Geography

Undergraduate Study: Bachelor of Arts (BA), or Minor in Geography.

Website: www.geography.hawaii.edu

Academic Program

Geography provides a broad perspective on human and physical phenomena that define and transform the surface of the Earth.  It explores the complexity of and interrelationships among the cultures, economies, histories, ecologies, and physical state that characterize particular places and how such relationships vary across space.  Three themes (the operation on interlocking systems of the natural environment; the relationship between environment and society; the nature of place and space and the relationships and processes defining and changing them) focus upon the myriad challenges in the contemporary world, such as global environmental change, its causes, and its implications for the human experience; resource management and regional development in the Third World; regional conflict fed by ethnic, religious, economic, and territorial differences; the making of resource and locational decisions; and the collection, processing, display and communication, and management of spatial information.  The department is uniquely placed to examine these issues in the Asia-Pacific region.  Hawai‘i’s historical, sociocultural, economic, and environmental context provides a fascinating setting for learning and research and can serve as a springboard into the wider region.

Students with a geography degree have gained both a holistic understanding of the world and a specific set of concepts and methodologies that can be applied to a wide range of career opportunities dealing with environmental and resources issues, location and resource decision-making, planning and policy questions, and the display of information on maps and through geographic information systems in all levels of government, private firms, nonprofit organizations, and international agencies.

Major-Related Skills

In addition to discipline specific content, geography majors have the ability to: