Geography

Chair, Department of History and Geography: Associate Professor Clare

Coordinator: Associate Professor Xiao

Associate Professor: R. Kirk

Assistant Professor: Marshall

Geography explores how location affects societies, economics, politics, culture and ecosystems. How do we analyze, describe and construct boundaries, both natural and human, which we then impose on the physical and intellectual worlds we live in? The study of geography is much more than maps or knowing where places are located. It includes study of both the natural world and the varied patterns of human life on both the macro and micro scales.

Graduates with training in geography are sought as geographic information systems (GIS) specialists to work with GIS computer mapping software and related technology for government at the local, state or federal level as well as for a wide variety of businesses and corporations; regional specialists to work for the Central Intelligence Agency, foreign service, Peace Corps or community activist organizations; business, economic and population geographers to work for insurance companies, in real estate, for federal agencies such as the U.S. Census Bureau or to work in market-oriented businesses; environment and recreation specialists to work for botanical gardens, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Park Service or parks and recreational agencies; and teachers and map librarians to work at elementary or secondary schools or at universities.

Several geography courses count toward area concentrations in International Studies and Environmental Studies majors. Our GIS labs offer opportunities for hands-on learning and to obtain the latest computer mapping and spatial analysis skills. Gamma Theta Upsilon, the international honor society in geography, has a campus chapter, and minors in geography and GIS are offered at Elon.