What is Geography?

Geography is the spatial discipline. Everything about geography revolves around where things are in the world and why they are there. While maps and place names are popularly thought of as "geography," professional geographers do not merely "study" maps, but attempt to understand the characteristics of things on the earth (people, economic activities, religion, climates, soils, disease, wildlife, etc.) and the reasons things are found where they are. If history is the temporal science, biology is the life science, and psychology is the mind science, then Geography is best described as the spatial science.

Why Major or minor in Geography?

Explore the World with Geography (30mb PowerPoint slide show)

Knowledge of geography opens up a world of opportunities in private industry, government, consulting, education, and many other fields. Career options for geographers are as varied as the landscape itself. Our graduates have taken their bachelor and masters degrees into the workplace around the world, but many have been very successful in finding employment in the local region as well. Some of the fields that our graduates are employed in include:

Regional and Urban Planning
Economic Development
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Professions
Cartography
Medical Geography
Military Intelligence
Historic Preservation
Environmental Science
University Professorship
Commercial Airliner Piloting
Natural Resources Evaluation
Public School Teaching
Transportation Analysis
Water/Waste Infrastructure Management

…and many more!

For more information about careers in geography, check out our Jobs page or visit the Association of American Geographers web site at www.aag.org.