all courses that apply to the major and must achieve a minimum cumulative major GPA of 2.0. Courses taken using P+/P/F or S/U grading cannot apply to program requirements.
- Students must complete a minimum of 15 credit hours of GEOG, GEOL and ENVS coursework with CU Denver faculty.
Program Restrictions, Allowances and Recommendations
- Only three credits of Travel Study may be counted toward graduation requirements.
- Undergraduate students may count up to 6 credit hours of independent study or internship (any combination of GEOG 3840 Independent Study: GEOG, GEOG 4840 Independent Study: GEOG, GEOG 4880 Directed Research, or GEOG 3939 Internship) towards elective credit in the major as approved by the undergraduate coordinator. Students may not receive more than three credit hours per independent study section. No more than three credit hours of independent study may be taken with the same instructor or in the same term.
- GEOG 3939 Internship: Community/Professional Experience optional, but highly recommended.
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Complete all of the following required courses: | 15-16 | |
| Introduction to Environmental Sciences and Introduction to Environmental Sciences Laboratory | ||
or GEOG 1202 | Introduction to Physical Geography | |
| World Regions Global Context | ||
or GEOG 1302 | Introduction to Human Geography | |
| Introduction to Mapping and Map Analysis | ||
| Weather and Climate | ||
| Globalization and Regional Development | ||
| Complete a minimum of one course from each of the following focus areas: | 12 | |
| Complete six additional GEOG elective credits. Students can choose additional courses from the approved focus areas lists or may choose other GEOG electives of interest. | 6 | |
| Total Hours | 33-34 | |
Environment, Society, and Sustainability
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Complete one of the following Environment, Society, and Sustainability courses. | 3 | |
| Environment, Society and Sustainability | ||
| Hazard Mitigation and Vulnerability Assessment | ||
| Anthropocene Futures | ||
| Sustainability in Resources Management | ||
| Climate Change & Society | ||
| Environment and Society in the American Past | ||
| The Politics of Nature | ||
| Science, Policy and the Environment | ||
| Urban Food and Agriculture: Perspectives and Research | ||
| Sustainable Urban Agriculture Field Study I | ||
| Sustainable Urban Agriculture Field Study II | ||
| Urban Sustainability and Resiliency: Perspectives and Practice | ||
| Total Hours | 3 | |
Human Geography
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Complete one of the following Human Geography courses. | 3 | |
| Introduction to Human Geography | ||
| Urban Studies and Planning | ||
| Geography of Colorado | ||
| Geography of South America | ||
| Geography of Food and Agriculture | ||
| Geography of Health | ||
| Population, Culture, and Resources | ||
| Urban Geography: Denver and the U.S. | ||
| Disasters, Climate Change, and Health | ||
| Total Hours | 3 | |
Physical Geography
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Complete one of the following Physical Geography courses. | 3 | |
| Colorado Climates | ||
| Landscape Biogeochemistry | ||
| Earth Environments and Human Impacts | ||
| Applied Geomorphology | ||
| Fluvial Geomorphology | ||
| Glacial Geomorphology | ||
| Environmental Hydrology | ||
| Water Quality and Resources | ||
| Climate Change: Causes, Impacts and Solutions | ||
| Mountain Biogeography | ||
| Soil Science and Geography | ||
| Beeography: Geography of Bees | ||
| Urban Climate and Air Quality | ||
| Total Hours | 3 | |
Techniques of Geographical Analysis
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Complete one of the following Techniques of Geographical Analysis courses. | 3 | |
| Remote Sensing I: Introduction to Environmental Remote Sensing | ||
| Remote Sensing II: Advanced Remote Sensing | ||
| Introduction to GIS (highly recommended; pre-req to most of the advanced GISci courses) | ||
| Cartography | ||
| GIS Applications for the Urban Environment | ||
| Environmental Modeling with Geographic Information Systems | ||
| Open Source Software for Geospatial Applications | ||
| GIS Programming and Automation | ||
| Deploying GIS Functionality on the Web | ||
| Environmental Impact Assessment | ||
| GIS Applications in the Health Sciences | ||
| Total Hours | 3 | |
To learn more about the Student Learning Outcomes for this program, please visit our website.
To review the Degree Map for this program, please visit our website.