Geography, Ph.D.

Learning Outcomes

• Students will demonstrate the ability to think critically and reason scientifically about geographical concepts.  At the PhD level these capabilities include a deep understanding of the intellectual origin of geographic perspectives and their modern context.  PhD students are expected to know and practice sophisticated analysis of environmental and social problems from a geographic perspective.
• The department expects all graduates to demonstrate the ability to communicate effectively in written and oral forms.
• All doctoral students will demonstrate mastery of at least one geographical technique as demonstrated by the application of that technique in orally presented research in a paper given at a regional or national professional meeting, or by using the technique in a publishable quality manuscript submitted for publication.  Examples of suitable techniques include geographic information systems, remote sensing, spatial statistics, data mining, geovisualizaiton, and cartography.
• Students will demonstrate their knowledge of the central themes within the discipline.  Students will demonstrate through creation of publishable manuscripts or papers presented orally or through posters at regional or national professional meeetings that their research contributes to at least one of the overaarching themes in geographic research:  spatial analysis, regional analysis, nature-society relationships, or geographic approaches in environmental sciences such as hydrology, geomorphology, climatology, or biogeography.
• Students will be prepared for careers in the field.