8 Geography Course Programs in USA

Cultural geography is the interdisciplinary study of spatial practices through which individuals and sociocultural groups create meaningful environments and ascribe order to landscapes, nature, and the terrestrial realm as a whole. Drawing from the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences, the discipline examines the ways in which humans experience, define, delimit, and shape spaces and places through time. This course is a hands-on introduction to major themes of cultural geography, with regular project work and several field trips. Independent studies and several group excursions in a variety of wild, agricultural, small town, and urban landscapes in the Berkshires and beyond will provide practice in research techniques including field journal writing; the use of narratives, oral histories, archives, and literary sources; map reading and interpretation; and basic cartography.

Immediate crises, such as hurricanes and earthquakes, and ongoing challenges, such as overuse and pollution of ecosystems, point to the importance of studying the intersection of earth processes with human societies. Students interested in understanding these interactions as they are approached both by Earth Science and by Geography can elect an interdisciplinary major that combines these two disciplines. In Earth Science, students gain an understanding of natural processes that impact the distribution and use of resources such as water, fossil fuels, and soil, as well as natural hazards such as climate change, tsunamis, and earthquakes. In Geography, students learn about the spatial distribution of physical and human phenomena and how human societies are shaped by, and also change, the natural world.

Geography, a word derived from the Greek for earth writing, is the study of the biosphere and the human and nonhuman forces that have shaped the Earth's diverse terrestrial environments through time. A discipline with roots in classical antiquity, geography has been called the Mother of the Sciences, an epistemic claim derived from the close relationship between exploration, mapping, and the production of knowledge. Critical geography is the continuing pursuit of geographic knowledge combined with the analysis of power dynamics in the production of spatial knowledge and the experiences and practices that constitute space and place in everyday life.

As a geography major or minor you will learn about the impacts of social, economic, environmental, and political processes that shape spaces and places, the science of earth systems, the human dimensions of global environmental and climate change, and the use of geographic information science (GIS) and remote sensing techniques to represent and analyze data and knowledge at different spatial scales.

An introduction to the cultural and natural regions of the Earth. How humans have affected the planet and how the environment affects human society. This course explores how a people's geographical background affects their culture.

By studying issues like food, poverty, housing, migration, health, and urbanization, geographers examine how people interact with one another and their environments. We study how processes shape places (and vice versa), and how places are linked together, often sharing our findings through carefully crafted reports, illustrations, and infographics. Our work is part policy and data analysis, part history, and part empirical observation, served up with sides of storytelling and graphic design.

Introduces students to the geographical study of earth’s physical landscape and process. Topics include the biosphere, geosphere, atmosphere, and human-environment interactions. Concepts are applied to a variety of regions including Oregon and the Klamath Basin. Recommended: WRI 121 placement.

Spend a semester rock climbing and travelling through the Colorado Rocky Mountains, Greater Canyonlands of Utah, and breathtaking Patagonia.