2024-2025 Academic Catalog
Geography Minor
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Geography Overview
Geography is the science of place, space, and environment. Each place on earth is distinguished by a unique mix of natural resources, cultural practices, economic activities, and political systems. Geographers study the uniqueness of each place and the interactions among places.
With its highly ranked graduate and undergraduate programs, Clark University is one of the best places in the world to study Geography. Students have the opportunity to work with nationally and internationally known faculty to examine how place and nature shape who we are, and in turn how we shape the spaces and environments in which we live. The Geography major and minor at Clark are set up to give students a broad understanding of physical and human elements that comprise this field of study.
Clark’s School of Geography is the oldest sustained program of geography in the United States. The program is renowned for fostering a culture of innovation, which has made it a key site for the development of new topical fields and geographic technologies. Clark faculty and students are pioneers in fields as diverse as human-environment, risk-hazards, critical geography, animal geography and feminist geography. The school is the only program of geography to have five of its members elected to the National Academy of Sciences and five to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The School has awarded more Ph.D.’s in geography than any other program in the United States. The National Research Council has ranked Clark Geography’s doctoral program among the top five US geography programs. Clark was the only geography department in the ranking’s top ten that is located in a liberal arts, research university.
Special facilities include the Jeanne X. Kasperson Research Library at the George Perkins Marsh Institute, the Guy H. Burnham Map and Aerial Photograph Library, Clark Center for Geospatial Analytics, and the Earth System Science teaching and research laboratories in Polar Science, Forest Ecology, and Terrestrial Ecosystem Physiology.
Undergraduate Program
Geographers use the perspectives of place and space to address societal and environmental challenges. Geographers address various questions. What makes societies and biophysical environments vary across space and time? How are these differences produced in relation to each other? How does location affect access to the things all species need to survive and flourish? And how can we achieve social justice and sustainability in a rapidly changing global environment?
Geography majors have the opportunity to work on research projects with faculty members and graduate students in one of the most prestigious programs of geography worldwide. Summer Fellowships are available for qualified students to participate in the Human-Environment Regional Observatory (HERO) program, which is an intensive summer and academic-year research effort focused on environmental change in New England. Eligible majors also have the opportunity to enter the accelerated M.S. in GIScience program.
Geography majors are served by the Clark Undergraduate Geography Association (CUGA) and Gamma Theta Upsilon.
CUGA is the voice of Geography majors, with student representation on the undergraduate studies committee and the opportunity to attend departmental meetings. CUGA representatives are able to vote at department meetings and give their ideas and opinions on various topics that concern undergraduate majors. They also attend field trips and host events, such as the annual Practicing Geography Week.
Gamma Theta Upsilon is an international geographic honors society. In order to become a member, initiates must have completed a minimum of three geography courses, have a minimum GPA of 3.3 in Geography courses and overall, and have completed at least three semesters of college course work.
Minor Requirements
Students wishing to minor in Geography must complete the following components for a total of seven courses in Geography.
Two core courses:
Core courses emphasize core geographic concepts and ways of creating knowledge; courses in the core are designed to help build frameworks for understanding the world.
Each year, several 000- and 100-level courses are designated as core courses in each of four disciplinary divisions. In special cases, a 200-level course may be used to fulfill a core course requirement, subject to the approval of the student’s adviser and either the chair of the undergraduate studies committee or the director of the school.
Each of the core courses must be selected from one of the following four disciplinary divisions. The two courses are not allowed to be in the same disciplinary division. The catalog’s description of the major lists the specific core courses.
- Human Environment Geography
Analyzes the ways that human societies have used, shaped and constructed nature; impacts of societies, economies and cultures on ecological systems.
- Urban Economic Geography
Examines the ways that space and location shape economic, sociopolitical, and cultural life; ways that economic, sociopolitical and cultural factors shape space and location; relationships between these processes and the dynamics of urban life.
- Earth System Science (ESS)
Earth System Science uses an interdisciplinary approach to study the complex, interacting physical and biological components of the Earth’s biosphere, atmosphere, cryosphere and oceans. It places an emphasis on observing, understanding and predicting environmental changes.
- Geographic Information Science (GIS)
Geographic Information Science is concerned with the acquisition, analysis and communication of geographic information; principles and techniques important in cartography, remote sensing, geographic information systems and spatial analysis.
Four elective courses:
The four geography electives must consist of one course at any level, one course at the 100 level or above, and two courses at the 200 level or above.
One skills course:
Each student minoring in geography is required to take at least one geography skills course. The catalog’s description of the major lists qualifying skills courses. Students minoring in Geography are not required to take GEOG 141 , as majors are required, but minors may opt to take this course as their Skills course for the geography minor.
Pass/Fail
Credits with a grade of Pass count towards the minor only in the case of Internships. Other types of credits that are registered as Pass/Fail do not count towards the minor.
Substitutions
A non-geography course can substitute for a core or the skills requirement. Substitution requires the written approval of the faculty advisor and Chair of Geography’s Undergraduate Studies Committee on the form entitled Petition to Replace a Geography Requirement. The substituted course does not count towards the necessary number of Geography courses required.
Internships
Learn about opportunities by visiting Geography’s website and Clark’s Career Connections Center. If students satisfy the requirements for the internship to count as an academic credit at Clark, then the internship can count as an Elective Course, subject to the approval of the Advisor.
Transfer and Study Abroad Credits
Transfer and Study Abroad credits are evaluated on a case-by-case basis for minor credit. Consult the Academic Advising Center to assist with the transfer from another university.
Geography Faculty and Staff
Program Faculty
Hamed Alemohammad, Ph.D.
Yuko Aoyama, Ph.D.
Anthony Bebbington, Ph.D.
Asha Best, Ph.D.
Mark Davidson, Ph.D.
Lyndon Estes, Ph.D.
Abby Frazier, Ph.D.
Karen Frey, Ph.D.
Dominik Kulakowski, Ph.D.
Deborah Martin, Ph.D.
James McCarthy, Ph.D.
Siobhan McGrath, Ph.D.
James T. Murphy, Ph.D.
Gustavo Oliveira, Ph.D.
Robert Gilmore Pontius Jr, Ph.D.
Max Ritts, Ph.D.
John Rogan, Ph.D.
Rinku Roy Chowdhury, Ph.D.
Florencia Sangermano, Ph.D.
Christopher A. Williams, Ph.D.
Adjunct Faculty
Yelena Ogneva-Himmelberger, Ph.D.
Affiliate Faculty
B. L. Turner, Ph.D., Distinguished Research Professor
Research Faculty
J. Ronald Eastman, Ph.D.
Emeriti Faculty
Martyn Bowden, Ph.D.
Jody Emel, Ph.D.
Susan Hanson, Ph.D.
Douglas Johnson, Ph.D.
Laurence A. Lewis, Ph.D.
Samuel Ratick, Ph.D.
Dianne Rocheleau, Ph.D.
Henry J. Steward, Ph.D.
Staff
Frances Wychorski, Department Administrator and Assistant to the Director
Yaa Poku, Administrator of Degree Programs
Marjorie Miller, Office Coordinator and Asst. to the Dept. Admin.
Hilary Laraba, Managing Editor, Economic Geography
Geography Courses
Courses offered within the last 2 Academic Years
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