2022-2023 Cal Poly Humboldt Catalog 
    
    Mar 29, 2024  
2022-2023 Cal Poly Humboldt Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Geography, B.A.


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We offer a high-quality, award-winning undergraduate program incorporating a wide range of courses in human and physical geography, as well as cartography and geospatial techniques. Students obtain a strong geographic foundation through a sequence of introductory classes, along with a skills-based methodology course and research lab. Geographic concepts, ideas, and skills are developed and mastered in upper-division regional, systematic, and in-depth geography courses. Our majors further develop and demonstrate geographic mastery through a research-based senior capstone. While our program is designed to ensure breadth in geographic education, students may focus their geographic education by specializing in one of the department’s three emphasis areas of systematic geography:

  • The Human World
  • The Physical Environment
  • Geospatial Systems

The department upholds a strong tradition of field study, including exploration of the local communities, the Cascades, the Sierra Nevada, and other landscapes of the American west, as well as linkages to overseas programs.

We recommend that students who are interested in this major take history, government, mathematics, science and study a foreign language in high school. 

Requirements for the Bachelor’s Degree


A bachelor’s degree requires a total of 120 units. Students must fulfill General Education & All-University Requirements , residency, unit, and GPA requirements as outlined in the Bachelor’s Degree Requirements .

Requirements for the Major (41-46 Units)


Students must earn a minimum grade of C- in all required courses for the major.

Geographic Foundation (14 Units)


Regional Synthesis (3-4 Units)


Select one of the regional courses below:

Systematic Geography (18-22 Units)


Complete six systematic geography courses, with at least one course from each of the systematic emphasis areas (the Human World, the Physical Environment, Geospatial Systems). Students may specialize in one area of systematic geography by taking at least two of the remaining three required systematic courses in one emphasis area.

Senior Capstone (4 Units)


The following capstone course is required.

Geography Program Learning Outcomes


Students completing this program will have demonstrated the ability to:

  • collect data; know where to acquire such and what technology should be employed
  • layout and design best geographics
  • develop and apply information literacy
  • understand causes and implications of spatial interactions and movement patterns
  • demonstrate skills and competencies of geographic traditions
  • analyze, synthesize, and interpret spatial information
  • apply geographic thinking in real-world contexts
  • analyze and/or appraise real-world societal issues.

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