43 courses with the subject GEOG, each shown exactly as we captured it from the college's catalog, with every element we hold. Where the wording looks broken, that is our reading of the catalog, not the college's text.
GEOG 105Climate and Society1.00
Human-induced climate change--global warming--is the defining environmental and social issue of our times. That people are dramatically altering the climate is now the resounding consensus in the scientific community. Potential short- and long-term impacts include biodiversity loss, sea-level rise and coastal flooding, more intense storms, threats to human health, and disruptions of freshwater supplies and food security. But while the global community increasingly understands the basic processes driving climate change, and is starting to appreciate the consequences of a warmer world, the coupled social and biophysical dynamics of global warming are complex and the issue remains controversial. This course explores climate-society relationships in industrial and pre-industrial periods, and considers the multifaceted natural and human dimensions of global warming. It also highlights the integrative natural and social science modes of analysis commonly used in the discipline of geography. Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No Junior, Senior Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts Practices: Confronting Collective Challenges and The Process of Writing Core Component: None Formerly: GEOG 205
Every day we rely on a wide range of digital mapping and geographic tools to solve problems and make our lives easier. The proliferation of digital technologies in recent decades has fundamentally altered the way humans map, study, and understand the Earth. Coursework provides an introduction to Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Global Positioning Systems (GPS), remote sensing, and other tools that have indelibly changed the way we see and represent the Earth. Using technologies such as ArcGIS, Google Earth, Open Street Map, and drones students explore how digital representations of Earth are used to study important physical and social processes, better understand pressing environmental problems, and make decisions. Along the way students will learn fundamental concepts in cartography, digital mapping, and geospatial analysis. Students also consider the dangers and negative social consequences associated with the geospatial technologies behind our Digital Earth. Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No Junior, Senior Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts Practices: Quantitative and Algorithmic Reasoning Core Component: None
In 2007, according to the United Nations, cities for the first time became the home of the majority of the world's people. Others have called the 21st century "the urban century." There has never been a more important time to study urban places and processes. Students are introduced to major theories and concepts of urban geography and to the ways in which they help understand cities and urbanization around the world. In doing so, it also provides an introduction to geography as a discipline and to its distinctive perspectives, which include space and location; global, regional, and local scales of analysis; nature-society relations; and the multidimensional character of places.
GEOG 211Geographies of Nature, Economy, Society1.00
Acquaints students with the approaches and subject matter of human and nature-society geography. It introduces geography's longstanding concerns with spatial location, place, and nature-society interaction, as studied through ways of knowing that are central to the discipline—spatial representation and analysis, cross-scalar comparisons, integrative synthesis, and the social construction of space and environment. Case studies, drawn from all world regions, illustrate how geographers use these tools and perspectives to clarify such issues as human well-being and inequality, economic and sociocultural globalization, population patterns and processes, human impact on the environment, and sustainable development in the Anthropocene. Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No Junior, Senior Restrictions: Not open to students who have taken GEOG 111 or 121. Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts Practices: Confronting Collective Challenges and The Process of Writing Core Component: None Formerly: GEOG 111
Provides students with a general understanding of the processes and spatial distribution of the Earth's primary physical systems and the ways in which humans interact with these systems. Course emphasis is divided into three areas: atmospheric processes, the spatial dynamics of vegetation and soils, and landform development. Students are introduced to the basic physical processes and interactions that operate within each of these categories, with special focus on the ways in which these factors relate to contemporary environmental problems. Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No Junior, Senior Area of Inquiry: Natural Sciences & Mathematics Liberal Arts Practices: Confronting Collective Challenges or Quantitative and Algorithmic Reasoning Core Component: None Formerly: GEOG 131
Focuses on the theory, function, and application of geographic information systems (GIS). The analytical powers of GIS are rooted in its ability to manage large volumes of geographically referenced data representing both physical and social characteristics. As such, GIS has become an important analytical
Required corequisite to GEOG 245. Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts Practices: None Core Component: None
What does "taking Asia seriously" mean? Coursework focuses on the area that is generally known as Asia, not by providing a broad survey of the region, but by showing how it can challenge our intellectual norms and practices when we try to understand their everyday lives, aspirations, and struggles in their own terms. To that end, students critically examine such taken-for-granted ideas in the English-speaking world as nature, justice, democracy, or civil society when analyzing and working in places with distinct historical experiences. Empirically, students focus on how households and communities in contemporary Asia cope with various crises and opportunities (e.g., natural disasters, financial crises, developmental projects, and demographic changes) in locally specific and ingenious ways in order to sustain their lives and livelihoods. Course materials are drawn widely from various parts of East, South, and Southeast Asia, with specific emphasis on Japan. Crosslisted: ASIA 270 Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts Practices: None Core Component: None
Opportunity for individual study in areas not covered by formal course offerings, under the guidance of a member of the faculty. Credits: variable Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts Practices: None Core Component: None
GEOG 303The Camp: A Global History of Civilian Internment1.00
Reviews a history of civilian internment by analyzing the geographic proliferation of camps throughout the planet. In modern and contemporary history, authoritarian states and democracies alike have developed concentration camps, internment camps, refugee camps, detention camps, and displaced persons camps -- in ever increasing numbers. Countries have done so in order to separate and define populations they would or could not assimilate within the political life of the nation state, thereby relegating those populations to an exceptional status instead. To study the geographic spread of camps as technologies for advancing a state of exception, then, is to learn how – and to what extent-- human rights have been acknowledged or betrayed in contemporary history. Crosslisted: PCON 303 Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No First-year Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts Practices: Confronting Collective Challenges and The Process of Writing Core Component: None
Examines the ways in which the networks of the illicit global economy intersect with violence and armed conflict. From guns and drugs smuggling, to human trafficking and animal poaching, the course studies the concrete geographical organization of these illicit networks—that is, where and how they take root—asking the following questions: What are the relationships of these illegal activities to legal circuits of power and profit? In what ways are transnational criminal networks redefining the nature of violent conflict and the meaning of peace? How do illicit economies erode and/or strengthen state authority and governance? Crosslisted: PCON 304 Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No First-year, Sophomore Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts Practices: Confronting Collective Challenges Core Component: None
Achieving some degree of happiness is a primary goal for most people. Certainly, a huge industry has emerged in recent years to feed the public's desire for ways to improve their happiness. There is also a rapidly growing amount of research on the subject. This course starts with an overview of the diverse, multidisciplinary scholarship on factors that may contribute to happiness. But the main goal of the course is to consider themes central to the discipline of geography: how do environmental changes, efforts to achieve sustainable development, and culture affect the geography of happiness? Do people achieve a greater sense of well-being when interacting with wilderness or by exploring nature in their backyards? Does environmental stewardship improve happiness? What roles do attitudes about food and leisure play in how happy people are? Students explore these questions via out-of-class excursions, films, a diverse mix of scholarly and popular press readings, guest speakers, and individual research projects. Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No First-year, Senior Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts Practices: Confronting Collective Challenges and The Process of Writing Core Component: None
GEOG 307What's in Your Cup? The Geography of What We Drink1.00
What people eat and drink connects them to a global socioecology and a complex exchange of commodities. What's in Your Cup? uses our daily consumption of beverages to analyze the social and environmental implications of how people live. From the energy used to boil water for a morning coffee to the biota disturbed by farmers across the world, what we drink may be linked to carbon emissions, water pollution, and public health hazards, all of which have implications for consumers and producers alike. Challenges, such as climate change, limited access to land, and market shifts, often leave farmers vulnerable. But there are also many examples of efforts that empower farmers to live well and care for the land, provide consumers access to ethically produced beverages, and initiatives that promote sustainable development. Using examples from around the world students explore the geography of what people drink. Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No First-year Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts Practices: Confronting Collective Challenges and The Process of Writing Core Component: None
Broadly defined, Geopolitics is the study of "the relationship among politics and geography, demography, and economics, especially with respect to the foreign policy of a nation." As the study of political geography on a global scale, geopolitics examines the relationship between territories, boundaries, and states in the "closed system" we call planet earth. But geopolitics is more than an academic field. Geopolitical thought has actually instructed states how to relate to one another in the contest for territory, security, and resources. For example, the history of geopolitical analysis is closely connected to -- and has often justified - - various imperial projects. As a result, this course examines the relation between the development of geopolitical thought on one hand, and geopolitical events on the other. Of particular importance to the
Focuses on the historical development and contemporary spatial patterns and processes of American cities. Topics emphasized include the decentralization of people and jobs within urban areas, metropolitan political fragmentation, racial residential segregation, inner-city gentrification, urban public service provision issues, the role of new immigrant groups, and feminist perspectives on urban geography, plus international and interregional comparisons to elicit distinctive characteristics of urbanization in the US. Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No First-year Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts Practices: The Process of Writing Core Component: None
GEOG 313Geographical Political Economy: Asia in Globalization1.00
Contemporary sociocultural and environmental issues cannot be understood without a good grasp of globalizing, yet place-specific political economic contexts in which these issues are embedded. The course aims to prepare students with conceptual and analytical foundations of economic geography with a particular attention to the roles of states, firms, and workers in the increasingly interconnected world. A strong empirical emphasis is given to Asia, although other world regions are addressed throughout the course for comparative and integrative purposes. Questions asked in this course include: what causes territorial economic growth and decline? How do place-specific economic structures influence policies? How are "the economy" and environment interrelated? Does advanced technology make geography irrelevant? Does economic growth produce socio-spatial inequality? In answering these questions, Asia offers a critical empirical arena to test theories and hypotheses, many of which have been developed primarily in the Euro- American contexts. Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No First-year Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents
Two decades ago, geographers heralded a 'new mobilities' paradigm that had captivated the social sciences. Now it seems that all the world is, indeed, on the move. Using the framework of mobility justice, students consider what it means to assert "the right to move" and "the right to remain," and what it looks like to claim these rights in practice. Students examine mobility—and its flip-side, immobility—through examples and approaches from geographies of tourism, transportation, im/migration, dis/ability, commodity circulation and economic geography, and demography. Diverse examples may include unsanctioned mobilities, like the figure of the tramp or the vagabond, nomadic populations like the Roma and seasonal migrant workers; subversive and surveilled mobilities, like transnational drug trafficking; and the politics of transportation infrastructures, like the transcontinental railroad and its role in expanding settler colonial power. Students also consider how the mobility of commodities, objects, and materials makes and remakes our world, and what kinds of mobilities—human and nonhuman—climate change produces and inhibits. Finally, we ask: how do geographers of various backgrounds theorize, study, map, and write about mobility? What tools does geography offer us to better understand contemporary mobilities and their larger sociopolitical significance? Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No First-year Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts Practices: Confronting Collective Challenges and The Process of Writing Core Component: None
GEOG 318International Migration, U.S. Immigration, and Immigrants1.00
Introduces students to approaches to the study of international migration, immigrant assimilation and adjustment, ethnic social and economic stratification, and immigration policy formation and analysis. These topics are explored within the historical and contemporary context of the United States and New York. The class considers theoretical perspectives that have been applied to the study of migration as well as approaches used by sociologists and geographers in empirical analyses of US immigration, immigrant populations, and ethnic relations. These analytical issues are considered in detail for immigrant and ethnic groups within New York State and the New York metropolitan community. Finally, students consider the relationships among patterns of immigration and ethnic relations, cultural change, international relations and transnational linkages, and US immigration policy reform. Crosslisted: SOCI 318 Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts Practices: Confronting Collective Challenges and The Process of Writing Core Component: None
Introduces students to major themes and issues in feminist geography, both in the U.S. and globally. Explores how environments shape, and are shaped by, gendered power dynamics in society. Addresses geographic issues from feminist approaches to social justice to advance students' understandings of the complex relationships between spatiality and power relations. To this end, students work across diverse geographies to explore (1) the social relations underlying geographic problems; (2) the ways in which gender, class, race, sexuality, nationality, and dis/ability intersect in environmental issues; and (3) feminist geographic methods and theories of knowledge production. Students bring a global perspective to the issues by drawing out local-global linkages. Case studies are drawn from North America, Latin America, Africa, Asia, and the Pacific. Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No First-year Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts Practices: Confronting Collective Challenges and The Process of Writing Core Component: None
The Anthropocene, the era of humanity as the dominant force reshaping the earth's surface, is also the urban epoch. In 2007, the United Nations announced that city dwellers were now a majority of the world's population, and the proportion has apparently continued to grow since. What implications does urbanization hold for the quality of the human habitat and for the sustainability of the global environment? What implications does environmental concern hold for urban patterns and processes? Students explore these questions in relation to the major domains of human-environment relations.
The Arctic is one of the most rapidly changing regions of the world today, environmentally, culturally, and politically. Rapid biophysical change occurs here today due to climate change, but equally noteworthy are cultural, social, and political transformations experienced by people living in the Arctic. Individuals and communities are under increasing pressure to change along with biophysical and socioeconomic transformation, particularly as new actors express interest in the Arctic and space opens up to global people and phenomena. Grappling with Arctic change means addressing complex issues related to social and biophysical changes, which often originate beyond the region but have specific meanings for the region. Within Russian and Eurasian regional studies, interest in the Arctic is long-standing and currently increasing with the "opening up" of this space due to climate change and the economic interest shown in it by global actors. Students examine environmental change, demographic shifts, human-environmental wellbeing, the ideas of security and cooperation as they relate to Arctic geopolitics, and the future of the Arctic. While the exclusive focus of the course is not on Russia, Russia's role in Arctic transformations – especially politically and geographically – are highlighted concerning the actions and transformations occurring in other Arctic nations and other nations interested in Arctic transformations. Crosslisted: REST 323 Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No First-year Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts Practices: Confronting Collective Challenges and The Process of Writing Core Component: None
No natural substance is more vital to human existence or used in more different ways than fresh water. This course considers the natural and social processes (with primary focus on the latter) that shape water use both within and outside of the United States, including physical factors, technology, economics, culture, law, and political systems and ideologies. The focus is on the services that water provides, the causes and consequences of water scarcity, and the ways in which water's services might be obtained in more sustainable ways. Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No First-year Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts Practices: Confronting Collective Challenges Core Component: None
Students use social science perspectives on sustainability and sustainable development to analyze the production and consumption of major natural resources. The following questions are addressed: What are natural resources, and how do their geographies combine with those of wealth and poverty, of political power and technological and institutional capacity, to affect the potential for actions towards sustainable development? How is our understanding of sustainable resource development enriched by critical perspectives from the social sciences about the meaning of such contested concepts as sustainability and development, and about issues of equity, power, participation, property rights, and unequal impacts (of both resource depletion and environmental policies)? How can the three dimensions (environmental, social, and economic) of sustainability better guide the production and consumption of natural resources, renewable or
In what ways might the environment pose a security threat? How is environmental change a danger to some people more than others? What are the implications and consequences of seeing the environment through the lens of "security"? From an interdisciplinary perspective, students critically examine Environmental Security as an ascendant threat-paradigm of the 21st century. Militaries, governments, and international organizations have all become increasingly concerned with the way environmental processes pose threats to security. In many ways, greater concern over these issues is a welcome development. But the way environmental security problems are being framed and addressed might create a whole new set of winners and losers across the globe. Crosslisted: PCON 329 Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No First-year, Sophomore Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts Practices: Confronting Collective Challenges Core Component: None
Introduces fundamental concepts and tools central to the emerging field of Environmental Data Science. Satellites, environmental sensors, and citizen science networks collect a tremendous amount of geospatial data that offers unprecedented insight into the environment. The integration of computational tools, statistics, and an understanding of the earth system is essential for utilizing big data to understand environmental processes (e.g. climate change, food security). Topics covered include data provenance and reproducibility, data fusion, visualization, and statistical programing for environmental data. Students learn how to manipulate and analyze large climatic, ecological, and geospatial data sets using a statistical programing language. No prior programming experience is required. Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No First-year Area of Inquiry: Natural Sciences & Mathematics Liberal Arts Practices: Confronting Collective Challenges or Quantitative and Algorithmic Reasoning Core Component: None
Focuses on the principles of meteorology and climatology with particular emphasis on Earth/energy dynamics, atmospheric circulation, and middle latitude climatology. Elements of Earth's energy system are used first to establish the basic causal forces that drive all weather phenomena. These concepts are extended into a section on atmospheric forces and thermodynamics, and used to build an understanding of the middle latitude climate system, including middle tropospheric circulation vorticity concepts and surface cyclone and anticyclone development. During this process, students perform several exercises that focus on atmospheric data analysis and forecasting. These exercises make use of numerous online meteorological data resources and culminate in a case study project involving the detailed analysis of a significant weather event. Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No First-year Area of Inquiry: Natural Sciences & Mathematics Liberal Arts Practices: Confronting Collective Challenges or Quantitative and Algorithmic Reasoning Core Component: None
In today's era of mass incarceration, most prisoners come from cities and it is to cities that they will return upon release. Additionally, scholars note that cities are increasingly 'governed through crime,' whereby crime control has become the de facto mission of a wide array of urban institutions and agencies. This is true despite the fact that most prisons are sited in rural locales. Students use geographic tools and theories to investigate the relationship between prisons and cities spatially, politically, and socially in the twenty-first century United States and beyond. Credits: 1 Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No First-year Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts Practices: Confronting Collective Challenges and The Process of Writing Core Component: None
Focuses on the factors that influence soil distributions at scales ranging from a hillside to an entire continent. Begins with an introduction to soil morphology and genesis as a means to begin to understand the spatial variability of different soil properties. These concepts are extended into a section on soil geomorphology and the role soils play in global change research. Additional topics to be emphasized include soil survey and predictive soil mapping. Throughout the course students perform exercises and/or participate in field excursions that focus on learning how to differentiate soils on the landscape. Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No First-year Area of Inquiry: Natural Sciences & Mathematics
Focuses on the factors that influence plant and animal distributions at scales ranging from population to biome. To set the stage for discussing the geography of life, students first examine the earth's physical setting. This leads to consideration of the fundamental processes determining plant and animal distributions. The interactions among these processes are also examined, thereby introducing the concept of the ecosystem. The functions of an ecosystem are discussed with focuses on energy and matter flow, population dynamics, succession, and disturbance. The culmination of these processes is reflected in broad- scale geographic patterns. Thus, the characteristics of the major biomes are examined. Finally, because humans and the environment are inextricably linked, students explore several impacts humans have on the landscape, including fragmentation, extinction, and species introductions. Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No First-year Area of Inquiry: Natural Sciences & Mathematics Liberal Arts Practices: Quantitative and Algorithmic Reasoning and The Process of Writing Core Component: None
Examines how plants influence exchanges of energy, carbon, and water between the biosphere and the atmosphere. Begins with an examination of key biological and physical processes that regulate ecosystem carbon and water cycles, paying particular attention to critical linkages between the two. This leads to a consideration of how these processes function at larger spatial scales, and how they vary with time in response to climatic drivers. The land surface energy balance is discussed here as well, because it is inextricably linked with ecosystem carbon and water cycling. Finally, the interplay between ecosystems and climate is examined. Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No First-year Area of Inquiry: Natural Sciences & Mathematics Liberal Arts Practices: Confronting Collective Challenges or Quantitative and Algorithmic Reasoning Core Component: None
GEOG 346Advanced Geographic Information Systems0.50
Focuses on geographic information systems (GIS) theory and complex spatial analysis. It is divided into two segments: GIS concepts and theory, and advanced GIS analysis and application. The first segment explores the evolution of GIS from a set of cartographic and data analytical tools used primarily by geographers to a more encompassing set of ideas and tools used by many disciplines to examine spatial processes. Included in the first segment is a thorough examination of issues associated with mapping and referencing the non- spherical earth, conceptual models for representing spatial phenomena, and data-quality issues. The second segment focuses on a select set of spatial analytical issues that can be addressed using GIS. These issues include analysis of continuous spatial phenomena (e.g., terrain), model building using multiple sources of spatial data, network analysis, and the integration of remotely sensed data in a GIS. Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: None Liberal Arts Practices: Quantitative and Algorithmic Reasoning Core Component: None
Image analysis is a method used in geography to analyze remotely sensed data, including both satellite images and data collected from aircraft, in order to obtain information about earth's surface phenomena from afar. The primary objective is to better understand, measure, and monitor features and human activities on Earth. Most typically, image analysis involves generating landcover maps using multi-spectral data collected by satellites. This course begins by focusing on the physical principles upon which image analysis is based, including the principles of acquiring and interpreting electromagnetic data collected by non-photographic sensors. Students then explore the basic tools of digital image processing (e.g., image enhancement, contract manipulation, etc.). This leads to a consideration of the process of image classification. Lastly, students discuss accuracy assessment as it applies to landcover classification, and spend a significant amount of time in the geography department computer lab performing analysis on remote sensing data. Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: None Liberal Arts Practices: Quantitative and Algorithmic Reasoning Core Component: None
Opportunity for individual study in areas not covered by formal course offerings, under the guidance of a member of the faculty. Credits: variable Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts Practices: None Core Component: None
The senior seminar focuses on emerging research within a subfield of contemporary geography chosen by the instructor. Students identify and pursue advanced work on topics within that subfield. Major/Minor Restrictions: Only Geography, Environmental Geography Majors Class Restriction: Only Senior Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts Practices: The Process of Writing Core Component: None
Students enroll in this course in the fall semester of the senior year if granted permission to explore a potential honors project and prepare a formal proposal to pursue honors work in geography. Permission to enroll in this course does not guarantee permission to pursue honors in geography.
Opportunity for individual study in areas not covered by formal course offerings, under the guidance of a member of the faculty. Credits: variable Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts Practices: None Core Component: None
Students pursuing honors research enroll in this course in the spring semester of the senior year. The research proposal must be approved by the Department of Geography. Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts Practices: None Core Component: None
