Geography (GEOG)
Geography studies the ways people shape and give meaning to their environments and are shaped by them. Human geography (a social science) is concerned especially with the political, economic, social, and cultural processes and resource practices that give definition to particular places, and that, in turn, are affected by them. Physical geography (a natural science) focuses on the Earth systems that create the human environment, such as weather, soils, biogeography, and Earth-sculpting processes. Specialties in geography complement and integrate material from cognate fields such as political science, economics, sociology, women’s and gender studies, geology, and biology.
The course of study in geography is designed to provide a strong background in the discipline and a substantial foundation for a liberal arts education. A major in geography is good preparation for those interested in graduate work in geography, environmental and resource fields, urban planning and policy, or in careers in law, journalism, government, international affairs, business, and public service.
Geography Major
The major in geography consists of a minimum of EIGHT courses which must include:
| Two 200-level Human Geography courses (social science credit) | 2 | |
| Two Physical Geography courses (natural science credit) 1 | 2 | |
| GEOG 204 | Applied G.I.S. 2 | 1 |
| Culminating Experience 3 | ||
| Two Geography electives 4 | 2 | |
| 1 | Some courses in other departments are accepted toward the major with geography department approval. |
| 2 | Methods/Skills course, but a substitute is possible with department approval (e.g., statistics). |
| 3 | Taken senior year (or second semester junior year with adviser's and departmental approval). Courses fulfilling this requirement include 300-level or higher (non-methods/skills) Geography courses or an independent study course designed for this purpose. In these courses, paper and/or project topics for the geography majors will be designed to ensure that the students draw upon their broader geographic education, thus providing them a more coherent appreciation of the discipline. |
| 4 | May be any 200-level or higher geography courses, but may include up to two 100-level geography courses taken before declaring the major. |
Geography Minor
The geography minor consists of five geography courses, at least one of which is a geography science course, and no more than one of which may be at the 100-level.
Courses
GEOG 100. From Earth to Home. 1 Credit.
Offered Fall Semester Only; Lecture hours:3
Explores how, why, and where humans transform planet Earth to create the distinct places, landscapes, and territories we call home.
GEOG 101. Globalization, People, and Place. 1 Credit.
Offered Fall Semester Only; Lecture hours:3
Investigates the world from a spatial perspective to understand the complexity of places and the dynamic relationship between peoples and the world they inhabit. Open to First-years and Sophomores.
GEOG 110. World Environmental Systems. 1 Credit.
Offered Fall Semester Only; Lecture hours:3,Other:3
Survey of physical geography, organized upon an understanding of how natural systems - climate, landscape, evolution, biological community - create the different environments of the world. Laboratory science course.
GEOG 113. Human Impact on Environment. 1 Credit.
Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3
Causes and effects of major environmental changes induced by humans, challenges to our future well-being, and opportunities for future sustainability. Prerequisite: open to first-year students only.
GEOG 123. Gender, Place, and Culture. 1 Credit.
Offered Fall Semester Only; Lecture hours:3
This course examines why in most societies women and men inhabit quite different physical or social spaces, or inhabit the same space in different ways.
GEOG 161. Geography of the United States. 1 Credit.
Offered Spring Semester Only; Lecture hours:3
Understanding the human landscape as a cultural, historical, ecological, political, and symbolic system through our observation of the geography of the United States. Open to juniors and seniors by permission only.
GEOG 175. Landforms of the World. 1 Credit.
Offered Alternating Fall Semester; Lecture hours:3,Other:3.5
Understanding the pattern of landforms around the world, the processes that created them, and their influence on humans. Laboratory science course for B.A. students. Prerequisite: juniors and seniors by permission only.
GEOG 204. Applied G.I.S.. 1 Credit.
Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3,Other:1.5
Introduction to the use of Geographical Information Systems to collect, structure, and display large or complex spatial data sets, using examples from human and physical geography. Prerequisite: permission of the instructor.
GEOG 209. Economic Geography. 1 Credit.
Offered Spring Semester Only; Lecture hours:3
Inquiry into local and global changes in economic activity, location and spatial organization, especially focusing on implications for the well-being of people in particular places.
GEOG 210. Urban Condition. 1 Credit.
Offered Fall Semester Only; Lecture hours:3
Geographic and sociological inquiry into pressing urban issues of advanced industrialized societies, including inequality, housing, employment, and how cities fit into the American present and future. Crosslisted as SOCI 210.
GEOG 211. Political Geography. 1 Credit.
Offered Fall Semester Only; Lecture hours:3
Considers political processes from a geographical perspective across a range of scales, in particular analyzing the geographical arguments which shape international political relations.
GEOG 214. Europe in an Age of Globalization. 1 Credit.
Offered Spring Semester Only; Lecture hours:3
Examines the geographical mosaic that is "Europe" in the contemporary period marked by conflicting forces of globalization, nationalism, and regionalism.
GEOG 215. Environmental Planning. 1 Credit.
Offered Spring Semester Only; Lecture hours:3
Explores the main approaches to planning theory and their environmental applications. Considers how environmental planning can promote the socio-ecological health and sustainability of democratic communities. Crosslisted as ENST 215.
GEOG 216. Borders, Traffic, Statelessness. 1 Credit.
Offered Alternating Spring Semester; Lecture hours:3
Explores the politics of historical and contemporary national borders, debates over trafficking goods and humans across them, and their links to citizenship and statelessness. Crosslisted as IREL 216.
GEOG 218. Geographies of Justice. 1 Credit.
Offered Spring Semester Only; Lecture hours:3; Repeatable
Explores the socio-spatial politics of social movements and grassroots activism, including: Occupy Wall Street, environmental justice movement, Olympic development and displacement, and reproductive health advocacy.
GEOG 220. Cultural Geography. 1 Credit.
Offered Fall Semester Only; Lecture hours:3
Role of culture in shaping places. How cultures are geographically expressed, and how geography is a basic element in the constitution of cultures.
GEOG 234. Human Ecology. 1 Credit.
Offered Alternating Spring Semester; Lecture hours:3
A general science course in human ecology, to demonstrate the ways humans continue to adapt to their environment through biological, cultural, scientific, symbolic, political, and technical means. Crosslisted as ENST 234.
GEOG 236. Third World Development. 1 Credit.
Offered Spring Semester Only; Lecture hours:3
Socio-cultural, economic, and environmental problems confronting developing countries. Includes such topics as political-economic change in a global and local context, transnational corporations, gender relations, food production/consumption, urbanization, and sustainable development.
GEOG 237. Grassroots Development: Nicaragua. 1 Credit.
Offered Summer Session Only; Lecture hours:15
This service-learning Bucknell in Nicaragua summer program course focuses on local people's efforts to promote sustainable development. Study involves academic, service, and travel components. Prerequisite: permission of the instructor.
GEOG 257. Global Environmental Change. 1 Credit.
Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3,Other:3.5
Understanding human and physical systems as they respond to the natural and human-induced changes in the global environment.
GEOG 292. Service-Learning in Nicaragua. 1 Credit.
Offered Spring Semester Only; Lecture hours:3
This course focuses on the connections between Nicaraguan development processes and Brigade-based service-learning. Prerequisite: permission of the instructor. Crosslisted as IREL 292 and LAMS 292.
GEOG 2NT. Geography Non-traditional Study. 1 Credit.
Offered Fall, Spring, Summer; Lecture hours:Varies,Other:3
Nontraditional study in geography. Prerequisite: permission of the instructor.
GEOG 301. Topics in Advanced Physical Geography. 1 Credit.
Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3,Other:4
Specialized topics in physical geography. Prerequisite: permission of the instructor.
GEOG 304. Advanced GIS. 1 Credit.
Offered Occasionally; Lecture hours:3
Project-based opportunity to solidify existing skills and learn advanced techniques in GIS and map design. Prerequisite: GEOG 204, or GEOL 230, or HIST 201 or permission of the instructor.
GEOG 309. Topics in Advanced Economic Geography. 1 Credit.
Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3; Repeatable
Specialized topics in economic geography.
GEOG 310. Topics in Advanced Social Geography. 1 Credit.
Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3
Specialized topics in social geography. Prerequisite: permission of the instructor.
GEOG 311. Topics in Advanced Political Geography. 1 Credit.
Offered Fall Semester Only; Lecture hours:3; Repeatable
Specialized topics in political geography. Prerequisite: permission of the instructor.
GEOG 312. Geographies of Health. 1 Credit.
Offered Fall Semester Only; Lecture hours:3
Seminar considers health across places and society and issues such as inequality, ecological and other risks, political economic changes, and organizing health service provision.
GEOG 319. Undergraduate Research. .5-1 Credits.
Offered Both Fall and Spring; Lecture hours:Varies; Repeatable
Supervised research, readings, and/or preparation of a paper on some aspect of geography. Prerequisite: permission of the instructor.
GEOG 320. Undergraduate Research. .5-1 Credits.
Offered Both Fall and Spring; Lecture hours:Varies; Repeatable
Supervised research, readings, and/or preparation of a paper on some aspect of geography. Prerequisite: permission of the instructor.
GEOG 321. Special Topics in Geography. 1 Credit.
Offered Both Fall and Spring; Lecture hours:3; Repeatable
Development and growth of geographic thought; investigation, report and/or seminar on currently significant topics in geography. Prerequisite: permission of the instructor.
GEOG 322. Special Topics in Geography. 1 Credit.
Offered Both Fall and Spring; Lecture hours:3; Repeatable
Development and growth of geographic thought; investigation, report and/or seminar on currently significant topics in geography. Prerequisite: permission of the instructor.
GEOG 323. Gender and Geography. 1 Credit.
Offered Spring Semester Only; Lecture hours:3
This course develops advanced critical context for analyzing relationships between geography (space/place) and gender (women's and men's socially defined roles and relationships.) Prerequisite: permission of the instructor.
GEOG 324. Geographies of Identity. 1 Credit.
Offered Occasionally; Lecture hours:3
Who are "we"? Seminar considers role of space in constituting society around the world. Explores nationalism, globalization, multiculturalism, citizenship, race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, age, disability. Prerequisite: Freshmen by permission only. Crosslisted as WMST 324.
GEOG 325. Nature, Wealth and Power. 1 Credit.
Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3
A seminar in political ecology that explores the historical, social political and economic dimensions of environmental change in developing regions. First-year students and sophomores by permission only. Crosslisted as ENST 325.
GEOG 330. Conflict and Peace in Northern Ireland. 1.5 Credit.
Offered Summer Session Only; Lecture hours:15
Psychological and social aspects of the sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland. This is the seminar course in the Bucknell in Northern Ireland program. Prerequisite: permission of the instructor. Crosslisted as PSYC 330.
GEOG 332. Evolution, Ecology, and Human Impact. 1 Credit.
Offered Fall Semester Only; Lecture hours:3,Other:3.5
This course explores processes shaping the distribution and diversity of life on Earth as a framework for understanding our impact on the biosphere. Laboratory science course.
GEOG 345. Food and the Environment. 1 Credit.
Offered Fall Semester Only; Lecture hours:3
Nothing from the environment is more important than food production, nothing affects the environment more; we'll study both environmental and social circumstances. Laboratory science course. Crosslisted as ENST 345.
GEOG 350. Classical Marxism. 1 Credit.
Offered Fall Semester Only; Lecture hours:3
The goal is to develop an understanding of Marx's analysis of capitalism by reading mainly original texts by Marx and consider its applications to disciplinary thinking. Crosslisted as ECON 350.
GEOG 375. Travel, Writing and Place. 1 Credit.
Offered Alternate Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3
Gain experience with, and critical perspectives on, 19th and 20th century American and European travel literature.
GEOG 420. Environmental Community Projects. 1 Credit.
Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3
Community-based "clinic" course on environmental problems or projects for local stakeholders, based on integrative, interdisciplinary research and design. Preference to senior ENST and GEOG majors. Crosslisted as ENST 411.
Faculty
Professors: Ben Marsh, Karen M. Morin, Paul H. Susman
Associate Professors: Duane A. Griffin, Adrian N. Mulligan (Chair)
Visiting Assistant Professor: Vanessa Massaro