BA in Geography & Environment
Honolulu, USA
BA
DURATION
4 years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
01 Oct 2026*
EARLIEST START DATE
Jan 2027
TUITION FEES
USD 33,792 / per semester **
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* spring semester
** $11,760 per semester for Hawaii residents
Key Summary
About: At the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, the BA in Geography & Environment explores interactions between humankind and the biophysical environment. Students gain a holistic understanding and learn fieldwork and research tools for local, national, and international contexts. The undergraduate programme offers three interrelated themes: environmental geography, human geography, and geospatial information science (GIS), emphasizing geospatial analysis, mapping, and human–environment systems.
Career Outcomes: Graduates can pursue roles in environmental planning, natural resource management, and social policy development. Other likely paths include geospatial analysis/GIS, environmental consulting, conservation and resource policy, and urban and regional planning, and community resilience leadership roles.
GEO students study the crucial interactions between humankind and the biophysical environment. They obtain a holistic understanding of our world and the fieldwork/research tools needed for a wide range of local, national, and international career opportunities, including environmental planning, natural resource management, and social policy development.
Our geography undergraduate program offers three interrelated themes of study:
- Environmental geography engages students in a systematic study of the Earth’s physical nature and human activities that change it.
- Human geography focuses on cultural, economic, environmental, and political processes that shape the human experience and sense of place.
- Geospatial information science includes the use of geographic information systems (GIS), remote sensing science, and cartography to support research into environmental and societal issues.
Department of Geography and Environment Student Learning Objectives (SLOs)
- Understands the core geographic lexicon and basic concepts in the human, environmental, and geospatial information science disciplinary streams (GEO 101, 102/151, 104).
- Demonstrate the ability to understand and apply quantitative and qualitative data for geographic inquiry (GEO 380).
- Possesses advanced knowledge of the geographic lexicon and core knowledge of a disciplinary stream (GEO 325 and other 300-level course requirements).
- Human Geography: able to explain relationships between the environment, society, and culture.
- Environmental Geography: able to explain the relationships between biosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere, and atmospheric systems.
- Geospatial Information Science: able to interpret human and environmental geospatial information
- Demonstrates mastery of knowledge in a disciplinary stream (400-level course requirements).
- Human Geography: able to conduct basic analysis of how economic, political, and cultural processes are shaping human experiences at different geographic scales.
- Environmental Geography: able to conduct basic analysis of how environmental change is occurring at different geographic scales.
- Geospatial Information Science: able to produce maps professionally and utilize advanced geospatial techniques to analyze spatial patterns or changes in human and environmental systems.
- Demonstrates the ability to employ appropriate oral and written techniques to communicate geographic research effectively (GEO 493).