The Geography Department graduate program includes both thesis and non-thesis options leading to the M.A. and M.S. degrees. The principal areas of concentration are community and urban development, environmental geography, geographic education, and geographic techniques. The graduate program provides an opportunity for close student-faculty interaction, easy access to current computer technology and field equipment, a broad liberal arts academic setting, and an abundant number of research topics within the northern Plains, Prairie Provinces, and The Middle East.

The community and urban development track within the graduate program emphasizes the background education useful for students to enter career fields related to working for land use planning agencies, federal government service, historic preservation, tourism, and economic development, as well as being a stepping stone to pursue a doctoral degree in human geography elsewhere. The focus of this M.A. option is upon taking a well-chosen, career-orientated selection of courses in population, social, urban, political, cultural, historical, and regional geography. Students are encouraged to take cognate work in business and public administration, international relations, anthropology, sociology, economics and marketing, political science/public administration, and other fields appropriate to each graduate student's long-range plans.

The graduate program in environmental geography reflects a geographic focus on land use, environmental quality, human impact, and biogeography. Students follow a sequence of required and elective courses which reflects an environmental emphasis such as resource management, water resources, climatology, environmental site assessment, or human-environmental relationships. The program is designed to prepare students for doctoral study or for a professional career in government, industry, or education in a wide variety of environmentally related fields

Admission Requirements

• A GPA of at least 3.00 in all undergraduate work.
• A minimum of 18 semester credits of undergraduate work in geography with at least one course in each of the following fields: physical, cultural, regional, and techniques.
• Six (6) credits in fields cognate to geography.

Outstanding applicants are evaluated on an individual basis and those with limited backgrounds in geography but a distinguished record in another discipline may be accepted on a qualified basis with the understanding that deficiencies will be met by the end of the second registration

Degree Requirements

• Two required courses, Geog 501 and Geog 578.
• One required seminar, Geog. 541.
• A minor or cognate area of study that reflects the student's focus on physical or human topics.

Thesis:

• A minimum of 30 semester credits including 9 semester credits of approved minor or cognate courses.

Non-Thesis:

• A minimum of 36 semester credits, including 9 semester credits for approved minor or cognate courses.
• A minimum of 16 credits that focus upon geographic skills and techniques which includes quantitative methods, computer graphics and mapping, geographic information systems, remote sensing, field methods, library research and cartography. The non-thesis programs emphasize development of geographic skills that can be applied to specific problems and projects which may or may not involve research.